God’s Domain? I groaned internally. This was starting to resemble Cao Cao’s escape to Huarong Pass. Ever since we had decided to make a break for it, we had been assaulted non-stop by various powerful forces with barely a moment to rest. I had no idea how many of us would be alive by the time we finally reached Ice River Canton.

I looked at the 70k Godkiller players beside me. They were tired, low on consumables, and in desperate need of repairs. Their armor was bloodied and tattered, and their blades looked like they were chewed in various places. Worse of all, their struggles had only just begun. I was a hate magnet to begin with, but here in Purple Grape City, the Japanese wanted nothing more than to swallow me whole.

Chiang!

All smiles, Lin Yixin unsheathed her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and pointed its sharp and translucent point at Cyan Frost. "Cyan Frost, an honored member of the JGL Hall of Fame. A shame that you fell to Li Chengfeng at Final Duel Valley and dropped to Level 0 a couple of weeks ago. You don’t seriously think you can beat any of us around Level 150, do you?"

Cyan Frost looked so angry that her entire face was beet-red. "Arrogant bitch! You think your shitty little army can beat mine? Dream on! Purple Grape City is the property of the Japan server. You’ll not take another step unless you kill all 50k Wildfire Riders behind me!"

Lin Yixin’s delicate shoulders and firm breasts trembled as she giggled. She said, "The Japan server’s? Unless my memory is deceiving me, Purple Grape City is the rightful property of Sophie the Snow Minstrel right now, so what does anything that happens within Purple Grape City borders have to do with you? If you’re smart, you will focus on protecting your ‘super city’, Swallow Ear Canton instead…"

Her words were like a knife through the Japanese players’ hearts. They had been gathering their strength and doing their utmost to retake Purple Grape City, but Sophie’s army was just too powerful. They couldn’t even throw their full weight against the undead castle because it would leave them open to the Chinese at White Rose Fortress. They could hardly afford to lose Swallow Ear Canton as well.

An infuriated Cyan Frost declared, "Wildfire Riders, prepare to charge! Kill this homeless trash from Iron Skull Wilderness to the last!"

Warscar, Hickey, Bloodthirsty Demon and everyone else immediately pulled out their weapons. Every player in Godkiller was unaffiliated, so unintentionally or not, Cyan Frost had deeply wounded their pride with her words. There was no way they were just going to stand there and accept the humiliation.

I too unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword while ordering, "Kill, but don’t linger! Break through them and escape toward the direction White Rose Fortress! They won’t dare to approach the Chinese army there!"

"Kill!"

After letting out a battle cry, the Viking Cavalry immediately activated Berserk and charged toward the enemy. Mounts slammed against mounts as the riders stabbed their weapons into each other’s torsos. Just like that, a melee battle had broken out in front of Final Duel Valley.

Instead of running wild like I normally did, I made sure to remain at the front and center of the party so I could catch the majority of the Wildfire Riders’ firepower, deal as much damage as possible, and reduce the pressure on my fellow allies. Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue were doing the same thing. We buffed everyone with Martial God, Bombshell and Bow God, did our best to keep the formation steady, and slowly broke through the enemy’s encirclement.

Cyan Frost’s level was too low, so she didn’t dare to engage us directly. Instead, she lingered around the edges and cut down the Zephyr Cavalrymen one by one.

The push was slow and agonizing. Every inch of ground felt like it was paved with blood. My heart ached every time a Zephyr Cavalryman fell off their mount and died.

Finally, a miracle happened. Lin Yixin’s party broke through the enemy’s defense line first and punched a hole in the encirclement. Together, we ripped apart the defense line of 50000 Wildfire Riders and escaped to the forest in front of us. The enemy was doing their utmost to consume the lower half of our formation, but we were well past the point where we might try to save everyone we could. If we turned around to rescue the rear, we were probably all going to die here.

The essence of an army is speed. For every second we spent fighting Cyan Frost, every other Japanese player who had caught wind of our location was moving toward us as well. The last thing I wanted was to be caught up by an endless tide of players and overwhelmed. We had to withdraw into Lost Forest and use both NPCs and monsters as our cover, or our 70k army would go poof just like that.

……

Hooves thundered loudly against the ground. One second we were still inside the forest, the next we were outside Lost Forest. A long stretch of plain lay in front of us, and I could even spot White Rose Fortress—a white block at the horizon—from here. Sitting on the opposite side of White Rose Fortress was the Impassable Wall, a fearsome bastion that we had once toppled. The Japanese players had rebuilt it as a matter of course. Otherwise, our players would’ve already trampled over Swallow Ear Canton a dozen times over.

"White Rose!"

Lin Yixin pointed to the west with a smile. "Let’s hide in White Rose Fortress for a bit. Even if we can’t go inside, we should be safe as long as we move to the foot of the wall. Cyan Frost and her goons wouldn’t dare hurt us there."

"Yeah!"

However, Beiming Xue looked to the east and said, "Big bro, the forest over there is shaking. I think it’s a new group of pursuers. We’re so hated…"

Her guess was spot on. A sea of flaming mounts emerged from between the trees, and they were none other than the Fiery Scale Cavalry of the second strongest guild of Japan, Era of Strife. The leader of the riders was a blade wielder and the guild leader himself, Cooper Spear. It wouldn’t be a mistake to say that we were very familiar with each other at this point. We had fought a great battle at the foot of Purple Grape City.

"Kill!"

Copper Spear roared on top of his lungs, "Kill them all! Lu Chen has finally deigned to return to our homeland, so show him no mercy and beat the shit out of him! Give him no chance to return to glory!"

The Fiery Scale Cavalry roared and moved even faster. I could feel my headache growing by the minute. As it turned out, Era of Strife hated me so much that they had mobilized almost 100k Fiery Scale Cavalrymen. Adding that to the 35k Wildfire Riders still nipping at our heels and the fact that our numbers had dwindled to less than 50k, an engagement was tantamount to suicide.

"Full speed to White Rose Fortress!"

I roared at my players before turning around and charged toward my pursuers alone. There was no way I was going to let my players be killed like cattle.

……

Era of Strife and God’s Domain’s players slowed down when they saw me facing toward them alone.

The short stand-off lasted until I saw that my players had reached the foot of White Rose Fortress. Instead of engaging the enemy, I immediately turned around and escaped. No matter how strong I was, there was no way I could fight a hundred thousand elite riders alone. That would only be assisted suicide!

Copper Spear and Cyan Frost raised their blades at almost the same time. "Kill!"

No less than 200k Japanese players chased after my back like murder. Their thirst for vengeance couldn’t be sated until they killed me, and maybe not even then.

……

Our players’ mouths fell open in astonishment as they stared at the majestic White Rose Fortress.

Warscar commented, "This city is so tall and lit! I don’t think even a cannon can crack it open!"

Hickey’s mouth twitched once as she replied, "From what I heard, this fortress had once collapsed entirely into rubble during the War of Purple Grape City."

I nodded. "That is true."

Bloodthirsty Demon was too busy staring at our pursuers and sweating bullets to care. "Is this really the time to chat? They’re right behind our backs! What do we do?"

"We enter the fortress!"

Warscar said with a laugh and galloped faster toward the fortress. When he was about 50 yards away from the walls though, arrows suddenly rained down from the walls and shocked everyone!

Chiang chiang chiang…

Warscar parried a ton of arrows before returning with less than 50% HP. He glared at the fortress and swore with frustration, "What the hammer? Why did they attack me?!"

……

On the walls, countless Chinese archers had poked out their heads to stare at us. There were players from Warsky Alliance, Snowy Cathaya, and Dragons Run Wild. In fact, more than half of the garrison troops belonged to Dragons Run Wild.

"Look at that dragon rider! That’s our Little Heavenly King Lu Chen, isn’t it?" a young archer shouted.

Beside him, a female archer was so agitated she almost cried. "Uu, it’s really Lu Chen! It’s really him! Is he finally going to come home?"

"Open the gates, quickly! Let Lu Chen in!"

……

Unfortunately, no one obeyed the cry. A player wielding a dark blade was standing atop the walls and staring down on us from above. He said loudly, "Wind Fantasy, Beiming Xue, you two can come in because you’re Chinese players. Not those unaffiliated players though!"

He was none other than the alliance leader of Dragons Run Wild, Amber Pupil.

Wearing a frosty look on her face, Lin Yixin walked up to the fortress and pointed her sword at the walls. "Who the hell do you think you are, Amber Pupil? Since when are you the commander in charge of White Rose Fortress?!"

Amber Pupil said with a smile, "Almost 30 guilds from my alliance entered White Rose Fortress just the day before yesterday. Right now, over 75% of the players guarding White Rose Fortress are from Dragons Run Wild. You tell me if I’m the commander of White Rose Fortress or not, Beauty Wind Fantasy."

Infuriated, Lin Yixin shouted, "Snowy Cathaya, get down from there and open the gate for us right now!"

A troop of Kui Dragon Cavalry about 2000 strong immediately summoned their mounts and unsheathed their weapons. They shouted, "Let’s go! Kill anyone who tries to stop us!"

Amber Pupil raged, "Shielders, form up and stop them now! Are you turning traitors, you fools? Do you not know that those are unaffiliated players? Are you going to bear the responsibility if they cause havoc in the China server?”