Virtual World: Close Combat Mage Chapter 89-91

Chapter 89 - The Forgotten Character

"Gather quickly! Faster!" Dusky Cloud bellowed incessantly at everyone beside him. Obviously, their group, which was currently outside the city, had no means to hurry back in time for the upcoming PvP outside the Warrior Encampment.

"We can't wait any longer!" Sword Demon shouted, "Those with high Agility, return to the city first and support our men by the Warrior Encampment."

A high-Agility squad composed of Archers and Thieves swiftly made their way toward the city after hearing this. Sword Demon mentally calculated; if the Past Deeds' thirty-man team from the underground prison did not suffer a casualty when they had rescued their guild members in the Archer Range, there would currently be around sixty to seventy of them attacking the Warrior Encampment. If the reinforcement from several Past Deeds Eradication groups could make it in time there, they would still hold numerical superiority during the fight.

We must make it there in time! Sword Demon resolutely muttered to himself. The distance Past Deeds had to travel from the Archer Range to the Warrior Encampment was quite substantial. Since Past Deeds was at a disadvantage when it came to its number of men, Priests would undoubtedly be crucial to its success. Thus, they would not dare leave their Priests behind in favor of faster movement.

"Priests—f*ck!" Sword Demon realized that he had made a critical mistake: He should not have made the team locking down the Priest Academy's spawn point retreat so soon. The current Past Deeds' forces might have been thinking of rescuing their Priests first by heading to the Priest Academy. Even if the thirty-man group Sword Demon had stationed there could not resist the enemies' bombardment, it would still force the Past Deeds' players to spend quite some time rescuing their Priests. This would have bought Sword Demon and the gang ample time to get back to the city. But since he had ordered the thirty-man group to leave the Priest Academy earlier, the Past Deeds' Priests would not have any issue rendezvousing with their main force at the heart of the city.

There's no use crying over split milk now. Anyway, a team with Priests won't be able to advance quickly! Sword Demon held on to that shred of hope in his heart.

It was at this point that they received some good news; a friend of Dusky Cloud saw that a Past Deeds' squad had gathered in the heart of the city. However, this group of players did not go to the Warrior Encampment at four o'clock; instead, they headed northeast.

Northeast was in the one o'clock direction… Mage Academy?

They're heading there, after all! Sword Demon thought to himself. Mages were the strongest AOE damage dealers when it came to team PvPs. It seemed that Past Deeds had taken a big detour to bolster its team's strength first.

When Young Master Han heard this piece of news, he actually reacted with astonishment, "Looks like our opponent's commander isn't simple!"

"?" Sword Demon just typed this to Young Master Han since he was in a hurry to get back to the city.

"It's true that it's faster to attack the Warrior Encampment at four o'clock, which is closer to the Archer Range at nine o'clock. But the Warrior Encampment's defending group is mostly composed of Mages who can deal high AOE damage. Even with the Archers' inherent job class advantage over the Mages, they'll still pay a heavy price for confronting the latter. What's worse, our killed Mages will revive at the Mage Academy's spawn point. By the time they carry their assault to the Mage Academy, our groups will have finished assembling there. Since we're also occupying the Mage Academy, they'll have no Mages left for the upcoming PvP! With the Past Deeds' manpower disadvantage and lack of Mages, how will they win the group fight? That's why I said that their commander isn't simple. This person's vision isn't limited to what's immediately visible. Occupying the Mage Academy is the key to this guild war!" Young Master Han analyzed, adding, "Half of the Past Deeds' members have dropped three levels. Even if both sides' numbers are equal, either side's strength is now more or less even. Whichever side has more Mages will emerge victorious."

"So how did our fifty players in the Archer Range get wiped out?" Sword Demon reflexively stopped running for a bit as he asked this question.

"I'm still not sure about that. Just quickly get to the Mage Academy and establish a line of defense! Oh, yeah. He first seized the Archer Range for the purpose of using the Archers to lockdown the Mage Academy… F*ck! To plan each step so thoroughly, just who is this person?!" Young Master Han wondered in amazement, "Vast Lushness? I've met her before! While she has a few tricks up her sleeves, she's definitely not in possession of an amazing foresight."

"Alright, I've reached the Mage Academy," Sword Demon sighed in relief. The Mage Academy was in the one o'clock direction, so it was not far from the city's north gate and the Thieves' Union. Sword Demon's group and Dusky Cloud's group actually benefited from the opponents' unexpected plan, as the Mage Academy was close to the city gate that they were currently rushing toward. With this, both groups would have ample time to join up at the Mage Academy and prepare themselves for the upcoming fight.

"Something feels wrong. He must have a way to break your group's defense if he's committing to assaulting the Mage Academy. There must be something we're not aware of," Young Master Han, who was at a tavern, anxiously said.

"We don't have time to consider that now. They've arrived," Sword Demon closed the conversation window. Figures of Past Deeds began to appear on the street from a distance at an unexpectedly fast pace.

"They're all Archers!?" Sword Demon felt stunned. He and Dusky Cloud shared a look.

Past Deeds' hurried over with just a thirty-man team. This team's every member was an Archer.

"Thieves, activate your Stealth and approach them from behind. Archers, ready your Snipe!" Sword Demon spontaneously commanded. The opposing Archers had dropped a few levels, so they no longer had the Snipe skill. The range that Past Deeds' team could engage in would definitely be lower compared to Sword Demon's group. The thirty Archers could not pose a threat to them.

"Just what're they trying to do?!" Sword Demon was at a loss.

"A group of them must be hiding somewhere! Search the vicinity!" Dusky Cloud made a few Thieves check the surroundings.

The Past Deeds' Archers did not engage Sword Demon's group directly. After firing a few arrows, they began to employ guerilla tactic. The opposing Archers focused more on running instead of blocking their attacks; they were clearly avoiding the Thieves from getting anywhere near them.

"Are they trying to buy time?" Sword Demon whispered to himself upon seeing the enemies' action.

Meanwhile, Broken Cloud, one of the ten leaders of the Past Deeds Eradication Army, was not as nervous as Sword Demon, Dusky Cloud, and the gang. He was in charge of holding the fort in the Knights' Barracks. Knight, which had balanced overall stats, was currently not seen as a job class that could influence a fight's outcome. Hence, Broken Cloud wholly assumed that their opponents would not attack the Knights' Barracks.

It was at this moment of contemplation that he heard several approaching footsteps.

The heavy and uneven footsteps came from the alleyway beside the street. Suddenly, a squad of thirty plus players rushed out of the alleyway and unerringly dove straight into the group that Broken Cloud was leading.

There were no spells, no arrows, no invisible Thieves among the attackers.

It was a team purely consisted of Warriors.

As Broken Cloud was feeling astonished at the sight of them, a bright light suddenly emerged from within the Warriors' mid. It glowed above their heads at first, before spreading in all directions and falling upon everything in sight. The thirty plus players were bathed in this very glow.

The entire opposing team seemed to have received some sort of boost from this glow, as their speed instantly reached a new height.

Broken Cloud had been playing Parallel World for quite a while now, yet he had never seen Warriors attaining such a breakneck speed. The opposing team forcefully endured the arrows and spells that Broken Cloud's group had unleashed and continued to rush toward them. At this moment, the Knights in the Knights' Barracks' spawn point stepped out and applied various blessings to themselves. They then joined the skirmish.

Sword Demon and the gang actually got it wrong. The Past Deeds' team was not just made up of thirty men. When Past Deeds attacked the Archer Range previously, the members stuck inside that spawn point rushed outside to assist in the ensuing fight. Accurately speaking, Past Deeds had a team of over sixty players.

As the two sides clashed, Broken Cloud's group shockingly discovered that this team suffused with bright light was not only fast on their feet but also had higher damage output and defense; even their HP was more abundant. Indubitably, that layer of light was a sort of skill that could increase a player's every stat. The more frightening fact here was that the skill affected a whole party.

Broken Cloud's group was already a bit weaker compared to these Past Deeds' players. With the enemies' overall strength improved further by that unknown skill, they could not last for a long time. White light repeatedly flashed all over the place as the fifty-man group of Past Deeds Eradication Army instantly got wiped out.

Broken Cloud struggled until the very end. And in that final moment before he collapsed, he saw a sword. This sword, which was held aloft, was at the very heart of the glow, shining golden light upon everything.

Who was the one holding this sword? ...It was Silver Moon, the Past Deeds' guild leader.

The Past Deeds' dignified guild leader had actually become a forgotten character in this whole affair due to Gu Fei capturing and sending him to the underground prison. All forms of communication would be restricted when serving time. Hence, a player could only watch the clock tick and wait inside his or her cell.

Some time ago, Silver Moon finally got through the eight hours of unbearable jail time and could hardly contain himself when he walked out of the underground prison. His exit from the prison, however, was greeted by the sight of his thirty guild mates frantically departing from the location.

Silver Moon promptly stopped them from leaving. Following this, the guild channel that he could access once again stirred frenziedly. This was the exact moment when Sword Demon and the gang had assaulted the Past Deeds' groups in almost all the city's spawn points.

Silver Moon did not know what had happened across the span of eight hours that he was imprisoned. After asking the players beside him, he quickly realized that the situation was caused by a premeditated trap. The enemies split up the members of Past Deeds into ten smaller teams to weaken their might.

The ninth team in the underground prison was obviously a target as well. However, they were momentarily ignored since the place was considerably far or the opponent had not enough manpower.

Silver Moon decided on the spot to lead this ninth team away from the underground prison, yet he opted out of assisting any of his comrades. Instead, they sneaked their way out of the city through the north gate.

Afterward, he contacted Vast Lushness, who was on her way to the city from Youye Valley. They quickly arranged the available players into a team that was mainly composed of Warriors and several Priests.

Silver Moon arranged the players like this to better utilize his weapon's specialty:

[King's Blade

Additional skill: Activates the battlefield aura 'The King's Command'.

Effect: Party members within the area of effect will have all their stats increased by 15%. Consumes 4% of mana every second it remains active.

Skill cool-down time: 10 minutes]

The weapon was a trump card that could greatly help a player attain victory on a battlefield. It was especially useful when it came to team PvPs.

Chapter 90 - Silver Moon's Team

After assembling all the Past Deeds' Knights in the Knights' Barracks, Silver Moon immediately led his team toward the Warrior Encampment. The Warrior Encampment was the most crucial establishment that he was trying to reach, as Warriors would gain the most advantage from the King's Command skill.

Mages were the best at dealing AOE damage;

Thieves could vanish from sight through Stealth;

Knights' buffs were similar to King's Command;

Priests were mainly useful for their healing;

And lastly, Fighters were the best at… being rarely chosen.

Not all the job classes' fortes could be strengthened by King's Command. Only the Warriors, with their abundant HP, high attack, and strong defense - simple soldiers whose strength lay in their stats - could fully exhibit the might of King's Command.

Regrettably, Silver Moon's team of low-Agility Warriors could never outrun the high-Agility team of mostly Thieves and Archers that Sword Demon had sent to assist in defending the Warrior Encampment. A large number of Mages were manning the Warrior Encampment at the moment as well. If Sword Demon's reinforcement arrived and formed a defensive line in front of those Mages, Silver Moon's plan of blitzing the Warrior Encampment with the thirty Warriors under King's Command would be razed to the ground.

This was why Silver Moon had chosen to create a diversion by splitting his forces into two units. The team of Archers headed northeast at the Mage Academy and drew the enemies' attention there; meanwhile, Silver Moon's team of Warriors headed toward the real target, the Warrior Encampment.

The Knights' Barracks was taken along the way, as having more Knights on their side would also bolster the team's strength and number. In terms of stats, Knight could be considered as the job class closest to matching up the Warrior job class.

As for targeting the Archer Range first… Young Master Han might have overanalyzed things. Silver Moon's plan was simple: His team was mostly composed of Warriors, so he had chosen to target the garrisoned Thieves, which the Warriors had more confidence of subduing due to their advantage against the job class, at the Archer Range.

The squad, which was now composed of Warriors and Knights, made its way south to the Warrior Encampment. Actually, King's Command consumed 4% of Silver Moon's mana every second. This meant that the skill could only last for twenty-five seconds. Fortunately, he had an effective supplement to his team.

Vast Lushness. She was also in possession of a weapon with an additional skill.

[Utopian Magic Staff

Additional skill: offers 5% of a player's mana to replenish a target's mana.]

In addition, the skill did not have a cool-down time. Since Vast Lushness was a Priest with an Intelligence- and Spirit-based build, she had plenty of mana. This meant that her 5% mana could essentially become Silver Moon's 10%, tripling his current mana and corollary extending King's Command by another fifty seconds.

Silver Moon had deactivated the skill at the moment. King's Command could only be maintained for seventy-five seconds even with Vast Lushness' mana supplement. Seventy-five seconds was simply not enough for them to reach the Warrior Encampment from the Knights' Barracks. In any case, Silver Moon already resolved to refrain from using King's Command in the fight at the Warrior Encampment. This was to let the skill finish its cool-down time of ten minutes and be available during the final battle.

Silver Moon's troops had finished all their preparations en route to the Warrior Encampment; the Knights applied Blessing of Health, which regenerated HP every five seconds, on each squad mate.

Dealing with Mages was easy. They only had to survive their initial attacks and engage them into a melee.

Broken Cloud who had been killed by Silver Moon's previous assault respawned over at Warrior Encampment with the others. Currently, they were outside the Warrior Encampment, feeling extremely nervous. This was because the Knights who had respawned after the attack at the Knights' Barracks reported that Silver Moon's team was already on their way to the Warrior Encampment.

"They're here!" Broken Cloud's brows arched downward. The thunderous footfalls he was hearing right now felt even more frightening than before. Silver Moon did not activate King's Command this time, so the Warriors and Knights were not gathered around him. Instead, he divided them into equal pairs, made them take different routes leading to the Warrior Encampment, and sicced them to jointly attack the spawn point.

Broken Cloud looked distraught. He never expected Silver Moon to preserve his skill and to spread his troops out from all directions. This move effectively countered the AOE advantage of the Mages who were currently defending over at the Warrior Encampment. The Mages could hold their ground, provided that they were facing few enemies. Right now, however, they were up against opponents that outnumbered even the defenders of the Warrior Encampment.

Silver Moon's thirty-man team was joined by the forty plus rescued Knights from the Knights' Barracks. Thirty plus Warriors charged out of the Warrior Encampment at this same moment. Besides these frontline troops, there were also the Priests that Silver Moon had rendezvoused with after breaking through the encirclement at the Archer Range. This was the first battle appearance of the opposing Priests ever since they had gotten out of the Priest Academy. All in all, Silver Moon now possessed an army of at least a hundred men.

"It's over… We can't defend against this," Broken Cloud and his fellow players could already envision their defeat upon seeing the army before them. Nevertheless, the hot-blooded players of the Past Deeds Eradication Army still chose to face the enemies here. Although their defeat was a foregone conclusion, they intended to make Past Deeds pay the price for their deaths.

Past Deeds had amassed quite an army of mostly Warriors, Knights, and Priests in front of the Warrior Encampment. The army's composition was akin to a meat grinder in a way that it was not dependent on skills but more on brute force, focusing more on their melee capabilities to kill their opponents. Broken Cloud watched Silver Moon and his men assemble in front of the Warrior Encampment from inside the spawn point. This was his second time being the recipient of such a battle formation, yet he still did not know how to deal with it. He could only report the situation's every detail to Sword Demon and the gang who were currently stuck at the Mage Academy.

Shortly after eliminating the last of the team of Archers at the Mage Academy that Silver Moon had sent to belay them, Sword Demon and the gang received the news that the Knights' Barracks and the Warrior Encampment had fallen into their enemies' hands. Sword Demon's group failed to provide assistance to their comrades at the two spawn points since they had already rallied the rest of troops at the Mage Academy. This included the squad of Warriors manning the Thieves' Union. They had summoned the Warriors over to the spawn point for Mages for the purpose of establishing their final defensive line here.

All these meant that the only advantage Sword Demon and the rest now had over the enemies was the Past Deeds' lack of Mages. If they relinquished this spawn point, everything would just revert back from the time before all these happened.

Some of them were currently analyzing the reports Broken Cloud had sent over at the expense of his life.

"Our opponents are mostly Warriors and Knights. There're plenty of Priests as well. This team has high HP and healing capabilities."

"Silver Moon has an unknown skill, too. Under his skill's light, his teammates' speed, attack, defense, HP, and other stats alarmingly rise. We don't know how far the skill's effect extends; we only know that it can affect over thirty players at once. Although we're unsure of how long its effect lasts, it should only be short. At the very least, Silver Moon couldn't keep it up all the way from the Knights' Barracks to the Warrior Encampment."

"What a brutish tactic. To tank the attacks and engage in melee."

"Any job class will have difficulties engaging a Warrior in melee," Sword Demon sighed.

"Maybe Fighters can deal with them," Celestial Pig opined. He had always wanted to be a Fighter. However, he ended up not choosing the job class after getting discouraged by the official statement about its high degree of motion requirement. Even now, he could not get the Fighter job class out of his mind.

Everyone only squinted at him. With the severity of the situation, even Dusky Cloud could not be bothered to wail on him.

"Silver Moon is our opponents' figurehead. Get Archers atop the roofs and make them focus their Snipe on Silver Moon once they spot him," Sword Demon instructed.

All nodded their heads. By the looks of things, this final fight did not seem to be very difficult. The only worrying factor was that unknown wide-area skill of the Past Deeds' guild leader. This battle's difficulty would drastically diminish with Silver Moon's death.

But is it really that simple? Everyone dared not be overly optimistic.

Whatever the case might be, the Archers still quickly got into position on the buildings' and houses' rooftops around the Mage Academy and silently awaited the Past Deeds' arrival.

The plaza outside the Mage Academy was quiet. If one did not see it himself or herself, no one would suspect that many people were currently hiding in the various corners around this spawn point.

After a short while, however, this silence was broken by a voice, "M*th*rf*ck*ng Celestial Pig, stop quaking in your boots! Is that all there is to you?" The person cursing was none other than Dusky Cloud.

"M*th*rf*ck*r, aren't you shaking as well?" Celestial Pig countered.

"Where am I shaking?"

"Your legs!"

"M*th*rf*ck*r! Since you can see my legs going soft, why aren't you coming over to assist me?" Dusky Cloud berated.

"M*th*rf*ck*r…" Celestial Pig went forward and lent Dusky Cloud a hand, letting him rest his arms across his shoulders.

"Bastard!" "M*th*rf*ck*r!" The two continued to bicker.

Sword Demon laughed at their antics. Undoubtedly, these people were a group of hot-blooded and loyal brothers. From their first assault and the changes they had to make in between to their final showdown with their opponents....

Everything had deviated far from Sword Demon's original plan.

But upon winning their trust, none of them voiced any complaint.

Even when he erred in predicting the Past Deeds' move or he commanded them wrongly, everyone simply thought of ways to resolve them. Not one of them let out a sigh at his failure.

Countless other players were watching this scene in the plaza. Many of them were as nervous as Dusky Cloud and Celestial Pig, yet none deserted their positions; they remained focused on the battle ahead.

Since we're doing it, then it's only right for us to keep it up till the very end! Sword Demon declared in his heart, feeling a little teary eyed. It had been a long time since he had last felt such strong emotions!

"Coming! They're coming!" the Thieves fired off this message.

Someone suggested sending a squad of Thieves to ambush Past Deeds on their way over, but that idea was quickly vetoed.

Even if the Thieves could attack a meat-shield army made up of Warriors with Backstab, they did not have the strength to take them down - the large number of Priests following behind would at least ensure that. Hence, sending those Thieves would only reduce their own number unnecessarily.

Besides the Archers, the other job classes formed a human wall. "We're banking on their lack of Mages right now!"

This was the unchanging aim of this showdown.

Chapter 91 - The Past Deeds' Meatball

"They're here!"

"They're HERE!"

"THEY'RE HERE!"

Their hearts thumped loudly as the Past Deeds' army drew closer.

The Past Deeds Eradication Army had about three hundred players of different job classes, whereas the Past Deeds' army had about two hundred players consisted mostly of Warriors, Knights, and Priests.

The side with numerical superiority in this battle was apparent.

However, Past Deeds currently had an army that pushed the concept of 'meat shield' to the extreme. With all these meat shields banding together into a group, it was no longer a 'meat shield' but a 'meatball' instead - a large meatball that could roll over everything on its path.

The Past Deeds' meatball did not avoid this clash by using alternative routes; instead, the meatball confidently took the widest street leading to the plaza and continued its fear-inducing march onward.

"Archers, ready up!" Dusky Cloud sent this message to every channel, not caring if the players in his friends list were actually Archers or not.

The Past Deeds' meatball arrived at their army's vanguard at this moment. The Archers atop the roofs furtively searched for Silver Moon's figure among the crowd. Sword Demon, Dusky Cloud, and the others who were standing at the very front of the defensive line saw clearly their opponents' battle formation.

"F*ck!" everyone cursed in unison.

"Silver Moon, you low-life! You're far too despicable and shameless!" Dusky Cloud ridiculed loudly.

"You've ruined the fight of the century with your cowardice!" Celestial Pig hollered as well.

"What a cheap move! Cheap!"

The meatball marching down the street wore masks.

With their looks hidden, how could anyone locate Silver Moon among this sea of soldiers? It was not just Silver Moon; even differentiating the Knights and the Warriors would be very difficult. After all, in-game Knights that had focused on adding points to Strength would be able to equip heavy armor as well.

Upon reaching a charging distance, the Past Deeds' meatball suddenly got enveloped by a golden glow. Everyone was bathed in this light that was dispersing about, making the Past Deeds' meatball strongly resemble a real golden fried meatball.

"The heart of that light. The one holding that glowing sword must be Silver Moon!" Broken Cloud quickly told them upon hearing that the main force was unable to identify Silver Moon among the mass of meat.

However, there was a problem. No in-game rule stated that a weapon must be raised in the air to activate a skill. Players who did so merely wanted to make the skill execution look grander and themselves to appear more dashing to onlookers. Would Silver Moon feel the need to show off with his face covered right now? That sword should have been named as a King's Private Blade since Silver Moon currently had it hanging down his body. If he could, he would probably stuff it inside his pants just to make it more ludicrous. This was why King's Command had not descended from above the players' heads but had slowly enveloped them from below instead. After all, the light was originating from a sword below.

How could they find the golden sword that was hanging down between Silver Moon's pants among these people clad in golden light?

Nonetheless, the Archers would be wasting their effort of climbing up the rooftops if they gave up with just that. They, therefore, chose to take advantage of the fact that their opponents were lacking long-range attackers by hailing arrows at their midst.

This saying held some truth: "There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes."

In this case, dozens of Archers had dozens of Silver Moon in their eyes.

The arrows rained down upon the Past Deeds, but the meatball turned a blind eye to those.

The squad of Priests tried their best to bestow Heal on the wounded; anyone who got hit by the arrows immediately received Heal. The Archers' deadly arrows on Snipe, which could usually instkill the targets, were proven ineffective when faced with this meatball under the combined effects of Silver Moon's King's Command, Knights' Blessing of Health, and Priests' Heal. All the Archers were heartbroken.

The speed boost the King's Command provided the meatball was evident; a cloud of dust rose off the ground and temporarily fogged up the surroundings as the meatball agilely rolled out of the Archers' shooting range.

"M*th*rf*ck*rs! Ready yourselves!" Dusky Cloud bellowed as he twirled his dagger before him.

However, the dagger was so small that Dusky Cloud only looked as if he was flailing an empty hand before thrusting it forward from afar. He very much resembled a person throwing a piece of rock at the moment.

Celestial Pig, at least, looked more ferocious as he raised his huge axe toward the sky, hollering, "EVERYONE, GET READY!"

Everyone roared in unison, yet no one moved.

Their battle strategy had already been set. Thus, the vanguard, made up of the melee job classes, stood their ground firmly to maintain the battle formation and left the attacking to the Mages behind them; the Mages, for their part, raised their staves, casted Descending Wheel of Flames, and waited for the plaza in front of the Mage Academy to be engulfed by the raging inferno.

As for the Past Deeds' Mages still inside the Mage Academy, with how Sword Demon and the rest had already lost three of the spawn points to the enemies, they would naturally did not leave any holes in their defenses and garrisoned enough Archers to restrict the Mages within. Those Mages only had to take a step out of the safe zone and they would be shot to death apathetically.

Both armies finally clashed.

"DESCEND!" dozens of Mages bellowed and countless flame wheels rolled down the sky, setting the entire plaza ablaze.

The Past Deeds' meatball stood upon the scorched earth. The Priests casted Heal nonstop, unmindful of others except for their teammates.

With the light protecting the Past Deeds' army, the meatball managed to maintain its crispy golden sheen and avoided getting barbecued black by the burning land.

Although death loomed before Past Deeds, with a few actually dying, the meatball still braved the hellish fire and continued to press onward. Whenever a row of Past Deeds' vanguard would fall, the subsequent rows would follow up quickly by advancing a few more steps than the previous row. While many might criticize the Past Deeds' tactic, which was heavily reliant on the constant replenishment of its vanguard without caring about their losses, it was undeniable that the meatball was currently unleashing an explosive fighting strength.

Actually, Past Deeds was more than capable of employing such tactic, as its overall strength was already above Sword Demon and the gang's. If Past Deeds managed to engage Sword Demon's group in melee, the Past Deeds Eradication Army would have no way of battling them.

Upon finally penetrating the Past Deeds Eradication Army's first line of defense, some meatball immediately formed an evenly spaced row and growled in unison. Cyclone! It was a neat row of Cyclone!

This was the Past Deeds' elite squad, which was composed of the members that that had accompanied Silver Moon from the start. There were only twenty or so of them, yet none had dropped a level despite participating in several skirmishes before this. They had left their Rage points untouched since the beginning of this guild war by not unleashing Cyclone even once. At present, each of them had a bar full of Rage points. Not only did their joint execution of Cyclone just now propel their bodies to rotate fast, it also extinguished the raging fire in their surroundings. With Past Deeds now engaging the vanguard of Sword Demon's group in a melee, the Past Deeds Eradication Army's Mages could no longer cast Descending Wheel of Flames from behind. After all, Parallel World did not grant players immunity from friendly fire.

The Past Deeds Eradication Army's battle formation was instantly smashed, as none of them could withstand the joint Cyclone attack of the opposing Warriors. Some Warriors on Sword Demon's side activated Cyclone as well, intending to meet Past Deeds' Cyclone with force. However, the qualitative difference between them and the Past Deeds' players, who were currently under the King's Command's buffs, only made them suffer a faster death.

"Retreat! Full retreat!" Sword Demon directed his men to move backward. As long as they increased their distance from their attackers, the Mages would be able to cast spells and salvage the situation.

However, the Past Deeds' players did not give them the chance to do so. The Warriors promptly deactivated Cyclone upon seeing their opponents retreating and advanced on them step by step. These Warriors immediately closed in the distance with their opponents once more. The Mages of the Past Deeds Eradication Army had no choice but to cancel their casting. The advantage that Sword Demon's group held was instantly demolished by Past Deeds.

"F*ck it! Let's just go all out!" Dusky Cloud yelled. Seeing the opposing Warriors before him deactivating Cyclone, he immediately dashed forward to engage them in a fight. Dusky Cloud willingly gambled his life for this sliver of chance. After all, they were still suppressing Past Deeds in terms of number. The opposing side's formation of about a hundred men lost about two thirds of their members while trying to break through the Past Deeds Eradication Army's first line of defense. As for the Past Deeds Eradication Army, only those shredded by Cyclone just now were sent packing. Hence, their numerical superiority increased further instead of diminishing. Although they could not rely on their Mages any longer, they still had a chance of overcoming Past Deeds.

Could Sword Demon and the bunch win by going all out?

It would be extremely difficult!

That was what Sword Demon felt as he crossed blades with the Warrior in front of him.

Warriors under the King's Command were terrifying, indeed. Sword Demon's attacks were virtually ineffective against the boosted HP and defense of the Warrior he was facing. The situation was made even worse by the fact that behind every Warrior stood a Priest. Some even had two Priests. When the Past Deeds' troops were storming into the fray, their Priests were closely following behind them. By staying hidden behind their own vanguard, these Priests suffered little damage from the Mages' spells, so their casualties were minimal.

Behind every successful man was a woman.

Behind every successful meat shield was a Priest.

The Thieves, who were inherently weak against the Warrior job class, naturally stood no chance against these Warriors paired with Priests. Sword Demon was of course not an exception to this, as the attacks he dealt to the Warrior were easily healed by one or two Priests. In contrast, Sword Demon would not receive any healing if he was the one to suffer the opponent's two consecutive attacks. Even the level 0 Warrior skill Slam could deal high damage to a low-HP Thief due to the Warrior's buffs. Moreover, there was the level 18 skill Charge. Besides dealing high damage, it could apply the Dizzy effect on the target. None of Past Deeds had performed Charge yet; they were probably wary of the Past Deeds Eradication Army surrounding them if they charged in arbitrarily.   

The Past Deeds' Warriors were facing two or three opponents at once. However, under the support of various skills and buffs, they fearlessly dove deeper into their opponents' ranks. The purpose of 'meat shield' was expressed to the extreme by these players - or at least that was the case for these around level 30 players.

On a rooftop by the side of the plaza, a few players were gesticulating at the battlefield before them.

"I think that one is Silver Moon!" One of them pointed at a masked man in the center of the battlefield, "I've been watching him for a while now and he has yet to do anything besides move about. I reckon he has to keep moving for that skill of his to work."

"Shoot him," another said.

"Now? I doubt I can instkill him, though," the Archer in the group said hesitantly.

"Maybe attacking him will interrupt the skill?" someone guessed.

"That makes sense!" The Archer promptly nocked an arrow and aimed it at the suspected-to-be-Silver-Moon individual.

The arrow on Snipe whistled through the air and struck the said person. Just as the Archer had expected, the person did not get instkilled. Additionally, the sudden attack did not elicit surprise from the person. All it made him do was turn his head toward the attack's origin, as several Priests beside the person hurriedly bestowed Heal on him.

"That's him, alright! Let's find a few more Archers and instkill him!"

Chapter end