Chapter 1535: Rise of the Mercenaries

As long as the walls didn’t fall, Glory Capital wouldn’t be able to create a respawn point within Ruling Sword’s Stronghold. If Sorrowless could break down the walls and plant a respawn point within it, his troops could infiltrate the Stronghold and even if they were to die fighting, they would at least be able to save time by spawning right into battle. In the end, Ruling Sword had once again successfully defended the Black Sea Coast against Glory Capital.

Ruling Sword’s defense of their Grey Valley Stronghold was equally successful. Despite Seventh Heaven’s aggressive strategy, with the Ancient of Lore summoning endless armies of Saplings, even the most forceful advances looked like child’s play. The Saplings may have had low health, defense and attack, but their numbers made them a notable threat. With the Saplings by Ruling Sword’s side, Seventh Heaven never stood a chance.

Although Lu Li had successfully held his ground against Glory Capital, the number of equips he had looted was a disappointment. Wandering and his team on the other hand, having taken down all 80 players from Seventh Heaven, had looted at least twenty pieces of equipment, with most of them being Epic. Ruling Sword was currently guarding two Strongholds, both of which were highly desirable to rivalling guilds. Stronghold fights were anticipated, and more players participating only meant an increase in economic benefits. After all, as long as a guild could defend their Stronghold, the weekly battle was a free looting event. Unfortunately, with a new update coming, Stronghold fights would be reduced to once a fortnight. The chances of a new map opening up every month would also decrease, and the compulsory Stronghold raids would only open up during the middle of the month. The frequency decreasing only meant a decrease in profit.

Water Fairy’s success in holding down her Stronghold was anticipated; the raiders were in the same guild after all. However, the two raiding Blood Red War Flag’s Stronghold had failed. It was rumoured that their fight was intense and brutal. Blood Red War Flag’s Stronghold walls were broken down and they had no choice but to fall back to defend the crystal. Desperate as they were, many players in Blood Red War Flag suffered heavy losses in equipment. They seemed to have won by the skin of their teeth because of the backup armour they had bought with them. In the end, Water Fairy might not have taken down her enemy’s Stronghold, but she had at least profited by the generous amount of equipment she had acquired.

Many players agreed that Glory Capital’s failure to raid Ruling Sword’s Stronghold was unfortunate. After all, the use of Bloodvine juice to hold off enemies was a predictable tactic. It was only Sesame Rice Ball’s unending arsenal of support-type spells that won them the victory. The most surprising news, however, was the fact that the Gangnam Royals were able to take down the Tanaris Stronghold, which Wings of Dawn had obtained only by making a deal with Peerless City’s Soul Eater. It had no doubt cost them a fortune and was lost after a week.

The Gangnam Royals was once a hotshot guild – they had strong, competitive players such as Innocent Child and Dancing Star Dream and were always ranked in the top three during guild competitions. They had a significant number of members and were even ranked second in the Chinese server. Unfortunately, the founding of Ruling Sword marked the downfall of the Gangnam Royals. Not only had the Gangnam Royals become a stepping stone for Ruling Sword to rise through the ranks, but other rival guilds had quickly capitalized on the opportunity to overthrow a veteran guild. With that being said, the Gangnam Royals had become the most unfortunate guild of the year. Members fled as soon as they realised that there was no more hope in restoring the power that they once had. Even Innocent Child had quit and joined the enemy. Despite Heart of War hoping to restore his guild’s reputation by achieving a win through the Stronghold battles, suffering countless losses against Ruling Sword meant that he had no choice but to admit that he was no match for Lu Li. Thus, Heart of War decided to shift his focus to defeating Wings of Dawn by creating a task force made of players from the Four Mercenary Groups. The group refused to take orders from Heart of War; only a small percentage was made of players from the Gangnam Royals. Many mocked them as an uncoordinated rabble, and the Wings of Dawn probably thought so as well. Who knew that in the end, the Gangnam Royals would prevail against Wings of Dawn and became one of the five guilds in Dawn to own a Stronghold?

Dawn players were beginning to recognise a few star figures from the mercenary world. Mercenaries were strong on their own; their skills in looting and the number of resources they owned put many guilds to shame. As such, many mercenaries were recently scouted by guilds to form partnerships and trades. Although the Four Mercenary Groups were the most recognizable amongst Dawn players, the truth was that there were countless skilful and capable mercenary groups.

Lu Li decided that he would form a partnership with some mercenaries as well. The Trading League was a valued partner by Ruling Sword. Ever since Lu Li had met one of the Trading League’s founders – Half-Life Crystal, the two associations had maintained a beneficial alliance. Ruling Sword would buy materials and useful resources from the Trading League in exchange for helping them out with missions. Such mission included eliminating troublemakers that decided to harass the League. The Guild Very Vulgar Very Violent was an example of an annihilated guild targeted by Ruling Sword so as to help out the Trading League. Lu Li had plans to expand on their partnership with Trading League, such as transferring trading type players from Ruling Sword to the Trading League. Not only could he be getting rid of baggage, but it would also open up spaces for him to recruit stronger players as well. At the same time, the Trading League would be in charge of all maintenance work for Ruling Sword. Lu Li’s past three landladies – Little Bear Huan Huan, Willow and Yi Yi would join the Trading League and act as representatives of Ruling Sword. They would ensure that the Trading League would not one day throw Lu Li under the bus. As for benefits to their manpower, Lu Li’s previous partners, Buggy and Blacky, had formed a mercenary group and had even recruited many assassins from Death Camp. They could be considered as a suicide squad and prevented Ruling Sword from getting their hands dirty.

With Ruling Sword rising in the guild ranks, the threat that Buggy and his squad posed had long ceased.