058 Who Is Encircling Whom?

The combined forces of the Divine War Guild, the Nightshade Guild, the Storm and Cloud Guild, the Totem Guild, and the Wind Chasers Guild all joined hands to hunt down Morning Breeze, revealing just how much they valued him. It had taken all ten major guilds to besiege Blood Dragon; now, with five guilds joining forces, Morning Breeze’s fame had reached at least half the notoriety of Blood Dragon. What’s more, both Totem and Wind Chasers had professional team backgrounds—meaning some pro players might join in, lured by the promise of the Ring of Power. As for whether other players or pros were mingling among the hunters, Morning Breeze had no way of knowing.

“Morning Breeze, you should log off; let us handle the rest!” Hidden never imagined the Divine War Guild would only use him to draw out Morning Breeze; if Morning Breeze were to drop the Ring of Power here, he’d feel guilty. As for himself, hiding offline was out of the question. Since the Divine War Guild had made him bait, he was determined to make them pay the price.

Logging off was the only way to avoid getting attacked. Once Morning Breeze entered combat, logging out would become nearly impossible. But would he log off? Morning Breeze welcomed this siege; it was an opportunity to hone his focus and train his psychic abilities. In this game, training his powers always took precedence—even if someone managed to loot his Ring of Power, so what?

“The agreement still stands. If anyone’s lost their nerve, just log off. As for me, I won’t be logging out.” Already, Morning Breeze had entered his stealth mode. Ever since his racial advancement, his stealth was even subtler than a rogue’s—discovering him was nigh impossible.

“Scoundrel Breeze, do you take me for someone so craven?” the Monk boasted. “Since we’re all teammates, I’ll let you in on a secret: I am, in fact, Blood Dragon. If I transform into Blood Dragon, I become a warrior—none shall stand in my way!” The Monk’s tall tales were getting bolder—claiming to be Blood Dragon right in front of Morning Breeze was preposterous.

“Monk, stop bragging! The last time Blood Dragon appeared, you were dueling me in the arena!” War Maniac sneered at the Monk’s shameless lies.

“Young War Maniac, don’t you know about game clones? Just like Scoundrel Breeze’s barbarian alt, I have an elven clone—and he’s a warrior, too!” The Monk’s boast grew ever more outrageous. How many people in this game even had clones?

System: Your teammate “Duan Morning Breeze” has gained 1 point. Total: 1 point.
System: Your teammate “Duan Morning Breeze” has gained 1 point. Total: 2 points.
System: Your teammate “Duan Morning Breeze” has gained 1 point. Total: 3 points.

The team points system had been activated, and the system was automatically tallying their scores. While the two bantered, Morning Breeze had already struck, racking up three points in an instant.

“Damn it, Scoundrel Breeze, I hadn’t even called ‘start’—you’re cheating!” The Monk cursed when he saw Morning Breeze’s sudden gain.

“Let’s see who’s faster. Just don’t get killed yourself—if you do, your points get wiped!” Morning Breeze ignored the Monk, already seeking his next target.

Morning Breeze, an assassin by trade, never feared being cornered by ordinary players. What troubled him now was whether his ruthlessness would make people suspect he was Blood Dragon. The players of Divine War Guild had been traumatized by Blood Dragon’s massacres; if Morning Breeze went on a rampage, they might quickly connect the dots.

So, this time, Morning Breeze had to hold back—a prospect he found deeply frustrating. But imposing these self-limitations was itself a way to train his powers. In the past, he’d relied on ambushes as a berserker, requiring no further skill—just the ability to break through encirclements.

The Divine War Guild weren’t fools. After being slaughtered so many times by Blood Dragon, they were hyper-vigilant. They formed squads of seven, with healers guarded in the center. Smaller squads of three or four served as bait to draw Morning Breeze out, likely tailed by rogues or including hunters for rapid tracking and flagging his location to the others.

A Divine War Guild rogue was searching Green Dragon Hills for Morning Breeze, deliberately avoiding the main roads and creeping along the outskirts instead. Having been killed a dozen times by Blood Dragon, he vividly recalled his overconfidence—thinking Blood Dragon couldn’t see him in stealth, only to be instantly killed when they collided on the road. Now, the mere thought of leveling on open roads filled rogues with dread.

Even the elite squads of Divine War Guild didn’t dare hunt Morning Breeze in groups of less than five. They all knew he wielded twin Brotherhood swords—an intimidating and terrifying force. And with the Ring of Power, should its hidden abilities activate, Morning Breeze’s power would soar, rivaling Blood Dragon’s.

System: Your teammate “War Maniac” has gained 1 point. Total: 7 points.
System: Your teammate “War Maniac” has gained 1 point. Total: 8 points.

“Divine War Guild players are way too cautious. Let’s target the other guilds—they’re less aware,” War Maniac circled the Green Dragon Hills, realizing the Divine War players were nearly impossible to kill unless Blood Dragon appeared. Outnumbered, they couldn’t win; in small groups, they dared not approach. This discipline was the legacy of Blood Dragon’s slaughter. Without Blood Dragon’s intervention, killing Divine War players was nigh impossible.

“Haha, save the Divine War Guild for last!” The Monk’s devious streak was showing. He ignored Divine War players, hunting down the weaker, easier prey from the other guilds—especially those from the pro team guilds, who’d seldom encountered Blood Dragon and lacked experience, often wandering in twos or threes. The Monk could easily wipe them out with a single burst.

“Hard to say whether Divine War Guild’s encounters with Blood Dragon were a blessing or a curse…” Hidden found it ironic—Blood Dragon had slaughtered nearly all Divine War’s players, but in doing so, had trained them in formidable wilderness survival.

System: Your teammate “Kun Kun Is Healthier” has gained 1 point. Total: 22 points.
System: Your teammate “Kun Kun Is Healthier” has gained 1 point. Total: 23 points.
System: Your teammate “Kun Kun Is Healthier” has gained 1 point. Total: 24 points.

“I’m in the lead—get your gold ready!” The Monk’s score was now formidable, thanks to his strategy of targeting only the weakest players and fleeing whenever things looked dicey. His escape skills were top-notch, and his crowd control abilities made him very hard to kill.

“Damn it, Monk, just you wait!” Hidden had only managed to take down eight players and had nearly fallen for an ambush earlier—he was far behind now.

Because Morning Breeze was holding back, his score had only reached twenty points, lagging behind the Monk’s for now. But that would change; as the easy prey lured by the Ring of Power were eliminated, the Monk’s lead would dwindle. Besides, with the five guilds fixated on Morning Breeze, he didn’t need to seek out victims—soon enough, they’d come to him.

“The Divine War Guild and four others are hunting Duan Morning Breeze and Hidden in Green Dragon Hills. All unrelated players, stay clear or be killed on sight!” Divine War Sky One posted repeatedly in the China Region channel, issuing five warnings to avoid chaos and prevent Morning Breeze’s escape. Reporters were on-site, live-posting updates on the forums. Many spectators had gathered, some hoping to snatch the Ring of Power for themselves.

Divine War Guild was notorious for its dominance—few dared criticize them anymore. Whether others heeded their warnings was another matter.

“They’re playing hit and run with us. I can’t tell if we’re hunting them or they’re hunting us—we’ve lost a lot of people,” the leaders of the five guilds discussed, feeling the sting of heavy losses.

“Not only are they not fleeing, they’re actively killing our members. What now?” The guild leaders were growing uneasy, feeling the tables had turned and that they were being stalked instead.

“Sky One, why do they seem to be targeting everyone but your guild? It’s mostly members from other guilds getting killed,” some leaders had noticed the pattern—Divine War players suffered far fewer losses.

Sky One replied scornfully, “Our members are used to hunts like this. We move in squads of seven or eight, always with a rogue for scouting—never giving them a fair shot. That’s a real siege. You lot just group up lazily, making yourselves easy targets and easy loot.”

In truth, Sky One regretted involving the other guilds; if he’d had enough members, Divine War alone would have sufficed to hunt Morning Breeze. Training the others now seemed futile—they lacked the experience of surviving Blood Dragon’s massacres, and without it, they’d never forge true teamwork.

“Hidden, that wretched Monk, and War Maniac are being drawn into our encirclement, but Duan Morning Breeze is still roaming free—he refuses to be drawn in. His ability to break through sieges is formidable.” The guilds’ players weren’t complete pushovers; though no match for these experts, they still followed the encirclement plan. The Monk and War Maniac, greedy for kills, had soon been lured into the trap, and Hidden was gradually being drawn in as well. Only Morning Breeze remained elusive, killing at a measured, deliberate pace.

The goal of the siege was to gradually close the circle, but their opponents were so strong they’d managed to mount a counter-siege. In the end, however, the trap was closing. Morning Breeze had already warned his teammates not to get surrounded, but still, one by one, they were drawn in.

“Everyone has a weakness. Even if Duan Morning Breeze runs like a rat, eventually he’ll be caught in the net.” Sky One had always known Morning Breeze was hard to catch—ever since the early days of the game, when Divine War Guild had placed a bounty on him, they’d never managed to pin down his location. In Green Dragon Hills, it was the same: Morning Breeze stayed just at the edge of the teams’ range, never quite entering the trap, making it almost impossible to surround him. His teammates, however, were not so elusive.

“I want to see what the man with the Ring of Power will do—abandon his teammates, or risk everything for them?” The pro player Wind King from Wind Chasers had also arrived at Green Dragon Hills. At any moment, he could strike down the Monk, but the Monk wasn’t his target. Killing the Monk would accomplish nothing—what he wanted was the Ring of Power.