Chapter 2040 – We Meet Again

Crimson Heart and her Dark Cloud Legion dashed through a quiet, forested canyon without paying any attention to their Stamina consumption. Even when they were ambushed by monsters, their resistance was minimal, trying to avoid confrontation as much as possible.

“Hurry! We must hurry!” Crimson Heart shouted as she looked at the system clock with a grim expression.

Five minutes had already passed since their assault on Starlink’s blockades had begun. It was highly likely that Three Kills’ team had already reached her path, waiting ahead to stop her team.

Although they had broken past Desert Tiger’s blockade and had been pushing their Mounts to the limit ever since, there were still multiple roadblocks ahead. The forces waiting for them might not be as powerful as Desert Tiger’s, but they would slow the Legion’s progress.

“Vice Guild Leader, I spotted another blockade ahead. It’s manned by roughy 3,000 players,” a Tier 2 Ranger suddenly reported through the team chat

“Three thousand?” Crimson Heart frowned slightly.

This was bad news for their team.

Normally, a Guild would post its forces on multiple sections of the road to seal it off. She had never expected so many players to man the secondary blockades.

They had already sacrificed over 400 players during the clash with Desert Tiger’s forces, which meant they had less than 600 players remaining. If they tried to fight their way past another 3,000 players in such a forested region, they’d pay another considerable price and waste quite a bit of time.

Gritting her teeth, Crimson Heart commanded, “Use the Tier 3 Summoning Scrolls! Once we shake apart the barricade, I want everyone to gather and force through from a single point!”

Aside from the Blood Source Potions, she had prepared a few trump cards to fortify Moon Creek Town to increase their chances of surviving until the Hundred Flowers Palace’s army arrived. The Tier 3 Summoning Scrolls were one of these cards.

She had planned to reserve these scrolls for the fight in Moon Creek Town, but to blast past Starlink’s blockade as quickly as possible and maintain the distance between her team, Three Kills’, and Desert Tiger’s, she had no choice but to use them.

Understood!” Several Tier 2 Summoners behind Crimson Heart nodded in response.

A short moment later, Crimson Heart and her force arrived before a section of wooded valley that several hundred MTs guarded. A large number of Rangers and Elementalists also hid in the trees along both sides of the road. As soon as Crimson Heart’s team moved within range, these Rangers and Elementalists would bombard them with spells and arrows.

However, when less than 100 yards separated the two forces, four Summoners atop Mounts began to chant an incantation, unfurling the Magic Scrolls in their hands.

Responding to the Summoners’ magic, four Level 75 Great Lords appeared before the Dark Cloud Legion and charged toward Starlink’s defensive lines.

“Attack! Attack with everything you’ve got!”

Although the sudden appearance of four Level 75 Great Lords had surprised Starlink’s members, they were elite and expert players, reacting quickly and attacking the Great Lords on sight

Tier 2 Skills and Spells flew at the summoned monsters, inflicting damages in the thousands. At the same time, the Tier 2 MTs on the frontline activated their Lifesaving Skills, while the rear line healers began to cast their Healing Spells. Despite the level advantage, the Great Lords weren’t able to scatter the blockade quickly.

However, with the four Great Lords taking most of the damage, Crimson Heart’s team was able to approach the frontline MTs with relative ease.

Starlink’s Tier 2 MTs had their hands full with the Level 75 Great Lords, and as a result, they fell instantly under the Dark Cloud Legion’s concentrated attacks. In the blink of an eye, several Tier 2 MTs from Starlink died, opening a massive rift in the defensive line. Although the other MTs tried to fill the hole, Crimson Heart gave them no opportunities to do so as she brandished her daggers. When her blades struck, even Tier 2 MTs stumbled away from her.

Despite the fervent attacks from Starlink’s ranged players, Crimson Heart easily avoided their bombardment and continued to widen the gap in the enemy’s defensive line by relying on the Great Lord’s massive frames. This allowed the Dark Cloud Legion members to break past the blockade as a single unit

Yet, despite their success, Crimson Heart’s team had still suffered more than 50 casualties in the assault.

A few seconds after Crimson Heart’s team broke through the blockade, a Tier 2 Ranger reported, “Vice Guild Leader, Starlink’s members are giving chase.”

“So soon?” Crimson Heart’s expression twisted when she heard this. She hadn’t expected Starlink’s players to reorganize and take up the chase so quickly. “How far are they?”

“Roughly 700 yards,” the Tier 2 Ranger said.

“Leave two Great Lords behind to delay them!” Crimson Heart commanded after giving the matter some thought.

Even for ordinary players, 700 yards wasn’t a vast distance, much less elite and expert players with their own Mounts. If they allowed the Starlink members to get too close, they’d get caught in a pincer attack the moment they ran into the next blockade. With the legion’s remaining combat power, a pincer attack would signal their demise.

They could only try to buy as much time as possible in this situation.

After receiving their orders, two of the four Summoners controlling the Great Lords split away from the team, staying behind to delay their enemies.

Fortunately, the two Great Lords were quite effective, allowing Crimson Heart’s team to put more distance between them and Starlink’s forces as time passed. Now that the legion had two Great Lords to lead the way, Crimson Heart’s players no longer had to worry about monster interference. The Great Lords swept aside any monsters that attempted to ambush the players effortlessly.

Moreover, with the Great Lords’ strength, breaking past the blockades manned by one or two thousand players became significantly easier.

“Vice Guild Leader, we’ll reach Moon Creek Town in less than ten minutes,” a Tier 2 Ranger excitedly reported after looking at Silent Canyon’s system map.

“Everyone, get ready. Once we enter the town, we’ll likely have another tough battle to face,” Crimson Heart said as she breathed a sigh of relief.

Their journey had not been easy. Despite using Tier 3 Summoning Scrolls, the Dark Cloud Legion had still lost players. Now, fewer than 200 members remained. Fortunately, they were almost to Moon Creek Town.

As long as they passed the Blood Source Potions out to the players in Moon Creek Town, they should be able to buy enough time for the Hundred Flowers Palace’s main army to arrive.

However, as Moon Creek Town appeared on the horizon, several hundred fire arrows rained down on Crimson Heart and her team. Caught off guard, the legion tried to dodge the incoming attacks.

Unfortunately, the fire arrows were quite fast, and not even the Dark Cloud Legion’s experts could dodge them in time, taking the hits. To make matters worse, these experts fell after taking two fire arrows. The arrows’ power was nothing like the Spells players typically used.

As chaos tore at Crimson Heart’s team, a gigantic magic array appeared in the sky, enveloping the Dark Cloud Legion.

“This is...a magic barrier!” Crimson Heart’s expression darkened as she watched the translucent barrier form around her players.

“That’s right We prepared this specifically for you. Are you surprised?”

Suddenly, a rugged voiced emerged from within the barrier, familiar enough that Crimson Heart and her companions spun toward its origin.

Before they had realized it, a large group of players had appeared in the clearing ahead of them. The origin of the rugged voice was a Level 62, Tier 2 Berserker.

“Desert Tiger?!” Crimson Heart was stunned when she saw the man. “How did you get here?!”

Her Dark Cloud Legion had lost over 400 members during the battle with Starlink’s first blockade. Desert Tiger himself had been responsible for over one-quarter of those deaths. If her subordinates hadn’t fought as desperately as they had, Desert Tiger might have pinned her down, and they never would’ve made it past the first roadblock.

Logically, Desert Tiger should still be far behind her team, yet he stood before her now. Why wouldn’t she be surprised?

“Don’t tell me you think that Mounts are the only way to cross long distances quickly.” Desert Tiger chuckled as he looked at Crimson Heart.

“Could it be...a flying tool?” Crimson Heart suddenly thought of a possibility.

Now that the Silent Canyon was sealed off, teleportation within the canyon would be impossible. The only other travel method she could think of that was faster than a Mount was a flying tool. However, flying tools were extremely precious. She had only ever heard of such tools, never actually seen one before.

“Smart.” Desert Tiger nodded. He then chuckled and said, “Well? Are you going to surrender quietly? Or do you truly want to face us a second time?”

“Surrender?” Crimson Heart sneered at Desert Tiger and his team. “That depends on whether or not you can force us to!”

Desert Tiger’s team only consisted of 100 players at this point Meanwhile, a dozen or so players maintained the magic barrier. This proved that the barrier wasn’t that strong, so the Dark Cloud Legion had a chance of breaking out of it

“Since that is your answer, show me what the Hundred Flowers Palace is capable of,” Desert Tiger said, smiling as he waved a hand.

Immediately, the several dozen players around him stepped into the array and charged at Crimson Heart’s team.

However, once the two forces met each other in battle, the Dark Cloud Legion members were stupefied.

The two forces’ combat power was on entirely different levels. A single Starlink expert was strong enough to overwhelm two or three Dark Cloud Legion experts. In a one-on-one fight, none of the Dark Cloud Legion members lasted more than ten moves.

Even an expert as powerful as Crimson Heart was forced to focus on defense against five Starlink experts’ coordinated attacks.

Refinement Realm experts? Crimson Heart could tell that her five opponents were far stronger than the other Starlink experts her team fought They had definitely reached the Refinement Realm. The overall standard of Desert Tiger’s newest team was far stronger than the players he had commanded earlier. “I’m sure you can see the difference between our forces. Staying in the Hundred Flowers Palace is a waste for an expert like yourself. Why don’t you join Starlink instead? If you submit to me, I can recommend that the Guild give you an Elder position at the very least. You won’t have to fall with the Hundred Flowers Palace,” Desert Tiger offered. Despite the fact that he had Crimson Heart cornered, he didn’t rush to finish her off. Instead, he continued to try to persuade her, saying, “If you are hoping that the team on the other path will reach the town, I’d suggest you abandon the idea. Unlike myself, those old fossils don’t have the patience to play with their opponents.”

“In your dreams!” Crimson Heart growled, determination flashing in her eyes as she prepared to make a last stand.

“Since that is the case, I’ll send you to hell alongside your precious Palace!” Desert Tiger bellowed. He immediate activated Charge, targeting Crimson Heart.

However, as soon as Desert Tiger entered the magic barrier, an indifferent voice echoed across the battlefield.

“Vice Guild Leader Crimson, I’m truly sorry for the long wait.”

Everyone turned toward the voice’s origin the instant they heard it, spotting a dozen or so figures a short distance away from the magic barrier. The leader of the group was a cloaked, young man.