Chapter 2023
Could they destroy the last Full Moon Fortress in the East Continent within the allocated time?
The players were the main force in this war. No matter how well Juander’s group, the daoist immortals, and the Chivalrous Robbers performed, they weren’t doing as much compared to the players. This made sense given that almost all the guilds and rankers, except for the Overgeared Guild, had gathered here. Even Valhalla’s military power, led by God of War Ares himself, was only a fragment of the players’ forces.
‘It’s fine. We have the upper hand.’
9,310 guilds had allied temporarily during the quest. Contrary to people’s concerns, the Player’s Alliance consisting of large and small guilds had maintained their original purpose. No problems had arisen in their cooperation even as the war neared its end.
They had cooperated without any problems even toward the end of the war. Some players sometimes tried to stand out to make a name for themselves, but the alliance officials dealt with them without any fuss. This didn’t mean the officials threatened or assassinated people. They simply sent those who wanted publicity in the front lines to have a chance at proving themselves. Once they inevitably died, most of them realized their mistake and calmed down.
“Does it look like everyone has become used to the cultivators’ way of fighting?”
“Yes, everyone is clearly used to mystical arts and Treasures.”
“Haha, since they’re so used to the enemy’s fighting style, it is easy for them to adapt to new weapons.”
As many as three Absolute-level cultivators were trapped in Ares’ Infinite Military Strength. Dozens of Transcendent-level cultivators were facing Juander’s group, the Chivalrous Robbers, and the daoist immortals.
Throughout the war, the strength of the cultivators had declined sharply. This meant that the Players’ Alliance was more than capable of dealing with them. Many of the players in the alliance had condensed their spiritual roots thanks to the technique provided by the Overgeared Guild.
The Overgeared Guild had destroyed nearly a hundred Full Moon Fortresses and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of cultivators. This meant they had an immense amount of resources since they could secure so many techniques, mystical arts, Treasures, and elixirs that cultivators were proud of and actively used.
The Overgeared Guild had greatly helped the Players’ Alliance. They were provided with a large amount of techniques and mystical arts to learn for each class and attribute, as well as Treasures and elixirs. Thanks to this, many alliance players had condensed a spiritual root and were now using Treasures as their secondary weapons. Of course, they had also learned mystical arts.
This way, they could fight more effectively against the cultivators. The high-ranking cultivators would step on them like ants, but there were very few high-ranking cultivators remaining on the East Continent. Most of them had left to support the Full Moon Fortress in the West Continent.
In other words—
“In the end… This is, once again, all thanks to the Overgeared Guild.”
The Players; Alliance had done a lot with the help provided by the Overgeared Guild. However, most people didn’t know these details. A lot of people who supported the Players’ Alliance were enthusiastic that a player force comparable to the Overgeared Guild temporarily existed. Behind this reaction was a vicarious gratification feeling. Ordinary people empathized with the alliance formed by the top guilds and rankers.
The alliance officials weren’t exactly sure how to feel about all this.
“…Well, external circumstances aren’t important right now. Let’s just focus on winning the battle for now.”
The Player’s Alliance had no leader. Fifty executives voted for by the 9,310 guild masters led the alliance, each of them having equal authority. Nevertheless, there were never problems in the way the alliance was run. Everyone wanted to win this war.
Immediately after the alliance was formed, a lot of money flowed in from the Overgeared Guild, but not a single person acted out of self-interest to try and embezzle it. Why? If they did that and they lost the war versus the cultivators because of their greed, then Satisfy would be ruined. More players were logging into the game and the stocks of the S.A. Group were on the rise because the cultivators were about to become extinct.
What if the players couldn’t destroy the last Full Moon Fortress in time? What if new cultivators appeared? Satisfy’s popularity would suffer a steep decline and rankers might lose their livelihood.
“Yes, let’s win. We have to crash that damn fake moon before we can discuss what we should do next.”
The executives exchanged looks and ordered an all-out attack. Hundreds of thousands of players immediately reacted. They ran toward their enemies like beasts who had been starving for days. They had no intention of missing the opportunity granted by Valhalla and the NPCs.
“How can these mortals do this overnight…?”
If the conditions were met, players could acquire skills simply by clicking on the respective skill book. Therefore, the players of the alliance had used the techniques provided by the Overgeared Guild to condense a spiritual root. From the perspective of NPCs, this was incomprehensible.
The cultivators were greatly perplexed. Hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers had been mere mortals just a few days before. Now they had all condensed a spiritual root and attacked using a flurry of Treasures and mystical arts. They weren’t that much of a threat because those Treasures and mystical arts were basic, but this was still very confusing. Plus, the cultivators were outnumbered, and the battlefield was too hectic.
“Ack…!”
The front line of the cultivators was now heavily pushed back. They couldn’t withstand the enemy’s attacks that were coming from all directions and the opponents that surged like a tidal wave, so the cultivators ran in different directions.
The path to the Full Moon Fortress was opened.
“Walk in!”
The Full Moon Fortress had just launched its second round of bombardment, so there were at least twenty minutes left until the third bombardment. This was the perfect opportunity to walk in.
Of course, the Full Moon Fortress was high in the sky. Among the hundreds of thousands of players, only about ten thousand could fly, but that was enough. Most of the players who could fly were rankers. Besides, the security inside the Full Moon Fortress would be weak. There were very few cultivators left inside since most of them were outside, fighting.
‘The real battle begins now.’
The rankers were determined. They stared at the huge Full Moon Fortress as they approached it. They remembered the thousands of technique books and mystical art books provided by the Overgeared Guild, as well as the Treasures and elixirs. All of these were all medium to low-quality items.
Still, these items had helped the players tremendously since they didn’t use to exist until the cultivators appeared. By enhancing the rating of all the items from zero to a certain number, the players in the alliance had become noticeably stronger. The effects of the middle-grade items were good. But how would high-quality items perform?
The rankers had unrealistically high expectations for the Treasures hidden in the depths of the Full Moon Fortress. It was difficult for them to suppress their greed because they could support their respective guilds if they got their hands on high-quality Treasures.
Before they knew it, they forgot their original goal. They were blinded by self-interest the moment they were convinced they had actually won.
Divine punishment rained down on them.
[You lowlives.]
Just as the rankers entered through the gateway, the sky blackened. It started to rain, but this wasn’t normal rainwater. The acid that was pouring down from the skies melted many rankers’ armor and they turned to ash. Those who had exceptionally high poison resistance survived, but they could no longer move forward since a waterfall of rotten water suddenly appeared and enveloped the gateway.
“What is this…?”
This bizarre trick was very powerful. It was a mystical art of a cultivator who had a very high realm.
[The Full Moon Fortress is the gateway between dimensions. How dare you believe that you can pollute the gate where the forces who will invade this world will pass through?]
The hundreds of thousands of humans roaming the battlefield stopped in place after the Absolute’s will pierced the area. His influence was much more powerful than that of the Absolute-level cultivators trapped in Infinite Military Strength. This was a being who had transcended the cultivator state and had become an immortal.
The leader of the cultivators guarding the last Full Moon Fortress had arrived.
“Could it be that he defeated the Four Auspicious Beasts?”
The players believed they had a high chance of winning because the Four Auspicious Beasts helped them a lot. The alliance players managed to turn this battle into their favor because the Four Auspicious Beasts had lured the leader of the enemies into the distant sky and kept him there.
But now, the leader of the enemy army appeared in front of them. The Four Auspicious Beasts who had lured him away were now gone.
[The Four Auspicious Beasts? Do those spiritual beings look like gods in your eyes? They are quite extraordinary, but gods…]
The white-haired immortal snorted. His dark eyes shone as thousands of mystical characters spilled out of him.
[Stupid and worthless things. All of you will die here.]
The immortal’s intent spread out like a thunderbolt. Everyone on the battlefield had a severe headache and stumbled. At the same time, the small mystical characters that spilled out of his eyes started to spin like snakes. Thick, dark fog and rainwater spread out… The immortal was creating a poison that melted everything it came in contact with.
“Crazy…!”
The players in the alliance, Hwang Gildong, the members of the Chivalrous Robbers, the daoist immortals—everyone ran in directions to get away from the poison produced by the mystical characters that rapidly grew in size.
However, it wasn’t easy to do that. The poison was very fast, and it was catching up with them.
“Aghhhhhh!”
Screams echoed all over the place. In a split second, thousands of gray ash pillars soared into the sky.
Nevertheless, the poison wasn’t satisfied and continued to expand.
“Ugh.”
Juander groaned and took a step forward. His skin was completely red. He increased his red energy to the limit to attempt to control the poison. Red lines unraveled like threads and touched the black fog…
[Are you doing something strange?]
The dark gaze of the white-haired immortal fell on Juander. The red energy that Juander had been steadily training was powerful enough to attract the attention of an immortal. It slowed down the poison’s advance, making it back away, slowly but surely.
[Even in the cultivation world, mutant-like people are sometimes born.]
The immortal immediately saw through the essence of the red energy. He treated it as a mutation without bothering to understand it further.
“Juander!”
Kujarak, who had been guarding the front line without running away, rushed over. Before he knew it, the immortal appeared above Juander’s head and swung his sword down.
[You are a mortal, but there are many extraordinary things about you.]
This was the only impression the immortal had. It was impossible to keep up with the speed of a true Absolute even for Kujarak, who was called a leopard.
The sword made of black water was already touching the top of Juander’s head. Drops of acidic water splashed in all directions. Kujarak’s skin melted as he reached for Juander.
Just before the sword of black water cut the top of Juander’s head, Chensler punched it.
[……?]
“……!”
Both the white-haired immortal and Kujarak were surprised. They looked in disbelief at Chensler, who had reacted to the speed of an Absolute.
Chensler shook off his half-melted fist and declared with an expressionless face, “If you want to do anything to His Majesty, you’ll have to get through me first.”