"Asskickers United destroyed Eternal's stronghold in just 13 minutes! They're so fierce!"
"I heard after Asskickers United trampled over the Magic Prison Stronghold, Tang Yao brought his Netherthunder Eagle to the Keloyi Stronghold and perched on top of their tallest tower for more than 10 minutes. He swooped down five times and killed over 200 Eternal players! No one could even reach him! How domineering!"
"No wonder Eternal surrendered. I'd find it strange if they didn't. Imagine if Asskickers United really did go all out. The Keloyi Stronghold would collapse for sure!"
After Eternal's public apology on the forums, Asskickers United returned triumphantly back to Calore. All the guilds in the Viridian Empire were at a loss for words. None of them expected the war to end this way.
Only a few hours had passed and Eternal had already surrendered.
Though Eternal was far weaker than Asskickers United, many outsiders believed they could still hold their own for at least a few days. However, the unbridled tyrant of Kavodin became nothing more than a paper tiger, collapsing after a single blow. Asskickers United's might was world-shaking.
An argument could be made that Asskickers United struck out with a low blow, but the fact remained that Eternal was still defeated.
Asskickers United's victory over Eternal served as a great deterrence to all other guilds.
The Viridian Empire currently had a total of five top guilds, Asskickers United, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, God Executioner Sword, and Penumbra Empire. Below them were 50-60 second-rate guilds. They were the self-appointed rulers of their own cities. Top guilds such as Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors generally had at least 10 strongholds to their name. For second-rate guilds like Eternal, having three or four strongholds was considered pretty good.
This war with Eternal served as killing the chicken to warn the monkey. The second-rate guilds came to a common consensus. Under no circumstance was Asskickers United to be provoked! If they bumped into them in the future, they would opt for the long way around!
Even though Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were powerful, a powerful dragon couldn't repress a local snake. These second-rate guilds weren't the least bit afraid of them. However, Asskickers United made them think twice. They had completely crushed Eternal's spirit within the short span of 13 minutes. This kind of strength was to be both admired and feared.
Back at the Cripps Stronghold, headquarters of Asskickers United, everyone gathered together in celebration. Even they didn't expect for the war to end so quickly.
Nirvana Flame, this was an existence who led them valiantly and created legend after legend.
"I really didn't expect your plan to work out so well. If we fought them head-on, I reckon our casualties would be 10-20 times higher," Bladelight heartily laughed. He really admired Nie Yan. His head was full of bizarre ideas, but they always seemed to work out magnificently.
"Too bad it'll only work once," Nie Yan chuckled.
"Once is already enough. Apart from our sworn enemies, all other guilds will have to think long and hard before trying to start something with us. I heard some guilds even ordered their players not to provoke our players under any circumstance!"
"So, what do you think of the way I used the Netherthunder Eagle? Not too bad, right?" Tang Yao butted in.
Nie Yan opened up a video of Tang Yao's display in the Keloyi Stronghold. Videos of this incident had already went viral online. The Netherthunder Eagle circled around high in the sky. With a beat of its mighty wings, it dived down like a black meteor.
The Eternal players started frantically shouting and screaming, entering a state of mass panic.
Tang Yao had the Netherthunder Eagle perch at the top of the Keloyi Stronghold's central tower. The arrow towers erected near the perimeter walls had no way of reaching him. On top of this, the players from Eternal had no experience in dealing with flying mounts. They were completely helpless.
The Netherthunder Eagle looked down at the Eternal players below. Its sharp gaze flashed with a chilling light.
Tang Yao in his dark robes stood loftily atop the Netherthunder Eagle's back. His staff sparkled brilliantly under the sunlight. He gave off an oppressive and domineering vibe.
"It's Asskickers United's flying mount!"
"It's not Nirvana Flame. It's Young Sparrow Hawk!"
Nirvana Flame or Young Sparrow Hawk, both were godly existences in the hearts of ordinary players. After maintaining the top position on the level leaderboards for so long, Tang Yao was quite famous.
At this moment, Tang Yao had the Netherthunder Eagle swoop down from the central tower. A large shadow loomed over the ground as its sharp claws instantly eviscerated six players. A shower of spells bombarded its body, but it didn't seem affected at all. Its health only fell by a small sliver. Due to him being a relatively small target compared to his flying mount, Tang Yao himself remained mostly unharmed. However, he was like a turret as he fired off spell after spell, killing dozens of players in a short time.
After the first round of attacks concluded, Tang Yao had the Netherthunder Eagle return to its perch atop the central tower. He then fed it a slab of meat to boost its health recovery. Before long, it was back to full health and swooped down again.
After repeating this several times more, the morale of the Eternal players hit rock bottom.
All their retaliation efforts were futile.
Tang Yao only left after he had slaughtered to his heart's content. The players in the Keloyi Stronghold could only helplessly gaze at him as he flew off on his Netherthunder Eagle.
The might displayed by the Netherthunder Eagle stunned everyone.
This was a flying mount!
From this day forth, flying mounts would become the dreams of all players. They wanted to be just like Tang Yao, sweeping through any obstacle barring his path on his Netherthunder Eagle. This was truly awe-inspiring!
The Netherthunder Eagle left the players of Asskickers United shocked and speechless, too.
"When can we get our own Netherthunder Eagles?" Summer Bug blurted out.
"Everyone has to keep an eye out when doing quests. The more flying mounts we have, the better. When we have enough of them, we can slaughter our way to Angel Corps!" Bladelight exclaimed in high spirits.
"Yeah! Sooner or later, we'll pay those bastards back!"
After the initial wave of excitement washed over, the players from Asskickers United regained their calm. The number of enemies they had defeated was too high. Eternal was just another one added to the list. However, they couldn't slack off. Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps, those were their real enemies. The war with Eternal was just a show of might. However, it proved effective in deterring other guilds. From now on, it would be much less troublesome for them to run dungeons in other cities.
"Speaking of which, has there been any movement from our old rivals?" Nie Yan asked.
"Not really. But a player over in the Satreen Empire has been garnering quite a bit of fame lately. He's a Level 75 Elven Mage, three levels higher than Soaring Angel. We've got a rising star on our hands," Guo Huai said. Right now the Satreen Empire already had three players over Level 70 on their level leaderboards. This was quite shocking. Over in the Viridian Empire, perhaps only Nie Yan surpassed them.
"A Level 75 elven Mage?" Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. He was an anomaly. His levelling speed was so quick only thanks to the experiences from his past life. At this stage of the game, a player that could reach level 75 was on another plane of existence. "What's his name?"
"Howling Wind. He's an Elementalist who specializes in ice magic with lightning magic as a secondary. He's pretty strong. Including Angel Corps, quite a few guilds are looking to recruit him. However, they're having a hard time finding him. He's probably off levelling in some high level map," Guo Huai said. This was the information he had personally collected. His intelligence network had already expanded to the Satreen Empire. He had previously spent a large sum of money to bribe several members in the Knight Corp Unit of Angel Corps.
Nie Yan's mind trembled. In the previous timeline, Howling Wind was a legendary player in the Satreen Empire. He was someone who even eclipsed Soaring Angel for a time. As the first dual ice-lightning Elementalist, both his levelling speed and PvP ability were unmatched. He led to many Mages specializing in ice and lightning magic.
Back then, many guilds tried to recruit Howling Wind but were all turned down by him. He never started his own guild either. Though he did become an Elder in the Magic Association later on and played an important role in the Satreen Empire. Angel Corps was also one of the guilds that tried to woo him over, only to be met with repeated failed attempts. Once Angel Corps secured their dominance in the whole of the Satreen Empire, with a huge army of elites and more than 100 master class players, he became an existence they could no longer tolerate. After bribing one of his friends to reveal his location, they dispatched a group of master-class players to ambush and kill him.
During the pursuit, Howling Wind was surrounded and attacked by more than 10 master class players. Only after killing three of them did he die. Being outnumbered by more than 10 to 1 and still having the ability to kill three master class players, this sort of skill belonged in the realm of gods. After killing more than 1,000 Angel Corps players and dying six times, only then did he realize he had been betrayed by one of his close friends. Disheartened, he vanished from Conviction, never to show his face again.
Nie Yan felt compelled to meet this person.
"Do you think you can track his location?" Nie Yan asked.
"That's going to be difficult. He almost never shows himself in public. You want to look for him?" Guo Huai replied. Why was Nie Yan interested in Howling Wind?
"I plan to meet him when I visit the Satreen Empire one day," Nie Yan said. Howling Wind was sworn enemies with Angel Corps. Of course he wanted to get in touch. It was rumoured this fellow was quite eccentric. He was curious to what extent.
"Alright, I'll have some people keep track of him." Guo Huai nodded.