"Fight back, why are we afraid of those few rebels when there are so many of us? Don’t let ourselves fall into disarray!"
"Where’s the Priest? Hurry and heal me, damn it, just a scratch and I’m nearly dead, who can handle that?!"
A rebel charged into the crowd, each attack dealing two to three thousand damage among the people.
Meanwhile, a series of damage numbers floated above the Rebel Guard’s head as well.
However, most of this damage was in the tens, occasionally reaching a hundred.
But for the Rebel Guard, who had nearly 16,000 HP, that amount of damage couldn’t pose much of a threat.
Moreover, there were another twenty or so guards behind the Rebel Guard, like gods of death, leaving white light wherever they passed.
In just a short time, the scattered players lost all fighting spirit and fled in all directions.
At this point, no one cared to think about much else; they only wanted to protect themselves from dying.
Otherwise, retreating with nothing while losing a level on top of it would be like losing on both ends; gaining levels isn’t something that happens out of thin air for anyone.
"A bunch of scattered sand!" was the most accurate portrayal of the thousands of players at that moment.
Because they were only thinking about self-preservation, not caring whether others lived or died.
Otherwise, against just a dozen or so rebels, even if outmatched, they shouldn’t have been slaughtered with no power to fight back.
In contrast, on the Shengshi Dynasty side, when those dozen guards were lured into the scattered player crowd and began a massacre.
Shengshi Drunkard said to Shengshi Wei Xiao:
"You lead people for a frontal engagement, try to hold off the remaining rebels as much as you can, I’ll take some people and go around behind."
Upon hearing this, Shengshi Wei Xiao was startled, then quickly understood Drunkard’s intent, nodded and said:
"Don’t worry, leave it to me here."
Shengshi Drunkard gathered a group of trusted members in the guild, around over a hundred people.
These hundred people left under the cover of night without drawing attention from others.
Because most people’s attention was drawn to the thousand or so players charging out from Shengshi Dynasty.
Hundreds of Shield Warriors holding shields charged out from the woods, roaring towards the village.
Behind them followed a group of Healing Priests and Mage Shooters.
The commotion at the gate immediately drew the attention of the remaining rebels in the village.
Rebels continuously charged out with weapons, but before they could get close, hundreds of spells soared into the air, descending on the opponent.
Arrows shot through the sky, and damage numbers constantly floated up from the head of the leading rebel:
"-153" Critical Strike
"-30" Burn Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on NoveI~Fire.net
Before they even confronted each other, one rebel in the front was instantly focused and killed.
The players who noticed this scene couldn’t help but take a sharp breath!
This was the most obvious difference between scattered players and guild players.
Perhaps stimulated, the scattered players quickly followed suit, establishing a defense.
A relatively famous scattered expert commanded on the world channel:
[World] Startled Swan Slash: "Everyone listen to me, attack the first guard with a sword, focus and kill him first."
[World] Startled Swan Slash: "Shield Warriors with over 4000 HP hold a bit and then retreat, others fill in, Priests prioritize healing nearby low-HP Shield Warriors."
[World] Startled Swan Slash: "Everyone else, attack with all your might, don’t stop. If we want a piece of the pie, we must unite, or we’ll all die!"
With this mobilization, all scattered players gathered together, and began to methodically fight back against the rebels according to his instructions.
Seeing this, Shengshi Drunkard said with interest to Shengshi Blood Slaughter beside him:
"This Startled Swan is not bad. Reach out once this is over."
Shengshi Blood Slaughter nodded:
As the battle cries roared up front, the hundred-strong team quietly approached outside the village fence.
The Thief, Ghost Blade, suddenly appeared in front of Drunkard and said:
It was natural that others would think of sneaking in behind, as Shengshi Drunkard did.
Drunkard, expressionless, asked:
"Three or four teams, dozens of people."
Shengshi Drunkard contemplated for a moment and said:
"Stay here, try to delay them, don’t let them get inside."
Those here were Drunkard’s trusted followers, so they understood his temperament well.
Since Shengshi Drunkard gave the order, everyone nodded in agreement.
Then Shengshi Drunkard, using the cover of night, climbed over the fence.
Shortly after Shengshi Drunkard went in, a Mage suddenly said:
Then the Mage raised his Magic Staff, and a flash of white light occurred.
Three or four stealth Thieves looked at the crowd dumbfounded.
Without another word, Shengshi Blood Slaughter launched an attack:
Others followed and surged forward.
The three Thieves didn’t even have time to react before they were instantly killed on the spot.
Ghost Blade suddenly showed up:
"Get ready, more are coming."
After Shengshi Drunkard climbed over the fence, he quietly entered the largest building.
However, besides some everyday items, there was nothing else inside.
Shengshi Drunkard carefully moved nearly every movable item, but found no hidden passage or other places to stash things.
After confirming there were no suspicious points inside, Shengshi Drunkard reluctantly moved on to the next place to search.
Outside, the shouting and killing continued incessantly, the night sky vividly colorful under the illumination of magic.
After consecutively checking three to four places without discovery, Shengshi Drunkard questioned:
"Could it be that I made a mistake?"
Yet unwilling to give up, Shengshi Drunkard searched for the next target, noticing a small, inconspicuous shrine in the village’s corner that caught his attention.
The shrine housed a broken statue, with its upper half missing and nowhere to be seen.
Judging by the dust collected on the shrine, it seemed it hadn’t been attended to for a long time.
What caught Shengshi Drunkard’s attention were the few lines of text or some patterns beneath the statue that resembled those on the map he had.
These writings/patterns had never been seen since Shengshi Drunkard started playing the game.
Their appearance here was no coincidence.
Then Shengshi Drunkard conducted a thorough inspection around the shrine and the statue.
Finally, an anomaly was discovered at the statue’s base.
The outward side of the base had an oddly shaped square slot.
The size matched that of the map in Drunkard’s hand.
With a mindset to give it a try, Shengshi Drunkard flattened the map and carefully placed it onto the slot’s surface.
Then, an incredible scene unfolded.
The map directly merged into the slot, while mysterious patterns briefly illuminated.
The heavy statue began shifting to one side with a rumbling sound.
A uniquely shaped key appeared at the base of the statue.
Shengshi Drunkard’s eyes brightened:
"Is this the key to the treasure?"
When Shengshi Drunkard picked up the key, a system message immediately appeared in the world.
Upon seeing this message, all players were thrilled.
[World Event] System: "Doming City Vault has resurfaced at Vermilion Bird City Coordinates: Xuejian Valley 525:12."
[Treasure Battle] System: Players can go to the Vermilion Bird City Event Ambassador to register for the [Treasure Battle]. Registered players will have their personal information hidden within the event area; participants risk exposure, disqualification, forced logout, or item loss upon death.
At the same time, Shengshi Drunkard received several system notifications:
System: "Bring the Treasure Vault Key to Vermilion Bird City to register for the [Treasure Battle], registering players will have their personal information hidden within the event area; going offline or dying will result in item drop; non-transferable."
Looking at these system notices with disbelief, Shengshi Drunkard quickly opened the map.
Gazing at the Xuejian Valley, almost on the other side of the map, Shengshi Drunkard quickly found Lin Yi and sent a message.
Shengshi Drunkard (Private Chat): "Brother Lin Yi, you available?"