Chapter Ninety-Three: The Guild Challenge Begins

After grinding nonstop until the guild challenge was about to begin, Zhang Shan finally reached level twenty-six and hurried back to town.

Participants in the guild war had to be inside the guild base in order to enter the challenge maps.

It was a rather absurd rule, forcing him to return first, and after the war he would still have to spend ages running across the map.

The planners were utterly inhuman. If only players could enter the challenge map directly from outside, how much better that would be.

After returning to town, he teleported straight to the guild base.

By afternoon, with everyone else’s efforts, the guild had already risen to level two, and the new recruits had been filled out quickly as well.

By now, the Wind and Cloud Guild was already a great guild of ten thousand members. So long as they stood united,

they could crush any chaotic skirmish in the wild without effort.

It was a pity the guild challenge limited the number of participants. Otherwise, if everyone entered the map at once, even the Dragon King of the East Sea might collapse on the spot.

The guild base was crowded everywhere now. Though there were still only two guild buildings, the place was already lively with popularity.

It finally looked like something. No longer like the time when the guild had just been founded, with only a pitiful handful of members.

"Wow, Artifact Boss, you finally came back to town. I thought you were going to grind until the end of time."

"No choice. I was just a sliver away from leveling, so I had to push my level up first."

"Damn, you're already level twenty-six? That's insane. I'm only level twenty-two, and now I can’t even gain a level in a day. How are you still leveling so fast when you were already twenty-five?"

"Not fast at all. I’ve been grinding for two full days."

"Why are you even comparing yourself to Artifact Boss? Aren’t you just asking for misery? Do you even have half his monster-killing efficiency?"

"Half? You think too highly of me. If I can reach even a third, I should burn incense in thanks."

"Artifact Boss, let’s go. Gather at the stone tablet in front of the guild hall. We’ll enter the challenge map together in a bit."

Zhang Shan followed them to the stone tablet, where Wind and Cloud of the World and the others had already assembled.

They only had to wait until eight o’clock, and then they would enter the challenge map.

The participants had already been chosen, and through the stone tablet one could view all of their information.

These were the two hundred people selected after the final round, but Zhang Shan recognized very few of them. To be honest, he had not been in the Wind and Cloud Guild for all that long.

Not to mention the newer members who had joined later, even the core bigshots were not all familiar to him.

His mind simply was not on that sort of thing. Day after day, it was either monster grinding or, from time to time, going out to chop people down.

He rarely teamed up with them to grind or do anything else, and with so little contact, naturally he did not know them.

Although Zhang Shan did not know others, everyone else knew him.

Artifact Boss, number one on the level rankings.

His fame was enormous. Not just guild members, but across the whole game, there were not many who did not know the Great Master of the Six Pipes.

"Do you know how the challenge map is laid out? Is there a set order for the three flags, or can we attack them separately?"

Zhang Shan had not played games for many years, so he did not know how this kind of flag-defense mode worked.

Did they have to destroy the first flag before they could attack the second, or could the three flags be attacked separately at the same time?

He truly had no idea.

"We don’t know either. This guild war is the first guild battle in the game. Aside from the little public information we can see, we know nothing else."

"In theory, it should be done in order, from far to near. Only after destroying the first flag can you attack the second. Whether New World is set up the same way, we don’t know."

"Then how are we handling it? Any arrangements? Surely we can’t all just sit beneath the first flag and wait for them to come hack at it?"

"For now, the plan is to split into two squads. One squad will guard the first flag, and Blade One will lead the other squad nearby, ready to support at any time."

"Since we don’t know what kind of scrolls the Dragon King of the East Sea got, we can’t bunch everyone together. If it’s some kind of wide-area damage skill, then we’d all go down at once."

"Also, we don’t know how big the challenge map is. If the respawn point is too far from the first flag, then after reviving we’d have to run for a long time. That would be troublesome."

"No need to worry too much. We outclass them in strength. No matter what, we’ll win."

"Right. Let’s adapt once we’re in the map."

System announcement: The guild challenge between the Cross-Sea Guild and the Wind and Cloud Guild will begin shortly. Members of both sides, please enter the challenge map.

One minute after entering the map, the challenge will officially begin.

At the sound of the announcement, everyone hurried into the map.

"Damn, isn’t this just a tower defense game? They’ve only swapped the defensive towers for battle flags."

"It really is. The battle flags are spread across three directions, which makes them a bit hard to defend."

"That’s even better. The Dragon King of the East Sea is only relying on two scrolls. Let’s see how he uses them across three directions."

"Are the trees between the three roads like other tower defense games too, with monsters spawning in them, and buffs gained when they spawn?"

"No idea. Let’s hold off the first wave and then go take a look."

"The respawn point isn’t far from the battle flags. At most it’s only a two- or three-minute run. Even if we die once, it’s fine."

"One death is fine, but it’s best not to die a second time. If the respawn timer gets stretched out, it’ll become troublesome."

"All right, I’ll assign the routes now." Wind and Cloud of the World cut off the discussion.

"Blade One, take one squad to the top lane. Cannon, take one squad to the bottom lane. I’ll take the middle lane. Fifty people per squad. All thieves disperse and check the woods on both sides; the enemy woods must be checked too. If there really are buffs, report them early. The rest of you stay behind the middle lane, ready to support all three lanes at any time."

"Boss, is that really okay? They’ll definitely push with all their forces down one lane."

"We’ll do it this way. If they push one lane, we’ll hold that lane first, while the other two lanes quickly destroy their battle flags."

"Right, their flags are only level one, with a million HP. If fifty people attack together, they can blow it up in two or three minutes."

"They’ll probably leave some people to defend too. After all, standing beneath your own battle flag grants a bonus to all attributes. When the enemy has fewer people than you, as long as the gap isn’t too large, the flag can still be held."

A minute later, the horns sounded and the war drums rolled. The guild challenge officially began.

Wind and Cloud of the World waved his hand.

"Depart according to the plan."

Zhang Shan followed Wind and Cloud of the World toward the middle-lane battle flag.

The reason Wind and Cloud of the World had placed Zhang Shan in the center was to prevent the Cross-Sea Guild from attacking the side lanes first.

That way, Zhang Shan could rapidly provide support to either side.

The distance between the middle lane and the two side lanes was not too great. He could reach them in two or three minutes, and within that time the Cross-Sea Guild could not possibly destroy their flag, which had five hundred HP.

Even if everyone on the attacked lane died in defense, the one-minute respawn time plus the time needed to run back—

after three minutes, they could still continue defending. With Zhang Shan and the reserve support force added in, they should be able to hold.

Even if they ultimately lost the lane, they could at least force the Dragon King of the East Sea to expend one scroll.

Meanwhile, their other two lanes could keep attacking the Cross-Sea Guild’s battle flags. They might even destroy the enemy flags first.

Wind and Cloud of the World’s tactical arrangement was simple: trade losses.

If the Dragon King of the East Sea dared to concentrate his forces on one lane, then the Wind and Cloud Guild’s attacked lane would do everything possible to stall.

The other two lanes would attack with full force.