Some time had passed since the rescuing of Gods of Destruction. The enemy’s remaining Black Marsh Catapults had come close enough to fire at White Rose Fortress, and more than once had the deadly rocks crashed against our walls and caused a massive explosion. The good news was that Gui Guzi, Heaven’s Rain and Diamond Dust had charged them several times and stopped them from being able to fire at one point of the wall with impunity.

The bad news was that the walls would fall in just a couple more rotations. Some of the cracks on the walls had grown to a finger wide. It looked scary to say the least.

Standing on the eastern wall, Dominating Heaven Blade stared at the sea of Purple Grape City players in poorly concealed shock while exclaiming, "Holy shit! Ancient Sword, The Monarch Descends and Blazing Hot Lips are not even at full strength, and you managed to hold out against this army?"

"We had to. It’s not like we can conjure an army out of thin air," I said with a grim smile.

Dominating Heaven Blade clenched his fists. "During territory wars, the amount of players packed into the defending city is like ducks in a duck farm, all on top of each other, with barely any space to move. But in Nation Wars, the same numbers go poof in a single battle. Fucking hell, how do they expect a single guild, even one as strong as Ancient Sword, to hold out against this many enemies?"

Xu Yang pointed to the west. "That’s not all. Red Maple and the God’s Domain are lodged in our sides like a poisonous thorn. There will be no restful sleep until we finally eliminate them."

"Yeah…"

Dominating Heaven Blade echoed the sentiment. "We’re lucky Floating Ice City doesn’t count as China’s domain anymore, or many of our players wouldn’t be able to rejoin this battle. Do you have a plan, Lu Chen?"

I leaned against a wall with the Purple Ying Sword hanging loosely in my grip, "A plan? Of course I do. In fact, I’ve thought up at least a hundred plans in the past couple hours or so. Unfortunately, they all require one key element to execute, and that is an army big enough to keep the fortress defended during them. Again, I don’t have the ability to conjure an army out of thin air, so all I can do is to wait here until something happens."

"What about Wind City? Where is Candle Dragon, Purple Lily and Peach Garden? We’re fighting a full-blown war here; they should’ve shown up already."

"Wind City has their own battles to fight, so it makes sense that they’re delayed somewhat," I said with a frown. "Also, Sky City has more or less the same amount of players as Purple Grape City. There is no reason to believe that we cannot defeat them by ourselves."

Suddenly, Hot and Sour Noodles messaged me: "Lu Chen!"

"What is it, uncle? When is Righteousness going to arrive?" I said hopefully.

However, the news he brought wasn’t a good one. "Unfortunately, we were intercepted midway. That bastard Red Maple deployed almost a hundred thousand cavalrymen against our forces and dealt massive damage. We’ve lost a large majority of our key units as well. The silver lining is that we’ve managed to retreat out of Frost Forest and escape their pursuit. The bad news is that we cannot break through God’s Domain’s defense line and reach you!"

"Fuck!" I couldn’t stop myself from swearing. "What the fuck are our players doing? You’re telling me that a single God’s Domain is enough to stop millions and millions of players from advancing? Those fucking freeloaders!"

Hot and Sour Noodles adopted a calmer tone and replied, "Calm down, Lu Chen. You know that not everyone has Dragonlight Cavalry. I saw with my own eyes a 5000-man guild charging God’s Domain’s formation only to be annihilated in five minutes. Five! No matter how I hate to admit it, most of us simply don’t possess the power to fight them."

"Well shit, what do we do now?"

"We wait."

"For what?’

"We wait for Candlelight Shadow and his Viper Dragoons to save us. They’re scheduled to arrive in half an hour. I’m sure we’ll be able to tear apart God’s Domain’s defense with everyone’s cooperation and Candlelight Shadow’s leadership."

I sucked in a deep breath before saying, "I leave it to you then, uncle."

"Mn."

After the call was over, I sat on the wall and stared at the sea of scheming Purple Grape City players. I felt like a rock was sitting at the bottom of my heart. Never did I imagine that I would one day have to rely on Candlelight Shadow of all people to break open a conundrum.

……

About ten minutes later, Gui Guzi abruptly rose to his feet and pointed. "Boss Broken Halberd, look! They’re pushing about a hundred Black Marsh Catapults toward us! Motherfucker, the Japanese are about to launch an all-out assault!"

I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. "Brothers and sisters, prepare for battle!"

Xu Yang said with deep helplessness, "They have a ton of siege weapons, while we have none. This battle is simply impossible…"

I punched the arrow loop beside me and sent smithereens flying. "Doesn’t matter if it’s impossible or not! We cannot retreat even if we lose every last one of our Dragonlight Cavalry! Behind us is our homeland, and it is every warrior’s duty to protect their homes be it in reality or virtual world!"

Chiang chiang chiang...

Everyone began unsheathing their weapons. The battle could begin at any moment.

Suddenly, we heard a clamor from the south side of the fortress. Then, a group of players emerged from the fortress passages. For a second I thought our enemy had somehow slipped into our ranks, but they looked a bit too familiar.

"What’s going on?" I shouted.

A Bloody Mercenaries warrior answered me with a laugh, "Vice leader, it’s Chaos Moon riding in with our trump card!"

"What?!"

I exclaimed in joy and disbelief. The next moment, Chaos Moon rode in through the passage and beamed at me. "Sorry we’re late! Phew, that was a close call."

I was happy to see her, but I was also very confused. Xu Yang voiced my doubts for me and asked, "Didn’t Red Maple have White Rose Fortress completely surrounded? How on earth did you get in, Chaos Moon?"

She curled her lips and humphed. "Hmph, didn’t you know that White Rose Fortress is connected to Dragon Bone Mountain Range? We used a secret passage through the forest to get here. You have no clue how tiring it is to push the White Marsh Catapults up a mountain!"

"You brought the White Marsh Catapults!?" My smile grew wider.

"Yep!"

"Wonderful! Have them assembled right away and prepare for bombardment!"

"Yessir!"

The engineers began assembling the White Marsh Catapults, Black Tortoise Catapults and basic Catapults under Chaos Moon’s leadership. Before long, we had 20 White Marsh Catapults and 50 Black Tortoise Catapults on top of the walls. The reason we deployed them on the walls was to increase the siege weapons’ range and damage.

……

"Here they come!" Gui Guzi gripped his Spear of the Knight God tighter. "Boss Broken Halberd, I’m heading down now! Feel free to order a charge anytime you like!"

I nodded. "Noted. Just so you know, I’m probably not going to send you outside unless we have no other choice. Ancient Sword has lost too many men already."

"Hehe, I know. Anyway, see you later!"

"Yeah."

Beneath the city, Purple Grape City players began to move. The flag above their heads looked so annoying that some of our archers shot an arrow or two just because.

……

"Are we really going to stay inside the fort?" Xu Yang asked.

"Mn. If we try to mount another charge, we may as well surrender the fortress to the enemy now. Our mages and archers will be able to do more from the walls’ altitude anyway," I said.

Chaos Moon giggled. "Mn, Lu Chen is clever as usual. He understands that trading the walls of White Rose Fortress for more time and life is a worthwhile trade. After all, why would you want a wall if you’re not going to utilize it?"

"It’s too bad Beiming and Lian Xin aren’t here."

"Hmph hmph!"

When the enemy’s formation came within a hundred yards of our walls, I immediately pulled out my sword and pointed to the front. "All archer and mage parties, form a 10-man column and coordinate your attack so that you all attack the same place at the same time! The goal is to one-shot the enemy every time you fire a skill! We don’t have enough men, so we cannot afford to fire at will anymore! You won’t be able to kill anyone if you do that, understand?"

"Yessir!"

Everyone nodded and carried out my orders. The next moment, bursts of magic spells and arrows flew over the walls and crashed right on top of the enemy troops. I wasn’t worried that my players would fuck up because all they needed to do was to have the leader designate a coordinate in front of them, and the party members to hit that one spot. As expected, the Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms killed plenty of enemy players even despite their shields.

There was nothing the enemy could do except endure. All the players on the walls were the elites of Sky City, meaning that their average power level was way higher than the second-rate Purple Grape City players who were attacking us. Not only that, everyone had the King of Cities buff and had their Attack increased by 15%!

However, what Purple Grape City lacked in quality, they more than made up for with sheer numbers. Uncaring that we were killing droves with every blast, they kept rushing us so that their main formation could inch ever closer. Already, the goddamned Black Marsh Catapults were almost close enough to fire at us again. That damn thing had such a long range that it outranged even the archers on the wall.

……

"Fuck!"

The Black Marsh Catapults were about to enter within 200 yards of the city. Any more than that, and they would definitely be able to take a shot at us!

I abruptly turned around and looked at the support players manning the White Marsh Catapults and Black Tortoise Catapults. "How accurate are the catapults?"

An uncle who looked to be around 35 years old answered, "Not very, but with enough micromanaging we can narrow the landing point to a circle with a 20-yard radius. It’s pure luck where it’ll land within that area though!"

My eyes widened. "You sure? Are you absolutely sure you can narrow it down to 20 yards?"

The uncle slapped his chest once. "Of course! We are worth every bit of gold the guild leader pays us!"

That was all the assurances I needed to hear. "Very good! All White Marsh Catapults, lock onto the enemy Black Marsh Catapults and shoot them! Crush them all!"

"Fuck, will that really work?" It was the uncle’s turn to widen his eyes.

"Just do it!"

"Fine, dammit! Let’s give it our all, boys!"

……

Three engineers began making their calibrations as the arm of a White Marsh Catapult was drawn backward. The restraining rope of the machine looked as thick as a dragon’s tendon. After a silvery rock was deposited in the bucket and the calibrations were complete, the uncle nodded and yelled, "Fire!"

Swhoosh!

The first payload was launched into the air, drawing a beatiful arc in the air and causing everyone’s hearts to race as it got closer and closer!

Bang!

The payload hit the Black Marsh Catapult square-on, and just as I thought, one hit was enough to destroy it completely. Hell yeah!

"Well done! Keep shooting!"

All the White Marsh Catapults and Black Tortoise Catapults started launching their projectiles at the enemy’s siege weapons. Of course, the Purple Grape City players didn’t just suffer the attack without retaliation and started firing their lucky Black Marsh Catapults. Both sides quickly turned into a living hell in no time.

……

A while later, Chaos Moon reported indifferently, "Report. Candlelight Shadow has clashed against Red Maple on the open plain to the east of Floating Ice City. Both sides number around a hundred thousand elites each…"