733 Chapter 733 - Come Away Empty-handed (1/2)
”Don't be so rash, let's discuss the matter first before making a move!” July quickly jumped out to dissuade Gu Fei.
”I'm only joking! Did none of you realize that?” Gu Fei asked.
”Not at all,” July harrumphed, everyone was equally sullen. Gu Fei's joke was far too profound and no one really got the sense that he was joking in the least.
”We currently have no idea how many enemies we are facing, nor do we know where they are headed. Just where are we supposed to go to slay them!” Brother Assist stated.
”They are at the Hall of Guild Creations,” Sword Demon spoke up.
”Oh?” Everyone turned to look at Sword Demon.
”The status which neutral players possess in the city should not allow them to make a move on us as that would likely invite the city guard's wrath. Meanwhile, a level 1 guild only has a limit of 50 members to begin with, and I doubt he would be so naive as to believe that he could pose any amount of threat to us with just those numbers. Currently, there's nobody competing for quests inside the city, so rushing the guild to the next level should be a very easy task for them. A level 2 guild would increase their members limit to 200, so that means there's already 200 men readily available to join the guild and attain the city defender status that prevented them from being restrained by the presence of the city guards. Furthermore, Priests, Knights, and other support job class do not need to join the guild, and they would still be able to help those city defenders by maintaining their HP, Healing them, etc. And that would not draw the aggro of the city guards either. With a company of 200 players, there should be about 30 to 50 players who would be attached as Priests. Adding the support from Knights, the enemy should at least have somewhere above 250 players with them, which is why I reckon the enemy would have 300 players on their side,” Sword Demon said.
”Why would it be 300? The Knights and Priests should not make up to 100!” Brother Assist protested.
”Because that guy likes tidy numbers,” Sword Demon answered.
”Screw that guy…” Everyone derided Young Master Han's eccentricity.
”If we were to consider things on a very superficial level, that wave of attack just now simply looked like they had begun their assault on us, but the real goal he has in mind should be to make us afraid to split up and act on our own. If we are gathered together, our field of vision would be stagnant here in one spot. In turn, they can take this opportunity to quickly spread their guild members out to speed up leveling their guild; if we were to disperse, they would just continue their current attacks,” Sword Demon said.
”So what should we do?” Brother Assist asked.
”Hmm. Let us split up into some strong teams as well. What does everyone think?” Sword Demon said.
”That seems to be the only way,” everybody nodded. They could not completely split up, and choosing to stick together like this would only let the enemy have an easier time questing. That was why the only option they had left was to form up several teams that are capable of clashing with the enemy and bring the fight to them.
Sword Demon had plenty of experience in this, and he rapidly organized the players present and ended the meeting. Since a majority of these ladies were relatively weak in terms of their combat strength, Sword Demon opted to break up the members of Extremely Heaven Defying and grouped them up with the ladies of Amethyst Rebirth. Using the ladies to make up each team's numbers, they ended up forming a total of five teams, with Royal God Call, Southern Lone Blade, Cirrus, July, and himself each leading a team respectively.
”Eh, why isn't Svelte Dancer back yet?” Gu Fei took a look at the people around and noticed that Will-low and Fireball were here, yet Svelte Dancer was nowhere to be found.
”Yeah. The both of us came back by dying, but Big sis Svelte refused to kill herself,” Will-low explained.
”No way, is she more powerful than me? Even I could not get out,” Gu Fei exclaimed as he sent a message out to Svelte Dancer, ”Stop holding out already. Quickly die and get back, we've got an operation here in the city.”
”What are you rushing me for!?” Gu Fei did not receive Svelte Dancer's reply via message, but had instead heard her voice. Everyone turned to look and saw Svelte Dancer walking out from a small side alley, her hand holding onto the wall as she staggered over.
”Heroine, how did you end up like that?” Gu Fei swiftly came forward to greet her. Svelte Dancer looked really exhausted. Her whole body was drenched. Mud and grass was all over her head and her clothes, and she was slightly trembling as she walked over.
”This madam escaped by swimming her way out through the lake,” Svelte Dancer panted breathlessly.
”Truly a woman of talent,” Gu Fei commended. Sure enough, he did not have this particular skill to escape. He did not know how to swim!
”I'm so tired,” Svelte Dancer swayed as she walked.
”Did you swim across the entire lake?” Gu Fei asked.
”Pretty much,” Svelte Dancer answered.
”Is your Agility effective over water?” Gu Fei asked.
”Ah?” Svelte Dancer was stunned, not expecting for someone to ask her such a question. Furthermore, she had not paid any attention to this herself as she had been too engrossed in her swimming. Thankfully, a player's stamina dropped very slowly in Parallel World, otherwise, there would have been a very strong chance that she would sink to the bottom of the lake before she even made it halfway across it.
”Is there a need for all that? Dying would have been much faster,” Gu Fei said.
”Well, I have no intention of dying so many times like a certain someone. I still want to play in this City War much longer!” Svelte Dancer goaded.
Gu Fei felt despondent when he heard that. He was the number 1 killer for the city defender's forces, yet he was also the one with the highest death counts on their side as well, not including the already eliminated Unrivalled Lucky Star and Blackwater, of course.
”We have a task now that no one else, aside from you, is able to step up to the plate,” Gu Fei suddenly spoke to Svelte Dancer in a very serious tone.
”What task?” Svelte Dancer hurriedly asked.
”Go and take a trip to the four spawn points for the Warrior, Thief, Archer and the Mage job classes. Write down the coordinates for them on a respective teleportation scroll.” Gu Fei said.
”What sort of task is that? Why am I the only one who can do this?” Svelte Dancer was confused.
”Who else has more teleportations scrolls aside from you?” Gu Fei said.
”Screw you!” Svelte Dancer was infuriated.
”Everyone, hand over your teleportation scrolls!” Gu Fei ordered, directly facing Royal God Call, Brother Assist and Sword Demon when he did. Gu Fei had used up all his teleportation scroll, but he knew that after his mercenary group had struck rich after the efficient grinding routine, many of his fellow mercenaries had procured these items to travel about, so he reckoned they must have quite a few left on them at the moment. The three men had quite the collection, with Sword Demon pulling out four scrolls, Royal God Call with five, and Brother Assist with the most sizeable stock, holding onto eight of the scrolls on him at the moment, all of them handing over the scrolls without a shred of hesitation. Svelte Dancer was in tears, ”And you dare say I would have the most; I merely have three with me right now. You guys are the real wealthy people here!”
”Is that so? Then take these quickly. Including the three you have, we should have a total of 20 scrolls, and that's enough for five per spawn point. Take extra care; there could be players camping out the various spawn points,” Gu Fei added.
”Then what about you?” Svelte Dancer felt that Gu Fei seemed to be somewhat underestimating her.
”There's still something else that needs me more,” Gu Fei looked on with distant eyes.
”So shameless!” Svelte Dancer glared at Gu Fei with deep contempt before she departed.
”Everyone's been assigned to their groups, so let us leave as well,” July said.
”Where are we going?” Sword Demon was astonished.
”Eh? Aren't we going to disperse and catch the enemies while they are questing?” July asked.
”Oh no, we are going to attack the Hall of Guild Creations,” Sword Demon said.
”Attacking the Hall of Guild Creations?” July was lost.
Sword Demon was sweating. Sure enough, these ladies are a lot more innocent and naive. Did they really think we are going to hunt down the quest holders one by one now that they had split up to quest?
”It's like this,” Sword Demon quickly explained. ”Since the other party is doing quests, picking them up means they must return to the Hall of Guild Creation to hand the quest in, so the Hall is the one common destination they would all share. Actually, as long as we guard that location, there's no reason for us to fear that we would not cross paths with each and every one of them as such. Even though they hold the numerical advantage, but before they get their guild to level 2, their effective combat power would still just be the 50 men, so there's nothing for us to be worried about at all. However, the enemy would also be very clear of how crucial the Hall of Guild Creations would be to their plans, so the people that they send out to quest would most likely be their supplementary forces, while the true main force would most definitely be guarding the location with great vigilance. What we must now do is to defeat these men and occupy the Hall of Guild Creations. We can only completely cut off their development if we use this as the basis of our operation now.”
It was a very simple logic, and everyone quickly understood what he meant after he explained it to everyone.
”If there are no other questions, then let us seize what time we have and move out!” Sword Demon gave the order.
This time was a true group operation, and even Gu Fei matched the movement speed of everyone, not rushing off all by himself in front of everyone. Even though he felt that it would be enough if he dashed up ahead solo, his previous sacrifice over by Yunjiao Lakeside was still fresh on his mind, and the pain from Gu Fei's psychological scars after that experience had not healed over so soon yet. Young Master Han must surely have thought about the details that Sword Demon had mentioned, so the players that await them in the Hall of Guild Creations would not be standing out singly one by one, waiting in position for them to engage in open combat. There was no doubt that the enemy would have located hiding spots and was waiting to ambush them upon arrival.
The ladies had never once participated in such a serious group battle before. All of them got influenced by the atmosphere that hung upon these other experts, and every one of these ladies was looking exceptionally somber as well. This was completely different from how these ladies were acting during the guild V.S. guild competition in the past, where the participants then were just all the fellow sisters in their guild, so everyone had been laughing happily and playing along rather carefreely with each other. They had all been largely burden-free back then, and given how they were now grouped up together with Sword Demon and the others, these ladies had no wish of becoming deadweight, so they were a lot more serious than how they were during the competition the last time. All of them had intently listened to the commander's orders, and not one of them was laughing.
”Haha, why isn't anyone saying anything?” The killer Gu Fei was actually the one who could not stand this heavy atmosphere and the furious stares he got from the whole lot of them as a response quickly shut him up.
”What do you think Young Master's ambush will be like?” Gu Fei asked Sword Demon.