When it was past 1 am, I couldn't take it anymore and went to sleep. The forging of the Brave General Horseshoes went very smoothly, and a large amount of Obsidian Iron was moved into the camp. No one could steal it from us, so it was very safe. Based on our initial estimates, we should be able to forge enough horseshoes for all 50k Dragonlight Cavalrymen and Dragonlight Archers.
When I woke up the next morning, I learned that a lot of things had happened last night. Tear Stain was a lot tougher than we had imagined. She had used all kinds of feints to distract Gui Guzi, Battle Scar, Kiss Scar, and the others, and steal ores from them. In the end, she managed to obtain at least ten thousand sets of Obsidian Iron in one night. The good news was that more than 95% of the Obsidian Iron was in our hands, and the twelve pits in Obsidian Cave had been dug dry. A large amount of ore had been moved into the Black Iron Camp, and it was no longer something that Tear Stain could covet.
… …
I sat alone in the territory and watched Mona with a smile on her face. There was a pile of finished horseshoes beside her, and Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, and Heaven's Rain were all there. Outside the camp, a large number of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls' main guild Dragonlight Cavalrymen were returning to the camp, and each of them was carrying hundreds or even thousands of horseshoes back with them.
Li Chengfeng spurred his mount forward, grabbed a piece of Brave General Horseshoe, and mounted it onto it. He couldn't help but laugh. "Holy shit, my stats increased by so much in one go! These horseshoes are amazing! Where did Lu Chen get so many horseshoes? They're a rare treasure …"
I nodded. "That's right. The horseshoe is our reward for being the first to take down the S3 boss, Okel. I have some contacts in this territory, so I was able to duplicate the horseshoe blueprint as many times as I wanted. In fact, I've been fighting a lot of people since yesterday morning at the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range. I've fought Dragon at the Wild and Tear Stain at the same time. It's been a terrible day …"
Li Chengfeng let out a hearty laugh and patted my shoulder. "If we can equip every Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archer with horseshoes, it'll be worth it even if we don't eat or drink for an entire week. These horseshoes may not look like much, but they actually increase the overall strength of our riders by more than 20%. In a PvP battle, 20% is the deciding factor. If we can equip all of our riders with horseshoes, I'm sure that we can sweep through Cyan Beast's two hundred and fifty thousand Beast Kings. What do you think?"
I clenched my fists and smiled. "That goes without saying. We're just waiting for the next Nation War to kick their asses. Oh right, what's the situation in the country right now?"
Li Chengfeng sat next to me and said, "What else could it be? Candlelight Shadow has been supporting Pop People Pavilion with all his might, and they've been recruiting new members nonstop. In fact, they're already a super guild with at least a million members. They've been trying to provoke us for the past few days, and they've been showing up all around Dark Moon City. I have a feeling that they would've attacked us a long time ago if they weren't afraid of the 1000 Dark Bone Dragons in Dark Moon City's Wyvern Lair." Li Chengfeng shook his head.
I asked, "What do you think of this provocation, Eve?"
Chaos Moon chuckled. "Guild leader Eve told Li Chengfeng to act as he sees fit. The main guild now has 30k Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 18k Dragonlight Archers, excluding the 10k Dragonlight Cavalrymen Gui Guzi brought with him. This force alone is more than enough to wipe out Pop People Pavilion's million members, not to mention that we still have 30k Howling Wind Cavalry. Heehee, clowns like Pop People Pavilion don't deserve to be so cocky. If they're really pissed off, just beat them until they can't take care of themselves anymore."
Me: "..."
I looked at the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players who had come to collect the horseshoes from us and said, "Er … if you've got horseshoes, please don't keep them. Teleport back to Dark Moon City immediately and send them to the guild warehouse. The guild leader will distribute them, and don't wander around aimlessly on the streets. These horseshoes are the result of our hard work, and we can't let them get dropped."
Everyone laughed and said, "Got it, vice leader. We'll be heading back immediately!"
Although I didn't have the emblem of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls or the China emblem on my shoulder, they still recognized me as the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Moreover, Lian Xin was the only vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls right now. Even Li Chengfeng and Xu Yang were just corps commanders.
… …
When it was almost noon, I finished counting and delivered over 70k Brave General Horseshoes to the guild warehouse. That was enough to equip a lot of riders. Including the troops I had right now, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had 40k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 18k Dragonlight Archers, and 60k Howling Wind Cavalry. All of them had been smelted into Brave General Horseshoes, and it was a terrifying cavalry troop that could shake the world with its might!
At noon, I logged out of the game and ate lunch with Chaos Moon and Lin Yixin. However, I received another call during lunch time, and it was from Gui Guzi — "What's wrong, Little Gui?"
"Boss Broken Halberd, something big has happened! Fans still like to read:!" Gui Guzi panted heavily.
"What's wrong?" I asked calmly.
Gui Guzi said, "Tear Stain stole a lot of Obsidian Iron not to forge some kind of siege vehicle, but to complete a quest. That's why a Rank 8 guild encampment appeared in the Flying Flame Desert next to Dragonbone Mountain Range. It's unowned, and Tear Stain is the closest to it. 400,000 players from Throne of the Wild have surrounded the territory, and they'll probably take it in half an hour. We still have 10 hours left. What do you think? Are we going to take it or not?"
"Flying Flame Desert?"
My heart skipped a beat. "Flying Flame Desert is next to Dragonbone Mountain Range? Holy shit, how close is that to Dark Moon City!?"
Gui Guzi said, "Yes, it is. Guild leader Eve said that this territory is at most 10 kilometers away from Dark Moon City. If it wasn't for the impassable Dragonbone Mountain Range, they'd be able to reach Dark Moon City in less than an hour. Even so, the guild leader is still worried that there might be a small path through Dragonbone Mountain Range that we don't know about. If that's the case, it'll be easy for them to ambush Dark Moon City …"
I put down my chopsticks and pondered for a moment. "Did Tear Stain come all the way from Burning City to Cyan Earth City and Purple Grape City just to take this territory?
What is she thinking? "
"I don't know. I can't figure it out …" Gui Guzi said helplessly.
I gritted my teeth and said, "We can't let Throne of the Wild take this territory no matter what. Little Gui, go online and tell Battle Scar and Kiss Scar to gather their forces. I'm coming online right now. We're going to march into Flying Flame Desert and take this city!"
"Got it!"
… …
After hanging up, I briefly explained the situation to Lin Yixin and Chaos Moon. Fans of the book also liked to read:
Lin Yixin was a smart woman, so she immediately hit the nail on the head. "Oh, Tear Stain has taken over a territory in Flying Flame Desert. Isn't that building a frontline base?
If a Rank 8 territory can be teleported to our doorstep from thousands of kilometers away, the players of Burning City will be able to travel to our doorstep in an instant. If they find a shortcut, the three main cities of the Middle Province will be completely exposed to their swords and blades. This won't do. We can't let this city fall into Tear Stain's hands no matter what … "
Chaos Moon said, "What else is there to say?
Go online and gather your troops. They're just Tear Stain and Throne of the Wild. Isn't it a piece of cake to take them out? "
I nodded. "Yeah, let's go!"
… …
The three of us hurried back to the hotel and went online!
Swhoosh!
When I appeared at the camp, the horseshoes had all been forged. After saying goodbye to Mona, I repaired my equipment and went out the door.
Outside the Black Iron camp, Battle Scar, Kiss Scar, Bloodthirsty Devil and more were gathering their troops. A large number of Hissing Wind Cavalry and former Bloodthirst players were also gathered outside the camp. When Battle Scar saw me, he immediately said, "We stayed up late last night, so less than half of our players are online today. There are only 9000 + Hissing Wind Cavalry in total. Boss, should we depart now?
Or should we wait a little longer? "
"Yes, let's depart now. Kiss Scar, give us the exact coordinates of that guild's base. We're going to Flying Flame Desert right now!"
"Mn!"
Kiss Scar nodded. "Gui Guzi returned to Sky City and said that he was gathering his troops. He's coming with the main guild of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. This is a very tense situation, and the territory will officially decide its owner in ten hours. We don't have much time left. I think we still have a little more than 9 hours."
"Mn, let's go!"
… …
Carrying the Purple Ying Sword on my back, I led the God Slayer players toward the exit. Suddenly, I caught sight of a group of players I had never seen before on the right flank. The guild emblem in the shape of an evil dragon floated above their shoulders. Fans of the novel loved to read:
"Eh, who are they?" I asked.
Hickey replied, "They're from the Ironhead Wasteland. There are a total of 7 guilds with around 200,000 players. After we left, the Ironhead Wasteland was wiped out by a dozen second-rate guilds from Cyan Earth City. They had no choice but to come here to meet up with us. Boss, you're not online, so I didn't dare to take them in, so I let them wander around outside …"
I frowned and asked, "Are they reliable?"
"I don't know …"
"Er …"
Battle Scar said, "Why don't we talk about this after we're done with that territory? We'll know if they have the balls or not!"
I nodded. "Heh, that's a good idea …"
… …
Including the 9000 + Howling Wind Cavalrymen, there were less than 200k of us in total. In fact, there were less than 50k players who could actually fight. The rest of them were basically the motley crew Tear Stain was talking about.
After passing through the jungle area, a barren land soon appeared in front of them. The yellow sand gradually increased, and after another ten minutes, they completely entered the desert area. There were only clusters of cactus plants in the desert, and the rest were pale white animal skeletons. Some belonged to alpacas, some belonged to desert wolves, and some belonged to other wild beasts.
We got closer and closer to the coordinates on the map. Finally, a towering figure appeared on the horizon behind the yellow sand.
Battle Scar raised his battle axe and said, "That's the main city. Let's charge and crush it!"
Me: "..."