There were about twenty minutes of relative peace when a new group of mobs started appearing from the hilltops. They were crimson-colored leopards staring at the fortress with hungry eyes. I wouldn’t be surprised if we looked like flat slabs of meat to them.
"The third wave consists of beasts called the Devil Blood Mad Leopards. They’re Level 307 fiend-rank mobs…"
I muttered quietly before asking, "Oh right, did we find out who killed the second wave boss, and what the loot was yet?"
Li Chengfeng nodded. "Flowing Cloud was the one who killed it, and I heard that it dropped a Sacred Armament mage cloak that’s better than a standard Ancient Immortal-grade cloak. It was given to Lui Lok. Yep, it’s the guy with the Scepter of Divine Flame. Sigh, his Magic Attack is going to be even scarier now…"
I shrugged. "Eh, it’s not as bad as you think."
Li Chengfeng looked surprised. "Can you elaborate?"
I looked in the direction of Natural Flow and started, "It’s simple. Lui Lok with the Scepter of Divine Flame is without a doubt a cannoneer that even I’m wary of. However, a super mage is only scary if he is protected by circles upon circles of unbreachable walls. Here’s the problem. Natural Flow’s current strategy is to to snipe their enemies from afar with the Dragon Punisher Archers—which is perfectly fine, mind you—but their White Horse Cavalry is now outdated compared to the Dragonlight Cavalry or even the Gold Cavalry. How can they protect their prized cannoneer then? Just watch. It is only a matter of time before Lui Lok loses his Scepter of Divine Flame.
“The Twelve Divine Armaments are actually cursed weapons. Even if you are a godlike player, there’s no way you can keep one unless you have a powerful guild to support you. Why do you think we have the Chill of the Nine Provinces, the Ghostblade Halberd and the Xuanming Bow, but no one ever dares to raid us for our weapons? It’s because we have 100000 unrivaled Dragonlight Cavalrymen!"
I wasn’t planning on motivating my men, but my explanation got them excited anyway. High Fighting Spirits even raised his new battle axe shouted, "That’s right! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ cavalry is unrivaled in this world!"
Everyone else did the same thing. "That’s right, we are unrivaled in this world, hahahaha…"
I huffed. "Now, now, don’t give an inch and take a mile. Anyway, let’s cut the chatter now and prepare for the third wave. We already lost a ton of people during the second wave, and the next wave is almost certainly going to be worse."
"Mn!"
"Form up and assume the Guard stance. Make sure you’re fully buffed. We must ensure that no harm comes to our Sky City ruler, Princess Karinshan."
……
Suddenly, the Devil Blood Mad Leopards started howling from every direction. They might be named leopards, but these bastards were as big as a goddamn yak. If it was me, I wouldn’t even categorize them under the Felidae family. They would be as ferocious as a lion king and as fast as lightning. This wouldn’t be an easy battle.
Buzz…
As it turned out, the Mad Leopards weren’t howling just because their throats were itchy. An intimidating figure covered in cyan-colored frost and wielding a sword descended from the dark clouds, and he was none other than the avatar of Coldblade the Infinite Storm himself. Yes, the man standing on the clouds wasn’t the real Coldblade, just an image he had created to taunt us with. He let out an evil laugh before saying, "Go, my cute little kitties. Show them your strength and kill all those who dares to resist me. Flatten this miniscule fortress so I may capture Karinshan alive and make her realize the sweetness of womanhood on my soft bed, hahahaha…"
On the watchtower, Karinshan’s sword hand turned white with exertion, and her entire body was shaking with fury.
Beside her, Ziyan unsheathed her sword and declared, "That vile monster! I’ll tear him to pieces myself!"
However, Karinshan placed a hand on Ziyan’s wrist and said, "Calm down. That thing is but a false image of Coldblade. You know better than to fall for such a simple tactic."
Sophia nodded approvingly. "Yes, we should be calm. Even if that is Coldblade, remember that our goal here is to destroy all of the undead fortresses they have constructed on this land, not to kill him. Xue Wei, are Lady Xinran and Lady Sophie still on the way?"
Shadow Dancer Xue Wei answered respectfully, "Yes, Your Majesty."
"Then we wait still and see how strong Coldblade’s legions really are. Thankfully, our adventurer legions are no weaklings…" Sophia said with a hint of pride while watching the players surrounding the city. Clearly, they were the true main force against the devils.
……
"Here it comes!"
The crimson on the hilltops churned as one, and the Devil Blood Mad Leopards raced down the mountain ridges with unbelievable speed. Their numbers were innumerable, they resembled an unstoppable tide, and their roars shook the earth itself. It was such an intimidating scene that some of the players on the walls were even shaking with fear. "This is stupid, how the fuck are we going to beat this many high-level fiend-rank mobs? Are we going to wipe and lose our levels again? I don’t wanna…"
On the ground, He Yi ordered, "Raise shields and Guard! Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers, shoot together when the mob is within 200 yards! Do whatever you can to reduce the impact on our Dragonlight Cavalry! Lu Chen, show us its stats and skills as soon as you can!"
I had been switching Dark Pupils on and off since the very beginning, but the mobs were too far away for the skill to capture anything. It wasn’t until they neared 1000 yards when I finally captured their stat screen and shared it in the guild channel—
Devil Blood Mad Leopard (Fiend)
Level: 307
Attack: 51,000~61,200
Defense: 65,000
HP: 5,200,000
Skills: Bite, Devour, Stormwind Blood Claw
Introduction: A devilized undead creature. The Mad Leopards were fearsome animals that lived deep within the forests. They were pack animals who possessed incredible perception and fearsome speed. It was why they had been the kings of the jungle until Coldblade the Infinite Storm tamed them. The Devil Blood Mad Leopards had now transcended the level of mere beasts and became sky-piercing monsters that can put even Sword Saints on their toes.
……
I frowned deeply as I warned in the guild channel, "You guys see this? Bite and Devour are common for beast-type monsters, but this Stormwind Blood Claw is absolutely an AoE skill, so watch out. All units, get up the walls unless you’re a Dragonlight Cavalryman. When the Devil Blood Mad Leopards come close, try to stun and kill them before they even get close to our melee fighters. We may sustain heavy losses otherwise…"
Everyone nodded in unison. Lian Xin and Beiming Xue responded at the same time, "Don’t worry, big bro!"
Surprisingly, Li Chengfeng answered jokingly, "Good to hear, girls. Kakaka!"
The girls spoke in chorus again, "Pooh! We’re not talking to you, shameless man!"
Li Chengfeng shrank a little before complaining, "I’m your elder, you know? Kids these days have no respect for their elders at all. You need to teach your little sisters some discipline, Lu Chen…"
I answered, "Sure, we’ll talk about that later. For now, we spank the kitties right in front of us first. On that note, Chengfeng, Eve, Little Gui, the four of us are going to fight around 20 to 30 yards in front of the walls and attract as many Devil Blood Mad Leopards to ourselves. It’s just far enough to reduce the pressure on our Dragonlight Cavalry, but not so far that our priests can’t reach us even with Far Shot. Levels aren’t easy to grind after all. Let’s reduce our losses as much as possible, okay?"
Li Chengfeng nodded. "Understood!"
The Dragonlight Cavalry kept quiet, but there was a layer of newfound respect in their eyes. Players joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls because one, we were the strongest guild in the world, and two, the executive-level players cared for the common players too. Our bond was the foundation that kept the guild strong.
……
"Roar roar roar…"
Still howling, the humongous leopards came within melee range in almost no time at all. Everyone including the players of the other guilds raised their weapons and prepared to face down the mobs. The Devil Blood Mad Leopards were so intimidating that some players looked like they might pee their pants. There were definitely some female players crying out loud, "I’m not choosing a melee character next time…"
I stood about 25 yards away from my formation and waited for the first group of mobs to hit me. Li Chengfeng, He Yi and Gui Guzi landed their dragons on the ground some distance away from me as well. Hovering in the air could prevent the mobs from hitting us, but that would defeat the entire purpose of our actions. We were among the tankiest players in the guild. If even we wouldn’t take a bullet for the team, then no one would.
Thud!
I crouched down and placed my hand on the hot and slightly wet soil. The ground trembled a little, and a gigantic, golden-colored hexagram appeared beneath my feet. The moment the Devil Blood Mad Leopards hit us, I abruptly released Rise of the Guardian Dragon, said goodbye to 1000 gold and watched a seemingly endless amount of dragons bursting out of the earth and damaging the mobs. Some unfortunate mobs even ate multiple critical hits and were one-shot. It was a shame the skill didn’t carry my splash effect. After all, the weapon wasn’t swung when casting Rise of the Guardian Dragon, so its splash effect didn’t take effect as well.
Countless Devil Blood Mad Leopards were pulled toward me as a result of the skill. At least 8 of them were using Bite and Devour on me, dealing around 30 to 80k damage per hit. I responded by stomping the ground with War Crush and cutting them down with Burning Blade Slash. I’m an expert at fighting fire with fire, so bring it on!
On the walls, the archers and mages also fired their offensive skills on the mobs and killed as many of them as possible before they reached our players. It wasn’t long before the fortress became embroiled in war once more. The Devil Blood Mad Leopards were here to destroy us, and we were here to gather their bodies for contribution points. In that sense, we were both getting what we wanted.
It took about 7 seconds, but the mobs finally showed me their third skill, Stormwind Blood Claw!
Three Devil Blood Mad Leopards raised their claws and nearly the same time, enveloped them in some sort of blood energy, and penetrated my armor and my body with ease. Not only that, the energy claw continued growing in size and traveling until it ravaged the ground behind me, dealing damage in a cone-shaped area. The good news was that there was no one directly behind me. The bad news was that the skill did a ton of damage—
210,283!
193,287!
213,344!
……
If even I took that much damage, then the other players could only do worse.
I looked back and saw an enormous amount of Devil Blood Mad Leopards charging toward the frontmost Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Whenever they cast Stormwind Blood Claw, my players would take between 300k to 700k damage. The AoE skills overlapped with one another, and almost a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen were dead before the priests could heal them. Once again, if we were doing this poorly, the other guilds could only do worse.
I couldn’t help but let out a sigh. Coldblade was definitely a lot stronger than the time I had fought him. His lackeys alone were giving us one hell of a bad time…
There were about twenty minutes of relative peace when a new group of mobs started appearing from the hilltops. They were crimson-colored leopards staring at the fortress with hungry eyes. I wouldn’t be surprised if we looked like flat slabs of meat to them.
"The third wave consists of beasts called the Devil Blood Mad Leopards. They’re Level 307 fiend-rank mobs…"
I muttered quietly before asking, "Oh right, did we find out who killed the second wave boss, and what the loot was yet?"
Li Chengfeng nodded. "Flowing Cloud was the one who killed it, and I heard that it dropped a Sacred Armament mage cloak that’s better than a standard Ancient Immortal-grade cloak. It was given to Lui Lok. Yep, it’s the guy with the Scepter of Divine Flame. Sigh, his Magic Attack is going to be even scarier now…"
I shrugged. "Eh, it’s not as bad as you think."
Li Chengfeng looked surprised. "Can you elaborate?"
I looked in the direction of Natural Flow and started, "It’s simple. Lui Lok with the Scepter of Divine Flame is without a doubt a cannoneer that even I’m wary of. However, a super mage is only scary if he is protected by circles upon circles of unbreachable walls. Here’s the problem. Natural Flow’s current strategy is to to snipe their enemies from afar with the Dragon Punisher Archers—which is perfectly fine, mind you—but their White Horse Cavalry is now outdated compared to the Dragonlight Cavalry or even the Gold Cavalry. How can they protect their prized cannoneer then? Just watch. It is only a matter of time before Lui Lok loses his Scepter of Divine Flame.
“The Twelve Divine Armaments are actually cursed weapons. Even if you are a godlike player, there’s no way you can keep one unless you have a powerful guild to support you. Why do you think we have the Chill of the Nine Provinces, the Ghostblade Halberd and the Xuanming Bow, but no one ever dares to raid us for our weapons? It’s because we have 100000 unrivaled Dragonlight Cavalrymen!"
I wasn’t planning on motivating my men, but my explanation got them excited anyway. High Fighting Spirits even raised his new battle axe shouted, "That’s right! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ cavalry is unrivaled in this world!"
Everyone else did the same thing. "That’s right, we are unrivaled in this world, hahahaha…"
I huffed. "Now, now, don’t give an inch and take a mile. Anyway, let’s cut the chatter now and prepare for the third wave. We already lost a ton of people during the second wave, and the next wave is almost certainly going to be worse."
"Mn!"
"Form up and assume the Guard stance. Make sure you’re fully buffed. We must ensure that no harm comes to our Sky City ruler, Princess Karinshan."
……
Suddenly, the Devil Blood Mad Leopards started howling from every direction. They might be named leopards, but these bastards were as big as a goddamn yak. If it was me, I wouldn’t even categorize them under the Felidae family. They would be as ferocious as a lion king and as fast as lightning. This wouldn’t be an easy battle.
Buzz…
As it turned out, the Mad Leopards weren’t howling just because their throats were itchy. An intimidating figure covered in cyan-colored frost and wielding a sword descended from the dark clouds, and he was none other than the avatar of Coldblade the Infinite Storm himself. Yes, the man standing on the clouds wasn’t the real Coldblade, just an image he had created to taunt us with. He let out an evil laugh before saying, "Go, my cute little kitties. Show them your strength and kill all those who dares to resist me. Flatten this miniscule fortress so I may capture Karinshan alive and make her realize the sweetness of womanhood on my soft bed, hahahaha…"
On the watchtower, Karinshan’s sword hand turned white with exertion, and her entire body was shaking with fury.
Beside her, Ziyan unsheathed her sword and declared, "That vile monster! I’ll tear him to pieces myself!"
However, Karinshan placed a hand on Ziyan’s wrist and said, "Calm down. That thing is but a false image of Coldblade. You know better than to fall for such a simple tactic."
Sophia nodded approvingly. "Yes, we should be calm. Even if that is Coldblade, remember that our goal here is to destroy all of the undead fortresses they have constructed on this land, not to kill him. Xue Wei, are Lady Xinran and Lady Sophie still on the way?"
Shadow Dancer Xue Wei answered respectfully, "Yes, Your Majesty."
"Then we wait still and see how strong Coldblade’s legions really are. Thankfully, our adventurer legions are no weaklings…" Sophia said with a hint of pride while watching the players surrounding the city. Clearly, they were the true main force against the devils.
……
"Here it comes!"
The crimson on the hilltops churned as one, and the Devil Blood Mad Leopards raced down the mountain ridges with unbelievable speed. Their numbers were innumerable, they resembled an unstoppable tide, and their roars shook the earth itself. It was such an intimidating scene that some of the players on the walls were even shaking with fear. "This is stupid, how the fuck are we going to beat this many high-level fiend-rank mobs? Are we going to wipe and lose our levels again? I don’t wanna…"
On the ground, He Yi ordered, "Raise shields and Guard! Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers, shoot together when the mob is within 200 yards! Do whatever you can to reduce the impact on our Dragonlight Cavalry! Lu Chen, show us its stats and skills as soon as you can!"
I had been switching Dark Pupils on and off since the very beginning, but the mobs were too far away for the skill to capture anything. It wasn’t until they neared 1000 yards when I finally captured their stat screen and shared it in the guild channel—
Devil Blood Mad Leopard (Fiend)
Level: 307
Attack: 51,000~61,200
Defense: 65,000
HP: 5,200,000
Skills: Bite, Devour, Stormwind Blood Claw
Introduction: A devilized undead creature. The Mad Leopards were fearsome animals that lived deep within the forests. They were pack animals who possessed incredible perception and fearsome speed. It was why they had been the kings of the jungle until Coldblade the Infinite Storm tamed them. The Devil Blood Mad Leopards had now transcended the level of mere beasts and became sky-piercing monsters that can put even Sword Saints on their toes.
……
I frowned deeply as I warned in the guild channel, "You guys see this? Bite and Devour are common for beast-type monsters, but this Stormwind Blood Claw is absolutely an AoE skill, so watch out. All units, get up the walls unless you’re a Dragonlight Cavalryman. When the Devil Blood Mad Leopards come close, try to stun and kill them before they even get close to our melee fighters. We may sustain heavy losses otherwise…"
Everyone nodded in unison. Lian Xin and Beiming Xue responded at the same time, "Don’t worry, big bro!"
Surprisingly, Li Chengfeng answered jokingly, "Good to hear, girls. Kakaka!"
The girls spoke in chorus again, "Pooh! We’re not talking to you, shameless man!"
Li Chengfeng shrank a little before complaining, "I’m your elder, you know? Kids these days have no respect for their elders at all. You need to teach your little sisters some discipline, Lu Chen…"
I answered, "Sure, we’ll talk about that later. For now, we spank the kitties right in front of us first. On that note, Chengfeng, Eve, Little Gui, the four of us are going to fight around 20 to 30 yards in front of the walls and attract as many Devil Blood Mad Leopards to ourselves. It’s just far enough to reduce the pressure on our Dragonlight Cavalry, but not so far that our priests can’t reach us even with Far Shot. Levels aren’t easy to grind after all. Let’s reduce our losses as much as possible, okay?"
Li Chengfeng nodded. "Understood!"
The Dragonlight Cavalry kept quiet, but there was a layer of newfound respect in their eyes. Players joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls because one, we were the strongest guild in the world, and two, the executive-level players cared for the common players too. Our bond was the foundation that kept the guild strong.
……
"Roar roar roar…"
Still howling, the humongous leopards came within melee range in almost no time at all. Everyone including the players of the other guilds raised their weapons and prepared to face down the mobs. The Devil Blood Mad Leopards were so intimidating that some players looked like they might pee their pants. There were definitely some female players crying out loud, "I’m not choosing a melee character next time…"
I stood about 25 yards away from my formation and waited for the first group of mobs to hit me. Li Chengfeng, He Yi and Gui Guzi landed their dragons on the ground some distance away from me as well. Hovering in the air could prevent the mobs from hitting us, but that would defeat the entire purpose of our actions. We were among the tankiest players in the guild. If even we wouldn’t take a bullet for the team, then no one would.
Thud!
I crouched down and placed my hand on the hot and slightly wet soil. The ground trembled a little, and a gigantic, golden-colored hexagram appeared beneath my feet. The moment the Devil Blood Mad Leopards hit us, I abruptly released Rise of the Guardian Dragon, said goodbye to 1000 gold and watched a seemingly endless amount of dragons bursting out of the earth and damaging the mobs. Some unfortunate mobs even ate multiple critical hits and were one-shot. It was a shame the skill didn’t carry my splash effect. After all, the weapon wasn’t swung when casting Rise of the Guardian Dragon, so its splash effect didn’t take effect as well.
Countless Devil Blood Mad Leopards were pulled toward me as a result of the skill. At least 8 of them were using Bite and Devour on me, dealing around 30 to 80k damage per hit. I responded by stomping the ground with War Crush and cutting them down with Burning Blade Slash. I’m an expert at fighting fire with fire, so bring it on!
On the walls, the archers and mages also fired their offensive skills on the mobs and killed as many of them as possible before they reached our players. It wasn’t long before the fortress became embroiled in war once more. The Devil Blood Mad Leopards were here to destroy us, and we were here to gather their bodies for contribution points. In that sense, we were both getting what we wanted.
It took about 7 seconds, but the mobs finally showed me their third skill, Stormwind Blood Claw!
Three Devil Blood Mad Leopards raised their claws and nearly the same time, enveloped them in some sort of blood energy, and penetrated my armor and my body with ease. Not only that, the energy claw continued growing in size and traveling until it ravaged the ground behind me, dealing damage in a cone-shaped area. The good news was that there was no one directly behind me. The bad news was that the skill did a ton of damage—
210,283!
193,287!
213,344!
……
If even I took that much damage, then the other players could only do worse.
I looked back and saw an enormous amount of Devil Blood Mad Leopards charging toward the frontmost Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Whenever they cast Stormwind Blood Claw, my players would take between 300k to 700k damage. The AoE skills overlapped with one another, and almost a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen were dead before the priests could heal them. Once again, if we were doing this poorly, the other guilds could only do worse.
I couldn’t help but let out a sigh. Coldblade was definitely a lot stronger than the time I had fought him. His lackeys alone were giving us one hell of a bad time…
