Chapter Ninety-Seven: Roll Call

Seeing Wind and Cloud Dominion appear, and knowing they were about to join up with Zhang Shan, the people of the Traverse the Four Seas Guild completely broke down.

They had already accepted that they could not win the guild challenge match.

But all they wanted was to cut Zhang Shan down. Was even that no longer possible?

"Boss Dragon King, what do we do now? Keep chasing?"

"Withdraw. Fall back and defend under our banner."

Eastern Sea Dragon King waved a tired hand and turned to run back.

There was no chance left to bring Zhang Shan down. Facing Wind and Cloud Dominion’s fifty-man team, Eastern Sea Dragon King still had a numerical edge.

But that edge would be useless. Zhang Shan’s damage output was absurd, the kind that let one man suppress a crowd.

Just moments ago, they had had even more people, and Zhang Shan had only had around thirty at his side, and they still had not managed to cut him down.

Now, with Wind and Cloud Dominion’s resurrected fifty added in, there was even less hope.

Better to obediently return to the banner and defend it.

They might not necessarily hold out to the end, but with the banner’s attribute bonuses, at least they could fight with a little dignity.

Eastern Sea Dragon King had gone completely passive.

What else could he do? They could not beat him, so all they could do was accept it.

The thing he regretted most now was that after founding the guild, he had gotten a little carried away. He had wanted to make a name for himself too badly, and had been far too high-profile.

If he had known better, he should have kept a low profile and developed quietly.

As long as the Traverse the Four Seas Guild kept growing in the game, its reputation would naturally rise over time.

But to challenge the Wind and Cloud Guild and pursue Zhang Shan across the city? He had truly lost his mind. He needed to reflect on that properly.

They had poured a great deal of money into the game not because they had too much of it, but because they wanted to make even more money through the game.

So they could not possibly keep investing without limit. If the game could not bring them returns, then before long they would stop putting in such huge sums. After all, nobody’s money was blown in by the wind.

Eastern Sea Dragon King ran back in low spirits, all the while reflecting on his recent mistakes.

After Zhang Shan and Wind and Cloud Dominion linked up, they did not rush into pursuit either, because there was no way to catch up in time.

Just as Eastern Sea Dragon King had failed to catch Zhang Shan earlier, once the gap in starting distance had opened up and their speeds were not too different, it was very hard to close in unless the other side made a mistake.

Still, not chasing was fine too. This was the guild challenge map, and their goal was not to kill people.

They only needed to bring down the enemy banner or hold out until time ran out.

Where could the Traverse the Four Seas people even run? At most, they would just go back and defend their banner.

"Artifact Bro is insane. He didn’t even die after all that."

"Of course he didn’t. How could a guy with two lives go down so easily?"

"Rebirth is such a broken skill. Having two lives is seriously unfair."

"That’s because Artifact Bro is just too fierce. Give you two lives and you’d still die."

"Yeah, look at the battle rankings. Artifact Bro just killed more than thirty people, and it hasn’t even been long."

"Six-barrel boss really is strong."

"It was just luck. At the start I was a bit farther away, so they didn’t notice I hadn’t died. By the time they realized it, I was already gone, hehe."

Zhang Shan said modestly.

"Enough explaining. You’re a boss, that’s all there is to it."

"Does anyone know the name of that Thunder Scroll Eastern Sea Dragon King used? It was really vicious."

Zhang Shan still had a vivid impression of that scroll. It was too powerful, with such terrifying damage and such a huge area of effect. It was unbelievable.

"No idea. I’ve never heard of it. But it really was brutal. Using something like that in a guild war is such a waste."

"Scrolls are probably tied to skills. I wonder if players will ever be able to have such outrageous skills in the future?"

"Impossible, right? The damage and range on that Thunder Scroll were right there for everyone to see. You really think a player could have something like that? It sounds more like a boss skill."

"If it were a player skill, that’d be great. Thunder should definitely be a Taoist skill, so wouldn’t that mean I could learn it someday too?"

Wind Bell wore a look of longing, as though she were about to acquire such a devastating ultimate move any second now.

"Little beauty, wake up. Stop dreaming. You’re only a support. Do you think you can become Thanos?"

Hmph.

As they chatted idly while retreating, they soon returned to their own mid-lane banner.

"Boss, what do we do now? Keep defending the banner, or go straight for their banner?"

"Hold on a moment. First, ask about the side lanes. Blade, how’s your side? Are you already cutting their banner?"

"We’re cutting it now. We were clearing enemies just now, and they still had a dozen people left to defend, but they’ve been cleaned up. We’re on the banner now."

"Can you actually damage the banner?"

Wind and Cloud Dominion was worried the other side’s banner might also have very high defense. Even if it had only one million HP, if the defense was too high, it would still be hard to cut down.

"Relax, it can be cut. Their banner only has one thousand defense. One axe from me can deal over a thousand damage."

"So it can be knocked down in two minutes?"

"More or less."

"We’ve started cutting the banner here too. We’ll bring it down within two minutes. Don’t rush us now. The big mid-lane battle has to wait for me!"

Wind and Cloud Cannon was leading his team on the bottom lane cutting the banner, terrified that he would miss the final wave of the mid-lane clash.

"All right. Then we’ll wait in the middle first. After you finish the banners, gather in mid and we’ll take them all in one wave. No need to wait for the full hour."

Wind and Cloud Dominion arranged for thieves to keep watch on the enemy’s mid lane, while everyone else stood by the banner, waiting for the side lanes to be finished before launching the general assault.

System notification: Wind and Cloud Guild cut down one enemy banner, victory from the very first strike.

System notification: Wind and Cloud Guild cut down the second enemy banner, unstoppable as a force breaking bamboo.

After the two enemy banners were brought down in succession, all participating members of the guild gathered toward the middle. A two-hundred-man army advanced toward the enemy mid lane.

The people from Traverse the Four Seas who had died earlier had all resurrected as well, and the full two hundred of them were concentrated beneath their own mid-lane banner.

Two hundred against two hundred. The numbers were even, and in terms of overall strength, Wind and Cloud Guild should have been a bit stronger.

But Traverse the Four Seas Guild had the attribute bonuses from their banner, so in truth there was not much difference.

By the time Zhang Shan reached the enemy banner position, he discovered that Eastern Sea Dragon King had formed a turtle-shell formation, everyone contracting tightly around the banner.

"Boss, how do we handle this?"

The outer ring of Traverse the Four Seas was made up entirely of meat shields, with dozens of supports inside. Without some trickery, it really would not be easy.

"This formation is easy. We’re people, not monsters. Have all ranged players focus fire on one target. Attack together and kill one with each volley."

"Heh, that’s good. Instant kills make all the support useless."

Wind and Cloud Guild had over a hundred ranged classes present. Under Wind and Cloud Dominion’s command, they attacked one by one.

Meanwhile, the warrior classes guarded the perimeter, preventing the enemy from abandoning formation and charging in to force a chaotic melee.

Group focus fire, picking off targets one by one.

At first, the meat shields that were knocked down by Traverse the Four Seas could be quickly pulled back up by the support classes.

But as more and more of them fell, the revival skills went on cooldown, and they could no longer be brought back up.