Chapter 113: The Mad Red Moon Mountain
Crimson Moon Mountain.
As the morning sun rose, the early breeze carried a slight chill, but whether it was the players watching the gate on Crimson Moon Mountain, or the vagrants who had come early to set up stalls, all of them were restless at this moment. One after another, they stared at the Steel Bridge, the only entrance and exit, their eyes filled with shock and fear.
In front of the Steel Bridge stood a mass of fully armed ape clan members. Most of them were over two meters thirty tall, wearing A4-grade or higher armor and holding various A5-grade or higher weapons. They formed a dark, dense expanse that looked like an ocean of steel at a glance, full of oppressive pressure.
“What on earth is going on? Why did the Great Ape Gang bring so many people?”
“There are definitely over a thousand of them. Are they planning to attack Crimson Moon Mountain?”
“I used to think it was just a rumor that the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall sent experts to night raid the Great Ape Gang’s headquarters, but seeing this many from the Great Ape Gang, it seems that news should be true.”
“Even if the Great Ape Gang wants to take revenge on the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, this is too much. How deep is this grudge, to send an army of over a thousand? Forget wiping out Crimson Moon Mountain, that would be enough to annihilate another gang ranked around twentieth.”
“If the Great Ape Gang really attacks, what should we do? Are they going to kill us along with them?”
The vagrants gathered at the foot of Crimson Moon Mountain quickly noticed the Great Ape Gang banner raised among the ape clan. For a time, they whispered nonstop, some terrified, some anxious.
Vagrants who lived in the wilderness all year had seen wilderness gang wars before; they were almost commonplace.
But the formation the Great Ape Gang had brought today truly scared them.
Even mortal-enemy wilderness gangs usually fought with only one or two hundred people. Now the Great Ape Gang had directly sent over a thousand, enough to attack a small wilderness town.
Even though the number of vagrants gathered at Crimson Moon Mountain now exceeded three thousand, far more than the Great Ape Gang in headcount, they still felt deeply panicked before this fully armed force, afraid the Great Ape Gang would start killing their way up at any moment.
Just as the vagrants on Crimson Moon Mountain were seized by panic, a nearly three-meter-tall gorilla of the ape clan stepped out from the Great Ape Gang. His hair was reddish-brown, and he wore A6-grade battle armor.
“Everyone on the mountain listen up. I will only say this once.”
“I am Qi Ke, vice gang leader of the Great Ape Gang. Our only targets are the people of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Those not involved, we will give you half an hour to withdraw from Crimson Moon Mountain. Anyone still on Crimson Moon Mountain after half an hour will die without exception!”
Qi Ke’s voice boomed like a great bell, and with the amplification of the A6-grade battle armor, his words spread directly across two to three kilometers. The impact of the sound waves even set the leaves at the foot of Crimson Moon Mountain trembling.
“What immense blood qi. This vice gang leader Qi Ke is probably not a limit apprentice like the outside world says, but a limit quasi-martial artist. He might be only half a step away from becoming a martial artist.” Flo, at the foot of Crimson Moon Mountain, looked toward Qi Ke three hundred meters away and could not help sighing.
“Should we leave with these vagrants?” Fischer pointed at the vagrants already packing up their items and said quietly, “If we leave now, given the Great Ape Gang’s style, they probably will not do anything to us. But if we stay on Crimson Moon Mountain, I fear the Great Ape Gang really will wipe us out along with them.”
“The gang leader of the Great Ape Gang and the other three vice gang leaders have all arrived, and even those rumored elders of the Great Ape Gang are here. It seems the Great Ape Gang truly intends to completely destroy the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.” Flo looked at the nearly twenty masked ape clan members beside gang leader Watu and said helplessly, “But if I give up and leave now, it will be hard to ever get closer to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, not to mention the enormous future profit of Crimson Moon Mountain.”
“Then you should go. Pap and I will stay and bring people. That counts as adding some favor for the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.” Fischer looked at the hesitant Flo, her gaze carrying a trace of resolve. “Even if Crimson Moon Mountain cannot be held, you can still maintain a good relationship with the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.”
“What are you doing? Planning to sacrifice yourself for me?” Flo’s expression darkened as he looked at the determined Fischer. “I said long ago, I chose you two to follow me because I considered you my friends. I never intended to cultivate you as a suicide squad.”
“But now we have no choice,” Fischer said helplessly. “If we want to go further in the future, we have to cling to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Otherwise, with the Green Sparrow Gang’s foundation alone, there is no future at all.”
“If we just walk away without showing anything, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall will definitely be dissatisfied. After all, our Green Sparrow Gang also holds part of the share of the energy ore. To satisfy them, we must send some people of weight to fight. Only Elder Pap and I are qualified.”
Pap, the silent winged tribe man standing beside them, nodded, clearly agreeing with Fischer.
“Forget it, at worst we die.” Flo gritted his teeth, then looked at Fischer and Pap and instructed, “I imagine the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall must have some foundation; otherwise, they would not have attacked the Great Ape Gang. With terrain that is easy to defend and hard to attack, as long as the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall can hold those few mountain passes, we can consume the Great Ape Gang with ranged combat. Hurry and bring people to move arrows. This will definitely be a bitter battle. Prepare more arrows. At least thirty per person. If that is not enough, buy from those vagrants.”
“Okay!”
Seeing the resolved Flo, Fischer and Pap stopped trying to dissuade him. They immediately led more than forty subordinates into swift action.
This defensive battle did look like a sure-loss fight, but that did not mean there was no chance to win.
It was true the Great Ape Gang had many people, but if their casualties were too heavy, they would definitely give up attacking Crimson Moon Mountain. Wilderness gangs had many mortal enemies. The most basic goal for any gang was survival.
If they really fought to the bitter end for the sake of pride and both sides were crippled, such a gang would have long since died out in the wilderness.
So they only needed to fight until the Great Ape Gang could not bear it. Then the Great Ape Gang would naturally retreat.
While Flo was ordering his people to defend Crimson Moon Mountain, Lin Qi, who had come out from the mine, also saw this scene and changed his view of Flo and the others considerably. In these times, people in the wilderness who were willing to risk their lives for an “ally” were quite rare.
“Vice gang leader Flo, you intend to stay?” Lin Qi looked at Flo organizing the defense and asked with a smile.
“Yeah, Crimson Moon Mountain is very good. It would be too much of a waste to give it up now.” Flo nodded, then glanced at Lin Qi with a faint, bitter smile. “But Hall Master Lin, with the Great Ape Gang attacking this time, I am gambling my entire life on you. Can you give me something straight? Can Crimson Moon Mountain be held?”
Looking at Flo’s earnest and expectant expression, Lin Qi thought for a moment and said, “There should be no problem.”
He was fully confident about holding Crimson Moon Mountain. After all, the players’ strength now was not what it had been. Back then, just nineteen advanced or above apprentices had been able to throw the Great Ape Gang’s headquarters into chaos.
Now there were 60 advanced or above apprentices defending Crimson Moon Mountain, plus 30 intermediate apprentices. If not for the fact that a new batch of players could only be summoned today, the number of players stationed here could have reached
But even the 90 players they currently had were not few.
With the resurrection point in the mine, what these 90 players needed to do under the Great Ape Gang’s attack was simply endure long enough for the killed players to resurrect and return.
If nineteen people could hold on for thirty minutes in the Great Ape Gang’s headquarters, there was no reason they could not endure thirty minutes now, with more people and favorable terrain.
“Good. With your word, Hall Master Lin, I am relieved.” Hearing this, Flo could not help but feel a spark of hope.
While Lin Qi and Flo were chatting, a commotion suddenly rose from the bridge below the mountain. The vagrants who had originally been withdrawing from Crimson Moon Mountain on the bridge actually took the initiative to open up the middle of the road, allowing one large transport vehicle after another to pass. Like a royal procession, the vagrants on both sides lowered their heads, not daring to look at the large transport vehicles as they went by.
Some lively vagrant children, seeing the large transport vehicles passing by, wanted to reach out and point as they asked their parents about the flags on those vehicles. But their parents pressed their heads down and quickly pulled them aside, as if terrified of provoking some terrible existence.
“Phosphor Fire Gang!”
“Why are people from the Phosphor Fire Gang here?!”
“Could it be the Phosphor Fire Gang is also interested in Crimson Moon Mountain?”
Some vagrants who had already moved far from the bridge looked at the large transport vehicles driving toward the foot of Crimson Moon Mountain and could not help whispering.
Any vagrant who had been to the City of Light Chasing knew of the Phosphor Fire Gang, a major suburban gang. It ranked among the top fifteen in the suburbs, and with several genius martial artists emerging from the Half-Scale Race, that race’s status in the City of Light Chasing had risen greatly. After a round of expansion, the Phosphor Fire Gang could now rank among the top ten suburban gangs.
Such a suburban gang was absolutely not something vagrants or wilderness gangs could afford to provoke.
“The Phosphor Fire Gang actually came in person?” Flo stared at the four large transport vehicles approaching, each bearing the Phosphor Fire Gang’s flaming stone banner. His expression grew extremely excited. “I really bet right this time. I did!”
Before, Flo had believed in his own judgment that the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was closely tied to the Phosphor Fire Gang, but he had not been one hundred percent sure.
Now that the Phosphor Fire Gang had come in person, he could be completely certain the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had been established by the Phosphor Fire Gang.
Flo even started to understand why the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had not feared the Great Ape Gang and dared to night raid their headquarters. With a major suburban gang like the Phosphor Fire Gang backing them, of course they would not put the Great Ape Gang in their eyes.
The four large transport vehicles of the Phosphor Fire Gang passed directly through the checkpoint set by the Great Ape Gang. Not one member of the Great Ape Gang dared to stop them. They only watched as the four vehicles pulled up at the foot of Crimson Moon Mountain, unceremoniously blocking the Great Ape Gang’s path.
“The Phosphor Fire Gang has come over. What are they trying to do?”
Before this deep confusion could be resolved, members of the Great Ape Gang heard the hiss of pneumatic doors.
The four stopped large transport vehicles opened their rear carriages, and team after team of Half-Scale Race members wearing A6-grade armor and carrying A6-grade weapons marched out.
Each of these Half-Scale Race members possessed at least advanced apprentice strength. A total of two hundred people descended from the four vehicles. Each ten-person team’s Half-Scale Race captain wore A6-grade battle armor and wielded a B2-grade weapon. Their bodies radiated dense blood qi, clearly all at quasi-martial artist level.
Twenty quasi-martial artists in A6-grade battle armor and one hundred eighty advanced or above apprentices in A6-grade armor all formed ranks in front of the four large transport vehicles, like a well-trained army.
Everyone present could clearly feel the massive strength gap between suburban gangs and wilderness gangs. They simply were not on the same level.
Then a tall, lively Half-Scale Woman stepped down from the vehicle, and the two hundred fully armed Half-Scale Race members saluted in unison. The crowd erupted in an uproar, wondering which big shot of the City of Light Chasing this Half-Scale Woman was.
“Why would she come here?” Watu, over three meters tall with silver-gray fur, looked at the Half-Scale Woman stepping down. His expression grew more solemn and wary. “Is it also for the small energy vein?”
Ordinary vagrants might not know the woman’s identity, but as the leader of a major wilderness gang, few did not.
Xia Ling.
The Phosphor Fire Gang leader’s beloved granddaughter.
Before Watu could think further, Xia Ling swept her golden eyes across the Great Ape Gang members and casually spoke a sentence that shocked everyone present.
“The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is my friend’s. If your Great Ape Gang has nothing else, then disperse.”
