Chapter 566: Chapter 566: Hunting
Saying that the losses were due to the squad’s disarray was an oversimplification. Maintaining a standard formation may not have lessened the damage.
Li Yao was famously adept at using tools or scrolls, and he could bring out extraordinary effects even with very ordinary scrolls.
Of course, the core was that the guy was rich. Who else could afford to spend like this?
Guilds were essentially interest groups, so naturally, they wouldn’t act like this. Individuals, even less so. Wealthy players could spend on high-quality gear, pets, etc., there were countless ways to spend money, not like this.
They hadn’t realized this point at all, and getting ready for combat was useless.
In reality, a basic Swamp Scroll had similar effects, but it was easy to be spotted, and thieves’ detection skills could find them out.
For a thief to get higher-level detection skills, a lot of training time is required.
Thieves were very formidable in the wild, able to unlock precious locked chests, detect traps, and stealth.
But likewise, actual mastery required a significant amount of time.
Take stealth for instance, it wasn’t as simple as activating the skill. It needed constant practice and positioning, particularly the trial of the Shadow God at level 20 and above, forcing many thieves to learn the thief’s core techniques through hardship and suffering.
Unlocking goes without saying, if your skill level was not high enough, you still wouldn’t be able to open the chest. But like detecting traps, where would you find so many locks to unlock? This isn’t some kind of joke.
The skill level requirements were insanely high. With so many thieves around, let alone them, even the thieves of the top guilds were only at basic levels for unlocking and trap detection.
Li Yao, having played a thief for two years in his previous life, was very familiar with all the ins and outs. He used this gap to render these people helpless against this trap.
The loss of over five hundred people made them realize that the traps were extremely disorganized. Nobody could tell if there would be traps ahead.
In this situation, they must split up; otherwise, they’ll suffer even greater losses.
However, before they could come up with a coping strategy, the battle had begun.
“What’s going on?” Crazy Rampage was about to lose it. He knew the edge of the squad had entered battle, but he couldn’t go over there to check out what was happening randomly.
After all, even a thief couldn’t detect these damn traps. Who would risk stepping on a trap?
“Damn it, those bastards from Starfire, this is infuriating. They started with a direct magic bombardment. First it was Hydra Scrolls, then a constant barrage of Ice Bombs and Flame Explosions. They instantly wiped out a lot of people.”
Listening to the reports coming in, Crazy Rampage’s face turned green.
At the edge of the Mad Guild’s troops, the brilliant light of magic couldn’t be concealed by the mist.
Over two hundred fiery Hydra scrolls rampaged through the Mad Guild’s troops. The sky was filled with roaring Fireballs and Ice Bombs.
Amid the chaos caused by the Hydras, one row of troops after another fell.
They were caught off guard by Starfire’s attack. The front was already a mess because of the Swamp Traps; naturally, those at the back were also squeezed together.
In this chaos, they had to face the Fire Hydras and the disorderly bombardment of various spells. Instantly, a swath of them collapsed.
“F***ing hell, a bunch of squishy bastards dare to act arrogantly. Let’s wipe them out.”
Someone took the lead and charged out of the Hydra’s range, heading straight towards Starfire’s mage group, about several dozen meters away.
But Starfire’s mage group seemed to ignore their charge and kept casting spells methodically. Their shaman had activated Bloodlust, dramatically increasing casting speed and spell intensity. This was how they were able to cause so much damage.
“Damn.”
“Not good, retreat, it’s a trap.”
“S***, it smells so bad. I don’t want to be choked to death by mud. That would be so embarrassing.”
“Stop talking, I’m going to puke.”
Halfway through their charge at Starfire’s mage group, the players found themselves stuck in a swamp. In seconds, around a hundred players had fallen into the trap.
“Don’t charge indiscriminately. There could be a swamp anywhere here,” Crazy Little Steamed Bun shouted. His face was covered in sweat.
Right now, he didn’t know what to do. The frontline commanders hadn’t issued any orders yet and he couldn’t think of any either.
Charging straight ahead would see them end up in the swamp. Hadn’t they seen the others calmly casting spells? Going around wasn’t an option either. Who knew where the traps were or how large the trap area was, and the mist was everywhere.
If it weren’t for the constant magic coming from there, they wouldn’t even know there was a mage group hidden there.
Even if there were people from the Mad Guild directing these casual players, it wouldn’t help now. Everyone was crowding towards areas that seemed safe. The whole squad had descended into chaos.
“Damn, they only have over two hundred people, and they’ve killed several hundred of ours. Let’s kill them already.” Crazy Little Bee’s face was green.
The Think Tank of the Mad Guild quickly said, “No, that would lead to greater losses. Since they can move about freely here, they must have a full understanding of the landscape. Who knew how large this misty area was? Chasing aimlessly would only lead to greater losses.”
Crazy Rampage calmed down, saying, “Right, they must have marked the spots on their map. We can’t fight in a swamp.”
“Exactly. The Starfire mage group only has a little over two hundred people, they can’t kill that many of us. And don’t forget, there are three more convoys in the other three directions. Starfire doesn’t have any reinforcements either. They can only play it out like this, but this is just a desperate struggle. We can’t let them disrupt our morale,” the Mad Guild Think Tank said.
Crazy Rampage nodded, a flash in his eyes. He said, “Then, let’s just move on. Once we reach their base, victory will be ours. Do you have any methods to quickly get through the swamps?”
“It’s simple. Have some thieves tie ropes around their waists to explore and clear a safe path for us. At the same time, have the high-defense players form the perimeter of the squad while the squishies and healers gather in the center.
Someone in the Mad Guild thought of this tactic. The nearly two-thousand-strong squad formed a long, single-file line, their ropes not enough for a wider region.
But thieves covered in mud would leave and come back clean. Soon, increasing numbers of players covered in mud from the waist down appeared.
Meanwhile, Starfire’s mage group kept appearing at their weakest points causing havoc, continually causing casualties.
The Starfire team used carriages to transport the mage group. Each time the mage group retreated, they’d thoroughly mock the Mad Guild, making their players almost explode with anger. It was just too infuriating.
With the appearance of Starfire’s thief group, the pace of the guild team was unbearably slow and everyone was terrified, as skittish as frightened birds.
The other three directions were pretty much the same, everyone was equally disgusted by this shameless tactic.
At the same time, a new bounty post from Starfire surfaced. It had Li Yao’s proclamation and videos of hunting down the offending guilds. Suddenly, the winds stirred the clouds, and countless streamers were converging on this area…