Chapter 338: A Race Against Time (2)
The Four Divine Beasts saw an increase in stats after unlocking their human form. Their intelligence had also increased greatly, improving their cooperation with Shen Jingbin and company.
Before this, their party had fallen into their old habits of fighting Jue Tian like they would a world BOSS. But, they'd forgotten one thing: that Jue Tian wasn't meant to be defeated by them. Having remembered that point, they no longer persisted in stubbornly trying to eliminate him, and instead switched to a different tactic. They would partly lead and partly force Jue Tian over to Reincarnation Pagoda.
Due to his stats being cut in half and the Four Divine Beasts taking on a human form, it only took a little while to force Jue Tian to follow along with their plan.
When he saw his Sect Leader being led away, the Grand Elder turned his back on Zhang Wudi and attempted to go to Jue Tian's aid. But, it looked like Jue Tian had a better grasp of the situation than the Grand Elder did. "Don't worry about me! Gather some people and destroy the Lamp of Life!"
Jue Tian's voice boomed throughout the area. Not only could the Grand Elder hear it, all of the players could as well. The Shinra Sect players suddenly remembered that their primary mission wasn't to cut down disciples of the righteous sect, but rather to destroy the Watchtower of Longevity and the Lamp of Life. While killing other players might be fun, they still needed to win in the end!
"Everyone, our target is the Watchtower of Longevity and the Lamp of Life!" Nine Ballads no longer devoted all her efforts to ambushing the members of Jade Sea Pavilion, and instead made a beeline for the Watchtower of Longevity.
During this time, Shen Jingchen and Next Week Is Unlikely hurriedly organised the players from the Six Great Sects.
"Form up; our mission is to protect the Watchtower of Longevity! Quiet And Steadfast's group has already driven Jue Tian to the Reincarnation Pagoda! All we need to do is guard the Watchtower of Longevity and we'll win!"
The players from the Six Great Sects gathered and formed a human wall to block the Shinra Sect's advance. Due to their numerical superiority, they were even able to send a number of elite players ahead to the Watchtower of Longevity.
The Six Great Sects had discrepancies in their individual power levels, while those from the Shinra Sect were amongst the more elite players. If the ones at the front weren't able to hold back the Shinra Sect, they'd at least still have another line of defence.
With Shen Jingchen in command of the rearguard, all of the large scale guilds picked out several of their elite players and sent them along with him to the Watchtower of Longevity to act as the last line of defence. Next Week Is Unlikely took charge of the vanguard with the Guild Leaders from Imperial City, Memelord, and a few of the other larger guilds. Players from Sovereign's Descent and Life At First Sight were too embarrassed to ask for a leading role. Because, by this point, some unsavory rumours were floating around about their guilds.
For example: Reckless East Emperor is part of the Shinra Sect. There was also someone who personally saw Nine Ballads disappear with someone who was suspected to be Reckless East Emperor in the Underworld. There was also the fact that the Leaders of both guilds weren't present even at such a critical stage of the battle.
Longtime players of this game were no fools. All it took was a bit of thinking, some hints, and they'd be able to figure out what was going on.
Under these circumstances, the members of Sovereign's Descent and Life At First Sight were akin to traitors amongst the players of the Six Great Sects. With all eyes on them, there was no way they'd try to do anything funny.
On the Shinra Sect side of things, Nine Ballads had joined up with Tiny Little Loli, Crying Fish, and the rest of them. Neverending Journey had also gathered additional forces. Their objective was simple: to break through the human wall in one fell swoop before dispersing and launching sneak attacks on the Watchtower of Longevity and the Lamp of Life.
Jue Tian suddenly gave a cold smile. "You think this little plaything will be able to destroy me? Dream on! I'll destroy this thing now, and then we'll see if you still have any ideas left on how to defeat me!"
With that, Jue Tian flew up and made his way to the top of Reincarnation Pagoda.
A faint outline of the pagoda's eighth level could already be seen. But, it had yet to fully materialise. Based on the way Jue Tian was acting, there was no way the eighth level could withstand his attack.
There was always this thought bothering Quiet And Steadfast. Even if Jue Tian's stats had been halved, the plan to bring him to Reincarnation Pagoda shouldn't have gone so smoothly. Now, it was clear that Jue Tian had intended to come here, and he was planning to destroy the one thing that posed the greatest threat to him.
"We can't let him near the eighth level!" shouted Pure Crane as he chased after Jue Tian. Pure Crane planned to get in front of Jue Tian and obstruct him, but he was obviously no match for the latter.
"Azure Dragon, Black Tortoise, block his path!" Shen Jingbin commanded.
The Azure Dragon and Black Tortoise weren't affected by being in the water, so they quickly caught up to Jue Tian. Each of them grabbed onto a leg and viciously dragged Jue Tian back down.
Jue Tian's face was filled with malice, and with a flip of his hand, he launched a wide range skill at the Black Tortoise and Azure Dragon. The two of them managed to endure the attack, and with that, they bought enough time for everyone else to catch up.
Chapter 339: Emerging Victorious (1)
Crying Fish looked apprehensively at the wall of players before them. "Nine Ballads, what're we going to do now? I'm afraid it'll be hard for us to get past their defense line; it looks pretty solid."
Nine Ballads maintained her calm. "Fish, you'll be in charge of breaking through their first line of defence. You should know which ones are easy to take down; target them."
She then turned her attention back to Neverending Journey and changed topics. "Guild Leader Journey, round up a squad and secure kills in this area whenever you see an opportunity."
"What about you?" Neverending Journey asked.
"I'll find a way to bring a party over to the Watchtower of Longevity." Nine Ballads replied. "Tiny Little Loli, Inseparable Love, Return Of The Jedi, and North By Northwest, each of you is to bring along someone reliable and follow me."
The named individuals gave a solemn nod of their heads. Nine Ballads turned back to look at Crying Fish. This woman was the most prone to getting into trouble, so Nine Ballads had no choice but to remind her once again.
"Fish, remember that you have an important part to play. If you don't manage to attract their attention, there's a high chance that they'll realise we're trying to launch an ambush on their backline. Once their backline receives backup, we won't have any chance of winning this battle. We don't know what the situation is with that ugly monster either, so we have to seize every opportunity we have."
Stirred by the gravity of her words, Crying Fish gave a solemn nod of her head. Following that, Nine Ballads left with her party.
From the time she'd joined the Shinra Sect till now, Nine Ballads was able to subdue all of the players within the sect with her imposing presence. Not a single person objected to her plan.
Crying Fish took a deep breath before she swept out her hand and howled in anger as she charged forward with the remaining players.
Next Week Is Unlikely calmed himself. The Guild Leaders of Imperial City and Memelord exchanged a glance with one another and came to a tacit understanding. Both of them immediately encouraged their respective guild members to buck up!
Under their leadership, players that weren't a part of the three guilds joined in as well, and their spirits became just as indomitable as the rock-solid human wall they formed.
Both sides clashed. Their roars shook the heavens and their blood boiled.
During this time, Nine Ballads and her party were looking for a loophole in the enemy's defence. There were numerous players from the Six Great Sects. Next Week Is Unlikely had also carefully placed people he trusted at every corner of Soundwave Temple, making sure to block off all the routes to the Tower of Longevity.
Nine Ballads silently cursed.
At times, having more people was an advantage, while at other times, it was a detriment. There'd always be something that was overlooked. Crying Fish noticed that Lonely Moon was the one guarding an area with a team of players.
She immediately brought her party to where Lonely Moon was and called out to him when they were near enough.
Crying Fish's affectionate title of 'Goddess' wasn't just because she was pretty. She had a unique voice and accent as well – the type that made it difficult for men to controls themselves when they heard it. Though her voice had changed, her accent was still the same. Lonely Moon had been secretly in love with her for a very long time, so he immediately froze when he heard her voice.
An opportunity!
Having waited a long time for this chance, Neverending Journey decisively charged forward, working together with Crying Fish to create an opening in their defence line.
"Go!" Nine Ballads seized the opportunity and rushed forward.
Next Week Is Unlikely rushed over as soon as he realised what was happening. But, Nine Ballads and company moved quickly, and by then, it was too late. They were all cloaked as well, so he failed to notice them.
Without looking back, Nine Ballads and company dashed towards the Tower of Longevity.
Shen Jingchen was guarding the Tower of Longevity when he was suddenly overcome by a strange sensation.
Though his martial arts wasn't up to snuff, he was still pretty sharp when it came to sensing danger and bloodlust thanks to Old Master Shen's training.
"Someone's coming!" Shen Jingchen shouted as he raised his sword.
The players guarding the Tower of Longevity immediately went on alert. Though the surrounding was silent and nothing seemed off, they didn't relax their guard. All of them had faith in Dawn's Twilight's abilities.
As expected, a figure in black appeared barely a minute later. The figure rushed forward without any concern for themselves before blowing themselves up. Shen Jingchen didn't expect the opponent to unleash such a considerable attack as soon as they began their assault, so he immediately gave the command for everyone to scatter.
The number one thing to do when an enemy was about to blow themselves up was to avoid standing together.
"Now!"
As soon as they scattered, several figures in black emerged and launched a combined attack against one of the players.
The players, who were now scattered and left on their own, couldn't hope to rival the combined strength of a group of black-clothed men and died within seconds. The black-clothed men didn't waste any time either. They immediately turned their attention to their next target the second they finished off a player.
All the people Shen Jingchen had brought had an acute battle sense. Though they were a little disoriented in the beginning, they quickly grouped together without the slightest bit of hesitation once the surprise wore off.
"Hold them back! I'm going to put out the light!" Nine Ballads shouted before she ran towards the Tower of Longevity without looking back.
Shen Jingchen rushed after the figure in black that barged into Watchtower of Longevity and shouted, "Hurry and call for backup! You guys guard this place; I'll take care of the inside."