Swhoosh!

My body dissolved into several rays of bloody light and seeped into the ground. A war was about to break out, and the best thing I, a spectator, could do was slip underground and hide from everything. No one would notice me, and Earth Escape wouldn’t cancel on its own unless I was hit by a physical or magical skill. There weren’t many people at the corner of the plaza I was occupying, so it was highly unlikely that I would get hit. If someone was that bad at the game that they would throw a random skill at a spot where no one was, then I supposed I would grant them the honor and send them back to the city personally.

……

The Spirit Hall plaza was illuminated by dark energy. It was a domain of the undead, so a thin fog of death energy was covering the blue floor. Players were pouring into the plaza by the second, and the sound of war boots striking against the floor was loud and frantic; a subtle expression of the absolute chaos on the surface.

Dominating Heaven Blade waved his sword and yelled loudly, “Charge, my brothers! Kill absolutely everyone in front of you! All 10 spots of the Devil Spirit Hall are belong to us!”

His greedy declaration sent a shiver down my spine. What kind of appetite was that? He was practically looking down on every guild and expert in Floating Ice City!

Dominating Archer God let out a roar and fired a Rank 6 Volley. The indiscriminate attack fell on the crowd and deleted three of Flower Room’s bards immediately!

Dominating Knight God activated Blaze, wrapping the tip of his spear in flames. Then, he charged into a horde of enemies and thrust it into a tactician’s chest, killing his target instantly!

Dominating Mage God was even more impudent than his brothers were, gathering his powerful magic and summoning an ice rain upon his targets. All the players caught within the spell started losing HP by the second, and the skill range was so huge that there was nowhere the players of Flower Room could hide even if they wanted to!

Furious, Li Le pointed at Dominating Mage God and shouted, “Archers, give me some Volleys and kill that mage! Fuck ‘em up!”

Thud thud thud!

The archers loosed their arrows at Dominating Mage God as he commanded. However, every single shot was deflected by his Magic Shield!

The strength of the Magic Shield scaled with mage’s Attack. Not only was Dominating Mage God incredibly high level, his equipment was also among the best of the best. For example, I could tell from a glance that his magic staff was either Gold-grade or Dark Gold–grade because it was surrounded by a golden glow. The mage laughed arrogantly after Li Le’s archers failed to penetrate his Magic Shield. “Hahaha! You noobs dare even dream of ruling Floating Ice City? What a joke! Come kill me if you dare, but don’t say I didn’t warn you that the price of failure is death!”

Dominating Mage God started channeling another Arctic Rain as his priests healed him with holy light. Healing spells restored both the target’s HP and durability of skills like Magic Shield, so Flower Room’s attacks were a ways away from penetrating Dominating Mage God’s Magic Shield. I started shaking my head at the pathetic display.

“Unbelievable. Under no circumstances should a mage be allowed to channel a goddamn Arctic Rain under fire. I could almost believe that this was staged if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes! Hmph! Beiming Xue would’ve turned that braggart into a pincushion in a couple of Devil Piercing Arrows at most… and what is even there to brag about anyway? Flower Room is hardly a worthy opponent…”

Suddenly, He Yi called me through the party channel: “Lu Chen, how are things going over there?”

“Oh, the people are having the party of a lifetime~~” I laughed. “Give me a second and I’ll share you the live feed. But don’t come in yet, okay? Wait until the dust is settled before you make the attempt!”

“Okay!”

A few seconds later, I shared the live feed with my whole party. The girls’ mouths fell open in shock when they saw it.

He Yi: “OMG, it’s so chaotic! I can’t even tell who’s fighting who right now, wow… my brain’s all jumbled up…”

Murong Mingyue nodded in agreement. “Same here. I recognize Young Master Le though. Since when did he grow big enough balls to fight both Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon at the same time? So cool, so brave! This guild has a bright future ahead of them…”

I rolled my eyes at her sarcastic remark. “Fight? More like get stuck between a rock and a hard place. Just watch, Flower Room is going to be the first guild to get wiped…”

Beiming Xue said, “Where’s Spring Mud, Moon Shadow and Night Sorrow? I still can’t believe those idiots left us and joined Flower Room to this day. Should I go in there and kill them myself?”

I hurriedly stopped her. “No need, they’re going to die one way or another, so why sully your own hands with their blood? Be patient. Once it’s time I’ll come over and support you from inside.”

“Mn!”

……

Time passed little by little. As expected, Flower Room collapsed under the combined fire of Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon, and their one hundred-man party was wiped just like that.

Spring Mud was turned into a porcupine and died under a hail of arrows.

Moon Shadow was fending off an endless sea of enemies when two swords pierced his body from two sides.

Puchi!

The man could do nothing except let out a painful groan and die.

The two attackers who took Moon Shadow’s life together came face to face with each other, and they were none other than Iron Pardon and Dominating Warrior God. These two warriors were long-time foes, and they PKed one another whenever the opportunity presented itself. As if in mutual agreement, they spat at each other’s faces. “Pooh!”

Night Sorrow tried to kite Coldmoon Rose, but he seemed to have forgotten that the latter was Roaming Dragon’s woman. Her level and equipment were nothing to scoff at, and her attack power was even higher than Night Sorrow’s. She wasn’t alone either. He quickly lost steam after taking heavy fire from Coldmoon Rose and another archer, and when he was at half health, a magic knight closed the gap and impaled him with a spear!

Puchi!

902!

Roaming Dragon pulled out his spear slowly with a savage smile on his face. He sneered at the falling man and said, “Trash. From Water must’ve lost her mind when she hired you to be the core of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It’s no wonder you were swept out her doorsteps the moment Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and his gang returned to the guild. You truly are trash of the trash!”

Night Sorrow’s eyes were spitting fire, but he couldn’t deny reality. In the end, all he could do was fall to the ground and turn into a cold, lifeless corpse.

Li Le was completely dumbfounded. He was so shocked that he even forgot to swing his blade. Funnily enough, he was the last man standing in his whole party.

Dominating Heaven Blade pointed his blade at Li Le and smiled. “Kill yourself. It would dirty my blade to kill trash like you!”

Li Le stared straight into Dominating Heaven Blade’s eyes and shouted, “Fuck! Your! Mother!”

Dominating Heaven Blade responded by cutting open his throat and replying, “There’s no one I hate more than trash who talks shit about my mother!”

Finally, Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon officially came face to face with each other after Li Le was killed.

Roaming Dragon raised his spear and shouted loudly, “For the honor of Mad Dragon, the glory of your brothers, and the beloved behind your back! Kill them all! Down with Gods of Destruction!”

In response, Dominating Heaven Blade sneered back and said, “Prepare to fight!”

Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God charged forward in unison and clashed against the Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon. They dished out whatever skills they had—Blaze, Ice Ray and so on—successfully knocking each back a few steps. One HP pot later, they charged toward each other again!

I checked the time. There was only 8 minutes left before the Devil Spirit Hall finally opened!

Mad Dragon was down to 50 people or so after the prolonged battle. To say that they were having a hard time would be an understatement. Although Roaming Dragon had given up trying to fight the normal players and devoted all of his strength to Gods of Destruction, he still fell short of the mostly fresh team of Gods of Destruction. In the end, he had to wave his spear and shout, “Retreat to the right wing and hold your ground!”

Mad Dragon started retreating systematically. If they focused solely on keeping themselves alive at the right wing, there was still a chance they could squeeze a man or two into the Devil Spirit Hall. After all, Gods of Destruction had only brought a couple hundred players with them, and that wasn’t enough manpower to occupy the entire plaza, not to mention that the two guards were only about ten meters away. Only speed mattered once the time was up. The first ten players who talked with the NPCs and paid 1000 gold would be granted access to Devil Spirit Hall!

After that, the fight would turn into a battle royale between the ten players. There was only one boss and one Divine Martial Token, and only one player was going to get away with the ultimate prize. As the name of the hall might suggest, the path to the ninth floor was destined to be paved in blood.

Dominating Heaven Blade’s eyes shone dangerously when Mad Dragon started retreating. Unrelenting, he waved his sword and shouted, “Don’t give them any room to breathe! Knight God, Warrior God, follow me! We’ll secure the NPCs and keep any foreign force from getting close!”

“Got it!”

Gods of Destruction were domineering if nothing else. Even their strategy was cutthroat and decisive.

But before they could carry out their plan, the situation at the entrance suddenly grew hectic once more. A new force was trying to make it into the plaza, and it was none other than the Peach Garden led by Indigo Collar and co. Peach Garden and Gods of Destruction were destined to be enemies, and neither was going to have an easy time until a clear victor had emerged.

Dominating Heaven Blade’s eyes burned with fury. He shouted, “One hundred men, follow me as I engage Indigo Collar! That wretched tramp is going to pay everything he owes with interest!”

……

Indigo Collar didn’t bring too many players with him. In fact, his party was a hundred man-strong at most. It took 1000 gold—that was 1000 RMB in real life—to enter the Devil Spirit Hall, the same amount of money the average white collar could earn in a week. Who in their right mind would spend that much money on a ticket with unclear payback unless they had absolute confidence in their abilities?

It took only an instant for Peach Garden and Gods of Destruction to engage one another. Soon, the battle turned so chaotic that it was nearly impossible to identify friend or foe. At least thousands of players were duking it out on this tiny little plaza, and the meat grinder consumed all lives indiscriminately. Moreover, there was a restriction on the plaza that massively extended the time it normally took for players to resurrect themselves, so once you died you basically missed your chance to enter the Devil Spirit Hall.

Time passed very quickly. There were only three minutes left on the clock in the blink of an eye.

I said seriously, “It’s almost time. Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, you guys are the vanguard. Attack the left side while I support you from the inside!”

“Okay!” Gui Guzi sounded incredibly excited. He was probably itching to rock and roll since the beginning of the battle. Well, I was a game addict myself, so I understood his feelings completely. It would be stranger to feel nothing after seeing the absolute madness that was happening on the Spirit Hall plaza. Fighting was the entire point of playing a game like this!

……

Swhoosh!

I burst out of the ground and resummoned the Dark Wasp. I tried summoning Xinran again, but just like before, she refused to come out.

Oh well, the Dark Wasp and I should be enough!

I cut the air in front of me with my sword and took off. With my body glowing with red undead energy and my bloody cloak fluttering behind me, I charged toward the entrance while shouting repeatedly, “Out of my way!”

At the same time, I revealed my ID for all to see. There was no one in Floating Ice City who didn’t recognize it.

Shockingly, I reached the edge without killing a single person. Suddenly, an assassin with an arrow stuck to his chest flew toward my direction, prompting me to jump out of the way in a hurry. By the time he hit the ground, he was already dead.

A girl holding a longbow ran up to me with a smile. “Boss, we’re here!”

He Yi was right behind Beiming Xue. As usual, she looked as beautiful as a fairy. Beside her, our number one priest Murong Mingyue followed the girls closely and healed Beiming Xue to full health with a wave of her wand.

Gui Guzi gave me a nod. Right now, his head looked more like a pincushion than a human head. He complained to me in a grudgeful tone, “Fuck, do you know how many archers are shooting arrows from outside? Those bastards must take pleasure in murder…”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, alright, get in already!”

……

As we made our way back in, a new force cut open a bloody path behind us and caught up to us. The leader was a girl wearing metal armor and wielding a sword that positively glowed with moonlight. Who else could it be but our famous Fruit Knife Goddess?

Lin Yixin ran up to us with her generals—Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume et cetera—in tow. When she saw that Gods of Destruction had already secured the area around the NPC guards, she couldn’t help but frown. “Damn, Dominating Heaven Blade is such a bastard. A 10-0-0 formation? How shameless…”

Standing at the center of the crowd right next to the NPC guard, Dominating Mage God laughed loudly at her. “Beauty Wind, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, do you want to help test out the strength of our formation? If you’re scared then maybe you should just go back where you came from, hahaha…”

I immediately turned around and gave Beiming Xue an order. “Lil Beiming, kill him!”

“Got it!”

Beiming Xue started drawing her bow, but before she could do anything else two purple arrows suddenly cut through the air!

Thud!

The first arrow tore right through Dominating Mage God’s Magic Shield. The second arrow left a huge hole in the middle of Dominating Mage God’s chest!

“Ah? Ugh…”

Dominating Mage God’s eyes tuned as wide as saucers. He couldn’t believe that someone had one-shot him!

I turned to stare at Beiming Xue in astonishment, but she returned the same look and shook her head. “It wasn’t me…”

……

Everyone turned toward the direction the arrows came from and saw four players standing on top of the stairs. Dominating Mage God’s killer was a Level 72 archer clad in elegant leather armor. He held a purple bow in his hands, and the line of text above his head read:

Transient Smoke and Clouds LV-72 Silver Archer

City: Dawn City

Guild: Candle Dragon

Guild Position: Vice Leader