The Almighty Ring

Gathering members of the guild to grind levels was Lady Casanova’s task. Jiang Fei had no need to worry about that. In fact, even Rosa Rosette was in the Faction Region. With her around, Jiang Fei would let her take care of the Demon Dragon Fortress! That’s not all! Many of the Profession players had moved out from Dawnlight City to the Demon Fortress. Many of the Gathering class could also collect many precious ingredients there. Crafting class players would be able to utilize all the crafting facilities that Jiang Fei had paid to build for.

Even though they were mostly greenhorns, Jiang Fei was still optimistic about them improving the castle’s defense. Until the day the fortress was truly built up, it was very much susceptible to attacks from the Light Faction.

Now that almost everything about the guild was taken care for, Jiang Fei and Isabella went to the battlefield.

Jiang Fei flew up high and situated himself right in the center between the Light and the Shadow Faction’s armies. From up high, Jiang Fei noticed that there was not much going on but small skirmishes between smaller companies here and there. On the other hand, the players themselves were fighting like their lives depends on it. Not only were the pub players were fighting each other, but there were also many smaller guilds that had gathered together and fight other smaller guilds of the opposite Faction.

“Why are they fighting?” said Jiang Fei to himself.

Logically, there was no reason to fight each other just yet. Dying in the Faction area would not cost any experience points, level, or even equipment! Naturally, equipment would still drop to the ground on death but players could easily collect a piece of brand new equipment from one of the NPC officers from their respective Fortress. However, that equipment would only be Green graded equipment. It was the lousiest one there was as it was only slightly stronger than a White graded equipment. Technically, there could be a reason to fight in the battlefield, only if they had accepted quests from the NPC!

Jiang Fei descended lower to have a closer look and finally understood why players had started fighting against each other. They were fighting for the ruins of a fortress that was situated right in between the Light and Shadow Faction.

The fortress was much smaller than the Demon Dragon Fortress. Albeit being small, the ruins of the fortress were in a good position. If any side had managed to claim it, they would have the upper hand in the fight.

Jiang Fei had not noticed this small fortress since he was simply roaming around long ago. He was not purposefully searching for a territory for himself. Naturally, smaller guilds that were fighting for the ruins would eventually give way to bigger, more powerful guilds. Hence, it would be wise to grab the fortress as soon as possible. Not to mention the unspoken rules of first come first serve. To be fair, the fortress was right in between two Factions. They were not the only ones that had noticed about the fortress. Hence, war erupted as to claim the fortress for their own.

At first, it was just a small fight between guilds to claim a territory. However, as reinforcements came in, more and more pub players noticed it and decided to join the fray. Eventually, what was supposed to be a small fight, turned out to become war. It was… for fun. That is why people play games! If someone were to attack one of your own allies, you would not kick back and relax! You would go in and fight till the last man drops! Best of all, since they were in the Faction area, there was only one enemy, making it easier to land an attack even if they were not looking!

“Looks fun! Shall we go down and play around a little bit?” said Isabella.

“Nah. I’m not interested in that ruins. Let them fight.” Jiang Fei shook his head. He was waiting for the NPCs to start their war so that he could sneak in and save the Saint of the Light!

Luckily for him, the war started after an hour. Both sides sent out all their armies and clashed into each other.

The clashing point was located near the ruins of the fortress where players were fighting to claim. As it was the perfect critical point of attack, both sides had set up temporary camps and station their troops there.

“Tsk… what’s so good about that piece of junk fortress?” said Jiang Fei to himself as he continued to watch the petty squabbles between players of the Light and Shadow Faction.

The fortress was good if only Jiang Fei had found it first before he had set up the Demon Dragon Fortress. He might have enough time to build up defenses and turn it into a checkpoint for the Shadow Faction. However, the war had already started. Even if Jiang Fei dived down and claimed it for himself, he would not be able to build it up properly. There would be battles taking places around the fortress and players would attack it relentlessly. Before he could even lay down the foundation of the fortress, it would be destroyed once more.

Both the Light and the Shadow Faction had quickly set up their camps and the NPC had started to assign quests for players to take. It did not take long for the pub players to noticed there were quests available for them. As soon as the news got out, the petty squabbles for the fortress died down as players had chosen to focus on the quests. Pub players were the main takers of the NPC quests since the squabbles for the fortress were mainly participated by guilds. Solo players would never have a chance to claim the fortress.

Since it was a game, both Factions had set up their camps almost at the same time. As soon as the chain of command had set up their own camps, a “cold war” ensued. Both sides would send out spies to the enemy for intel gathering as well as sabotaging missions. Along the way, small battles will ensue. The quests that were available for players to take was basically ambush and attack patrolling enemy soldiers. Pub players would form a party to complete the quest. However, the targets were always Level 70 Advanced Elite soldiers. Killing them proved too hard for them. Hence, they would increase their party size to 30 players to defeat the soldiers. Technically speaking, completing the quest by forming a large party was extremely inefficient.

“I should wait until the battle gets even wilder before I save the Saint,” said Jiang Fei to himself.

When he had that thought, he smiled sinisterly. He wanted to see the faces of both the NPCs and the players when they saw their beloved Saint of the Light running away with him, a Nephilim from the Shadow Faction!

Jiang Fei did not have to wait for long as many players had gone all their way just to complete the quests taken from the NPCs. Still, being underleveled severely, they could not do much of an impact on the enemy even with a large party.

Jiang Fei knew that the time was ripe when he noticed that the patrolling soldiers had started to grow stronger. It started out as foot soldiers and slowly upgraded to Knights. Once the patrolling soldiers were all Knights, Jiang Fei flew back to the Demon Flame Fortress.

Inside the Commander’s Hall, Jiang Fei could only detect the Frontline Commander Ivan and the Saint of the Light. The Knight’s Commander Heinz and the Demolition General Frizt was missing as they were probably out in the battlefield.

Jiang Fei sneaked pass Commander Ivan and when he saw a chance, he went and hide behind the Saint of the Light.

“Your Highness, it is time. Come with me,” said Jiang Fei quietly.

“Are you saving me now?” said the Saint, excited.

“Yes. I have stolen the Demon Lord’s Royal Decree. With this, I can bring you out of the Demon’s territory!” said Jiang Fei. It was not the complete truth. The Commanding Order was a piece of paper handwritten by the Nephilim King himself and given to Jiang Fei! The two had collaborated perfectly. Now, all they had to wait for was the Saint of the Light to surrender herself!