Wind Canyon.

Snowflakes that looked like goose feathers fell on top of a cold, icy armor. Inside the canyon, droves of players were looking to the front with deep worry in their eyes. Their weapons were unsheathed and shivering a little in the wind, but no one was making a move just yet.

Almost a million players were gathered at the valley entrance facing toward Dawn City. They were the players of Thunder, Wings of Awakening and Silver Soul.

A magic knight carrying a bloody spear galloped to the front of the army before jumping up a small hill. He then raised his weapon and said loudly, "Everyone, if you’d allow me to speak, I am the guild leader of Thunder, Thunderbolt!"

The crowd quieted just a little.

Thunderbolt continued. "We have all been invaded and harassed by the enemy at Vanished God City and Wind City, and we suffered a lot of losses because of it. However, the super guilds such as Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya have taken out at least 70% of the enemy, and all there’s left for us are scraps! Even if we invade Dawn Valley and retake Dawn City now, how will the world see us? They will criticize us and call us a bunch of cowards who only fight the easy fights!"

Thunderbolt swallowed once before continuing his impassioned speech, "A real man would achieve something great during troubled times, and I believe that applies to us now. Dawn City is just a tier 2 city; what does it matter even if we managed to save it? In my opinion, we should attack a tier 1 major city such as Vietnam’s Hot Sand City or Korea’s Burning City. Now that, will be a peerless achievement. Don’t you all agree?"

His speech won traction just as he expected it would. In fact, the guild leader of a middle-rank guild in Vanished God City raised his longbow and said, "Thunderbolt’s speech does make a bit of sense. Let’s say we march to Burning City now and claim the bangzis’ one and only super city. Surely we’ll be rewarded handsomely for our achievement, and some of us… may even be admitted into the CGL Hall of Fame, right?"

Even more players became seduced by the dream he presented to them.

Then, the guild leader of Wings of Awakening, Bloody War God, galloped up to Thunderbolt’s side and raised his own sword. "The 18000 Fire Lizard Cavalrymen of Wings of Awakening is willing to serve as the vanguard to conquer Burning City and deal a painful blow to the bangzi! It will be like raiding an empty city considering that their forces are all concentrated at Dawn City!"

"That’s right!" This time it was a high-level warrior who spoke up, and it was the guild leader of Silver Soul, Wind Slayer. He declared loudly, "Our 20000 Ice Leopard Cavalrymen are willing to serve as the vanguard as well! How can we call ourselves ‘Avengers’ if we don’t retaliate against our enemy’s invasion by destroying their homes and digging up their ancestors’ graves? Am I right?"

It was the final nail in the coffin. The players laughed in high spirits and waved their weapons to show their support to their leaders, "Let’s go! Let us avenge the China server and tell those cowardly invaders that we are no saints who will turn the other cheek when we get slapped!"

……

Bang bang bang!

Three flaming auras exploded in the middle of a group of enemies and deleted them instantly, courtesy to my powerful attack and splash effect. At the same time, I pointed to the west and said, "Candlelight Shadow, break through this gap now! Even a bitch should be able to break through a human wall that’s less than 20 meters thick!"

Candlelight Shadow looked to the front and nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Lu Chen! Brothers and sisters, ride with me!"

In fact, Candlelight Shadow didn’t have many men left. Tempest Shadow and several hundred elite cavalrymen were all he had left as he charged toward the hole I helped create for him. Still, they were all elites. I was one hundred percent sure he and his men would be able to make it outside.

A blood drenched Hot and Sour Noodles shot me an agitated look. "Well done! We have completed our mission. Now then, shall we turn back and punch through the Northern Alliance’s defense line in one go, Lu Chen?"

I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him to the back. "You stay at the back and take a breather, uncle! I’ll open up a way for us!"

Hot and Sour Noodles laughed loudly. His Greedy Wolf Cavalry had dwindled to less than two hundred, but he felt like fire was burning inside his chest. He shouted, "After a battle like this, I can truly say I don’t regret this life!"

……

"Dragonlight Cavalry, charge!"

I raised my sword into the air and led the counter-charge with Gui Guzi, He Yi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang and the others. Everyone wore red faces and bloodshot eyes because our companions kept dying as we fought our way back to Dawn City. It was a kind of anger that could only be vented via murder.

By the time we reached the city gate again, our total number had dwindled to less than 200. The Dragonlight Cavalry’s numbers had dropped to 155, and Hot and Sour Noodles’ Greedy Wolf Cavalry had dropped to 37. They were one bad hit away from being annihilated.

"Big bro and the others are back!" On the walls, Beiming Xue pointed to the ground and ordered, "Open the gates and give me some suppressive fire!"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes and the other mages hurriedly blasted the ground with Galaxy Storms as we escaped through the gates, killing all of the Northern Alliance cavalry who attempted to give chase. Stranger of Three Lifetimes and her mages possessed incredible Magic Attack, and there was practically no one who could withstand dozens of Galaxy Storms in one go.

After we went back into the city and ran back up the walls, we gazed toward the horizon and watched a troop of cavalry breaking out of the heavy encirclement surrounding Dawn City and entering toward Dawn Valley. They should make contact with the Avengers in no time.

Hot and Sour Noodles said with a smile, "Everything should be alright now. Once the Martial God reaches the Avengers, he should be able to assume command without trouble. If nothing else, Candlelight Shadow is quite the popular guy."

But He Yi replied with a frown, "I’m not too sure, actually. If the Martial God was as popular as you claim, we wouldn’t have had to escort him to the Avengers in the first place. Unless you plan to tell me that the guild leaders of Thunder, Wings of Awakening and Silver Soul are so noob that they don’t know the way to Dawn City without Martial God, I think we should wait and see what happens next."

I smiled and put an arm around He Yi’s shoulder. "You worry too much, Eve. Sometimes, you need to think positively. The Avengers are players from Vanished God City and Wind City, also known as our allies, so why wouldn’t they want to help us? Plus, what else could they possibly do in this situation except retaking Dawn City? They’ll all have to be retarded if they pick any other course of action!"

Chaos Moon tilted her head at me and said, "How dare you tease our guild leader in public, boy. Keep your hands to yourself unless you want us to throw you off the walls…"

But He Yi said happily, "They’ll have to go through me first."

Chaos Moon curled her lips. "Oh no, our guild leader has completely succumbed to Lu Chen…"

We all laughed loudly for a moment. [1]

……

Boom boom boom...

Flaming rocks continued to rock the walls of Dawn City. It wasn’t long before terrifying cracks started appearing on the second wall as well. We paid it no heed and continued to fight with everything we got, but before we knew it, the number of players around us grew smaller and smaller.

As our numbers continued to dwindle rapidly, we received news that the second wall had collapsed as well. Our players had begun engaging the enemies in melee inside the city.

"We can’t hold on any longer…"

Hot and Sour Noodles said as he looked at the interface, "Dammit, it’ll be another 10 hours before the Nation War ends. Are we really going to lose during this 10 hours?"

I shook my head. "Never. Keep fighting!"

It was at this moment Beiming Xue pointed to the west. "Look, the Avengers have begun moving. They’re finally going to assist Dawn City!"

But He Yi shook her head and said, "No, something’s not right. They’re not moving in the right direction!"

Chaos Moon also nodded. "Yeah, they’re not coming to Dawn City. They’re… What the fuck? What the fuck are they doing? Why are they moving toward Windy Trail?!"

Hot and Sour Noodles hurriedly opened the communicator and half-shouted, "Fang Zhuo, what the hell are you doing? Why are the Avengers heading toward Windy Trail?!"

We couldn’t hear what Candlelight Shadow’s reply was, but...

Thud...

All the blood suddenly drained away from Hot and Sour Noodles’ face as he dropped to his knees. The blood on the floor stained his pants as he said with a dazed expression, "Animals! Those animals…"

"What happened, uncle?" I crouched on the floor and asked.

Zhang Chun clenched his fists as he glanced at me. "I’m sorry, Lu Chen. I couldn’t fulfill my promise…"

"What on earth happened?" I shivered from the bottom of my heart.

"Thunder, Wings of Awakening and Silver Soul took control of Candlelight Shadow and forced him to become their army commander. He’s now leading the Avengers on a sneak attack on Korea’s super city, Burning City…"

"WHAT THE FUCK!" With bloodshot eyes, I rose to my feet and threw my sword against the floor, shouting, "How could they do this? What do they think we are? Why did we even resist for so long and sacrifice so many lives to protect this city if they’re just going to throw it all away? Motherfucking sonuvabitch! And what the fuck is Candlelight Shadow doing? How can he call himself the Martial God when he submits to his own kidnappers? Why didn’t he at least try to resist?? Why??"

He Yi said indifferently, "Such is the struggle for dominance. Candlelight Shadow himself probably wanted this to happen…"

Hot and Sour Noodles forced himself to rise to his feet and grip his sword once more. He looked like he had aged a couple of years in a minute. He whispered, "Whatever happens, don’t forget that we gave it our all. Now, let’s keep up the good fight!"

I rose dazedly to my feet.

I heard a loud crack next to me, and the entire wall started crumbling beneath its own weight. I heard the angry shouts and bloodcurdling screams of dying players. Had we really lost?

……

The Northern Alliance chose this moment to launch a ferocious assault. They swarmed the entire northern wall almost instantly.

I didn’t remember how I fought my way down to the capital. It was only when I looked up and saw a shiny barrier that I finally regained my senses. The walls of the capital city were invincible and indestructible, and an azure barrier had appeared around the entrance. It was the protective spell cast by all the palace mages and the final resistance of the NPCs.

"The Life Barrier has appeared…"

Hot and Sour Noodles looked at the barrier behind himself and said in an indifferent tone, "Maybe not all is lost yet. The Life Barrier is incredibly difficult to breach, and all units who enter the Life Barrier will enjoy its protection. However, you can’t leave once you get inside unless you’re willing to pay a most heavy price."

Gui Guzi asked, "What price?"

"A 30-level penalty!" Hot and Sour Noodles said heavily.

Everyone was shocked. Hot and Sour Noodles smiled despairingly and said, "That’s why you shouldn’t enter the Life Barrier unless you have no other choice."

……

The iron hooves of the enemy continued to crush our homes mercilessly. Eventually, the players of the Northern Alliance came through the snow and appeared at the palace entrance. Vienna’s Sorrow stood at the forefront of his army and glared at us with murderous intent. He was accompanied by at least a couple million soldiers.

Meanwhile, we had fought a hopeless battle for almost half an hour. Almost all our mages, archers, assassins, priests, warriors and more were killed, and there were less than a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen behind me.

We were all standing at the entrance blankly. How on earth are we going to protect this entrance with less than a thousand players?

"Have we… lost?" Chaos Moon murmured as the fighting spirit in her eyes gradually disappeared.

High Fighting Spirits also lowered his war hammer, with not a word said.

Everyone knows that the departure of the Avengers’ twenty million troops meant that all hope for Dawn City was lost.

……

Swhoosh!

I crossed the Cyan Netherworld Sword in front of me and rode to the front. I spent a moment to stare at the well-organized troops directly ahead of me before looking back at my brothers and sisters. "Everyone, this is our final battle. Will you be cowards for the rest of your days, or will you be heroes for just a couple of minutes?"

Chiang chiang chiang!

Everyone pulled out their weapons with determination in their eyes.

1. Author’s Note: why do I always write "laugh loudly", you ask? It’s totally not because I can’t think of any other adverb, I promise…