VRMMO: The Unrivaled

"Die, Lu Chen!"

Tempest Shadow grinned with satisfaction as he saw his spear make its way toward me in an almost inexorable fashion. That grin was so twisted that it looked a little sinister. As one of the four War Gods of the Martial God, Tempest Shadow had always been in Candlelight Shadow’s shadow despite being a CGL Hall of Famer himself. He didn’t mind this at all, but he really wanted to prove himself to Candlelight Shadow. If he managed to kill me right here and now, his reputation would definitely receive a huge boost.

However, I chuckled as I saw the spear soar toward me. Tempest Shadow’s desperate desire to succeed was plain for all the world to see, but it was too bad that this doofus didn’t have his boss's matchless skills!

Thud!

I launched myself off the battlements and did a spin in the air, dodging Tempest Shadow’s Barrier Break in an oh-so-casual manner. I executed a backward somersault when my feet hit the ground. This put me in front of Tempest Shadow. My arm immediately shot out and the Cyan Netherworld Sword glowed with the indigo light of Universe Break as it punched into the gap in Tempest Shadow’s neck armor with the force of a speeding bullet!

Pchhht!

24903!

Tempest Shadow’s eyes widened in alarm. He had just lost about one-third of his health in a single strike. But I wasn’t done yet! My sword flickered through the air three times as a fiery energy surged from its blade. Burning Blade Slash!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The three crescent blades of sword energy exploded against Tempest Shadow’s shield, taking away another third of his health. His eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his skull as he scrambled backward. All I needed to do was hit him in a vulnerable spot to send him flying back to the city!

Dark Pupils caused my eyes to shine with a black light as I immediately located the chink in his armor. It was at the base of his left thigh! One more attack would end this punk’s life!

Candlelight Shadow crashed into me just when I was about to swing my sword. He shoved me with the Blade of Scarlet Flames as he roared, "Lu Chen, it’s time for you to get the fuck off these walls! Hall of Immortality’s Immortality City isn’t a place you should have come to!"

Bang!

The huge impact sent me flying off the city walls. Chaos Moon’s mouth dropped open in shock when she saw me fall and she immediately led a group of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players up the wall. As I fell, I could only catch a glimpse of Candlelight Shadow’s smug face and Chaos Moon’s snowy thighs.

……

Thunk!

I landed heavily on the sand before swiftly springing to my feet and shaking my head vigorously, causing countless grains of sand to fall from my armor. I turned around to see that I had landed next to the siege tower that had been destroyed by God’s Dance’s Storm of Destruction. High Fighting Spirits and Li Chengfeng had perished in that attack. As I stared at the ruined siege tower, I could see countless bodies intermingled with the rubble. I winced in dismay.

Rustle...

Something suddenly stirred in the middle of that wreckage. After that, a blood-colored battle axe suddenly burst out from underneath the rubble! WTF, that was High Fighting Spirit’s Invincible!

"Ah, this is so fucking troublesome!" High Fighting Spirits snarled as he struggled to climb out of the ruined siege tower. His body and face was stained with dust and he only had about 10% of his HP left. When he finally climbed clear of the wreckage, I saw that he was holding Invincible in his right hand and a person in his left. It was Li Chengfeng! Li Chengfeng only had 5% of his health left, and it seemed like God’s Dance attack had knocked him unconscious.[1]

"Hurry up and heal them!" I shouted as I hurriedly rushed toward them. I immediately positioned myself in front of them to block them from getting sniped by an archer. Thankfully, Chaos Moon and her squad had drawn most of the attention to themselves, so most of the enemy archers didn’t have the leisure to pick off any stragglers below the city walls. If not for that, both Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits could be easily picked off by a salvo of Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms.

Moon Dew and Murong Minyue started waving their magic staves in the air as several consecutive heals instantly filled up High Fighting Spirits’ HP bar. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and Xu Yang had also rushed forward and they were currently staring at the unconscious Li Chengfeng.

Xu Yang hefted his broadsword in his hand as he said, "What the hell? Li actually got knocked out by God’s Dance? Is he even a dragon warrior? Hurry up and wake him up!"

High Fighting Spirits glared at him fiercely. "This is a game! How the hell am I supposed to wake him up?"

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun chimed in, "How about you try CPR?"

High Fighting Spirits grinned. "Sounds good! You do it!"

As he said that, he grabbed the back of Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun’s head and attempted to drag it toward Li Chengfeng’s face. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun let out a shrill yell as he tried to struggle out of the warrior’s grasp.

"What the fuck?l!"

Li Chengfeng slowly started to stir. When his eyes fluttered open, he immediately let out a startled shout and kicked both High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun away. He raised his sword high in the air and yelled, "Even though civilization has fallen into ruin, the rivers and mountains still remain!"

Murong Mingyue looked up at the sky and sighed helplessly. "What the hell is going on? These bunch of idiots. We’re smack dab in the middle of an intense siege, but here they are cracking jokes…"

……

The battle on top of the city wall had turned white-hot as both Blazing Hot Lips and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls launched fierce assaults on the enemy lines. Even though nearly half of the twelve siege towers had been destroyed, the rest of them had managed to ram into the city walls. Players swarmed out of them and threw themselves at the enemy.

On the other side of the city, The Monarch Descends was focusing all of their fire on the city gate. We had to destroy the city gate. If we didn’t, there was no way for our mounted troops to rush into the city and destroy the numerous arrow towers. If we didn’t get rid of the arrow towers, they would remain a huge thorn in our side. In fact, nearly half of our casualties had been caused by those damned arrow towers.

"Ahhhh…"

Cries of misery rang out in the air as players kept falling from the top of the city walls. Most of them were dead before they even hit the ground. Candle Dragon’s counterattack had been deadly, the overwhelming firepower pinning most of our guild members toward the edge of the wall. Players continued to fall on both sides as the conflict slowly grinded itself into a stalemate. However, this battle of attrition would be devastating for us in the long run. We lost at least three players every time we killed a Candle Dragon player. This was the price to pay when you were the ones besieging an enemy city.

As I stared up at the city walls, I brandished the Cyan Netherworld Sword and bellowed, "Brothers and sisters, prepare to mount those walls! The siege towers are moving targets and it's too easy for us to get attacked while we are riding them. I want everyone to spread up and climb up the walls using the cloud ladders. Remember this! I want every mounted player to summon their mounts the moment they climb up the wall. Once we have enough mounted troops, I want you to launch a mini cavalry charge. It will be more effective that way!

Gui Guzi, Heaven’s Rain, and Diamond Dust nodded their heads in unison. After that, the crème de la crème of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls started to quietly scale the city walls. He Yi was right behind me while Beiming Xue was nimbly flying up the cloud ladder, the Dragonbone String in her mouth. The speed and alacrity of a high-Agility class was plain for all to see.

……

Unfortunately for us, an enemy archer noticed us scaling the walls and he immediately pointed toward us and yelled, "Damn it all! Everyone, we need to defend the walls, those guys from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are trying to…"

Before he could finish speaking, a bright blade gorily burst out of his chest. As blood sprayed in the air, he let out a miserable wail and tumbled off the walls. Chaos Moon peeked her head out from where the archer had been standing, her fair face dotted with specks of blood. She grinned at us and said, "Hurry up! We can’t hold them off for much longer!"

Chaos Moon wasn’t exaggerating one bit. She had to immediately whirl around to parry an enemy strike and the warriors around her were slowly being cut down or kicked off the walls by Candlelight Shadow and his men. Blue Sky Scar roared triumphantly as he cut a warrior down but his ragged breathing revealed just how savage the battle had gotten!

I was overcome by an increased sense of urgency as I practically flew up the walls. I quickly swept my eyes over my skill bar and I saw that the button to summon my mount had lit up once more. Shit, I actually allowed those Candle Dragon guys to use Mountain Stagger Arrows and Ice Dragon Howls to deplete my mount’s tenacity. Ah, how disgraceful!

Wooosh!

I had already started summoning the Ice Qilin Horse as I leapt high in the air. I waved a hand in the air as a magic circle flashed into life. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a piercing whinny as it burst out of the magic formation. My perfectly-timed jump allowed me to land on the Armored Ice Qilin Horse’s back just as its hooves hit the top of the city wall. Killing intent practically rolled off my body as I entered a mounted state at the first possible moment.

Blue Sky Scar gave a startled yell when he saw me, "Fuck, Lu Chen is back again! These Earthfire Realm fighters are a real pain to deal with! Boss, how are we going to deal with him?"

Candlelight Shadow’s eyes went cold. "Let’s charge him together! We can adjust our formation after we’ve gotten rid of Lu Chen. He’s only a sixth-promotion player, there’s nothing to be scared of! I want everyone to calm down and follow me!"

"Yes!"

They fanned out and started to advance toward me in a scattered formation. After that, God’s Dance instantly used Galaxy Storm to impede my vision while Transient Smoke and Clouds took the opportunity to fire Shock Arrow at me!

I unconsciously weaved left and right, which was enough to dodge his Shock Arrow. After that, my sword arm lashed out as I unleashed Thousand Ice Slash!

Boom!

My sword seemed to multiply into countless blades of sword energy as it exploded in the midst of a small group of players. Tempest Shadow was one of them and he was unlucky enough to have his mount’s legs frozen by my attack!

As the enemy players started surging forward, I immediately moved to protect Chaos Moon and the surviving members of her squad. I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward and slashed the air three times. Burning Blade Slash!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Over a dozen Candle Dragon magic knights fell to the ground, engulfed by fiery explosions.

Candlelight Shadow took this opportunity to launch an attack as well. He thrust his sword into the ground, and yelled, "Rock Thrust!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The cobblestones on top of the city wall fractured and split apart as a sharp row of stone spikes shot up from the ground and smashed into the people around me. It also did quite a fair bit of damage to me as well.

Tempest Shadow shot toward me from the other side as he raised his spear high in the air. As he swung the spear toward me, a dense golden light erupted from its blade and swiftly condensed into the image of a snarling tiger. He yelled, "Fierce Tiger Slash!"

Bang!

A beam of energy instantly shot out from his spear and struck everything in its path! Chaos Moon and I had a front and center view of it coming our way!

16879!

24092!

Shock immediately colored Chaos Moon’s pretty face, she had very nearly died!

God’s Dance started casting another Galaxy Storm. Her Storm of Destruction was a large-scale forbidden curse spell, so its cooldown was at least two hours long. The cooldown for these spells had to be this long. If not, all the other players didn’t need to bother playing the game!

……

Arrows and spells flew through the air with reckless abandon as Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, and Golden Age Hero pressed forward with their men. Chaos Moon and I had no choice but to backpedal continuously. There was nothing we could do in the face of these impossible odds.

It was at this exact moment that we heard a wild roar echo from behind us. Hell yeah! That’s Li Chengfeng’s voice. The dragon warrior had finally made his entrance!

He barreled past us, the Blade of Ghastly Wind raised high in the air. Li Chengfeng had activated Charge the moment his feet hit the top of the city walls and he was targeting one of the Soul of the Foot Famous Generals, Golden Age Hero!

Whoosh!

Li Chengfeng had locked onto him with his Charge, but Golden Age Hero was no noob. He hurriedly wove an "S" shape as he backpedaled, but it wasn’t enough to stop Li Chengfeng from hitting him with an explosive combo! Barrier Break + Dragonbone Flurry!

Puchi puchi puchi...

All four of Li Chengfeng’s sword strikes had struck home. Even though Soul of the Foot was active, it wasn’t enough to save his life. He sank to the ground in a pool of his own blood. All four of Li Chengfeng’s attacks had pierced his throat, which dealt even more damage since they struck a weak spot. His exquisite accuracy caused the jaws of the players to drop open in amazement.

High Fighting Spirits had also activated Charge when he leapt onto the top of the city walls. He had rushed into a crowd of Candle Dragon players and a cyan beast head flashed into existence as he unleashed Xiezhi Howl in their midst! The damage he dealt was absolutely shocking.

Chaos Moon also seized this opportunity to strike, her Rock Crush sending Blue Sky Scar reeling backward.

Xu Yang knew that his mechanical skill wasn’t up to the mark, so he merely followed the path which High Fighting Spirits had opened up. He craftily waited for High Fighting Spirits to use Xiezhi Howl, using the distraction to hit Tempest Shadow in the head with a Mountain Stagger Slash!

Bang!

Tempest Shadow hurriedly backpedaled as color drained from his face. Xu Yang’s attack had instantly deleted a huge amount of his mount’s tenacity. He yelled in shock, "Fuck, why is that skill so despicable?"

1. Don’t ask us how that’s possible…