735 Chapter 735 - Inevitable (1/2)

They were unable to locate Ray whatsoever, especially since the man in question must surely be aware of the gravity of this situation as well. It would most definitely make things even more complicated if he had intentionally hid himself somewhere. The only thing everyone could confirm was the fact that Ray was definitely still online.

Extremely Heaven Defying and Amethyst Rebirth both had a total of around 60 players, and that was far from enough manpower for them to do a comprehensive search of Yunduan City. Even though the players from Colored Clouds would just flee when they see them at the moment, Gu Fei and the others would still be able to take down a few of them every time they crossed paths, it was only possible under the circumstances when their enemy completely avoided putting up a fight at all. Perhaps a handful of the players they managed to kill off were indeed members belonging to Ray's Bar, but what little results they had achieved were nothing worth being happy over. As time passed, the situation would only become more and more dire and the moment the guild becomes a level 2 guild, the balance would drastically tilt in the enemy's favor. Young Master Han and the players from Colored Clouds would no longer be fleeing for their lives or avoiding fights at all costs. Instead, they would set up ambushes in the various spawn points and proceed to put their lives on the line and go all out against the players on Gu Fei's side whenever they meet. Nobody from Ray's Bar would consider it a waste to sacrifice two or three lives for someone from Extremely Heaven Defying or Amethyst Rebirth would hardly be an issue for the 300 strong interlopers.

”What are we going to do?” Everyone had high hopes of finding Ray. Royal God Call and the other experts of his caliber were already taking a risk by searching the city on their own, while everyone was running around madly like their lives depended on it, all so they could catch Ray. Although he was usually a topic of discussion, he was also someone whom most people actually did not pay much mind toward, and yet Ray was now seen as the crucial key that could decide the outcome of this City Wars event…

Currently, the Colored Clouds players who had joined Ray's Bar were all trying their best to use the most inconspicuous method to integrate themselves back into the battlefield as they were heading out via the four city gates of Yunduan City. There were already plenty of eyes watching the four gates at the moment, so it was no longer easy for people to enter in and out of the city like before. However, it seemed as if the players from Colored Clouds did not have any idea about what was going on. They had quietly infiltrated and blended right into the crowd, and several players had already had their eyes set on these newcomers. Because they felt that these people were all very important contribution scores, no one made a sound, each of them hoping to quietly take them down for their own guilds. But who would have guessed that with all the players' movement in the chaotic scrap, combatants that came charging and killing left and right, these players who were identified to have mixed into the battlefield had already disappeared in a blink of an eye.

D*mn those idiots!!! The players who were keeping an eye on their prey were all greatly angered, silently cursing at the packs of combatants that had very inconveniently shown up.

But once, twice, thrice... These players had not just lost their prey that one time, but they would find a similar pack of combatants rushing out each and every time. The repeated interruptions left them empty-handed, wondering where their prey had gone to after every clash…

D*mn, are they snatching points as well? Someone had come to this realization and they began to take note of the players that ended up interfering. That was when they very quickly discerned the interlopers to be men from Colored Clouds, and everyone was discouraged with this revelation. Could we even still compete against the guild that had managed to take down Thousand Miles Drunk? All the players could only quietly back away to one side, in hopes of picking up the leftover prey while Colored Clouds was not paying too much attention. However, nobody would have expected for Colored Clouds to act as if they could predict when the prey would appear. Whenever these players discovered that there were people who were trying to sneakily make their way out of the city, the men of Colored Clouds would already be ready for each and every one of them and would proceed to swiftly encircle them.

Finally, when the players that were tracking the prey discovered that the players from Colored Clouds were no longer actively hunting the players, they got very excited, thinking to themselves that their chance had arrived. However, no prey showed up after Colored Clouds' departure, and because they had been overly distracted with watching the city gate, a whole lot of them had ended up falling victim to the city guards and were sent back to the nearby Encampments as a result.

Of course, Colored Clouds was not here to hunt prey like the other guilds, but were actually providing cover and protection for their own men.

Guild quests, especially the standard ones which required players to be engaged in combat, would not just be limited within the city walls. They would often require the quest holder to leave the confines of the city in order to complete a certain component of the questline. Most of the quest holders found themselves needing to leave the city, but because the guilds assaulting the city had begun to prioritize stopping the players working on the side of the city defender's force now, Colored Clouds figured they needed to take advantage of the confusion and slip out of the city, but there was simply no way for the city assaulters to not come charging over to kill them since anyone who would be making their way out from the city would be viewed by everyone as moving contribution scores.

Thus, when Colored Cloud received word that the quest holders were about to leave the city, an assembled pack of combatants would already be rushing over to run interference. By mixing the players exiting the city with their own men, it would of course be extremely safe since the other players could hardly tell the difference in all the commotion while the system would not be bothered to attack these players who were on the city defender's side. All the players that were protected had to do were to randomly change out their equipment, so it was only natural that no one would be none the wiser when they came swaggering out. Players who were unaware of the underlying details here would have immediately assumed that Colored Clouds had finished off all the players that left the city.

43 times did they approach, and 43 quest holders were successfully escorted away using this method. The remaining 6 quest holders all had their quests occurring within the city.

The 43 men were unable to party up with their comrades from Colored Clouds, so there was no way for them to communicate with each other. But because everyone was still able to walk in concert, side by side with each other, they were still able to speak to each other in person. This was forever something that the system could not prevent them from doing.

”Everybody, do not waste any more time. Split up into your groups and proceed with your quests!” Gu Xiaoshang ordered. The whole group of players who had been inside the city acted like they saw their kin when they met with everyone from their guild outside. Everybody was busy relating matters that happened outside and inside the city respectively, all of them having plenty to talk about with each other.

”Guild leader, Oathless Sword is coming,” someone messaged Gu Xiaoshang.

”Eh? Is it just him alone?” Gu Xiaoshang had already expected that they would approach her. Colored Clouds might be able to keep the small and medium sized guilds from learning what they were doing, but the same could not be said for the large guilds. Just from the fact that 300 of their players had quit the guild was already a strange occurrence by itself, so these large guilds surely could not afford to turn a blind eye to what Colored Clouds was doing. There were quite of players belonging to the four large guilds that were tasked to keep an eye on the four gets, so adding what they had just observed with the matter of 300 players quitting Colored Clouds, the guild's action this time most definitely aroused great suspicion among them all.

”It's just him alone, guild leader,” that player reported to Gu Xiaoshang.

”Is that so? Then continue with what you were tasked to do. I'll head over and see him myself,” after Gu Xiaoshang had gotten his coordinates, she made her way over to meet him.

”Xiaoshang,” the ardor in his voice remained unchanged.

”Is it just you?” Gu Xiaoshang asked.

”Who else would there be?” Oathless Sword beamed.

”Brave Surge of course, Foe-herder and Black Index Finger. I thought you guys were all together,” Gu Xiaoshang said.

Oathless Sword coughed an awkward laugh, showing an expression that showed he had difficulties affirming what Xiaoshang had just said.

”Speak your mind!” Gu Xiaoshang offered.

”Oh… We wish to know if the new guild that the city defender's force had established, Ray's Bar, has anything to do with you guys?” Oathless Sword had finally asked what he came to ask. Actually, this confrontation was what Gu Xiaoshang had originally expected to happen; Brave Surge and the others had all wanted to come over as well, but Oathless Sword was worried that Gu Xiaoshang would not be able to handle seeing so many men coming forth to forcefully demand an answer for her actions, so against the wishes of the others, the man had insisted that he should first approach her alone to probe her on the matter.

There was nobody in Yunduan City who was unaware of Oathless Sword's concern toward Gu Xiaoshang, which was why Brave Surge and the others had not refuted Oathless Sword's insistence and finally agreed to acquiesce to his request. However, these men were all the scheming sort, so even though they had verbally agreed to this, they had privately sent Assassins over to shadow the man, looking for a chance to use Stealth to eavesdrop on the conversation.

It was a heaven sent opportunity! Gu Xiaoshang and Oathless Sword had not met with a crowd of players flanking their sides. Most of the members of Colored Clouds had departed from the place and tended to their own businesses, leaving just Gu Xiaoshang and Oathless Sword by themselves to have their conversation. This was a perfect opportunity for the Assassins to eavesdrop, so even though none of the other three large guilds were present, they were able to get a first hand live broadcast from the frontline correspondent they had sent out. They had initially been worried that Oathless Sword would not be bothered to get to the point, but the moment they heard him ask the one question that they were all concerned with, they were all at least somewhat reassured to learn that the man had not completely been left addled by his lovesickness.

”Yeah, they are our men, alright.” Gu Xiaoshang confirmed.

”Does Ray belong to a Faction too? How did you guys learn of this?” OS asked.

”We saw it ourselves! That person that kept coming out of the city to pick up the rocks and stone. That player is Ray,” Gu Xiaoshang said.

”How are you able to identify him from afar like that?” Oathless Sword was perplexed. Plenty of people had seen that garbage picker, but they were all too far away to make out who that person was. Had they been close enough to do so, everyone would most definitely just kill him outright, much less let him continue to pick up the rocks and stones from the battlefield unhindered.

”Heh, with a spyglass in hand, it was only natural that we would be able to identify him,” Gu Xiaoshang scoffed.