MMORPG: The Elementalist

After those few days, although the Hall of the Exalted League and its Five Great Clans still existed by name, they were no longer what they once were in terms of scale—only a miserable several hundred members were left. Their pathetic five-digit score on the League Honor Point Leaderboard reminded everyone of one harsh fact…

The Hall of the Exalted’s days were over.

It was unclear when this started, but much less people continued to follow up the news regarding the declining team. Just like a piece of gossip, on the first day, people would be shocked; on the second day, it would still be a hot topic;on the third day, people would just check on it from time to time;any time beyond the third day, people would not even remember it unless it suddenly crossed their mind.

“Oh, what happened to the Hall of the Exalted?”

After that, they would probably lose interest altogether…

This new League that emerged several days ago, one that had the potential to tip the balance of power in the Angel Faction disappeared silently from the public view just like that.

However…

Similar to the Hall of the Exalted, the Netherspirit’s Claw League was on the wane.

Gone were the days of its former glory as the second toughest League in the Angel Faction. Having been through the fierce League War in Moonrise City, its overall strength had been greatly diminished. Indeed, it could now only be classified as a third-class League.

Perhaps, the only one who was still worth mentioning and awe-inspiring in Netherspirit’s Claw was the most reputable senior Champion—Netherclaw himself.

The one with the most to gain from these changes was the Fallen Angels League.

Not only did the Fallen Angels successfully defeat the overweeningly ambitious Hall of the Exalted League, at the same time, they also flexed their muscles once again in Camp Kennedy!

Among the Four Great Leagues in the Angel Faction, the Fallen Angels’ future was shining brighter than ever!

***

Winter Demesne.

One after another, merchants began to move into the city to set up their respective shops. This included a branch of Casanova’s Trading Hall. The market in the city was gradually developing into a state of maturity. The city offered great convenience to two hundred thousand top-tier players from the Five Great Leagues who planned to stay in the Underworld over a long period of time. They would no longer need to travel between the Mystical Continent and the Underworld to replenish their daily necessities.

Meanwhile, the Fallen Angels League had gotten accustomed to traveling between its outpost and the city in an orderly manner using Return Scrolls and the Teleportation function of its outpost. This ensured smooth traffic flow at the city’s gates.

The eastern city gate.

A blue light flashed from a Warp Portal. A well-equipped team swiftly exited the Warp Portal and blended into the unsuspecting crowd outside the city.

“Is everyone okay?”

“Excellent… Everyone into your respective group! Fall in!”

They formed a fiery violet blue sea in an instant!

About forty Black Flame Steeds were poised for action. Without further delay, they aligned themselves outside the city. The grandiose cavalry parade was a spectacular sight to behold!

On any typical day, a team of such scale would have attracted the full attention of everyone outside the city, and the squeals of fangirls…

But now!

Those in the Five Great Leagues would just enviously glance at the cavalry out of respect before they continued their journey to their own destination.

“March!”

On the leading Swordmaster’s mark, forty-five violet blue flames started to trot along in a uniform manner and break into a furious gallop, as though a wildfire had suddenly been ignited. The ground trembled as the thundering sound of roughshods filled the air. The cavalry departed from Winter Demesne in the blink of an eye, storming in the direction of the faraway dark bramble wood!

The Black Flame Steed…

The flame emanating from its body was capable of incinerating any Undead foolish enough to come into physical contact. With the innate ability to inflict extra damage on Undead-type enemies, it was the Phantom Skeleton’s natural enemy. After exploring the vicinity of the city the entire time, they had gotten familiar with the abilities and traits of the nearby Undead. Hence, they no longer had to tread cautiously with their deepened knowledge of the Underworld.

A standard Black Flame Steed cavalry unit… could totally survive in the Underworld without breaking a sweat!

Just a few minutes after the Black Flame Steed Cavalry Troop had left, another team of Chimera riders stepped out from the Warp Portal’s ring of blue light. They lined up and took to the sky in a flash, heading into the depths of the Underworld.

Similarly…

The Chimera Cavalry Troop only drew temporary attention from the envious crowd.

The plebeians had seen it all so a cavalry of that size did not impress them much.

***

The small valley five kilometers away from Winter Demesne was still heavily surrounded by the Undead. Nothing much had changed, with the exception of the arrival of a new member who recently joined their ranks—Netherclaw.

It was as if the area was the exclusive training ground for the Five Great Leagues’ League Masters and the Fallen Angels’ core members. They would congregate there at ten in the morning every day…

With the slow passage of time, they reaped a huge amount of experience from the mindless Undead that walked into their attack range like moths drawn to a flame.

The League Masters of the Five Great Leagues obviously did not need to get their hands dirty…

Besides chit-chatting about the Mythical Continent’s latest news and occasionally challenging each other to a duel, their greatest interests or hottest topics were advancing to Tier 6 and the prospect of raising a massive cavalry army.

“Urgh… Assembling a specialized cavalry troop is so darn hard! Until now, those useless bastards still haven’t hatched a single egg…”

As Black God’s crude grumble escaped his lips, the female players who were present looked at him in disdain.

“If you’re so competent, why don’t you try hatching one yourself?” Scarlet Bauhinia said, embarrassing him.

Black God rolled his eyes before he realized that his remark was uncalled for. He coughed awkwardly, then shifted his attention to Qin Ruo.

“Oh yeah, you guys… why do I get the feeling that there are more and more Fallen Angels cavalry parties? Is the Fallen Angels still expanding its three cavalry parties?”

Qin Ruo glanced at Black God who was brimming with curiosity, but refused to spill the beans.

“It’s a secret,” Qin Ruo muttered.

“Secret my a**!We’re brothers, there’s no secret between brothers! Spill now, and in return, I’ll tell you the spawn rate for Black Jail’s eggs…”

“Isn’t that an open secret? If I recall correctly, you already told us the day before yesterday! It’s seventeen to eighteen eggs per day. At this rate, you’ll have to wait at least two to three months to even have a chance to catch up with the Fallen Angels.”

“Urgh… Scarlet, you bastard! Can’t believe you have the nerve to say that. If you weren’t competing with me, I would’ve already gained enough numbers…”

“Hey hey hey, do I need to remind you that I was the first to claim that land. Black Jail’s the latecomer. You even promised to jointly develop the area. Psssh. You weren’t even blushing when you said that. I never thought you’d stoop so low.”

Upon overhearing their conversation, dozens of people around them cast a doubtful eye on Black God…

So that was what all the fuss was about.

No wonder Scarlet Bauhinia had recently been at odds with Black God…

“Ahem!”

Black God went beet red.

“Let’s move on from this topic. There are only a handful of high level training grounds, and you big guys occupy them all. Think of the late bloomers like me!”

Speaking of training grounds, Black God singled out Qin Ruo again. “You, brat, are the most brazen one for monopolizing the top three training grounds for such a long time without any qualms of conscience. Don’t you think you should let others have their turn too? Oh, Qin Ruo… we shouldn’t be so selfish. Sharing is caring, right? How about this. Let me assign a few hundred of my boys to your training grounds so that we can share the experience. What do you say? Deal or no deal?”

Unfortunately for Black God, his wisecracking failed to amuse Qin Ruo into giving his consent. Instead, it triggered Violet Orchid and the ladies to unite in speaking against him. “Dream on! If It weren’t for us, the Fallen Angels who inspired you… Oh! So stealing can’t satisfy you anymore, now you want to rob us of our farming spots too? Do you really think there’s such a thing as a free lunch in this world?”

Violet Orchid was the Deputy League Master. Deep down, she understood that for any League to maintain operation, it was important to keep some levels of confidentiality regarding its full capabilities and to control some valuable regions. This was true for the Four Great Leagues as much as it was for the Fallen Angels.

“That’s right! If we acquiesce, you’ll never stop at one hundred men. Give you an inch and you’ll take a mile…”

“Yup, he’s the worst among the five men.”

The barrage of criticism from the ladies inundated Black God, leaving him unable to catch his breath. The redness in his face showed no signs of ebbing…

“Yeah, I was thinking about sending in one hundred boys… followed by another two hundred. That’s what I was planning to do. How did you sweeties read my mind? Looks like I’ve still got it.”

The ladies turned their backs on Black God.

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, haha! Jokes aside, Qin Ruo, you’re close to Level 60, right? Should be about tomorrow. Homme Fatale too… Both of you will be the second and third player to attain the status of Demigod.”

“I say we feast in Great Winter Hall to celebrate tomorrow.”

“I’ll pass. It’s been two days since Sinistress attained Demigod status. By the time I reach Tier 6, I plan to trade the Golden Battle Flag for Demigod Grade Equipment. It should be about time to pay the Underworld a visit along with Homme Fatale.”

“Getting back into action so soon?” Majestic Hero cut in this time.

“It can’t be helped, Demigod Tier is a far cry from Tier 5. The potential for growth is so huge. Sinistress already got a two-days head start. Who knows how strong she is now? We can only try our best.”

Qin Ruo lamented for a moment.

With great power comes great responsibility. Indeed, Qin Ruo could feel the weight of the world falling on his shoulders now.

Even if they were able to repel the Demon Faction’s attack last time, it did not mean that they would forever be superior to the Demon Faction… They could not be smug and slack lest the Demon Faction surpass them.

Besides…

Qin Ruo was personally looking forward to the arrival of Tier 6.

The notion of being able to fly and go all out in an aerial battle just as a Demigod Champion NPC or the “Evildoer” who perished in the Underworld thrilled him!

“Fair enough. Looks like you’re one step ahead again in this respect,” Scarlet Bauhinia said, shrugging resignedly. He turned to the taciturn Netherclaw. “Why don’t you, Majestic Hero, Black God, and I arrange a four-man party someday to redeem ourselves? This guy is on fire. If we don’t do anything, we’ll have to eat his dust!”

Netherclaw calmly nodded. Majestic Hero and Black God fell into silence looking at him.

Alas, Netherclaw had yet to snap out of it.

Snowmelt and Dark Dragon’s mutiny had dealt him a devastating blow.

Qin Ruo frowned faintly as he ran his eyes over Netherclaw. He felt sorry for him.

At present, Netherclaw’s former glory was long lost. Judging from the looks of it, between rise and fall, he was more inclined to the latter… But for some reason, he kept wandering in between the two.

Everyone continued to silently absorb the Experience Points in the valley.

***

Before he got offline, Qin Ruo hopped on the League’s Core Channel. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your League Master speaking. Make full use of your time, keep pushing your levels. While Homme Fatale and I venture outside, everybody should be able to reach Tier 6 in the meantime… I happen to have an Underworld Dungeon Map in my possession. When the time’s right, let’s go out for a stroll, shall we?”

It had been a while since Qin Ruo acquired the map. Due to the fact that the Underworld itself was not a regular place that one could blast through, danger would certainly be lurking in every corner. Qin Ruo reckoned that it would be impossible to challenge it solo. That was the reason why the map had been left to gather dust.

But now…

It was about time!

As for the candidates who would participate in the dungeon… he had already thought it through.

Violet Orchid and Violetmoon Devilite—the two top-notch Radiant Priests—were like bread and butter. Their supportive spells were essential to raise teammates’ combat capabilities, and their ability to suppress the Undead proved to be invaluable.

Judge, the lone Man of Steel!

He was the ultimate defensive Warrior. No matter what was thrown at him or how dangerous the situation may be, he would be able to shrug it off while he bought everyone else precious time.

Slayer’s Heart, and Subjugator—the two most powerful Warriors—were always ready to go on the offensive.

Homme Fatale, the senior Electromancer; there was no need to mention his superior firepower.

Wandering Soul…

The Heaven Peal Lion’s fighting prowess was remarkable. Its damage buff against the Undead was a perk while its tactical fighting skill was unparalleled.

Xin Yu…

Partnered with Little Eye, their impeccable teamwork outshone the duo of Fateless the Bandit Assassin and Permanent Lock.

Black Rock…

After the upgrade to his new Grand Reaper Pet, his defensive capabilities were absolutely second to none among those in the Elementalism Class.

Last but not least, Qin Ruo himself…

With these ten elite players banded together, the ultimate squad was born!