I stared at the Righteousness magic knight with a dumbfounded expression. "Excuse me? Did you just say 5000 heavy riders were almost routed by a small force? Was your language class taught by your sports teacher?"

“I…" The magic knight looked ashamed. "All I can tell you is that a bunch of riders ambushed us and 1v5’d the crap out of us... I know it’s embarrassing…"

Hot and Sour Noodles said sternly, "I’m aware that our heavy riders are incomparable to the Dragonlight Cavalry… but surely they’re not that weak?"

I asked, "Do you know who the enemy is, my dude?"

The magic knight nodded heavily before replying, "Yes. They bear the orange-green flag of India, and their mounts are Level 180 Earth Rank mounts. I checked up on them after we escaped them, and I learned that they belong to the second strongest guild of Elephant City, Natural Flow. The cavalry is the ace unit of the guild, the White Horse Cavalry!"

I sighed. "We knew this would happen, but still. Elephant City, huh? This is not going to be easy…"

"Doesn’t matter. We must keep fighting no matter the odds!"

Dominating Heaven Blade declared, "I bet they had teleported directly to Cyan Earth City and come over through Lost Forest. Their numbers can’t be few either. If it wasn’t clear enough before, we now know with absolute certainty that India and Japan are allied with one another!"

Hot and Sour Noodles said, "What can you do? Sky City is the King of Cities where the greatest elites in the world are housed. We are a great threat to both of them. We all knew that it was only a matter of time before they joined hands to fight Sky City."

Lin Yixin blinked once before chipping in her opinion, "White Rose Fortress is our direct source of reinforcements, food supply, and potions. You can say that it’s the supply line for our entire invasion. It musn’t fall under Elephant City’s control no matter what."

Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. "Mn. We’ll send a couple of strong guilds to protect the supply line and destroy Natural Flow. No matter how strong they are, they cannot be allowed to live and continue posing a threat to our supply line!"

"Mn!"

"But who should we send to fight them? As if the fact that their mounts are Level 180 and Earth Rank isn’t bad enough, we know nothing about their army size or their leader either…" I said.

……

Hot and Sour Noodles pondered for a moment before replying, "We cannot afford to lessen the pressure on the Impassable Great Wall, so Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, The Monarch Descends and Purple Lily must remain for the assault. The rest of you, who dares to meet Elephant City’s reinforcements in battle?"

Three players walked out and declared at the same time, "I’ll go!"

They were none other than Dominating Heaven Blade of Gods of Destruction, Roaming Dragon of Mad Dragon, and Pillar of the Nation of Hegemon Palace. Dominating Heaven Blade smiled at this and said, "Nice! Our 70k-strong Azure Wolf Cavalry, Mad Dragon and Hegemon Palace’s cavalry combined should total around 200000! It should be enough to sweep the White Horse Cavalry!"

Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. "Yes. Don’t underestimate the enemy though, brother!"

"I know!"

Dominating Heaven Blade let out a hearty laugh before turning around to face his generals. "Knight God, Warrior God, tell the Azure Wolf Cavalry that we’re heading out for a sweep. Mad Dragon, Hegemon Palace, once you’ve made your preparations, send the word so we may march out together. The White Horse Cavalry of Elephant City is incredibly famous, so we cannot afford to underestimate them no matter what. Speaking of which, I heard that Natural Flow’s guild leader is a beautiful Indian girl called Flowing Cloud. Apparently, she’s an incredibly intelligent and reputable woman. Once we take out Natural Flow, we should claim her as our mistress of the fort, don’t you agree?"

Smiling, Little Piglet licked his lips. "That’s true. Even though I’ve heard that Natural Flow is not in the same class as Fruit Knife Goddess or From Water, she’s still quite the gorgeous woman. Hehe…"

Pillar of the Nation laughed. "I thought you’re only interested in money, Little Piglet? Have your tastes finally evolved to include women?"

Little Piglet gave his wallet a slap. "Well, I’m rich enough that I can afford to enjoy a Suan Cai Yu every meal now! Why wouldn’t I want a woman to warm my bed if I can afford it?"

When Roaming Dragon heard that, he curled his lips and helped Coldmoon Rose up his mount. Coldmoon Rose was a high-level archer who shared a terrible relationship with our guild, so she didn’t get a gift of Dragonscale Beast or Mounted Archery Training from us. The only path to power left for her was to cross her legs between Roaming Dragon’s and play the good, obedient girlfriend.

Little Piglet shot him a glance, gulped and swore under his breath, "Goddamned trust fund babies…"

I took a step toward Dominating Heaven Blade, wiped the rainwater on my face and advised, "Seriously though, don’t underestimate Natural Flow, okay? Always send out archers and assassins to scout ahead and act only after you’ve figured out the situation. This Flowing Cloud is famous for her wits, so carelessness will lead to disaster. Long story short, think thrice before you act."

Dominating Heaven Blade guffawed. "I didn’t know you’re such a worrywart, Lu Chen! Relax, we may not have a super strategist like you, but we’re not idiots either. That woman will have to try super hard to trick the likes of us. Anyway, see you later!"

"Mn. May fortune be with you!"

I was speaking from the heart when I said this. Right now, our forces were trapped between a rock and a hard place. The Impassable Great Wall was already a great obstacle we couldn’t overcome easily, but now Elephant City was harassing our backline as well. This also meant that Cyan Earth City couldn’t be far behind. Once Cyan Beast’s God of War and Breeze and Rain emerged, the war would truly enter its climax!

……

I looked up. The rain was pouring harder and harder, and it was even accompanied by bolts of lightning. After the 200000 cavalrymen led by Gods of Destruction, Mad Dragon and Hegemon were assembled—the red flags above their heads made them look like a red sea—they thundered toward the dark distance with our blessing. Defeat was not an option, or our situation would be really bad.

Turning my gaze back toward the majestic fortification that was the Impassable Great Wall, I sucked in a deep breath and said, "This makes the third time we’re assaulting the wall, right?"

Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. "Mn. The siege machines are already in place. They are ready to go once the magic knights take their positions. We’ve also assembled a powerful axe party that’s going to work in tandem with our siege machines and hack away at the walls. I’m sure Red Maple has noticed this already. With less than 60% durability left, the walls will fall in two attacks at most even if we fail to conquer the fortification before that."

Hot and Sour Noodles then shot me a meaningful smile. "Do you know what that means?"

I smiled back. "It means that Red Maple has no choice but to send his elites to this plain and try to delay us! It’s either that or lose the Impassable Great Wall!

"Correct!"

Hot and Sour Noodles unsheathed his sword and declared, "That is why all Sky City ace cavalry troops are to stay out of the third wave and remain where they are. Purple Grape City will open the gate themselves and charge our main formation in less than an hour, so all we need to do is wait for them to stick their heads into our swords!"

Everyone laughed and nodded in unison.

The third assault began, and a new group of second-rate cavalry rushed toward the Impassable Great Wall. Although we lost at least 3 million players during the previous two assaults, our number advantage remained superior and indomitable. Over 70% of the players of the three main cities had joined the battle, so we still had over 20 million players ready to throw themselves into the fray!

……

This time, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis, Gui Guzi and the rest of the Famous Generals stayed out of the fight. We patiently waited for our turn as cloud ladders were propped against the wall, catapults traded payloads with each other, and Purple Grape City mages stood at the edge of the walls, firing spells at the attackers. The primal battlefield was a place that could make anyone’s blood boil in excitement.

I remained calm despite the excitement though. I looked at Xu Yang and said, "Xu Yang, tell the Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers to assemble behind us and standby for orders!"

Xu Yang looked puzzled. "The assault has just begun though? Isn’t it too soon?"

I shook my head. "No, it’s not. I’m almost certain that Natural Flow isn’t the only Indian guild to have arrived in Purple Grape City’s domain. There has to be another Cyan Earth City or Elephant City guild lurking somewhere. Also, we may have the numbers, but only a tiny percentage of us can actually put up a good fight. Anyway, just rally them and tell them to get ready for anything!"

"Very well, I’ll get it done right away!"

……

It was at this moment Hot and Sour Noodles turned pale and clenched his fists. "Fuck!"

A bad feeling washed over me as I asked in a hurry, "What is it, uncle?"

He looked up and said, "The party that traveled the Sunset Basin route were caught in a pincer attack while they were passing through a pass at the middle point. They’ve been divided into three groups, and they’re being attacked by the 120k-strong Beast King Cavalry led by Cyan Beast’s God of War and Breeze and Rain themselves. Their retreat is completely cut off, and they’ve lost over a million players in just half an hour!"

"Fuck!"

I exclaimed in shock before uttering through gritted teeth, "I knew Red Maple wouldn’t neglect a perfect ambush map like Sunset Basin! That idiot Li Le led tens of millions of people straight to hell!"

I looked at Hot and Sour Noodles and said urgently, "Uncle, I’m sure you know many of the guild leaders in that group. Can you tell them to turn their forces around and attack the blockade Cyan Beast set up at their rear with everything they got? They need to do it now, or soon it’ll be too late!"

"What do you mean?" Hot and Sour Noodles asked.

I answered gravely, "Don’t you see yet? The reason Purple Grape City didn’t post anyone at the entrance of Sunset Basin was because the whole place was a death trap, and they wanted to lure our troops inside! Moreover, the reason Cyan Beast only intercepted the rear troops was because they’re herding our players to their death traps! Once all our players are herded into the low-lying zones, I guarantee you that they will unclog the rivers or whatever and flood the entire Sunset Basin! It’ll be a goddamn reenactment of the Battle of Fancheng! If I was those idiots, I would rather die fighting the enemy than be drowned for nothing!"

Everyone shivered at the same time. "Fuck, what a devious strategy!"