The Almighty Ring

Otis and his army did not let Jiang Fei wait too long. In less than an hour, Jiang Fei could see and hear the galloping horses of the army. The cloud of dust and sand they left in their wake was truly a sight to behold. Especially with the Shadow Faction’s banner carried by the flagman as they rode with vigor into the warzone.

Jiang Fei was perhaps the only person there who knew that the army that was riding in, with flags and all, were only the scraps. The real elite kill force was still far behind the front line. Those elite forces were already ready and waiting. However, their objective was not to become cannon fodder but to pair with Jiang Fei’s sneak attempt at making the teleportation circle. Once Jiang Fei made it happen, they would charge in via the teleportation circle and hit the enemy where it hurts the most.

“Sorry for my tardiness,” said Otis as he greeted Jiang Fei.

“Nonsense. I have only just arrived as well!” Jiang Fei greeted back.

While Jiang Fei and Otis began to talk, players on the sidelines started to have their own conversation.

“Look. There is always another person better than you. The big NPC boss greeted Jiang Fei as if he was some big shot! He did not even care to look at the rest of us!”

“Pshhh! Who are you to compare yourself to Verdure Glider! Go kill a god and then complain!”

“Woah. Calm down. I’m just being salty here. There’s no need for such a farce!”

“What farce? Count yourself lucky to be able to participate in this war! Hmph! The man had earned his badges! What did you do to deserve big NPC boss’ to greet you?”

…

“So? How are your preparations? Everything good?” Otis glanced at the other players and asked. To be honest, he did not care about the other players. He did not care about any players, to be exact, except for Jiang Fei alone. Not many were able to garner the good side of NPCs in the first place.

“Yes. Shall we lit the fire of war?” said Jiang Fei, with a smile. The war was supposed to be the conclusive war. There was no point in delaying it any further.

“Right you are!” Otis nodded and said. He turned and rode his horse to Ivan and bellowed commandingly, “General Ivan, order the troops to march forward!”

“Yes, your highness!” Ivan bowed down and answered Otis respectfully.

“Soldiers! We march!” Ivan bellowed, mirroring the same commanding aura that Otis had and commanded the army to start the attack.

Players and NPCs alike roared and cheered with vigor before charging towards the Light Faction.

“Attack!”

“For the Shadow Faction!”

“For the Nephilim King!”

“For money!”

“For experience points!”

“For glorious equipment!”

The chants of NPC soldiers and players differed so greatly. One side was entirely altruistic while the other was 100% egoistic.

Jiang Fei laughed at the image that the players were presenting but he was not at liberty to comment on such acts since he too was not doing this for charity.

…

Compared to the atmosphere that the NPC soldiers was creating, players were literally having the time of their lives, dying at the hands of the enemy, while the NPC soldiers were fighting for their lives, for the glory of the Shadow Faction. It was only natural since players had nothing to lose and was gaining experience points through quests. They would even run pass the NPC soldiers line and take a killing hit just to die earlier! The faster they died, they faster they could revive and die again! This would continue on as the quest that Jiang Fei had issued did not limit players from repeating the quest! The more they died, the more experience points they could earn!

…

The entire Shadow Faction army organization was a bit eccentric. In other wars, players would never want to die early and become the cannon fodder just to allow other players to get more benefits. This time, everyone, including the Empyreal Dragon, was charging to the front, competing with each other to die faster! Hence, players formed the front most line and the NPC soldiers were left behind them. Due to that pressure of charging forward, the entire Shadow Faction was making huge progress.

“Huhuhu! I guess bravery is hardwired into every adventurer!” said Otis as he witnessed how the players were rushing to the front. Naturally, he did not understand that they had their own agenda. An agenda that had nothing to do with the war.

“It is our blood. We are adventurers, after all!” said Jiang Fei, smiling awkwardly. Players charging to the frontlines was part of the plan that Jiang Fei had already discussed with Otis. What Otis knew was Jiang Fei was going to send in players or adventurers to the front lines while the NPC soldiers would be pushed to the back. That would greatly decrease the losses of the Shadow Faction NPC army. What Otis did not know was that the majority of players were only rushing to the front, dying as many times as possible because of the quest.

“Fire the cannons! Do not stop! Crap! How are there so many people?”

“Order the adventurers to stop these scum of the Shadow Faction!”

From high above the castle walls, Light Faction leaders and commanders were astounded by the sheer number of adventurers and NPC soldiers rushing to the borders without the fear of being attacked! Soldiers that were guarding the defense fortress were not more than two million. However, from the looks of it, the enemy had more than ten million! If they wanted to breach the castle wall, not even a steel barrack could stop them!

The gates were opened and the drawbridges were lowered. Players of the Light Faction rushed out in waves and charged towards the Shadow Faction. Unfortunately, the number of players from the Light Faction that participated in the war was only a handful.

When faction war had just started, many players suddenly became honest to their true self and chose to join the Shadow Faction. The entire player base in the Faction Map was divided and a third of the entire player population was in Light Faction. Even though there were many new fresh players joined the game, they had inadvertently joined the Shadow Faction due to its popularity. As such, the game had implemented a balancing system. Since the Light Faction had much fewer players, NPCs were added and their strength were generally stronger than the Shadow Faction. Even so, players themselves were unaffected, leading to an unbalanced, tipping towards the Shadow Faction warfare.

When players of two factions saw each other, they charged towards one another with hatred and animosity. Players of both sides had accepted the quest and would gladly kill one another.

With the sheer number of players, the Shadow Faction side was able to push back the attacking Light Faction. However, when the reinforcements from the Light Faction were dispatched, the Shadow Faction players were pushed back!

Cannons on the fortress walls were fired repeatedly. These cannons fired shots powerful and strong enough to instantly kill a Level 80 Advanced Elite monster and strong enough to kill players like they were ants. The deaths of countless Shadow Faction players had bolstered the morale of Light Faction players, granting them temporary boost to fight back the charging Shadow Faction.

However, there was one thing that the Shadow Faction had that the Light Faction did not—experience points from just participating in the war! Players did not mind dying repeatedly and would be more than happy to die again in the front lines. All they cared about was not to have the war end too quickly or they would not be able to gain enough experience points to level up. As such, players of the Shadow Faction would charge in once more after they died.

Death meant nothing to them since they lose literally nothing. On the other hand, the Light Faction was not doing so well since the ammunition to load the magic cannons were running low!

When the war began to hit a stalemate, Jiang Fei received a message from a player that he had long forgotten. Smart Tomato!

“Big bro! I have a business here. Perhaps you would be interested?” said Smart Tomato, as if he was sure that Jiang Fei would gladly take it!