Chapter 538 - Clever Deployment of Thieves
Alliance of Mages' forces began setting out towards the castle Asskickers United occupied.
The victory condition was to occupy all 10 castles for one hour. Without possessing an absolute advantage, this kind of feat was difficult to achieve. So, they didn't need to guard their castles for the time being and could freely engage with the enemy.
By ending the battle within a day, Crazy Magic and the others could rush back to Moonlight City.
Alliance of Mages' troops advanced toward Asskickers United's location. What happened next caused Crazy Magic to almost blow his top.
Alliance of Mages suffered repeated ambushes from Asskickers United's Thieves, losing player after player. Crazy Magic attempted to have his forces surround these Thieves to no avail. They were simply too shrewd and skilled, like phantoms only showing themselves when they wanted to. There was no way to guard against them. In the beginning, Alliance of Mages' forces were a lot less organized. However, after losing more than 10 of their comrades to these Thieves, they became more cautious and started moving in large groups. Even so, they could do nothing to guard against these Thieves.
These Thieves were Asskickers United's most elite Thieves; King of the World, Sun, One Strike Vow, Tyrannical, and Hapless Frog were all famous characters. When they successfully carried out an ambush, they would immediately leave without dallying around. If they encountered trouble, they would makes themselves scarce. Alliance of Mages had no way of dealing with them.
During this long advance, Alliance of Mages lost another 60 players. Their casualties had risen close to 100.
Crazy Magic's face was red with rage. Without even seeing the enemy, they had already suffered so many casualties. He had an urge to explode with all sorts of profanities.
"Did you guys find out who the hell those Thieves are?" Crazy Magic asked through gritted teeth.
"They're Asskickers United top elites, Sun, One Strike Vow… There's one we don't know, but he's rumoured to be on the same level as Sun."
"Fuck, just where did Asskickers United get so many experts!? Did Nirvana Flame come along with them?" Crazy Magic asked in a gloomy tone. Besides Nie Yan, Sun was also an unrivalled existence. In the entire Viridian Empire, only Shadow Killer rivalled him. Now all of a sudden another Thief on the same level as Sun had appeared? Was Asskickers United some kind of Thieves' lair? Why were all the top Thieves running there?
"Nirvana Flame is still in the castle. He didn't come," Maple Sky replied. He couldn't help but be secretly relieved. They were already in such a sorry state without Nirvana Flame here. If he did come, they'd be done for!
With such a long front line, it was impossible for Alliance of Mages to guard against this group of Thieves!
Crazy Magic understood Nie Yan's plan. Asskickers United would guard the stronghold, stalling for time while their top Thieves whittled away at the forces of Alliance of Mages. If the battle dragged on for a few days, Alliance of Mage's losses would gradually accumulate. Then when the final decisive battle start, it would be a complete one sided slaughter.
"Should we return to the castle?" Maple Sky asked. From the moment they entered the Realm of Death, Alliance of Mages had been led around by the nose. Seizing back the initiative would be truly difficult.
"Even if we hide in the castle, we still can't defend against those Thieves. A single castle can only fit 1,000 player at most. The rest will still have to set up camp outside. Furthermore, if we retreat now, we'll be doing exactly what Nirvana Flame wants us to do. They can keep stalling for time. We could split up into three different castles, sure. But that leaves us vulnerable to being attacked by Asskickers United's forces. At this rate, we're going to die a slow death. We're better off trying to end the war now," Crazy Magic said. This move of Nie Yan's was truly ruthless. He was left with no other option.
"Then what do we do?"
"We fight fire with fire. We'll also dispatch our Thieves to harass Asskickers United's forces. At the very least, we're not going to let them have it so easy. We'll also have Direwolf put in a bit more effort. Gathering 30 Thieves shouldn't be a problem," Crazy Magic said. Even though their Thieves weren't as strong as Asskickers United's, dealing with Asskickers United's ordinary players wouldn't be an issue. "Also, we'll continue pressing forward. We're going to end this farce once and for all!"
Crazy Magic received 10 Thieves from Direwolf. With Bloodfiends sending out 11 Thieves, and adding 9 more Thieves from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors, they had a total of 30 Thieves. They immediately set out for Asskickers United's encampment. Crazy Magic also provided them with a large amount of attack scrolls. He felt this many scrolls was enough to leave Asskickers United feeling quite sore.
Asskickers United's Thieves were still busy harassing Alliance of Mages' forces nonstop. Their casualties continued to rise, reaching almost 200. King of the Word, Sun, and the others were relatively cautious in the beginning, probing out the enemy's strength. After discovering Alliance of Mages' forces were only so-so, they became a lot more bold. When Sun and King of the World took action, they would only retreat after taking out three or more enemies. After several ambushes, Alliance of Mages could no longer hold out. They were being eaten alive, bite by bite. It was quite painful. Crazy Magic had no choice but to spread the experts out among every group. Even though this had some effect, they still had no way of stopping the ambushes.
Perhaps only the top five players in Direwolf had the qualifications to be King of the World or Sun's opponents.
After reviewing the information King of the World and the others sent back, Nie Yan faintly smiled. Everything was going according to plan. He still had several even more ruthless moves up his sleeve. He planned to thoroughly toy with his prey!
「How many people have you killed?」Nie Yan asked.
「Around 200,」King of the World replied.
These results were quite impressive.
「How are things on your side? We're just about ready to move,」Nie Yan said. He had Tang Yao, Xie Yao, One Strike Vow, and the others gather together. These people all had Hyperlink Rings. Furthermore, Nie Yan also had Paladin of the Elegy make some preparations.
A while later, King of the World brought back the items Nie Yan asked for.
"Each of you, take a scroll. There are Unknown Transfer Scrolls and other life saving scrolls here." Nie Yan pointed at the pile of scrolls beside him.
"What are we going to do?" Bladelight asked.
The others also gazed at Nie Yan.
"Bladelight, you and Smoke Stub watch over things from here. We're going to pay Alliance of Mages a visit," Nie Yan said. By having Bladelight and Smokestub stay behind, they could guide Asskickers United's forces while at the same time being markers to teleport to with the Hyperlink Ring.
Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the others restocked on Unknown Transfer Scrolls. Each person had at least five. Although Unknown Transfer Scrolls were quite scarce, using them to fulfil the needs of these team members was fine.
Somewhere off in a distant forest, Alliance of Mages' forces had gathered into several hundred-player teams and were currently advancing in Asskickers United's direction.
The size of these groups ranged from 300 at the lowest to 600 at the highest. Only with numbers did they feel a sense of security. However, Asskickers United's Thieves appearing from time to time still gave them an extreme headache. The casters didn't dare to linger at the edge of their group. They stayed at the center under the protection of the Warriors and Paladins. The Priest were casting Illuminate nonstop. Even though this was wasting mana, it was the only way to deter these ambushes.
"Asskickers United are pretty smart. At this rate, Alliance of Mages is going to lose!" a Warrior of Direwolf said.
Raven nodded. "Let's report the situation to the boss." If things continued on like this, when Alliance of Mages engaged Asskickers United's forces at the castle, they would've already lost a third of their troops. If they fought and Asskickers United guarded the castle, Alliance of Mages couldn't seize any advantage. With those several Thieves running around launching ambushes everywhere, Alliance of Mages would collapse sooner rather than later.
Raven was also helpless to stop these ambushes from happening.
Sun, King of the World, and the others were currently hiding in the thickets close to Alliance of Mages' forces.
"Up ahead, about 10 minutes from here, is barren ground. It's not suitable for launching ambushes," King of the World said after receiving a report from some teammates.
"Big Bro and them are planning to teleport over and launch an attack on Alliance of Mages," Sun said after looking at the team chat. "Sparrow Hawk, Yao Yao, Sunny South, Lustboy, and the others are also coming. With Mages joining in, things will be much easier."
Sun gazed at his surroundings. As he entered a secluded area, several rays of light flashed beside him. One person after another appeared before him.
"Big Bro, you're here!" Sun excitedly said.
Nie Yan nodded. "Where's Alliance of Mages' forces? Lead us there."
"Follow me," Sun said, dashing into the distance.
Sunny South and the others glanced at each other before each drinking an Invisibility Potion. There were too many of them, making them an easy target. If they were discovered, the ambush would become incredibly hard to carry out. Using the Invisibility Potions was a form of insurance.
Everyone slowly approached Alliance of Mages' forces. On the way there, Sun explained the general situation.
"To the west are three groups of Alliance of Mages' players. Their numbers are roughly 300 each. Even though they're low in number, many of their experts are gathered there. If they're ambushed there, backup will probably arrive in no later than three minutes. Over here is a group with about 500 players. They're all pretty mediocre. Though there are some experts, there aren't that many."
As Sun spoke, they could already see the players from Alliance of Mages in the distance. They were advancing forward step by step. The exterior was all Warriors and were in charge of standing guard. An orb of light shot up in the sky from the group, whereupon some of the Warriors looked over in their direction. Nie Yan and Sun hurriedly hid behind a tree.
"Three minutes. We kill as many as we can. After three minutes, we immediately teleport away with Unknown Transfer Scrolls! We're making our preparations now. Listen to my command!" Ne Yan said. He had already formed the perfect plan in his mind.