765 Chapter 765 - Hanging by a Thread (1/2)
Under the walls of Yunduan City, after several probing attempts by the large guilds, the situation that they had very anxiously been looking forward to had finally happened: the NPC guards that were defending the city saw a sharp decline in their stats!
These city guards were originally dignified and imposing, each capable of taking on a whole team of players by itself. But all of a sudden, be it in its attack, defense, endurance or speed, the city guards found themselves to suddenly become significantly weaker, so much to the extent that it was extremely obvious that something had happened. The players almost did not need to go up and try their hands on them, as they could just see with their own two eyes the change in the NPCs.
”We did it!” The various large guild's channels were flooded with such messages.
”It's the final battle, everyone, attack!” the various guilds had bellowed out their final directive, and there was essentially no need for any sort of battle strategy or the ilk anymore. With all the city guards seeing an 80% decrease in their stats overall, these NPCs had essentially turned from dragons into worms in front of the players. They even had trouble going one on one against a normal player, so what sort of tactics or strategy was even necessary? The various large guilds who were in the know merely focused on positioning, spreading their manpower out across all four city gates, determined to cast a wide net and engage in a free-for-all, snatching whatever contribution scores that they could get their hands on.
Of course, they were not the only ones who became aware that the city guards had suddenly become weaker. It was merely that the other players were unaware of what had caused the change, but having discovered their enemies were now weaker, the formation that they had adopted to keep up their attack by rotating in and out of the fight suddenly stopped. This was because no one was dying any longer; as long as these players were not being foolish or careless noobs as they took on the city guards that were now 80% weaker; there was no way the players could die.
More and more players gathered as everyone realized that this was a good opportunity for them to vie for contribution points. They did not really care as to why this happened but were instead all calling their friends and allies to join in as well. From the encampments all the way to just under the city walls, players swarmed in such numbers that they were like a surging tide of human bodies gushing out to descend upon the city. Such a scene had only occurred when the event first started, back when everyone still had no idea just how strong the city defenders were. The players back then were very full of themselves as they pounced upon the guards, and the retaliation they suffered was swift and brutal.
But this time, the dreams of these players came true; they were able to lunge at the enemy with such arrogance that it was the system that ended up meeting catastrophe. The only thing that could still be considered a threat were the trebuchets up on the wall, but the players were already used to dealing with their attacks so all of them had the ability to cope accordingly.
”How exhilarating! How did this happen?” After discovering that they barely needed to put in any effort to do battle at the moment, several players began to wonder just what exactly caused this phenomenon.
Those people who were not in the know would forever be unable to guess everything that had happened, while those in the know were not about to care to explain it to others either. All they valued was to be able to compete against each other for the contribution scores.
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In a location quite a distance away from the battlefield by Yunduan City, Broken Water Arrow was standing under a tree, watching the massacre unfold in front of his eyes, while he could feel a surge of mixed emotions swirling inside him with every passing moment.
Broken Water Arrow suddenly heard the sound of footsteps moving towards him, causing him to turn around expectantly to see Ye Xiaowu walking up toward him.
The man was not containing his expression like Broken Water Arrow, merely taking in the view ahead as he sighed, ”we ended up going with this route after all.”
Broken Water Arrow sighed as well, but the two were sighing for different reasons regarding this outcome.
Ye Xiaowu was perhaps sighing because he had abandoned that vaunted scrupulousness he was so proud of, but Broken Water Arrow? He was not a game employee, so he actually did not have any opinions on this matter. What he was feeling disgruntled about was how Young Master Han had forced his hand every step of the way. In his mind, what he had been doing was not stopping Thousand Miles Drunk, but it was as if he had been thoroughly used by Young Master Han.
”At least we've succeeded in stopping Thousand Miles Drunk,” Ye Xiaowu was the sort that knew better to prod on topics best left unmentioned, and he could not help but smile when he thought of this point.
Broken Water Arrow did not share his sentiment, and all he did was gaze out toward the faraway lake.
All of sudden, he felt the ground beneath his feet shudder as if the land was experiencing tremors.
No, to be precise, it was not tremors, but more of a shockwave. As if there was some overwhelming force that was shaking the very ground he stood on, traveling throughout the land that reached the players' soles.
”What's going on? Broken Water Arrow was looking down at his feet in astonishment.
Ye Xiaowu was doing the same except his expression did not merely show astonishment, but bewilderment as well.
”That is impossible!!!” Ye Xiaowu yelled.
A thunderous sound rang, completely drowning out Ye Xiaowu's shout. In the distance, a very distinct water column that looked somewhat like a silvery dragon shot right up to the clouds. Even Ye Xiaowu and Broken Water Arrow could hear the deafening sound of gushing water clearly, despite how far they were from the source.
Right after, in other directions and angles, a second and a third silvery water column appeared, one after another as they rose to the sky.
Ye Xiaowu shit his eyes… There was no need for him to look on further for him to know that there would be a fourth, fifth…
”How did this happen?” Ye Xiaowu was nonplussed.
”How DID this happen? Did you not say…” Broken Water Arrow was confused as well, but he originally had plenty of areas that he was uncertain of, which was why he asked this question right now. According to what Ye Xiaowu had told him, a competitive quest should only allow a single victor, but the current situation appeared as if both parties had completed their quest.
”Did the quest get… Amended??” Ye Xiaowu was ashen-faced. According to his understanding, there was simply no way for such a situation to occur, yet the truth was right there before his eyes. As a result, the only possibility was that the circumstances pertaining to the quest had already changed from what he understood of it, and the City Wars event had been modified after he left his position. Furthermore, Ye Xiaowu was left in the dark as to this new rule that had been introduced.
Thus it could be imagined that with every game maintenance, every update, they would all bring about a change that he would not completely be aware of. ”What I have is truly nothing more than 'knowledge'. How quickly it becomes obsolete!” Ye Xiaowu chuckled bitterly in a self-deprecating tone.
”What do we do now? Have Thousand Miles Drunk and the others won as well?” Broken Water Arrow did not know much, but he was clear as to how decisive this quest was. Once the city assaulters were done, they would still be required to clear out the city guards and only after finishing this task could they be considered as having successfully conquered the city. Meanwhile, the city defenders would directly achieve victory, and the reason was rather ironic: The city defenders who had the absolute disadvantage, in terms of their completion rate, would actually be in the lead over the city assaulters because the former had actually dismantled two encampments that belonged to the city assaulters. This was a very critical point.
”Let's see if there would be a sixth and seventh water column,” Ye Xiaowu said.
”Wouldn't that be worse?” Broken Water Arrow asked.
”No. That would actually be our only hope,” Ye Xiaowu said.
”How so?”
”It's the same amount of water flowing, and one would be split five ways and the other, seven,” Ye Xiaowu explained. ”If it goes seven ways, each of the water spouts would not be enough to utterly wipe out the encampments. The outcome of the quest would be similar to that of the city assaulters' forces, meaning the city defenders would still have some remnant task that they would have to do. But if it were to flow five ways…”
Before Ye Xiaowu even finished, Broken Water Arrow already understood what he meant. The answer was the same as what Ye Xiaowu had said before: Directly achieve victory. Because the water would be evenly split five ways, each of the resulting water columns would be enough to ruin an encampment.
Would there be a sixth and seventh water column? Ye Xiaowu was actually very nervous. It just so happened that the position that he and Broken Water Arrow were currently at did not allow them to have the two abandoned encampments in their line of sight.
”Let's head over and take a look,” Ye Xiaowu beckoned Broken Water Arrow to follow as the two departed.
Even though both encampments had been dismantled and subsequently abandoned, the system would still provide the relevant information of the two positions. If it was a meticulous person doing the quest, he or she would most likely perform the task accordingly!
However, was Thousand Miles Drunk a meticulous player when doing quests? Ye Xiaowu's face was still downcast.
This extremely surprising development had naturally drawn all the players' attention and when they heard that explosive roar from the water dragon like columns, all of them had turned their heads over to look.
The water dragon-like columns were very intricately beautiful, and while everyone was shocked by the sight and singing praises of them, no one had thought to wonder what their appearance meant. They had already shoved their way to just under the city walls by now and were just watching from a distance. Not many players were able to determine that these water columns had appeared over their encampments, and even if they could, none of them had thought it to be a disaster.
”How pretty! Just what is going on?” A majority of the players were all saying something similar to this when they first saw the columns.
”All the city guards are impaired, and these geysers have all been unleashed. Just what is going on? Is the system celebrating our win?” Some players were all smiling as they uttered this.
There were of course still players who were warier of the change, such as Brave Surge.
He had no idea what those water columns were, so even as he sent some of his men to go check it out, he attempted to ask someone who would know about it: Broken Water Arrow.
Broken Water Arrow responded, and the answer left Brave Surge feeling quite the chill in his heart, because Broken Water Arrow told him, ”Thousand Miles Drunk has completed his quest.”
”How is that possible?” Brave Surge asked when he finally came back to his senses. ”Did we not already complete the quest on our side?”
”Yes, but it did not seem to impact Thousand Miles Drunk's completion of his quest. When it came to how the quest was set up, it appears the game company has made some unexpected tweaks,” Broken Water Arrow said.
”You guys did not expect this? I'll screw your grandfather!!!” Brave Surge was infuriated. ”So what are we going to deal with those five columns?” Broken Water Arrow asked. His men were spread across the four gates, so he had a very clear sense of the present situation.
”Hmm? Just five, not seven?” Broken Water Arrow asked.
”G*dd*mm*t, five is already enough, why would we want seven!!” Brave Surge was still raging.
”Having seven would have been a good thing… If you see five, that means you've lost,” Broken Water Arrow said.
”I…” Brave Surge wanted to kill Broken Water Arrow, but decided not to upon careful thinking. Compared to being envious of Colored Clouds successfully completing their quest, what he could not stand even more was for his guild to turn up empty-handed during this City Wars event. Brave Surge quickly sent this message to several guild leaders, and the first one to reply was actually Oathless Sword, scoffing at him, ”What sort of scheme are you up to now, Surge? At this juncture, we're better off just trying our best to gain some more contribution scores!”
”Oathless Sword, you buffoon! Take a good look at the position of those columns appearing. It just so happened to be the five encampments that we still hold. What do you think will happen if your encampments were to become submerged?”
”How could the encampment become flooded? It's not like we're in a basin. Do you even have any common sense?” Oathless Sword was still calmly mocking him.
Brave Surge was stunned. That's right, the encampments aren't in a basin. No matter how ferocious those water columns are, all they can do is splash water down on everything. Can it soak the people to death like that?