The people who had caught up did not say much. They just shook their heads and rushed forward.
It was only when they left and disappeared from their sights that the group of people who were left behind stopped warily. They looked around and one of them said, "That bunch of fools are just charging forward to die."
Once they finished speaking, that group of people's clothes suddenly changed at the same time.
Everyone's expressions were cold, and their words were equally chilling. They no longer showed any facial expression.
"It's here," someone said coldly.
The others looked at each other at a loss.
"We can't send messenger pigeons to each other, and if we log off, we'll lose our right to join the battle. We won't be able to log in within twenty-four hours.
"I reckon they're trying to prevent us from leaking news to the world outside."
The same transformation happened in various spots on Mount Huangshan. Many players turned into Ming Cult disciples without any sound.
At the same time, some hidden stones and bushes were suddenly flipped over. NPCs with unique clothes leapt out with agility while holding weapons and shields in their hands. Without any sign, they pounced on the players who were close to them and whose guard was low.
The tigers had entered a herd of lambs!
Screams of pain rose and fell!
When the players prepared to counterattack, the unknown people crawled into burrows like rats and vanished. They only left behind a bunch of corpses on the ground.
The players instantly looked at each other at a loss and broke into a cold sweat.
"Everyone, be careful! They're from Great Earth Banner!"
"Gather together! Don't split up!"
When the alarm sounded, everyone activated their body fortifications and qi realms. They paid close attention to the ground around them. Great Earth Banner's abilities to dig tunnels was great, and they were skilled in ambushes.
While everyone paid attention to the ground, violent gusts of wind rose in the air.
They looked up.
Gigantic black things fell from the sky.
Bang!
Many players could not avoid them in time. They were instantly struck so hard by those objects that they coughed up blood and were sent flying horizontally. Their body fortifications were simply not enough for them to block 1,100-pound heavy objects.
When the things fell to the ground, everyone finally saw that they were large and heavy logs with solid cores. There was a hook and a chain attached to each head and tail of the log. Those chains stretched up into the sky.
When everyone looked up along the chains, they that burly, half-n.a.k.e.d men, who had broad shoulders and thick waists as well as frightening muscles, had appeared at some point in time on the branches around them. They stood in groups of two while holding hooks, and they hooked the huge logs again before they threw the logs on the ground once more with a loud howl.
Dozens of huge logs formed a large prison after flying past the players' faces.
Many players tried to jump up and attack them, but while they were flying in the air, they were sent back by the logs. Then, they were killed by the logs that were sent at them from some other place!
While airborne, even if someone was a trained fighter, they could not use their skills.
Within an instant, the huge logs attacked multiple rounds with loud howls, and they heavily wounded many players. The logs were dyed red, and te players became incredibly anxious. They shouted loudly, "Hurry up and shoot them down!"
"Attack together, or else everyone will die here!"
Thud! Thud!
"Kill them!"
With a loud shout, they gave rise to the tragic song that would be the fight between the players and Five Banner Division.
*****
The people at the rear were not the only ones who encountered people from Five Banner Division. The groups in front and the middle also faced people from Ming Cult's Five Banner Division!
"Damn it!"
"Did Great Earth Banner dig through all of Mount Huangshan? Why are their people everywhere?!"
Poison liquid that spread through the entire area splashed on the crowd, and countless players cried out in pain. Their morale was reduced drastically, and m.o.a.ning and wailing filled the area.
"Poisonous liquid, damn it!"
"The people from Tidal Wave Banner are also here."
"Who has antidotes? Give me a bottle!"
"Damn it! I can't even see clearly, how am I supposed to fight?!"
*****
The obstruction suffered at the frontlines was the greatest. The people there had, at the very least, three banners attack them. Quite a number of places even deployed Scorching Flame Banner straightaway. They lit up the entire forest in flames, creating a path of fire and surrounding small groups of people before killing them.
The players in front were defeated and retreated. They were quickly discovered by Happy and the others.
"What happened in the front?"
"I think we ran into the people from Five Banner Division!"
"Five Banner Division is nothing! You group of trash! Emei Sect disciples, come with me!" Mistress Annihilation said contemptuously. With her order, thousands of Emei disciples jumped into the air. They went up to the defeated martial artists who were retreating before charging into Five Banner Division's battlefield.
"Kill them!"
Ancient Wind and the others charged forward without hesitation.
When Momo was about to attack, she was stopped by Happy, who called out to her before she could rush forward. "Stay here and protect Zhou Zhiruo. Also, help me locate Five Banner Division's flag bearers in the meantime."
Once Happy finished speaking, he rushed forward without stopping, leaving behind Momo, who was stunned, on the spot. She stared at his back.
"Protect Zhou Zhiruo?"
Chapter 412 - Flag Bearer? Elite?
Five Banner Division was Ming Cult's greatest strength, and they were filled with the strongest elites. All sorts of poison, large logs, ambushes from below and arrows, and fire attacks came at righteous faction. Five Banner Division's attacks were not inferior to those of the special forces in reality. Their ability to move about with ease coupled with their attacks caused their combat prowess to be something that a bunch of misfits could not even dream of being able to handle.
The moment the people from Five Banner Division appeared, the tables were turned!
In the face of Five Banner Division's impeccable teamwork, fierce attacks, and assassination strategies because of which they came and went like shadows, the players found themselves unable to fight back at all. Numerous corpses fell on the ground, and they were forced to retreat repeatedly.
Many players suffered a lot of setbacks on Emei Sect's side. They either found their whole bodies burning because of the poison liquid that spread through the whole area, or they were heavily injured by the logs. Some also died because of arrows that came out of nowhere.
No one dared to stay for long at one spot.
The enemy was still in good condition.
If someone ran into Scorching Flame Banner, they would find their paths sealed up by flames. The enemy would then dip their arrows in black petroleum before they shot burning arrows. Most of the players will then burn to death without having any chance to run.
The Emei Sect disciples rushed to the front and quickly engaged the people from Five Banner Division in a fight.
However, the Five Banner Division was incredibly smart. They knew when to advance and retreat, and they did not give the disciples from Emei Sect the chance to break their formation. They left behind burnt corpses all over the ground and left through the tunnels.
When they lost their targets, the Emei Sect disciples felt as if their attacks had missed, and they were incredibly unhappy!
Happy knew that the people from Five Banner Division had incredibly terrifying explosive power, but the
y did not have the resources to engage them in a drawn out war. Once their skills became old and outside forces came charging at them, it would be very easy for something to grow wrong. The commander of Five Banner Flag should have been able to tell just how threatening Emei Sect was to Five Banner Sect, so they issued the order to retreat without hesitation.
At that moment, the voices of the Emei Sect disciples reached his ears.
"They retreated right after we came."
"Master, these evil sc.u.m are too cunning."
When the disciples from Emei Sect stopped moving, they always gathered beside Mistress Annihilation. Once the people from the evil cult had retreated and disappeared without a trace, they felt angry and livid, so they gathered beside Mistress Annihilation.
When Happy saw that, he suddenly had a strong sense of fear and unease in his heart!
"Everyone, be careful!
"Be wary of the evil cult's second ambush!"
Right when he finished speaking, a change occurred!
Thud! Thud!
"Evil spawn!"
"Kill them!"
With Happy's reminder serving as a warning, the Emei Sect disciples managed to react in time. However, those from Five Banner Division reacted incredibly quickly as well. Once Tidal Wave Banner appeared, they resolutely fired their poisonous liquid. All sorts of pungent liquids with great corrosive abilities spread through the area. It fell from the sky and landed on the Emei Sect disciples.
Great Earth Banner members appeared right after.
Each of them held weapons and shields, and they came rolling out of their tunnels like gourds to meet up with the Emei Sect disciples. When they swung their hands, they created a layer of white fog.
Whoosh, whoosh…
A large amount of lime powder was thrown into the air by Great Earth Banner members, and the battlefield instantly became even more chaotic. Lime powder filled the air and obstructed the Emei Sect disciples' sight. A few of them were unlucky enough and lime powder seeped into their eyes. They screamed in pain and could only brace themselves to close their eyes and charge out.
It was all according to the Great Earth Banner members' plans!
"Kill them!"
Their movements were uniform, and they killed resolutely!
Many Emei Sect disciples' curvaceous bodies were snapped apart, and they looked like broken twigs. They fell to the ground.
In the chaos, they first had their initiative to attack snatched by poison liquid. Then, they were ambushed by Great Earth Banner members who had their faces covered and used the confusion to get close to the Emei Sect disciples.
After that happened, the women lost their morale. They did not know where their opponents were, and they were killed without a clue of what happened.
Happy was also surrounded and trapped in the Great Earth Banner members' attack zone, and he did not have an easy time.
He might have dodged the poison liquid, but the crude and despicable use of lime powder left him in trouble for some time. It affected a person's sight by a large degree in a group battle. The qi around him was also chaotic, so he could not use his own qi to make good judgment of what was going on around him.
If it were not for the fact that Happy had been on guard since the beginning and brought out two Shadowless Knives to kill two Tidal Wave Banner disciples to deal with the problem of the poison liquid, his situation would have been even more dire.
Whoosh!
Happy activated Phantasm Body Movement Skill and rushed out of the encirclement at the fastest speed possible.
When he avoided the Great Earth Banner members' attack and rushed out of the area covered with lime powder at full speed, he saw the situation outside the area, and cold sweat broke out on his back.
More than thirty pairs of cold gazes were fixed on Happy, along with a few that came from Emei Sect disciples who had managed to break out of the encirclement!
Both sides were very close to each other!
"Kill them!"
Nothing else was said. The thirty or so people tumbled on the ground, brought out their sharp scimitars, and went straight for their enemies' lower bodies.
But Happy's attention was not on those people.
There were more than thirty Great Earth Banner members, and among them were around a dozen Scorching Flame Banner members who were preparing pots that let out a pungent smell. Judging by their earnest and serious actions, it was not difficult to guess just how important those things were.
Petroleum!
There were also around a dozen Sharp Gold Banner members who had nocked bows guarding beside the Scorching Flame Banner members.
When Happy saw that, he understood the plan. More people would come out of the tunnels soon, which made it clear that Five Banner Division intended to get rid of all Emei Sect disciples right there and then
By the time he decided that, the few Great Earth Banner disciples had already killed the Emei Sect disciples.
Boom!
Happy swiftly activated Golden Bell Cocoon.
Five Great Earth Banner members delivered their attacks. Yet when they were about to break Happy's skin, their arms were pushed back with such a powerful force that they became numb.
They staggered back, but before they could even take one step back, Happy drew his Noble Sword!
"Get lost!"
With a single sword shine, his sword glare rose into the air before thee five people could bring up their shields and activate body fortifications!
The four screamed in pain and fell back.
When the Great Earth Banner members suffered a setback, someone among the Sharp Gold Banner members gave an order.
"Sharp Gold Banner! Fire!"
An arrow shower pierced through the air.
The damage from the arrows of Life and Death Realm elites was not easy to withstand. Besides, every Sharp Gold Member was a great fighter. They definitely had Grandmaster Realm bow techniques, so their damage would not lose to a strike from a Moksha Realm martial artist.
Happy scowled and tapped against the ground. He executed Dragon Capture with his left hand and seized one of the injured Great Earth Banner members' bodies. He then hid behind it from the arrows.
That person could only grunt, because he simply had no way of fighting back. He had to go up against the arrows of the Sharp Gold Banner members.
Thud! Thud!
All sorts of sounds came from a body being pierced through.
With the protection provided by the Great Earth Banner member's corpse—who was most certainly dead by then—Happy charged at the Scorching Flame Banner.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two Soaring Eagle Swords split into six Soaring Eagle Swords in the air. They crashed violently into the Sharp Gold Banner members and interrupted their offense for a brief moment.
Happy seized that chance and charged more than thirty feet forward. He then jumped over the group of Sharp Gold Banner members' heads.
The person who had given the order before shouted again. "Stop him! Our brothers from Scorching Flame Banner, spread out!"
The group switched to axes at the same time and spread out. They formed a pocket formation and surrounded Happy in the back to catch him inside. The person who gave the order even led the charge by displaying outstanding lightness skills.
Happy frowned. His gaze landed on that Sharp Gold Banner member, and he thought, 'I didn't expect to run into a Five Banner Division elite over here.'
Chapter 413 - Cautious in Every Step
"Killed one Sharp Gold Banner elite. Obtained 30 points. Currently acc.u.mulated points: 819!"
Happy had turned around and killed that Sharp Gold Banner elite, then calmly tossed his sheath into his Universe Bag and stuffed a Dew Pill into his mouth to restore the qi he used for Emperor Shocks World. It was a secret technique that could injure a Moksha Realm elite in one strike, so there was no way that a normal Life and Death Realm elite from Sharp Gold Banner could withstand it.
The
group could not stop Happy.
To prevent more Emei Sect disciples from being killed by Five Banner Division, Happy would naturally not allow Scorching Flame Banner members to toss the pots filled with petroleum into the crowd.
He ignored the Sharp Gold Banner chasing after him and turned around to slash the pots. Shattered pieces scattered on the floor, and black petroleum splashed on the ground. It even affected a few tunnels nearby.
The system's notification arrived.
"Ding! Dissolved Scorching Flame Banner's attacks, reduced the number of dead on Emei Sect's side. Gained the favor of Mistress Annihilation from Emei Sect. Gained Zhou Zhiruo's affection."
Happy was stunned. He turned his head around and cast a glance at the area behind him.
The lime powder that filled the area had already fallen to the ground. After paying quite a large number of sacrifices, Emei Sect finally gained a footing through the breach Happy had created. They avoided the attacks from Scorching Flame Banner, and under Ding Minjun, Zhou Zhiruo, and some other people's guidance, they began their counterattack.
Ancient Wind and the others did not slack off either. They resolutely dug out the flag bearers hidden in the crowd and contributed to the fight!
Five Banner Division was left without a leader, and they soon descended into a chaotic battle.
Once they lost a batch of people, they were finally forced to retreat and fled through the tunnels.
Emei Sect might have withstood the battle, but they suffered quite a number of casualties, so they had to stop and reorganize their forces.
'As expected of Five Banner Division, Ming Cult's most competent force!'
Their gazes when they looked at Happy were finally not filled with jealousy as before, but with genuine admiration.
'And as expected of the elites chosen and acknowledged by the six sects. If it weren't for them, Emei Sect might have suffered an even greater loss. We don't even know whether they would have even defeated Five Banner Division by themselves!'
"Mistress, we lost more than one hundred and thirty junior sisters, and more than two hundred are injured! Five Banner Division lost less than three hundred people."
Sword Among Us c1-1268 Page 209
