The battle lasted almost an hour. Blood dyed the ground of this part of Frost Maple Woodland completely red, and dead bodies and items were strewn everywhere. No one was picking up the items yet because those who had tried, also had paid the highest price. Being distracted on the battlefield was often a costly and fatal mistake. All in all, Godkiller had the complete upper hand thanks to its four Divine Generals.

Chiang!

Some time later, I sheathed my weapon, landed beneath a huge tree and observed the battlefield from there. This wasn’t a Nation War, so I wouldn’t gain contribution points no matter how many enemies I killed. Also, I didn’t want to rob my players of their chance to grow. Most of these unaffiliated players had never fought a real great battle before, so the experience was extremely valuable to them.

……

"Looks like Nation Guardian isn’t sending anyone to save this detachment. I guess they’ve given up on them," said Lin Yixin while walking up to me with a smile.

"Mn. This should alleviate some of the burden on Flowing Cloud’s shoulders…"

"Yeah!"

Hickey rode up to us and asked me, "We won, boss. What do we do now?"

I replied, "Sweep the battlefield and tally our casualties."

"Mn."

On the wide clearing where the battle had been fought, the mob of Godkiller players were picking on the cold, dead bodies of the 50000 Divine Elephant Cavalrymen like hyenas. Even Hickey had left our side temporarily to command the players to loot the battlefield. I was fine with it as long as they didn’t fight each other over some loot. These poor unaffiliated players had been "starving" for ages, and Bloodlust could absolutely use Divine Elephant’s high-grade equipment to bolster their strength.

Bloodthirsty Demon rode up to me with a look of excitement on his face, "That was a wonderful battle, guild leader! I cannot believe we actually beat the legendary Divine Elephant Cavalry, hahaha…"

I shot him a glance. "C’mon, it’s not that impressive. I presume that you’ve tallied our casualties?"

"Mn. We’ve killed 52034 Divine Elephant Cavalry at the cost of 71929 players. It’s a big win overall, right?" Bloodthirsty Demon laughed again.

I shook my head with a frown. "You call a battle where we lost more players than the enemy a ‘big win’? Well, if it makes you happy… Anyway, this is just the appetizer, so don’t let down your guard. We have many more harder battles ahead of us…"

"Mn!"

……

Ten minutes later, we received bad news that Flowing Cloud was ambushed by Breeze and Rain twice and lost a ton of White Horse Cavalrymen on the other side of the mountain range, not to mention Nation Guardian’s assistance. Natural Flow was already bending under the combined weight that was Nation Guardian and Cyan Beast.

Swhoosh!

Suddenly, a magic knight clad in black armor and riding a fiery warhorse burst out of the forest beside us. His shoulder bore the emblem of Natural Flow. His face was covered in sweat, and his arm was bloody and scarred. He froze in fear when he saw our 200000-strong army.

"You’re…" The player named "Drought Breaker" broke out of his reverie only when I stepped into the open. His eyes lit up with pleasant surprise, "Are these your men, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?"

I nodded. "Yeah. What’s wrong? How is Flowing Cloud doing?"

Drought Breaker uttered through gritted teeth, "That damned Breeze and Rain attacked our formation twice using valley terrain. We’ve lost over half of the White Horse Cavalry, and our supply line outside the map had been cut off by Flames of War. Even the reinforcements guild leader mobilized were unable to get in yet. Suffice it to say, the situation is critical right now!"

"What happened afterward?" Hickey asked.

Drought Breaker pointed to the north and said, "Breeze and Rain is chasing our main army with around 70k Beast King Cavalrymen and 60k Divine Elephant Cavalrymen. That’s about 130k enemies in total. Our guild leader is currently fighting a defensive retreat, and she’s expected to reach this location in about an hour. Our forces are severely weakened, and we are in desperate need of your assistance!"

"Contact Flowing Cloud and show me her retreat route. Also, tell her to keep her cool and not make any rash decisions. The important thing now is to preserve our effective fighting power, not take the territory."

"Understood!"

A few minutes later, Drought Breaker shared with me a plotted map. Judging from the handwriting, it was most likely written by a woman. It clearly showed where Natural Flow was going, and so far, I didn’t find much to criticize about the retreat route at all. It avoided terrains with massive elevation disparity, and it was circuitous in a way where Natural Flow could launch a counterattack at any moment. The opponent couldn’t just attack them willy-nilly and expect to come out unscathed.

Drought Breaker stared at me with fervent eyes. "It may be for just a couple of seconds, but you were Elephant City’s West King. Guild leader also told us that you were China’s God of Slaughter, and that you can always conjure miracles when all hope seems lost. Natural Flow has already fallen into a disadvantage, and it’s all up to you to turn the tables now!"

However, I rolled my eyes while replying, "My dude, I don’t know what you’re expecting, but the fact is that my current army is vastly inferior to the enemies both in terms of quantity and quality. Just take Breeze and Rain’s 70k Beast King Cavalrymen and 60k Divine Elephant Cavalrymen for example. How do you expect me to somehow defeat all these high-level boss-tier mounts all by myself? This is like throwing an egg against a rock and expecting the rock to break… I’ll do my best, but I can make no promises!"

Drought Breaker nodded strongly. "I understand. We all knew that this would be a one-sided war from the beginning. We just couldn’t let Cyan Beast trample over us like the dirt beneath their boots! A true man would rather die in honor than live in shame!"

I smiled. "Mn. I understand…"

……

I picked up the map scroll, leaped onto a giant rock and sat there with my eyes closed. Honestly, things weren’t looking good one bit. It was no easy feat to eliminate 130k ace elites, and the forests of this map weren’t dense enough that I could start a forest fire to kill the enemy. More likely than not, the enemy riders were going to escape long before the fire could reach them. Moreover, it was a sunny day with no water source to be seen anywhere, meaning that I couldn’t start a flood and drown the enemy either. Two most basic strategies for wiping out large armies were gone, taken out of the equation, just like that. Ugh, what a headache.

I looked up and gazed to the east. There was a grassy plateau there called the Howling Plains that was connected to the canyons. Its slopes were around 60 degrees steep, and its length was at least 5 kilometers. It wouldn’t be an easy climb on foot. There weren’t many trees in the area. In fact, a large majority were shrubs that a cavalry could pass through with relative ease.

A bold plan entered my mind at that moment. I leaped down from the rock immediately.

"You have a plan?" Lin Yixin asked smilingly.

"Yeah."

I looked at everyone and said, "It’s time for our next move. Hickey, can you please tally the number of riders who are Level 150 or higher in Godkiller?"

"Mn."

A few minutes later, Hickey finished her tally and reported, "There are 21k+ Zephyr Cavalrymen and almost 10k riders in the main guild who meet the requirement. As for the subguilds, there are around 53k riders that fit the bill. In total, 84k. What are you planning, boss?"

I nodded. "I want these 84k riders to climb up Howling Plains until they’re around 2.5 km above sea level and stand by for orders. I also want 20k bards to accompany them to buff our strongest riders. The rest of our troops will hide in this location about 5 km to the west and ambush Breeze and Rain’s great army when the time comes."

Hickey’s mouth fell open. "But why do you want our riders to go there, boss?"

Lin Yixin chuckled. "A charge!"

I clenched my fists as I declared, "Correct. We’re going to exploit Howling Plains’ height advantage and increase our impact and attack power drastically. Can you imagine what 5 kilometers of run-up will do? I bet it’ll increase our instantaneous damage and knockback power by 100% at least! Let’s see if the Beast King Cavalry can withstand 84k trucks zooming toward them!"

Hickey grinned when she imagined the scenario. "You’re so cunning, boss!"

"Yes, yes, now get our men ready as soon as possible!"

"Yessir!"

After that, I looked to Drought Breaker and said, "Contact Flowing Cloud and tell her to guide her army to just in front of this canyon and stop there. We’ll catch Breeze and Rain’s 130k troops in a triple squeeze and hopefully crush them all in one go! One way or another, Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian will rue the day they crossed us!"

Drought Breaker said excitedly, "Understood! Your reputation is well-deserved, West King!"

"Hold it! You can praise me after we’ve won this battle!"

"..."

……

And so, 84k riders climbed up the mountain range until they were 2.5 km above sea level. Then, they spread out until it looked like a giant, horizontal line was etched onto the mountain itself. Countless players had already unsheathed their weapons in excitement. They were obviously looking forward to the upcoming battle.

As for me, I had taken to the skies to observe the battlefield from a bird’s eye point of view.

Over an hour later, I finally heard the sounds of fighting from the forest about 5 kilometers away from my location. Another short while later, countless White Horse Cavalrymen reached the agreed-upon location while covering for the squishies. Flowing Cloud was among them as well. The war goddess was currently swinging a bloody sword and shouting, "Keep moving!"

Behind them, the tidewater that was the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry was chasing after Natural Flow’s forces relentlessly. Every time someone swung a weapon, a White Horse Cavalryman would drop from their mount and die. In a direct fight, Natural Flow was far inferior to the two big guilds of Cyan Earth City. I couldn’t even see Dark Clouds’ Cheetah Cavalry anywhere anymore.

Ding! It was around this time everyone on the map received a system announcement saying that Frost Wind City had been occupied by none other than God of War himself. As predicted, God of War was able to occupy the territory with ease while Breeze and Rain was hunting down Flowing Cloud. They must’ve executed a similar ploy many times already.

Flowing Cloud looked to the north where Frost Wind City was reluctantly. "Hmph!"

……

"Here it comes!"

Ever in high spirits, Hickey abruptly raised her sword and prepared for battle.

However, I raised my hand to stop her and said, "Wait, not yet. We need to wait until most of the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry are in range. I’ve stretched my units to a line 3 kilometers long, and I don’t want the one-time super charge to go to waste!"

"Yeah."

People swarmed the foot of the mountain. The 100000-strong army that was Natural Flow was fighting and retreating while the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry were doing their utmost to cut them down. Both sides were sparing no effort to cut down one another, and this civil war was no less intense than a Nation War.

When the time was finally right, I swung my arm downward and yelled, "Full speed ahead!"

……

All 84k cavalrymen immediately took off and charged toward the enemy like dive bombers. Lin Yixin, I, Hickey and Warscar were still the point, but this time the twenty thousand plus Zephyr Cavalry was the backbone of the assault. Our objective this time was to kill as many enemies as possible. There were no holds barred because the enemy was way stronger than us.