Chapter 364: Guild Wars
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A sharp shiver went up his spine.
Even though Zhang Yang had a Yellow-Gold battle mount, and a Violet-Platinum battle mount, a majority of Lone Desert Smoke members had not yet still owned a battle mount! Especially the normal members! Even Fatty Han’s battle mount was still a Green-Copper giant lizard!
If Zhang Yang wins the competition and gives everyone in the guild a Gray-Silver battle mount, his entire guild would become very powerful indeed!? Zhang Yang shivered with excitement with that thought alone.
Wei Yan Er snickered happily when she saw Zhang Yang’s reaction. "Haha! Noob tank! Are you actually be that greedy? Why are you getting so excited about getting a free Gray-Silver mount?"
Zhang Yang laughed along. "I am excited! If you think this is how I get excited, you should see how I am when I’m REALLY excited!"
Wei Yan Er cocked her head in confusion which did not last long, as she had lost interest in what Zhang Yang said.
"Oh ho! I would definitely love to see you jerk it off when you’re excited!" said Han Ying Xue as she wanted to join the dirty talk.
Sensing a domino effect coming along, Zhang Yang hurriedly switched back to the topic. "What about the second place? Or the third place? Are there no prizes for them?" Zhang Yang was thinking about the second Lone Desert Smoke guild.
"Erhm…the second place will reward all members +2 levels and a Green-Copper battle mount. The third place will reward all members +1 level and a Black-Steel battle mount." Wei Yan Er rubbed her hands together evilly and said, "I really wonder how a Black-Steel tier battle mount looks likes."
Everyone went up to the computer and read it slowly. Han Ying Xue promptly said, "I think we should hurry up and fill up the guild as soon as possible."
The coming Guild Wars did not have any member limit restrictions. Thus, making Lone Desert Smoke, being the only Level 3 guild, the guild with most numbers! As such, even if Zhang Yang had no need to consider about the member’s talent, he could still win the competition solely by numbers. It’s 30,000 members vs 20,000 members! He had a 50% extra attack force right there!
Fortunately, Wei Yan Er was on same track as them. She understood the numerical advantage of a Level 3 guild. "Haha! Victory is ours!"
…
Unlike Soaring Swords, the Guild War was announced out of the blue! There were only 3 days of preparation for them! The announcement was made 3 DAYS prior to the event! The competition is categorized by local regions, any guild from Level 1 to 3 could enlist themselves as a participant.
Zhang Yang quickly summoned Hundred Shots and had him hold a recruitment drive to "fill" up the guild member slot to its limit before the competition starts. That said, Zhang Yang had specifically instructed Hundred Shots to not forsake the standards of players solely to increase the member count.
The competition was not held at the battle arena. There’s no way to fit in 50,000 players in a small stadium and have them battle it out. Instead, the system had generated 3 types of terrain to suit the competition. There were the Flatlands, Mountainous Regions, and City Scapes. The terrain of the competition will be selected randomly. The winner of the guild war will be determined via a demerit system, whereby with each member’s death, the guild will lose one point. There were no death penalties during a player’s defeat, they would not suffer from any experience point loss nor item drops. After death, they would only be kicked out of the map.
Each guild war will last for 1 hour. Both sides will start with 20,000 points and after 1 hours, the winner will be decided, depending on the points remaining. In cases where there is a draw, the guild that had the lower number of members originally participating shall win the match. Thus, having many members also had its drawbacks.
However, there could be a situation where a small group of 30 could play hide-and-sneak and delay the entire 1 hour duration. According to the rules, the average loss of members would determine the winner, creating a situation where a player could skip the fight and win the match.
Naturally, when two large forces meet, it would not be a matter of quantity, but quality, to take down the enemy in one clean sweep. The more participants a guild had, the lesser contribution a single member could make. The best way to win the war would rely on strategy and command.
Zhang Yang had a problem. Currently, Zhang Yang had not found any suitable candidate to be a war commander. Hundred Shots was suitable to be a management personnel. He could organize the guild members and other miscellaneous matters but not handle any "military" management. It could be said that he does not have talent in that sort of field.
…
On the 25th of March, the Guild War competition officially started. The event would start at 9 pm, until 5 am the next day. Since the game could be played while players were asleep, the period where most players would be asleep had become the most active period in the game.
To maintain the level of excitement of the entire competition, the officials had selected two seeded guilds for every major city in the China region. Before the top 16 finals begin, the 16 seeded guilds would never be meeting each other!
Without any surprise, Lone Desert Smoke was by far, the strongest guild in the entire China server, so they were automatically selected to be one of White Jade’s seeded guild, the second seeded guild fell to none-other than Crimson Rage.
‘Ding! The match between Lone Desert Smoke VS Battleship Holysheets shall begin in 5 minutes. All members of Lone Desert Smoke, please proceed to the battle field to make your preparations!’
After a short wait, every member of Lone Desert Smoke received the system notification. Everyone fractionally opt to immediately be teleported to the battle field, and was sent to a limitless flatlands. As far as a thousand meters away from where they stood, players with blue flags sticking to their backs, appeared one by one.
Zhang Yang turned his back and noticed that a red colored flag was hovering behind him. The flag was some sort of realistic hologram that could only be seen but not touched. This would allow players to have a free range of movement and not to be affected by the physics of the flag.
The top right of Zhang Yang’s control U.I showed a 4 minutes and 34 seconds count down before the match started. Both sides had 20,000 points allocated. The total number of participating member of both guilds were 19,423 for Lone Desert Smoke, and 12,198 for Battleship Holysheets.
Zhang Yang had zero confidence in commanding his guild. After a moment’s hesitation, he simply ordered everyone to spread out and surround the enemy, and attack from every direction. This technique was learned when Zhang Yang was playing Starcraft back when he was in university. To attack from several directions was much better than to attack in a concentrated formation, or so he thought. It was time to bring the Zerg Rush into the battlefield
Before the match officially began, there was an invisible wall blocking both sides from proceeding any further. At the last-minute count down, both guilds had stopped increasing. Lone Desert Smoke had a total of 26,721 members, and Battleship Holysheets had 19,876 members.
Based on the sheer numbers alone, Lone Desert Smoke was already destined to win the match. Even the average individual strength of each member had far exceeded that of the opponent’s. However, Zhang Yang would not dare to let his guard down. He knew clearly that with a good strategist and commander, they could use 300 soldiers to defeat an army of 10,000!
10 seconds…
Zhang Yang gripped his axe harder and his shield closer. Everyone was already standing by with their own weapons raised in the air as they waited for the wall to disappear.
00:00! Battle starts!
"Go!" Zhang Yang shouted at the top of his lungs, inducing a strong and violent fervor to all members! With the horns of war blown, the two armies started to run towards each other like waves!
It seemed that the opponent had neither the intention to withdraw nor defend. The opponent shared the same vigor in their battle cries as they got closer and closer.
As the front line players had finally made contact with the enemy, the mass murder had officially begun.
Since there were no death penalties during a guild war, players were more than willing to take chance to slay as many foes as possible, knowing clearly that their survival did not matter. Thus, they could fully experience a full-fledged battle of ancient, fantasy war.
Zhang Yang held back before rushing into the mass to observe the tide of war. It seems that the opponent had no particular strategy and was charging blindly into the crowd without a plan. There was nothing to predict and nothing to counter. Zhang Yang came to a simple conclusion. This match was a match of numbers and individual bravery. If that was truly the case, Battleship Holysheets had no chance to overthrow Lone Desert Smoke!
Having close to 50% surplus forces over the opponent, Lone Desert Smoke had surrounded the enemy and started to unleash hell from above. Zhang Yang smiled as he observed the opponent’s points on his U.I module dropping.
12,431!
9,831!
7,341!
4,198!
1,782!
341!
0!
Within 20 minutes, Lone Desert Smoke had emerged victorious with a complete massacre of the opponent. They had won with a complete kill, while only having a 4,310 player loss. Although Lone Desert Smoke might have won the match, their strategy was not invincible, in fact, the opponent had charged in thoughtlessly. In a match where they were seriously outnumbered, either their guild master was thinking with his groin, or they were not even trying at all.
Everyone was pleased with winning the first war. In the past, Zhang Yang and his own gang were the ones who have always been fighting for the guild’s name. This time, this war, everyone had contributed their share. Each and every one could finally stand tall, without shame, and say, "I am a member of Lone Desert Smoke!"
After half an hour, Fatty Han shared the news. The sub-guild had also emerged victorious and had moved on to the next match!
On this night, Lone Desert Smoke would participate in two guild wars. Their next opponent was surprisingly, Pride!
Without holding back, Zhang Yang led his army and slaughtered their opponent mercilessly and won the second round.
On the next day, officials from ‘God’s Miracle’ had released the next round of guild names. 1,024 guilds in China that had survived two rounds and were qualified to compete in the third round. Those famous guilds in China had remained strong and resilient. None of them had been dropped out.
After sundown, the guild wars continued. In the first match, Zhang Yang had won without a hitch. However, on the second round, Lone Desert Smoke was pushed to its limit had nearly lost the match!
Their opponent was a guild called "Path of Calamity", a second rated small guild from Wild Willow City. It was a known name, but not too famous or strong, compared to a first rate guild like Crimson Rage or Sky High. The main cause of trouble for Lone Desert Smoke was the skills of the enemy’s commander.
With him taking the command, Path of Calamity was able to direct their players from left to right, and all around the map. The guild fully utilized the Mountainous Region and had a hit and run battle with Lone Desert Smoke. Every time the guild appeared, it would always have the upper hand and will somehow, manage to deal significant damage to Lone Desert Smoke before disappearing again!
Half an hour into the battle, Lone Desert Smoke points dropped down to 17,234, while Path of Calamity had over 18,114!
In this situation, Lone Desert Smoke had finally faced a challenge. It was like Lone Desert Smoke was Goliath, and Path of Calamity was the tiny little David. Quick and sneaky as ever, Lone Desert Smoke was never able to counterattack properly, while Path of Calamity had always managed to deal a little damage. The problem grew worse as the countdown drew closer. If the situations remained the same, Lone Desert Smoke will lose!
Zhang Yang searched for Han Ying Xue and quickly said, "Woman, we have to run into their main attack unit and unleash {Blizzard Sky}, and {Lunar’s Dew}."
"Okay!"
Han Ying Xue nodded. Both of them rode as fast as they could into the large group.
Since their opponent were mostly running instead of riding mounts, Zhang Yang and Han Ying Xue had entered their center force without trouble.
"T-T-That’s Zhan Yu! Lone Desert Smoke guild master!"
"If we kill him, Lone Desert Smoke’ morale will drop!"
"Haha! Awesome! We’re killing their King and Queen!"
During a guild war, all players would have their profile information automatically revealed to the public, allowing the opponent to easily identify Zhang Yang.