Zhan Long

Chapter 680 - Firewolf Valley

“RETREAT! RETREAT! We can’t win this!”

No one knew who started to shout that first, but it finally caused the remainder that had long since lost any and all morale to finally give up. The last 20 or so of them began to scatter in all directions.

Yao Yan immediately turned around and rode up beside me, “Chief, should we give chase?”

I tightened the grip on my sword, it’s [Kill for Blood] stack has already reached 21.

“Pursue for another 60 seconds. After that, immediately gather back here; we will be looking for new targets.”

“Understood!”

Everyone present wasted no time to charge off. At this point, their targets weren’t any different from melons or vegetables. Easy choppings. My [Blade Spin], especially, displayed its might on this occasion. I unceasingly weaved left and right among the escapees and dropped the low HP players, one after another. They had an additional penalty of 20% drop rate upon death for being red name so equipments and items littered the ground. This should work as a start for getting our compensation.

Shooop!

I just randomly picked something up and it turned out to be a Saint tier chestplate. I looked around and it seemed like just about everyone else also discovered this unexpected payoff. I raised up the chestplate in my hand to catch their attention.

“We’ll being putting all these equipment drops into the guild warehouse. They will be used as reparations for our comrades that were ambushed and lost experience and equips. What do you all think?”

“That’s fine. Those of us here shouldn’t be lacking in gear anyway!” Old K gave me a big stupid grin.

Ah, that’s true. Of all the people I assembled here, even the worst equipped were already covered in Saint tier equipment from head to toe. As elites from [Zhan Long], there really shouldn’t be anything they lacked or wanted that could be found on the bodies of people from [Thousand Burial]. In that case, to use these gears to make up for losses suffered by our members was the most efficient method. Not only do we not really lose out on anything, but it would serve to solidify the unity among the guild members; that’s even better!

Everyone gathered together again after a bit. Out of this 100-man team, not a single one was missing. Our surprise attack this time was just too abrupt. These Greed Wolf Raiders couldn’t even manage the slightest bit of resistance. Of course that had a little something to do with me, Old K and Yao Yan charging at the very front. Against most players near level, even if they wanted to kill us, they couldn’t do it fast enough. Then after they were bulldozed by a couple of our AOEs, they couldn’t even muster up the spirit to fire back an attack.

We continued to move along the forest, camouflaged by the vegetation. You Yi was somewhere out here in the wild but we didn’t know where. Without a specific location, our target right now was just the [Greed Wolf Brigade]. However, as none of us had any ideas as to their movements, we were no more than a group of rangers on the patrol. We were restricted to wander all over the map, and mainly rushed to help when our people suffered an attack.

……

At this time, Li Mu’s voice pops up in the guild channel, “Not good……Just south of the city, Matcha’s group is under siege by 300+ [Thousand Burial] members personally led by Not Ordinary himself……Whoever’s closest… Go help!!!”

“……Don’t need reinforcements……We can handle this ourselves!” Matcha cut him off, evidently out of breath.

“Eh?”

Li Mu went dumb. Looks like he didn’t believe Matcha.

“You sure you don’t need help??”

“En!”

“Uncle Li Mu, you can rest easy. There’s an elevated area in this forest. Matcha-jiejie had 30 of us hold off [Thousand Burial] while the other 70 used that high ground to charge their formation. Not Ordinary mainly brought archers and mages with him; even if he’s got 300 people, they’re not our match!” Tang Xin also jumped in.

Wolf’s wry laugh made its way into the chat, “Looks like we really can’t underestimate Matcha-jie’s strategic and commanding abilities.”

One Second Hero guffawed and his voice held a hint of pride, “Forget underestimating… we’ve been left completely humbled! MAN that was a fun fight! You guys better not slack off!”

“Any combat going on anywhere else? Let me know, as we’re about to fall asleep here.” I finally joined in.

“Since you asked nicely, just over at the foot of the North-South Mountain divide east of Tian Ling City is a place known as “Firewolf Valley”. Death God’s Elegy has been leading a group of 500 from our third branch guild and leveling around its outskirts. But it seems You Yi is on his way there with a group of 5000+ people. Everyone of them has the stigma of the [Greed Wolf Brigade]. The newly recruited CBN ranker “Leisure” seems to be with them too so this should be the core force of [Thousand Burial]. Should we form up, Chief?” Dancing Forest brought grim news with her.

That startled me, “For the sake of just killing 500 people from our third branch, they’re actually using 10x the numbers? Just how much manpower does [Thousand Burial] have right now to afford such a move?

“[Thousand Burial]’s main guild recently ranked up into a level 5 guild, and is maxed out at the limit of 10,000 members. Add on the 6 or 7 other branch guilds, their total numbers should just come up short of 30,000. Originally, their total was just 10,000. But within the last 24 hours, the RMB boosted that up to almost 30,000. There’s no end to Not Ordinary’s ambitions. To lynch the 500 of our people at [Firewolf Valley] is probably his way of sending us a warning. No matter what, we shouldn’t let him do as he wants……” Dancing Forest gave me a short rundown.

I concurred, “Wan Er, Dong Cheng, Little Dance. You three start to gather up our main guild’s members. Form a group 5000 strong and come to [Firewolf Valley]. I’m gonna head over there with my group first and do whatever we can. Li Mu, you and Matcha don’t need to come. Continue to hunt them down all across the map. Don’t give them any time to rest!”

Wan Er had a sweet smile on, “En! Right away!”

……

Pulling hard on the reins, I quickly gave new orders, “Everyone change directions! Make for [Firewolf Valley]!”

Yao Yan, Cang Lei and Old K had heard the situation on the guild channel too, so they didn’t need any explanations.

“Got it!”

Old K and Cang Lei may be fearless warriors but all they care about is the heat of the fight. Even after they got orders, they only knew how to forge on straight ahead. However, Yao Yan retained a crafty side to her under that surface of valour. After she paused a bit to think, she turned towards me.

“Chief, do you really think You Yi would lead 5000 men there simply to hunt down Death God’s Elegy and 500 people? I think there’s something more to this……”

“Then what do you think is their true aim?” It’s gratifying to have someone smart in the group.

The emblem of the [Zhan Long Guard Corps] Guild Leader flashed above her shoulder as she continued.

“This whole time, the [Greed Wolf Brigade] has been roaming all across the map killing our people and claiming they’re bringing retribution on us; that seems to be all bark and no bite. None of their parties have consisted of more than 100-300 men. They should have already known that just this much cannot even cause us any lingering damage. Yet all of a sudden, they decided to gather up a whole 5000 people to kill Death God’s Elegy and his 500 men. It shouldn’t be something as simple as that. Am I right?”

I agreed with her, “Truth is, I’ve also felt there’s more to this than a simple lynching. They’ve definitely got another goal in mind, except I just can’t figure out what You Yi’s thinking… Oh right! Is anyone familiar with this [Firewolf Valley] map?

Her expression turned into one of helplessness, “None. [Firewolf Valley] was originally a small gap deep in-between the North-South Mountain range and the [Evil Dragon’s Nest]. And since the level of the mobs there was not low, its priority wasn’t that high on the list of maps to explore first. Even now, no one from [Zhan Long] has been there; not even the ones who specialize in pioneering new maps……”

“Whatever, let’s go and see first. No matter what, we can’t just abandon Elegy’s group!”

“En. But we’re just 100 people. Against a whole 5000, we’re just a drop in the bucket……”

“Well, we’ll do what we can and let fate do the rest.”

“Kay!”

……

The sound of hoofs echoed all over. In almost no time, we approached the [Evil Dragon’s Nest]. After checking the ingame map, I decided to avoid the front entrance. That area is no good; too wide open. If You Yi had even a shred of intelligence in him, then he would definitely post lookouts around there. So we chose to climb the mountain adjacent to the nest and went around instead. Under the cover of the foliage, they might not be able to spot our modest 100-man group.

On this rugged mountainside road, my [Flying Scythe War Horse]’s speed experienced a sharp decline. Flames spurted from its nostrils and was accompanied by a deep panting; to gallop over the loose rocks required all its power. On the other hand, Old K and Cang Lei’s war horses belonged to the mountainous type and were able to maintain their high speed. Ah, the advantages of different mount breeds…

Before long, our group completely bypassed the [Evil Dragon’s Nest]. Just a bit further ahead, the shape of a mountain chasm started to become clear. While I encouraged my mount to go faster, I began to pay attention to my surroundings. Bodies of firewolves decorated the area. Level 125 Thunderous Beasts. The level of this area is pretty high. No surprise, players level 110 and under wouldn’t even think about coming here. The risks were too high.

“These corpses still haven’t been despawned yet…”

Yao Yan also noticed it.

“It shouldn’t be more than 30 minutes since these were killed… Ah, Chief! We’ve got coordinates. Straight East and 25 degree South; Elegy’s group is about 2000 meters from us. But they’ve been completely encircled already. What do we do?”

‘We’ll see when we get there!”

“En!”

……

We moved forward another 500 meters before I signaled a stop.

“Everyone wait here! I’m gonna go scout ahead.”

Luckily, the mountain was covered in dense vegetation. We managed to make it this far unseen. Since we hadn’t detected any assassins along the way, they should still be in the dark concerning our presence.

My [Flying Scythe War Horse] gave a low neigh, then charged right into the foliage. Along with it, I automatically entered a [Camouflage] state as the passive skill activated. I forged ahead another 400 meters and suddenly came upon an open clearing. The stray boulders that littered this area were streaked with blood and bodies of players adorned the ground. So they have already initiated combat……

In the distance, the special effects of various skills lit up the night sky. I could see You Yi lead about 3000 people as he forced the several hundred remaining members of [Zhan Long]’s third branch guild into a corner. He ordered the archers, mages and musketeers to bombard them from a distance.

You Yi raised his sword, a sneer plastered all over his face, “Do not engage up close. Bombard them with long range attacks. Let see how long they can last. These mother-effers. If they dare to revive, kill them again!”

Right in front of this bunch of Greed Wolf Raiders was a disjointed and shabbily formed shieldwall. The head of the third branch guild, Death God’s Elegy, stood at the very front and center. His mount was probably killed already so now he’s maintaining a defensive posture while on foot. His face was blackened with ash; probably from being burnt by fire spells. His sword and armor were drenched in blood as well. Only a sparse few heavy melee players still stood beside him. Out of his 500-man party, it didn’t look like even 200 had survived.

……

I ground my teeth fiercely to hold back my rage but an odd feeling also surfaced at the same time. They had clearly mobilized 5000 people yet there’s only 3000 or so on scene. Even if you add up all the bodies, the numbers still don’t match. What happened to the other 2000?

“Chief, should we act now?” Yao Yan asked me over party chat.

“Move out!”

“Understood!”