Chapter 92:

“Swish” A map was placed on the table inside the tent. It marked the internal structure of the Blood Vulture Halls, intelligence provided by Lady Femis to aid the Witch Hunters, which was then transcribed to the little players. Onboard Joy Stick was once again the chosen commander of the player army, graciously accepting the weighty trust of his brothers and sisters. But now, he had to come up with a basic tactical plan. The few players with military experience were gathered around this map in silence. “Damn, that’s so big?” Half Off With Full Coverage, who had been a combat engineer in his youth, looked at the scale marked below and couldn’t help but comment: “This is an underground structure, right? The area actually occupies one-third of the inner city district? Doesn’t that mean nearly half of the entire city is suspended underground? Outrageous!” “Spirit power, it’s the mysterious spirit power.” South Mountain Tiger’s Howl snorted from the side. He had also been a soldier, though his experience wasn’t as dramatic as Joy Stick’s, but he had participated in drills, so he had some military experience. He carefully studied the map and said to Joy Stick: “It’s not very realistic to gather together in such a large place. Including the battalion commander, the Witch Hunters only have 31 people. With both sides plus the NPCs, there are no more than a hundred of us in total, utterly incapable of covering everywhere at once. So we have to split up! Those who clear small fries clear small fries, those who push forward push forward, and let us elites handle the BOSS.” “Yeah! Rushing in all at once definitely won’t work.” Joy Stick crossed his arms and squinted, saying: “Based on our previous raid experience, this game absolutely won’t have such a stupid thing as an ‘alert range.’ Meaning, as long as we’re discovered after entering, all the monsters inside will attack us together. Establishing a defensible line is a must! Since it pursues 100% realism, a 400-year-old vampire sanctuary definitely can’t be cleared in a single day by us. I estimate it will take at least two days. Maybe even longer. Here!” His hand lightly traced the map as he said: “The second great hall past the entrance, the location is great and there’s only one path forward. The enemy can only attempt to stop us by attacking through here. With a narrow battlefield, it favors our smaller numbers. After maintaining a stalemate on the front line, we can dispatch elites for a decapitation strike, the Witch Hunters will undoubtedly take the lead, and on our side we’ll need to select players above level 9 to participate. “But to prevent the line from collapsing, we’ll need a lot of manpower.” Half Off With Full Coverage shook his head, then said a few seconds later: “Looks like we’ll have to mobilize the NPCs! And prepare a large quantity of expendable ranged weapons. Fighting those crazy vampires with blades is not something we can even think about right now. Previously 40 of us faced 7 and 23 were killed in return, that gap is really huge.” “I just went to check the Witch Hunters’ armory.” Joy Stick said with certainty: “Weapons are absolutely enough. Plus, they’ve been constantly fighting vampires so they’re totally specialized in this, add that to the supplies in the camp, and as long as we don’t care about losses, it’ll be enough to hold them off. But we’ll need at least 100 NPC militia as manpower reserves, and we have to be prepared for casualties.” “The four of us have all joined the Kadman Civilian Self-Defense Force, Lord Maxim said he’ll support us fully!” South Mountain Tiger’s Howl patted his chest, saying: “Their roster has expanded to 120 people now, all militia with combat experience, so no need to draw from the camp guards. So where should the elites attempt their breakthrough?” “Here!” “Ling”, the leader of Tiger Leopard Rider beside Joy Stick, pointed his finger at a narrow passage on the edge of the map and said: “We asked Lady Tris, this is a natural underground cavern in the city, she said there’s a secret river here that only a few know about. From here we can reach the servant’s quarters of the Blood Vulture Halls, then go straight in to the Crimson Great Hall. The Blood Pool is there. And the final BOSS Salrokdar is there too. If all goes well, after the second phase, we only need a few dozen minutes to find it. That’s under the condition that the devs don’t go insane and add more BOSS and tons of small fry to the secret passage. And this operation succeeding relies on the front line being able to hold off the enemy’s main force. I have no doubts about our players’ willpower, the problem is game time. There’s only six hours a day, if it drags on too long I’m afraid the NPCs won’t be able to hold out.” “Then we’ll do it in stages.” Half Off With Full Coverage rolled his eyes and said: “No need to be so apprehensive either, we are nominally master and servant, but what we’ve experienced together is enough for us to establish deeper friendship. I simply cannot abandon Tris, can you understand? Perhaps it’s the mysterious connection between a blood descendant and an elder that makes me wholeheartedly devoted to and fond of her. But the fact is, she did give me a second life. Abandoning her would be like abandoning all the principles, ambitions and desires I’ve accumulated so far. Ambitions and desires are important, but if the price to obtain them is for us to become heartless monsters, then I’d rather not have them and be content being a happy weakling. What I mean is, this time, we must fight! The outcome of the battle in the Blood Vulture Halls will directly decide whether our little group has the ability to control these lands we stand on. If we want to have our own territory in this war-torn era, we must get past this hurdle! If I wanted to run, honestly, when Adele originally said she could lead us to a secret refuge near the Wilderness Mountains, I would have followed her then. But that’s not what I want!” The vampire gestured in the darkness as he said: “I once promised you that we would make a name for ourselves, become renowned. This is the first step! Just as I won’t be satisfied being an ordinary member of the Blood Vulture Clan, I believe you won’t settle for being just my offspring. We both have ambitions. Even including Miriam who keeps her distance from us. Have you noticed? Miriam is becoming more and more accustomed to the role of camp warden. She never says it. But I can affirm that she has already started enjoying and learning how to wield the little power in her hands. We all have pursuits! This is what we’ve won with our own hands! So we won’t allow it to be casually snatched away, whoever dares reach their claws out will get them chopped off!” “But those Witch Hunters, my lord.” Maxim lowered his voice again as he said: “Do you really trust them? They hold the advantage, and after killing Salrokdar, they might even... anyway it would be easy for them to deal with the likes of us too. If I were those Witch Hunters, I don’t think I would miss this opportunity. The Blood Vulture Clan is already a hollow shell, why not give it that final push into being buried in history? They can absolutely do it.” “Of course they can do that, and they most likely will indeed do so.” Murphy revealed a subtle smile and said: “On the condition that they can make it back alive from the Blood Vulture Halls. This is what I’m going to tell you next. The young lady and Tris both told me there is a self-destruct device in the Blood Vulture Halls, a secret place Salrokdar set up over two hundred years ago during the Second Night War to ensure the final dignity of the Blood Pool and Blood Vultures. After we begin our operation, you will break away with Adele to reach that place. Then act at the critical moment! Our warriors do not fear death, their holding action can create the illusion, and we also can’t let the Blood Pact Knights discover we are cooperating with the Witch Hunters. That would be the grave crime of collusion with the enemy. Do you understand what I mean? I can’t entrust this to anyone else.” “I will not fail in this mission, my lord.” Maxim unhesitatingly took on this task and received the marked map with the location of the self-destruct device from Murphy. After he left the underground room, Murphy once again drew his sheathed sword into the reassuring shadows. With a flick of his wrist, he flashed forward in a lunge, settling into a slight crouch in the darkness. “Swish” A pair of youthful but already massively outlined crimson bat wings suddenly unfurled from his back, the focused wind buffeting outwards before closing inwards like a shield before himself. For a Blood Vulture, their immense crimson bat wings were far more than just tools for soaring the skies! They had their own set of tactics for reasonably using their wings in combat, the young lady and Jed had both demonstrated similar skills to Murphy. Amidst the sudden uplift from the flapping wings, Murphy’s sword form changed, the darker and deadlier Tomb Guard Sword Arts tracing out a crimson and gloomy trajectory. He was hastily practicing, but his mind was also deeply calculating gains and losses. He had to take the Blood Vulture Halls in order to completely solidify his control over Kadman City and the surrounding areas, allowing his newly born territory to gain security to absorb more residents. The addition of residents would rapidly increase the number of players he could acquire. A city of thirty thousand at full capacity and prosperity could provide a feedback of nine hundred players, and this number would continue rising as the territory expanded. If he could take control of the entire Transia region in a short period of time, and then expand outwards... “Ah, a player army unafraid of death and rapidly growing! That will truly be the manifestation of the Fourth Calamity.” Murphy sighed in the darkness: “Making a name for ourselves, becoming renowned? Where is that even at? Me and my lovely players will become true legends, leaving a brilliant mark in history, and that is merely the beginning! Dear other world, I suddenly realize the ambitions I’ve nurtured are truly grand, so please bear with me for now.”