Sword Among Us

When night fell on the plains, the main Chinese camp had already been reorganized. The soldiers were on full alert, and most of the players who had been wandering outside to carry out quests had returned to the back of the army when the war drum was beaten as a signal for them to return.

“Everyone, you had a pretty good haul, right?”

Some people said nothing.

“I’ve been killing for an entire day, but I only obtained seventy points.”

“Darn it… At least you were able to get some points. I’ve only been serving as a nobody. I ran around the area outside the camp, but everywhere I go outside the camp, I was surrounded by disadvantages. There’s fights everywhere… I ran into a few of those who went astray from their squads after a lot of effort, but those were all lured by other sects. After a day, I didn’t even get a single point.”

“It’s already good that you didn’t die. Those Mongolian cavaliers are too strong. You don’t know the situation by our side. There were tens of thousands of people who followed the infantries to stop the Mongolian cavaliers, but in the end, we were sent into disarray by just a few thousand cavaliers. We couldn’t stop them at all, and a few hundreds of us died with just one arrow shower. Tsk… Fortunately, I saw that the situation was bad, and I avoided the carnage, otherwise, I would have died there, just like them.”

“Huh? How many of your people died?”

“We were doing the quest to intercept cavaliers, and at least five thousand people at our area died!”

“…What the heck.”

“Thank goodness I was smart and chose the Logistics Quest right from the start to protect the food and hay.”

“Same. I wandered about the camp for a long time before I went to the bow camp to fire some arrows. Over the day, I managed to get fifty points.”

Hundreds of players gathered together in a dense group at the back of the Chinese camp, and their group occupied an area that was several miles wide. They were like a huge beast that sat at the back of the Chinese camp.

However, this was a large, restless beast.

All sorts of discussion had been going on nonstop since night fell.

“This is the first day we’ve been carrying out our quests, and I heard that there are a few groups of Mongolian cavaliers who did not suffer much damage at all. Meanwhile, we lost quite a lot of our infantrymen and cavaliers.”

“Yes, we lost hundreds of our soldiers. There aren’t many who obtained points in an admirable manner on the battlefield either. Instead, those who feared death managed to get a few points at the army rear.”

“The world just doesn’t make sense!”

*****

“We had quite a lot of players die, and I heard that many of us left as well.”

“There’s no helping it. The Mongolian cavaliers are much stronger than the ones we ran into in the plains. As expected of an army constantly fighting at the borders, and as expected of Hu Bilie’s soldiers.”

“Fortunately, we won’t have our statuses fall when we die at the battlefield. It’s just that the points we gathered will fall to zero.”

“Of course, or else, I would have left with those people.”

*****

“Calculate the number of people who died today.”

“We should already know about the data regarding the Mongolian cavaliers. We’ll have to change our strategy tomorrow. When the Mongolian cavaliers gather together for a charge, we must absolutely not face them head on. Even if someone takes a gun and points it at your head, do not face them head on. When they split up into smaller squads, those with higher defense will seize the chance to send their formation into disarray. Kill their horses and eat them up one by one.”

“Tomorrow, we must rack up those points!”

*****

A bleak, faint breeze blew through the grass on the plains during the night, and it also caused the loud and lively plains to quiet down slightly.

In a place very close to the main camp was Mu Clan, Class One Hall, and Chivalry Sect. The three top-class sects’ people gathered at the closest place to the eight logistics camps. They formed defense lines that formed circles as well as claimed areas as their own territories. They formed the shape of a pair of horns that flanked three directions of the logistics camp and surrounded the area.

The other sects did not dare get too close to them. Other players also circumnavigated them. They were sensible enough to not go over to harass these sects. Perhaps this was a form of acknowledgement and respect from the elites of the Chinese world of martial artists toward the three top-class sects.

At that moment, a group of elites with lavish equipment and varying presences gathered around the camp that announced the quests.

“Silver Wolf.”

“Dream Clouds…”

“They’re all there.”

“You are… Flower-pinching Gentleman on Famous People Rank. I’ve heard of your name for a long time.”

“Huh? I see, you’re Snowflakes Descending, forty-seventh on Dragon Rank. I’ve been rude to you.”

No weak players could be seen in the crowd. All of them appeared familiar to the others, and some of them even knew each other. Very soon, they began chatting with each other.

“How’re your rewards today?”

“So-so. I got about two hundred points.”

“Hey, did you come to look at the War Achievement Points Rank?”

“Yeah. But there’re so many people around…”

“Say, I’ve never seen that elegant beauty over there with the red lipstick and red robes.”

“Elegant beauty? Which one? Urk! Shush… Bro, don’t let him hear you. You… That person’s Lu Mingyue, palace master of Cold Moon Palace. This time, he’s ranked at the third place in terms of points.”

“Ack…”

Flower-pinching Gentleman, who had pointed out the elegant beauty, felt himself break into cold sweat. His hair rose, and goosebumps rose all over his skin. He even curled up a little.

“Stop looking over there. I reckon he already heard you.”

Flower-pinching Gentleman said nothing.

“Most of the people who came to look at the ranking board right now are the elites who chose to check the ranks. They’re all on Famous People Rank, Dragon Rank, or Phoenix Rank… Hey, isn’t that Red Dust, who defeated Drifting Sword? Whew… Just as I expected, Mu Clan’s relationship with Chivalry Sect is really tight. Even the people from Class One Hall have been squeezed to the side.”

Thunderous Battle, Silver Wolf, Momo, Little North, Phoenix Dances, and the other Mu Clan elites stood together with Red Dust, Wind Void, and Lin Xiao. They occupied one side of the ranking board, and the area around them had few to no people. They also stood out like sore thumbs.

Those from Class One Hall stood on the other side. However, they had fewer people, and they also did not seem to be as imposing. Even if Barren Murderer, Blood Robes, Dream Clouds, Zhou Yu, Evil Wolf, and the rest were all there, when compared to the other elites from the two top-class sects, they simply did not appear to be as impressive.

After all, Happy had still not appeared, but those from Mu Clan and Chivalry Sect already appeared very imposing. And who knew just where Happy was right now?

“Why don’t I see the people from Towering Palace?”

“What nonsense are you even spewing…?”

“Towering Palace suffered really bad losses this time. I heard that Six Pulses Divine Sword’s successor, Vast Heaven, and Nine Solitary Swords’ successor, Grim Green died more than twice. Right now, Mu Clan still has not decided to stop their war against them. Wind Assault Tower’s people are also eyeing Towering Palace’s territory. They’re longing to occupy the remaining cities in the east of the coastal area. If the people from Towering Palace dare come to this place, I’ll find it strange.”

“By the way, I haven’t seen the ranking board, and I don’t know the ranks right now.’

“This is easy. Just go over and take a look.”

“Urk…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Forget it. There’s a group of leaders over there. What if someone over there takes a fancy of my skills and requests me to join them? And at that time… To join or not to join, that is the question…” Flower-pinching Gentleman hesitantly gulped.

Snowflakes Descending was instantly rendered speechless.

“Brother Snowflakes, you should have already seen it. Why don’t you give me the general gist of what is going on?”

“About that…” Snowflakes Descending hesitated for a while as he surveyed his surroundings. He lowered his voice. “I heard that the three top-class sects also suffered quite a lot of losses today. They didn’t get a lot of points either. Right now, the one with the most points is Barren Murderer. He has around four thousand and three hundred points. The second is Silver Wolf, and he has nearly four thousand points. The third is Lu Mingyue, and his points are around the same as Silver Wolf. The next few are practically all people from Mu Clan, Chivalry Sect, and Class One Hall.”

“More than four thousand points? That means that he killed more than four hundred Mongolian cavaliers in one day?” Flower-pinching Gentleman looked shocked. He could already be considered an elite, but he obtained less than three hundred points today…

“That’s the strength of the higher ups in top-class sects. People like us, who formed parties or fought on our own, can only get around three hundred to four hundred points in one day. But I reckon that once dawn arrives and war breaks out again, the competition will be even fiercer.”