I smirked when I heard those words. You want to monopolize the Agave market? Keep dreaming, small fry! Do you think that I’ll just sit back and let you do what you want?

But now wasn’t the time to be thinking about Agave! Mad Dragon’s planning to ambush another guild? Hmph, I definitely won’t let them get their way! The most despicable thing someone could do in the game was to ambush another person when they are nearly finished killing a boss! I didn’t know which guild was currently fighting a boss, but I had already decided to help them out!

……

I snuck through the undergrowth and carefully avoided all the Level 145 shadow-rank monsters I came across. Soon, I heard the sounds of an intense battle ringing in the air. As I peeked my head out, I realized that these sounds were coming from a small vale just ahead of me. I moved forward and cleared the thick shrubbery in front of me to discover a group of two hundred-odd players fighting a Level 145 Spirit Rank boss, Land Dragon. The humongous lizard only had about 15% of its HP left.

"Be careful, everyone! When the boss's HP dips to 10%, it might suddenly enter an enraged state or use its ultimate attack!" A young man, who was dressed in cloth armor, yelled from the middle of the pack of players. He looked to be about twenty-eight years of age, and his features were refined and elegant. He was holding an exquisite-looking steel fan in his hand and the light swirling around his feet showed that he was using a stratagem. He was clearly the party leader and a tactician.

I activated Dark Pupils to get more detailed information on this tactician from a distance.

Lu Buyi LV-133 Miraculous Tactician

Guild: Waste and Burn

Position: Vice Leader

……

Miraculous Tactician? My eyes shone when I saw those words. What the hell? Was this the legendary hidden Tactician class? It sounds pretty good! Miraculous Tactician is one hell of a class name!

However, this Lu Buyi didn’t look very powerful, and it seemed like he was using Encourage V, which didn’t even buff his party’s attack power by 50%. His performance definitely wasn’t living up to his title. This guild called Waste and Burn wasn’t very powerful either. Even though they were only fighting a Level 145 Spirit Rank boss, they looked like they were having a very hard time killing it. Players kept dropping like flies and this was especially true for their frontline fighters. A Level 128 warrior actually couldn’t even tank two hits from the boss and it seemed like they didn’t have a single proper magic knight! The boss was just slaughtering them willy-nilly and if they didn’t bring a lot of people, they would have been party-wiped a long time ago.

"Comrades, the boss doesn’t have much HP left…"

Lu Buyi continued with a silly grin on his face, "This Land Dragon is really powerful, even our guild leader was one-shot by a critical hit from it. Killing this boss hasn’t been easy at all, but don’t worry! Our guild leader is currently rushing over with several hundred of our comrades who had previously died during the boss fight! They’ll get here soon!"

"Yeah!" The remaining players cheered as their faces flushed red. All of them seemed to be really hoping for the boss to drop something good.

……

"Ah! Ah! Aaaah…"

Cries of misery suddenly rang out from the forest. My nerves immediately tensed up. Really? Has the tragedy already begun?

As expected, the expression of Lu Buyi’s face suddenly changed as he yelled, "Everyone… we need to hurry up and finish off this boss. The guild leader and the rest of our comrades were ambushed by Mad Dragon in the forest behind us. They were slaughtered to the last. He ordered us to kill the boss as quickly as possible and bring the loot back to the city!"

A cute female assassin said, "Vice leader, the guild leader already died and the players from Mad Dragon are going to be here any minute! Do we… Do we really have to keep fighting the boss? It still has 15% of its HP left, and that’ll take us at least fifteen more minutes…"

Lu Buyi’s eyes were filled with a steely determination. He clenched his teeth and said, "The guild leader has already entrusted his wishes to us, so we are going to beat this boss even if it costs us our lives! No matter how arrogant those Mad Dragon players are, we still need to stand up to them. Even though Waste and Burn isn’t a big guild, we… we can still stand up for our brothers and give them hell! Am I right?!"

A group of Waste and Burn players immediately shouted, "That’s right! What’s the worst that can happen? We’ll be as good as new after we revive! We’ll never betray the guild leader or our brothers!"

I was quite impressed with the way Lu Buyi had rallied his guild members. It forced me to look at him in a different light. He was a man of good character who had both loyalty and a strong sense of responsibility!

……

The ground and trees suddenly trembled at this moment. After that, a large group of high-level players charged out of the woods. As expected, Mad Dragon had come out in force. Their guild leader, Roaming Dragon, was leading them and all of their key members were there, including the Gemini Stars and the beautiful archer Coldmoon Rose. They had brought at least a hundred Level 130 players with them, so it was clear that they hadn’t come to play. Their firepower was overwhelming and they were a far superior force compared to the remaining Waste and Burn players.

"Hahaha, those were some stirring words. The bond of brotherhood that this guild shares is really something to be admired!" Roaming Dragon said as he pointed his spear toward the Waste and Burn players.

However, his expression suddenly turned cold as he let out a chilling laugh. "But no matter how stirring those words are, what use do they actually have? In the end, this world is ruled by those with power! Our Mad Dragon guild wants this Land Dragon boss, so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll get lost and hand this boss over to us. If not, we’ll slaughter all of you!"

Lu Buyi’s expression turned indignant. "Roaming Dragon? You… You dog bastard who only knows how to bully the weak! I only see you bullying smaller guilds like us! Why don’t I ever see you trying to bully Gods of Destruction, Bloody Mercenaries, or The Monarch Descends, huh?!"

Roaming Dragon’s handsome face immediately turned the color of pig liver, it was clear that Lu Buyi had hit him where it hurt. That was right! Even though Mad Dragon was a powerful guild in its own right, they never dared to go toe to toe against the big boys. In fact, they didn’t even dare to challenge a guild like Gods of Destruction, so they naturally wouldn’t dare to offend super guilds like Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and Warsky Alliance.

Swhoosh!

Roaming Dragon swept his spear forward as he roared in anger. "You actually still dare to shoot your mouth off in a situation like this? Fucking hell! Comrades, it’s time to attack! Kill all of these fools and start finishing off the boss. After we kill them, we’re going to camp their corpses. We’ll camp them until the next morning! I’m going to see just how stubborn the Waste and Burn guild can be! Iron Pardon, I want you to focus on one thing and one thing alone! Kill that fucking tactician! Heh heh, to think that a lousy tactician would dare to become the vice leader of a guild. What the hell was his guild leader even thinking?"

"Yes!"

The Mad Dragon players howled with bloodlust as they charged into the valley! They outclassed their opponents when it came to numbers, levels, and equipment, so they were like a pack of wolves tearing into a flock of sheep. They only needed a single instant to kill several dozen of Waste and Burn’s priests. When the priests in the backline collapsed, the frontline fighters, who were still tanking the boss, also started to drop like flies.

Iron Pardon was as fast as a sprinting cheetah, dashing toward Lu Buyi. His sharp blade flashed through the air, flames erupting from it, as he launched an Explosion Slash toward the tactician.

Even though he belonged to one of the classes which wore cloth armor, Lu Buyi showed absolutely no fear. He swiftly swept his steel fan forward and actually managed to parry Iron Pardon’s attack with a loud clang! However, Iron Pardon’s massive advantage in Strength soon won out. His blow violently shoved Lu Buyi backward and it even dealt more than 3000 damage to him! The tactician’s max HP was barely higher than 10000, and Iron Pardon had clearly outmatched him in power.

"Ugh…" Lu Buyi groaned as he steadied himself. After that, a dragon roar faintly rang out in the air as cyan light exploded out of his steel fan. As he thrust his fan forward, Lu Buyi yelled, "Dragon Vein Art!"

Whoosh!

The image of a cyan dragon shot out of the ground and rammed into Iron Pardon. The tactician had actually launched a magic attack against him, causing a large damage number to pop up above the warrior’s head. 8904!

"Huh?!" Iron Pardon had been caught completely off-guard by Lu Buyi’s attack. He had not expected a tactician to have such a powerful magic skill. However, his sword still swept forward even as he started to retreat and it heavily smashed into Lu Buyi’s chest!

Pfffft!

6092!

Thankfully, Lu Buyi had been able to down a health potion while he was still protected by his Dragon Vein Art. If not, Iron Pardon’s attack would have taken his life.

Lu Buyi’s body wildly shuddered under the blow, but he still chose to go on the offensive! His handsome face was filled with rage as his steel fan flashed out like a bolt of lightning. It hit Iron Pardon’s neck with a loud "thunk”. This wily tactician had suddenly switched from a magic to a physical attack! He was no ordinary player!

4200!

However, that steel fan of his was quite lousy, so it didn’t deal much damage to Iron Pardon at all. If his weapon had been better, Lu Buyi might still have been able to win this duel.

……

Iron Pardon’s shame soon turned into rage as he yelled, "Get lost!"

As he launched his brawny body toward Lu Buyi, Iron Pardon sent the poor tactician flying with a vicious kick. Lu Buyi flew backward and stumbled on the ground. He cut a rather sorry figure as he scrambled to get back to his feet.

Things were beginning to look very grim for Waste and Burn. When Lu Buyi finally got a chance to scan the battlefield, he realized that most of his guild members had already been slaughtered.

He pounded his fist into the ground as he screamed, "Fuck you!” Hatred burned in the tactician’s eyes and he probably hated that he didn’t have the power to save his comrades and allow them to live freely under the sun.

……

Rustle...

Iron Pardon raised his sharp sword in the air as he grimly advanced toward the nearly-dead Lu Buyi. As long as Iron Pardon landed a single scratch, the tactician was done for.

But it was at this exact moment that a cyan blade of sword energy suddenly shot through the sky and struck the rampaging Iron Pardon in the head!

Bang!

8098!

Iron Pardon was instantly shoved backward as he yelled, "Who was that!?"

Wooosh!

My sudden charge had caught Iron Pardon by surprise. He realized who I was as I dashed straight toward him. I grinned, "It’s been too long since we last met, Gemini Stars!"

As Iron Pardon’s eyes widened dramatically in shock, my Cyan Netherworld Sword blasted a hole straight through his chest. He had been one-shot by my attack!

……

Everyone suddenly stopped fighting and it seemed as if time itself had stopped.

I brandished my sword as I stood protectively in front of Lu Buyi. I cut a majestic figure as my tattered Soul Suppressing Cloak fluttered in the air behind me. I had hidden the glow of my equipment, but my armor looked so fearsome that it still struck fear into the hearts of all the Mad Dragon players present. In fact, the thousand Mad Dragon players that had gathered had all stopped to stare at me.

"Gulp!" Roaming Dragon audibly swallowed a mouth of saliva before his gaze turned sinister and cold. "You… You! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?"

I chuckled darkly. "What do you think? Come on, Roaming Dragon! I always wanted to have a duel to the death with you! How about we fight for three hundred rounds, right here, right now! Come on! Let’s do this thing!"

Roaming Dragon flew into a rage. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, why are you always butting your nose into my business? Fuck! What does this Waste and Burn guild even have to do with you? Why are you even helping them?"

It was my turn to stare at him coldly. “Don’t you remember? I’m all about justice on heavens’ behalf! I just can’t stand by and watch someone get bullied, can’t stand by and watch a certain person act like an overbearing despot. As long as I’m still around, I will always do my best to uphold justice in this world!"

"Fuck you! You’re courting your own death!" Roaming Dragon grew even angier. He waved his spear in the air as he yelled, "Everyone, charge! Kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! For the glory of Mad Dragon! For our fallen comrades!"

A bunch of Mad Dragon players charged at me in unison, but my sword suddenly flashed out as I launched Thousand Ice Slash at them. After that, I furiously backpedaled before I hit them with Burning Blade Slash. The score of Mad Dragon fighters who were charging straight at me instantly collapsed to the ground as ice and fire exploded in their midst!

However, Mad Dragon’s counterattack was extremely vicious. Countless arrows rained down on me and I had to be especially careful about Coldmoon Rose’s attacks. The longbow in her hand definitely had a passive that allowed her to ignore a portion of my Defense, because she kept hitting me for more than 5000 damage. This wasn’t the sort of attack power that an archer was supposed to have!

But that was the least of my worries! Galaxy Storm! Spiraling Arrow Blade! A relentless string of attacks continued to rain down on my head.

……

As I soaked up one attack after the other, I charged into the enemy lines. By the time I killed a hundred players, I had no choice but to use Tenacity of the Dead to recover health. Then, I swiftly whirled around and raised my sword to block the incoming attack!

Whooosh!

Inconstant struck me from the side with a Charge! He had actually managed to stun me too! As he stared at the remaining 20% on my HP bar, a spiral of fiery energy immediately appeared on the tip of his spear.

Barrier Break!

Puchi!

13899!

My vision blacked out as I slowly sank to the ground. I died!

……

"Bastards! You bunch of bastards!"

When Lu Buyi saw me die, he went berserk! He gripped his steel fan tightly as his eyes turned red with bloodlust. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you died for me! That makes you my brother! I definitely won’t let your death be in vain! I, Lu Buyi, can offer up nothing else but this life of mine, and I will use it to avenge you!"

Lu Buyi was about to impulsively throw his life away.

It was at this moment that a loud "thud" resounded in the air. A strong hand landed heavily on Lu Buyi’s shoulder and grasped it. "Hey, hey, why are you in such a hurry to die? There’s no need for you to throw your life away over a minor issue like this."

Lu Buyi whirled around in shock, my carefree smile growing larger and larger in his eyes.