Chapter 41 The Last Battle

Beneath Cloud City, the major guilds, after much probing, finally saw the situation they had been eagerly awaiting: the city's NPC guards' condition was plummeting!

The once-mighty system guards, who could take on an entire team, suddenly suffered a drastic weakening in their attack, defense, speed, and all other attributes. The weakening was so extreme and obvious that players could detect it with the naked eye, without even needing to test them.

"It's happening!!!" The major guild channels were flooded with similar messages.

"This is the final battle, everyone charge!" Each guild roared out its final command. Now there was no need for elaborate tactics. With an eighty percent reduction in stats, the system guards had gone from dragons to worms. Even ordinary players could take them on one-on-one. What tactics were needed to wipe them out? The few informed guilds had only made some strategic deployments, dispersing their forces across the four city gates to maximize their point-grabbing.

It wasn't just the insiders who noticed the sudden weakening of the system guards. Other players simply realized that their opponents seemed weaker. The constant, valiant sacrifices in cyclical attacks suddenly halted because no one was dying. Guards with eighty percent reduced stats wouldn't die unless someone was exceptionally incompetent, careless, or foolish.

More and more players gathered, all recognizing this as an opportunity to rack up points. They didn't care why it was happening, shouting and calling for their friends. From the resurrection camps to the city walls, a vast flood of people surged forward like a tidal wave. This scene had only occurred once before, at the very beginning, when players were completely ignorant of the defenders' strength. Back then, the players had charged arrogantly but suffered a crushing defeat.

This time, the players' dreams came true. They charged arrogantly, and the system was crushed. The only remaining threat was the catapults on the city walls, but players had faced those for so long that they were familiar with their attacks and knew how to handle them.

"Awesome! What's going on?" Many people started wondering what was happening when they realized the battle required almost no effort.

Those who didn't know would never guess the convoluted story behind it, and those who did know were too busy seizing the moment to explain. They were more focused on racking up points as quickly as possible.

Far from the Cloud City battlefield, Duan Shui Jian stood beneath a tree, gazing at the surging crowds and the earth-shattering killing intent before Cloud City. His heart was filled with conflicting emotions.

He suddenly heard footsteps beside him. Duan Shui Jian turned around, unsurprised to see Ye Xiao Wu approaching.

Ye Xiao Wu didn't seem as subdued as Duan Shui Jian. He simply looked at the scene below the city and sighed, "It has come to this after all."

Duan Shui Jian sighed as well, but the two men were lamenting different things.

Ye Xiao Wu might be lamenting the fact that he was forced to abandon his proud self-discipline, but what about Duan Shui Jian? He wasn't some kind of game developer, and he didn't really have that kind of awareness. His dissatisfaction stemmed mainly from Han Jia Gongzi's relentless pressure. In his heart, he felt less like he had stopped Qian Li Zui and more like he had been ruthlessly used by Han Jia Gongzi.

"At least we successfully stopped Qian Li Zui this time." Ye Xiao Wu mentioned the very thing that was bothering him, a slight smile appearing on his face as he thought of it.

Duan Shui Jian didn't share his sentiment and simply stared at the distant city.

Suddenly, the ground seemed to tremble, as if the earth was experiencing some kind of tremor.

No, to be precise, it wasn't a tremor, but rather the impact of something. Some force was impacting the earth, transmitted from the depths of the ground directly to the soles of the players' feet.

"What's going on?" Duan Shui Jian asked in surprise, looking down.

Ye Xiao Wu did the same, but his expression was more disbelief than surprise.

"This is impossible!!!!" Ye Xiao Wu roared.

A thunderous roar completely drowned out Ye Xiao Wu's shout. In the distance, a crystal-clear pillar of silver water shot straight into the sky. The deafening sound of the eruption reached even the distant Ye Xiao Wu and Duan Shui Jian with striking clarity.

Immediately afterward, in other directions and at other angles, a second, third, and identical pillar of silver water rose into the sky, one after another.

Ye Xiao Wu closed his eyes… He didn't need to look to know that there would be a fourth, a fifth…

"How could this be?" Ye Xiao Wu didn't understand.

"How could this be? Didn't you say…" Duan Shui Jian also didn't understand, but he had many things he didn't understand, so he asked. According to Ye Xiao Wu, a two-way quest should be a life-or-death struggle, but now, it seemed like both sides had completed the quest.

"Was the quest… modified?" Ye Xiao Wu's face was ashen. If his understanding was correct, this situation should have been impossible. But since the reality was before his eyes, the only possibility was that the quest's format was no longer exactly as he knew it. The city war settings had been revised after he left the company, and Ye Xiao Wu was naturally unaware of the new rules.

This suggested that every maintenance and every update to the game brought changes he knew nothing about. "The knowledge I had has really been outdated quickly!" Ye Xiao Wu mocked himself with a bitter smile.

"What should we do now? Will Qian Li Zui and the others win?" Duan Shui Jian didn't know much, but he understood the decisive nature of this quest. If the attacking side completed it, they would still need to eliminate the defending guards before successfully occupying the main city. On the other hand, if the defending side completed it, they would win directly. Ironically, the defending side, which was absolutely at a disadvantage, was actually ahead of the attacking side in terms of quest completion because they had destroyed the attacking side's two camps. This was very important.

"It depends on whether there will be a sixth or even seventh water pillar," Ye Xiao Wu said.

"Wouldn't that be worse?" Duan Shui Jian asked.

"No, that's the only hope," Ye Xiao Wu said.

"Why?"

"The same amount of water is either divided into five or seven streams," Ye Xiao Wu explained. "If it's divided into seven streams, the amount of water in each stream won't be enough to completely destroy a camp. The quest result will be like the attacking side, where there will still be some relatively simple remaining tasks to do. But if it's divided into five streams…"

Ye Xiao Wu didn't finish, but Duan Shui Jian understood that the answer was what Ye Xiao Wu had said before: a direct victory. Because the average amount of water after being divided into five streams would be enough to destroy each camp.

Would there be a sixth and seventh water pillar? Ye Xiao Wu was actually very nervous. He and Duan Shui Jian were unfortunately positioned so they couldn't see the two destroyed camps.

"Let's go take a look." Ye Xiao Wu called out to Duan Shui Jian, and the two set off.

Even though the two camps had been destroyed, the system should still provide information about those two locations. If a player was meticulous about quests, they should still follow through, right?

But was Qian Li Zui a meticulous quest player? Ye Xiao Wu's face was ashen.

The startling change also drew the attention of all the players. The sound of the water dragons, like explosions, caused everyone to turn their heads.

The water dragons were beautiful, and the players were surprised and admiring, but no one thought about what they meant. They were already piling up at the city walls, and not many people could tell that the water dragons appeared next to the camps by looking from so far away. Even those who realized it didn't think it was a disaster.

"It's so beautiful! What's going on?" Eighty percent of the players were making noises like this.

"The guards are all withering, and fountains are popping up. What is this? Is the system giving us a bonus?" Some people were beaming.

There were still cautious players, like Ni Liu Er Shang.

He didn't know what these water dragons were all about, so he sent some subordinates to check while asking someone who should know: Duan Shui Jian.

Duan Shui Jian answered him, and the answer chilled Ni Liu Er Shang to the bone. Duan Shui Jian told him: "Qian Li Zui completed the quest."

"How is that possible?" Ni Liu Er Shang managed to ask, "Didn't we already complete the quest?"

"But it doesn't seem to have affected Qian Li Zui's completion. There have been some unexpected revisions to the quest settings," Duan Shui Jian said.

"Unexpected revisions? I'll fuck your ancestors!!!" Ni Liu Er Shang was furious. "What will these five water dragons do now?" Ni Liu Er Shang's guild members were spread across the four gates, so he was very clear about the overall situation.

"Uh? It's five, not seven?" Duan Shui Jian asked.

"Damn it, five is enough, you still want seven!!" Ni Liu Er Shang continued to rage.

"Seven would be good… If it's five, you've lost," Duan Shui Jian said.

"I…" Ni Liu Er Shang wanted to kill Duan Shui Jian, very much so. More than being jealous of Cai Yun Jian for completing the quest, he couldn't tolerate getting nothing out of the city war. Ni Liu Er Shang quickly notified several other guild leaders of this news. The first to reply was Wu Shi Zhi Jian, with mockery: "Ni Liu, what tricks are you trying to play now? Things are like this, hurry up and grab points!"

"Wu Shi, you pigheads!! Look closely at the locations of those water dragons. They're exactly at the five respawn camps. If the camps are all flooded, what do you think will happen?" Ni Liu Er Shang cursed.

"How could the camps be buried? They're not basins. Do you even have common sense?" Wu Shi Zhi Jian remained calm and composed.

Ni Liu Er Shang was stunned. That's right, the camps weren't basins. The water dragons were fierce, but it was just water pouring down. It couldn't directly drown people, could it?

"No matter what, let's go take a look!" Ni Liu Er Shang said.

"Trying to divert troops, that's what you're doing. I said we're at this point, let's just grab points based on our own abilities. You still want to engage in these petty tricks, not generous at all, not classy at all, I tell you…"

Ni Liu Er Shang couldn't take it anymore and directly added Wu Shi Zhi Jian to his blacklist. He decided to sever all ties with this bastard.

Fortunately, there weren't many people like Wu Shi Zhi Jian. At least among the five major guilds, Gu Xiao Shang, Hei Se Shi Zhi, and Yun Zhong Mu Di all took this matter seriously. Other contacted guild leaders also asked for details.

"The water dragons are spectacular. But I really can't see what threat they pose to the camps…" Han Jia Gongzi held a telescope, looking left and right. He only saw the camps as if they were being drenched in a downpour. How delicate could the camps be, that they couldn't even withstand a rainstorm?

However, since the guild leaders were paying attention to this phenomenon, they still sent people to take a look. Meanwhile, people like Ni Liu Er Shang continued to exchange messages with Duan Shui Jian, inquiring how this phenomenon could cause destruction.

At this point, Ye Xiao Wu, having learned that there were definitely only five water dragons, had completely lost his spirit.

"It's already too late, what's the point of knowing all this…" Ye Xiao Wu murmured to himself, not answering the questions Duan Shui Jian relayed.

"Or maybe the modifications to the quest will bring a turnaround here? Why give up so early?" Duan Shui Jian said.

"A turnaround?"

"How will you know if you don't try!!" Duan Shui Jian said.

Ye Xiao Wu's spirit lifted slightly: "That's right, the situation here is like this: the camps…" Just as Ye Xiao Wu was about to explain to Duan Shui Jian how these camps would be destroyed, he heard another loud bang. The water dragon closest to them suddenly bloomed like a flower, the water pillar no longer shooting straight into the sky, but blooming in all directions.

"How could it be so fast??" Ye Xiao Wu's surprise once again showed that his knowledge was a bit outdated.

Boom boom boom!!!

Continuous sounds.

Each water pillar bloomed in this way, one after another. Players witnessed this change, and their fighting became even more distracted as they discussed this anomaly.

"Destroying the camps isn't about washing them away! It's about the upward spray of water, dispersing the soil and causing the area to sink!!!" Ye Xiao Wu quickly said what he knew, and Duan Shui Jian quickly relayed this information to the guild leaders. In the current situation, Ye Xiao Wu didn't have a solution. It was a time when they needed to pool their wisdom.

"Where did this water come from?" After finally confirming the horror of this scene, the attacking guild leaders dared not simply send people "to take a look" anymore. They drew a large number of people to start moving toward the camps nearby.

Where did the water come from?

Yun Jiao Lake!

At this time, players who were dating and flirting at Yun Jiao Lake heard strange noises around them. Everyone emerged from the reeds, stunned as they watched the once-smooth Yun Jiao Lake. Now, a huge whirlpool had appeared in the center of the lake, driving the entire lake to rotate. The rapid water flow even created a hurricane above the whirlpool.

The sound of water and wind. The once-quiet Yun Jiao Lake was no longer peaceful. The suction created by the whirlpool and hurricane gradually spread beyond the lake surface and began to spread towards the shore. The shore was full of players, and they changed color as they felt their bodies being pulled. They turned and jumped away, and the banks of Yun Jiao Lake were a scene of chaos. The only one who remained calm was Kortney, guarding Angus's grave. She didn't even glance at the changes in the lake.

"The camps will sink and collapse? You mean?" The guild leaders who received Duan Shui Jian's reply were surprised. "How do we stop that?"

"I don't know. You'll have to figure out how to stop it yourselves," Duan Shui Jian said.

"Collapse, how do we stop that? Does anyone know?" The guild leaders sent messages in their guilds, hoping that someone with relevant expertise could step forward.

There were some talented people who provided clear plans in an organized fashion. Ni Liu Er Shang scanned them and was so angry he wanted to explode: "Why write about rescuing the wounded? What kind of boring content is this? I'm asking how to stop it now, and you're writing a bunch of stuff about how to prevent collapses and what to do after they happen…"

"Boss, I only know these things…" his subordinate said, feeling wronged.

"This matter requires finding the cause of the collapse. If you solve the cause, won't the problem be solved?"

"The cause is Qian Li Zui, go find him!" Ni Liu Er Shang said grumpily.

There was silence, and no one could think of a solution.

"Instead of this, why don't we speed up our attack on the city and race against them, and see who wins first?" Someone suddenly said.

The guild leaders' eyes lit up. This was indeed a good idea. Instead of being helpless here, maybe there was a glimmer of hope in doing this.

"Everyone turn around, target: Cloud City, kill with all your strength!!!" The guild leaders turned their heads. At this crucial moment, they finally made a decisive decision and didn't waste too much time on vague problems. They decided to do what they were more confident in doing, and they decided to rely on this to determine the outcome.

"Foolish!!" Ye Xiao Wu, having learned of this news, was ashen-faced. The water pillars had only been out for a short time, and they were already starting to spread out. This progress was faster than he knew. There was no way to race against this!

"How will you know if you don't try? Besides this, there's no other way," Duan Shui Jian said, suddenly striding towards the attacking battlefield. At this moment, he wanted to contribute his own strength. He wanted to see what he could do, until there was no hope left.

The players under the city were already red-eyed with killing intent. They were no longer focused on fighting the guards. After breaking through a gap, the players began to work hard to get into the city.

"What are the conditions for victory?" The system hadn't announced this, but now they had an intelligence master.

"Take the seven class camps!" Duan Shui Jian replied.

The guild leaders didn't hesitate and quickly deployed their forces, dividing them to the seven respawn camps. There were still quite a few system guards under the city, but the players didn't have the intention of killing them all. Camps! Their only target was the camps!

"How are our camps doing?" The guild leaders asked their informants.

"Seems like they're still the same, not much has changed."

"Add oil everyone!"

"Report, encountering resistance ahead! Encountering resistance ahead, it's players!"

"Is their status weakened?"

"Doesn't seem like it!"

"Trample them, what's there to be afraid of? How many people do they have in total?"

Indeed, whether it was Rebirth Zijing or Exceptionally Heaven-Defying, their presence was unusually small in the face of the simultaneous collapse of all four gates and the concentrated influx of a large number of players. Their resistance was only nominal. They might be able to kill a few of the enemies, but they would quickly be swallowed up by the enemy's subsequent sea of people.

"Attack, attack, attack!! Everyone attack into the city, ignore the guards outside!!!" All the guild leaders were shouting. The moment of unity had finally arrived, and the outcome depended on this move.

"Report, the camp has started to collapse!!!"

"What?"

"One area has already started to sink." The informant player watched as, near the water spout, some of the land began to turn muddy and loose, and suddenly started to tilt and sink.

At this time, the system released an uplifting message: The Priest Academy has been destroyed by the attacking players.

Another area collapsed, and several guards fell down!

Fighter Academy breached!

……

Bad news and good news appeared alternately, and everyone's hearts were in the air. Who would be faster?

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Successfully home, successfully completed the update, charge for victory, charge for monthly votes, the city war finale is coming soon!