This river was called the Blackwater River. The river water didn't look black at all. The connecting water streams were all covered in green grass. I charged right at the front and suddenly stopped. The Royal Army and the [Zhan Long] cavalry behind me also followed suit. As for the Fire Axe Army troops not too far away, hundreds of cavalry fell into the Blackwater River. In the next moment, several pairs of eyes appeared. They were all crocodiles who had been hungry for a long time. They all shook their tails which caused many splashes in the water. They looked extremely terrifying. The Fire Axe Army troops were terrified and cried out. Men and horses were ripped into pieces by the bunch of crocodiles and the river surface instantly turned red.

...

It seems like if they let the NPC charge over it, there might be huge losses, so the players should be the ones to do so. The crocodiles were only level 157 Titan Tier beasts and wouldn't be able to instantly kill cavalry players. However, the mounts tended to disappear when they entered the water and their stats would drop by a lot. If they fought, there would still be really risky.

Across the Blackwater River, Dragon Crystal Cannons which gave off intense flames shot out. The number of Flaming Cloud City Dragon Crystal Cannon far exceeded my expectations. This time, they seemed to have used up most of their heavy cannons. The explosions caused many waves of attacks which burnt the players and Fire Dragon Army into pieces, leaving deep holes in the ground. Many of the Fire Dragon army troops lost their fighting spirit, thus crying out and retreating. Unfortunately, they were swallowed by crocodiles the moment they entered the Blackwater River. It was truly an unbearable sight.

Looking at the tragic scene, Li Mu couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine, "It isn't good for us to look like this right?"

I nodded, "Fire Dragon Cavalry, form up! We will charge in five minutes!"

Lin Wan Er blinked her eyes, "Why five minutes?"

I looked behind me and said, "In five minutes, our crossbow carriages will arrive!"

Lin Wan Er instantly understood and smiled, "I understand!"

In less than five minutes, many carriages pulling the crossbow carriages came along. I raised my arms and ordered, "Toss items into the river to attract the crocodile group!"

Players all threw their skills into the water. Soon, many crocodiles gathered over. There were even many who charged onto the shore to bite the players. However, that exposed their locations, revealing their heads out of the water. I waved my hand, "Crossbow carriages, fire!"

The mechanical arrow sounds rang out and many iron arrows shot out with huge strength directly at the heads of the crocodiles. It pierced their mouths and bodies. Some were even too powerful and shot past several layers, inciting pain in one's heart when one looked at it. The crocodile leather could be made into leather shoes and bags and one could earn huge amounts of money from it.

The crocodiles cried out and the water of the Blackwater River turned even redder. I pulled out my Dragon Reservoir Sword and activated my [Icy Wings]. Along with the Steel Blade Cavalry, the Fire Dragon Cavalry and the archers we charged into the river. We waved our weapons as we slashed at the injured crocodiles. The healers also followed up to heal the players at the front. All of them swiftly reached the middle of the Blackwater River. However, at this moment, the rive water suddenly started spinning and formed a whirlpool. Many sharp blade hands rose up and stabbed the chest of a Steel Blade Cavalry, causing thirty thousand damage and instantly killing him. Another hand rose up and struck Mocha's shield, forcing her back. Her beautiful face was filled with shock, "This... What is this?"

Yue Qing Qian raised her dagger and exclaimed, "This... Octopus!"

I was shocked, "It's a Level 155 Demon Harvest Tier BOSS. Quick, lead it over!"

Lin Wan Er swiftly checked its information and said, "In the water, its attack power is increased by thirty percent. Lead it to shore and then kill it,

this is definitely not the only one here!"

I nodded my head. As expected, another whirlpool emerged and a bunch of Fire Axe Army troops were attracted over. Blood water instantly covered the surface as many blade-wielding appendages smacked the surface of the water. Following that, a scary head appeared, and it was covered with mouths. It was extremely terrifying - it was the kind of stuff you'd only see in nightmares.

I raised my hand and threw the Zhen Yue Blade, attracting the closest octopus over. Then I wadded along the waves onto the shore. I turned around and cast [Strength of a Thousand Men]. After the skill reached a Holy Ghost Tier Three technique, the number of attacks didn't change, but the attack speed and strength greatly increased. Five swords were pretty much finished in 0.7 seconds. I believe that any Pulse Break Style expert wouldn't be able to stack this move. Even I wouldn't be able to if I tried.

I handed the job of killing the octopus over to [Zhan Long] as I continued to activate the [Icy Wings], attracting two more octopuses onto shore. At this moment, the Blackwater River became a hellhole. There were a whole bunch of crocodiles and hippos swallowing players and NPCs. There were also many octopi causing waves there. All of a sudden, the China player reinforcements were cut off and delayed from crossing the river in time. They could only let [Judgment], [Wrath of the Heroes], and the other guilds fight with their backs against the war. Luckily, this bunch wasn't weak. Especially with [Judgment] there, the Indians wouldn't be able to wipe them out in a short amount of time.

After close to half an hour, the beasts within the Blackwater River were finally cleared out. The Royal Army and [Zhan Long] players crossed the river and hopped onto their horses. I continued to use [Icy Wings], stepping into the air to the front of the group and landing rays of sword energy into the lines of enemies. With the [Zhan Long] group, we slashed out an empty area and also blocked off the side attacks from a bunch of Indian players. Ye Lai laughed out loud, "You all finally came, if not we would've all have died here!"

I was speechless. [Judgment] lost so many people and this fellow could still afford to laugh. However, his body was covered in blood and the axe in his hand had many cracks in it. One could see how intense the situation was after just one short hour. Ye Lai killed many people and entered the top ten ranks.

"Peng!"

Dust flew out in the front and dozens of [Judgment] players were blown to shreds. With a "pa-ta" sound, a sword which was snapped in half landed onto my shoulder. The sword handle had many arms on it. Lin Wan Er couldn't help but yelp. Destiny's war scenes were just too real and many females couldn't take it. However, the male players went crazy because of this realism. We played the game to chase such matters we couldn't get in real life - to become heroes in a cold weapon era.

Very quickly, more and more players crossed to the other side of the Blackwater River. The cannon fire also slowly stopped. If nothing went wrong, the cannon balls had probably been used up. There were too many Chinese players and they couldn't blow all of us up.

...

"Commander Xu!" "Commander Xu!"

Starlight fell onto the two sides of the river. Pearl rode her white horse, and under the protection of her guards, she charged into the group. She shouted, worried about the safety of Xu Wei. He was a general in the army after all. If the Marshal died, it would deal a huge blow to the morale of the five armies. Pearl knew about the art of war and definitely knew about this.

In the pile of corpses, a person held a spear and rode his horse over. It stumbled after every step. The war horse's legs were nearly rotten, and one couldn't even see his face clearly since it was covered by blood and cannon ash. He wiped his face to show his trademark beard, he smiled, "Your Highness, I am here..."

That person was Xu Wei. He actually went through such an intense battle and didn't die.

Pearl nodded her head in relief, "It is great that Marshal Xu is okay!"

Xu Wei's face dimmed and saw me bringing Han Yuan and Xiao Lie over. He said shamefully, "I didn't listen to General Li Xiao Yao, and thus we sustained huge losses of nearly all the players and the Fire Dragon Army troops. I deserve to die. If Your Highness wants my head, I won't have any regrets. I just hope that you can let me off and allow me to bring my brothers to continue to kill them to avenge our dead brothers. When we return to the city, then you can kill me."

Pearl wiped the fresh blood off the sword blade, "Marshal Xu, I didn't speak about punishing you so don't worry. It is natural to win and lose. You are the Marshal and you still need to plan for the next battle. Command the troops to continue fighting."

"Yes!"

...

The war matters in the distance continued on. However, the Indians seemed like they didn't want to have a battle to the death here with us. A large portion of them retreated once more. This time, we didn't chase. After taking a loss, one will become smarter and know how to play safe. This wasn't our country land and many dangers lurked everywhere. We had to stay vigilant.

We cleaned up a bunch of corpses and buried the dead soldiers. We took out the prepared red cloth and tied it on our arms. This was the rule of the Tian Ling City army. We should have used white to worship and thank the dead, but we used red since that meant that the war wasn't over and there was more blood to be shed. The dead were already gone and the living would continue to fight.

Under starlight, a bunch of soldiers spread out huge maps. This was the map of Flaming Cloud City.

Xu Wei reached out and pointed, saying respectfully, "Your Highness, we have already crossed Blackwater River. Up ahead is the Fire Elephant City. It is famous for its defenses. Fire Elephant City has a million troops in it and over three million civilians. It is a rare rich and luxurious piece of land. If we can take it down then, we can send troops right over to Flaming Cloud City. When the time comes, the Purple Flame Saint Ruler would become helpless."

Pearl's face wasn't so relaxed. She placed her hand on the sword handle by her waist and said solemnly, "We are really going to attack Fire Elephant City? Everyone knows that Fire Elephant City is famous for being tough and it is a rare iron fortress."

Xu Wei said, "Your Highness, that is the exact reason why we have to attack it!"

Pearl looked towards Baili Ning, Louis, and me, "What do you all think?"

Baili Ning's response was short, "Pearl, you decide."

Louis replied, "I support attacking Fire Elephant City. If we go around it, we will go past forests, hills, canyons, oceans, and other regions where we can easily fall into traps and ambushes. Rather than going through all that, why not launch a direct attack?"

Pearl's gaze fell onto my body, "General Li Xiao Yao, what do you think?"

I said confidently, "Then let's just attack Fire Elephant City!"

"Why?"

"If we take down the Fire Elephant City, we can use it as a strategic stronghold for a long term battle against Flaming Cloud City."

"Okay, we will follow your words. Order the armies to prepare for battle. Tonight we will set up tents to rest and prepare to attack tomorrow!"