Chapter 1042: Final Duel (1/2)

Enemy troops appeared from the far end of a canyon with blood-red soil. There were knights clad in metal armor, mages wielding staves or scepters, and long-eared archers watching their surroundings with cool and observant eyes.

At the back of the stretch of troops were countless black siege weapons that were being pushed by countless fighters. Everyone’s head had the flag of India above it, and their shoulders had an elephant, the symbol of Elephant’s City king.

……

Everyone fell silent as we watched the live feed that was shared with us.

Swhoosh!

A while later, Hot and Sour Noodles canceled the video share and said, ”This is the live feed I got from the assassins I planted at the location. Although we managed to defeat the united army of Dark Clouds and Natural Flow, Elephant City still has a reserve army of at least 40 million players. The good news is that our ally, Frostsword City, has taken out all of Elephant City’s teleportation formations, so this reserve army must pass through Lost Forest and a valley before they can reach us. The bad news is that it’s still going to take them less than 5 hours to reach us. Once they arrive, we’ll be caught between a rock and a hard place.”

I stabbed the Purple Ying Sword into the black ground before asking in a helpless tone, ”What are you planning to do then?”

Hot and Sour Noodles gritted his teeth before declaring, ”We need someone to head to Final Duel Valley and stop them there. The valley entrance is less than 200 yards wide, so if we send a small army of one-man armies there to guard it, it’s theoretically possible to hold it for 15 hours, or until our main army conquers Purple Grape City.”

”You want to hold it with a small army of peak elites?”

I looked at him in astonishment. ”The cliffs surrounding Final Duel Valley can’t be too high. If the enemy archers and mages successfully scale the cliffs and control the flanks, the army defending the valley would be in for a hell of a time.”

Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. ”All victories come with a price.”

I bent down, pulled out the Purple Ying Sword and said, ”It’s not a mission anyone can perform. Very well. Eve, give me 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 25k Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen, 20k archers, mages and bards. I’ll stop Elephant City’s 40 million cavalry myself.”

However, He Yi surprised me by shaking her head resolutely and saying, ”Absolutely not!”

Li Chengfeng also walked up to me and implored, ”Lu Chen, you’re the commander-in-chief of our invasion army, and you’re better than even Zhang Chun at dealing with the dynamics of war. The frontline cannot do without you. I will stop Elephant City at Final Duel Valley!”

I rejected him. ”No can do, brother. It has to be me!”

Li Chengfeng raised his eyebrows threateningly. ”Are you doubting my abilities, brother? Do you really think I can’t do what you can? Sure, the battle at Final Duel Valley will be a dangerous one, but it’s the same for the battle at Purple Grape City! If you really think of me as your brother, you wouldn’t fuss over a minor issue like this, okay?”

There was no changing the man’s mind. In the end, I had no choice but to relent and say, ”Fine…”

Li Chengfeng broke into a grin before making his demands, ”Very good. Now then, I would like to have 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and, oh, I want our two Knight General babes, Heaven’s Rain and Diamond Dust as well. With them buffing 2000 Dragonlight Cavalry with Knight General, it will be easy peasy guarding Final Duel Valley for just a couple hours...”

Xu Yang immediately said, ”Come with me, Li! I’ll give you our best cavalry!”

”Haha! Thanks, Brother Xu Yang!”

……

A while later, Li Chengfeng left with 50k Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls elites including the 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Their mission was to hold Final Duel Valley and delay Elephant City for as long as humanly possible. It was because it was realistically impossible to siege Purple Grape City if Elephant City’s reinforcements were threatening our rear.

We couldn’t rely on our international ally and Russia’s strongest main city, Frostsword City, either. While they shared a strong relationship with Sky City, only a foolish person would expect them to lend us a hand at this conjuncture. The only way they would help us was if we somehow wiped out all of Elephant City’s elites for them so that they would have a free pass to occupy Elephant City. After all, ours was a bond of allies and profit, not the bond of brotherhood where one brother could willingly sacrifice themselves for another, no matter the cost.

Li Chengfeng’s 50k Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players weren’t the only ones who would be holding the valley, of course. Snowy Cathaya donated a 10k-strong cavalry, and Blazing Hot Lips lent 100k troops even. Unlike the 50k troops we dispatched however, none of them could really be considered an elite. The elites were needed to conquer Purple Grape City, the true reason we had come all the way here.

”Dragonlight Cavalry, full speed ahead! We’re going to hit the enemy’s vanguard first before they make it to Final Duel Valley!”

The Dragonlight Cavalry responded affirmatively to the order before riding after Chengfeng.

……

We tallied our troop count after the intercept troops had left. Roughly speaking, we still had over 12 million troops or 400 guilds in total. Of course, the pivot of this army was still Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Purple Lily, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends, Baidicheng, Peach Garden, Righteousness and more.

”Alright…”

I said while staring at the horizon, ”The good news is that we still have enough people to conquer Purple Grape City. It’s because we haven’t suffered any major losses despite all the fierce battles we’ve fought up until this point. Let’s keep this up, shall we? Protect the siege weapons and maintain this marching speed. We should finally reach Purple Grape City in an hour at most!”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls still had 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and over 4000 Dragonlight Archers, but they were also our final trump cards. Starting now, I would only deploy them if the situation was absolutely critical or necessary.

We didn’t bother marching at full speed because Red Maple had had more than enough time to organize the defense of the city. It could be disastrous if we tried to rush things and got ambushed by Cyan Earth City as a result.[1]

……

After we left Wildfire Plains, a purple city gradually emerged from the horizon. It was none other than our ultimate objective of this Nation War, Purple Grape City!