Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

All around Grass Vine Canyon, fire raged and spread toward the heart of the canyon. The Beast King Cavalry closest to the edge were frightened by how big the inferno was growing, and already many who had been splashed with the dead Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vine’s bodily fluids earlier caught on fire. They screamed as they dismounted and tried to pat out the fire licking at their bodies. Their allies tried to help them, but they couldn’t extinguish the deadly blaze no matter what they tried.

God of War raised his sword and shouted, "Follow me! We will charge through the fire and break out from behind! Don’t hesitate! There is no such thing as a hardship that cannot be overcome!"

The Beast King Cavalry immediately turned around and activated Charge. They were hoping that they could cut through the sea of flames in an instant.

Unfortunately for them, it was already too late. The fire had spread so fast that the inferno blocking the entrance they came from had grown to almost a hundred meters. Most of their players became drenched in flammable liquid and were losing almost 10k HP per second after charging just a dozen or so meters. There was no potion in the world that could reverse their grim fate.

It almost looked like God of War was riding a flaming horse as he charged through the inferno. His arm was crawling with flames as well. However, he had a powerful recovery skill, so he was the only person in his party to successfully escape the 100-meter-deep inferno.

Swhoosh!

God of War rode out of the flames looking like a fire god, but was greeted by a bitter sight immediately. Blocking his way to freedom was none other than Hickey, a group of magic knights and an entire backline of archers and mages.

Hickey raised her flexible arm and shouted, "Loose!"

Thud thud thud...

Arrows immediately started peppering God of War’s body and decreasing his HP even faster. Despite his best attempts, he wasn’t able to avoid all of them. That wasn’t to say he didn’t have one last hurrah in him though. After he empowered himself with God of War’s Art, he launched an Inferno Sixtuple Slash against the shield formation and one-shot a dozen or so Zephyr Cavalrymen immediately. No one who was hit was able to survive the powerful skill at all.

Not only that, the skill helped God of War regain almost a hundred thousand HP. Judging from the amount of HP he healed, his weapon had to have at least 7% lifesteal. No wonder he was able to dominate the India server.

Hickey was unperturbed, however. She ordered calmly, "Keep shooting!"

Arrows kept flying toward God of War, and eventually...

Thud!

The Indian warrior abruptly froze in his tracks as if the strings controlling his body were cut. One successful Shock Arrow was all it took to turn the tables against God of War completely!

Hickey immediately rushed toward him and uttered murderously, "You may be the god of India, but you are no god of Iron Skull Wilderness! Keep your dirty hands away from our home!"

Pu pu!

Hickey was wearing a full S2 set, and Barrier Break + Death God Slash was a very powerful armor-piercing combo. One last basic attack later, the guild leader finally lost his last sliver of HP.

"Sigh…"

The king of India let out a soft sigh before falling off his mount limply. He even dropped a shiny sword that was surrounded in flames. It was none other than his main weapon.

"Ah?"

Pleasantly surprised, Hickey picked up the sword and examined it. A second later, she exploded with excitement and waved it excitedly while facing toward the hill I was standing on. "Boss, This Fire God’s Blade is an Archean Immortal-grade weapon! An Archean Immortal-grade weapon with 9% lifesteal! It’s so good…"

I instinctively groaned on behalf of God of War. You poor bastard, of all the items you could possibly drop, you just had to drop your main weapon, didn't you? Thank you...

I sent Hickey a message: "Well, it’s yours now. Equip it and be ready to defend against Breeze and Rain’s charge next!"

"Yeah!"

The weapon appeared in Hickey’s hand in a flash. With this and the S2 set, Hickey was really starting to look like a true god-tier warrioress of the foreign lands.

……

By now, the entire Grass Vine Canyon had gone up in flames. The burning Beast King Cavalry and the seemingly endless screams made it look like a scene straight from hell itself.

I let out a soft sigh as I observed the scene from above.

War Dead shot me a glance and asked me, "Are you pitying them, guild leader?"

I nodded honestly. "I’m a man, not an animal. This is just a virtual game, and the price of death is just a level… but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m the one who subjected them to the painful fate of burning to death. I cannot deny that this triggers my guilty conscience."

War Dead sucked in a deep breath before replying, "That is true. It is something all people who wish to do great things must go through, however. It cannot be shared either."

I smiled bitterly. "I don’t want to do great things. I just want to go home a bit sooner…"

War Dead shuddered. A long time later, he murmured, "Guild leader, you really are a charismatic man. No wonder Hickey obeys you fully despite her wild personality…"

Me: "..."

……

Meanwhile, Breeze and Rain stared at the surrounding inferno while saying, "The guild leader… is dead…"

Beside him, a Beast King Cavalryman said, "There’s no point holding out any longer, vice leader. It’s true we’ve been outfoxed by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, but it’s just one battle. There is no shame in admitting defeat. You should activate your invincibility skill and teleport back to Cyan Earth City. You don’t need to die here needlessly."

However, Breeze and Rain declared with clenched fists, "Absolutely not. How can I live in shame when God of War died fighting? Anyway, it’s just a level, and the battle isn’t over yet. The nearest graveyard is only an hour away from here, and it’ll take only an hour to return to our bodies. Tell everyone to wait for my signal at the graveyard. We’ll revive together and battle Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand again!"

"Mn!"

It wasn’t long before Breeze and Rain and the rest of his soldiers dropped to their knees and burned to death. Not a single Beast King Cavalryman had managed to escape, but none of them used a return scroll to teleport back to their city either. They had at least ten minutes of non-combat state to do so, but they would rather lose a level now so that they could fight us to the death later.

……

After Hickey returned to our side, she asked me, "The fire is dying, and all 100000 Beast King Cavalrymen are at the graveyard. What do we do now?"

I looked at Dragonsnake Devil’s Den and said, "We will rally our 20000 Zephyr Cavalrymen, archers, mages, bards, and priests, and set out to Dragonsnake Devil’s Den. Don’t forget that our final objective is to take out the final boss and take the Ascension Proof, not defeat the Beast King Cavalry."

"Understood. Let’s go!"

Two minutes later, Godkiller’s over 50k-strong party set out toward Dragonsnake Devil’s Den once more. Over ten thousand Zephyr Cavalrymen opened the way at the front while tens of thousands of ranged players followed closely behind them.

……

Twenty minutes passed in the blink of an eye as we arrived at the perimeter of Dragonsnake Devil’s Den. In the forest, the players of Bloodlust and Cyan Beast were still locked in battle, and there were only several thousand normal Cyan Beast riders guarding the entrance. They were far weaker than the Beast King Cavalry, so they couldn’t pose a real threat to us.

"Go! Kill them all!" I ordered.

Warscar and Berserk-empowered Zephyr Cavalrymen shouted their battle cries and charged, tearing the players guarding the entrance to shreds instantly. After all fifty thousand of us had gone inside, we left behind a group of cavalry to block the entrance, gave War Dead command over the archers and mages and put them on standby. The rest followed me, Hickey and Warscar into the inner area of Dragonsnake Devil’s Den.

Of course, Cyan Beast’s main army noticed our movement and immediately dispatched 10000+ Beast King Cavalry to stop us. They dared not to underestimate us, however. Their companions’ downfall at Grass Vine Canyon had stunned them and burned their scorn for us to ashes. Since War Dead and the thirty thousand players we left behind to hold the entrance were holding an advantageous terrain, it didn’t look like the ten thousand Beast King Cavalrymen would be making their way through any time soon.

The area leading to the cave entrance to Dragonsnake Devil’s Den was littered with totems with python engravings. They looked quite scary.

Hickey suggested, "Let’s form a thousand-man party with you as the party leader, Lu Chen. It’ll need a sufficient amount of mages, archers, priests and bards so that it has sufficient strength to take down the boss. Everyone else will focus on clearing out the mobs blocking the way. What do you think?"

"Let’s do that."

I nodded before continuing, "The main party will need 200 Zephyr Cavalrymen with high Defense as well. Oh, and don’t forget about the bard buffs. The boss will be able to kill them in a single hit otherwise. Can you imagine how shameful that would be? An MT who cannot even tank one hit?"

Hickey giggled. "I got it…"

……

From our position, the winding hill ahead looked like a giant dragon. Its open maw was also the cave entrance to Dragonsnake Devil’s Den.

We looked up at the dragon’s head after we arrived at the entrance. My Ancient Divine Dragon was practically a cutie compared to this ugly bastard. There was also that gnawing fear that the giant maw would close up and crush all of us the moment we stepped inside.

Rustle rustle...

Talons and hooves stepped across wet ground as we entered the cave. A chilly wind brushed against our skins and made us shiver. Surprisingly, the interior of the cave was incredibly vast. Even our thousand-man party only occupied less than 20% of the passageway. We could absolutely fit four or five thousand-man parties with room to spare.

"Monster incoming!" Hickey pointed to the front.

I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and chased away the darkness that was limiting our vision. A red python entrenched on a patch of ground abruptly entered our view, and I shared its stats with everyone—

Cruel Red Python (Fiend)

Level: 255

Attack: 15500~23500

Defense: 19000

HP: 3000000

Skills: Swallow, Snake Tail Sweep, Python God Possession

Introduction: As a low-rank guardian of Dragonsnake Devil’s Den, the Cruel Red Python is an extremely cruel monster who devours animals and humans alike. Its millennium-long cultivation gives it incredible Attack and Defense.

……

"Holy shit, 23500 Attack? What a monster!" Warscar exclaimed in shock.

I curled my lips. "Go test it out, Warscar. Don’t worry, it’s just 50 levels higher than you. You have 4 bard buffs, so there’s no chance it can one-shot you…"

Warscar responded palely, "Okay…"

As expected of the fiercest general of Godkiller, Warscar swallowed my bullshit and Charged the Cruel Red Python in a straight line. He raised his axe and executed Barrier Break + Triple Slash combo!

78282!

39812!

41227!

41277!

……

It was pretty good damage. At the very least, it visibly deleted a chunk of HP from the mob.

However, the Cruel Red Python was no beta. The moment it awoke from its slumber, it flicked its forked tongue at Warscar, glared at him with inhuman eyes and opened its mouth. The next moment, both Warscar and his mount were inside its stomach!