The Advancing Players

However, Dawei Tianlong's charge had already thrown the garrison into disarray, drawing an enormous amount of their fire. Taking advantage of the opening, dragon-blooded kin like ogres and hobgoblins pushed forward smoothly, advancing the front lines into the city's interior to prepare for street-to-street fighting. "My turn to have some fun!" "Watch me replicate his play!" "For the dream of every monk!" Many monk players tried to imitate Dawei Tianlong's maneuvers, leaping across rooftops and walls to charge into the fray. Most of them, however, ended up turned into pincushions. After all, not everyone was a top-tier expert like Dawei Tianlong. With a monk's unarmored, squishy build, they couldn't endure more than a few sword strikes. Meanwhile, some players took unorthodox paths and cooked up dirty tricks. Take Charlotte, for example. His guild, Magic Coin, had made an unprecedented exception by recruiting a druid player: Holy Light Bro. The two of them sneaked onto the towering city wall, gazing down at the dense clusters of garrison soldiers below. Their eyes met, both grinning sinisterly. "Holy Light Bro, switch to Owlbear Form." "Got it." The naked druid, his lower half draped in holy light, dropped to all fours. As natural radiance flared around him, his body ballooned drastically, morphing into a massive owlbear two meters tall at the shoulder and weighing several tons. Charlotte chuckled slyly and waved his carved wooden staff. *Enlarge.* This spell increased a creature's size by one category. With a shower of sparkling magical glimmers, Holy Light Bro's owlbear form doubled in height, while his weight multiplied to eight times its original bulk! Charlotte raised his staff, pointing down at the garrison position packed with over a hundred soldiers, and barked viciously: "Holy Light Bro, squash them! Squash them good!" "*Roar!*" Holy Light Bro let loose an overwhelmingly domineering bellow. By now, he was an eight-meter-long, ten-plus-ton behemoth. Below, the temporary commander of the city garrison's western flank, Baron Alta, held his sword high, delivering his final rally for a charge. Clad in heavily ornamented, thick armor, he wore an expression of resolute grimness, flanked closely by his trusted personal guard. Alta had been raised from childhood by House Lakeman as a warrior; his swordsmanship was unmatched in the duchy. Several years ago, he had embarked on travels abroad. With his country now teetering on the brink of survival, he had traveled thousands of li from the south to reinforce Northwind Keep and repay House Lakeman for raising him. "Soldiers, the time has come to give our lives!" "For the honor of the family!" "Defend Northwind Keep to the death! Stop these invading monsters!" Suddenly, darkness fell before Baron Alta's eyes as a massive shadow enveloped him. He looked up instinctively, only to see the colossal body of an owlbear dominating his entire field of view, expanding larger and larger by the millisecond. "What in the—" *BOOM!* With a thunderous crash, dust and debris erupted into the air. When the smoke and dust cleared, a massive crater cratered the earth. Baron Alta and his twenty elite guards had all been flattened into an unrecognizable, mangled paste of flesh and bone. Atop the mound of gore lay the bare-bottomed, stark-naked corpse of a man—Holy Light Bro, who had failed his falling death check. Though his wild shape had reverted, Enlarge had not yet expired, leaving Holy Light Bro's body as a giant over three meters tall. Charlotte gazed down at the devastated garrison position and nodded in deep satisfaction. "Crushed their boss flat in one hit! Holy Light Bro, you died a hero's death!" He opened the player forum interface and messaged Holy Light Bro, who was currently awaiting revival: "How much EXP and Faction Contribution did you get?" "3,900 EXP, 4,000 Faction Contribution." "You got *how* much?!" Charlotte's eyes went wide, gnashing his teeth in pure envy, wishing the flattened corpse down below were his own. As guildmaster, seeing a member rake in such an absurd haul stirred up that bittersweet agony: *I hate to see my bro struggle, but I'd hate even more to see him roll up in a Land Rover.* "Back to the grind!" Charlotte muttered fiercely. Just as the thought crossed his mind, a brand-new quest notification flashed across his panel. "Wait... is this—a Special Quest?" ... Though the players' level cap was still only level four, their presence was beginning to be felt. By the system's standards, after all, the vast majority of creatures in Elezerg possessed no class levels whatsoever. Even in regular armies, only the most veteran soldiers qualified as level one, and a force composed entirely of level-one class holders was considered an elite fighting unit. Now, over a thousand player class holders—including a sizeable proportion of spellcasters—represented a force that could not be overlooked in the Great Anzetta Waste, or even across the whole of Elezerg. And once the open beta version, *Winds of the North*, launched and tens of thousands of players poured into Elezerg, the players would truly leave their mark upon the world. Back in the present, with the players entering the fray, the fall of Northwind Keep was all but inevitable. The kin of Cinder Nest pressed relentlessly forward, crushing the desperate holdouts as they marched toward the Council Hall. Yet House Lakeman had played all its trump cards. Northwind Keep's elite "Shield of the Eagle" and court spellcasters still managed to slow the dragon-blooded kin's advance. While the battle raged with mounting fury, a covert party wove through the city streets. Tucked away in a secluded alley in a corner of Northwind Keep, Singo browsed his quest panel. Special Quest: Forbidden Ascension! [Quest Description: Withered trees in the dense woods weep. Within the grim, sinister walls of Lakeman Castle, Duke Brad Lakeman is orchestrating an evil conspiracy. He plans to sacrifice the souls and flesh of 1,674 vampire spawn to achieve a grand ascension. When black mist veils the moonlight, when blood boils within the veins, Duke Brad will transform into an immortal Vampire King! Once the ascension is complete, he will be able to face direct sunlight and wield unfathomable, wicked power. Brave warriors, stop him!] Faction Quest: Stop the Ascension Ritual [Affiliated Faction: Cinder Nest] [Quest Description: Cooperate with Mezrolash and Alger to stop the Ascension Ritual and slay Brad Lakeman. The Lord of Cinders shall reward you with power and wealth.] Singo sounded a bit excited. "The Duke of Northwind Keep, the vampire Brad Lakeman... a figure who only ever showed up in lore and background text. This boss isn't gonna be an easy fight." Xiaye Qiuyu nodded. "We need to make sure we're fully prepared." Tiansheng Zhankuang rubbed his bald head nonchalantly. "Who cares? Just chop through him and be done with it." The draconic face of Mantou was fraught with nerves. "The quest description is kind of terrifying... This isn't some horror dungeon, is it? I... I'm actually pretty scared of ghosts." Singo gave him a disdainful look. "Spineless. Want to head back, then? Qiuyu isn't even flinching, yet here you are acting like a wuss." Mantou's face flushed crimson. Folding his arms, he grumbled defensively, "Fine, I'll go! Let's see who's scared when it's over!" Xiaye Qiuyu gave a helpless smile, playing the peacemaker. "With just our own strength, taking down a major boss like this might be impossible anyway. The faction quest mentions cooperating with Mezrolash and Alger, so let's follow the quest markers and meet up with them first."