"You are courting death!"

God of War attacked from behind before he growled out his threat, but I was able to drop to my knees in time and watch the sword sailing past my forehead with inches to spare. However, the world-class player turned his wrist, angled his sword downward, and attempted to skewer me with Barrier Break. It was some of the fastest reactions I had seen yet.

Pa!

Thankfully, I was still faster than him. First, I caught his wrist to slow down his strike. Then, I executed helix maneuver without altering my POV and successfully moved out of the way of the attack, and performed a back kick that sent him flying to where he came from. Strength-wise, I was much stronger than he was.

It wasn’t over though. I bent my body to the side just enough that an arrow aimed at me sailed harmlessly next to my nose. I immediately determined Yeye the Witch’s location, brought my left hand to my forehead and cast Myriad Swords Obliteration. At the same time, I widened my stance and threw the Purple Ying Sword at her. I completed both moves in just 0.15 seconds, a time shorter than what it took for a normal person to react!

"Ah!?"

Yeye the Witch only managed a yelp before my sword carved a huge hole into her chest. Coupled together with Myriad Swords Obliteration, she had no choice but to collapse to the ground and trigger a system announcement—

Ding~!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (Unaffiliated) killed the Temple Guard, player "Yeye the Witch" (India), and obtained 10% of the contribution points, 212820 points!

……

I already knew that my combo was going to kill Yeye the Witch, so I wasted no time in charging forward and blocking Purple Thunder’s Cruel Blade and Freezing Slash with my shield. My Battle Astral Wind dropped a considerable amount of durability anyway because none of these players were small fries.

"Dammit!"

Cyan Frost hurriedly turned around and ran along an S-shaped path. It was because she realized that I was trying to kill her!

"You think you can escape!?"

All I needed to do was slide sideways to block in front of the girl. Her gaping mouth was a good enough reaction toward the power of the helix maneuver. Of course, another reason why I was able to turn this quickly despite moving at insane speed was because the Fusion Armor removed all the turn rate penalty. It was without a doubt one of the Ancient Divine Dragon’s greatest qualities!

Bang!

I punched behind me and dispelled Breeze and Rain’s Soul Capture before he could catch me with it. Then, I quickened my footsteps and caught the returning Purple Ying Sword just in time to inject her veins with Purple Frost Concentration. The second her Defense was reduced, I executed Burning Blade Slash and caused three damage numbers to rise above her head—

280003!

371871!

423885!

There was no chance the Ice Knight could survive my powerful Attack after her Defense was reduced. I could see the burning fury in her eyes as she dropped to the ground.

Ding~!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (Unaffiliated) killed the JGL Hall of Famer, player "Cyan Frost" (Japan), and obtained 10% of the contribution points, 190870 points!

……

My back turned cold as Inferno Sixtuple Slash shredded my Battle Astral Wind completely. Well, there goes my moment of invincibility!

Right after my protection skill was gone, Red Maple’s Maple Kill struck me and dealt 170k damage. Motherfucker, how does the bastard hit so hard even though he’s just Level 182?

Whoosh!

The Divine Martial War Boots skidded across the ground as I turned again and knocked aside God of War’s sword with the Dragon God Shield. Then, I charged straight toward Red Maple!

"You want to kill me now, brute?!" Red Maple grinned savagely.

He fired his Thunder God Ball and Wind Dragon Revolution at me while backing away. Behind me, Breeze and Rain and God of War clung to me like shadows and unleashed their own attacks. There was no surviving three of them attacking me at once, no matter how powerful I was.

Swhoosh!

Breeze and Rain reached me first and cast Soul Refining Cage. If it hit me, I would be trapped for 7 seconds straight!

I dashed behind a shrubbery and went silent for a time. As the spell hit the location where I was at, God of War asked, "Did it land?"

Breeze and Rain’s pupils suddenly shrank. "No!"

I burst out from the shrubbery and rushed toward Red Maple again, uncaring for the fact that I was covered in leaves. Soul Refining Cage would’ve hit me there if I hadn’t abused the line of sight break tactic in the nick of time. My sword cut through Red Maple’s neck, but the man immediately responded by turning his ring. He was about to activate his invincibility skill.

Swhoosh!

My cloak fluttered in the air as I made a sharp turn and punched out with the Magic Piercing Punch. The unthinkable happened. The skill actually managed to interrupt the invincibility skill cast and dispel it. After that, it was just a matter of choosing which skills I wanted to use to end him. I decided to go with Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash.

Ding~!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (Unaffiliated) killed the JGL Hall of Famer, player "Red Maple" (Japan), and obtained 10% of the contribution points, 280901 points!

……

Bang!

Suddenly, I heard a dull impact from behind and felt like someone had shredded my back into pieces. I checked my health and realized in fear that it had dropped below 21% before I knew it. After drinking a health potion and using Tenacity of the Dead to restore my HP, I turned around and attempted to drive back my pursuers with Myriad Swords Obliteration + Rise of the Guardian Dragon. I managed to kill a group of enemies, but Breeze and Rain and God of War simply downed a health potion and kept charging. There was also that minor problem of holy light constantly healing these two hyenas.

"Fuck!"

Anyone could see that they were desperate to remove me from the battlefield. I could understand why. Cyan Earth City and Purple Grape City were allies on this battlefield, and I had just killed some of Purple Grape City’s greatest players right under Breeze and Rain and God of War’s noses. Of course they wouldn’t be able to stand the humiliation. All experts possessed at least some amount of pride, and they would do anything to eliminate those who stepped on it!

It was at this moment I heard Gui Guzi and Lin Yixin behind me. I immediately jumped with everything I got and sailed through the air like a rocket. Immediately after that, Lian Xin appeared in my vision and killed an entire group of Beast King Cavalry with God Devil Break. They probably weren’t unfamiliar with the skill, but I bet they had never seen one that was this powerful!

……

"Backup frontliners, charge!" Breeze and Rain raised a clenched fist and shouted angrily.

A group of Beast King Cavalry immediately charged toward us. Because they were galloping down a slope, the additional charge power instantly destroyed our battle line and turned it into a mixed battle once more.

I ran back and forth and pushed myself to the limits, but it just wasn’t possible for one man to change the tides of war.

As my companions grew fewer and fewer, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun suddenly shouted in my direction, "Boss, I’m out of pots!"

I replied helplessly, "Me too!"

In fact, the consecutive battles and non-stop fighting had worn all of us down to the maximum degree. Even the Cyan Earth City players we were murdering dropped equipment only. Everyone was out of supplies at this point.

……

Thud thud thud!

A rain of arrows fell from the sky and killed both High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. Right after that, Lu Buyi lost his magical shield and died to the arrow rain as well. Pure Love and the other bards were outright trampled over by the Beast King Cavalry and killed. Every supply spot within Sky City domain had already been bought clean or destroyed, so the battle quickly became one-sided against us.

There were only two hours left on the clock now. Unfortunately, it was easily the hardest period of the entire war.

I wasn’t kidding when I said I was all out of potions. I had given all my Saint Spirit Potions to Lin Yixin, He Yi, Gui Guzi and the others sometime during the fight, so I was surviving purely on lifesteal. There was good news though. The Protective Umbrella had finally arrived!

……

On the hill, Breeze and Rain commanded one group of archers to Far Shot their skills at us, and another group to rest up and recover themselves. They could afford to do so because they had the number advantage.

I turned around and saw that the plains behind me were absolutely covered in bodies. There were almost 1.5 million of us when we arrived, and now we didn’t even number 100k. Still, we were able to make Cyan Earth City pay the blood price of 5 million players at least. Part of the reason we were able to do so was because Breeze and Rain had split up his army in two. He had one half surrounding White Horse Highland and denying us entry while sending the other half against Karinshan’s NPC legion. Speaking of Karinshan, her troops had dwindled to just a couple of generals now.

The grass beneath my feet was slick and slippery due to the sheer amount of blood that was drenching it. I looked to the distance before calling out, "Gui Guzi, Heaven’s Rain, Diamond Dust, to me!"

"What is it, Boss Broken Halberd?" Gui Guzi and the two girls rode up to me.

I wiped away the blood on my lips and said, "I want you three to circle to the right and meet up with Hickey’s party. Then, take over as the Zephyr Cavalry’s party leaders and make a beeline for Karinshan. You are the only ones who can protect her now!"

"Don’t worry! We will!"

They rode away and soon vanished into the dust clouds.

……

With that done, I looked back at the last remnant of the Chinese army and said, "Everyone, this is the final battle. We may die beneath this hill today, but we must never submit and beg for their mercy!"

Zhang Chun pulled his sword from the ground and grinned. "Yeah. Let’s take a moment to reorganize before launching another assault!"

We numbered less than one hundred thousand, but we were going to assault a shield formation that was 2 million strong. Our action could be only described as insane, but what else could we do when it was our only option?

"Kill!"

I raised my sword and kicked off the journey of no return together with He Yi, Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, and everyone else. The arrows falling from the sky seemed like they would never end. Since we were out of supplies, Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew and the other priests were all out of MP. All they could do was keep pace with us and wait for their MP to regenerate passively.

Thud thud thud...

Arrows pierced our bodies, and another group of players collapsed like bundles of wheat. Even Stranger of Three Lifetimes was incapable of going any further after losing her Magic Shield one last time. She sat on the blood-drenched grass and looked at me. "Go, Lu Chen. At this point, even if I come with you, I’ll only be able to smack the enemy with my scepter…"

I nodded. "Take care, Momo!"

Before I could even finish my sentence, an arrow pierced her chest and ended her life. She looked down at her wound and shot me a tragic smile. "Ah, damn. Guess I won’t be able to keep my promise. Goodbye…"

There was a flash of light. Then...

Ding~!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "The Smell of Home" (India) killed the CGL Hall of Famer, player "Stranger of Three Lifetimes" (China), and obtained 10% of the contribution points, 318801 points!

……

It wasn’t the first system announcement, and it wouldn’t be the last. God’s Dance, Come See The Snow Tonight, October Rain, Ling Xueshang, Farewell Song and more died after that. No matter how powerful a player was, it was all too easy for them to die without potions and consumables to sustain them. Even Farewell Song was seen through by a high-level archer with Clear As Flame and killed.

Crack!

My eyes grew bloodshot as I chopped off a magic knight’s arm. The people around me kept dying one after another, and not even Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Zhang Chun, Clear Perfume and more were an exception. Almost all of the Dragonlight Cavalry was gone too. This war was simply too cruel against us.

……

Breeze and Rain clenched his teeth as he watched us struggle even at the state we were in. In the end, he couldn’t help but growl out, "What on earth are you fighting for? You know that this main city is going to fall to our hands no matter what you do, so why are you still struggling?!"

He Yi and Lin Yixin cast their Barrier Breaks at the same time before replying with a smile, "Make a guess…"

Breeze and Rain: "..."

It was at this moment someone whispered something into the Agility Warrior’s ears. He shuddered from head to toe before swearing, "Dammit! A surprise attack? I shouldn’t have thought that I’ve seen Lu Chen’s limits!"