Show Me the Money

The sea of monsters crawled out from the underground and drowned all the remaining Ice Rose players in the blink of an eye. Caught off guard, the hundreds of players were pounced and gnawed on them until there wasn't even a bone left.

"Get into a defensive formation! Retreat to the center hall!" Facing the grave crisis, Rosethorn resolutely ordered.

The 2,000 members left all gathered together and left with difficulty. Under Rosethorn's lead, they slowly withdrew toward the main hall located in the base's center.

The only requirement to successfully pass the siege defense battle was to block ten waves of monsters from destroying this Hall of Administration. In this moment of despair, Rosethorn had decided on this place as their final battlefield.

The shift of battlefield and whether the Ice Rose Alliance could stop the last wave became the new topic of interest amongst the onlookers.

The Ice Rose members were resolved to keep fighting till their death. They went in an endless cycle of dying and returning from the respawn point to add themselves to the defensive line. Some even attacked the monsters from the outside or died before they could gather with the main force.

"Go! Everyone, go! We can definitely do it!" Rosethorn shouted in a hoarse voice. Ice Witch looked as frigid as ever as she unleashed all kinds of skill at the charging monsters.

At this moment, the members of the Ice Rose Alliance only had fighting left in their mind. Even the priests were haphazardly throwing out every offensive skill in their possession.

However, this still couldn't hinder the monsters' steps. With each passing moment, the players' defensive line shrank little by little. The monster army got closer and closer until they were about to reach the hall at the center.

"Victory or defeat, it's all gonna come down to this last effort!" Rosethorn shouted as she led the players to block the monsters' attack tightly.

These underground mobs weren't high-level, ranging from 30 to 40. However, their number alone was enough to fluster the players. If the situation came down to it, the Ice Rose alliance still couldn't hold on with all of their members, let alone only having two thousand people left now, and this number was still decreasing.

Boom, boom! One powerful spell after another exploded in the middle of the monster army, leaving empty spacing in their wake. At this moment, the players couldn't care less about checking the skill cooldown. They simply cast out every skill available. Their current priority was to overcome this plight at whatever cost.

However, there were just too many monsters. After countless mobs were slaughtered, another herd would just fill their spots; there seemed to be no end to them.

Inside the base, several fissures formed in the ground. Akin to the entrance to a military camp, the rifts continued to gush one wave of after another. The number of monsters that emerged from each gush hadn't dropped once since the start of the tenth wave. Instead, it kept increasing.

"Kill! Kill!" The players' eyes had turned red from all the murder. There was a mage who had no time to replenish her exhausted mana, and she just charged forth with her magic staff in hand to tussle with the monsters.

"What a tragedy…" the onlookers sighed.

Die, then run back, then die, then run back again. In just several hours, all of the Ice Rose members had lost several levels. Some even back dropped back to level 30.

Finally, the number of monsters crawling out started to ease up, until only a thin circle was surrounding the Hall of Administration. As for the Ice Rose Alliance, they were left with roughly one hundred long-ranged players, all in dire straights.

The archers took out their daggers, and the mages gripped their magic staves. If they were to fall in the end, they wanted to fail with no regrets.

"It's really hard to believe that all of them are female players."

"What courage! They aren't any less than the best man out there. Us men should be ashamed."

"Ahh, what a pity. So are they really gonna fail at this very last stage?"

Many people sighed; however, that was all they did. No one would say that they could help or anything. The two of the same trade were still competitors. The guildless players wouldn't dare to aid; the guilds even less so, because it was a failure that they were happy to witness happen.

Rosethorn and Ice Witch stood at the very front. Behind them, the members, holding daggers and staves, automatically aligned in proper formation, ready to fight. The two guild masters had both died twice. Right now, Ice Witch's face was no longer its usual cold. Like Rosethorn, she had put on a tough and resolute expression.

"Aii, Lan'er, have you spotted the boss?" Fatty suddenly asked.

"I haven't." Liu Lan was surprised as well. "There has been no sign of the boss. Maybe it was killed during the chaos?"

"That's impossible," Fatty shook his head and observed with worry. "They're very likely to fail this time."

"Don't worry, sisters of Ice Rose Alliance. Us Rainrevelers are here!" All of a sudden, a team of players parted a way through the crowd and headed right for the center hall. This team had at least five hundred people. Leading them were the Rainrevelers Guild Master, RainbowWatcher, and vice-master, Qian Xiaoqian.

"Why did they come?" Not only the onlookers were dumbstruck, but even Ice Witch and Rosethorn were also bewildered.

"Sis Rainbow, you guys…" Rosethorn spoke up.

"Let's talk about this later. You guys only need to protect the hall and watch your sister clear out these mobs for you," RainbowWatcher waved her arm. The team of five hundred dismounted at once and formed a proper formation, before racing at the monsters.

With a strong force at their full health joining the battle, the scale immediately tipped to the players' side. There was currently less than two thousand monsters left, and they couldn't hold on against such powerful momentum. Slowly, the monsters were annihilated.

The players of Rainrevelers walked around the vicinity and easily cleared out the scattering mobs. Then, they found the boss under a crack on the ground. It was almost relaxing to deal with a boss with a hundred versus one. The boss was slain in a few rounds of attack.

"It's ended? Just like that?" Everybody looked dumbly at one another.

"Thank you, thank you so much! If it wasn't for you guys, we…" Rosethorn and Ice Witch strode to their helpers. Rosethorn was so emotional that she didn't know what to say.

"Don't worry about it. You guys could have passed even without our help." RainbowWatcher dismissively waved her hands with a smile.

"Sis, you don't need to keep up appearances for us. If you guys hadn't come, we would have all been dead," said Rosethorn with a bitter smile.

——

"It's over. Let's go."

"That's it? Tch, the Ice Rose Alliance's preparation indeed wasn't sufficient."

"They are lucky that Rainrevelers came to help. Otherwise, they coulda failed and wasted all that money and deaths for nothing."

——

"Congratulations! The first player base in the game is about to appear!" After they were done watching the show, no matter what the other guild masters were thinking in mind, they still came over to congratulate. Fatty also followed Liu Lan over.

"Bro," Qian Xiaoqian walked to Fatty's side.

"Mhm." Fatty nodded, then asked Rosethorn, "It's all over now?"

"Yep, over." Rosethorn smiled beautifully, all that was left on her face with utter exhaustion after the grand battle. "Thanks for your help. I'll wire you the rest 200,000 gold coins after this."

"You sure it's over? Did the system notify you?" Fatty kept asking.

Rosethorn's face instantly changed. Everyone present was horrified by Fatty's reminder.

"N-no, there was no notification," Rosethorn stuttered.

"Maybe the battle was too intense, so you didn't notice it?" RainbowWatcher asked.

"Did you guys hear any system notification?" Rosethorn, holding a sliver of hope, turned to ask the members of the Ice Rose Alliance.

The several hundred players all shook their heads. Everyone's face sank at this.

"It's not over yet!"

"Defense!" Rosethorn hastily shouted. The Ice Rose players tried to suppress the feeling of exhaustion and spread out around the Hall of Administration, ready to risk their lives in the last fight.

"Haven't all ten waves passed? Why is it not done yet?" Qian Xiaoqian exclaimed in surprise.

"Roaaaaaahh!" An insane roar rumbled through heavens and earth. From afar, a black figure flew toward them at lightning speed.

"It's coming!" RainbowWatcher alerted the players. "Everyone be prepared. Let's take care of this last monster one and for all."

All the guild masters who came over to congratulate them also arranged their members to prepare for the fight. Since there was only this one last monster, Rainrevelers could handle it with their strength even if they left. So the guild masters simply remained to display their goodwill.

How come this voice sounds so familiar? Fatty looked dubiously at the black figure and tried to recall.

"Roaaaaaah!" The figure approached alongside a thunderous roar. Under this roar, the already tattered base wall instantly crumbled into countless stone shards that burst in all directions.

"Moretta!" Fatty blurted out upon getting a clear look at the figure's appearance.

"Moretta?" The surrounding players looked at Fatty, incredulous.

"He's one of the sixteen Demon Generals under the Phantasm Ghost King. He was sealed for several thousand years, just got out recently," Fatty quickly briefed. "Very strong. Be careful, everyone."

Even without Fatty's warning, everybody already knew how terrifying this newcomer was. Sending the base wall to collapse with one single roar wasn't something any of them could do, even if this wall had already been damaged before.

"Zezeze, after running around for so long, I finally see a place with quite a lot of human," Moretta laughed eerily. He had stopped in mid-air and was peering down at the people below.

"Hey, my bro, long time no see," Fatty greeted toward the sky.

"Little fatty, tsk, it's only been a few days," Moreta's smile grew even wider when he saw Fatty. "Mmmm, this body of yours isn't bad, full of luscious fat. Mmm, BBQ or boiled now?"

"What kind of flavor do you like?" Fatty asked.

"Ehh?" Moretta seemed to be troubled. He actually pondered, "What flavor do I like? Smoked? Boiled? Or maybe raw? Aiiyo, how did I have my meat in the past?"

"No prob. This guy was sealed for several thousand years. His brain is rotten already. Everyone don't be scared, just beat him up however you like," Fatty turned around and said.

"Pfffff!" All the female players burst out into laughter, before quickly sealing their mouths.

"Mages and archers, when I give the order, attack at once," RainbowWatcher discreetly announced via the party chat.

At the other side, Rosethorn was notifying her guild members to get ready for combat as well.

Rainrevelers' archers and mages, one hundred players of each class, all readied their skills and set their aims at Moretta.

"Attack!" After getting the ready confirmation from her party, RainbowWatcher abruptly shouted.

WHEW! BOOM! BANG!

The two hundred players unleashed their attacks altogether. Going right after them was the Ice Rose Alliance. All kind of fire, water, wind spells, all kinds of explosive arrows, piercing arrows, wind breaking arrows instantly shrouded Moretta.

"Raaaaaaaaah!" Moretta let out a furious scream after the first round. He burst his way out from the rain of attacks. "You lot dared attack me?! I want you all DEAD!"