Chapter 1919 - Battlefield of Monsters

Chapter 1919 – Battlefield of Monsters
Hearing Fire Dance’s confident tone, Melody sent One-arm Rashomon to organize a team.
While she understood that Fire Dance and the others were extraordinarily strong, the Death God Workshop was not a simple opponent Otherwise, Forest City’s various first-rate Guilds wouldn’t have such a massive headache over the Workshop.
It should be known that the Death God Workshop had ambushed those Guilds’ teams many times, but the Workshop’s members were quite cunning. Despite doing all they could to retaliate, their efforts had been wasted on a few small fries. They couldn’t reach the Death God Workshop’s core.
This was also why only the super-first-rate Guild, Setting Sun, of all the Guilds she had reached out to, had been willing to help them. However, the Setting Sun’s price was just vicious. Accepting Setting Sun’s offer was no different than giving the Guild, which she had gone to great lengths to develop, away. She would never agree to such a thing.
Meanwhile, with how many members the Death God Workshop had mobilized to ambush Ninth Heaven’s 1,000-man team, they’d suffer a massive loss if Fire Dance and her companions actually found the Workshop’s members. Hence, as a precaution, she had decided to take some of her people along. She couldn’t afford to let Fire Dance and the others die so soon after reaching Forest City. It would be hard to explain to Zero Wing.
Due to time constraints, One-arm Rashomon was only able to gather a little over 200 experts from the Guild before Melody led Fire Dance and the team to Wisp Cemetery, a Level 60 to 75 map some distance from Forest City.
Dark clouds covered the sky above Wisp Cemetery throughout the year, and although lush forest occupied the area, it gave off an oppressive and gloomy aura. However, since this was a high-resource map, many Guilds often grinded and collected resources here.
Melody and her group carefully advanced down a forest path as they made their way towards the reported battlefield.
Although not many monsters called Wisp Cemetery home, the Wandering Wisps in the area were incredibly troublesome. Once they spotted living creatures, they’d call upon a small force of Undead Creatures to eliminate the intruders. These little monsters could easily summon hundreds and thousands of Undead Creatures with its call. To make matters worse, not only did the Undead Creatures provide very little EXP, but they also almost never dropped good items. As a result, players grinding in the Wisp Cemetery tried to avoid the Wandering Wisps and Undead Creatures as often as possible.
After traveling through the Wisp Cemetery for about half an hour, Melody’s group finally reached the ambush site.
The Death God Workshop had ambushed Ninth Heaven’s players at the entrance of an underground tomb. The tomb contained a Level 63 Field Boss, and the Death God Workshop had killed both Ninth Heaven’s members and the Field Boss during its ambush. Traces of combat were evident in and outside of the tomb. It was clear that the recent battle had been intense. Players’ blood had been scattered across the ground, filling the air with its stench.
“They must’ve executed the ambush during the Boss-fight. They must’ve stationed some players outside of the tomb to stop anyone from escaping. Were there any survivors from the 1,000-man team?” Thoughtful Rain turned to ask Melody after observing the bloodstains.
“Not one person managed to escape. The Death God Workshop always operates this way. Whenever the Workshop launches an ambush, it uses a Magic Scroll to seal the area, preventing players from using Instantaneous Movement Scrolls and Return Scrolls,” Melody said, gnashing her teeth.
Although the ambushed team wasn’t the Guild’s main force, it was an elite team led by expert players. Losing the entire team had incurred significant losses. Not only had every player died, but they had also all lost a piece of equipment
The lost weapons and equipment were far more of a problem than the lost levels.
“Big Sis Fire, too much time has passed since the end of the battle. The players from the Workshop have already left the area, and their tracks have faded. I’m afraid that chasing after them is impossible,” Flying Shadow said after getting no results from his Tracking Skill.
“Your Tier 1 Tracking Skill isn’t enough. Fortunately, I recently learned Mana Perception, a rare Tier 2 Tracking Skill. I can now perceive traces that aren’t visible to the naked eye. To put it simply, I can see the Mana fluctuations players leave behind. It’s been less than three hours since the battle ended, so the Death God Workshop players are still within my perception range. Not even a Tier 1 Anti-tracking Skill will have any effect against my Skill,” Fire Dance said, smiling faintly. “Why else do you think the Guild Leader sent me?”
Hearing Fire Dance’s words, Flying Shadow grew a little excited. He had thought this job would be difficult, but it seemed that they’d be able to complete the task quickly with Fire Dance’s new Skill.
Fire Dance then proceeded to use Mana Perception, tracking the ambushing players.
If the Death God Workshop members had used a Return Scroll to leave the area, she wouldn’t have been able to track them. However, she’d find them as long as they simply walked away.
“These people haven’t left using a Return Scroll. After lingering here for some time, they headed north,” Fire Dance said as she watched the Mana fluctuations lead into the forest. Hurriedly, she said, “They only left about an hour ago. We still have hope of catching up to them. Let’s move out!”
Saying so, Fire Dance took the lead and followed the Mana fluctuations with her teammates close behind.
“She found them?” Melody could not help her growing excitement. Hurriedly, she and the 200-plus experts from her Guild followed after Fire Dance.
She had never thought that Fire Dance was so amazing to locate a trail that was more than an hour old. Ordinary Tracking Skills were impressive enough if they could find 30-minute-old traces. If the target had an Anti-tracking Skill, finding them would be even more difficult.
After following the trail for about half an hour, the group finally arrived before an ancient temple nestled in a thick grove of trees.
At a glance, over 500 players were gathered before the temple’s entrance. However, these players were apart of two different groups: a 60-man team, and a 500-man team. All of the 500 wore uniform equipment of relatively high-quality, and they were all Level 56 or above. This was obviously a Guild team.
“Huh? Isn’t that East Crow’s Troubled Madness?” Melody, who had hidden behind a tree, wondered aloud when she saw a righteous man among the 500-man team. The man wore aqua-blue mage robes and held a staff embedded with three resplendent gemstones. “Why is he here?”
Troubled Madness was a Vice Guild Leader from East Crow, a first-rate Guild. In terms of individual strength, he ranked among the top in his Guild. He was also one of the top-ranking Elementalists in Forest City, and he wasn’t any weaker than she was.
East Crow’s 500-man team had surrounded the Death God Workshop’s 60 members. It was evident that East Crow had located the troublesome players before her group.
“How fortunate. I had never thought that I’d get to meet two of the Death God Workshop’s famous commanders, Frost Rain and Chopped Axe, at the same time! You have been challenging to track down! Now, it’s time to pay for your past transgressions!” Troubled Madness snarled as he glared at a man and a woman amidst the Death God Workshop’s group. The middle-aged man that had a scholarly look was a Level 58, Tier 2 Swordsman, while the tall woman exuding a wild aura was a Level 58, Tier 2 Berserker.
“Frost, what do you think we did to East Crow?” the tall woman asked as she considered the situation. It seemed as if she were trying to remember what she had done to this first-rate Guild.
“I don’t remember. We’ve done a lot of things. There’s no way I can remember everything. Since we can’t remember, it shouldn’t have been important,” Frost Rain, the scholarly man, said with a wave of his hand, expressing his lack of concern over such trivial matters.
“A mere Workshop dares to mock East Crow?! We already have you surrounded; none of you should think of leaving this place alive!” Troubled Madness bellowed in rage.
East Crow’s other members went into a frenzy, killing intent flooding from them as they charged at the Death God Workshop players.
The Workshop’s players had previously killed their Guild Leader in the fields and stole an important Epic Weapon, yet they acted as if the incident meant nothing. Why wouldn’t this enrage East Crow’s players?
Countless Spells and arrows rained down on the Death God Workshop’s members as East Crow’s MTs and melee players tightened their circle. All of these Guild players were experts, and their coordination was seamless.
“After so much talk, you still attack us?” Chopped Axe, the tall woman, exclaimed, “I haven’t had my fill yet, so let’s see how far you East Crow players can go!”
After saying so, Chopped Axe charged into the shrinking wall of players. Frost Rain, however, showed no interest in the battle. He yawned with boredom, further inciting Guild players’ fury. The MTs and melee players on the frontline began to employ their specialty moves, meeting Chopped Axe in battle.
Elated, Chopped Axe raised the excessively large axe in her hands and brandished it at the approaching players.
Peng… Peng… Peng…
As the two sides clashed, the Level 56-plus Shield Warriors, Guardian Knights, Berserkers, Swordsmen, and Assassins were sent flying, their HPs plummeting. Not even their healers could keep up with the damage.
In less than 30 seconds, Chopped Axe had carved a hole in East Crow’s encirclement Seeing this, the Death God Workshop members surged through the gap and assaulted the Guild’s ranged players.
In less than a minute after the battle had begun, only half of East Crow’s 500-man team remained alive, yet the Workshop’s team had only suffered a few casualties. The Guild players’ screams filled the battlefield, and to make matters worse, not a single player lasted more than five moves against Chopped Axe. Even Tier 2 MTs fell after four of her attacks. She was unstoppable on the battlefield…
“Is she a monster?!” Troubled Madness was dazed as he watched the woman’s rampant slaughter, his fighting spirit fizzling out
“How boring! You’re giving up already?” Chopped Axe clicked her tongue when she noticed the fear in Troubled Madness’s eyes, clearly disappointed.
“Alright, Axe, that’s enough. We don’t have time to play with these people. We need to get into the temple quickly,” Frost Rain, who hadn’t made a single move, reminded his comrade as he gestured to the temple before him. He completely ignored the 200-plus East Crow members that were still alive.