After Myriad Swords Obliteration had deleted over half of the Beast King Cavalrymen in the front, I cast Summon the Storm to wipe almost a hundred Beast King Cavalrymen from the grasses of Bonecrush Forest immediately. Beast Soul thought they could dominate any opponent in Iron Skull Wilderness with the Beast King mount Breeze and Rain had afforded them, but neither Godkiller nor Sacred Oath were who they were a day ago. From the moment they failed to take heed of the saying "beyond mountains there are mountains", they had already lost the race to conquer Iron Skull Wilderness.

The roaring Phantom Wolf King used many Purgatory Storms and Claws of the Storm in the bulk of the enemy. It darted between the players like a fiery lightning bolt and swiped at their chests again and again. It moved so fast that most players couldn’t even keep their eyes on it, much less hit it.

I occasionally interjected with Myriad Swords Obliteration as I went through my usual rotation of skills; Burning Blade Slash, Thousand Ice Slash, Coiling Dragon Revolution and more. The silver blade pierced through the Beast King Cavalry’s armor like paper, elicited blood-curdling screams, and robbed them of their lives. The bloody sight would almost be unbearable if it wasn’t the fact that they were the aggressors.

Hickey was cutting enemies down left and right on her Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse. I already knew that she had an amazing grasp of her skills, but the fact that she constantly sought out the right angles to maximize the effects of her AoE skills, and one-shot magic knights around 75% HP with Barrier Break was still a sight to behold. Also, her new complete S2 set boosted her power so much that there was literally not a single Beast Soul player who could’ve stopped her, no matter how much they tried.

……

Suddenly, a loud commotion broke out from behind the Beast Soul’s party. There were also many flashes of red as well; the visual effect of the Berserk talent coming active. It was Warscar and his ten thousand Viking Cavalrymen arriving just in time to hit the enemy’s flanks. Surprised, Beast Trainer immediately ordered, "Shield up and stop those cowards now! I’ve seen these people in action before, they’re only good for one charge!"

Warscar roared and slashed Barrier Break at a magic knight’s shield, sending the poor chap and his mount flying with his explosive power. Another Earth Shattering Slash later, the magic knight died, and two other players close to him dropped to red health as well.

If Warscar was alone, then that was that. However, he was accompanied by countless berserking vikings as well. As the skirmish broke out in earnest, it soon became clear that the vikings held the absolute advantage. Their new mount and equipment had improved their Attack so much that Beast Soul’s shield formation had been shredded into pieces in just the blink of an eye.

It was a rout. For the first time, after their equipment and mount underwent a massive upgrade, Warscar was beginning to realize the true power of he and his brethren’s Berserk talent. His expression was a mix of joy, excitement, and relief, but only he could truly understand the depth of emotions that he was feeling right now.

"How… how could this be?" Beast Soul’s guild leader, Beast Trainer, stared at the battlefield with sadness and despair. "Breeze and Rain told me that the new Godkiller is just a mob! How are they able to slay our elites so effortlessly?"

Beside him, a cavalryman said, "It means that Breeze and Rain lied to us, guild leader. I told you from the start that the new Godkiller is not to be underestimated. Not only have they subsumed Hickey’s elite forces into their ranks, they are led by the world famous Little Heavenly King of China himself. I doubt that even Cyan Beast could defeat them alone. From the start, they were just planning to use us as cannon fodder…"

Complexion completely gray at this point, Beast Trainer let out one last wail before ordering, "This Bonecrush Forest must be cursed! Withdraw, brothers and sisters! Withdraw to the north now!"

Noticing that Beast Trainer was attempting to escape, I hurriedly spurred my Ancient Divine Dragon into the sky, identified Beast Trainer’s next location from above before shouting, "You think you can just leave after challenging us like that, Beast Trainer? Die!"

"What?!" When Beast Trainer looked back and noticed the threat I posed, he hurriedly performed a zigzag to dodge my attack.

Unfortunately for him, he had good leadership, but not nearly enough skill or understanding of positioning!

I easily deduced where he was going to escape to and sent my sword spinning toward him like a hurricane, piercing his back with Coiling Dragon Revolution. Then, I made a hand seal and fired Myriad Swords Obliteration right at him and the players around him. He had nowhere to run, and he didn’t have an invincibility skill. In the end, he died and dropped his head, literally.

"The guild leader is dead, the guild leader is dead!" shouted a magic knight as he picked up Beast Trainer’s helmet and tried to escape. Unfortunately, he immediately came face to face with 10000 highly-spirited and berserking Zephyr Cavalrymen. They would’ve been hard-pressed to fight the vikings when they were at full morale, much less now.

With Hickey at the front and Warscar at the back, the tragedy that was Beast Soul’s annihilation was unavoidable. The only thing left was the killing to get there.

……

The battle ended a bit over an hour later. Just as I promised from the start, not a single player of the 10000-strong Beast Soul army was able to escape. Only a handful of them had invincibility skills, and even if they had one, it was useless because there was no such thing as a main city as Iron Skull Wilderness, meaning that they couldn’t pull off the unbeatable invincibility + return scroll combo.

After we looted the bodies clean, Hickey watched at the bloody battlefield dreamily and commented, "If only they could come here and shower us with equipment everyday!"

The corner of my mouth twitched. "Too much dreaming is bad for your health, you know?"

Warscar walked over with a smile and praised, "The guild leader is truly as intelligent as a demon. The moment we caught Beast Soul in a pincer attack, they straight up deflated like a balloon."

"As intelligent as a demon? This is literally one of the most basic tactics of warfare!" I shot him a look. "Also, who taught you to say something like that? I’m one hundred percent sure you don’t have the vocabulary!"

It wasn’t me insulting his intelligence, it was all about his personality. For a brute like him, intelligence was the last thing he would attribute any feat to. This word might as well not exist in his dictionary.

"It’s her!" Warscar immediately shifted the blame to Hickey. "She’s the one who came up with the phrase after investigating your accomplishments and sorting out your tactical philosophies…"

I turned my angry glare on Hickey, and the girl pretended to look at the sky. "Sigh, it’s almost summer already. Do you know that summer in the Netherlands is extremely hot? I should buy some hot pants and prepare for the season. Say, do you like blue or white, boss?"

I rolled my eyes. "For fuck’s sake!"

Warscar chuckled from the side.

It was at this moment a corps commander asked me, "Er, I have a question. Should we camp their corpses? We just killed a couple of reviving players just now."

Hickey suggested, "I think we should leave. Camping 10000 players is no joke, and they’re only going to distract us from grinding."

I nodded. "Yes, you’re right. Godkiller’s main guild is only a hair away from reaching Rank 7, so we should focus on completing the upgrade today instead of camping them endlessly. Once we’ve expanded our numbers to 50k, we’re going to make a rush for Rank 8 within one week. No one is allowed to solo grind during this time, understand?"

The order not to solo grind included me. I was Level 213 and far, far ahead of the current curve, so I could afford to take a small break and increase the guild’s experience via clearing instances and grinding leveling maps for now.

……

Hickey walked up to me and blinked her pretty eyes. "Boss, Tang Long may have been removed from his office, but as the saying goes, you can’t pull out a carrot without taking some soil on it. He and his underlings still control much of the VR department’s resources, so the matter can’t be settled immediately even if Tang Feng is as fair as he seems to be. My point is, you’ll still be with us until that time, am I right?"

I nodded. "Yes, Hickey, I won’t leave until the matter is settled. However, my heart ultimately belongs to the Center, and it's only a matter of time before I go home. You understand that, right?"

Hickey pursed her lips as a trace of helplessness flashed across her eyes. "You don’t seem like a man of blind loyalty, boss. Is the Center really that important to you?"

I replied quietly, "I am only loyal to those who love me and my home."

Hickey bit her lips and murmured after a moment, "I am loyal only to myself, so I may not be following you to the Center. You won’t blame me for this, will you?"

I smiled. "Of course not. No matter where in the world I go to, our friendship will never change. Isn’t that right, Hickey?"

"Mn!" A small smile appeared on Hickey’s face. "Our friendship will never change!"

……

Suddenly, Warscar rode up to us while shouting, "Boss, Hickey, come over quickly! A red-named leather-armored rider seemed to be roaming the southside of Bonecrush Forest and scouting us out! Our Zephyr Ironbone Cavalry can’t catch up to her! Quickly!"

"Leather-armored rider?" I exclaimed in surprise. It could only be a mounted archer. But who? Who was the Chinese player who came all the way to this place?

"Right, let’s hurry. Coordinates?"

"It’s directly south from here!"

"Got it!"

I took to the sky while Warscar followed me from the ground. Hickey moved smarter and took a circuitous route toward the coordinates. With good enough prediction, she could easily surround the opponent.

……

Swhoosh!

An indigo figure darted across the forest. Not only was the rider a Chinese female player, the guild emblem on her shoulders was extremely familiar to me!

"Die, intruder!"

Hickey abruptly rushed out and unleashed Triple Slash!

The rider let out a cry of surprise, but managed to parry the first hit with her bow. She even managed to pull out her dagger with her left hand and block Hickey’s second and third strike in time. However, Hickey’s Attack was too high for her to nullify the attack completely, so both her and her mount stumbled to the back.

"Hmph!"

As the mounted archer retreated, she notched an arrow and fired Mountain Stagger Arrow and Freezing Arrow at Hickey’s chest. Not done yet, she performed Blink Arrow and scored a perfect hit between Hickey’s neck, dealing a massive amount of damage—

98285!

Hickey was surprised, but she immediately Charged toward the mounted archer and swung her weapon in an arc.

……

Chiang!

I arrived just in time to parry her attack. Then, I said quietly, "Stop, Hickey. She’s an ally…"

"Ah?" Hickey’s mouth fell open in surprise.

……

I slowly turned around and stared at the half-health mounted archer. "Long time no see, Lexi. Why are you here?"

That’s right. The newcomer was none other than Snowy Cathaya’s strongest archer, Nangong Lexi.

Nangong Lexi shot me an exasperated look. "I knew you would be here, Lu Chen. Hmph!"

"What is it?"

"Yiyi went to Tekes County, Xinjiang, alone to find you. She’s been missing for a whole day!"

"What?!"