The hills stretched endlessly, with sparse, small trees scattered across the desolate yellow land like lonely travellers.
Hateful Sword and Grieving Haze walked through the yellow sand, following the intelligence from the Jia Dynasty that mentioned a levelling-up team from the "Tyrannical Ambitions" guild in this area.
Liu Hao looked up and identified a player with the title "Tyrannical Ambitions" above his head. He snorted lightly, "Go."
Sun Xiang immediately leapt forward, thrusting his sword into a player from the Tyrannical Ambitions guild and embedding him in the yellow sand.
The surrounding teammates were stunned, thinking, "Where did this lunatic come from, attacking without a word? Could he be a Wild Map Assassin?"
A "Wild Map Assassin" is a player hired in the game to kill another player for a price, typically when one player has taken another's gear or rare materials, and the aggrieved party is willing to spend money to take revenge.
"Hey! What's your deal?" one of them questioned Sun Xiang.
Sun Xiang didn't respond. Although he wasn't clear on why Liu Hao had brought him here to bully lower-level players, he trusted that someone like Liu Hao had his reasons. Since he was here, he would just cooperate.
Sun Xiang controlled Hateful Sword, sending the questioning player flying, then turned to slash at another Tyrannical Ambitions player.
The player was startled and shouted, "Quick, quick, kill this madman!"
There were at least seven or eight Tyrannical Ambitions players around. The guild was an organisation that united players, and Sun Xiang's sudden attack had clearly enraged them. In an instant, seven or eight players surrounded Hateful Sword.
Just as they were about to launch an attack, a few grenades flew in from an unknown direction, erupting in a blaze of fireworks and raising a curtain of smoke.
The sound of continuous strikes followed, accompanied by the painful screams of Tyrannical Ambitions players.
A number of onlookers were still observing, and as they watched the grand and dazzling scene before them, they were momentarily speechless.
"Who the hell are these experts? Two against eight, and they still managed to wipe out the eight players completely?"
A veteran player recognised the coordination between Hateful Sword and Grieving Haze and stammered, "This... this is 'Prosperous Blood Scene'!"
...
Ten minutes later, eight members of the Tyrannical Ambitions team resurrected in the central city. The team leader immediately reported the situation to Ye Du Hantan. (夜度寒潭 his name is stated like this in the novel and can be directly translated to Ye Du Han Tan; his account ID is Cold Night)
"You say the ones who killed you were using 'Prosperous Blood Scene'?" Ye Du Hantan was utterly shocked, and his disbelief was evident.
After all, 'Prosperous Blood Scene' wasn't something an ordinary player could pull off. Even the current Hundred Blossoms team couldn't replicate it. Only the original Zhang Jiale and Sun Zheping could execute it flawlessly. But now you're telling me the ones who killed you used Flower and Blood Scene'?
"Yeah, President, I'm sure I didn't mistake it! You don't understand; there were eight of us, but in the explosion and fire, we couldn't even see where they were!"
"Do you know who they are?" Ye Du Hantan asked.
"We don't know them, but I remember their IDs. They seemed to be named Grieving Haze and Hateful Sword."
"Grieving Haze and Hateful Sword?" Ye Du Hantan murmured.
Just then, someone nearby had a faint recollection of Grieving Haze. "Isn't Grieving Haze the one who got the first kill on the Dark Night Cat Demon?"
With this reminder, Ye Du Hantan finally remembered. "I got it. Back then, Grieving Haze teamed up with Lord Grim to get the first kill on the Dark Night Cat Demon!"
"Are you saying... we're targeting Lord Grim, and Grieving Haze and Hateful Sword are his hired helpers?"
Ye Du Hantan nodded. "Very likely! It seems Lord Grim is ready to fight us to the death!"
Ye Du Hantan felt he had grasped the truth and immediately decided to increase the workforce to target Lord Grim's team. How dare a small team of a few people resist the mighty Tyrannical Ambitions?
But not long after, another group of Tyrannical Ambitions players resurrected in the central city. They all complained to Ye Du Hantan, and Ye Du Hantan was shocked to discover that the ones who killed them weren't Lord Grim—it was again Grieving Haze and Hateful Sword.
"What the hell is going on?" Ye Du Hantan was furious, feeling that this news was utterly absurd.
Just two people! Only two people wiped out a Tyrannical Ambitions team of twelve?
Twelve players against two, where each player could take down the opponents with just a couple of skills, yet they were still wiped out?
Ye Du Hantan could no longer resist the urge to lead a team and investigate himself.
Soon, using the information from the Tyrannical Ambitions players, Ye Du Hantan located Grieving Haze and Hateful Sword in the Frontline Canyon.
Their health was still in good shape, but their mana was running low, and they were busy drinking small blue potions to restore it.
"Brothers, do we have a grudge? Why did you kill our Tyrannical Ambitions members?" Ye Du Hantan asked.
A grudge? Maybe. Besides the issue with Chen Guo, the conflict between the Excellent Era and Tyrannical Ambitions was inherently irreconcilable.
Liu Hao smiled but didn't answer Ye Du Hantan's question. Instead, he looked at Sun Xiang and asked, "Rested enough?"
Sun Xiang nodded, full of excitement, "Ready!"
Sun Xiang had never been this thrilled playing an online game before, and the reason was Liu Hao. Their coordination had improved from initial awkwardness to now being impeccable. Even with just the two of them, they could handle a siege of over ten people with ease, thanks to Liu Hao's Hundred Blossoms-style support tactics.
In short, Sun Xiang was having a blast.
Looking at the more than twenty new Tyrannical Ambitions players on the other side, Sun Xiang began to warm up eagerly, "When do we start?"
Liu Hao burst out laughing, "Start? Hell no, they're obviously prepared this time. And Ye Du Hantan is too cowardly. The previous Tyrannical Ambitions groups were at most ten people, but this time, Ye Du Hantan brought over twenty with him. Judging by their gear, these are the guild's core members."
"You're scared of just twenty people?" Sun Xiang frowned.
"Not scared," Liu Hao shook his head, "But we need to use our brains. We can't just fight without considering the situation. Even if we could win, we don't have enough mana left to kill them all!"
Sun Xiang suddenly realised he had been too caught up in the excitement to remember the lack of mana.
"So, what do we do?" Sun Xiang asked.
"Run for now; use guerrilla tactics!" Liu Hao commanded.
Sun Xiang knew exactly what guerrilla tactics meant and, without worrying about looking cowardly, immediately turned and ran.
Liu Hao wasn't far behind, quickly using his gun to escape.
Ye Du Hantan was stunned. The other side didn't say a word; they just turned and left. After killing so many of us, no apology, no compensation, and you think you can just leave?
"Chase them!" Ye Du Hantan ordered.
Everyone rushed forward.
However, professional players have mastered the most refined endurance management techniques. With reasonable stamina use, the distance between the two sides began to widen.
(End of Chapter)