"Woo... woo..." "Boom, boom, boom!"
Low, resonant horn calls echoed across a hundred miles, followed by the pounding of war drums. The entire town of Anyang immediately snapped into combat readiness!
The townsfolk of Anyang hurriedly took shelter inside their homes, while the soldiers within the city swiftly organized into four orderly squads, jogging in a disciplined manner toward the east, south, west, and north gates.
Jiang Yuan and his group were stationed at the north gate, which faced the demon army head-on. In the lead were hulking, grotesque demonic beasts, their appearances fierce and terrifying. Behind them, two armies of nearly a thousand soldiers each flanked left and right, forming a pincer formation as they charged menacingly toward Anyang!
"Brother Cangsheng, Old Ding, you two warriors get out of the city and hold the front line!" "Buding, you and I will stay on the wall, keeping an eye on Brother Cangsheng and Old Ding's health to make sure they don't fall!" "Prepare for battle!"
Watching the imposing demon army, Jiang Yuan remained calm and composed, issuing commands one after another as he readied himself for the impending fight.
"Got it!" "Got it!"
The level 81 warrior—"Strider" Wen Ding Cangsheng and the level 72 warrior Ding Ye nodded in response, immediately leaping off the city wall and charging to the front lines of the battlefield.
Meanwhile, the level 73 priest "Divine Priest" Hamster Buding stood behind Jiang Yuan, a staff in hand emitting flashes of white light. Within seconds, he had cast three or four buff-type skills on Wen Ding Cangsheng and Ding Ye.
Jiang Yuan, the highest-level member of the group at level 81, didn't rush to summon his Dragon Beard Tiger. Instead, he clasped his hands behind his back, silently observing the front, attuned to every shift on the battlefield.
"Boss, the demons are launching their attack—requesting reinforcements!"
The two regiments left outside the city by Proud World Dragon King spotted the massive, dark tide of demon troops ahead and immediately sent a message to him inside the city.
"Let's go! Follow me out to fight!"
Proud World Dragon King cracked his knuckles, his face alight with excitement. They say arriving early is better than arriving on time—he and his guild brothers had just gotten here when the demons started their assault. This was a perfect chance to farm some experience!
"Stop right there! The demons are attacking—everyone's on high alert. Where do you think you're going?"
Just as Proud World Dragon King, brimming with excitement, was about to lead his Proud World guild brothers into a full-scale battle, the garrison captain Mao Cheng'an happened to be patrolling nearby. Seeing this, he immediately barked out a question.
"Idiot! Where else? To kill demons, of course!"
Before Proud World Dragon King could respond, the vice guild leader Proud World Xiao Kuang stepped forward, pointing at Mao Cheng'an with an arrogant sneer.
"The battle has already begun. Your mission is to defend this position. Without my orders, you're not going anywhere!"
Mao Cheng'an, upon hearing this, immediately blocked Proud World Xiao Kuang's path, his right hand instinctively resting on the hilt of the blade at his waist.
"Orders? You're just an NPC. Move aside!"
Proud World Xiao Kuang let out a contemptuous laugh, stepping forward to shove Mao Cheng'an.
"Military orders are as unyielding as a mountain. Disobey, and you die!"
This action instantly enraged Mao Cheng'an. With a sharp shout, he drew his waist blade. In a flash of steel, Proud World Xiao Kuang's full health bar vanished in an instant, and he collapsed to the ground as a corpse.
"What the hell, you %^*$^!"
Lying dead on the ground, Proud World Xiao Kuang spewed a stream of profanities, unaware that NPCs couldn't hear a single word from a dead player.
"Xiao Kuang, shut it! Resurrect and get back here!"
Proud World Dragon King said in the guild channel to Proud World Xiao Kuang, who was still hurling insults at Mao Cheng'an, his tone tinged with displeasure.
"Shwoosh!"
Hearing Proud World Dragon King's command, Proud World Xiao Kuang immediately fell silent and obediently chose to resurrect. But to his shock, the respawn point was in Peace City!
"Boss, why am I respawning in Peace City? What the hell?"
In the Proud World guild channel, Proud World Xiao Kuang's incredulous voice rang out.
"Peace City? Isn't there a respawn point here?"
Proud World Dragon King, confused by the message, quickly asked.
What the Proud World guild didn't know was that due to the demon attack, the system had designated Anyang Town as a "non-safe zone." Any player who died within the town would automatically respawn at the nearest main city's respawn point—and the closest one was Peace City!
"Hurry up and teleport to Pingyang Station, then get over here!"
Time was tight, so Proud World Dragon King said this to Proud World Xiao Kuang in the guild channel before turning his attention back to Mao Cheng'an.
"We're here to help you defend the city. Why won't you let us go out and fight?"
Proud World Dragon King managed to stay relatively polite, though anger simmered within him. After seeing Mao Cheng'an kill Proud World Xiao Kuang without a second thought, he didn't dare act too rashly.
"I told you, your mission is to guard the east gate! Military orders are absolute. Anyone who disobeys will end up like that one!"
Mao Cheng'an sheathed his blade with a resonant clang, said flatly to Proud World Dragon King, and then turned and walked away.
"Damn it!"
Even Proud World Dragon King, a PhD graduate from a prestigious English university with impeccable upbringing, couldn't help but curse under his breath.
His biggest regret now was bringing the elite First Regiment into Anyang Town, leaving the weaker Second and Third Regiments outside as cannon fodder!
Meanwhile, atop the north gate tower of Anyang, Jiang Yuan looked down from his vantage point, witnessing the brutal clash between the demonic beasts—vanguards of the demon army—and the two regiments of the Proud World guild left outside the city.
It was a massacre!
In a single exchange, the eighty members of the Second and Third Regiments were wiped out, save for a few agile assassins and long-range archers.
"Roar!"
The demonic beasts, their bodies like small mountains, trampled over the corpses of the Proud World guild members, letting out deafening roars as they closed in on the city gate.
"Boss! The brothers in the Second and Third Regiments are all dead! Why haven't you come to support us yet?"
The two regiment leaders, lying dead outside the city, complained in the guild channel to Proud World Dragon King.
"Damn it! This is infuriating!"
Seeing the pleas for help from the two regiment leaders in the chat, Proud World Dragon King felt utterly powerless despite his skills. He paced in frustration, cursing aloud.
Mao Cheng'an's "military orders are absolute" had turned the Proud World guild's elite members into mere decorations inside Anyang Town!
"Brother Cangsheng, Old Ding! Don't panic, I've got you!"
Seeing the two Proud World regiments helpless against the demonic beasts, Jiang Yuan quickly summoned two thousand Sand River Turtles—tough, taunt-capable summon beasts—and placed them beside Wen Ding Cangsheng and Ding Ye to ease their burden.
"Roar!"
The Sand River Turtles Jiang Yuan summoned roared in unison, their bodies glowing with white light as they taunted the demonic beasts, which had surged to within a hundred meters of the city gate, halting their advance completely!
"Fierce Tiger Strike!" "Earth-Splitting Slash!"
With Jiang Yuan's help, the pressure on Wen Ding Cangsheng and Ding Ye dropped sharply. Each unleashed an area-of-effect skill, attacking the dense swarm of demonic beasts around them.
Unfortunately, both were tank-class characters with thick defenses but lacking in damage output. Wen Ding Cangsheng fared better, dealing an average of over ten thousand damage per skill to the surrounding beasts. Ding Ye, however, struggled, managing only around four thousand damage on average with his efforts.
"I'll need to find a class-change book for Old Ding," Jiang Yuan thought to himself, watching his childhood friend's weak damage from the city wall.
As a close friend he'd grown up with, Jiang Yuan couldn't bear to see Ding Ye struggle too much in the game "Myriad Realms."
Shaking off those thoughts, Jiang Yuan refocused on the battle below.
"Swish!"
Seeing the first few hundred demonic beasts successfully taunted, Jiang Yuan willed it, and two thousand Dragon Beard Tigers materialized out of thin air, immediately joining the fray!
"Ding! Congratulations on defeating the elite demonic beast Moon-Howling Wolf Demon, gaining 5 million experience points!" "Ding! Congratulations on defeating the elite demonic beast Sky-Swallowing Bear Demon, gaining 5 million experience points!" "Ding! Congratulations on defeating the elite demonic beast Sky-Rending Lion Demon, gaining 5 million experience points!"
Within ten seconds of Jiang Yuan's intervention, a series of notifications rang out. The experience bars of Jiang Yuan, Wen Ding Cangsheng, Hamster Buding, and Ding Ye all saw modest increases!
Each demonic beast originally granted 20 million experience points, split four ways among the party, giving each member 5 million. And Jiang Yuan's first wave of summons had taken down over five hundred of these creatures!
After the first round of combat with the demons, the four members of Jiang Yuan's party had earned a total of 2.5 billion experience points!
"Haha! Awesome! This is amazing!"
Ding Ye, the lowest-level member of the group, was bathed in white light as his level shot up rapidly. With his excited shouts, he climbed all the way to level 77 before finally slowing down!
Soon, a second wave of demonic beasts arrived. Jiang Yuan used the same tactic, summoning another two thousand Sand River Turtles and Dragon Beard Tigers to block the north gate of Anyang so tightly that not even a fly could get through!
After a minute or so, several hundred more demonic beasts were wiped out by Jiang Yuan's summons, their experience flowing into the four party members' bars.
"Report!"
In the opposing demon army, a centurion rushed frantically into the formation, reaching the center where the commander of this demon force, Grand Commander Guma, knelt before him!
"What's the situation up front? Why haven't we broken through yet?"
Guma, overseeing this assault, looked at the seemingly impregnable north gate of Anyang with displeasure.
In previous attacks on Anyang, he had swept through effortlessly. The sturdy north gate had crumbled like paper under the demonic beasts' brute strength. But today, for some reason, it remained unbreached!
"Reporting to the Grand Commander, we've encountered a large group of unknown creatures up ahead!"
Hearing his centurion's report, Guma's face immediately showed confusion.