In fact, the south gate of Eminentis City was the least likely to be attacked; at the very least, the south gate should have the fewest monsters when the three-part event began since most of the monsters were aquatic.

However, if an unforeseen event happened in which the local monsters went berserk, or some monster unknown to the players came out of the depths of the waters, then the south gate would probably be the most dangerous and difficult area to defend. After all, the players had no way of knowing what lurked beneath the depths of the ocean.

​​

"I don't think that's the best idea. Although I don't think anyone doubts Shiva's strength after what happened, in case the south gate is attacked by waves of aquatic monsters, except for him, most players wouldn't be able to defend themselves."

Xie Feng was not the only one to notice that problem, One Man Army also noticed it so he expressed his concern with a frown.

One Man Army's words made sense, after all, although Shiva was strong and could probably slay all the monsters by himself if given enough time, the current situation was different. What they needed was to buy time to kill the monsters, while Xie Feng would kill the monsters using time; the goal was the same, but the development was different.

"Don't worry about it." Yang Tian interrupted. "Most of the members of my guild King's Land will be located protecting the NPCs of major importance to the players and surrounding the inner wall of the city in case any monsters sneaked in."

Yang Tian looked at Xie Feng and continued, "On the other hand, I will be at the south gate with Shiva. I think we will make a good teamwork with your physical attack power and my physical defense."

Xie Feng simply nodded and had no complaints about it. Although Xie Feng didn't know how high Yang Tian's defense was or how strong his skills were, no one who could rank in the top 10 levels was an average person; much less a person who possessed a Unique Class.

"Alright, since the planning is over, let's proceed to the next level." Yao Zenyu smiled and began tapping on a virtual window in front of him.

* * *

-Within the high walls that surrounded Eminentis City.

Just like every day since the players, or as the residents of the virtual world liked to call them 'Heroes from another world', had arrived on the Adastreia Continent, Eminentis City had become much more populated and lively than in the past.

Players walked everywhere while chatting with each other, entered the potion store to replenish their inventory, entered the weapon and armor store to buy a piece of higher level equipment after being unable to obtain a drop, etc.

Hundreds of thousands of players were entering the city every second and hundreds of thousands of players were leaving the city to enter the vast forests of Samsara Online.

However, at this very moment, two clear contrasts in attitude between players and NPCs could be seen.

"Hey, when will the special mission start?"

A young man of about 18 years old asked his teammates impatiently.

"Hahaha, don't be in a hurry Xiao Ming. Probably the system is giving us time to make preparations or something." Another young man of about the same age responded while laughing.

"Preparations? There are millions of players here inside the city and there are even more players roaming the nearby forests and grasslands. Even if hundreds of thousands of monsters or even a few million monsters attack the city right now they wouldn't be able to break through such a number." A young man in his 20s sneered as he waved a bronze staff he held in his hands.

The players sounded very confident due to the overwhelming numerical quantity. Even more and more players were appearing in the central plaza of Eminentis City after teleporting for each passing minute.

On the other hand, the NPCs did not look as jovial and cheerful as the players.

The vast majority of the NPCs had a worried look on their faces and, although it was not the adults' intention, those expressions of fear also began to appear on the faces of young kids after seeing their parents and relatives.

"Dad, why did Aunt Song run home crying?" a little boy of about 5 years old tugged on his father's sleeve and asked in a naive voice.

"This..." The boy's father didn't know how to answer, so after some hesitation, he decided to tell him the truth: "*Sigh*.... Little Chen, some evil monsters will attack the city soon and your Aunt Song was worried about those ugly monsters."

The little boy blinked his big eyes and said out loud: "It's okay, don't be afraid, dad! The soldier-uncles will protect us, and then there are the big walls! The monsters won't be able to get to our house!"

The father finally sighed and said no more. He couldn't just tell his son that the soldiers couldn't help this time and that the walls could only stop the monsters for a certain time; but not forever.

At that precise moment when two opposite atmospheres, like light and dark, like cold and heat, inhabited the same place, a system announcement rang in the ears of all players and NPCs.

[Ding!... Player Shiva has made an announcement: To all players in and around Eminentis City, I would like you not to take the incoming mission as a game; what we are risking here is the honor and glory of our country as well as the lives of millions of NPCs. Imagine the consequences if....]

Players could make advertisements as long as it is not to promote a trademark, a company, and does not contain abuse of any kind. However, for each second that passed, the player who made the ad had to pay 1 gold coin. Precisely because the price was so expensive, players did not use to make any kind of announcement since they could not promote brands of clothes, food, or companies, not even the businessmen found sense in such a function; much less the battle type players who only cared about leveling up faster.

Shiva's announcement was quite long, so it surprised many players as the amount of money he had to pay to do such action must have been considerably large. Moreover, after hearing what would happen in case important NPCs died, the smiling and carefree face of many players changed slightly.

But that was not all.

[Ding!... Player Yao Zenyu has made an announcement...]

[Ding!... Player Yang Tian has made an announcement...]

[Ding!... Player Mu Wuying has made...]

[Ding!... Player One Man Army...]

[Ding!... Player Red Snow...]

[Ding!... Player...]

After Shiva, many other announcements were made by different players and, what stunned all the players was that each name was enough to cause an earthquake in the virtual world! They were all elite players among the elites and yet each one of them showed their concern for the incoming mission!

The chain announcements made the faces of all the players turn serious and as if they had a prior agreement, they began to run towards each of the four gates of the city while forming a wall of human defense, surrounding several kilometers of the city.

* * *

-On the wall of the south gate of Eminentis City.

Players were allowed access to the top of the massive city walls as long as they were willing to pay fifty silver coins; but since at the current stage of the game gold was limited, almost no one was willing to waste money that way just to have a wide view of the city. However, at this very moment, a group of players were silently standing on top of the wall.

"It looks like everything went better than expected." Mu Wuying's beautiful and charming voice broke the silence as she observed the scene unfolding beneath the city walls.

Thousands and hundreds of thousands of players were running everywhere, running deep into the forests and slaying nearby monsters in an attempt to lessen everyone's burden a bit. No doubt none of them expected that a few words from each other would cause such an uproar.

"Well, every one of us here has a higher status. It's only natural that our words should be heard." Yao Zenyu on the other hand saw it as a normal thing that should happen.

"All right, we should start too." Yang Tian interrupted. "Let's form a party among us, keeping in mind that each of us here is skilled people, if a person's health bar drops too low it means they need urgent help and the other zones should send support as soon as possible."

Everyone looked at each other in silence for a moment before nodding and, after some consideration, Xie Feng was chosen by almost everyone to form the group since not being affiliated with any guild, he was the best choice.

[Ding!... Mu Wuying has joined your group.]

[Ding!... Red Snow has joined your group.]

[Ding!... Nangong Lei has joined your group.]

[Ding!... Yang Tian has joined your group.]

[Ding!... One Man Army has joined your group.]

[Ding!... Unsurpassed Defense has joined your group.]

[Ding!... Feng Yao has joined your group.]

[Ding!... Rainbow Butterfly has joined your group.]

Hearing the names of the people joining his group, Xie Feng had complicated feelings about it. He never expected that at some point, he would form a group with one of them. At least, not with most of them.

There were two spaces left for the 12-member limit. But since Xie Feng's three friends did not want to leave anyone out, they formed a small group among themselves. Naturally, they would be at the south gate together with Xie Feng and the rest.

"Alright, everyone should go to their own defensive zone."