Ch 379: Utter humiliation.

“*DING*… China Region Announcement! The Player 'Noah' at 18:43 has created the Guild 'Heart's Dream', naming the Player 'Yun Meng Xin' as its Guildmaster. As the first Player to create a Guild in the China Region, 'Noah' gains 300 Fame Points. As the first Guild created in the China Region, 'Heart's Dream' shall be recorded into the Forgotten Continent's Chronicles. The China Region Guild Rankings have been released, with 'Heart's Dream' ranking at number 1.”

"*DING* … China Region Announcement …"

"*DING* … China Region Announcement … "

The deafening chants of victory died in an instant as if someone had pulled a plug. All gazes suddenly turned to Long Tian Yun as the players understood the enormity of what had just happened.

Long Tian Yun normally gave people the impression that he possessed a calmness and wisdom beyond his years. No matter what happened, no matter how big the pressure was, he would be able to retain his cool composure.

But at this moment, Long Tian Yun didn't look calm. His face was reddening by the second, and his expression… If it had to be described, it would be something along the lines of … as if he had eaten 100 dead flies, and then 100 fresh and hot piles of shit.

Long Tian Yun's epic battle with the Skyfall Dynasty, as well as his spending of an entire one billion gold, adding to the Yan Huang Alliance's cheers and celebrations, had become a joke. A massive joke! It was as if he had been dragged from heaven to hell in a single second!

For an instant, his thoughts returned to Yun Meng Xin, and her smile as she wished for his 'glory today to be remembered by all for decades to come', and he trembled from sheer fury. She probably knew this was coming!

Long Tian Yun's expression twitched in a terrible snarl, and the guildmasters surrounding him stepped away. But no one dared utter a word, dared make any noise that would attract Long Tian Yun's attention.

And because of that absolute silence, Long Tian Yun heard the distant sound of a gate being opened on the northern side of the Plaza. He saw a handsome young man with wolf ears on top of his head leaving the Lord's estate.

A man he recognized. A man who stopped walking and stared at the crowd gathered in front of the auction house.

The name 'Noah' circulated in shocked murmurs among the crowd as many pointed in his direction, and the Players directly in the line of sight between Noah and Long Tian Yun instinctively backed to the side, forming a path.

Long Tian Yun saw Noah stare directly at him, smile, and wave his hand in a friendly salute.

Long Tian Yun shuddered violently, and something inside him snapped. He forgot about his fear and drew his sword before pointing it at Noah.

"K-Kill him!!!" screamed Long Tian Yun, the veins on his neck popping visibly. "All members of the Yan Huang Alliance, kill him right now! Keep killing him until he drops everything and lose all his levels! Do not let him have a single day of peace!!"

If Noah was a normal person, Long Tian Yun would already be contacting mercenaries to find him, abduct him, and inflict upon him to most agonizing tortures he could imagine!

"Noah!! Death!!" screamed a member of the Yan Huang Alliance with absolute hatred before starting to run. As if a spell had broken, two thirds of the crowd, several tens of thousands of members of the Yan Huang Alliance, sprang to action and rushed toward Noah while screaming bloody murder. At this moment, their anger had reached a level they never experienced before, and they were willing to die as long as Noah would die with them!

Noah summoned his horse and escaped before the archers and Elementalists could get close enough to open fire. The members of the Yan Huang Alliance summoned their own horses.

They would not let him escape!

Long Tian Yun summoned his own horse, mimicked a second later by Sword Emperor and Flame Emperor, and they joined the pursuit. As the horses ran, he turned to Cang Yan and spoke with a cold, flat voice.

"I want a million of our men with high levels to join the chase. Make the calls."

"Yes!" nodded the Flame Emperor before opening his chat interface.

…

"I'm logging off for a few minutes." said Gu Tian Nan to his two brothers.

"I think I'm going to do the same." nodded Gu Tian Dong.

Gu Tian Ping didn't answer and logged off directly.

As the three brothers opened their eyes in the real world, they stood, looked at each other, and started to laugh.

They laughed and laughed as they smacked each other's back, with huge grins on their faces.

"Ahahah! His face! Have you seen… Ahahah… his face?" asked Gu Tian Dong with a full-bellied laugh.

"Ahahah… We saw… I took a picture! Ahahah"

It took them a while before they could regain some control.

"Oh, Heavens… Remind me never to piss off Noah. That was a masterpiece!" grinned Gu Tian Ping. "Long Tian Yun is never going to be living this one down! We won't let him!"

"A billion! A whole billion gold, fifteen billion US dollars, for the privilege of being humiliated… In front of the whole China region! Ahah…"

"A good thing we didn't win the auction. If it had been us…" sighed Gu Tian Yan.

His smartphone started ringing, and he glanced at the screen before his expression changed.

"It's jiejie." said Gu Tian Nan, using the Chinese honorific to refer to their older sister.

"Yes, jiejie. I assume you have watched the livestream." nodded Gu Tian Nan.

"Yes."

"No, it was aimed at the Yan Huang Alliance, not us. I got word from some of our men. Noah secretly visited our headquarters in Azure Dragon City a few minutes before the token was auctioned to reveal the existence of a second token. He wanted us to drive the price up but not win the auction."

"…Yes, Jiejie. Once things settle a bit, I will transmit your request to Yun Meng Xin, she surely will be able to contact him."

"Yes, have a good evening, jiejie." smiled Gu Tian Nan, ending the call before turning to his brothers.

"Jiejie wants to meet him soon."

His brothers nodded, unsurprised. Their elder sister was the true leader of Skyfall Dynasty. An economic powerhouse comparable to Su Enxi or Li Xiao Xue.

But the Long family, and Long Tian Yun in particular, had wronged her terribly, killing her only son, and it was to settle this deep enmity that the Skyfall Dynasty existed. The very name of their alliance said it all. The Dynasty they targeted was the Long family, and the word Skyfall symbolized their intention to cast down the Yan Huang Alliance and trample it.

…

As he left the city, Noah summoned Xi Ling. She was in her bird form.

*Chirp?* asked Xi Ling as she glanced at the thousands of pursuers and heard them shout Noah's name, as well as insults and death threats.

"Xi Ling, I want you to fly away and disappear from their view, then gain some altitude and follow from afar. Once the fight starts, wait for the opportune time, wait long enough for them to forget about you, then dive toward them with the sun on your back. Give them a taste of your flames."

*Chirp!* replied XI Ling with a nod before she spread her wings and flew away toward the nearest forest. In seconds, she disappeared between the trees

Noah had been half-tempted to fight right inside the plaza, for the chance to reach Long Tian Yun and kill him once. But he wasn't sure how the City Lord would react to his plaza being turned into a battlefield, and there were players from neutral alliances mixed in that crowd. So he decided to first relocate. The pursuers were calling him all manners of cowardly for running, but he didn't mind.

"It was quite enjoyable, but that is an unnecessary risk." said Qi Yue in his mind.

"Maybe? I never claimed I always make the best decisions. But I am relatively confident I can face them all. My evasion rate and armor are well above them, and between Little Grey's buffs, the Dews of Dawn, and my mobility, I do not think they will manage to kill me, no matter how many of them there are."

"Be wary of Sword Emperor and Flame Emperor. They are a cut above the rest."

"I won't let them kill me."

After Noah rode three kilometers away from Azure Dragon City, he stopped and unsummoned his horse, drawing two identical, Gold-Grade Lvl 50 one-handed swords. Since he had forged them himself, the bonuses from his Warsmith class applied to them.

The Yan Huang Alliance members were surprised and didn't charge him immediately. instead, they turned their horses to the right and left, encircling him in a wide circle fifty meters wide before dismounting.

Noah smiled and put on his ice-treading spider's mask, disabling their ability to see his Class, Level or Hit Points.

"I didn't think to ask, Qi Yue, but do you know what they saw as my class? Did they see all three?" asked Noah as Long Tian Yun, Flame Emperor and Sword Emperor joined the encirclement.

"They only see your Ghost Bladedancer class." replied Qi Yue with an audible sniff.

Noah smiled, wondering is the sniff was directed at him for only enquiring about it now, or at the horde of players who were about to become corpses.

"Noah! Let's see you deal with a million of my Yan Huang Alliance!" shouted Long Tian Yun with a cold smile, but his face was still red. "And I that isn't enough, I will mobilize five million! Ten million! You won't escape!"

Noah shrugged, then suddenly dashed to his left, shortening the distance faster than the Yan Huang Members believed possible. Horses moved at 180% of a Player's base speed, but Noah could actually move faster.

His maxed-out Wind Step Technique provided him with a 50% movement and attack speed.

The crafting recipe for his Lvl 50 Gold-grade boots possessed a 20% movement speed stat. But when forging it, Noah had used his Adaptative Smithing skill to add a further 15% movement speed, bringing it to 35%. And then Noah spent the week-long cooldown of his Rune Inscription skill on his boots to duplicate the movement speed stat.

His boots gave him a massive +70% attack speed.

That meant that he could run at an impressive 220% movement speed. It still wasn't anywhere near fast enough for Noah not to feel uncomfortable with the limitations of his avatar, but the improvement compared to the start were significant.

The first volley of arrows, fireballs, and ice stakes was launched.

Noah kicked the ground to suddenly change his trajectory.

Projectiles came from all directions, so avoiding them all was next to impossible, but his sudden move, coupled with the lag between those coming from the front and those coming form his sides and rear, allowed him to evade the vast majority of them. His high evasion stat nullified at least four out of five hits that did reach him. His high armor and resistances further reduced the damage.

-1, -127, -1, -1, -82, -1, -46…

Noah had lost less than a tenth of his HP when he reached the enemy lines.

A wall of Shields Bearers had placed themselves on the front. Noah unleashed a pair of Little Crescent Slashes.

-39660, -19830, -19830, -19830, -39660, -39660, -19830, -19830, -39660, -39660, -19830.

"Ding … … You successfully killed Lvl 48 [Iron Wall Old Wang]."

"Ding … … You successfully killed Lvl 45 [Dong the Great]."

"Ding … … You successfully killed Lvl 47 [Unmoving Mountain]."

"Ding … … You successfully killed Lvl 43 [Brother Li Who Never Falls]."

"Ding … … You successfully killed Lvl 47 [Shield of the Nine Heavens]."

"Ding … … You successfully killed Lvl 44 [The Great General Zhang]."

"Ding … … You successfully killed Lvl 48 [Your Dad Zhao]."

"Ding … … You successfully killed Lvl 46 [Invincible Little Bear]."

"Ding … … You successfully killed Lvl 47 [Heavenly Demon Descends]."

"Ding … … You successfully killed Lvl 42 [Wang, Lord of Ten Thousand Blades]."

Shield Bearers had a lot of HP and defense compared to other classes, but at their level, none had exceeded ten thousand hit points yet.

They all died instantly, unable to do anything but gasp at the terrifying five-digits number displayed in their logs.

Before their bodies started falling, Noah had already advanced two meters and sent two more Little Crescent Slashes, reaping the lives of two more Shield Bearers and eight Warriors.

Two more meters, and two more slashes. Two more meters, and two more slashes.

Noah barely slowed as he pushed deep into the enemy ranks, using their own numbers to shield himself from ranged fire. The enraged members of the Yan Huang Alliance threw themselves at him, but the area within five meters in front of Noah had become a death zone. Those on his flanks and back could close in, but Noah was constantly advancing, and regularly changed direction or sent Crescent slashes backward.

Noah was still taking hits, but the passive regeneration provided by Little Grey, granting him 194 HP per second, negated about half of the incoming damage. At the current rate, he would need to drink Dews of Dawn regularly, but not constantly, and he had enough to fight for several hours, if that was what it took.

…

Watching from the saddle of his horse, Long Tian Yun glared at the slaughter happening before his eyes.  The ring formation that had been centered around Noah had collapsed as the Yan Huang Members rushed toward Noah, trying to keep him pinned.

And Noah didn't seem to particularly want to break the encirclement with his sudden changes of direction. He was still surrounded by tens of thousands of Yan Huang Alliance members, and even if Noah was killing them faster than Long Tian Yun thought possible, the number was actually growing.

Thousands of Players were answering his call to mobilize and joining the fight every minute.

But Long Tian Yun was worried. Why wasn't Noah going down? It had been five minutes already, yet he was still running around with a smile on his face. A smile!

With gritted teeth, he turned to his companions, Flame Emperor and Sword Emperor.

"Both of you, go. As long as you can injure him seriously, I should be able to finish him."

Sword Emperor and Flame Emperor nodded and moved out, shouting at the crowd to give them space.

Long Tian Yun took Soaring Cloud from his inventory and examined the item's skill once again.

Item skill: Shooting Soaring Cloud: Throw out Soaring Cloud with an attack that can pierce through multiple opponents. 300% attack damage, enemy cannot evade, 1% chance of triggering instant death. HP-50, MP-50. Cooldown time, 100 seconds. If thrown, Soaring Cloud does not automatically return to its owner's hands and can be seized by another player.

With this, he should be able to kill Noah. The 300% damage multiplier would translate to about 5 400 damage, with his current Physical Attack Strength, with a 24% chance of obtaining a critical hit. Long Tian Yun didn't know what allowed Noah to evade so many attacks, but his attribute distribution had to be heavily unbalanced toward extreme agility and damage.

That meant he must not have a lot of Hit Points or Defense. Hitting him with Soaring Cloud surely would kill him! It had to!

…

"You have killed about five thousand by now." said Qi Yue. Noah could hear her clearly despite the surrounding screams. "How long are you going to keep this farce going? More and more are coming, and retreating is growing more difficult."

"I am waiting for Xi Ling to unleash her Burning Fire Array. It should be soon, and the shock factor will help me get away." replied Noah.

He unleashed yet another pair of Little Crescent Slashes, and his left eyebrow rose in surprise behind the mask as a masked member of the Yan Huang Alliance evaded the waist-high attack by flexing his knees and bending back like a limbo dancer.

At the same time, three arrows of yellow flames, glowing more intensely than the others, curved toward him. Noah evaded one, but was hit by the other two, each doing significantly more damage than what he had experienced before.

-612, -612.

Those hits were actually quite painful.

The Yan Huang Alliance member who evaded his attack straightened himself in a blink and closed the distance in an instant, forcing Noah to parry his attacks.

"It's Sword Emperor! And Flame Emperor!" exclaimed someone standing close, a cry that was quickly repeated all around.

Sword Emperor unleashed a flurry of attacks against Noah, his attacks coming from angles that would have been hard to predict for a normal opponent.

But Noah wasn't normal. Even though Sword Emperor's exquisite swordsmanship only presented small, fleeting gaps, Noah could have snaked in a counter and exploited them. But there was something in the way Sword Emperor moved, a dissonance, that made him hesitate, and Noah frowned.

While still sending Little Crescent Slashes at other enemies to avoid being overwhelmed, Noah carefully examined Sword Emperor, the way he moved, the way he stood.

And, possibly because Noah possessed a very high perception attribute by now, he found the source of his uneasiness. The relatively thin ankles, highlighted by Sword Emperor's leather boots. The barely visible Adam's apple. The flexibility of his waist.

Noah became 90% sure that Sword Emperor was actually a woman.

"Sword Emperor, your waist is quite flexible… for a man, that is." said Noah in a low voice barely above a whisper, meant to be heard only by one person.

Noah could see Sword Emperor's eyes widen for an instant under their mask, and their movement changed suddenly. They jumped while rotating on themselves, using centrifugal force to accelerate the speed of their sword in a downward slash.

It was a magnificent and extremely lethal move, but one that Noah had already faced many times after countless spars with Okita.

He made a half-step back and leaned back a little, and the widened distance was enough to Sword Emperor to miss him. Noah countered with a quick trust just before Sword Emperor could regain their footing.

-19830.

Sword Emperor died, and the Yan Huang Alliance members cried in mixed anger and dawning despair.

Noah just refused to die, and they were starting to fear that they wouldn't manage to kill him even if they all sacrificed their lives.

By instinct, Noah suddenly jumped back, and a massive column of fire erupted where he previously stood. He turned toward the Flame Emperor to deal with him when he saw something larger than an arrow flying toward him, and made a quick jump to the side.

To his surprise, the projectile instantly adjusted its trajectory and sunk into his guts.

-9 791.

Noah immediately consumed a Dew of Dawn, restoring 5 000 HP per second, and his HP was back to more than half before any member of the Yan Huang Alliance could capitalize on this temporary vulnerability.

He grabbed the spear and tore it from his body, and Noah snorted in amusement as he saw it was Soaring Cloud. He transferred it into his inventory, and resumed his killing, going straight for Flame Emperor.

Cang Yan's eyes widened in horror, and he made a step back before hurriedly sending fire spells his way.

Noah only had a few hundred members of the Yan Huang Alliance to kill before reaching him, when Qi Yue spoke to him again.

"Xi Ling is diving and preparing her Burning Fire Array."

Noah instantly decided that holding the enemy's attention was more important than killing Flame Emperor by himself, and the best way to do that was to do something they wouldn't expect.

He immediately turned away and ran in the opposite direction, still killing enemies in his path.

"He's running!" shouted some Yan Huang Alliance members.

"Block his path! He must be running out of MPs!" shouted Long Tian Yun.

Their distraction cost them a second before they noticed that the ground all around them was starting to glow with a crimson light.

They spent the next two seconds looking down and around them in confusion, wondering why the ground was glowing.

They spent another second before some of them thought to look upward, and start to point and shout in alarm.

By the time the archers and Elementalists looked up, by the time they recognized Noah's pet, their time had run out.

A circular area, 200 meters in radius, suddenly became a hell of crimson flames reaching several dozen meters toward the sky.

-43 000, -43 000, -43 000, -86 000, -43 000, -43 000, -43 000, -43 000, -86 000, -43 000, -43 000, -86 000, -43 000, -43 000, -43 000, -86 000, -43 000, -43 000…

In a mere instant, 47 312 players died.

Moreover, Xi Ling's flames carried a minor Destruction Element to them. As a result, all pieces of equipment more than two grades under her own, were permanently destroyed.

…

The vast Resurrection Hall in Azure Dragon City had been much busier than usual for the last few minutes, with a steady stream of angry players who immediately ran out, shouting to each other that they were going to join the battle again.

Upon death, they had lost a level, and for many of them, one of the items they wore or were placed in their inventory had been left behind.

But they were willing to lose a level again as long as Noah died. Levels could be regained, but the prestige of having participated in Noah's death was forever!

The players not part of the Yan Huang Alliance watched with admiration for their fighting spirit, and also wondered what kind of terrifying battle must be occurring for so many members of the Yan Huang Alliance to die so quickly. Had they been ambushed by another force while they were pursuing Noah?

Suddenly, the Resurrection Hall became filled with tens of thousands of people, causing the watchers to gasp in abject stupefaction.

What caused their jaws to hit the floor wasn't just the sudden number of freshly revived Players who were now watching each other with horrified expressions.

It was that most of them were butt naked!

A few here and there still wore disparate bits and pieces of armor, but they were almost all naked!

And among them stood Long Tian Yun. He wore boots, breastplate armor and gauntlets, but his butt was naked!

Many members of the Yan Huang Alliance made strangled gasps and turned suddenly, trying hard to pretend they had not seen it.

But from this moment onward, and despite Long Tian Yun's best efforts to suppress it, the words 'One-Inch Young Master', and some screenshots proving the veracity of that humiliating title, began to circulate.