1545

"Candlelight Shadow…" He Yi murmured as we all looked at the sky, "He killed two JGL Hall of Famers in a row?"

Li Chengfeng clenched his fists. "Tsk!"

Eyes Like Water blinked and said, "According to the latest report, Candlelight Shadow really killed three experts in total. The reason there were only two system announcements was because one of them was an expert who hasn’t entered the JGL Hall of Fame yet. Anyway, he killed the first enemy with Ghost God Prophecy, the second via brute force, and the last one, Murasame, with the Dragon Tooth Arm. Apparently, he even scored a critical hit and dealt over 44 million damage to the poor fucker…"

"What an animal…" High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon said at the same time.

……

Feeling a bit tired, I sat against a pile of bodies and asked, "How is the battle at the Impassable Great Wall going anyway? On that note, how are they still stuck there? It’s only the Impassable Great Wall! It’s shameful that our main force has been stuck there for 7 hours straight!"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I’m even starting to suspect that Warsky, Farewell Song and Candlelight Shadow went there to view the peach blossom, not fight a war."

I curled my lips. "You know what, I’m just gonna ask Uncle Zhang Chun. As long as the Impassable Great Wall stays up, the pressure on us will not relent. We’ve already lost so many people before Throne of the Wild, Hero Alliance, God Breaker and more had shown their faces. If they decide to join hands and attack us all at once, we may not be able to hold Fortress of the Iron Halberd for another 10 hours."

"Yes, speak with Zhang Chun and see what he says…"

I rose to my feet and opened my contact list. Then, I sent Zhang Chun a comms request. After he appeared on the screen, I noticed that his face was drenched in blood. He asked me, "What is it, Lu Chen?"

"Have you taken the Impassable Great Wall yet, uncle?"

"No. What’s the situation at Dawn City?"

"We’re holding, but I cannot guarantee that Dawn City will remain a Chinese territory if you don’t take Swallow Ear Canton soon. Also, are you aware that 7 Northern Alliance main cities have come together to attack Fortress of the Iron Halberd? How can you expect Ancient Sword and Blazing Hot Lips to stop them all alone? Send us some reinforcements already!"

However, Zhang Chun replied with a troubled look on his face, "To be honest, the battle at the Impassable Great Wall isn’t doing well either. The Japanese are reinforcing the walls like crazy[1], and Elephant City has dispatched over 30 guilds through Final Duel Valley to help them. We’re being attacked from both the front and the wings, but most importantly, we are unable to scale the walls even now due to a certain complication!"

"Huh?" I was very surprised. "How can that be? You have Yiyi, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky and Luo River God of the Capital. How can a mere Impassable Great Wall give them much trouble? Don’t tell me the damn thing is too tall to scale. I’ve literally conquered the fortress before, and I can say with confidence that it should’ve taken Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon 30 minutes at most to scale it…"

"I’ll just show you. A picture tells a thousand words!"

Zhang Chun quickly shared his view with me. I saw countless cloud ladders and siege weapons propped up against the walls and even more Chinese players attempting to scale them. However, the enemy archers and mages attacked them relentlessly, and there were ballistae shooting holes in their bodies as well!

However, none of these threats were even remotely comparable to the three crimson cannons on the walls. They were none other than the Dragon Cannons. They were firing non-stop because they had a line of players reloading them every time their Dragon Crystals ran dry. I saw Warsky Alliance delivering several hundred Gold Cavalrymen up the rampart only to see them blasted to kingdom come in one shot.

"You see that?" Zhang Chun gripped his fists tightly. "I don’t know how that grandson did it, but somehow Red Maple managed to install three Dragon Cannons on the Impassable Great Wall. There is just nothing we can do against it. There were multiple times Candlelight Shadow and Warsky ate a few shots in a row and nearly died. As a result, they weren’t willing to lead the charge anymore. Even our tankiest magic knights couldn’t survive two shots. Also, our second army was stopped at Ice River Canton by Cyan Beast, so we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. Don’t worry though. We will overcome the Impassable Great Wall in 10 hours at most!"

"That’s too long. The Impassable Great Wall must fall in 2 hours tops!" I uttered through clenched teeth. "Are you aware that Blazing Hot Lips has lost over 40% of their total troops, and Ancient Sword, over 30%? At this rate, both our guilds will be annihilated before you overcome the Impassable Great Wall! Do you think China can win this Nation War in 50 hours without Ancient Sword or Blazing Hot Lips?"

Zhang Chun looked frustrated. "What do we do then?"

I replied, "Dude, why are you asking me? You’re the supreme commander, not me!"

After a moment of thought, Zhang Chun clasped his hands. He clearly made a tough and important decision. "Alright, let’s do it this way. I want you, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue to come to the Impassable Great Wall and lend us your aid for 60 minutes. Your only mission will be to destroy the Dragon Cannons. What do you think?"

"Sure, but I want 5 million troops in return. Dawn City will fall if we don’t get at least that much reinforcements!"

"Fine. It’s a poor deal, but still better than being stuck at the Impassable Great Wall for another 10 hours. I’ll dispatch Gods of Destruction guild’s 5 million troops to Fortress of the Iron Halberd once you’ve completed your mission!"

"Oh no you don’t. Send them now, or no deal!"

"Fine, fine. You guys should come over as soon as possible as well!"

"Mn!"

……

I rose to my feet and looked out of the fortress. The Northern Alliance’s new invasion force had shown themselves, but this time it wasn’t one super guild, but twenty or so middle or small guilds combined. Their strength probably wouldn’t measure up to a top-tier guild’s, but what they lacked in quantity they made up for with quantity. I counted at least 5 million players in the first wave alone!

"More fodder…" Li Chengfeng scoffed. "What on earth is the Northern Alliance planning?"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes figured out the truth immediately. "Hmph. Looks like Vienna’s Sorrow has learned his lesson from Olympus and Blood Soul’s failure. If I’m not mistaken, he’s going to keep sending these fodders after us for 12 hours or so to deplete our physical and mental strength. When nighttime arrives in Beijing, Hero Alliance, God Breaker and Throne of the Wild will launch the real, full-powered assault! He’s planning to exploit the time difference to destroy us!"

I nodded. "I agree. If I had to guess, Hero Alliance, Throne of the Wild and all the other guilds who’ll be participating in the real assault are probably sleeping right now. They will be fully refreshed while we are fully exhausted when it is time for the real assault. Those despicable bastards…"

Gui Guzi looked green. "Does that mean it’s GG?"

"Of course not!" I smiled and pointed to the east. "Little Gui, Eve, Beiming, Chengfeng, Little Xin, you guys will be following me to the Impassable Great Wall. Take Guanyue and Lu Buyi with you as well. We’re going to help Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon conquer the Impassable Great Wall so that they can flatten Swallow Ear Canton before nighttime. Once Swallow Ear Canton is dead, our 40 million strong army will be able to make their way to the north and threaten the cities there. Finally, we’ll match their timing and ride out to strike at the invasion force. This way, Vienna’s Sorrow’s plans won’t come to fruition!"

"Alright!" Gui Guzi was a single-minded man. After hearing that there was a solution, he immediately bounced to his feet and said excitedly, "Should we fly to the Impassable Great Wall now?"

"Yeah. We’ll teleport to Sky Ridge first before making the flight. That way, we’ll reach our destination in ten minutes at most!"

"Okay!"

……

Everyone climbed onto our mounts and teleported to Sky City first. Then, they teleported to Sky Ridge and took off to the skies. Our party was only 11 men strong, but our threat level was off the charts. The sunlight reflecting off our blades and armors gave us an intimidating appearance. On an unrelated note, my passenger was Murong Mingyue.

"Look over there!"

Beiming Xue pointed from above her Fire Phoenix. A group of White Horse Cavalrymen was chasing down a Chinese guild. They obviously belonged to Natural Flow. More battles were happening outside the forest, and a lot of troops seemed completely lost. All they knew to do was to kill the enemy in front of them. The ground was littered with piles and piles of bodies.

Flowing Cloud was an intelligent woman. She knew her guild couldn’t threaten China’s main force, so she focused on killing all the casual guilds on the periphery.

"What should we do? Do we help them, or?" Li Chengfeng asked.

I gritted my teeth but shook my head. "No. We can deal with Elephant City after we’ve accomplished our mission. Conquering the Impassable Great Wall will save millions of lives, while killing a couple thousand enemies here won’t affect the war at all."

"Yeah. Let’s go!"

Seven or eight minutes later, we arrived at the Impassable Great Wall map. Even from far away, we could see the eternally frozen fortress, the Chinese players invading the ground, and the elite Swallow Ear Canton players defending from above. The total number of players easily exceeded tens of millions. On the walls, the Dragon Cannons fired their payloads and dealt fatal damage to hundreds and hundreds of Chinese players per hit. They were just as terrifying as I remembered them.

Beneath the wall, Zhang Chun raised his sword and ordered, "White Marsh Catapults, aim at the Dragon Cannons’ location as best as you can. Fire!"

However, the counterattack was almost futile. The terrain disadvantage was just too huge!

……

Warsky looked up and said, "Lu Chen’s party is here!"

Swhoosh!

After I descended in front of the guild leaders, I said, "The situation’s critical, so I’m cutting straight to the point. I want you all to muster a group of high-level cavalrymen as quickly as you can and prepare to make an attempt to scale the walls. Warsky, Candlelight Shadow, Yiyi, I’m going to charge first and attract the Dragon Cannons’ attention. You guys will follow afterward and destroy the Dragon Cannons as soon as you can. Sister Wang Luo, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue, your job is to snipe the enemy’s Divine Rank players. Candlelight Shadow, I want you to target the Dragon Cannon at the center. Empower your Pangu’s Axe with the Dragon Tooth Arm and carve it up like sushi!"

"Got it. We’ll launch the assault 10 minutes later!"

"Good. Buffs, please!"

While I was buffing myself with a Hunter Card, Lu Buyi applied his Purple Dragon and Pure Love her bard buffs with the Seven-string Yaoqin on me. Now, I should be able to endure a couple of shots with these buffs.

I then looked at Gui Guzi and said, "Little Gui, I’m going to have to use the Xuanyuan Art to kill later, so please heal me with Shennong Tastes Grass when my HP falls below 40%. Don’t let me die, please!"

Gui Guzi nodded smilingly. "No problem!"

After I had given out all the instructions, I looked at the Dragon Cannons on the wall and sneered. "Those fuckers. I honestly thought we had destroyed all of their Dragon Cannons."

Zhang Chun chuckled. "It’s simple. Red Maple is not an idiot, he knew that he shouldn’t place all of your eggs in one basket. There must be another Dragon Cannon construction base somewhere in Swallow Ear Canton’s territory. Once we’ve overcome the Impassable Great Wall, we’ll destroy both the tier 2 city and the base at the same time!"

"Yeah. Get ready!"

1. T/N: because it’s literally the most defensible structure they have? The tier 2 city is actually shittier than the wall lol ☜

"Candlelight Shadow…" He Yi murmured as we all looked at the sky, "He killed two JGL Hall of Famers in a row?"

Li Chengfeng clenched his fists. "Tsk!"

Eyes Like Water blinked and said, "According to the latest report, Candlelight Shadow really killed three experts in total. The reason there were only two system announcements was because one of them was an expert who hasn’t entered the JGL Hall of Fame yet. Anyway, he killed the first enemy with Ghost God Prophecy, the second via brute force, and the last one, Murasame, with the Dragon Tooth Arm. Apparently, he even scored a critical hit and dealt over 44 million damage to the poor fucker…"

"What an animal…" High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon said at the same time.

……

Feeling a bit tired, I sat against a pile of bodies and asked, "How is the battle at the Impassable Great Wall going anyway? On that note, how are they still stuck there? It’s only the Impassable Great Wall! It’s shameful that our main force has been stuck there for 7 hours straight!"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I’m even starting to suspect that Warsky, Farewell Song and Candlelight Shadow went there to view the peach blossom, not fight a war."

I curled my lips. "You know what, I’m just gonna ask Uncle Zhang Chun. As long as the Impassable Great Wall stays up, the pressure on us will not relent. We’ve already lost so many people before Throne of the Wild, Hero Alliance, God Breaker and more had shown their faces. If they decide to join hands and attack us all at once, we may not be able to hold Fortress of the Iron Halberd for another 10 hours."

"Yes, speak with Zhang Chun and see what he says…"

I rose to my feet and opened my contact list. Then, I sent Zhang Chun a comms request. After he appeared on the screen, I noticed that his face was drenched in blood. He asked me, "What is it, Lu Chen?"

"Have you taken the Impassable Great Wall yet, uncle?"

"No. What’s the situation at Dawn City?"

"We’re holding, but I cannot guarantee that Dawn City will remain a Chinese territory if you don’t take Swallow Ear Canton soon. Also, are you aware that 7 Northern Alliance main cities have come together to attack Fortress of the Iron Halberd? How can you expect Ancient Sword and Blazing Hot Lips to stop them all alone? Send us some reinforcements already!"

However, Zhang Chun replied with a troubled look on his face, "To be honest, the battle at the Impassable Great Wall isn’t doing well either. The Japanese are reinforcing the walls like crazy[1], and Elephant City has dispatched over 30 guilds through Final Duel Valley to help them. We’re being attacked from both the front and the wings, but most importantly, we are unable to scale the walls even now due to a certain complication!"

"Huh?" I was very surprised. "How can that be? You have Yiyi, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky and Luo River God of the Capital. How can a mere Impassable Great Wall give them much trouble? Don’t tell me the damn thing is too tall to scale. I’ve literally conquered the fortress before, and I can say with confidence that it should’ve taken Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon 30 minutes at most to scale it…"

"I’ll just show you. A picture tells a thousand words!"

Zhang Chun quickly shared his view with me. I saw countless cloud ladders and siege weapons propped up against the walls and even more Chinese players attempting to scale them. However, the enemy archers and mages attacked them relentlessly, and there were ballistae shooting holes in their bodies as well!

However, none of these threats were even remotely comparable to the three crimson cannons on the walls. They were none other than the Dragon Cannons. They were firing non-stop because they had a line of players reloading them every time their Dragon Crystals ran dry. I saw Warsky Alliance delivering several hundred Gold Cavalrymen up the rampart only to see them blasted to kingdom come in one shot.

"You see that?" Zhang Chun gripped his fists tightly. "I don’t know how that grandson did it, but somehow Red Maple managed to install three Dragon Cannons on the Impassable Great Wall. There is just nothing we can do against it. There were multiple times Candlelight Shadow and Warsky ate a few shots in a row and nearly died. As a result, they weren’t willing to lead the charge anymore. Even our tankiest magic knights couldn’t survive two shots. Also, our second army was stopped at Ice River Canton by Cyan Beast, so we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. Don’t worry though. We will overcome the Impassable Great Wall in 10 hours at most!"

"That’s too long. The Impassable Great Wall must fall in 2 hours tops!" I uttered through clenched teeth. "Are you aware that Blazing Hot Lips has lost over 40% of their total troops, and Ancient Sword, over 30%? At this rate, both our guilds will be annihilated before you overcome the Impassable Great Wall! Do you think China can win this Nation War in 50 hours without Ancient Sword or Blazing Hot Lips?"

Zhang Chun looked frustrated. "What do we do then?"

I replied, "Dude, why are you asking me? You’re the supreme commander, not me!"

After a moment of thought, Zhang Chun clasped his hands. He clearly made a tough and important decision. "Alright, let’s do it this way. I want you, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue to come to the Impassable Great Wall and lend us your aid for 60 minutes. Your only mission will be to destroy the Dragon Cannons. What do you think?"

"Sure, but I want 5 million troops in return. Dawn City will fall if we don’t get at least that much reinforcements!"

"Fine. It’s a poor deal, but still better than being stuck at the Impassable Great Wall for another 10 hours. I’ll dispatch Gods of Destruction guild’s 5 million troops to Fortress of the Iron Halberd once you’ve completed your mission!"

"Oh no you don’t. Send them now, or no deal!"

"Fine, fine. You guys should come over as soon as possible as well!"

"Mn!"

……

I rose to my feet and looked out of the fortress. The Northern Alliance’s new invasion force had shown themselves, but this time it wasn’t one super guild, but twenty or so middle or small guilds combined. Their strength probably wouldn’t measure up to a top-tier guild’s, but what they lacked in quantity they made up for with quantity. I counted at least 5 million players in the first wave alone!

"More fodder…" Li Chengfeng scoffed. "What on earth is the Northern Alliance planning?"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes figured out the truth immediately. "Hmph. Looks like Vienna’s Sorrow has learned his lesson from Olympus and Blood Soul’s failure. If I’m not mistaken, he’s going to keep sending these fodders after us for 12 hours or so to deplete our physical and mental strength. When nighttime arrives in Beijing, Hero Alliance, God Breaker and Throne of the Wild will launch the real, full-powered assault! He’s planning to exploit the time difference to destroy us!"

I nodded. "I agree. If I had to guess, Hero Alliance, Throne of the Wild and all the other guilds who’ll be participating in the real assault are probably sleeping right now. They will be fully refreshed while we are fully exhausted when it is time for the real assault. Those despicable bastards…"

Gui Guzi looked green. "Does that mean it’s GG?"

"Of course not!" I smiled and pointed to the east. "Little Gui, Eve, Beiming, Chengfeng, Little Xin, you guys will be following me to the Impassable Great Wall. Take Guanyue and Lu Buyi with you as well. We’re going to help Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon conquer the Impassable Great Wall so that they can flatten Swallow Ear Canton before nighttime. Once Swallow Ear Canton is dead, our 40 million strong army will be able to make their way to the north and threaten the cities there. Finally, we’ll match their timing and ride out to strike at the invasion force. This way, Vienna’s Sorrow’s plans won’t come to fruition!"

"Alright!" Gui Guzi was a single-minded man. After hearing that there was a solution, he immediately bounced to his feet and said excitedly, "Should we fly to the Impassable Great Wall now?"

"Yeah. We’ll teleport to Sky Ridge first before making the flight. That way, we’ll reach our destination in ten minutes at most!"

"Okay!"

……

Everyone climbed onto our mounts and teleported to Sky City first. Then, they teleported to Sky Ridge and took off to the skies. Our party was only 11 men strong, but our threat level was off the charts. The sunlight reflecting off our blades and armors gave us an intimidating appearance. On an unrelated note, my passenger was Murong Mingyue.

"Look over there!"

Beiming Xue pointed from above her Fire Phoenix. A group of White Horse Cavalrymen was chasing down a Chinese guild. They obviously belonged to Natural Flow. More battles were happening outside the forest, and a lot of troops seemed completely lost. All they knew to do was to kill the enemy in front of them. The ground was littered with piles and piles of bodies.

Flowing Cloud was an intelligent woman. She knew her guild couldn’t threaten China’s main force, so she focused on killing all the casual guilds on the periphery.

"What should we do? Do we help them, or?" Li Chengfeng asked.

I gritted my teeth but shook my head. "No. We can deal with Elephant City after we’ve accomplished our mission. Conquering the Impassable Great Wall will save millions of lives, while killing a couple thousand enemies here won’t affect the war at all."

"Yeah. Let’s go!"

Seven or eight minutes later, we arrived at the Impassable Great Wall map. Even from far away, we could see the eternally frozen fortress, the Chinese players invading the ground, and the elite Swallow Ear Canton players defending from above. The total number of players easily exceeded tens of millions. On the walls, the Dragon Cannons fired their payloads and dealt fatal damage to hundreds and hundreds of Chinese players per hit. They were just as terrifying as I remembered them.

Beneath the wall, Zhang Chun raised his sword and ordered, "White Marsh Catapults, aim at the Dragon Cannons’ location as best as you can. Fire!"

However, the counterattack was almost futile. The terrain disadvantage was just too huge!

……

Warsky looked up and said, "Lu Chen’s party is here!"

Swhoosh!

After I descended in front of the guild leaders, I said, "The situation’s critical, so I’m cutting straight to the point. I want you all to muster a group of high-level cavalrymen as quickly as you can and prepare to make an attempt to scale the walls. Warsky, Candlelight Shadow, Yiyi, I’m going to charge first and attract the Dragon Cannons’ attention. You guys will follow afterward and destroy the Dragon Cannons as soon as you can. Sister Wang Luo, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue, your job is to snipe the enemy’s Divine Rank players. Candlelight Shadow, I want you to target the Dragon Cannon at the center. Empower your Pangu’s Axe with the Dragon Tooth Arm and carve it up like sushi!"

"Got it. We’ll launch the assault 10 minutes later!"

"Good. Buffs, please!"

While I was buffing myself with a Hunter Card, Lu Buyi applied his Purple Dragon and Pure Love her bard buffs with the Seven-string Yaoqin on me. Now, I should be able to endure a couple of shots with these buffs.

I then looked at Gui Guzi and said, "Little Gui, I’m going to have to use the Xuanyuan Art to kill later, so please heal me with Shennong Tastes Grass when my HP falls below 40%. Don’t let me die, please!"

Gui Guzi nodded smilingly. "No problem!"

After I had given out all the instructions, I looked at the Dragon Cannons on the wall and sneered. "Those fuckers. I honestly thought we had destroyed all of their Dragon Cannons."

Zhang Chun chuckled. "It’s simple. Red Maple is not an idiot, he knew that he shouldn’t place all of your eggs in one basket. There must be another Dragon Cannon construction base somewhere in Swallow Ear Canton’s territory. Once we’ve overcome the Impassable Great Wall, we’ll destroy both the tier 2 city and the base at the same time!"

"Yeah. Get ready!"

1. T/N: because it’s literally the most defensible structure they have? The tier 2 city is actually shittier than the wall lol ☜