Countless Fire Catapults, ballistae and other siege weapons had been set up near the canyon entrance. Their objective was to annihilate the Gods of Destruction players defending it.

Twang twang twang...

Thick, heavy steel bolts sailed across the sky and penetrated the defenders’ bodies endlessly. This scene alone was gruesome enough, but it was nothing compared to the burning hell created by the burning payloads of the Fire Catapults. Countless Gods of Destruction players were rolling across the floor and screaming in pain as the fire ate away at their flesh, blood and bones.

Outside the canyon, Vienna’s Sorrow was hovering in the sky and chuckling lightly, "Heh, does this guild really think they have what it takes to stop Hero Alliance’s march?"

It was clear that the Northern Alliance had finally decided to turn serious. So eager were they to invade Sky City that even Hero Alliance had entered the battlefield.

……

Dominating Heaven Blade bore the sea of flames and fought valiantly to hold back the endless tide, but the sight of his brothers and sisters turning into pincushions or burning to death was slowly but surely getting to him.

"Boss!"

Dominating Warrior God let out a cry when a Far Shot Shock Arrow stunned him and froze him in place. The next second, a dozen or so steel bolts punched through his armor. He couldn’t have survived dozens of ballistae targeting him no matter how high his Defense was. He slid down his warhorse and joined the sea of skewered or burning corpses.

"FUCK!"

Dominating Heaven Blade looked mad enough to explode like a balloon. "How is this fair? Come fight us in melee if you dare, you northern scumbags!"

……

Unable to stand the sight any longer, I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and ordered, "Elite cavalry, follow me to destroy the enemies Fire Catapults and engage Hero Alliance! I’m aware that there are at least a hundred million players waiting for us outside, but I ask you to be fearless for our one and only home!"

I made the Ancient Divine Dragon glide across the ground as they pulled out their weapons. Suddenly, I discovered that the Ancient Divine Dragon had risen to Level 150 and entered the Awakening stage. When did this happen? Did they change the rules of the Nation War so that killing players would give experience? Nah, it was probably the stray mobs I accidentally killed when I used super AoE skills like Summon the Storm. This was good news of course. It meant that I had a new trump card up my sleeve!

I opened the Ancient Divine Dragon’s stats screen and stared at its new, Awakening stage skill—

Fusion Armor: The Ancient Divine Dragon transforms into an armor and fuses with its rider. Its hidden Defense is increased by 100%, mount tenacity becomes infinite, the rider cannot be dismounted, and the turn rate penalty is removed!

……

OMG, this Fusion Armor was absolutely OP!

The moment I raised my arm and activated Fusion Armor, the Ancient Divine Dragon immediately roared and dissolved into a shower of orange sparks. They concentrated around my Heaven-burning Armor and my Fire God Helmet before solidifying into bamboo-green armor plates. It was almost like I had put on a Divine Dragon equipment set or something. Not only that, a hexagram with the Ancient Divine Dragon’s symbol at the center appeared beneath my feet. Wherever I went, it followed.

Everyone was shocked by this sudden change. High Fighting Spirits blurted, "What the fuck? What happened to Lu Chen? Did he get possessed by his mount or something?"

He Yi nodded. "That’s not an inaccurate statement. The name of the skill is Fusion Armor!"

Gui Guzi grinned. "Whatever the case, he must be a lot stronger than before. Otherwise, it doesn’t deserve to be called a Divine Rank mount…"

……

I bent my knees a little and jumped. To my surprise, I was able to reach a height of three meters with barely any effort at all. Although I couldn’t fly in this form, the removal of the turn rate penalty more than made up for this flaw, not to mention that the Ancient Divine Dragon was a gigantic target everyone could hit in its usual form. Also, this form allowed me to execute my techniques to their max potential.

The description said that my hidden Defense was increased by 100%, but I had no idea how much that was because, well, the number was hidden. Of all the benefits the Fusion Armor afforded me though, the disappearance of the mount tenacity bar was the one I valued the most. I could no longer be dismounted, meaning that I no longer needed to fear Mountain Stagger Arrows, Ice Dragon Howls or other skills meant to reduce mounts tenacity.

Speaking of which, gusts of rainbow clouds were pushing at the soles of my feet and keeping me afloat about half a meter above the ground. No, this wasn’t flying, I was still a "land-bound" unit as far as the system was concerned. So, what was the point of this floating? Well, it ensured that no rider would have a height advantage over me. It meant that I possessed all the advantages of a foot soldier and cavalryman, but none of their disadvantages!

“Kill!"

I ran toward the enemy and moved as fast as I would’ve been riding the Ancient Divine Dragon. Tsk tsk, I am without a doubt the Usain Bolt of Heavenblessed right now!

Behind me, my 400k strong elite cavalrymen unsheathed their weapons and did their best to keep pace with me. They were literally our guild’s last melee fighters, so I’d better make this count.

……

"Ancient Sword is here!"

Dominating Heaven Blade glanced behind himself once before shouting, "Everyone, split up and let them through! Prepare to receive them when they return!"

Gods of Destruction players immediately parted ways with extraordinary discipline, making Dominating Heaven Blade look like Moses himself. I immediately noticed that Hero Alliance was rushing toward us as well. As it turned out, Vienna’s Sorrow had chosen the exact same timing as me to crush Gods of Destruction once and for all. That was fine by me. Let’s see who would come out victorious at the end of this skirmish!

The ground trembled like an earthquake. Both sides sped up even more as more speed meant more impact!

……

"Hahaha!"

A dozen or so high-level Hero Alliance riders couldn’t help but laugh when they saw me. One of them blurted, "What the hell is that foot soldier thinking joining in on a cavalry charge? Oh, my stomach! C’mon guys, it’ll be disrespectful not to fulfill this idiot’s death wish. Hmm, he’s a guild leader too. What’s this guild called? Protective Umbrella? Hahaha…"

Although their lips were curled into disdainful sneers, they didn’t treat me lightly. A couple of them concentrated their Barrier Breaks on me the moment I entered their range.

I sneered back. They obviously didn’t recognize the symbol of the Ancient Divine Dragon on my shoulder. My Purple Ying Sword burst into flames, and three swings later all the heavy cavalrymen in front of me were sent flying into the air. It was like a tank running over a fly. They were dead by the time they hit the ground.

This was just the beginning. I cast Summon the Storm next, injuring and killing countless.

Bang!

After I physically thrust myself into the middle of the enemy group and one-shot an entire row of cavalrymen, I pressed my palm against the ground and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon. For a time, countless red giant dragons burst out of the earth, killed hundreds and hundreds of Hero Alliance cavalrymen and illuminated the starry sky.

At this point, even the dullest Hero Alliance player had come to the realization that their initial prediction was completely off. In a peak battle like this, there were only two types of players who would challenge a mounted player on foot. The first one was the super noob who came all the way here just to be eaten by the warhorses. The second one was the godlike expert who thought it beneath them to challenge their enemies mounted, also known as myself.

……

Gui Guzi guffawed while giving his Spear of the Knight God a thrust at the sky. "Woohoo! Look at Boss Broken Halberd go! Time to kill, brothers and sisters! Doesn’t matter if the enemy’s the number one guild in the USA server, kill them all!"

Bang bang bang!

Finally, the Dragonlight Cavalry and the Hero Alliance’s ace cavalrymen clashed against one another and swung their weapons at the enemy in front of them with all their might. In general, Hero Alliance’s elite cavalry was better than the Beast King Cavalry, but only slightly. As a result, the Dragonlight Cavalry easily knocked them backward and sent them stumbling into their own teammates.

High Fighting Spirits screamed like a madman and dashed into a group of enemies with a Whirlwind Slash. The next moment, the Xiezhi Howl exploded and threw a ton of bodies into the air. While Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, and Xu Yang pressed the knife deeper into the enemy’s flesh, our beautiful guild leader, He Yi was swinging her Godslaying Blade repeatedly and teaching everyone why the S3 set she was wearing was to be feared. There was nothing the enemy could throw that could rattle her one bit.

For the first time since the war began, Hero Alliance realized just how big of a power gap there was between the Dragonlight Cavalry and them. There was a reason the Dragonlight Cavalry was renowned as the strongest cavalry in the world, and the Brave General Horseshoes had widened the gap even further than it already had been. Moreover, we were no longer the small, mobile force of 10k+ that had to be used sparingly like in the past. With a total cavalry count of 40k+, there was no longer any cavalry in the world that we couldn’t crush head-on, and Northern Alliance’s aces were no exception.

……

"Dammit!"

Vienna’s Sorrow roared angrily before descending from the sky. He fired a well-timed blade aura into our midst, and at least a dozen low-health Dragonlight Cavalry were deleted from existence. The Dragonlight Cavalry were strong, but the dragon rider was on a whole ‘nother level.

Not done yet, he turned his wrist and shouted, "Ultimate Strength Break!"

Boom!

The sword aura poured into another group of Dragonlight Cavalry, and a terrifying sight took place before our eyes. Vienna’s Sorrow had temporarily boosted his Strength with Iron Arm Reinforcement before casting the skill, so not even the Dragonlight Cavalry’s current Strength was enough to save their own lives—

382400!

321040!

359880!

……

The whole group was one-shot just like that. Iron Arm Reinforcement boosted its user’s Strength by 70%, and while the skill was active Vienna’s Sorrow total Strength was even higher than mine. Even Li Chengfeng couldn’t help but gape in shock. "How the fuck did he do so much damage to the Warrior class? Where the hell did he get so much Strength?"

It was clear that we had to take out Vienna now, or all our hopes and dreams could come apart in this very fight!

I took a couple of steps in Vienna’s direction and stabbed an enemy cavalryman in the neck. Then, I stepped on his shoulder and jumped high enough to catch one of the black dragon’s talons!

Not waiting for Vienna’s Sorrow to react to my sudden assault, I raised the Purple Ying Sword and stabbed the black dragon in the leg. Then, I climbed over its back like a lightning-fast lizard before firing Burning Blade Slash straight at its head. At the same time, I crouched lower and attempted to sweep Vienna’s Sorrow off his feet with a leg sweep.

"Motherfucker!"

Vienna’s Sorrow couldn’t believe my audacity, or the amount of mount tenacity he just lost. He immediately retaliated with a lightning-fast, undodgeable Inferno Sixtuple Slash!

Bang bang bang…

I was forced backward by the flurry skill, but Battle Astral Wind prevented me from taking damage. Next, I grabbed onto the black dragon’s horn and slashed three or four times at its eyes. The creature screeched in pain before falling toward the ground.

……

Anger reaching its peak, Vienna’s Sorrow destroyed my Battle Astral Wind with his Penetration of the Deep and canceled his mount. Then, catching my cloak in one hand, he started hacking and kicking at me like a madman. Of course, I repaid the favor by punching him below the chin again and again. We kept fighting even though we were falling from the sky!