Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The geography of Dead Spirit City and Ironcliff Fortress was very similar. They were both a stronghold pivot.
Dead Spirit City was located in the centre of Dead Spirit Swamp and they divide the Dead Spirit Swamp into two. Dead Spirit City’s east and west side were swamps that players couldn’t cross. If they wanted to get to the other side of the Dead Spirit Swamp, they had to go through Dead Spirit City.
The half of the Dead Spirit Swamp which linked the Dead Spirit City to the Ironcliff Fortress consists of 40 level 10-50 training areas. This map was extremely broad.
Normally, Dead Spirit City’s players had their own territory to train. Because they do not lack in any resources, there were seldom battles. Because of this, the Dead Spirit City had many small guilds and not many big guilds.
If it was during normal circumstances where it was merely a small conflict between a few small guilds, Berserk Heavenlaw’s players simply had to split up. In such a humongous map, they would undoubtedly not be found.
However, it was different this time around. Because of the instigation from the system, Dead Spirit City basically sent out their entire city of players. Over two hundred thousand players were dragged out and this half the map was clearly not enough to contain everyone.
Even a housefly could be found with that many people involved, let alone five thousand men with bright symbols above their heads.
Presently, the players from Berserk Heavenlaw were moving on their own. For players like them with extreme job classification, leaving the formation would decrease their combat power significantly. Against the large number of players from Dead Spirit City, there was really no other way to fight this war. Basically, they could only run and hide. If they couldn’t run or hide anymore, they can only fight back with all their might to stall for time. Every second counts.
However, Berserk Heavenlaw’s fighting back was completely futile. Being completely outnumbered, they were really not able to obstruct them or stall for time. They couldn’t even stall for one second…
Even so, the small groups of players from Berserk Heavenlaw were too dispersed. Moreover, they were all elites of the guild. Even with over two hundred thousand Dead Spirit City’s players looking for them, they took about an hour to kill the majority of them. On the other hand, the players from Dead Spirit City paid quite a price too.
However, for a force with that many people, the number of deaths was secondary to them. The more important point for them was to kill every single player from the Light Faction in Dead Spirit Swamp. In the system’s count, there were still about 50 men from the Light Faction. For the Neutral Faction, there was no death yet.
Looking at the hour left, the players from Dead Spirit City started to worry as they couldn’t find the rest of the opposite faction players.
“Boss, we’ve swept the Dead Spirit Swamp two to three times already. How did those fellas disappear?” Light and Arrows asked.
Dead Spirit City’s players felt extremely powerless at this moment. After all, they had about five thousand enemies to fight at the beginning. With that large a target, they would casually meet a player from Berserk Heavenlaw everywhere they went. As the numbers became smaller, it became increasingly harder to look for them.
Even though Dead Spirit City had a lot of players, they had no commander in charge of them. Everyone moved on their own and killed whoever they found. With such an ill-disciplined search, they would leave loopholes for their enemies very easily.
“We did sweep numerous times already. Where could those fellas hide?” Vagrant Horse was also frustrated. With that many player looking for slightly more than fifty people, how could they not find them? Unless they hid underground?
“Hide? Where can they hide? There aren’t any objects above two metres here…” Light and Arrows refuted.
Players who were assigned to this quest would have a symbol above their heads. The height of an average participating person would be around two metres. If they wanted to hide their entire body, they needed to find an extremely tall object.
However, Dead Spirit Swamp was a flat piece of land. The grass on the ground was at most one metre tall. Even if the players from Berserk Heavenlaw lay on the ground, the symbols above their heads would be exposed too.
Speaking of high objects, there were a few mountain boulders outside Ironcliff Fortress. However, players from Dead Spirit City had already flipped most of the boulders there and there was no one.
“En…” Vagrant Horse pondered for a while before replying, “Objects above two metres… Besides those boulders from Ironcliff Fortress, the only other place will be our own Dead Spirit City.”
“Dead Spirit City? Impossible! Our guards are there right… Eh? Wait, wait.” At the thought of this, Light and Arrows stopped and suddenly continued, “There are some architectures above two metres in Port of Cowell, too, right?”
“Port of Cowell?” Vagrant Horse was slightly taken aback, “Didn’t we come from there?”
Port of Cowell was a place they had to pass through to reach Dead Spirit Swamp from Dead Spirit City.
“But we didn’t search that place yet…” Light and Arrows explained.
Earlier on, everyone was so anxious to get to Dead Spirit Swamp, but nobody bothered to notice the small port at the entrance of the city.
“Moreover, don’t they always say this on television? The most dangerous place is often the safest place.” Light and Arrows continued to state his point.
“You’ve got some logic there!” Vagrant Horse’s eyes lit up as he ordered his men to head back, “Let’s all head back to Port of Cowell! The rest of them could be there.”
Players from Golden Axe Metal Horse Guild had already read Light and Arrows’ words from the group chat. The moment they received the orders, they rushed back without any hesitation.
As a civilised port of the Atlantis, Port of Cowell used to be extremely developed port city. However, the many years of wars here had changed this place beyond recognition. In fact, it had been reduced to being the home for many low-levels Dead Spirit City players. Even so, there were still many tall obstacles lying around here.
Examples of a good hiding spot would be a pile of junk or some inhabitable wooden house.
Quan Zhen Sect was currently hiding in one of the wooden houses at the corner of the port. Wang Yu and Vainglory were clearing the monsters near the gate while Fearless lay down to look through the windows.
“Do you think we manage to pull this off…” Seeing that one hour had passed, Ming Du was slightly relieved as he asked.
Fearless replied, “Pull your head! We still have over fifty men left. If they cannot find anyone at Dead Spirit Swamp, they will definitely come back. How long do you think we can hold off with that many of them?”
“This…” Ming Du was speechless.
Dead Spirit Swamp was so gigantic, but it didn’t take much effort for them to sweep through it a few times. Even though Port of Cowell was a port, it wasn’t much bigger than a dock. Even a few thousand people could flip this place around in a matter of minutes, let alone a few hundred thousand.
“So what do we do now?” Ming Du grew worried.
If they were killed, they would immediately respawn at Thunderstorm City. It might be fine for others, but Ming Du had a few hundred PK points on him. If he dies, he might even have to go to their jail. He could forget about escaping from the game officials.
“Let’s try to stall for as long as we can. If we aren’t able to do so, we will guard this place. We have to help you clear your PK points first.” Fearless said helplessly.
There was no other way because the difference in numbers was simply too large. Under such circumstances, the only thing they could do was to reduce the PK points and fight to cut losses.
“There are people heading this way!” Just when Ming Du and Fearless were conversing, Wang Yu, who was at the entrance, suddenly heard footsteps coming their way.
“Everyone, keep quiet… Old Bull and Little Chicky, come inside.” Fearless hurriedly closed the windows. Indeed, at this moment, Light and Arrows returned with a large army.