Warscar and Bloodthirsty Demon were wearing such wide grins you would be justified to worry if their faces were going to split apart. They had immediately assembled a group of elite players and scoured every inch of the battlefield for loot. The dead were some of, if not the most, elite cavalrymen in the India server, and their dropped equipment, potions and more were no exception. Like a bunch of beggars who were treated to a Manchu Han imperial feast, cries of excitement and joy reverberated endlessly across the air—

"Jesus, the Beast King Cavalry are so goddamn rich. This baby’s a Heaven-grade ring that adds 17% Attack! I’m giving this to my girlfriend, so keep your hands away from it!"

"Earth-grade shield! An Earth-grade shield that adds 47% Defense and 30% Magic Resist! This one’s mine!"

"Why are you putting your grubby hands on my metal-armor boots? Get lost!"

……

The players bickered over the loot like children, but their joy and satisfaction were as clear as day. Although the battle was fierce and terrible, at least it was worth it in the end.

Hickey walked up to me with a hint of worry on her beautiful face. "Care to guess how many players we lost, boss?"

I pursed my lips. "It’s got to be a lot."

"Yeah."

Hickey looked at the looters while reporting, "We lost almost 40k cavalrymen in total, which is at least half of all the cavalrymen we have. We also lost a lot of mages and archers during the enemy’s assault. Without Natural Flow’s White Horse Cavalry, we would not have been able to defeat the 130k riders from the most elite cavalries of India."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Our opponent simply outclassed us too much, not to mention that there was a certain element of luck involved in this victory. Lady Luck won’t stand on our side forever, so we need to keep strengthening ourselves and minimize our dependence on her. That being said, some things can’t be rushed, and this is one of them. Let’s take this one step at a time."

"Mn." Hickey said smilingly, "A few more successful battles like this one, and our strength will definitely jump to a whole new height."

"Anyway, please inform everyone that we’re setting off for Moon Lake immediately after they’re done looting. Remember that our true objective here is to occupy Frost Wind City for Natural Flow. Otherwise, we’ll be the losers even if we manage to kill every Beast King Cavalryman in this map."

"Got it!"

……

Ten minutes later, the sweep was complete, and the army was ready to go. By now, Natural Flow’s players were but specks of barely discernible dust on the horizon. I mounted the Ancient Divine Dragon, raised my arm and ordered, "We march to Moon Lake!"

We had lost almost 100k players in total during this battle, meaning that we only had around 150k left. It would be extremely difficult, but not impossible, to fight another battle or two with this number of players. I had also ordered our revived players to stand by outside Dirge Canyon just in case we needed them. They might not be able to enter Dirge Canyon anymore, but there were certain scenarios where they could help us in a pinch. Long story short, it was better to be safe than sorry.

We were harrassed by many smaller Cyan Earth City allied guilds along the way, but our 14k+ Berserk Zephyr Cavalrymen prevented them from scoring any sucker punch on us. We were able to scatter them with little to no trouble.

While I was checking my bag, I suddenly realized I had forgotten something really important and beckoned Beiming Xue to my side. "Beiming, come here!"

"Yes? Big brother?"

After Beiming Xue caught up to me, I took out the Necklace of the Ice Wind Goddess and put it in her hands, smiling. "This is an Outstanding Archean Immortal-grade necklace. I stole this from between Breeze and Rain’s teeth after I killed the Blood Dragon God. You are the best person for this equipment, so take it."

"Oh!"

The pleasantly surprised Beiming Xue accepted the necklace and put it on immediately. "Thank you, big brother! Not only does this necklace give a lot of Attack, it even boosts my party members’ Attack as well! It’s a shame my 2000 Dragonlight Archers aren’t here, or else…"

I rolled my eyes. "I can say the same thing. If I had my 30k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, I could sweep this whole map and occupy Frost Wind City myself, especially now that Nation Guardian and Cyan Beast have lost most of their main cavalry. Haha!"

Lin Yixin chuckled at us. "Alright, quit dreaming already. This is a civil war between Indian forces, so it’s best if the China server stays out of it. Take Beiming Xue and me for example. We are acting independently, and we areonly sidekicks in this war."

I shot her a glance. "You call yourself a sidekick after all the players you killed during the previous battle? Are you trying to shame Breeze and Rain to death?"

"..."

……

A while later, a tall mountain that stretched all the way into the clouds appeared beside us. It was none other than Dragon Whisker Mountain. From below, the mountain looked like a giant dragon that was soaring to the sky. It was too steep to climb normally, and its slanted appearance made me worry if it would collapse on us without warning. I knew it was impossible, of course. If this mountain wanted to collapse, it would’ve done so a long, long time ago. Feelings were often illogical, though.

Another half an hour later, we came close enough to Moon Lake to see that its entrance was covered in layers upon layers of corpses. As expected, an untold amount of horrific battles had taken place there, so much so that every inch of grass was covered by corpses, with equipment, potions and other items sprinkled on top of them.

"Ugh…"

Not far away, Flowing Cloud was staring at the carnage with sympathy and sorrow. The vast majority of the corpses belonged to Elephant City; Natural Flow’s allies to be exact. They had tried to punch their way through Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian’s defense multiple times, but it was clear that all of their attempts had ended in failure.

Not far away, a magic knight wielding a spear ran toward Flowing Cloud. His armor was covered in blood, and his spear was chipped and cut so badly that it was obviously nearing the end of its durability. He was the guild leader of a super guild in Elephant City, and his ID was "End of Summer”. Glaring angrily at Flowing Cloud, he tossed his spear at the ground beside him before shouting, "This is the price you speak of, Flowing Cloud!?"

He was almost shouting on top of his lungs as he pointed a finger at Moon Lake’s entrance, "I lost 170k brothers and sisters trying to break through that damn entrance four times! Every one of our attempts failed, and not one of my players made it out alive because Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian killed them all with layered attacks! Where the hell were you while we were dying for your cause!?"

Flowing Cloud dismounted and replied calmly, "End of Summer, I know this defeat is too terrible for you to swallow, but you’ll know that I haven’t been lazing around if you look at the state of my men. They’ve been fighting against the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry all this time, and I’ve returned to tell you that we’ve successfully wiped out 130k riders from the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry at Howling Plains. This is Natural Flow’s contribution to this war."

End of Summer’s eyes lit up. "What? You’ve wiped out the main bulk of Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry? Really?"

Flowing Cloud nodded. "At least 70% of them are gone after the battle at Howling Plains. That is why your people’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain. Anyway, now is not the time to argue among ourselves. Natural Flow will act as the main force this time, so assemble your remaining players and prepare for the final charge. Together, we will defeat Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian and occupy Frost Wind City in one go!"

"Okay!"

End of Summer nodded strongly. "Records of Awakening had gathered an army of 240k to block off the entrance to Dirge Canyon and prevent Cyan Earth City’s reinforcements from coming through, meaning that we only have to contend with the 500k enemies currently guarding Frost Wind City. However, they are commanded by God of War and Wild King, and their defense line is way too strong to beat!"

Flowing Cloud simply gazed at the direction of Frost Wind City and said calmly, "There is no such thing as an unbreakable defense. Just watch. I will make God of War pay the price for his arrogance!"

"Okay!"

This conversation alone convinced me that Flowing Cloud was the true number one player of Elephant City. Be it in terms of martial strength, strategy or foresight, she was far greater than the leader of the number one guild of Elephant City, Dark Clouds Sorrow.

……

I ordered my troops to rest close to Moon Lake for the moment. I simply didn’t have the manpower to participate in a direct assault. I waited for Flowing Cloud to unfold her final strategies for this final battle so I could decide what to do later.

Frost Wind City was a circular territory surrounded by water from three sides, with the only entrance being on the remaining side. The path to the city was about a kilometer wide, and at the entrance, the choke point, was jam-packed with Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian players. I counted at least five layers of Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry at the frontline and a massive swarm of mages, archers, bards and priests in the back. The ranged damage dealers could rain hell upon the attackers with impunity while the healers kept the frontlines healed and buffed. No wonder no one had dared to pick up the layer upon layer of equipment stacked right on top of the sea of Elephant City corpses.

Standing atop an elevated ground beside the lake, God of War pointed his blade at the lake entrance and chuckled, "Flowing Cloud, the leader of this flock of sheeps is finally here. We’ll remain at this position. When her forces come, hit them with everything you’ve got. Don’t worry about running out of potions; I will arrange for them to be carried to you all from the city. Don’t worry, the White Horse Cavalry has strong defenses but poor offensive potential, so there’s almost no chance they can break through as long as the priests keep our Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry healed."

Beside God of War, Breeze and Rain played the bad cop and growled, "All frontliners, you will not leave your position to pick up the equipment no matter how good it is! Flowing Cloud is no ordinary woman, she will exploit your mistake if you give her one!"

Everyone nodded affirmatively.

……

Back to Elephant City’s forces.

Beside Flowing Cloud, Dark Clouds Sorrow asked, "How do you think we should fight this out, Flowing Cloud? How many White Horse Cavalrymen do you have left?"

The war goddess shot him a glance before replying. "70k, although I’m the one who should be asking you this question. You’re aware that the Cheetah Cavalry should be the one leading this assault, right? Dark Clouds Sorrow, I understand selfishness, but we’re long past the point where we can afford to be selfish. If we lose here, we’ll lose this alliance, this battle, this territory, and even the war for dominance between Elephant City and Cyan Earth City. We’ll never be able to raise our heads in front of them. These bastards will call us a sheet of loose sand and laugh at us, and we can’t even say they’re wrong…"

Dark Clouds Sorrow clenched his fists tightly. "We won’t let it happen. I have 120k+ Cheetah Cavalrymen left, and you will have full command of them. Be warned though, the defense line of the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry is too powerful. If we simply attack them directly, I doubt we’ll be able to overwhelm them even if with all our might!"

Flowing Cloud smiled. "Don’t worry. It will work!"

……

Half an hour later, Elephant City’s attack formation was ready. The 120k Cheetah Cavalrymen would be acting as the battering ram, and the 70k White Horse Cavalrymen would be assisting them. Behind them, archers, mages, priests and other classes would slowly push forward, moving the line of healing and ranged attacks closer and closer. It was clear that Flowing Cloud was planning to challenge Cyan Beast to a positional battle.