Second World

Serpent Boss used a dagger in his left hand and a pistol in his right. He continued to stay close to Ronald as he slashed and shot.

Ronald continued retreating as he fired his two revolvers and also used them to block the dagger whenever it came. He was a very accurate marksman, but at such a close range and fast engagement, he had a problem hitting Serpent Boss.

"Hah! What kind of mercenary are you? Aren't you suppose to focus on your target? Your client will lose soon if you still take your time. Our command platform won't destroy by itself," Ronald ridiculed.

"We will do that once we get rid of you," Serpent Boss replied. He never stopped moving to land a hit on Ronald.

Ronald's taunt was not wrong, but Serpent Boss didn't take the bait. Forcing themselves to get to the command platform in their current condition would not only incur higher casualties on their side, but the chance of success was also low. He had given the command to retreat so they could control the situation before they pushed forward again. He just hoped the defenders by the headquarters could last a little bit longer.

Serpent Boss used his Bulletstorm. As a gunfighter with a caliber not lower than Ronald and Mils, Serpent Boss was of course able to regulate his aim during this skill as well. Countless bullets headed to Ronald. Serpent Boss aimed a portion of his bullets at Ronald's left and right, cutting his escape path.

Ronald activated focus sight and used rapid shots on his twin revolvers. Twelve bullets were discharged and struck a portion of the bullets that came his way. Unfortunately, his Bulletstorm was still on cooldown, so these double rapid shots were the best he could do, which only stopped twelve bullets. Many remaining bullets still came and battered his body.

The already dim soul armor was depleted then. Ronald received damage after the soul armor was gone, but he managed to survive at the end of the rain of bullets.

His Boom Hound rushed to his aid when it saw its master was in predicament, but it bumped into something invisible. When it was still confused by the sudden stop, it felt something claw and bite its body. Damage numbers appeared above its head when it felt the unseen attacks.

It released its sonic roar. A large dog with long black fur and red eyes materialized. The boom hound recognized this adversary. This was the same creature it fought during the world tournament. It was David's barghest.

The two unusual dogs resumed their tussles from the tournament.

Even though the boom hound was hindered, Ronald still had another helper. Gridhacker had stayed close to Ronald to provide assistance. He cast his max-level tracing beams just after Serpent Boss finished his Bulletstorm.

Serpent Boss wanted to press on his attack, but seeing those thirty energy beams heading for him, he had no choice but to roll to the side.

The beams turned in direction and dogged after him. Serpent Boss changed his offhand weapon into another handgun and summoned his Drone. He then fired at the beams rapidly with his two guns and his drone. He used Rapid Shot. However, his weapons were unlike Ronald's where the skill could be used simultaneously on both guns. So, only one gun discharged six bullets while the other gun fired at a normal rate.

The shots destroyed several of the beams. When the remaining beams came near him, he changed to a rifle and then used Spread Shot. The shot turned his bullets into many pellets that spread out, hitting the beams that had clustered together.

Gridhacker was amazed by how Serpent Boss nullified his spell, but he didn't stop. He was already casting another spell after unleashing the tracing beams. But before his spell formation was completed, he felt a hard impact on his head.

He felt like he had been bashed by a giant mallet. His concentration was completely broken. His spell formation fizzled. It took him a second to realize what was going on. He had been hit by the hidden sniper.

He knew of the sniper class' first skill, superior snipe. Aside from having a longer range and higher damage than the gunner's normal Snipe, it also increased the chance of critical hit and increased the inflicted critical damage.

Gridhacker would have been dead already by the shot if he hadn't cast Barrier beforehand. Even so, his barrier shattered after getting hit by the superior snipe. His HP also went down to below half.

Gridhacker knew he couldn't stay still when a sniper was around. He wanted to move back to where many other World Ruler members were crowding, but he found a gun nozzle before his face. This gun flared before he had the time to do anything.

Six bullets smashed into his head and took out the remaining HP he got left. Gridhacker fell to the ground, and so was his God-eye monocle. David, who had been sneaking up on Gridhacker and took the kill shot, picked up the monocle.

After killing Gridhacker, David wanted to go help Serpent Boss in dealing with Ronald, but a commotion from the back made him turn around.

*

In the battle in front of Wicked Witches' headquarters, a large number of players suddenly rushed out of the nearby forest. The defenders were alarmed by the sight. They were already losing at the moment, they couldn't take more opponents!

When everyone was anxious about this new force's intention, they saw a portion of these people run behind the World Ruler army, where the four titanic arrow towers were situated. Some of these players charged into the towers while a portion stayed outside and hacked at the towers' structures.

Another portion came and hit World Ruler's army from the flanks. When one of these players came near, Jennifer identified one of them.

"That's Fly High! The leader of the guild Wing Lovers!" Jennifer shouted to inform Jeanny.

Jeanny looked over. She recognized the man. She had talked with this man during her tour with Jennifer around Aurebor when she tried to persuade the guilds with headquarters to band together.

"Hey! We take it you need a hand?" Fly High said when he heard Jennifer's shout.

"Your guild comes!" Jennifer uttered with a bright face. She was extremely glad by the assist.

"Not just my guild. The others are also here," Fly High said.

When Jennifer and Jeanny looked over, they did see that this new force was a collection of different guilds. There were Destitute Repudiator and Prodigious Chronicler, both of which also existed in Themisphere but they were more prominent here in Aurebor. There were also many others. They all had three things in common. They all had guild headquarters here in Aurebor, they had been attacked by World Ruler in the past, and they had also been approached by Jeanny and Jennifer in the past few days.

During Jeanny's visit and persuasion, although they all didn't give Jeanny a promise of aid, they also didn't reject her. They all wanted to take revenge on World Ruler, but they didn't have the guts to. They had to think about their members. If this backfired and World Ruler targeted them, they would be done for. So, they were left with indecision.

However, Jeanny's speech during her visit did strike a fire in their heart. So, a few of them came with their force, but they stayed out of sight. They were just observing the situation.

As time passed, more of the other guilds also came, with the same thought of observing the situation. As more and more gathered, the leaders found themselves in a silent agreement. If all of them banded like this, they believed even World Ruler won't be able to do anything to them.

Additionally, although Wicked Witches was faltering, they saw how they resisted World Ruler's guild army. They were able to fight back even when they were losing. If they had help, they might win.

So, all those leaders came into a tacit agreement almost simultaneously. Many then gave their followers commands to rush forward and aid Wicked Witches. The rest followed soon when they saw the ones who charged forward.

Each of these guilds brought around 1000 to 2000 players. Aurebor had the same number of available guild headquarters as Themisphere, which was eleven. Eight of these guilds came to Wicked Witches' aid, bringing a total of almost 12,000 players. Combined with the defenders who were still fighting, they now outnumbered the World Ruler's force.

With this new injection of force, the pressure on the defender's side was significantly reduced. The enemies who almost pushed to the wall gate now lost their momentum. The defenders could now also send troops to aid those on the wall, driving those raptor riders out and securing the wall again.

"Yes, we are saved!" Jeanny exclaimed excitedly. She saw one of the four arrow towers in the distance crumble.

"It's all thanks to your charisma, sis," Jennifer said to her with a sincere smile. She had always been jealous of her sister's ability to make friends and influence others. Now, she had learned to truly appreciate it.