375 Chapter 375 - Quietly Making a Fortune (1/2)

The players from Yunduan City that climbed out of the valley ran out in the directions they were assigned. Adding together the remaining members of Traversing Four Seas and the other players from the mercenary groups, they numbered about seven hundred, barely half what they had originally set forth from Yunduan City with. At the moment, they were split up into four parties of approximately two hundred, heading in every direction once they cleared the river valley.

Of course, they did not run perfectly in the four cardinal directions, as everybody was still advancing forward. It was just that each party were clearly splitting from one another, so it was no longer possible to gather them together again, meaning the enemy would also have to split up their men to stop them.

Following Oathless Sword's orders, everybody hiked up the valley and began to vigilantly look around their surroundings, especially those Archers who had taken in the situation around the map. They could easily spot the changes around them this time.

In the short time they had all gone down the river valley, plenty of the players who had been scattered all over the map grinding on the monsters seemed to have begun to gather into clusters, and the direction they were headed was clearly towards the valley. However, all the players from Yunduan City had once more appeared not long after they set out towards the valley. The enemy had no idea how to react the moment they saw that the players from Yunduan City had split themselves into four parties.

These Yunduan City players disregarded them entirely as they headed in the directions they had been assigned to. Since their enemy's movement was already made clear by this point, the players from Yunduan City were naturally able to do their utmost to avoid taking the fight head on. The longer and further they could lure these enemies away from Prisoner Todd, the better. His safety was the top priority; everything would surely end as long as he could safely reach the Prison! That was the directive for this engagement, clarified and made apparent in the clearest manner.

When all was said and done, their opponent this time round was a coalition of mercenaries that had been provisionally assembled for this mission. Their cohesiveness was a joke, so it was bound to take quite some time for them to gather themselves when met with a situation that required them to arrange an entirely new plan, even if they were decisive about it. Seeing Yunduan City's four parties scatter across the arid land, these people were still unable to respond and act accordingly.

Southern Lone Blade shook his head when he saw this, ”Look at them. Do they lack even an unified commander for this mobilization?”

But just as he said this, those players finally made a move of their own. It was just as Young Master Han had expected, these men had no choice but to split up their troops as well, looking to intercept all four parties that were fleeing the area. In that moment of bedlam, it was hard to tell if either party held numerical superiority over the other.

”Well, at least their response wasn't too slow,” Southern Lone Blade sighed in relief.

”Why are you so concerned over this?” The Priest from his squad asked.

”There was no obvious reduction in number to the amount of players from Yunduan City coming out from the river valley, so that means there's only a handful of them left within the valley itself. The less there are, the more outstanding those people will be. Do you know the elites that count themselves among their ranks?” Southern Lone Blade said.

”Who else would there be, aside from that Video Mage?” someone asked.

”The Dynamic Addict Duo! War Without Wounds! Brother Assist!” Southern Lone Blade gave a slight pause after each name, the severe expression etched upon his face lending gravitas to the situation.

The comrades he had brought along with each went agape when they heard the names.

”No way!” someone shouted, ”All those experts are all from Yunduan City?”

”That's right, I even met those guys when they first arrived at Linshui City,” Southern Lone Blade said.

”Oh, so those were the people your friend brought you to meet?”

”That's right, Brother Assist is my friend,” Southern Lone Blade said.

”All those guys are renowned in the MMO community. But now that they are in a full immersion setting like this VRMMO, it is still up for debate how good they truly are. If they were truly so magnificent, why aren't any of their names found in the ranks of Parallel World's Five Unyielding Experts? That's why I say, there's no telling if we're no match for them.” The Thief among Southern Lone Blade's squad was a thickset man of great physique, who exuded much pride as he said this.

Southern Lone Blade smiled as he said, ”It is indeed difficult to tell who's the stronger individual. But we've only got a single target today, so it is best if we avoid having any conflict with these experts. Let us obtain the biggest profit with the lowest expenditure, that's how you do business!”

”So, what do you intend to do?” that Thief asked.

”Hopefully there's another expert from Luori City that can see through this plan of theirs. In that case, we'll be able to watch closely from afar as the men from Luori City take the first strike. Even if they are able to take care of all the experts from Luori City, it is bound to take quite a toll on them. That would be the opportunity for us to attack…” Southern Lone Blade trailed off.

”This is indeed consistent with your style.” The other six comrades he brought along had worked with Southern Lone Blade for quite a long time, and sighed with admiration at this plan of his.

Although the seven men had been talking all this while, they had not stopped pushing forward. However, not a single one of them leapt into the river valley, merely walking along the ledge cautiously while they took in the situation across the map, checking again and again if they were nearing the people who were still within the valley.

Across the map, both parties had split into four parties and these eight parties played a short game of cops and robbers. And now, it looked as if the two parties were finally about to clash for the first time.

This clash was necessary. After all, the responsibility of the Yunduan City players was to escort Prisoner Todd into the city, hiding and evading pursuit outside the city without any intent of making it into Luori City would obviously betray their goal of buying time. Thus, in order to avoid quest failure, it was imperative for them to make an aggressive rush towards the city.