Chapter 525 – Old Enemy

“Since Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors won’t let us rest in peace, we won’t let them either! After we’re through with them, they’ll turn tail and scram whenever they see us!” Nie Yan coldly declared.

Hearing Nie Yan’s words, the players in the villa immediately became fired up. After the siege of the Cripps Stronghold, It had been a long time since they last fought a war. They felt like their bones were growing rusty.

Nie Yan had decided to declare war against Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors.

“Boss, just give us the command!”

The players in the villa were itching to do battle.

Nie Yan turned to Bladelight. “Take 30 people with you, and go hunt some Level 80 Lords. Quickly snatch up the properties in the Hilton Stronghold. Leave Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors to us.”

Bladelight pondered for a moment. Nie Yan was planning to hinder Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors while his group hunted Level 80 Lords and earned contribution. Like this, they could snatch up the most important properties in the Hilton Stronghold.

Battles could always be put off and delayed. However, the matter of purchasing properties in the Hilton Stronghold couldn’t!

If all these properties were snatched up by other guilds, Asskickers United  would lose out on a huge source of potential revenue. This kind of loss was incalculable.

“Alright, be careful.” Bladelight nodded.

“It’s best if you bring 30 top ranked guildmates with you. Make sure nothing leaks out,” Nie Yan said. Nothing good could come from Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors knowing the movements of Bladelight’s group.

“Understood.”

A 30-player team wasn’t enough to deal with a Level 90 Lord, but a Level 80 Lord would be no issue. Adding too many players would make them too easy to discover.

Bladelight’s group exited out the backdoor of the villa. They had to first throw off the Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors players observing this place.

After Bladelight departed, Nie Yan began organizing the troops.

「Guo Huai, has there been any movements from Divine Protectors and Alliance of Mages?」Nie Yan asked. If they dared to leave the city, he would show them no mercy.

「They’re still recuperating. It seems like they won’t be leaving the Hilton Stronghold any time soon. I’ve already dispatched people to monitor them. If there’s any news, I’ll immediately report back to you,」Guo Huai said.

「Mhmm.」Nie Yan nodded. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had suffered heavy losses and probably wouldn’t dare to rashly step out of the Hilton Stronghold. Asskickers United’s players had to recuperate as well. So, there was no need to rush.

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Should I try paying Crazy Magic a visit? If a conflict broke out within the walls of the Hilton Stronghold, Asskickers United’s side would have the absolute advantage. After all, his position was only second to the administrator!

「Guo Huai, find me the location of Crazy Magic!」

「Alright,」Guo Huai replied. He had already spread his intelligence network across the Hilton Stronghold. Finding Crazy Magic’s location was a simple matter.

「How many Armoured Ice Catapults do we have right now?」Nie Yan asked. If  they had enough Armoured Ice Catapults, he planned to put these formidable war engines to full use in the upcoming war.

The Armoured Ice Catapults had displayed astonishing might during the war for Nisode. Merely three suppressed the Tuoba Family to the point they couldn’t even breathe, leaving them with no choice but to abandon their strongholds. This in turn led to the decline of the several guilds under them as well.

Three Armoured Ice Catapults were far from being enough to deal with Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. No one knew how much Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors had advanced their technology since the siege of the Cripps Stronghold. However, one thing was for certain: it hadn’t stagnated. Delfina, one of Nie Yan’s three slaves, had helped him duplicate two Armoured Ice Catapult Blueprints. With three artisan teams simultaneously working on this project round the clock, they probably had quite a few Armoured Ice Catapults completed by now.

「We currently have 21 Armoured Ice Catapults. Three are with the War God Tribe, five with Battle Crazed Alliance, and the rest is at the Cripps Stronghold,」Guo Huai replied. Believing Nie Yan had a special reason for inquiring about the Armoured Ice Catapults, he asked,「You’re planning to take action against Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors? It’ll take us at least five days to transport the Armoured Ice Catapults, but if we get intercepted along the way, I can’t guarantee we won’t suffer heavy losses. They might have a method to deal with catapults. I also recently learned that Alliance of Mages already have 15 Armoured Catapults.」

Nie Yan pondered for a moment. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors were based too far away from Calore. At this stage of the game, when most land mounts were of a fairly low rank and flying mounts were still incredibly rare, this kind of distance posed a huge challenge.

「What if we uses horse-drawn carts? How long will it take then?」Nie Yan asked.

「If we use carts, we can cut the transport time to three days. However, building the carts won’t be cheap,」Guo Huai said. If they really were going to war with Alliance of Mages, victory wasn’t guaranteed. Given the distance, it would be very difficult for Asskickers United to seize any advantages.

「How much are we looking at?」

「At least 1,000,000 gold.」

Nie Yan thought it over for a moment. It was definitely worth the investment to spend 1,000,000 gold to increase the mobility of the Armoured Ice Catapults.「Fine, if it’s 1,000,000 gold, then it’s 1,000,000 gold. It’s not like we can’t afford it. Sell off some gems. After gathering the funds, immediately start building the carts!」

The horse-drawn carts could be directly built in the Cripps Stronghold’s siege weapon factory. No blueprints were required. All they was needed was gold to buy materials.

The war with Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors was bound to happen sooner or later. Asskickers United already fully controlled Calore. With Holy Empire, Sapphire Shrine, Radiant Sacred Flame, the War God Tribe,  Battle Crazed Alliance, and the five branch guilds, they could definitely take on Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors. Even if they couldn’t wipe out Alliance of Mages, dealing them a heavy blow would be no issue.

Nie Yan had already made his preparations for this war.

「Oh, by the way, Li Rui has been looking for you these past few days. I told him you were in the Hilton Stronghold,」Guo Huai said.

「Li Rui is looking for me? Why?」Nie Yan asked doubtfully. For the sake of levelling without interruption, he had set his voice settings so that only Guo Huai, Bladelight, and Xie Yao could contact him.

「I don’t know. It’s probably nothing big,」Guo Huai said. Li Rui was only a junior captain in Asskickers United. Zhao Hai and Liu Xuchen, who had joined the guild at the same time as him, had already risen to the top ranks of Asskickers United relying purely on their own merits. This was why Guo Huai didn’t have a good opinion of Li Rui. He was simply too mediocre. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was Nie Yan’s classmate, he wouldn’t even have become a junior captain.

「Tell him to wait, I suppose,」Nie Yan said. After thinking for a bit, he figured Li Rui’s matter probably wasn’t anything urgent.「How’s he doing lately?」

「Li Rui’s talent is too lacking. We’ve wasted quite a bit of manpower trying to nurture him, having top rank members carry him through dungeons. However, you can’t polish a turd. His skill hasn’t improved one bit. Zhai Hao and Liu Xuchen are already in the top ranks of the guild while he’s still only a junior captain. I think it’s been bothering him, and that’s why he’s looking for you,」Guo Huai said. He felt some prejudice against Li Rui.

「I’ll talk with him when I get back,」Nie Yan said. If Li Rui’s skills really weren’t up to snuff, picking favourites and forcefully raising him up would only exacerbate things. Serving as a junior captain in the guild was already pretty good.

Since Nie Yan had given the word, Guo Huai didn’t say anything more. He planned to reply to Li Rui.

「I’ve found Crazy Magic’s location. He’s at Christine’s Potion Shop,」Guo Huai said after receiving a report.

Christine’s Potion Shop was the Hilton Stronghold’s sole NPC Potion Shop. The goods there were quite expensive, more than 30% higher than market price. At present, there were only two potion shops in the Hilton Stronghold. One was  Christine’s Potion Shop, and the other was the Starry Night Potion Shop. Crazy Magic didn’t want to lose face by shopping at the Starry Night Potion Shop, so he naturally went to Christine’s Potion Shop.

Christine’s Potion Shop was only about a two-minute walk from the villa.

“Boss, has there been any movement from Alliance of Mages? When are we taking action?” Paladin of the Elegy asked eagerly.

“Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors are still recuperating. It seems like they won’t be leaving the Hilton Stronghold any time soon. I’m going to pay Crazy Magic a visit. You guys can remain on standby until the equipment from Calore arrives,” Nie Yan said.

Nie Yan turned to Xie Yao. “Let’s go together.”

“Alright,” Xie Yao replied in an elegant manner.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao departed from the villa and headed for Christine’s Potion Shop. This place was a shabby building with only a single floor.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao immediately attracted the attention of the Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors players in the vicinity.

As Nie Yan glanced at the surrounding players who were pretending they were merely passersby and inwardly sneered. These people had probably already informed Crazy Magic.

Nie Yan and Xie Yao leisurely walked through the streets while chatting.

After learning Nie Yan was approaching, Crazy Magic asked a subordinate beside him, “How many players does Nirvana Flame have with him?”

“The players tailing him are reporting that it’s just him and his girlfriend.”

Crazy Magic knitted his brows. It certainly wasn’t a coincidence that Nirvana Flame was coming in his direction. He recalled the incident with Heaven Breaker and inwardly warned himself not to fall into the same hole.

The thought of leaving Christine’s Potion Shop never crossed Crazy Magic’s mind. If he fled like some scared rat every time he encountered Nirvana Flame, he would become a laughingstock.

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