"Elegy, I don't think those guys from the Blood Reaver Corps will come back. After all, we've bolstered the defenses of the Mona Stronghold so much. Since they failed to slaughter their way in here the first time, I don't think they stand a chance next time," a Thief in black leather armour said. He was a fairly slim man in his 30s. He also wasn't very tall, standing about half a head shorter than Elegy and the others around him.
This Thief was called Ashen One. He was once one of the top few players in Asskickers United. Everyone had paid close attention to him initially, because he was pulling far ahead of the pack in terms of skill. But as time went on and others continued to progress, he stagnated until finally others caught up to him. Even so, his words still carried some influence in the guild.
"Yeah, Elegy. What's there to be so scared about? The Blood Reaver Corps only has 60 players. There's no way they can take down the Mona Stronghold," a Warrior chimed in.
"Watchful Snail told us to keep guard here. Those are the orders," Paladin of the Elegy said. He had to admit that the words Ashen One and the others spoke made sense. However, they could respond to any development quickly by staying here. If anything happened to the other strongholds in Moonlight City, they could rush over immediately. The Blood Reaver Corps was likely still lurking nearby.
As they chatted, a report suddenly came in. The Mona Stronghold's walls were under attack!
Paladin of the Elegy, Tyrannical, and the others looked over in the distance, only to see huge flying mounts in the sky. There were Devil Owls, Dark Wind Serpents, and so on. The largest among them was a black dragon over five meters tall. It was covered in black scales which sparkled brilliantly under the sunlight.
"Did they summon flying mounts in their previous attack?" Paladin of the Elegy asked.
"No, they didn't summon anything!"
Paladin of the Elegy knitted his brows. He immediately ordered, "It looks like they're serious this time. Activate all our defenses! Arrow towers, cannons, shoot them down!"
"My god, they have at least 20 flying mounts!"
As the flying mounts dived down from the sky, the players in the Mona Stronghold descended into a panic. The arrow towers and cannons all started firing, launching a fierce counter assault.
Receiving the reports from the second assault on the Mona Stronghold, Guo Huai immediately contacted Nie Yan.
「Can they hold out?」Nie Yan asked, as he opened up the live feed of the battle in the Mona Stronghold.
「I think there shouldn't be a problem. We've prepared so much defensive measures. I can't say for sure, though. Maybe the Blood Reaver Corps still has a kill-move hidden up their sleeves.」
「Worst comes to worst, abandon the stronghold,」Nie Yan said. It was just an ordinary stronghold. Losing it was no big deal.
「If we abandon the Mona Stronghold, won't that affect our reputation?」Guo Huai asked.
「It won't. It's just an ordinary stronghold,」Nie Yan said. He was fairly calm about this matter.
After hanging up the call, Nie Yan couldn't help but feel somewhat uneasy. Just what was the Blood Reaver Corps trying to accomplish? He smelled something fishy.
Even if the Mona Stronghold was lost, it was just a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of strongholds under Asskickers United's control. However, if the other side had an ulterior motive, this matter wouldn't end so simply.
No matter what, Nie Yan's main priority was to get out of the World of Darkness first! However, Drakuru's health was falling excruciatingly slowly, making him want to bang his head against a wall.
About three hours later, more than 60 of the Mona Stronghold's arrow towers and cannons were destroyed. As for the Blood Reaver Corps, only five of their flying mounts had died. Meanwhile, their ground troops had fought their way into the stronghold and started carrying out a massacre. The two sides finally clashed head-on.
More than 30 silhouettes dropped down from the sky.
BANG! Blood Devil landed on the ground. With a slash of his greatsword, he cut down an enemy Mage. "Everyone, no wasting time. We have 20 minutes to wipe out every last one of them. Then we withdraw!"
The Silver Wings were like tigers coming down from the mountain, as they charged toward the players of Asskickers United.
Tyrannical, Black Heaven, Hapless Frog, and the others didn't clash head-on with the players from the Blood Reaver Corps. Rather, they relied on the buildings of the stronghold to launch ambushes. The two Thieves locked a target down while the Mages blasted them to death. Afterwards, they would immediately retreat. With this tactic, they quickly killed three enemies. If it weren't for the enemy reinforcements almost immediately arriving, they would've swept up all the loot off the ground.
「Boss! Those Masters from Asskickers United already killed three of our members!」a member cried out anxiously in voice chat. He could only watch on as Tyrannical, Black Heaven, and the others retreated far away.
「Follow them! Everyone, listen up! We're going to surround them!」Blood Devil shouted as he sent three Asskickers United players flying with a Dark Whirlwind.
Blood Devil immediately went into pursuit with the other members of the Blood Reaver Corps.
The Silver Wings closed in from every direction, trapping Tyrannical, Hapless Frog, and others in an open space.
Tyrannical, Black Heaven, Hapless Frog, Sunny South, Edgeless, and more than 20 other members of Asskickers United gathered in the center of the open area. Everywhere they looked, there were players from the Blood Reaver Corps, more than 50 Silver Wings in total.
「We've been surrounded,」Tyrannical said, the dagger in his hand flickering with a cold light.
「Don't bother with them. Use your Unknown Transfer Scrolls!」Black Heaven hurriedly ordered.
They took out their Unknown Transfer Scrolls and were about to teleport away, when a powerful dark energy swept over them.
「Shit! It's a spatial lock formation!」
Their Unknown Transfer Scrolls failed.
Let's see how you plan to run away now! Autumn Gust sneered. He entered stealth and pounced toward Tyrannical.
KLANG! Tyrannical used his arm vambrace to block Autumn Gust's attack. He then stepped forward and spun out with a kick.
Autumn Gust was about to meet the attack head-on, when the angle of the kick suddenly changed, and he was struck in the face. It was a Brazilian kick!
A black light fell over Autumn Gust, restoring his health back to full. He quickly retreated backwards, escaping Tyrannical's attack range.
Seeing the clash between Tyrannical and Autumn Gust, Blood Devil raised an eyebrow in surprise. Tyrannical was undoubtedly someone who had received guidance from Nie Yan; their manner of fighting was nearly identical. In just a short amount of time, the gap between the two became clear. Not to mention many of Tyrannical's movements couldn't be replicated by Autumn Gust. The freedom of a Shadow Dancer far surpassed that of a Silver Wing.
「Tyrannical, you guys should escape! We'll cover you,」Ashen One said.
Everyone waited for Tyrannical's command.
「Black Heaven, Sunny South, Edgeless, you three leave first. Me and Hapless Frog will stay here,」Tyrannical said after looking around. They were Thieves. Even if they encountered danger, they could still escape, but it wasn't the same for Warriors and Mages.
「Let's see how things play out,」Black Heaven said. The Blood Reaver Corps had already completely surrounded them. Escaping would be difficult.
Before they could finish discussing, the players from the Blood Reaper Corps charged forward. The head-on battle Asskickers United had tried their best to evade finally happened.
Asskickers United was greatly outnumbered. They were gradually overwhelmed.
Two Slayers pincered Tyrannical. Seeing the lightning fast blade lights, Tyrannical retreated several steps back in an attempt to dodge. One of the blade lights suddenly changed direction and came slashing down on him. He quickly flipped back to dodge. RRGGGKKKK! One of the Slayer's blades cut across his ribs.
−5,582
Shit! What a fast attack speed. Tyrannical was inwardly shocked. He quickly retreated several meters. This was his first time clashing against Slayers. He knew they had some of the highest attack speed of any class in the game, yet was still caught off guard by it.
Elsewhere, Blood Devil and Edgeless had already clashed. They were in a fierce melee.
Berserk Slash!
Blood Devil let out a roar and cleaved down with his sword.
Edgeless raised his greatsword to block. KLANG! The two blades clashed against each other.
Blood Devil chopped down with his sword again. The unrivalled power forced Edgeless back, step by step.
In terms of class bonuses, Edgeless had the advantage. However, Blood Devil's equipment was much better, and he was also more skilled. Edgeless was quickly forced on the back foot.
As Edgeless and the others were gradually being overwhelmed, Paladin of the Elegy, Happy Hermit, and Monochrome came rushing over, bringing 80 players with them. Even though Asskickers United's casualties were high, the two sides were evenly matched for the time being.
Finding hope in the reinforcements, Tyrannical, Black heaven, and the others immediately redoubled their efforts.
「Let's charge our way out!」Tyrannical said. The Blood Reaver Corps was really strong, and their teamwork was impeccable. At this rate, Asskickers United's forces would be wiped out. They had to retreat while they still could.
About 10 minutes later, Asskickers United's Masters were still all alive. However, the same couldn't be said for the other elites. In this hectic battle, more than 20 of them had died, while the Blood Reaver Corps had only lost one member.
Asskickers United's Masters were still alive solely because of Black Heaven's support. He was the reason why they weren't crushed instantly.
Black Heaven waved his staff, casting group heals over everyone.
「These guys really are annoying to deal with,」Dark Shadow muttered in voice chat.
Under the dense shower of magic, Tyrannical, Black Heaven, and the others avoided 90% of the attacks with escape skills like Gale Step and Blink. This was impossible to imagine for the players of the Demon Tribe.
「These are the skills of Masters! You've all seen them yourself now!」Blood Devil said. Today was their first time clashing with the Masters of the Righteous Faction.