Chapter 307: Evenly Matched

"Oh?"

I was slightly shocked and asked, "What's the matter Eve?"

"Look at this link..."

He Yi quickly sent me a forums link. I clicked it. It was the new address for Sky City on the official forums. On the front page was a large video selection. On the ad space was a scene of two players fighting in the wilderness. I looked closely. It looks very familiar!

WTF, wasn't this the scene of me fighting Farewell Song half an hour ago?

I rubbed my eyes. Right, this was the fight between me and Farewell Song. Also, a player hiding had seemed to have recorded the entire battle and then posted it on the forums. Right now, the post was pinned at the top with over a million clicks, and over ten thousand replies!

The large red topic—"Sky City's first battle between Hall of Famers. A true video of Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand VS Farewell Song. The first conflict between the two major forces—Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Warsky Alliance!"

I opened the post, and the video started to play. I had no need to watch and just looked down. The author of the post described in small font, "Not long ago, when I was leveling up in Sky Forest, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand was coincidentally also leveling up there. I hadn't expected him to get ambushed by Farewell Song. After a ferocious conflict, Farewell Song was defeated. Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand originally could have killed Farewell Song, but another CGL Hall of Famer, Laughing At the Heavens from Warsky Alliance appeared in time. However, he was still unable to stop the slaughter of the Unkillable War God. In the end, Warsky Alliance paid the price of 8 lives before the conflict ended."

I smiled. The author of the video seemed to be biased toward me. In reality, I wasn't as strong as I looked. At least, I was unwilling to truly fight Warsky Alliance but I had no other choice then.

The replies came with their own opinions—

1st comment: Warsky Alliance seems to be very popular. Didn't Warsky announce yesterday on the forums that his guild is the master of Sky City? But here they clearly retreated. Why didn’t they fight when encountering Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?

2nd comment: Haha, they are evenly matched. Warsky Alliance has three CGL Hall of Famers, but Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand ranks 12th. Among the present Hall of Fame players, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is only slightly weaker than Candlelight Shadow. Haha, Warsky's trio pale in comparison!

3rd comment: Damn, Warsky Alliance is too arrogant. My younger brother wanted to join their guild at noon, but was bullied. Aren't they just a guild with a bit of fame? What's there to be proud of? Now that they’ve encountered a strong guild like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, how are they gonna dominate Sky City?

4th comment: Tsk tsk, why didn't October Rain fight? I heard she is a famed speed archer. I really want to see her fight Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!

5th comment: October Rain is really good, she has a good figure and pale complexion! Let's hang out!

6th comment: The person above is an idiot. Didn't they say that October Rain is Warsky's girlfriend?

7th comment: Yo, the guy above, stop farting with your mouth. October Rain is our Huazhong University's beauty. She doesn't have a boyfriend at all. Don't speak nonsense when you don't know anything!

……

In the end, the conflict between guilds caused a war on the forums. The strong guilds in Sky City all gradually appeared. Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Gods of Destruction and others. The situation wasn't very clear but it was easy to imagine the huge war between hidden dragons and crouching tigers that would embroil Sky City!

Also, the Heavenly Ranking housed some seemingly lone wolves. It was surprising to see unaffiliated people at this stage of the game. Especially that guy with the Dragon Warrior class. Legendary Brave was his name. Undoubtedly, this person was extraordinarily strong but no guild had managed to recruit him. He didn't even add friends.

Murong Mingyue was the beautiful female diplomat of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Originally, He Yi had sent Murong Mingyue to recruit him. But she hadn't succeeded. Murong Mingyue hadn't even managed to get added as a friend. The other had disabled friend requests. Such a headstrong player!

Also, there was a player with a hidden profession. Little Piglet. Cold Wind Swordsman. Also a player with a high level but no guild. It was so strange. Were all experts proud lone wolves who wanted to roam the world alone?

……

Beep!

System Notice: Player “From Water” invited you to the party!

I accepted and joined.

"Eve, what is it?" I asked.

He Yi said, "The people from Warsky Alliance are definitely targeting you. Lu Chen, where are you? We are going to do quests together, so you won't be alone and get caught!"

Murong Mingyue said, "Yeah, we wouldn’t look good if you died!"

"Damn, can't you have good hopes for me..."

I was speechless. "No need, Warsky Alliance temporarily won't fight us. I’m leveling up the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. Where are you?"

"Killing the Forest Ghosts, they give so much experience!" Beiming Xue said.

I smiled. "Okay, then continue!"

"Big bro!" Beiming Xue suddenly shouted.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Uh... uh..." Beiming Xue spoke haltingly. After a moment, when I almost stopped breathing, she said, "I want to eat hotpot tonight, will you come with me?"

"Fine, no problem!" I smiled.

"Okay, it's settled!"

"Mn, Eve, Sister Mingyue, will you come?"

"No." He Yi laughed. "I and Mingyue are going offline soon to the Suzhuo branch office. I haven't gone there recently and there's a pile of matters to address. I probably will be busy until night. If we don’t return by then, remember to go to the company to get us. We’ll get lost otherwise!"

I laughed. "Don't worry, I won't lose our two beauties, that would be such a pity!"

"Haha...."

……

I welcomed the fourth wave of the rescue quest at this time. This wave was more terrifying. Just outside of the town, I was surrounded by large numbers of Hellhounds. I had to leave the townspeople in the town, and fight with my sword by the entrance, like a lone general defending the fort against ten thousand enemies.

Boom!

Thousand Mirage Slash vented into the monster horde. The Hellhounds howled as they died. Countless white streams of experience flew over. Half of the experience to me, the other half to my obsidian wolf. Nevertheless, this leveling speed was still pleasing!

I fought for nearly an hour outside the town before finally finishing this wave. Then I escorted 100 townspeople NPCs to the temporary camp.

Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was very busy. Xu Yang led a five-hundred-person team to take over the Venomous Wasp area at the border of Sky Forest. Gui Guzi was leading a group of people to occupy a map called Blackwater Bog. These two areas were abundant in resources. Xu Yang's place produced a high-tier pet—Green Dragon Bee. It was the size of a large honey bee but designed as a green dragon. It had scales and could spit fire. Its growth was not any inferior to my Dark Wasp. It was a popular pet among the players. Gui Guzi's Blackwater Bog had Ghost Eye Alligators. This was a pet with relatively good growth. Its highest BN would be around 90, it would have high attack power, and it was the best choice for middle-rank pets!

……

Soon, my escort quest reached its last stage!

The town mayor looked hopefully at me and said in a trembling voice, "Young and brave warrior, your bravery has allowed us to see the eternal glory of the Sky Dynasty. With brave warriors like you here, our empire will never be destroyed by the Night Creatures. Come, this is the last hundred people. Send them safely to the temporary supply camp and Dry Town will be able to live on..."

I nodded. "Mayor, what about you?"

"I am going to live and die with the town!"

The mayor looked like he would stay until the end. This statement alone caused his figure to look imposing.

……

Bells started ringing around the small town. A guardsman shouted, holding a lantern, "The damned Night Creatures have charged into the town! Those damned Hellhounds... They killed the patrol squad captain and are assaulting the town. They will fight their way in soon!"

I was shocked. Damn. Wasn't this an escort quest? How... how did it suddenly become tower defense?

I was speechless. In the darkness, the Hellhounds roared and charged in. They were killing quickly in the surroundings, those citizens without any weapons had their necks bitten by the Hellhounds. Blood sprayed, and the corpses were quickly torn apart and devoured. It was a terrifying sight!

Beep!

System Notice: Townspeople killed +1!

Beep!

System Notice: Townspeople killed +1!

Beep!

System Notice: Townspeople killed +1!

……

I was completely dumbstruck. A few minutes later, nearly half of the townspeople had been killed. 37 were dead and I was unable to get aggro of all the monsters!

I was furious. The last wave of Hellhounds did not follow the earlier logic. They didn’t attack me and just attacked the NPCs. Wasn’t this a trap?

I looked back and saw a row of people. I immediately had a plan and kicked open a house. I said to the old mayor, "Have everyone hide here, I’ll guard the perimeter!"

"Alright!"

Soon after, the surviving townspeople went into the small house, filling it while I stood guard outside. Fortunately, there was only one door. The Purgatory Sword swung down and streaks of sword energy fell into the monster swarm. Thousand Mirage Slash!

……

To my joy, the fight went smoothly, but there were so many Hellhounds that I felt I could not finish killing them all!

I fought for nearly an hour. Piles of monster corpses were in front of me but I still hadn’t reached Level 93, driving me insane. After Level 90, it took too much experience to level up. It was too difficult to level up just by killing monsters!

I looked at my friend list. He Yi and Murong Mingyue's names were dim. The two of them clearly had gone offline. They should’ve gone to the GGS company. The two of them were among the company’s higher-ups so they couldn't just stay in the game and ignore the company all day.

I looked at the ground covered in corpses, and then at the time. It was almost evening. I remembered my promise to Beiming Xue, I was taking her to eat hotpot!

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