Chapter 21: Flustered and Frustrated, The Tenacious Player
“Die.”
The gang leader erupted in fury, drawing his blade and swinging it down. Brilliant arcs of sword energy sliced through the grass flanking the road, accompanied by agonized screams as players fell one after another.
The level gap was immense.
They didn’t even stand a chance to land a single blow.
Just one strike from him could wipe out their entire health bar.
“Damn it.”
“Boss, this is impossible to play.”
“This mini-boss is way too tough.”
“I shot two arrows, why isn’t he dead yet?”
A player hiding in the back, shooting stealthy arrows, complained to a friend while watching the enraged eighth-ranking gang member rampage nearby.
According to information from the player forums, the top three bosses of the Black Mountain Bandits were all at the fifth-tier realm and at least level fifty. Their levels were so high that even with bows, it was difficult to hit them.
Therefore, from the start, his target was not the top-tier bosses, but rather the lower-tier mini-bosses trailing behind the group.
These mini-bosses were generally around level thirty-five.
The gap wasn’t as vast as that with the big bosses.
With some effort, there was still a chance.
And indeed, things went as they expected.
The big bosses couldn’t be hit, but the mini-bosses could, though they were too resilient.
They launched their arrows in ambush, hitting several times and hoping for a quick kill, but the mini-boss refused to fall, growing more ferocious as the fight dragged on. Several of their comrades had already been cut down.
Damn it.
This was way too tough.
“Aliens, you’re doomed.”
“Uh-oh, we’ve been spotted.”
Several sneaky players tried to escape, but the next moment, their heads were severed, turning into a swarm of light particles.
“You killed my brothers, you damned aliens, die!”
The clash continued.
With the first wave of players completely wiped out, the second wave began to approach.
Compared to the first group, the second wave was larger, numbering in the hundreds.
A few hundred against thousands—lacking both in number and strength.
Their only advantage was that players could not be permanently killed.
After dying, players could resurrect within an hour.
As for death penalties, they only dropped some insignificant equipment.
Therefore, the players fought viciously, willing to trade their lives.
Wounds for wounds, lives for lives.
On the other hand, the bandits were feeling cornered and frustrated.
They suffered casualties as well.
Ordinary bandits were roughly on par with players in level. Once hit by a stealth arrow, players swarmed like sharks smelling blood.
After several exchanges, many ordinary bandits were hacked into minced meat.
“Ahhh!”
“You all deserve to die!”
“Blade Storm!”
The gang leader roared furiously, unleashing waves of sword energy like a storm sweeping through.
Several players were instantly cut down into glowing specks.
With the gang leader’s rampage, player casualties intensified. Within just half an hour, the entire second wave was annihilated.
The bandits also lost dozens of men.
This infuriated the gang leader to the point of rage.
Thousands strong, the Black Mountain Bandits were ambushed by these worthless aliens.
And they had lost dozens of brothers in the process.
This was a disgrace—a mortal blow to the Black Mountain Bandits’ pride.
The aliens were so weak.
Their numbers were small.
Yet they managed to kill dozens of their brothers.
He simply could not swallow such humiliation.
“We move out.”
“There might be more ambushes ahead. Let’s change our route.”
Even the gang leader feared further traps and abandoned the original path.
They changed course to avoid potential ambushes.
As for their fallen comrades, they made no effort to recover the bodies.
They dismounted to loot the possessions of their dead brothers, then departed with their mounts, leaving the corpses behind.
...
Several hours after the Black Mountain Bandits departed, a third wave of players arrived.
They looked upon the dozens of discarded bandit corpses with displeasure.
“Damn it.”
“Just missed them.”
“Shit.”
“That bunch of bandits ran off. Looks like they changed routes. No wonder we waited here for hours without a sign.”
“Pathetic bandits, really cowardly.”
The third wave numbered in the thousands.
In fact, many among these thousands were players resurrected from the first and second waves.
They were the most regretful.
Because they had opportunities but failed to seize them.
“Captain, why didn’t you prepare some poison?”
“If we poison our arrowheads, would we still be short of kills?”
“Sigh.”
The players from the first and second waves were frustrated.
“Damn you.”
“Can you blame me?”
“Is poison easy to come by?”
“You really don’t know how expensive poison is in this damn game.”
“A single small packet costs two taels of silver.”
“Damn, two taels of silver! I don’t even have two taels on me. Even if I sold my own body, it wouldn’t be enough.”
“Ha! As if anyone would buy you if you sold yourself.”
“Shut up, I’m a catch for wealthy ladies.”
“Yeah, yeah, right. By the way, I forgot to tell you—the current market price for poison is twenty taels for a small packet.”
“Damn, ten times the price? They’re robbing us blind.”
“No, it’s worse than robbery.”
“At this rate, the price will keep rising.”
“Demand far exceeds supply.”
“Heavens above, earth below, can’t a few hundred of us scrape together enough for a packet?”
“Are we all just a bunch of paupers?”
“Ahhh!”
...
Player forum:
[Notice: First and second wave players all fallen; third wave en route.]
[Urgent: Black Mountain Bandits have changed routes; scouts continue to probe.]
[Battle report: Our side lost several hundred; enemy lost fifty-three.]
[Notice: Residents around Forget-Worry County have fled into the city; living costs may rise—be aware.]
[Announcement from Forget-Worry County Office: County is now in wartime status. Players not native to Forget-Worry County temporarily barred from entering the city, except those registered.]
[County Office recruiting patrol volunteers—anyone interested?]
[Excitement rising, finally a fight is breaking out.]
[A grand spectacle.]
[Watching from Jinling players.]
[Beijing players expressing interest.]
[Black Mountain City players en route to assist—hang in there, brothers.]
[Funny, shouldn’t the Black Mountain Bandits be the ones holding out? Over a hundred thousand players signed up.]
[Hundreds of thousands against a few thousand—unless the gang leader is Zhang Liao.]
[“Eight hundred tiger warriors crossing the river, ten thousand soldiers of Wu flee in terror.”]
[Black Mountain Bandits: five thousand or not, five thousand have their own tactics—to crush Forget-Worry County.]
[What do you mean? If the gang leader is Zhang Liao, does that make us players Jiangdong rodents? Who the hell do you think you’re looking down on?]
[Looking down on you, Quan Quan.]
[Quan your grandfather, I’m Cao Cao.]
[Cao thief, come and die.]
...
In the real world, many streamers had already started live broadcasts from atop the city walls.
“Family, family, look over there—that tall, large NPC is the character from the next update of Forget-Worry County.”
“For those who don’t believe me, check the comments; there’s Lu Yuan’s stats panel in the comments.”
...