A small breeze mixed with the scent of flowers was blowing gently across the forest of Thunder Mountain Range.

Flap flap flap...

However, a flock of birds resting peacefully atop the trees sensed something and took off in panic. Not a moment too soon, a troop of cavalrymen clad in tattered armor galloped through the area like the wind. Following right behind them was a large band of foot soldiers, archers, mages and more.

"Hah, hah, hah…"

Hands trembling a little from exertion and breathing heavily, Bloodthirsty Demon swore loudly, "That son of a bitch God of War! He just won’t stop biting at our heels like a mad dog! Has he gone crazy? How many more people will he kill until he’s satisfied?"

Hickey said with a frown, "I’ve ordered one thousand archers to set up an ambush in this area and cover our retreat. We need to move fast though. Purple Grape City is just ahead of us. Even God of War will have to restrain himself once we cross through the border."

I nodded. "Yiyi, Beiming and I will stay behind with the archers. Warscar, Hickey, Bloodthirsty Demon, I trust you three to lead our men safely across the hills. Now go!"

"Yes, guild leader!"

We had been losing people non-stop since the battle began. At this point, I could say with confidence that we paid too big a price to help Flowing Cloud occupy Frost Wind City. On the other hand, this was an experience Godkiller absolutely needed to truly evolve from a collective of noobs to a group of professionals, so it wasn’t all that bad. They would never be more than just a roaming band of ragtags otherwise.

……

Rustle rustle...

I didn’t want to dismount, but I still wished to stay hidden. Seemingly sensing my intentions, the Ancient Divine Dragon lay as low as possible and only raised its head just high enough to scan the surroundings.

"Heehee…"

Lying next to me atop the Moonchaser Tiger, Lin Yixin gave the Ancient Divine Dragon’s head a rub before saying, "Long time no see, little dragon. He’s still at the adult stage, right Lu Chen? When will it enter the awakening stage? I can’t wait to see how it looks as a draconic armor!"

I chuckled. "Not anytime soon, I’m afraid. I’ve been grinding non-stop for the past couple of days, but it still hasn’t reached Level 130. The level to enter the awakening stage is 150, and I can’t even imagine how much more experience it will take to reach that level. I imagine that we will have to grind the S3 and S4 instances many times before it happens."

The beautiful girl nodded before jumping off the Moonchaser Tiger’s back and landing on top of the Ancient Divine Dragon. As if by instinct, I snaked an arm around her waist and enjoyed the sensation of her shockingly firm and bouncy breasts, and her round butt pressing up against my thighs. Thank goodness I couldn’t see what was below her battle garment, or blood would be spewing out of my nose right now.

She looked at me with a small smile on her face. "When you return to the China server, let’s conquer S3 and S4 with you, me, Sister Eve, Sister Mingyue, and Beiming or Lian Xin in one try, shall we?"

It was a nice dream, but I knew better than to look forward to it. Feeling a bit deflated, I said softly, "If I can return to the China server, then sure. Right now, the investigation on Tang Long is at a standstill, and there are too many people who are involved in this corruption. Tang Long’s nephew, Amber Pupil, had also occupied part of Black Coast after forming Dragons Run Wild. I know he’s just keeping me from returning to the Center."

Lin Yixin blinked her big eyes and shot me a reassuring smile. "Don’t worry about it too much. The truth is there for all to see, and all dark clouds pass eventually."

"Yeah."

It was at this moment that a chorus of thundering hooves appeared from the distance. A while later, God of War and tens of thousands of Beast King and Divine Elephant Cavalrymen appeared to be riding toward our ambush location.

"Get ready, everyone! Prepare to kill the Beast King Cavalry with Shock Arrows and Spiraling Arrow Blades!"

I barked out orders at the 1000 archers who stayed behind and pulled out the Purple Ying Sword. Everyone drew their bowstrings and waited for the moment to arrive. Lin Yixin had also returned to the Moonchaser Tiger’s back and unsheathed her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword, ready to do battle at a moment’s notice.

"Big brother…"

Suddenly, Beiming Xue called out to me softly.

"Yes, Beiming?"

"I only have less than 40 Divine Energy Points left. Should I use Well of the Abyss or Great Earth Transformation? I can’t do both at the same time, or I’ll run out of Divine Energy Points in just a couple of minutes."

"Great Earth Transformation for the damage increase. Here, take another 5 Fire War God Cards with you. You too, Yiyi. Don’t use them all too quickly, okay? We need to buy as much time as possible for our players to escape to Purple Grape City. It’ll be incredibly troublesome if too many people die within Elephant City borders. Judging from how ruthless God of War is, it’s not impossible that he’d have a rotation of players camping our players for eternity. That would be the worst-case scenario."

"Alright then, Great Earth Transformation it is. Thanks for the cards, heehee!"

The girls and I used a Fire War God Card each, boosting our Attack, Defense and HP all at once. This card truly was one of, if not the most powerful item in open-world PvP!

……

"Kill!"

I cried out and made the Ancient Divine Dragon glide toward the enemy. At the same time, I summoned both my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King. Speaking of which, my apparition could also use Summon the Storm, but it couldn’t use Rise of the Guardian Dragon because it technically didn’t carry any gold with it. I would truly be unbeatable if that wasn’t the case.

The two Summon the Storm and Beiming Xue’s Skypiercer instantly annihilated an entire group of Beast King Cavalry. However, the enemy was so numerous and fast that the riders at the back and the sides instantly caught up to us and engaged us in melee!

Chiang!

I shattered a shield with the Purple Ying Sword before thrusting it right through the neck of a Beast King Cavalryman. I was close enough to see both the shock and the helplessness in his eyes. Then, I executed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo, killing not only him but also many players behind him.

Glowing with the light of Great Earth Transformation, Lin Yixin rode fearlessly into the enemy troops and killed countless with her sword. Ice Flame Slash here, Ice Storm there, and the Ice Dragon Kris spitting fiery death from above, her DPS wasn’t too far behind mine at all. Moreover, not only could the enemy cavalry not attack the flying dragon, its dragon scales made it immune to the immobilizing effects of the Trapping Net completely. God of War was absolutely not happy about this at all.

……

At the same time, a rain of arrows flew out of the forest and stunned the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry. It stalled the enemy’s speed and charge.

"Motherfucker!"

God of War let out a furious cry before charging into the forest with several thousand Beast King Cavalrymen and killing the panicked archers.

In just the blink of an eye, all 1000 Godkiller archers had turned into dead bodies on the ground. I gritted my teeth, but I would be lying if I said I hadn’t expected this outcome from the beginning.

I checked the time and noted that we had delayed the enemy for 20 whole minutes. I immediately shouted, "Yiyi, Beiming, let’s go! We’re done here!"

"Yeah!"

Both girls began pulling out of the battlefield at high speed. Since they both had Great Earth Transformation on, and their ability to weave between the trees and dodge the Trapping Nets were top-notch, the Beast King Cavalry ultimately weren’t able to stop them.

……

Swhoosh!

I fired God Binding Art straight at the speeding God of War and successfully immobilized him for 12 seconds. The guy was so focused on one-shotting Beiming Xue that he lost track of me and gave me the opportunity to land my CC skill. 12 seconds was more than enough time for a speedster on steroids like Beiming Xue to escape to safety.

We quickly slipped deeper into the forest. Less than ten minutes later, we successfully shook off our pursuers and rushed to the agreed upon coordinates.

Rustle rustle...

We were shocked by what we saw when we burst out of the forest and arrived at a clearing, however. The ground was covered in bodies, arrows and magical flames. It was clear that a terrible battle had taken place here during the time we were gone. Less than 30% of the bodies were Beast King Cavalry’s, making it clear that our forces had been intercepted by another enemy detachment while we were gone, and lost. Without Beiming Xue, Lin Yixin and me, the Zephyr Cavalry lacked the ability to defeat the Beast King Cavalry in a head-on clash.

Beep!

It was at this moment Warscar sent me a message: "We’ve passed through Thunder Mountain Range and entered Purple Grape City domain, boss. Come quickly! Also, we were attacked by Breeze and Rain and his ten thousand riders during the last stretch of our journey, that hammer damned bastard!"

I replied, "Good. Stay there and wait for me to come to you. I should be there in five minutes. Where is Breeze and Rain and his men? Are they still on your tail?"

"No, they’ve either withdrawn or are making their way into Purple Grape City through another path to continue their pursuit…"

"Never mind then. We’re coming!"

"Okay!"

……

A few minutes later, Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue and I crossed over a certain line and received a system notification saying that we had entered Purple Grape City domain. It truly had been a while since I came here. I took in the sight of the lush forest in front of me while immersing myself in memories for a bit. Just half a month ago, I had fought alone against an entire server and came out victorious. Today, I had returned with an army with me, however ragtag it might be. Even I couldn’t quite describe the complex feelings I was feeling right now...

It was at the foot of a nearby mountain that we met up with Hickey, Warscar, Bloodthirsty Demon and the rest of the Godkiller. There three were the core of the guild and the decision makers when I wasn’t around.

"The guild leader is back!"

Hickey beamed after she spotted me, "I knew that God of War won’t be able to keep the Little Heavenly King down…"

I shot her a grin while walking up to them, "So? Have you sent out the scouts and checked the surroundings? It’s not too dangerous, is it?"

"For now at least, we are in the clear."

Hickey blinked once before asking, "So, where do we travel next, boss? Do we go through Final Duel Valley or Lost Forest?"

I answered without hesitation, "We go through Lost Forest. Final Duel Valley is way too dangerous, and I have no intentions of letting any of you drop to Level 0. It just isn’t worth it! Our current destination is Ice River Canton. Ice River Canton had never been restored after the Nation War, and the Japanese players hadn’t had the energy to manage it. This is also the perfect time to check if there’s a neutral camp somewhere that we can use as a temporary supply spot."

"Yeah."

……

Our numbers had shrunk drastically compared to what they had been at the beginning. After all the battles we had gone through, our 300k-strong army had shrunk to less than 70k. There were many players stuck at various graveyards in Elephant City and unable to revive, although some did find the opportunity to do so and log out of the game. They had no plans to return to the game until everything was safe again. As the saying went, while the green hills last, there'll be wood to burn.

"Wait…" Suddenly, I raised an arm and brought my troops to a halt. It was because I saw through Dark Pupils that a large clump of red dots had appeared in front of us.

There were forest birds flying into the air as if they had been startled as well. It was obviously an ambush.

Warscar took a step forward, brandished his war axe and shouted, "Show your face!"

……

The leaves shook, and a beautiful woman and a huge group of red names emerged from behind the foliage. Their nation emblem marked them as Japanese, and the woman was none other than the vice leader of God’s Domain, Cyan Frost the Ice Knight!

"Long time no see, Lu Chen. What’s wrong? Are you homesick?"

Cyan Frost shot me a small but murderous smile.