Chapter 537 – Luring the Tiger
Nie Yan picked up the three pieces of equipment, all of which were for Level 70 Warriors. One was Sub Legendary-grade while the other two were Dark Gold-grade. They were fully socketed with gems, which increased defense, magic resistance, and attack. Each gem was worth at least 1,000 gold. Furthermore, every piece of equipment was upgraded to +9. Nie Yan estimated each piece was worth in the tens of thousands of gold, especially the Sub Legendary-grade equipment, which was worth at least 100,000 gold.
The fact that every Direwolf player was probably similarly equipped was a testament to the Century Financial Group’s wealth!
The number of people in Asskickers United that could use such expensive equipment definitely didn’t exceed 10. Fully equipping someone with this kind of equipment would cost at least 600,000 gold. Nie Yan planned to give these three piece of equipment to Monochrome and Edgeless, depending on who had more use for it.
Nie Yan turned around. The ground was a mess, with more than 10 corpses strewn about. Lustboy finished collecting all the equipment dropped on the ground, then walked over.
“So, did you finish picking up all the loot?”
“Yeah, more than 30 pieces of equipment in total. We’ve struck it rich. I estimate everything added up is worth at least 200,000 gold,” Lustboy said. Dropping three pieces of equipment after dying, this penalty was quite harsh. Seeing the enemy losing their equipment, he also broke out in a cold sweat. If he had died back there, it would’ve been disastrous.
“Lets go,” Nie Yan said. The harvest this time was pretty good.
After gathering all the loot, Nie Yan and Lustboy continued heading east. They walked more than 10 minutes without encountering other players. It appeared this map was quite large.
Nie Yan gazed at the mountain range in the east. Perched atop one of the mountains was a grand castle. It could be counted as a fairly reliable landmark.
Nie Yan designated this location as the meeting place. More and more players discovered this castle and began converging there.
As for Alliance of Mages, their gathering spot was located in the west.
After scaling up a mountain for more than 1,000 meters, Nie Yan and Lustboy turned around. The entire map was finally within their view. This was a giant basin with all sorts of terrain inside it: hills, streams, barren rock, rocky cliffs, forest, and so on. Besides occupying this castle, there were also nine other castles scattered across the map. These 10 castles were the points Kahruhr mentioned previously. If one occupied all of them for an hour, they would achieve victory.
When both sides were at a stalemate, and it was difficult to determine who would be the victor, the focus of the battle would shift to these castles.
This was a standard guild war map. Nie Yan had heard of these kinds of maps in the previous timeline. But due to him being a lowly solo player back then, he had never actually participated in this kind of competition. This was his first time coming into contact with this kind of map.
Asskickers United and Alliance of Mages were having a showdown here!
As more and more Asskickers United’s players converged on this castle, the vicinity became much livelier.
No one knew how many years this ancient castle had weathered, its walls filled with all sorts of cracks and lush with vegetation.
Nie Yan pushed open the thick heavy doors and entered inside.
Bladelight and the others followed behind him.
“How many casualties did we suffer?” Nie Yan asked. Their forces had probably taken some losses during the journey here.
“23 of our players were killed,” Bladelight replied. He had just received a report from Paladin of the Elegy.
“Alliance of Mages’ side took heavier losses. We’ve racked up 37 enemy kills,” Smoke Stub said. Just previously, he had felled two enemies.
Asskickers United’s force rested and regrouped around the castle, one team after another spreading out everywhere.
Nie Yan walked up to the castle’s observation tower which stood over 20 meters tall. It was quite grand. They were greeted by the sight of broken weapons scattered all over the floor. A battle once took place here in the ancient past. Erected on the perimeter of the tower were shabby lookout lenses. Whether they functioned or not remained unknown.
Nie Yan walked over to one of the lenses and peered through it. Gazing in the distance, he saw the players on the side of Alliance of Mages moving like ants, congregating in larger and larger numbers. They had occupied three castles. Crazy Magic was probably hard at work mobilizing his troops.
From this lookout lens, Nie Yan could see the entire map.
Nie Yan reminisced on the past. The history of Conviction was ruled by those powerful guild leaders back then. Now, it was being written by him!
After crushing Alliance of Mages beneath their feet, Divine Protectors would be powerless to do anything. The entire Viridian Empire would become Asskickers United’s domain!
“What are we doing next?” Bladelight asked. He stared at Nie Yan who appeared to be lost in thought.
“Have our forces set up traps in a 1,000 meter radius around the castle, then form a defense line. We’ll guard this place to the death! Guo Huai’s side should already be on the move now, right?” Nie Yan asked. Before entering the Realm of Death, he had Guo Huai buy a large amount of large snares and pitfall traps as well as trigger type ones like totems.
If they properly defended this castle, unless they came with twice the amount of forces, Alliance of Mages had no way of breaking through their defenses.
“200,000 of our players are escorting 26 Armoured Ice Catapults towards Moonlight City,” Bladelight replied. This time around, Asskickers United was launching an all out war against Alliance of Mages!
“That’s good. We’ll drag this battle out for a few days. That Crazy Magic will probably be a lot more anxious than us!” Nie Yan chuckled. He refused to believe Crazy Magic could keep calm with 26 Armoured Ice Catapults moving towards him.
“I heard Angel Corps is currently busy with their own war. If they don’t come to the rescue, our Armoured Ice Catapults will completely topple Alliance of Mage’s strongholds!” Bladelight said. He also couldn’t help but get excited. Until now, Asskickers United had been on the defensive. Several times, they had suffered ambushes from the enemy at their doorsteps. This time around, they could finally retaliate!
“Gather all the Thieves. I have a mission for them,” Nie Yan said.
Bladelight and Smokestub passed down Nie Yan’s orders below. Before long, all the Thieves entered the castle and gathered in the main hall, 500 of them in total.
Nie Yan split the Thieves up into five smaller groups, composed of 100 players each. One of them was composed of all the strongest Thieves, among whom were Sun, King of the World, Tyrannical, and so on. Nie Yan instructed them to freely move around the map and assassinate any and all enemy players they crossed. Only if they encountered trouble should they retreat. There was no need to tangle with the enemy. As for the remaining Thieves, they were in charge of installing the traps, mines, and totems around the perimeter of the castle.
Nie Yan had several players take out all the traps they purchased: Fire Traps, Poison Totems, Arrow Traps, and so on. These traps were set up in various places, like forests, boulders, and streams. If a player triggered one of them, they would likely lose their life. As such, the locations of these traps had to be carefully studied, to prevent their own for falling for them; otherwise, that would be a huge loss. Nie Yan told every Thief where they should go to place traps, but not where the other traps were located. This was to prevent information from leaking out. He knew there were definitely Alliance of Mages moles hiding within their ranks. Likewise, he had moles on their side as well. This was a battle of both wits and brawn.
…
West side of the Realm of Death, inside a rundown castle, all the higher-ups of Alliance of Mages were gathered in a large hall.
“Boss, Asskickers United has occupied a castle in the east. They haven’t moved since. It seems like they’re planning to hold the fort. They’ve set up quite a few defenses around the castle,” Maple Sky said. The moles they planted had already reported Asskickers United’s movements. He was a bit confused. Speaking logically, the battle in the Realm of Death shouldn’t last more than a day. However, why did it seem like Asskickers United was preparing for a battle that would last at least a week?
Crazy Magic was also wondering what Asskickers United was doing. Suddenly, he received a report from a subordinate. “Boss, we just received word from our headquarters. Asskickers United is currently heading towards Moonlight City with more than 10 catapults!”
Hearing this information, Crazy Magic’s face paled. Luring the tiger away from the mountain, then striking when its gone! Asskickers United’s target was Moonlight City!
Asskickers United would take at least three days to arrive at Moonlight City. At that time, the entire city would be embroiled in a chaotic battle. More than 10 catapults was nothing to scoff at. If Alliance of Mages lost their main base, even if they achieved victory in the Realm of Death, they would still lose out in the end!
“Boss, what do we do?” Maple Sky asked. “Headquarters is reporting that Asskickers United’s catapults seem to be higher ranked than ours.”
Crazy Magic knitted his brows. Without him at the headquarters, he couldn’t direct the battle. He wasn’t like Nie Yan, who left everything to others and rarely commanded the guild. Asskickers United had a group of people specifically dedicated for managing the guild. Even if Nie Yan was absent, there wouldn’t be any problem. On the other hand, Alliance of Mages was solely controlled by him. He was distrustful of the people around him, because internal coupes had happened many times before. As such, all of the guild’s movements went through him. His word was law in the guild. Without him there, if something happened at the headquarters, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Crazy Magic pondered for a moment, then said, “Gather, everyone up. Were going to take the fight over to Nirvana Flame!”
Under these circumstances, Alliance of Mages could only preemptively attack and enter a decisive battle with Asskickers United! They were going to fight sooner or later anyway, so why not go all out from the start!?