Chapter 668: Circling Toward the Enemy’s Back (1/2)

A battle axe cleaved through a magic knight’s breastplate as his spear skewered the player who had hit him. Both corpses toppled from their mounts and fell into the blood pooling beneath their feet.

A ray of morning light peeked out from the eastern horizon, illuminating the savage battlefield.

The scent of fresh blood was thick in the air and some of our players started to retch and gag at the smell of it. A tattered banner was swaying in the wind as it peeked out of the corpse-filled forest. It was full of tears and holes made from swords and spears and the bannerman holding it had already been killed. Both man and mount had been transfixed to the wall in a savage display of violence.

When guilds warred against one another, every guild would bring a banner to battle. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls also had a banner, and it was currently wedged into the barding covering the back of Gui Guzi’s warhorse. It wobbled unsteadily in the air as Gui Guzi urged his mount forward.

……

Shunk!

Sparks flew out from Candlelight Shadow’s blade as he shoved it into the ground. He reached out and pulled Candle Dragon’s banner from the ground before raising it high in the air and yelling, ”We can’t hold the defensive line anymore! Everyone, it’s time to fall back to Immortality City’s second line of defense! We’ll rebuild our defensive formation at the small stone fortification and use it to blunt the charges of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ cavalry unit!”

After he said that, Candlelight Shadow turned around and started running toward the location he had ordered his troops to fall back to.

Tempest Shadow wheeled his warhorse around as he led a large group of Viper Dragoons away from the melee. This long and exhausting battle had finally run its course.

I brandished my sword and yelled, ”Do you think I’m gonna let you guys come and go as you please? I’ll have you leave your lives behind!”

As I said that, I spurred my Ice Qilin Horse forward. It gave a long whinny before shooting forward like a bolt of lightning. I sped past the enemy line and stopped right in front of Candlelight Shadow and his men. After I wheeled my horse around to face them, I slashed my sword through the air without saying a single word.

Boom!

Thousand Ice Slash exploded in the midst of the enemy riders, causing a dozen injured magic knights to fall dead to the ground.

Even though the Viper Dragoons had killed more than 70% of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry in their head-on clash, they had suffered over 90% casualties themselves. Furthermore, Stranger of Three Lifetimes was pressing in with Blazing Hot Lips from behind us, while Beiming Xue and Li Chengfeng were prowling along their flanks. Candle Dragon had already lost the will to fight. All they wanted to do right now was to retreat to their second line of defense.

Gui Guzi, Heaven’s Rain, and Diamond Dust continued pursuing after the Candle Dragon players with their elite troops. I also urged the Ice Qilin Horse forward, the Cyan Netherworld Sword cutting down any Candle Dragon player unfortunate enough to be caught in its path. The Phantom Wolf King was hunting down Candle Dragon players like a true king of beasts. It soared through the air and rent apart the armor of its hapless victims with its sharp claws.

This hunt was extremely brutal and by the time Candle Dragon’s forces reached the small stone fortification, only 500 of the Viper Dragoons of the originally 13000 strong cavalry remained. It was a miserable sight indeed.

……

The little stone fortification they had huddled up in really did serve as the city’s second line of defense. They used the stone building to form a defensive line but it didn’t really provide a lot of cover and protection. In fact, if the Cyan Tiger Cavalry hadn’t been completely decimated in the earlier fight, they could have flattened this little stone fortification all by themselves.

A moat that was about ten meters wide separated us from the fortification, and it looked like there was a river running through it. On the other side, God’s Dance was surrounded by a huge squad of shield-toting knights as she waved her magic staff in the air. Behind her, countless mages, archers, and priests had assembled into their own class-based formations.

Booom!

God’s Dance slashed her staff down and Galaxy Storm erupted in front of Gui Guzi, He Yi, and I. This stopped us from catching up to the retreating Candlelight Shadow and the last group of stragglers from Candle Dragon.

Candlelight Shadow nodded his head as he rushed across the iron-chained drawbridge with the last group of Candle Dragon players. After that, God’s Dance immediately ordered for the drawbridge to be pulled up, stranding us on the other side of the moat.

Both sides stared at each other in befuddled silence for a few moments before Candlelight Shadow finally spoke.

Candlelight Shadow’s voice was cold and flat as he said, ”Lu Chen, your Cyan Tiger Cavalry really did give me a bit of a surprise, but it’s too bad… Your Cyan Tiger Cavalry has been so utterly decimated that you have no chance of beating Candle Dragon!”

I let out a hearty laugh. ”Do you think that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls only has cavalrymen!? Hmph, just wait and see! Do you think that we’ll really lose to you in long-range combat? If you have the balls, stay right there, and watch how we jerk the rug out from under your feet!”

”Hmph, you sure know how to talk big!” Tempest Shadow roared. He was the person in Candle Dragon who bore the most hatred and animosity toward me. He has also been the loudest and most aggressive enemy combatant during this battle. The reason for his animosity was really simple. When Candlelight Shadow dispatched him to Floating Ice City to kill me, I completely humiliated him. To make matters worse, not long after I killed him, he was humiliated by the Fruit Knife Goddess. That was one of the greatest humiliations of Tempest Shadow’s life, and he hated the super guilds of Sky City with passion ever since that day.

I couldn’t help but let out a great laugh as I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword in the air. I let out a loud yell and undead energy swirled around my body as I tossed the Cyan Netherworld Sword forward. It soon turned into a whirling buzzsaw of death, sweeping past the river and the assembled magic knights, spinning straight into a squad of their long-range attackers. Fresh blood spurted in the air as countless archers and mages were cut to ribbons by my Sword Boomerang. No one had expected me to launch such a bold strike and none of them had ever expected a warrior to be able to deal so much damage from afar!

A single Sword Boomerang had nearly broken the nerve of the entire Candle Dragon guild. A group of their magic knights started to glance at each other nervously as they shifted on their feet.

Gulp!