While Ye Ci and Fleeting Time were squaring off against each other on the rooftops, Eastern and Western Continent players were locked in combat on the streets. Facing the endless tides of Eastern Continent players, Absalom knew that he'd lost the initiative. The Eastern Continent wasn't their home turf, which meant that they were unable to employ human wave tactics like the Eastern Continent players that were swarming against them in droves, unfearing their deaths.
The Western Continent players that were selected to join this daring assault were elites even amongst their most elite players. They had good equipment and high levels which were more than a match for the average Northern Continent Players. With the movement of players restricted by the narrow street, the invaders were able to hold their ground. Despite the absence of system restriction of players travelling to another continent before the official release of the Middle Continent, players would still suffer from some degree of penalty while travelling to a hostile continent.
When players were on their home continent, their level would be reduced by 1 if they were killed 10 times. While invading a hostile continent, a player would lose a level for every 5 deaths he or she suffered. Besides that, their equipment had a higher chance of dropping upon death in a hostile continent.
With his plans ruined by Ye Ci, Absalom gave up on following his original battle plan. With the sudden change of the situation, it was impossible to launch another similar attack. Their initial successes owed a lot to the element of surprise as they emerged from the tunnel and dealt a decisive blow to unsuspecting Eastern Continent players. With more of the elite Eastern Continent forces arriving on the scene, sticking to his original plan was an utterly foolish course of action.
That was why Absalom gave up on attacking the Royal Palace without hesitation.
It was a wise decision that was immediately accepted by the frontline commanders. They had a clear picture of the situation and knew that the elite players of the Eastern Continent were already stationed within the palace. Despite the fact that Champion City wasn't the home base of any guilds, the city had its own defence measure. The King residing in the Royal Palace would've definitely deployed his forces within the palace grounds. With the combined might of the Eastern Continent players and high-level NPC combatants, an attack by Western Continent players on the palace would be futile.
The invading Western Continent players were some of the best the continent had to offer. They were high-level players that were able to respond quickly to commands, were equipped with superior equipment, and had a good gaming sense. Right after receiving a confirmation that the attack on the Royal Palace was called off, they began to disperse.
"Boss, what's the objective?" Xinhua Dictionary was nervous. If the situation continued, they would eventually be annihilated.
After a moment of thought, Absalom spoke up, "Are the commanders of all 4 combat zones here?"
"Here!" The 4 frontline commanders replied as one.
"Which combat zone is the Royal Monastery located in?"
As the royal capital of a continent, Champion City was equipped with various facilities including, but not limited to; a library, an auction house, and a monastery. The same could be said for all the royal capitals in the other continents. The buildings in the capitals, however, were arranged differently and weren't available to players from foreign continents. They also weren't readily available on Fate's official website.
A player could easily obtain the map of the royal capital of his or her royal continent, as a map of a player's home continent was already placed in the player's inventory once they'd finished their character completion. With this map, a player could gain knowledge about their home continent. To gain knowledge about the maps of a foreign continent, a player would need to purchase a map of a foreign continent from the continent's NPC or physically explore the place.
The Western Continent players were of course not here for sightseeing; they were enemies of the Eastern Continent. As "invaders" they were unable to purchase maps from the local NPCs and the only way they could confirm their location was through word of mouth.
That was why Absalom asked out loud in the command channel before making his decision.
"It's in the northern sector. I'm in charge of this sector," Joyless immediately replied.
"I want a short briefing about the terrain in your sector. I'll grant you the authority to give your report in the main command channel," said Absalom, and immediately spoke out in the main command channel, "May I have your attention please! No matter where you are, listen up! The following will be a short briefing about the northern sector, I want you to remember it well."
With that, Joyless gave the briefing with a slow but steady voice, providing details of the terrain in the sector to the Western Continent players.
Every Western Continent player, including Fleeting Time, could clearly hear Joyless's voice. Fleeting Time immediately understood Absalom's intention of shifting the combat area to the northern sector of the city. He was, however, locked in combat with Ye Ci, with neither of them gaining the upper hand.
"Now that I'm done explaining things about the northern sector, I will begin sharing the map of the combat area to the frontline commanders. Please pass the maps around."
Absalom glanced at the detailed map of the northern sector and immediately spotted the Monastery that was marked on the map by Joyless. He immediately barked out orders into the command channel, "I want players in the northern sector to continue occupying the main streets, while players in the other sectors move towards the Monastery in small groups. Remember, rendezvous at the Monastery as soon as possible. There aren't too many of the players in that sector yet. Those people from the Eastern Continent thought that we were going to launch an attack on the Royal Palace, so they didn't station much of their forces in the Monastery. Kill as many players as you can on your way there, but don't get too greedy. Our objective is the Monastery."
After giving out his orders, Absalom again reminded the Western Continent players to avoid hastily attacking the Monastery before the main force arrived.
Despite the lack of defenders in the Monastery, Absalom knew that the monks and nuns in the Monastery were tough opponents. They had high magical attacks, as well as self-healing properties. A hasty attack on the Monastery meant high casualties for the Western Continent players.
The players from the Western Continent immediately carried out their orders and made their way towards the Monastery. Living up to their status as elites, the players moved in small groups, avoiding detection by Eastern Continent players. They retreated from the other battle zones in an orderly fashion, giving off the facade that they were trying to lure their enemies into a trap.
Eastern Continent players were not as organized as their Western counterparts that were made up entirely of elite players. They were mostly normal players without an established chain of command and didn't have any experience in large-scale combat, which resulted in the streets of Champion City being filled with the corpses of Eastern Continent players.
Wenshan stared at the streets littered with the corpses of the Eastern Continent players. Many of them respawned right after they were killed in combat, leaving behind countless skeletons and tombstones. The city would've felt like a ghost town had it not been for the grandiose background music of Champion City and the glittery sun hanging in the sky. Wenshan couldn't help but wonder if the same thing would happen if the Royal Capital of the Western Continent was invaded one day.
Other than the skeletons and tombstones, the streets were covered with a sea of equipment. Some of the equipment looked expensive, while there were also others that were worthless. At a time like this, however, who would have the time to pick up all this equipment?
As he retreated, Intoxicated spotted an Eastern Continent player who was at least lvl25 sneaking around, picking up equipment that was dropped by other players. Intoxicated raised his staff and cast Explosion on the player. The player hadn't expected that the retreating Western Continent players would launch such an attack. With his low level and inferior equipment, the player was instantly killed, and the items and equipment he'd picked up fell to the ground.
Wenshan, who was passing by, couldn't help but sigh, "You don't have to kill everyone in sight you know… He's not a threat to us."
Intoxicated snorted, "I didn't kill him because of any threats he might pose. The players from their separate continents are fighting to the death on the front lines, but somebody like him is here trying to make a profit! Why should I let him live?"
Wenshan let out a chuckle. The importance of teamwork was a philosophy that was always preached by Intoxicated. With such a philosophy, he became one of the most famous commanders throughout the entire Western Continent.
"Fleeting Time, who was the one dropping the bombs?" Absalom sent a message to Fleeting Time after reorganizing his forces.
"Gongzi You."
Absalom was momentarily stunned. Unlike Fleeting Time who would only pay attention to people who were of interest to him, Absalom who was the leader of the largest guild in the Western Continent; as well as the continent's commander in chief, knew the names of all the expert players from all four continents. He immediately followed up with another question after hearing the name, "Wasn't she the Huntress who had a draw with you in a PK during the Dragon Dance Competition?"
"Yup."
After a slight pause, Absalom let out a sigh, "So it's her… I'm impressed."