"Jiejie…"

The Purgatory Ghost Lamps screeched and swelled, and a wall of fire suddenly erupted amid our Dragonlight Cavalry. It was a hot bath that no one wanted, dealing at least 10k damage per second to anyone who was caught within the flames.

Worse, the Purgatory Ghost Lamps screeched louder and used their Dance of Death skill when their HP had fallen below 25%. More specifically, they summoned images of red traditional court ladies in the sky and dealt powerful AoE damage to all players within a 10x10 yard circle!

Boom boom boom!

The damage was so high that even High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon were hard-pressed to endure.

72898!

81282!

90001!

……

"Holy fuck!" Xu Yang cried in surprise, "These big-chested ladies are way too hot for the likes of us! Someone, help!"

I immediately ordered, "All priests, use your AoE heals as soon as your cooldowns are up! If our frontliners die, it’s all over!"

They immediately changed their mode of healing, but it was a bit too late. Almost a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen dropped dead before our priests could heal them.

Panicking, I shouted again, "Stop attacking the mob when it’s at 30% HP! Wait until your Barrier Break is up and work with the others to one-shot it! The Purgatory Ghost Lamps can only use their Dance of Death when they’re below 25% HP, so you’ll be safe if you one-shot them while they’re still above 25%!"

While speaking, I fired Burning Blade Slash and turned a group of half-health Purgatory Ghost Lamps into experience immediately thanks to splash effect and critical hits. In my case, I didn’t need to go through the hassle of controlling the mobs’ HP because my Attack was high enough to one-shot them most of the time. A lot of players shot me envious looks. I was the only fighter in the entire guild who possessed such explosive power.

Unfortunately, controlling a mob’s HP—especially in a group battle—was a difficult technique not everyone could master, so some of our Dragonlight Cavalrymen still fell to the mobs’ Dance of Death. That was the price of growth though. Every expert must die a great number of times before they could become an expert, paying the price of a level to learn a new skill or technique. In other words, if you never get stomped, you’ll never git gud.

Pop!

A Purgatory Ghost Lamp dropped a card, and I picked it up and gave it a look. It was your classic mage-exclusive card—

Purgatory Ghost Lamp Card: Increases user’s Magic Attack by 45% and casting speed by 50%. Restores 10 MP per second. Level Requirement: 180. Duration: 120 minutes.

……

I tossed it into Lian Xin’s hands, and she used it immediately after checking out its effects. She could save it, but we desperately needed her firepower right now, not to mention that there were a ton of Purgatory Ghost Lamps still to kill. Of all the times to be conservative, this wasn’t it.

Swhoosh swhoosh…

It was around this time Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng leveled up at the same time, causing them to stare at each other in shock. "Holy shit, the Purgatory Ghost Lamps’ experience is crazy! Let’s kill some more, kakakaka…"

The battle was like a tidal wave that washed the dredges away, but left gold behind. Almost 65% of our Dragonlight Cavalry was now dead, but everyone who was still alive at this point was some of the best elites we have. As our players started to grow more accustomed to the Purgatory Ghost Lamps, the tables turned into a one-sided slaughter. Of course, there were a couple of accidents and mistakes that led to someone dying to a Dance of Death still, but for the most part, the battle went smoothly.

Behind us, a new group of players appeared from the broken shambles that were the walls. It was Snowy Cathaya led by Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis, Nangong Lexi, Shadow Chanel and more.

"Eh? What’s wrong? Why are you all here?" I asked.

Lin Yixin waved her weapon a little while explaining, "There are only less than 1000 Ghost Lamps at the southern gates, and the remaining Corpse Eaters are barely a challenge. Ling Xueshang and The Monarch Descends alone can hold them all off. I also heard that Sophie is here, so I came to see if you need some help."

He Yi replied, "Well, you’re in luck. There are at least a hundred thousand lamps here, so…"

Lin Yixin smiled. "Very well, Snowy Cathaya will handle this section of the defense line then! Let’s fight together, Sister Eve!"

"Mn!"

He Yi pointed to the south and ordered, "High Fighting Spirits, Wind Fantasy has offered to relieve some pressure for us, so go help the others!"

"Got it, guild leader!"

A Xiezhi Howl later, High Fighting Spirits and his party retreated and moved to Chaos Moon’s position. We wholeheartedly welcomed Snowy Cathaya’s assistance because there was no telling if the Purgatory Ghost Lamps were the final wave of mobs we had to fight. Moreover, we had lost over 70% of our forces already. The one hundred thousand players of Snowy Cathaya were a godsend to say the least.

……

Almost an hour later, my experience bar had jumped by 75%, an insane amount considering that I was currently Level 195. Everyone else had gained at least 2 or 3 levels during this time. It was the kind of grinding speed everyone dreamed of—provided that they were strong enough to stay alive, of course.

"I wonder if this is the last wave…" Lin Yixin said while shooting me a smile.

I looked over the edge and turned purple immediately. "Fuck! Yiyi, you jinx! The forest’s practically crawling with new mobs! What do we do…"

I wasn’t exaggerating. The new mobs’ footsteps caused the ground to quake, and the entire Sky Forest looked like they had been trampled over by a sea of bulldozers. The new mob was a three-meter-tall giant with black skin. It had three heads, six arms, and a multi-limbed lower body that resembled a spider. Even better, each pair of arms wielded two swords, two shields, and two axes! It looked terrifying to say the least!

"Fuck me!"

I sucked in a deep breath before joking, "It’s a sea of Nezhas[1]! We’re fucking dead!"

Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. "This isn’t the time to joke around. We need to reform our defense line now!"

"All magic knights, raise your shields and defend your positions!" I shouted, "This is the battle to end all battles! If we win, we’re all heroes! If we lose, we’re still heroes! Feel free to punch anyone who objects!"

"What is he talking about…" Snowy Cathaya players watched me with a dumbfounded expression.

However, my brothers—Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, Du Thirteen and some more—knew better and echoed my sentiment with feverish excitement, "Yeah! Win or loss, we’re fucking heroes! Let’s goooo!!"

Purple Marquis couldn’t stop his mouth from twitching. "Heavens, they are as strong as they are idiotic…"

……

Meanwhile, the "Nezhas" had climbed up to the ground and charged our defense line. They swung their swords, axes and even their shields wildly at us and successfully knocked back a bunch of Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Their offensive power was nothing to scoff at.

"Hold! Priests, don’t stop healing! Mages and archers, slow them down! They’re too fast!" I shouted.

Both we and Snowy Cathaya did our best to hold the line, but the three-headed giants’ charge was simply too powerful. They were able to run over most of our frontliners and go to town on our backline. The death toll immediately skyrocketed!

After I knocked aside a three-headed giant, I ordered, "Eighth subguild, where are you? Little Naughty, stun them and take them down one by one! Maintain formation! We can die, but we mustn’t lose our backline no matter what!"

Unfortunately, holes kept appearing in our formation despite our best efforts. The three-headed giants simply had too much Strength and Attack, so much so that even Gui Guzi was having trouble defending against them, much less everyone else. The battle of the eastern gate was slowly but surely devolving into a one-sided slaughter, and this time around, it was us being slaughtered.

Bang bang bang…

A three-headed giant rampaged across our players, crushing battle armors with its flaming battle axes. Dragonlight Cavalry were dropping like flies everywhere. The mobs’ levels were way higher than our players’, and there was no realistic way to shorten that gap at all. The true horror of the event was upon us; a one-sided beating we could do nothing about, just endure as long as possible.

The battlefield was littered with equipment and consumables in no time. All across the city, three-headed giants were crawling over the walls and engaging both players and NPCs in battle. While Commander Stark and his cavalry were engaging the enemy, Mad Dragon and Flower Room could only watch in horror. Nearly a hundred three-headed giants had climbed into the city, and there was nothing these weaklings could do to stop them.

It was at this moment Dominating Heaven Blade appeared with a giant blade in his hand. He shouted, "Give me an organized charge! They’re just dread-rank mobs! High-level or not, we can overwhelm them with sheer numbers…"

Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God and a bunch of other fighters worked with Dominating Heaven Blade and Charged a three-headed giant, but they all resulted in a MISS! It was true that the giants were dread-rank mobs, but they were summoned by Sophie herself. Their individual fighting capabilities outstripped even the Bone Dragons!

Chaos was ever-present. The mobs weren’t invincible, and one by one they were dropping as well. It came at the cost of many player lives, however. It was a terrible battle.

……

Whoosh!

It was at this moment a giant ball of flames fell from the sky and landed on an unfortunate hundred-man group of Snowy Cathaya players, annihilating them all in an instant and leaving a giant pit behind. Some of the scattering flames even struck the nearby walls. When the flames faded, a struggling Xinran and Sophie came into view. Xinran was holding back Sophie’s blade with her bare hand, and her Dragonbone Spear was lodged in Sophie’s shoulder.

Pu!

Xinran pushed her weapon deeper into Sophie’s flesh and caused a flash of pain across the latter’s face. However, the Goddess of Death retaliated by twisting her blade and slicing off four of Xinran’s fingers!

Bang! Sophie abruptly kicked Xinran away before saying, "You are no match for me, Xinran! You need not fight for these hypocritical humans!"

Xinran gritted her teeth and declared, "Don’t even think about hurting my big brother, Sophie! What are you waiting for, headless knight? Get out here and help me!"

Xinran raised her spear even before she finished her sentence, and a red lightning bolt suddenly struck Sophie from above. Bloody fingerprints appeared all around her body and trapped her like a spider’s web.

The newcomer was a warrior in red battle armor, but a closer look revealed that his helmet was empty; that he didn’t have a head at all. Wailing souls fueled flames that burned beneath his feet.

Headless Knight Bloody Finger (Divine Rank Boss)

Level: 240

……

"What?"

Sophie’s eyes widened. "You… you revived Bloody Finger!?"

1. Nezha (哪吒) is a protection deity in Chinese folk religion. His official Taoist name is "Marshal of the Central Altar". Sometimes, he is shown in his "three heads and six arms" form (三頭六臂). He has the ability to spit rainbows in some legends.