On the city wall, Meng Yuan was also fighting alongside the other players. His cooperation with them was flawless, blending in seamlessly without any sign of his true identity. In fact, as a genuine Restorer, Meng Yuan could secretly utilize the unique abilities of four identities: Warrior, Assassin, Scholar, and Ranger. He had been discreetly using them in battle, but no one seemed to notice, thinking he was just an ordinary Ranger player.
The reason was simple—the unique abilities of the other identities were mostly passive effects, making them inconspicuous even when active. As for the Scholar's aura of righteousness, Meng Yuan discovered he could quietly recite a few lines of poetry to himself during battle to activate it.
In short, Meng Yuan was acting in complete alignment with his persona: a Ranger whose skills weren't the best but who could rival top players through unique thinking, remarkable luck, and special support talents. He even garnered respect from many players, which made him feel a bit embarrassed.
After a period of fierce fighting, the city wall was littered with bandit corpses, and the bandits' assault began to wane, showing signs of fatigue.
"How's the situation inside the city? Should we send some people to support them?"
"No idea; it doesn't seem like they've asked for help over there."
After casually taking down the last bandit foolish enough to climb the wall, the players on this section of the wall paused, feeling a bit lost as they wondered what to do next.
At that moment, they heard a shout from below.
"Yahoo!"
Suddenly, there was a commotion.
The players on the wall were startled, thinking a powerful leader or boss might have breached the city. Should they go to support?
But as they peered down from the wall, they saw a bandit leader on horseback, waving a cross-shaped spear, leaping about excitedly as he charged outside the city.
Behind this bandit leader, there were many other bandits—some in heavy armor, some wielding cross-shaped spears, and others holding dual sabers—all following him outside with a highly enthusiastic demeanor.
The players on the wall exchanged puzzled looks.
"What's going on?"
"Are the bandits retreating? That can't be right; according to the setting, demons are supposed to be fearless and never retreat, right?"
"That's no bandit—they're other players!"
"Damn it! They're trying to steal kills! Why are we still standing here? Let's go after them!"
The players on the wall realized, after a moment's delay, that the players below were trying to counter-attack the bandits to steal kills while everyone else was distracted.
Before the battle on the wall ended, the skirmish below was already reaching its climax. The bandit leaders had all been defeated by the players, who took their weapons and armor as loot.
Most outrageously, one player even managed to knock a bandit leader off his horse and claimed the horse for himself!
So, clad in heavy armor, wielding a cross-shaped spear, and riding a warhorse, this player forcibly "reclassed" himself as a bandit general, even though the game system hadn't yet opened a reclassing option.
Meng Yuan took a look. The player was named Fan Cun, a well-known Warrior player whom he and Can Shang had noticed before.
Fan Cun was notable for having a strength that matched his low intelligence. While he could certainly fight, it seemed he exchanged intelligence for it.
Now fully armored and on horseback, Fan Cun was clearly feeling overconfident. He rode around the city to get a feel for the talent he'd gained when he previously selected "Bow and Horsemanship Proficiency."
Originally wanting to test his cross-shaped spear on a few bandits to see if there was any difference in effectiveness, he was disappointed to find that most of the bandits in the city had been cleared out by the players, with only a few stragglers holding out.
How boring!
Seeing the remaining bandits outside the city, he let out a loud "Yahoo!" and charged out.
The players in his team, who were busy looting, noticed Fan Cun riding off alone and quickly followed.
If the bandits won't come to us, then we'll go to them!
Anyway, they were all bandits, and the sooner they were defeated, the sooner the battle would be over. Charging in alone might be reckless, but a group charge would be a surprise attack.
After an intense battle, the players were in top form and far from satisfied with the fighting so far.
Although many players had already fallen and used up their respawns, the remaining players felt no sorrow or fear from the loss of comrades—instead, they grew even more excited!
The fewer teammates, the bigger the stage!
On the wall, Chu Ge saw Fan Cun charging out alone and frowned but still shouted, "Everyone, prepare to counter-attack! Both reserve teams inside the city, join in, and the thousand-player team on the wall, advance to support the Rangers and encircle the bandits!
"Any depleted teams should regroup using the map and team panel, maintain formation, and don't rush blindly. There are plenty of bandits for everyone!"
As the commander, Chu Ge disliked this kind of undisciplined behavior, but since this was the players' first large-scale national battle, they hadn't had systematic training. It was unrealistic to expect perfect discipline from the start.
There were bound to be some reckless players, and it was unavoidable.
Since the demons' assault had lost momentum, Chu Ge decided to issue the counter-attack command, letting other players cover and coordinate.
After this battle, they could discuss these matters in a review session if there was one.
…
"Continue the assault!"
A towering monk had reached the front line. With both city gates wide open and half of the demon forces decimated, the remaining bandits had stopped scaling the walls and concentrated on attacking the main gate.
Both sides were locked in a brutal melee near the gate.
The monk wielding a massive naginata charged toward the gate with strength surpassing the average bandit leader, convinced that breaking through the native defense would let the bandits flood in and end the stalemate.
But before he reached the gate, he saw a bandit leader on horseback, wielding a cross-shaped spear, impale a saber-wielding bandit and drag him a long distance.
The players' individual strength was usually on par with elite bandits, but the power of a warhorse's charge amplified the cross-shaped spear's lethality to an absurd degree.
Seeing this, the monk and the bandits froze in confusion.
What was going on? Had they defected?
But they were all demons—defection wasn't even a concept!
Only when the "bandit leader" charged at the monk did he notice there was no black aura around this figure. It was just a native in a bandit leader's armor!
Seeing the spear heading his way, the monk swung his naginata to deflect it.
*Clang!* The impact nearly numbed Fan Cun's hands, causing him to lose balance and almost fall off his horse.
"Wait, is this a mini-boss?"
Fan Cun pulled his horse back, finally noticing the monk was two heads taller than the other bandits, with a particularly intimidating build and outfit.
"Come on, there's a mini-boss here!"
At Fan Cun's call, his teammates surged forward, surrounding the monk.
All eyes were fixed on the monk's naginata, their desire clear.
That was definitely something good!
The monk's pitch-black eyes showed confusion, momentarily unsure who the real demons were.
…
"Isn't the Eastern General over there the final boss of this dungeon?"
"Think we can take him down?"
"Just us? Are you kidding?"
"No worries, we have another life. Even if we die, we'll at least learn his weaknesses."
The Ranger players looked to Huo Yun Ying, awaiting his decision.
The thousand-strong Ranger squad had previously charged out of the city's south gate, circling to harass the demons' flank. They had inflicted significant damage while evading several demon attempts to encircle them.
However, fighting in enemy territory had taken a toll, and the squad had dwindled to about three or four hundred.
With the main battlefield's outcome nearing, the Rangers' minds started to drift toward new goals.
Their target was the Eastern General, commanding the bandits with a fan in hand. If they could defeat him… would the war end right here?
Going deep into enemy territory to cut off the head of the snake—now that was the height of glory!
Ordinary soldiers would never consider such a suicidal move, but these players, knowing they had one more respawn, were eager for the challenge.
Huo Yun Ying exchanged a look with Chu Ge on the wall before nodding decisively, "Go!"
The players charged eagerly toward the Eastern General.
…
In the bandit formation, the Eastern General threw down his fan.
On the main battlefield, the demons had begun to lose. Even the monk's intervention hadn't turned the tide; instead, he was surrounded by elite Warrior players, struggling to hold his ground.
Meanwhile, on the flank, only three to four hundred Rangers remained, yet they dared to launch a decapitation strike on the General.
What made these native phantoms so fierce?
This was completely unfair!
On the verge of defeat, without having located the Restorer, the demon possessing the bandit General finally lost patience.
"When I kill all these natives, let's see if you still hide!"
Black smoke started seeping from the gaps in the Eastern General's armor as his body began to swell.
A sword thrust at him from behind, aiming at the gap in his armor!
The Rangers fought with all their
might, and only a handful, including Huo Yun Ying, managed to reach the bandit General.
Huo Yun Ying had little hope but was excited when he saw the General motionless.
Could it really work? Was he about to hit the jackpot?
But in the next moment, his sword struck something as hard as stone, unable to advance at all.
Instead, thick black smoke spread around, enveloping everything nearby!
In the smoke, the Eastern General's body expanded several times, drawing black energy from nearby bandits to fuel his growth.
Before Huo Yun Ying could understand what was happening, a massive hand slammed down on him.
*Boom!*
He was sent flying. Even with 20% pain sensitivity, he felt as if he had crashed into a wall, his entire body shuddering in agony!
Fortunately, the sensation lasted only a moment, and then he found himself back at the resurrection point in the county.
He'd been killed in one blow!
A massive dark cloud rose from the battlefield, and all players turned to look toward the Eastern General.
Black energy was pouring from the bandits, gathering into a colossal demon on the battlefield!
The players were stunned.
Was the demon cheating?
What happened to cold weapon combat? And now he's using dark magic?
This isn't fair!