Zhan Long-Chapter 182: The Start of a War

Translated by: Deception

Edited by: Zephir, Sac, Eric, Thaddpole

Final Check: GGP, Zdog

“Kacha!”

The Frost Rain Sword cut through the Spirit Fire Beast’s neck, causing the Spirit Fire Beast to roar in pain as blood gushed out from its large wound. Finally, the last of its health disappeared, causing its giant body to crash onto the ground. At the same time, it dropped quite a few items. I looked over all of the drops but to my disappointment, I didn’t see any Guild Creation Tablets. The road to establishing Zhan Long as a guild was bound to be long and tortuous…

……

“Don’t move!”

Dong Cheng Lei brandished his battle-axe as he abruptly strode behind me. In a quiet voice, he roared, “Let Brother Xiao Yao take his pick from the boss drops. Everyone else wait for your turn patiently. If you get impatient, don’t blame me, Cang Lei, when I get violent .”

The 7 players were startled but did not say anything.

I took a step forward and kicked all of the equipment to an empty space. After that, I waved my hands towards the others, “Gentle Touch, come and take your pick. Take a piece of equipment here as your compensation!”

Gentle Touch nodded, pointing his finger towards a breastplate saying, “Then I’ll take the chestplate!”

Reaching out with my toes, I gave it a kick! I didn’t even look at the attributes of the item.

“Pa…”

The chestplate rolled towards Gentle Touch’s feet; as he picked up the armor piece, his face suddenly grew with excitement as he saw the stats. Around him, people began to whisper, “Damn, a Lv 53 Purple Tier that adds +37 strength, +34 Endurance and +5% defense. What a nice item…”

I smiled to myself and remained silent.

Gentle Touch put the chestplate into his inventory with a small laugh, “Xiao Yao Zi Zai, you really are a trustworthy person; thank you. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to face my friends. By the way, you’re familiar with [Valiant Bravery] right?”

I nodded, “Yeah, why do you ask?”

“Well….” Gentle Touch started, pointing to the six people behind him, “My six friends and I have been looking for a guild to join, but [Vanguard] has too many requirements, plus Jian Feng Han has a questionable personality. [Prague]’s Yan Zhao is as immemorial as a plank of wood; he is a strict traditionalist. We want to join a young and hot-blooded guild and that’s why we picked [Valiant Bravery]. However, we don’t have anyone to introduce us. So I’m worried that General Li Mu doesn’t want our group. Could you put in a word for us to him, how about it?”

“Sure, you guys get going and say that I sent you guys to him.” I glanced at their equipment and levels with a smile, “Your strength is pretty good, General Li Mu would be very glad if you all joined [Valiant Bravery], after all, at this point in time they’re in urgent need of high leveled players.”

“Ah, thank you, in that case we’ll…we’ll be going now?”

“Off you go and good luck!”

“Thanks!”

……

Looking at Gentle Touch’s group travel farther and farther away, Wolf rubbed his nose, “Brother Xiao Yao, that was a Lv 53 Purple Tier breastplate that was just taken away by some brats. I’m not happy with the outcome, it could have been given to Old K, or Ah Lei, or even Matcha who would have made better use of it…”

I laughed out loud, “That’s enough of that, don’t make a fuss over such a small thing. Zhan Long is just starting out in Ba Huang City, we need to build up our reputation the right way. After all, it was them who attacked the boss first. In a situation where they haven’t completely given up, we would technically being snatching the boss. Let’s not have shady actions!”

Matcha chuckled, “Yeah, I support the boss. A single Purple Tier item in exchange for the trust of that group, this deal was a great bargain!”

Darling Duck piped up, “Boss, should we look at the rest of the equipment?”

“Alright….”

The boss had also dropped another 3 pieces of equipment: 2 were Gold Tier and one was Purple Tier. It was a Lv 53 necklace, which was rolled away by the highest level Mage, and the Gold Tier equipments were rolled to an Assassin and a Swordsman. Other than the 4 equipments, there were still a few Pardon Cards and two soul stones, which were also rolled away. In my heart, there was still a small bit of disappointment that I didn’t find a Guild Creation Tablet, which was a shame since it was what we longed for most at the moment.

……

Taking a look at the count, so far we had killed 2 out of the 83 bosses in total; our luck was looking pretty good today.

Matcha looked up into the sky, crinkling an eyebrow while in heavy thought, “ Boss, according to the most recent news on the forums, the statistic reports say that 37 bosses have been killed and among those numbers, 6 of them were Purple Tier bosses; we just killed one of them. [Vanguard] killed two Purple Tiers, [Prague] killed one, [Valiant Bravery] killed one, and [Flying Dragon] also killed one. Right now, all of the major guilds are having their players track down the bosses throughout the map. It’s expected that all of the 83 bosses will be dead within the next 2 hours…”

“Ah…” I nodded and after pondering then said, “It’s all about luck; there’s nothing we can do about it. We only have so many members and 20 people cannot realistically be expected to kill most of the bosses.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

……

After searching for half an hour, there were still no signs of any boss. However, the Ba Huang City forums were abuzz with new information about the bosses that were being killed as well as the items that were dropped. As of now, 9 Purple Tier bosses had been killed already. This Demons’ Descent Event had a really nice drop rate; the profits were extremely enticing.

Right as I was idling away and doing nothing, a “Ding!” was heard. It was a message from General Li Mu, “Xiao Yao, where are you at right now?”

“Qilin Valley, why do you ask?”

General Li Mu opened up the voice chat, his tone sounding urgent, “Ba Huang City’s 3 Emperor Tier bosses have been found. Jian Feng Han has brought 3000 players to Fire Stone Valley to kill one and [Prague] has brought 4000 players on an expedition to the East Coast where it is said to contain a dragon turtle boss that’s also Emperor Tier. The third Emperor Tier boss is southwest of Qilin Valley in the Wailing Forest. [Valiant Bravery] will be bringing 1500 players and we are nearly there, the only problem is that there’s a particularly strong rival guild on their way: [Flying Dragon]. It is estimated that they’re going to bring 3000 players, meaning their total players will be double ours. We are worried that we won’t be able to take down the boss, so ….”

My lips pursed together in thought, “So you want me to bring over some men to help?”

“No, we mainly need you!”

“No deal, my people are very strong also!”

Li Mu sounded delighted, “Ah, that’s even better then. Quickly come and join us now. Take the route through Qilin Valley to meet with us, bypassing [Flying Dragon]’s route. How many people do you have?”

“20 people.”

“Eh, 20 people?”

“Yes!” I clenched my fist tightly, “Our fighting spirit is flourishing. We are a dignified and composed looking group of 20 people. Under some circumstances, we can hold our own against thousands of men. You must be careful not to underestimate these 20 people …..!”

General Li Mu couldn’t help but laugh, “Well then, say no more brother. This time, you’ll really have to fight hard. This Emperor Tier boss must be taken down by us at any cost, otherwise, [Flying Dragon] will have an enormous lead over us!”

“Yup, I got it, We’ll work hard!”

“Okay, thanks in advance!”

“Don’t worry about it, you’re one of us!”

“Yeah!”

……

Turning off the chat, I turned to the group, “We have business to deal with!”

“Eh? What business, Brother Xiao Yao?” Wolf asked.

I said out loud, “There’s an Emperor Tier boss southwest of us in Wailing Forest and two guilds will be competing against each other for it. One is [Flying Dragon] and the other is [Valiant Bravery]. However, [Flying Dragon] has over 3000 players while [Valiant Bravery] has only 1500 people. So we will help our friend [Valiant Bravery] withstand [Flying Dragon]’s attacks. Must help our friend guild take down one of the three big bosses!”

After the speech, I smiled, “Everyone, who’s willing to go with me?”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Dong Cheng Lei laughed, “Wherever Brother Xiao Yao goes, I will follow!”

Wolf nodded his head, “+1!”

TL: +1 literally means ‘and me’.

Matcha and Darling Duck voiced at the same time, “+1!”

All 20 people quickly agreed that we would advance and retreat together and be off to rescue [Valiant Bravery]!

……

“Pa ta! Pa ta!”

A light, misty rain quickly turned into a torrential downpour in a blink of an eye.

I carried the Frost Rain Sword and rushed through the middle of the valley while Matcha followed. Wolf was running like a champ with his new dagger!

The massive rainfall pounded against the tree tops of the forest, creating a serene sound that would hide the sounds of fighting. Within minutes, we reached the Wailing Forest’s edge and dove right in. In a few minutes, the forest map in front of us began to show a vast amount of tiny blue dots of players. On each of the players’ arms was the shining emblem of [Valiant Bravery].

“Xiao Yao Zi Zai has arrived!” General Bai Qi chuckled as I approached.

General Li Mu walked on over, greeting me while carrying his sword. Looking at my troops behind me, he couldn’t help but look astonished. “My god, to have amassed a group like the one here in the past few days, impressive! That Cang Lei is Cang Yue’s older brother isn’t he? Wow, a Lv 54 Undead Assassin, Lv 53 Barbarian Berserker, Lv 52 Musketeer and a Lv 52 Healer… Xiao Yao, you’ve really outdone yourself this time. To have such a strong fighting force in a matter of days!”

“Thanks!” I laughed, “This is nothing, they are all my friends and brothers!”

“Haha, good!”

“Where is the boss?” I asked.

General Li Mu turned around and took us a dozen steps away towards the front of the jungle and beckoned for us to go look down into the basin below. “The appearance of the boss is quite deceptive. Look at the core of the basin over there…it’s that big tree over there….”

I was surprised, the core of the basin really did house a massive tree. Its branches were complicatedly interwoven and spread throughout the jungle, dispersing into the surrounding trees. Was that really the boss?!

General Wang Jian clenched his sword, saying, “Don’t bother looking Xiao Yao. It’s a Lv 60 Emperor Tier boss called Guardian of the Earth. Its defensive abilities and health are very high. It also has many different ways of attacking. For instance, its trunk and branches have the ability to shoot pine needles at us. What’s more is that it’s an extremely powerful AOE attack. The first time we attempted to go near it to attack, over 50 people died and we were defeated.”

I clenched my teeth, “Even though it’s an AOE attack, it shouldn’t be strong enough to do that much damage. After all, the boss is only a Lv 60 Emperor Tier, right?”

Wang Jian nodded, “Yes, you’re right, the boss did around 1800 damage with its AOE attack. So anyone who had over 1500 defense was more or less able to survive it . However it’s AOE range covered far too much ground and our Healers weren’t able to survive. Since our average heavy armor class player has around 1200-1400 defense, they weren’t able to last long without Healers. Our Mages were killed after their [Mana Shield] broke so this boss made us feel like there was no way to beat him.”

General Li Mu took a deep breath and pointed directly across the basin, “The biggest threat to us is out there; there are at least 2000 members of [Flying Dragon] waiting for us. Once we start the boss, they’ll definitely attack us. At that time, we will be too exhausted to resist them. In a situation like this, what would you do Xiao Yao?”

I looked over the troops, sweat beading down my brow, “If our numbers had exceeded theirs, then we could have split into two groups: one to protect while the other tried to kill the boss in 20 minutes. However, this isn’t the case. With our numbers being lower than theirs, there’s only one way…”

“What way is that?!” Wang Jiang asked.

I uttered my plan, “Dispatch a third of the troop so they can pretend to attack the boss. The other two thirds will do a sneak attack. Talk after killing [Flying Dragon], otherwise everything we discuss is pointless!”

General Li Mu pumped his fist and laughed, “You and I were thinking the same thing; to fight against a guild like [Flying Dragons], we need to shed some blood!!”