The Almighty Ring

“Transport team is ready! You are good to go!” said Ivan.

“Understood. I will need to make some preparations before moving out,” Jiang Fei replied before heading out of the Commander’s Hall.

Outside the hall, Jiang Fei was greeted by one of the NPCs that was part of the convoy. He was just one of the 1,000 NPCs that were in charge of transporting the Gnome Cannons and Ammunitions. While they were many of them, they were only Level 50 Normal tier farmers. Their fighting capability was almost close to zero. It would be up to Jiang Fei and the other 49,999 players to defend the convoy.

Their task was to safely escort the entire convoy to the Main Camp in the front lines. As long as they had gotten the cannons and ammunition there, Jiang Fei would only need to talk to either Heinz or Frizt to complete the quest and obtain luxury rewards.

“It’s not the same…” said Jiang Fei to himself. Although this was not the first escort mission that he had accepted, it was not the same as the others.

When he was protecting Morland, he was on a special map where he only needed to stop the enemies from getting close to Morland. This time, the mission required him to protect a large convoy in an open field! NPCs as well as players from the Light Faction would surely be coming in from all directions. The defensive fight would be chaotic as it would be unpredictable.

“Guild master? Have you accepted the quest?” asked Billy Boy when he saw Jiang Fei coming out of the Commander’s Hall.

“Yeah, I did. But you’re not going to like it,” said Jiang Fei.

“What’s the quest about?”

“First, we need to get these cannons and ammunition to the front line. Then, we need to make sure that no one destroys the cannons!”

“What’s the reward?” asked Little Rain. To him and a few others, the task matters not as much as the reward!

“If everything goes smoothly, everyone who participates in this quest will gain 2 Levels and a mystery equipment reward!” said Jiang Fei. He did not bother to mention gold coins since the guild was too rich. Everyone in the guild had known to receive money from time to time depending on their contributions. The guild’s treasury was never short of coins.

“Yeah! Now that’s what I call a reward!”

“Don’t be so sure about it yet. If the mission fails, all of us are going to drop 3 levels!” said Jiang Fei.

“Heh. With you around, how are we going to fail?” said Little Rain as he chuckled.

“I’m not all-powerful and all-knowing. Even I can make mistakes…” said Jiang Fei as he remembered how Isabella and Ariel had died right before him.

“Anyway, let’s get ready! I’ll take the lead. Billy, you’re in charge of guarding the convoy. Make sure that we are well protected!” said Jiang Fei.

“Commander, sir? Are we going now?” asked one of the NPCs of the convoy.

“Yes, we are. Follow me,” said Jiang Fei as he got to the front most of the convoy.

“Ding! Verdure Glider is now transporting important supplies to the Shadow Faction’s Main Camp in the front lines. All players are encouraged to join the soldiers to stop the supplies from being delivered to their destination! Destroying each supply crate would grant you a luxurious reward!”

Just as Jiang Fei’s convoy started moving, all players in the Light Faction had received a system notification. The quest required them to venture into the territory of the Shadow Faction. However, since the reward was, as the system notification mentioned, luxurious, players had decided to risk it. For each cannon destroyed, the party will receive a total of 200,000,000 experience points which would be divided equally among the party members.

“Heck, this is good!”

“Hell yeah! We can also kill that Verdure Glider!”

“Heh! The bounty on his head is far greater than the reward for destroying the cannons!”

“Open party here! Feel free to join!”

…

In an instant, the Light Faction was rattled. Many players started to form parties amongst themselves while many other guilds with their own party were ready and waiting. While destroying the cannons came with great rewards, the reward of killing Jiang Fei would be even greater! The reward given directly by the Divine Light God would definitely be worth the trouble. Some had even thought that they might even get themselves a hidden class or even better, a hidden race!

By the time Jiang Fei started moving as a whole, players in the Light Faction had already formed their parties and were on their way to stop him. Sea of players could be seen getting out of the fortresses from the Light Faction. There were still many more in the fortresses trying to form a party.

Even though they would need to enter the territory of the Shadow Faction, the average player level had surpassed Level 65. They would not need to worry about being overwhelmed by Level 70 NPCs. At this point, they would not have to worry about the Level Suppression system affecting them. They could easily come in like a locust swarm to destroy any NPCs that dared stand in their way.

…

“Something is not right,” said Jiang Fei to Billy Boy.

“What could possibly be wrong? Even if someone from the Light Faction were to come and disturb us, they would be fighting us in our own turf. At most, they would send in a small team of thieves,” said Billy Boy.

“… Something is wrong but I can’t put a finger on it,” said Jiang Fei worriedly.

“Relax. If anyone dares to stand in our way, I will blast them with my Forbidden Spell,” said Little Rain confidently.

Every other player beside Jiang Fei alone was extremely relaxed and nonchalant about this escort mission. Even though they knew that there would be a penalty if they failed the mission, the convoy was still traveling in the Shadow Faction’s territory. Perhaps that was the reason they were so relaxed.

“I can’t be certain until I know it is certain. I’ll leave the convoy to you, Billy Boy. I’ll be flying around to check the surroundings,” said Jiang Fei as he summoned the Evol. Skygliding Dragon.

Jiang Fei was currently in an open field with no mounts restrictions. Having summoned the Skygliding Dragon, Jiang Fei and Akatziris hopped on it and flew high and far to check on the surrounding.

It had been two hours since he had started moving and yet there was nothing going on. It was quiet and peaceful. Everything went smoothly as the convoy had completed 35% of the entire trip. At this point, instead of being relaxed, Jiang Fei grew more anxious by the minute.

“Miss Rosette, are you in the Demon Dragon Fortress?” asked Jiang Fei in a message to Rosette Rose.

“Yes, I am. What’s up?”

Rosette Rose had already treated the Demon Dragon Fortress like her home as she had never left the place. She was, after all, the chief of management of the guild. As such, she had only trained her level to be sufficient enough to enter the Faction Map. Being at Level 40, she had no reason to leave the fortress or she would be killed by a normal tier monster.

“Go to the army barracks and find Hua Mulan and Sylphy. Tell them that I might have trouble. Have them to prepare an army before finding me en route to the Main Camp in the front line,” said Jiang Fei.

“Got it. Do you have any other requests?” asked Rosette Rose.

“No. Be quick, the entire convoy might be in trouble. I’m not sure. But I trust my gut feeling…”

Rosette Rose did not ask any more questions as she headed to the barracks to inform Hua Mulan and Sylphy about Jiang Fei’s situation.

“Miss Casanova, please gather all combat class players in the guild. Get them ready to fight and gather close to where I am now,” said Jiang Fei to Lady Casanova in another message. The current headcount of Empyreal Dragon was at over 70,000 players, of which over 50,000 were combatants and the others were non-combatants. Even though Jiang Fei had already led exactly 49,999 players, he feared that it would not be enough.

After he had Rosette Rose and Lady Casanova to work, Jiang Fei was still feeling uneasy. He then sent a message to Happy Drunk.

“I need help from your guild. Please gather as many combat class players and come over to my position. In return, I will give you a fortress,” said Jiang Fei in the message.