Chapter 1 The Advance

Not long after the Mage Union evacuated these cities, nearly 150,000 members from the five sub-branches of the Niuren Tribe moved into these fortresses. They were responsible for the temporary defense of the fortresses, and soon the main force of the Niuren Tribe would arrive.

In the agreement, the Mage Union was not allowed to attack these fortresses, but the Holy Guardians were!

The Holy Guardians also sent nearly 200,000 players, rushing towards Moonlit City to jointly fight against the Niuren Tribe.

Holy Flame understood the principle of “when the lips are gone, the teeth are cold.” Although he and Mad Magic were superficially harmonious, they actually competed with each other in private, neither giving way. However, he understood that once the Mage Union collapsed, the Holy Guardians would be on their own, and their demise would not be far away. When Mad Magic asked him for help, although he didn't want to get involved in this endless war, he decided to support the Mage Union and sent 200,000 troops over.

With 200,000 players from the Holy Guardians, plus the Mage Union's years of operation in Moonlit City, with more than a dozen sub-branches, there were at least five or six hundred thousand players, adding up to a total of seven or eight hundred thousand troops.

With so many troops, Moonlit City was practically impenetrable. It wouldn't be easy for Nie Yan to take down Moonlit City. Although the top-tier players of the Mage Union weren't as numerous as the Niuren Tribe, its guild was simply too large, several times the size of the Niuren Tribe. Moreover, the Mage Union had the advantage of time, location, and people in Moonlit City, while the Niuren Tribe was operating across cities, an outsider. No matter how high their prestige, they would be resisted by the players of Moonlit City.

Even a mighty dragon can’t suppress a local snake!

The only advantage of the Niuren Tribe was those dozen or so Frost Ironclad Trebuchets, while the Mage Union only had four or five Ironclad Trebuchets in total.

Back then, Zhan Dao Shi Xue's three trebuchets almost destroyed the Niuren Tribe's foundation, and now, the power of more than a dozen Frost Ironclad Trebuchets of the Niuren Tribe together was unimaginable. In terms of force, the Niuren Tribe was stronger than the Mage Union and the Holy Guardians.

The main force of the Niuren Tribe was still continuously advancing towards Moonlit City. After Nie Yan received the five fortresses of the Mage Union, he began to plan the overall strategy, moving all the mechanics, enchanters, and other production professions of the Niuren Tribe to these five fortresses, having them work day and night to build Ironclad Trebuchets. In addition, another powerful weapon was also being manufactured, the ballista trebuchet specially designed for siege warfare.

The maximum range of the ballista trebuchet could reach 1,500 yards, far exceeding the Ironclad Trebuchet, and it also had additional damage to city wall structures, which could exert a great effect during sieges.

In addition to the main force of the Niuren Tribe, guilds such as the Holy Guardians, the Temple of Caran, and the Holy Flames also sent a large number of troops to support them. Nie Yan counted, and the number of troops he could command was about 300,000, and the quality of these players was generally higher than that of the Mage Union and the Holy Guardians. The entry requirements for the Mage Union and the Holy Guardians were much lower than those of the Niuren Tribe and other guilds, which was why they were so large and bloated.

The Mage Union and the Holy Guardians organized several troops to intercept the Niuren Tribe's forces along the way, but they were all blasted back by the Frost Ironclad Trebuchets.

The power of the Frost Ironclad Trebuchets chilled the players of the Mage Union and the Holy Guardians to the bone.

When an iron projectile from a Frost Ironclad Trebuchet landed, everyone within a 50-yard radius was frozen. If their ice resistance wasn't high enough, they would be frozen to death directly. The Frost Ironclad Trebuchet could fire five iron projectiles at a time. After one attack, corpses littered the ground.

After several failed interceptions, the Mage Union and the Holy Guardians had to give up, and could only watch helplessly as these Frost Ironclad Trebuchets slowly approached Moonlit City. They were already prepared to fight a difficult fortress defense battle.

The momentum of the Niuren Tribe had completely overwhelmed the Mage Union and the Holy Guardians, and on the forums, most people also supported the Niuren Tribe.

In another two or three days, when the Frost Ironclad Trebuchets arrived at Moonlit City, it would be the beginning of a nightmare for the Mage Union and the Holy Guardians!

During this period, about half of the Niuren Tribe's gems had been sold, obtaining nearly 15 million gold coins. Nearly 5 million had already been spent by Nie Yan, used to purchase the land for Hilton Fortress, the expenses for the Battle of the Realm of Death, and so on. The remaining 10 million would be used, with 5 million as the war expenses for the Niuren Tribe to attack the Mage Union, and the other 5 million would be used for various investments. The Niuren Tribe definitely had enough financial resources to maintain a protracted war of attrition.

As for the Mage Union and the Holy Guardians, it was estimated that they could get some funding from the Century Financial Group, and they had also earned some money by following Nie Yan to acquire gems before. The Holy Guardians could probably come up with about 2 million gold coins, but the Mage Union was in a more miserable situation because the Battle of the Realm of Death had cost them nearly 3 million gold coins, and their finances were very tight, so they could only rely on the Century Financial Group's aid.

During this period, there were more and more Niuren Tribe players active in Moonlit City. They were like the original residents of Moonlit City, active in the major streets and shops. At the leveling spots outside the city, there were often disputes between the players of the Mage Union and the Holy Guardians and the Niuren Tribe, which led to one melee after another. The order of Moonlit City suddenly became very chaotic, and many ordinary players were also caught up in the war. Although they were very dissatisfied with this situation, they also understood that the final battle between the two giants was unavoidable.

At first, because there were fewer Niuren Tribe players, they often suffered losses, but later, as more and more Niuren Tribe players came to Moonlit City, they became more and more courageous, often slaughtering hundreds or thousands of people from the Mage Union and the Holy Guardians.

The Mage Union and the Holy Guardians were so overwhelmed that they could hardly breathe, and they could only shrink their forces, trying to avoid conflicts with the players of the Niuren Tribe and adopt a defensive posture. As soon as this order was issued, the morale of the Mage Union and the Holy Guardians weakened a bit.

Nie Yan collected information from various sources, directing the overall situation. In order to avoid accidents, he couldn't leave. He could only occasionally steal some time to grind monsters. He had just received news that the Saturn Empire was not stable, so Angel Corps was unable to spare any effort to assist the Mage Union and the Holy Guardians in dealing with the Niuren Tribe. This was good news for them.

There was also something that made Nie Yan a little uneasy. Angel Corps had entered the Griffin Woodlands to explore before other guilds and had gained a lot. They had collected seven wind serpents for flying mounts alone. In the Griffin Woodlands, wind serpents were the lowest-level creatures, prey for the griffins, but they were remarkable pets outside.

According to the information from Guo Huai and others, Angel Corps had at least twelve flying mounts, and the number was still increasing. Although Nie Yan's Darkwing Dragon was powerful, it couldn't fight against many opponents at once. It would be depressing if Angel Corps formed an aerial advantage.

Nie Yan had to guard against the possibility that Angel Corps might send flying mounts to support the Mage Union.

Fortunately, Nie Yan had people buy up all the Fog Dispelling Scrolls, otherwise Angel Corps would have gained even more if they had Fog Dispelling Scrolls.

Nie Yan had Can Lan Dao Guang and others form a team of 3,000 people, the original team from the Battle of the Realm of Death, and bring some Fog Dispelling Scrolls to explore the Griffin Woodlands, hoping to get some gains and get a few flying mounts, so that the Niuren Tribe's air power would not be too far behind Angel Corps.

With the Fog Dispelling Scrolls, Can Lan Dao Guang and others would definitely be more efficient than Angel Corps.

Just as the Niuren Tribe, the Mage Union, and the Holy Guardians were actively preparing for war, the Corifis Central Cathedral in the center of Moonlit City welcomed a special guest. He was wearing cloth clothes and was a middle-aged man with an ordinary appearance, not attracting much attention. Only the aura of a superior occasionally revealed made ordinary players unable to help but look sideways.

No one would have thought that he was Cao Xu, the helmsman of the Century Financial Group, who was a leader in various virtual online games!

When it came to the name Cao Xu, people easily thought of some adjectives: mogul, the manipulator behind countless guilds, the overlord of virtual games. His every word and action was enough to affect the pattern of the entire virtual world. Such a description was not an exaggeration.

He walked into the conference hall of the Corifis Central Cathedral. There were already many people waiting inside, including the presidents of the Mage Union and the Holy Guardians, as well as Crow, Crowe, and others. There were also some expert-level players and guild presidents from the Greenlan Empire and the Saturn Empire.

There were about 300 people in the entire conference hall, and it was very noisy, but when Cao Xu walked in, the entire conference hall immediately fell silent. Crow walked up from the side, stood next to Cao Xu, carefully looking at Cao Xu's expression, and repeated what Nie Yan had asked him to bring.

"Boss, Crazy Thief Nie Yan is challenging you," Crow said, stirring up trouble.

Sure enough, after hearing Crow's words, Cao Xu was a little angry and said, "Crazy Thief Nie Yan, as his nickname suggests, is too arrogant. He thinks that with just a small Niuren Tribe, I really can't do anything about him." In terms of how to lead a guild, he might not be Crazy Thief Nie Yan's opponent, but in terms of playing with capital, Nie Yan was still too inexperienced. Even without bloodshed, the Century Financial Group could make the Niuren Tribe pay the price. Nie Yan would regret his words!

Cao Xu only commented and did not express any other opinions. Crow and others could not figure out what Cao Xu was thinking.

Seeing Cao Xu come in, Mad Magic and Holy Flame and others also came up.

"Boss."

"Boss." The expressions of Mad Magic and Holy Flame were also very respectful.

Cao Xu just nodded slightly when he saw them.

A meeting about the battle between the Niuren Tribe and the Mage Union began in this hall.