City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

The Strongest of Assaults

Having gained a considerable amount from the offering ceremony, Richard left the Church feeling a vague sense of elation for the first time in months. He had the activated ember essence to form the core of a grade 6 rune, with enough left over to upgrade three pieces of equipment to the divine grade.

Returning to his island, he took out three of his best legendary weapons and upgraded them immediately, adding them to the reward point system with a condition: Only points obtained by battle against the reapers could be used to redeem them. News about this spread like wildfire, shocking many legendary powerhouses out of their shells as they rushed to Faelor immediately.

Even otherwise, the mercenaries were slowly transitioning to fight the reapers anyway. The Five-Coloured Dragon had blocked the portal to the Dragon Plane and was sending fewer and fewer of her troops through the portal, while the demons were very erratic in their attacks. Of course, that wasn’t the only consideration to be had. The dragons and demons were also much safer to fight, which was why so many powerhouses preferred to remain in the other two battlefields and gradually accumulate credits. Many already espoused a philosophy that survival was the best way to earn points.

Done adjusting the credit system, Richard quickly returned to Faelor. A large space had already been cleared out from the fringe of Bluewater Oasis, with hundreds of mages and smiths bustling about in an attempt to create the largest portal in Faelorian history. Commoners from all over were flooding into the city in waves, desperate for his protection. The Bridge of Hope could transport more than ten million citizens with ease, which was why Richard insisted on continuing to build it even with the dire situation in the war.

Richard new that the peace with the reapers was only momentary. With the enemy base still functioning, they were only gathering more and more power for their final attack. Unfortunately, going over and trying to destroy it directly was effectively a suicide mission even for an epic being.

He used the time to revise his strategies, deploying drones and troops to reconstruct new lines of defence. The night elves from the Forest Plane were also being teleported out from the Forest Plane, steadily streaming into Faelor. A mass of divine crystals had already gotten the clone to level 10, and her regular elves were level 16 and the elites a level higher. She could even work two days straight at a time to produce actual saints!

Richard had already abandoned any hopes of survival if he only relied on his resources in Faelor. While this would reveal his trump card to the rest of Norland, he saw no other way but to use them.

……

“I advanced,” Nasia contacted him not long after he arrived in Faelor, before he could finish optimising the defences.

“Oh? That was quick. Do you need time to stabilise?” Richard responded. He had expected her to take a while to burn through the 25 top-tier offerings, but she had actually managed it within a few weeks.

“Not at all, it’s just becoming legendary. But my equipment is amazing now.”

“Why wouldn’t divine equipment be amazing…” he cursed under his breath, but quickly shook it off, “Then come over to Faelor and help here.”

“It’s more important to settle things with the big dragon first. The dragons haven’t appeared in forever; if this continues, the entire system will go down the drain! Think of the money!”

“Who gives a fuck about the money?” Richard griped, “It’s not like we can do anything if the lizards won’t come!”

“Of course we can!” Nasia scoffed, “Won’t killing her be enough?”

“Her? The Five-Coloured Dragon? You think I wouldn’t have if I could?”

“It might have been impossible before, but things are different now. Ask your empress girlfriend for help.”

Richard’s heart skipped a beat, leaving him confused as to just how she knew everything she did. However, he still shook his head, “No, it’d be useless as long as the passage is blocked.”

With the Five-Coloured Dragon on the other side of the portal, Apeiron would be attacked the moment she stepped through. Her body was weaker than most other epic beings, and it would be difficult for her to hold up against the attacks of the Five-Coloured Dragon. He couldn’t even go occupy the dragon first. It would be obvious when she teleported over, and she would just be swatted back into Faelor.

Nasia continued, “Not just her. The Celestial Sage has finally healed up, and I have the Projection of Ruin as well. If we can’t even chase that damned dragon away, we might as well kill ourselves.”

A team of Richard, Apeiron, Ruben, and Nasia was four epic beings breaking through into the Dragon Plane. The Five-Coloured Dragon was strong, but not that strong. Richard quickly agreed and headed back to Norland, asking Apeiron for assistance. This invitation turned out to go pretty smoothly, with the Empress lighting up the moment she heard about the enemy they would be fighting.

Nasia and Ruben were already waiting at Dragon Valley. The Celestial Sage’s eyes lit up when he saw Apeiron, and he took the initiative to greet her, “Your Majesty! It has been a long time since we met outside of Norland.”

“I have nothing to talk to you about, what’s the point of meeting?” Apeiron spat coldly, leaving an awkward Ruben to laugh it off before shutting up. He was a famed scholar, but he definitely couldn’t begin to compare to her in combat. The Empress was known as a lunatic who only cared about battle.

While each of those present had a strong personality, Richard naturally took the role of leader. Apeiron wasn’t good at strategy, while the Celestial Sage wasn’t good at combat. Nasia didn’t really care even if she was fairly good at both, so things fell to him.

He stared at the chromatic barrier around the portal, “Your Excellency Ruben, you will be in charge of restricting the dragon’s barrier. I will teleport over to the Dragon Plane with Nasia in that time, and Apeiron will wait for ten seconds before entering. I should be able to take care of things after that, but do rush over if you feel the barrier wavering greatly. We will need your assistance to stop the escape.”

“My Nebular Chains are powerful, but they can’t lock a dragon down.”

“It’s fine, we just have to restrict her. The aim is injury, death is a bonus.”

With the plan set in place, the party flew towards the portal. There were still a few dozen saints and legends strolling through the area in boredom, mostly because the valley had been split off from Faelor once it was attached to the special zone in Faust, but that gave them the unique opportunity to witness what was about to happen.

“Empress Apeiron, His Excellency Ruben!” a saint suddenly shouted, drawing attention to the four figures zooming through the sky. Many jaws dropped as the onlookers saw just who the four were, and they immediately flashed as close to the barrier as was safe. This was three proven epic beings and one whose power could frighten all legends. This was a party with frightening power, and if they were collaborating, the target of their assault was obvious.

Many saints and legends felt themselves itching for battle. If the Five-Coloured Dragon was beaten back or killed, they would be able to reverse the tides and flood into the Dragon Plane, looting it clean!