1544

"Be careful! Soul Slayer’s shield has a skill that nullifies all physical attacks for 15 seconds!"

Li Chengfeng warned me with a worried look on his face. "We’ll only get one shot at this. If Soul Slayer catches on to our plan and activates the skill, it may not be possible to kill him. Lian Xin’s magic attacks are powerful, but not even she can delete over 10 million HP in an instant[1]."

I nodded. "Don’t worry, just leave it to me! Eve, go attack the enemy and pretend that you’re being pushed back by them. I’m sure Soul Slayer won’t b able to resist leaving the protection of his players and going after you. Li Chengfeng and I will catch him in a pincer, and Little Gui and Beiming will control him with their skills. Lian Xin, charge your magic and get ready to unleash your greatest combo now!"

Lian Xin chuckled in the air. "Don’t worry, big bro. There’s a single-target offensive skill I’ve been saving for an occasion like this. If Beiming Xue’s Shock Arrow stuns, I guarantee that it’ll be enough to one-shot Soul Slayer!"

"Mn!"

……

The Snow Crystal Dragon let out a long roar as our beautiful guild leader descended right in the middle of the enemy. She then used Stormwind Slash that deleted 12% HP from Soul Slayer.

When Soul Slayer saw that the attack had come from He Yi, he uttered through gritted teeth, "Heal me back to full! That beautiful woman is… Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ guild leader, huh? Hmph! If we take her out, Ancient Sword will be without their leader. Four Knights, follow me!"

We weren’t expecting Soul Slayer to bear down on He Yi with four Level 255 elite knights[2]. At first glance, it looked like everyone of them had at least one Basic Divine Armament, and to the masses, anyone with one Divine Armament was basically a god. Whether it was intentional or not, it was definitely harder for us to assassinate Soul Slayer.

The Snow Crystal Dragon flapped its wings mightily and did a U-turn. It then flew back toward the sky!

Soul Slayer grinned savagely from atop his green dragon. "You think you can escape? Dream on! I’m not one to show mercy even to a beautiful woman!"

"Icicle Slash!"

Soul Slayer raised his sword and conjured a gigantic, icicle-shaped blade. He then brought it down right on top of He Yi’s shoulder. The attack was so powerful that both her and the Snow Crystal Dragon fell uncontrollably toward the ground. They crashed and kicked up a giant cloud of dust.

"Die!"

As Soul Slayer swooped down on her, his four elite knights threw their Trapping Nets at he Yi and successfully immobilized her for 5.4 seconds.

"Let’s go!"

I growled as I kicked the air with both feet and shot toward Soul Slayer like a lightning bolt. Full-powered human battering ram!

Bang…

At first glance, I was much smaller than Soul Slayer and his dragon combined. In reality, my Strength was higher, and I had momentum behind me. As a result, Soul Slayer was sent flying across the air, and his sword missed He Yi right before it would hit. I proceeded to grab Soul Slayer by the neck, stabbed him in the stomach, and executed Burning Blade Slash!

However, one of the four knights aimed his palm at Soul Slayer and shouted, "Guardian Spirit!"

2,717,263!

3,172,376!

3,981,771!

……

Not only did the Soul Slayer endure what I thought for sure would’ve been the killing blow, the knight who withstood all the full brunt of Burning Blade Slash still had 25% HP left! Moreover, his Guardian Spirit skill was still protecting Soul Slayer!

Soul Slayer raised his fist and launched a backward punch at mey. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you bastard!"

The punch struck me on the shoulder but only dealt 40k damage to me. However, Soul Slayer bought himself enough time to turn around and slash at me twice. One of the slashes was Barrier Break, a skill that pierced a lot of Defense.

I raised the Dihai Shield and smashed the Barrier Break aside. Then, I raised my sword and cast Xuanyuan Art!

Swhoosh!

Soul Slayer’s face turned a shade of purple immediately. However, the moment his HP dropped by 70%, he immediately let out a shout and covered himself in some sort of shiny green vine. It healed him for an incredible amount of HP—

+6,799,774!

God damn, a skill that heals for 50% HP? That’s amazing!

While Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi were keeping Soul Slayer’s three remaining knights busy, Beiming Xue said to me in the guild channel, "If you can’t instakill him, then let Little Xin and me try, big bro! Get ready to move out of the way, now!"

An involuntary smirk crept onto my face. It confused Soul Slayer so much that he blurted, "What?"

Instead of answering, I leaped off the green dragon’s head and flew straight toward the sky.

A blood-red arrow immediately passed through the spot I had been at an instant earlier!

Thud! The Shock Arrow immediately stunned Soul Slayer for 1.9 seconds. His face turned deathly pale when he saw a Fire Phoenix swooping down on him. The problem wasn’t Beiming Xue but the beautiful mage flying next to her. Judging from the air current dancing around her person and rising magic power, she was clearly charging her skill.

Soul Slayer was no noob. He knew very well that any skill that had a channeling or charge time would generally be pretty powerful, and one that had obvious visual effects, even more so!

It took Lian Xin 2.1 seconds to fully charge the skill. The instant Soul Slayer broke out of the stun, she pointed her scepter at him and cried, "Shadow of Ice Soul!"

An icicle shaped like a trident exploded toward Soul Slayer!

Puchi!

Soul Slayer’s eyes widened as the icicle punched through his chest like nothing. It was because his HP had fallen all the way to zero. He could hardly believe that a mage’s single-target offensive skill could be so powerful—

9,262,557!

It wasn’t even a critical hit! No wonder the spell took Lian Xin 2.1 seconds to charge!!

The spell really did 4 million or so damage, but the Soul Shocker Bell doubled her damage done. Soul Slayer only had himself to blame for this outcome!

Ding!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Lian Xing" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Soul Slayer" (England) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 70,377 points!

……

"Well done, Little Xin!" I laughed as I made a grab for Soul Slayer’s body. I then lifted it into the sky before shouting, "See this, Blood Soul? We’ve killed your leader, Soul Slayer! Drop your weapons and surrender, or we will send every last one of you to the grave with your guild leader!"

The players at the forefront froze in disbelief—

"Impossible! Boss Soul Slayer is a great player and an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill owner! There’s no way he could die! There’s just no way[3]!!"

"China will fall! We won’t lose! Boss can’t have died…"

"But that system announcement…"

"It has to be an illusion. It has to be. They can’t fool us![4]"

At least some of the players looked like they had lost their marbles.

After Li Chengfeng killed two of the three elite knights Soul Slayer had brought with him, he said in a dumbfounded voice, "Lu Chen, I don’t think showing Blood Soul their guild leader’s head is going to do much."

I said, "But it’s better than nothing, right? Any chaos and demoralization we sow will help us to reduce our losses and increase theirs."

"True."

……

As expected, Blood Soul didn’t collapse entirely despite Soul Slayer’s death. They were a super guild with around 2 million members after all. Their vice leaders tried to take charge, but Li Chengfeng, Lian Xin and I killed them as soon as we identified them. We continued to kill all 7 of their corps commanders and even their thousand-man captains to disorganize them to the point where they were just headless chickens.

Night had passed inside the game before we realized it. By the time the first ray of dawn reflected off the copper statue at the top of the Fortress of the Iron Halberd, we had fought Blood Soul for 3 hours straight. Blood Soul never retreated, however. All 2 million of them fought until they had gasped their last breath.

The air was thick with the stench of blood as I flew around the battlefield to grab some loot. It would be a waste to leave them lying around, right? As I looked around, a ring hiding in a pile of dead bodies caught my eye. I picked it up and discovered that it was an Ancient Immortal-grade equipment that added 71% Attack and 8% stackable lifesteal. I could sell this for at least 50k RMB!

I happily tossed it into my bag while Stranger of Three Lifetimes were directing a group of Blazing Hot Lips cavalrymen to loot the battlefield. "Be quick! We only have 10 minutes! All players are to withdraw back into the fortress when 10 minutes is up, or don’t blame me when the next enemy guild turns you into porcupines!"

It was at this moment Xu Yang, Chaos Moon and Heaven’s Rain walked up to me. Their footsteps were heavy, and their expressions were severe. There was none of the joy or afterglow you might expect to see after a great victory.

I knew why they looked like shit, of course. "So. What is our casualty this time?"

Xu Yang replied in a low tone, "Blood Soul is quite strong, and they had attacked us before we were fully prepared. As a result, we lost far more players than we did during the battle against Olympus. Nearly all the Profound Wolf Cavalry from the main guild and the 29 subguilds are gone, the Thunder Cavalry has dwindled to just 100k men, and the other classes have lost a total of 270k players. Our total casualty is over 400k or over 20% of our total number. Also, the 11th, 17th and 21st subguilds have been annihilated to the last man because they were part of the army fighting outside the wall!"

I sucked in a deep breath and said, "Got it…"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes curled her lips. "I think it’s time we request some reinforcements. Otherwise, the third wave will probably be the last wave we can mount a proper defense. Over 40% of my players who are online are gone."

I nodded. "Got it, Momo."

It was at this moment a couple of system announcements hit us from the Impassable Great Wall—

Ding!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer "Murasame" (Japan) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 31,721 points!

Ding!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer "Wind Snake" (Japan) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 21,330 points!

1. T/N: If only there is a skill that overrides item effects… oh wait, it’s called Ancient fucking Divine Skill ☜

2. T/N: … is it too late to support an MC with slightly more common sense? ☜

3. T/N: I want to say this reaction is unrealistic, but people do have the tendency to turn a blind eye on pros from other countries and just praise their own ☜

4. T/N: this reaction though makes no sense whatsoever ☜

"Be careful! Soul Slayer’s shield has a skill that nullifies all physical attacks for 15 seconds!"

Li Chengfeng warned me with a worried look on his face. "We’ll only get one shot at this. If Soul Slayer catches on to our plan and activates the skill, it may not be possible to kill him. Lian Xin’s magic attacks are powerful, but not even she can delete over 10 million HP in an instant[1]."

I nodded. "Don’t worry, just leave it to me! Eve, go attack the enemy and pretend that you’re being pushed back by them. I’m sure Soul Slayer won’t b able to resist leaving the protection of his players and going after you. Li Chengfeng and I will catch him in a pincer, and Little Gui and Beiming will control him with their skills. Lian Xin, charge your magic and get ready to unleash your greatest combo now!"

Lian Xin chuckled in the air. "Don’t worry, big bro. There’s a single-target offensive skill I’ve been saving for an occasion like this. If Beiming Xue’s Shock Arrow stuns, I guarantee that it’ll be enough to one-shot Soul Slayer!"

"Mn!"

……

The Snow Crystal Dragon let out a long roar as our beautiful guild leader descended right in the middle of the enemy. She then used Stormwind Slash that deleted 12% HP from Soul Slayer.

When Soul Slayer saw that the attack had come from He Yi, he uttered through gritted teeth, "Heal me back to full! That beautiful woman is… Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ guild leader, huh? Hmph! If we take her out, Ancient Sword will be without their leader. Four Knights, follow me!"

We weren’t expecting Soul Slayer to bear down on He Yi with four Level 255 elite knights[2]. At first glance, it looked like everyone of them had at least one Basic Divine Armament, and to the masses, anyone with one Divine Armament was basically a god. Whether it was intentional or not, it was definitely harder for us to assassinate Soul Slayer.

The Snow Crystal Dragon flapped its wings mightily and did a U-turn. It then flew back toward the sky!

Soul Slayer grinned savagely from atop his green dragon. "You think you can escape? Dream on! I’m not one to show mercy even to a beautiful woman!"

"Icicle Slash!"

Soul Slayer raised his sword and conjured a gigantic, icicle-shaped blade. He then brought it down right on top of He Yi’s shoulder. The attack was so powerful that both her and the Snow Crystal Dragon fell uncontrollably toward the ground. They crashed and kicked up a giant cloud of dust.

"Die!"

As Soul Slayer swooped down on her, his four elite knights threw their Trapping Nets at he Yi and successfully immobilized her for 5.4 seconds.

"Let’s go!"

I growled as I kicked the air with both feet and shot toward Soul Slayer like a lightning bolt. Full-powered human battering ram!

Bang…

At first glance, I was much smaller than Soul Slayer and his dragon combined. In reality, my Strength was higher, and I had momentum behind me. As a result, Soul Slayer was sent flying across the air, and his sword missed He Yi right before it would hit. I proceeded to grab Soul Slayer by the neck, stabbed him in the stomach, and executed Burning Blade Slash!

However, one of the four knights aimed his palm at Soul Slayer and shouted, "Guardian Spirit!"

2,717,263!

3,172,376!

3,981,771!

……

Not only did the Soul Slayer endure what I thought for sure would’ve been the killing blow, the knight who withstood all the full brunt of Burning Blade Slash still had 25% HP left! Moreover, his Guardian Spirit skill was still protecting Soul Slayer!

Soul Slayer raised his fist and launched a backward punch at mey. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you bastard!"

The punch struck me on the shoulder but only dealt 40k damage to me. However, Soul Slayer bought himself enough time to turn around and slash at me twice. One of the slashes was Barrier Break, a skill that pierced a lot of Defense.

I raised the Dihai Shield and smashed the Barrier Break aside. Then, I raised my sword and cast Xuanyuan Art!

Swhoosh!

Soul Slayer’s face turned a shade of purple immediately. However, the moment his HP dropped by 70%, he immediately let out a shout and covered himself in some sort of shiny green vine. It healed him for an incredible amount of HP—

+6,799,774!

God damn, a skill that heals for 50% HP? That’s amazing!

While Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi were keeping Soul Slayer’s three remaining knights busy, Beiming Xue said to me in the guild channel, "If you can’t instakill him, then let Little Xin and me try, big bro! Get ready to move out of the way, now!"

An involuntary smirk crept onto my face. It confused Soul Slayer so much that he blurted, "What?"

Instead of answering, I leaped off the green dragon’s head and flew straight toward the sky.

A blood-red arrow immediately passed through the spot I had been at an instant earlier!

Thud! The Shock Arrow immediately stunned Soul Slayer for 1.9 seconds. His face turned deathly pale when he saw a Fire Phoenix swooping down on him. The problem wasn’t Beiming Xue but the beautiful mage flying next to her. Judging from the air current dancing around her person and rising magic power, she was clearly charging her skill.

Soul Slayer was no noob. He knew very well that any skill that had a channeling or charge time would generally be pretty powerful, and one that had obvious visual effects, even more so!

It took Lian Xin 2.1 seconds to fully charge the skill. The instant Soul Slayer broke out of the stun, she pointed her scepter at him and cried, "Shadow of Ice Soul!"

An icicle shaped like a trident exploded toward Soul Slayer!

Puchi!

Soul Slayer’s eyes widened as the icicle punched through his chest like nothing. It was because his HP had fallen all the way to zero. He could hardly believe that a mage’s single-target offensive skill could be so powerful—

9,262,557!

It wasn’t even a critical hit! No wonder the spell took Lian Xin 2.1 seconds to charge!!

The spell really did 4 million or so damage, but the Soul Shocker Bell doubled her damage done. Soul Slayer only had himself to blame for this outcome!

Ding!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Lian Xing" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Soul Slayer" (England) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 70,377 points!

……

"Well done, Little Xin!" I laughed as I made a grab for Soul Slayer’s body. I then lifted it into the sky before shouting, "See this, Blood Soul? We’ve killed your leader, Soul Slayer! Drop your weapons and surrender, or we will send every last one of you to the grave with your guild leader!"

The players at the forefront froze in disbelief—

"Impossible! Boss Soul Slayer is a great player and an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill owner! There’s no way he could die! There’s just no way[3]!!"

"China will fall! We won’t lose! Boss can’t have died…"

"But that system announcement…"

"It has to be an illusion. It has to be. They can’t fool us![4]"

At least some of the players looked like they had lost their marbles.

After Li Chengfeng killed two of the three elite knights Soul Slayer had brought with him, he said in a dumbfounded voice, "Lu Chen, I don’t think showing Blood Soul their guild leader’s head is going to do much."

I said, "But it’s better than nothing, right? Any chaos and demoralization we sow will help us to reduce our losses and increase theirs."

"True."

……

As expected, Blood Soul didn’t collapse entirely despite Soul Slayer’s death. They were a super guild with around 2 million members after all. Their vice leaders tried to take charge, but Li Chengfeng, Lian Xin and I killed them as soon as we identified them. We continued to kill all 7 of their corps commanders and even their thousand-man captains to disorganize them to the point where they were just headless chickens.

Night had passed inside the game before we realized it. By the time the first ray of dawn reflected off the copper statue at the top of the Fortress of the Iron Halberd, we had fought Blood Soul for 3 hours straight. Blood Soul never retreated, however. All 2 million of them fought until they had gasped their last breath.

The air was thick with the stench of blood as I flew around the battlefield to grab some loot. It would be a waste to leave them lying around, right? As I looked around, a ring hiding in a pile of dead bodies caught my eye. I picked it up and discovered that it was an Ancient Immortal-grade equipment that added 71% Attack and 8% stackable lifesteal. I could sell this for at least 50k RMB!

I happily tossed it into my bag while Stranger of Three Lifetimes were directing a group of Blazing Hot Lips cavalrymen to loot the battlefield. "Be quick! We only have 10 minutes! All players are to withdraw back into the fortress when 10 minutes is up, or don’t blame me when the next enemy guild turns you into porcupines!"

It was at this moment Xu Yang, Chaos Moon and Heaven’s Rain walked up to me. Their footsteps were heavy, and their expressions were severe. There was none of the joy or afterglow you might expect to see after a great victory.

I knew why they looked like shit, of course. "So. What is our casualty this time?"

Xu Yang replied in a low tone, "Blood Soul is quite strong, and they had attacked us before we were fully prepared. As a result, we lost far more players than we did during the battle against Olympus. Nearly all the Profound Wolf Cavalry from the main guild and the 29 subguilds are gone, the Thunder Cavalry has dwindled to just 100k men, and the other classes have lost a total of 270k players. Our total casualty is over 400k or over 20% of our total number. Also, the 11th, 17th and 21st subguilds have been annihilated to the last man because they were part of the army fighting outside the wall!"

I sucked in a deep breath and said, "Got it…"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes curled her lips. "I think it’s time we request some reinforcements. Otherwise, the third wave will probably be the last wave we can mount a proper defense. Over 40% of my players who are online are gone."

I nodded. "Got it, Momo."

It was at this moment a couple of system announcements hit us from the Impassable Great Wall—

Ding!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer "Murasame" (Japan) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 31,721 points!

Ding!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer "Wind Snake" (Japan) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 21,330 points!

1. T/N: If only there is a skill that overrides item effects… oh wait, it’s called Ancient fucking Divine Skill ☜

2. T/N: … is it too late to support an MC with slightly more common sense? ☜

3. T/N: I want to say this reaction is unrealistic, but people do have the tendency to turn a blind eye on pros from other countries and just praise their own ☜

4. T/N: this reaction though makes no sense whatsoever ☜