Chapter 15: The Final Battle Beneath the City Walls

“So they just stopped issuing quests?” Li Bin laughed. “That’s why they ended up losing the entire continent. Haven’t you considered how much effort those guilds invested just to mobilize the Heart of the City? Could they really stand against the entire system? If they had just tried to tough it out, after the three novice continents were occupied, why did the number of new cities on each continent barely increase?”

With each question Li Bin posed, Old Xiu Bi’s eyelids twitched. Finally, he jumped up, agitated, and exclaimed, “The most I can do is mobilize a level 3 village’s Heart of the City. If the Black Moon Stone Guild occupies this continent, they can at most grant the same level of Heart of the City. I understand now. If things go well, I’ll definitely report to the system and help you apply for a mid-to-high level Heart of the City.”

Li Bin watched Old Xiu Bi hopping around with interest, unsure what he could say. In his heart, he simply hoped that ordinary players could seize this opportunity and make the best choices, laying a solid foundation for future development.

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Soon, the system announced the latest quest list released by Xiu Bi Bloodlust City, with one quest titled “Counterstrike” at the very top.

In this quest, any player who pledges allegiance to Xiu Bi Bloodlust City and kills a Black Moon Stone Guild player immediately earns a level 3 Heart of the City. For every ten Black Moon Stone Guild players killed in subsequent battles, they receive an additional level 1 Heart of the City.

When this news broke, the situation across the Bloodlust Wasteland changed dramatically. Many players who had been treated as cannon fodder by the Black Moon Stone Guild instantly turned coat, slaying those around them and fleeing to Xiu Bi Bloodlust City.

Ordinarily, upon receiving this news, the leaders of Black Moon Stone would have quickly issued a counter-message, offering Hearts of the City to lure these ordinary players back. But upon seeing Xiu Bi Bloodlust City’s quest, they could only sigh in resignation.

According to system regulations, on the novice continent, they too could only offer level 3 Hearts of the City as rewards. With identical incentives, how could they possibly win back those who had already defected?

Even if they somehow managed to acquire level 4 Hearts of the City, circumventing system restrictions to privately gift them to players, they lacked the strength to sustain such support. To make matters worse, all the ordinary players now lived in constant fear, worried their own teammates might betray them for a Heart of the City.

In this tense atmosphere, many ordinary players flocked to Xiu Bi Bloodlust City’s ranks, and soon the balance of power between the two sides shifted noticeably.

Bereft of their cannon fodder troops, the Black Moon Stone Guild had no choice but to deploy their core members early, sending their elite forces into a decisive battle with Xiu Bi Bloodlust City.

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Because of the mass defection of ordinary players, the Bloodlust City legion—originally expected to be decimated by Black Moon Stone’s cannon fodder—barely suffered losses. Instead, with a large influx of new recruits, their strength swelled even further.

A vanguard of over five hundred ordinary players formed a formidable line outside Bloodlust City, and those who had acquired Hearts of the City eagerly spent their long-saved resources to purchase troops, hoping to profit further from the coming battle.

Behind the player vanguard marched the main force of Bloodlust City. Leading the way were twenty units of half-orc soldiers, each commanded by a half-orc hero. From their weapons, it was clear they were all half-orc axe throwers, Bloodlust City’s level 2 troop. Before the players joined Bloodlust City, these were Old Xiu Bi’s own cannon fodder.

Yet now, compared to the ragtag players, these level 2 soldiers seemed almost like a proper army.

Following them came five cavalry units made up entirely of wolf riders—mostly level 3 earth goblin wolf knights, but all equipped with fine gear.

Behind them towered the massive city walls, lined with level 3 orc axe throwers and level 4 orc priests. Beyond the walls waited Old Xiu Bi’s elite forces.

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Compared to Bloodlust City’s army, the Black Moon Stone Guild’s ranks were pitiful. Their once vast force of player cannon fodder had been halved by a single quest from Bloodlust City. Now, their player cannon fodder numbered barely a hundred, mostly friends of the guild’s key members.

Next came the guild’s core members, their troops divided according to rank. At the front marched over three thousand harpies of various levels.

The main force behind them consisted of level 5 and 6 troops. Most impressive was an entire legion of level 6 Royal Griffins, led by a player who soared through the air with more than a hundred Royal Griffins—a presence that was unmistakable, even from behind the ranks of harpies.

Hidden behind the city walls, Li Bin learned from the system that the player carrying the Royal Griffin battle standard was none other than one of Black Moon Stone Guild’s three presidents, Thousand Illusion Ice Cloud (surely Brother Thousand Illusion won’t mind), the commander-in-chief of this siege. For this operation, he had even repeatedly killed his own character to lower his level to five, personally infiltrating the Bloodlust Wasteland.

Under Thousand Illusion Ice Cloud’s command, the Black Moon Stone Guild’s army slowly advanced towards Bloodlust City. However, upon reaching the limit of the half-orc axe throwers’ range, they halted. Soon, three massive, twenty-meter-high, hundred-meter-long rectangular boxes rolled onto the battlefield from the guild’s rear lines.

Li Bin studied them for a long while before realizing they must be mobile villages of the Barbarian class—timber war forts. Clearly, Thousand Illusion Ice Cloud planned to establish his own city on the battlefield to counteract the defensive bonuses of Bloodlust City.

The shrewd Old Xiu Bi certainly hadn’t anticipated this. When he saw the timber war forts swiftly deployed and embedded in the ground, he couldn’t help but shout, “Stop them! Attack immediately!”

The players at the front hadn’t even received the order yet, but the half-orc priests atop the city walls were already in motion. Gathering together, they channeled massive magical energy into Bloodlust spells, casting them onto the cannon fodder troops below.

The twenty heroes commanding the half-orc axe throwers drew their axes and loudly ordered, “Target ahead, advance slowly.”

After a brief commotion, the players responded; both sides quickly sought open ground unaffected by the battle and began fighting among themselves. Yet Li Bin could see clearly—they fought with great spectacle, but suffered no real losses.

Consequently, the regular cannon fodder troops collided directly, and the longest, most decisive battle in Bloodlust Wasteland finally erupted.

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