"Big bro, what’ll happen if we can’t escape the maelstrom?"

Beiming Xue hugged my arm tightly as she stared nervously at the dark blue maelstrom in front of us. The wind was blowing at our sails like crazy and pushing us full speed toward the center.

"Pull down the sails!" I ordered before cupping Beiming Xue’s icy hand in my own and giving her a reassuring smile. "Don’t worry. We’ll just revive at Dark Moon City."

"Ah…" Beiming Xue opened her mouth, but she still looked very afraid.

……

Meanwhile, He Yi looked behind the ship and smiled. "Hehe, the Northern Alliance has fallen into our trap. They can’t see the maelstrom in front of us because we’re blocking their vision, and by the time they do, they would have been dragged in by the centripetal force already."

Next to us, Lin Yixin had also pulled down her sails.

Both our ships sped up at the same time, but it wasn’t the result of an order. It was because we had finally entered the range of the maelstrom and were being dragged in by it!

"Grab something and steady yourselves, everyone!" I shouted. At the same time, I dismounted and grabbed the iron railing of the ship, standing side by side with Beiming Xue and He Yi. Everyone looked both nervous and excited.

……

Behind us, the enemy players on the ship suddenly shouted in surprise, "Huh? What’s going on? Why isn’t the ship responding to our commands?"

"Boss, it’s bad! There’s a gigantic maelstrom right ahead of us! Those despicable Chinese lured us into a natural disaster!"

"Fuck, we’re dead!"

……

Behind us, the 50+ Dragon God Warships panicked and tried to turn around, begging the NPC sailors to give it their all. Unfortunately, it was probably too late for most of them. Their ships were pulled to the center of the maelstrom whether they wanted it or not.

Meanwhile, both Lin Yixin and my warship were spinning rapidly inside the maelstrom. The wind was howling, lightning strikes occasionally dropped down from the sky, and when I looked down, all I saw was a pitch black hole that seemed to be depthless and all-consuming. Motherfucker, our ship would definitely be torn apart if we let the maelstrom pull us all the way down!

As the ship moved faster and faster, several Dragonlight Cavalrymen started screaming on top of their lungs, "AAAAH, I’M SEASICK…"

I laughed. "Keep it down! It’ll all be over very soon!"

"Does that mean we’re all gonna die, boss?!"

"Of course not! Since when have I led a brother or sister down a dead end? Have faith in your guild leader! She promised she can save us, and so she will!"

"The guild leader is wise! Please be wise, or we’re all going to die…"

……

For a while, He Yi kept staring at the gigantic maelstrom we were trapped in and calculating the direction the ship was moving. Then, she abruptly opened her eyes and shouted, "Pull up the sails and turn the rudder 45 degrees! Sailors, row with everything you got! Quickly, we only have around 10 seconds!"

Every NPC on the ship started acting at the same time. In fact, Lin Yixin actually gave the exact same order on her Dragon God Warship as well. The two girls had arrived at the same decision despite not having communicated it beforehand.

Swhoosh!

The sails were completely filled by the wind the second they were pulled up. Then, both ships abruptly changed directions and cut a straight line toward the edges of the maelstrom at an unbelievable speed. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the storm happening inside the maelstrom was so powerful that it almost lifted the entire ship into the air.

"AAAAAAAAAA…"

Everyone started screaming like pigs that were about to be slaughtered, and it was all we could do not to be thrown off the ship. Still, our ship continued to move insanely quickly thanks to the power of the wind.

A bunch of cracking noises suddenly resounded behind us. It was three Dragon God Warships masts breaking under the sheer pressure it was put on. The ship might be a Dragon God Warship, but it could still be damaged by poor control especially under conditions like this.

Countless Korean players were dragged into the bottomless core of the maelstrom as they screamed. It was highly unlikely that anyone of them would survive this. Being stuck inside the maelstrom was the same as being in combat, so no one could use a return scroll. Technically speaking, those who had an invincibility skill could activate it and teleport away safely, but the percentage of players who were lucky enough to come by such a skill was few and far between.

……

Swhoosh!

The wind filled the sails one last time, and our warship jumped onto the surface almost as if we were spat out by the maelstrom before landing back down on calmer waters.

He Yi still hadn’t loosen up, however. She ordered, "Pull down the sails again and row at full speed! Let’s escape the maelstrom while the momentum is still on our side!"

Beside us, Lin Yixin’s ship did the exact same thing. Her NPCs too were rowing with all their might.

……

I looked behind me and watched the galore of panicking Korean ships smashing into each other, tearing themselves apart or straight up being pulled into the center. We could hear their bloodcurdling screams even from where she was, and it almost felt like we were watching a natural disaster movie or something. No one had expected this to happen until it did.

A few minutes later, both ships finally left the maelstrom area completely, and everyone raised their arms and screamed on top of their lungs. It wasn’t a surprising reaction because one, we somehow escaped a near-death scenario, and two, we managed to take out 50+ Dragon God Warships with minimal losses. It was an amazing achievement to say the least!

Suddenly, Beiming Xue pointed to the side and said, "Look to the right! There are two enemy Dragon God Warships who managed to escape using the same tactic as us!"

I immediately yelled, "Yiyi, you take the left one and I take the other?"

Lin Yixin unsheathed her sword and responded, "Of course! There’s nothing to be afraid of if it’s a 1v1!"

……

Everyone let out hearty laughs as our ships rapidly approached the enemy. Seemingly noticing the danger coming their way, the enraged Korean players pulled out their weapons and shouted, "Get them! Slaughter these despicable bastards and avenge our fallen comrades!"

Four ships rammed into each other at almost the same time. Both sides were very angry.

Just like before, I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, leaped over to the enemy deck and kicked off the assault with War Crush. Four Ancient Seals later, the Koreans lost all their morale and practically surrendered themselves to slaughter. There was literally nothing they could do against a transformed Divine General with a powerful Divine General Skill to boot.

"Loose!"

Volleys of arrows filled the air at Beiming Xue’s order and reached the enemy first, killing many of them. Behind me, the Dragonlight Cavalry leaped onto the deck and murdered the shit out the enemies with Hoof Trample. In a narrow space like this, it could only be a one-sided slaughter.

This time, we chose to kill all one thousand players on the ship instead of destroying the hold and let it sink on its own. Then, we swept through the battlefield for equipment and supplies before returning to our ship. The problem with naval battle was that most of the item drops fell into the sea and couldn’t be picked up. It was to the point where even our desire to slaughter the enemies was lessened.

……

On the other side, Snowy Cathaya took down the other enemy ship with equal ease under Lin Yixin’s guidance. After that, we happily made our merry way back.

I brought up the world map to discover that our forces were still neck deep in battle. Less than 2000 yards in front of us, a fierce battle was happening between two groups of orange and red dots. The cries of battle filled the air, and players were rushing onto enemy decks to cut down their foe close and personal!

Right now, Li Chengfeng was committing murder left and right on a Dragon God Warship. Dragonbone Flurry, Cyan Dragon Horn, Reverse Scale Slash and more, every skill he dished out scared the shit out of the Korean players. Moreover, after he buffed himself with his Divine General Skill, he became a lot tankier and he reflected a percentage of all the damage he received. He was like a fortress of war that left nothing but dust and remains in his wake.

Gui Guzi was doing very well with his spear as well. Wherever his spear traveled, Korean players were killed or sent flying into the water. There was nothing they could do to resist at all.

The tides of battle were entirely commanded by our Famous Generals. Like locusts, they annihilated a ship before moving on to the next one. It was an incredibly arrogant way of fighting to say the least.

Some distance away, I saw a bunch of icy explosions happening on the sea surface. It was Stranger of Three Lifetimes’ special skill. Surprisingly, the skill could free a small portion of the sea surface, and the mage exploited this by freezing enemy ships in place. Unable to move even an inch, the enemy could only wait for death to claim them as Blazing Hot Lips’ mage parties ravaged them with Galaxy Storms.

At Baidicheng’s side, Come See The Snow Tonight was riding a blood-red warhorse and jumping back and forth between her own ship and the enemy’s. It was because she was using a Knight General stratagem and leading hundreds of riders on a cavalry charge. Her cavalry troops were practically unstoppable, and since she kept all her ships locked together with chains, it was almost as if she was fighting on land. The Northern Alliance suffered huge damage as a result.

……

"What is this, the Battle of Red Cliffs?" I curled my lips. "Come See The Snow Tonight sure is a bold woman. If the northerners read our books and used fire to burn her ships…"

He Yi chuckled. "That’s not a problem at all, actually. A mage’s ice magic is far more effective than even a fire extinguisher. Games aren’t reality after all."

"Yeah. Let’s keep up the attack!"

"Mn!"

Our two Dragon God Warships sailed straight toward the enemy and knocked apart a five-ship formation upon first contact. Then, our ranged players terrorized them so much so that He Yi and I didn’t even bother to get off the ship. We simply attacked them with Purgatory of Ice and Magma and Burning Blade Slash from range and killed them all.

The sky was clear, but the sea was dyed red with blood. Countless players were floating in the water haplessly as bloodthirsty creatures swam over to savor a chunk of their flesh. The deep sea was a high-level map, and we were starting a war right atop the mobs’ territories. It was no wonder that the locals were protesting via extreme violence.

At this point, the battle slowed into a small stalemate. Our troops were composed of super guilds such as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng. Our martial prowess far exceeded our enemies’, and our unity and teamwork were a touch better than most as well.

Meanwhile, the Northern Alliance’s troops were composed of Korea’s Burning City, Vietnam’s Hot Sand City, and Germany’s Chariot City. Despite being members of the same alliance, they fought on their own and didn’t cooperate with their allies at all. As a result, Korea’s forces started showing signs of crumbling after the naval battle stretched to four hours in total. If they didn’t vastly outnumber us, we might’ve removed them from the battlefield already.

……

Crack!

Suddenly, a lightning strike hit the sea surface, and gloomy clouds started covering the sky.