MMO: Pierce Heaven Til’ It Breaks

Ever since the Light and Darkness Instances had been released, the animosity between the Southern and Invincible Continents had only grown worse. Day after day, the players from both camps were at each other’s throats.

It could be said that Jiaojiao’s current rampage was an inevitable outcome of the long-standing animosity.

Out of the three continents within King of Pantheon, Invincible Continent was the indisputable king. Whereas the Southern and Western Continents were of equal strength, and neither Continent was willing to yield to the other.

In order to claim the First Kill of the Light and Darkness Instance Dungeons, the players from each camp had gone after one another. Any thoughts of secret alliances had long been shattered.

The cries of battle shook the heavens, the army under Amber Sword Heart’s command could do nothing to halt the players from the Invincible Continent. In a short span of twenty minutes, the victor of the battle had already been determined.

Without exception, all the Southern Continent players under Amber Sword Heart were laying on the ground. Whereas the Invincible Continent players trampled over their opponent’s corpses as they marched onward.

Clan Master was the star of the battle. Since Crimson Emperor Warhorse stood out like a sore thumb, several thousand players immediately targeted her when the battle began. However, Clan Master Jiao retreated back to the main fleet immediately when she sensed the danger…

Jiaojiao suffered no deaths in battle, as a matter of fact, she had even killed five opponents. It was only natural though, as Death’s Grasp was just too overpowered. This was especially true as it was enhanced by Lord of Disaster, which made the skill even more broken.

Anyone within 50 yards of her was free to be yanked!

“Kill—”

With a wave of her greatsword, Clan Master Jiao charged forward on her Crimson Emperor Warhorse…

Lord of Disaster’s stats grew along with Jiaojiao’s levels, and it was growing stronger with time. Although it lacked any special skills, its stats alone had already far surpassed any other weapon of the same Quality. The disparity was so huge that the other weapons had been left in the dust.

The System’s red-words constantly appeared as it reported the battle’s progress in real time.

[Clan Master Invincible Jiaojiao from the Invincible Continent has successfully broken past Kailan City…]

[Clan Master Invincible Jiaojiao from the Invincible Continent has successfully broken past Tsar City…]

[Clan Master Invincible Jiaojiao from the Invincible Continent has successfully broken past Darkness City…]

[Clan Master Invincible Jiaojiao from the Invincible Continent has successfully broken past Fetched Moon City…]

The sturdy cities were no match against the massive number of opponents that were similar to an ant colony, even less so when their enemies had been fully armed with tanks and various other siege equipment, courtesy of the Iron Alliance. Although the army of NPCs within the cities are able to dish out decent damage, their low IQ had become their undoing, as they only attacked the tanks and ignored every other enemy.

Since the tanks were heavily fortified and had high defenses, by the time the NPCs were able to destroy the tanks, their city had already been run over…

To what extent can an invasion be considered a siege?

It is when half of the city’s NPCs have been killed, and various buildings have been razed to the ground. When it is successfully registered as a siege, the System would display red-words that featured the highest-ranking player of the party that destroyed the city.

[Invincible Continent’s Cavalry has successfully mounted a siege against Kailan City, thus the nation’s Prosperity Value has risen by 10 points, whereas the Southern Continent’s Prosperity Value has diminished by 10 points…]

[Invincible Continent’s Cavalry has successfully mounted a siege against Darkness City, thus the nation’s Prosperity Value has risen by 10 points, whereas the Southern Continent’s Prosperity Value has diminished by 10 points…]

…

News of the like constantly popped up, but Li Yi and Lonely Semi City were grinding Dark Elementals at their respective spots within the Wailing Grotto…

Li Yi was starting to regret rejecting the King’s Order.

‘I’d rather follow the army than to level up here…’

“Killing is meaningless, leveling up is where the money’s at.” It was evident that Lonely Semi City’s thoughts were different from Li Yi’s.

“Since you’re always going on about leveling, have you ever PK-ed?”

“Rarely.”

“What about clearing Instance Dungeons?”

“Rarely.”

“Do you have any friends?”

“A few.”

“When are you going to sleep?”

“No clue.”

“Sigh… there’s no way to continue the conversation.’

Although he was nearing his fourth day of grinding, Lonely Semi City still looked more energetic than Li Yi.

Jiaojiao had made it through three cities unscathed before tragedy struck, and she had finally appeared on television (system announcement).

[Clan Master of Invincible Continent, Invincible Jiaojiao has been killed by Alex!]

[Clan Master of Invincible Continent, Invincible Jiaojiao has been killed by Alex!]

Five of the same messages appeared on every channel, making it hard to miss.

Anyone who killed a king would become famous, now that the Southern Continent players had seen a change in the tide of battle, they immediately surged forward, surrounding Jiaojiao and camping her thoroughly.

“I dropped a beginner’s bracer.”

“Oops, I lost a beginner’s helmet as well…”

Clan Master Jiao notified Li Yi of her exploits every once in a while, and within a short span of ten minutes, she died seven times and dropped two equipment.

Unable to withhold his anger, Li Yi scolded, “What the f*ck are you doing? Can’t you just stay dead? You must be crazy to continuously revive yourself.”

“And why not? My people would look down on me if I stay dead. I am the king after all,” blurted Jiaojiao…

“Suit yourself…” sighed Li Yi exasperatedly.

‘Thank god I haven’t given her Orlando’s Charity, otherwise, there’ll be a real possibility of losing it…’

Since Jiaojiao was clad in beginner equipment, and there was no risk of Lord of Disaster dropping, she was free to die. The only thing they stood to gain by killing her was the fame of the act.

Their king’s death had not shaken the army one bit. More and more players from Invincible Continent rushed in, and nearly half of the players from the Continent were present. Arthur lost his credibility a while back, and now, he was having difficulty assembling a team.

At least half of the players from Arthur’s Empire Guild disobeyed Arthur’s commands, and when the situation within his own guild was already that dire, it was not hard to imagine the responses from other guilds. Some of them agreed verbally, but when push came to shove, they did not send out any of their members. Worse still, there were those that just ignored him outright, their defiance palpable.

The hearts of the people were in a mess, which made it hard to round them up. As such, it was only natural that they lose the battle.

If Li Yi had joined the battle, he would be in for a shock. The reason being, that despite the huge scale of the battle, the war tactics employed were impeccable. They were so well carried out that they deserved to be called the Devil’s workmanship.

The Invincible Continent conquered city after city, but they were not warmongers. Once they achieved their goal, they immediately exited the major city they were in and regrouped to attack another major city.

The Southern Continent Players were utterly slaughtered, and although there were many experts among them, such as Big Boy, and Amber Sword Heart that manage to fend off the invaders, their minor victories were insufficient to turn the tide of the war. After two days and one night (in-game time), most of the major cities had already been conquered by the Iron Alliance Cavalry…

The invasion finally ended when Jiaojiao and Pretty Good Mood led their troops to besiege the Celestial Capital of the Southern Continent. They charged their way in and devastated the Celestial Capital…

The System made another announcement.

[After an extended period of advancement, the World Guild Nation has been promoted to a Level 1 Nation. The citizens can now enjoy an extra 5% EXP gain, half the cost of taxes, reduced repair costs, and various other benefits. Furthermore, the wages of National Officials have increased and the special skill, ‘Forever Together’ is unlocked for the king (and their partner).]

When Li Yi saw the announcement, his jaw dropped. Never in his wildest dreams could he imagine Jiaojiao demolishing the Celestial Capital of the Southern Continent…

Conquering a major city would yield 10 Prosperity Value to the nation. Whereas, conquering a Celestial Capital would immediately yield 2,000 Prosperity Value to the nation…

The Celestial Capital of each continent was considered their core. Once it fell, not only does the taxes of its citizens increase, teleportation skills would also be suspended.

With teleportation skills disabled between major cities, the only way to travel between them was now by foot. To make things worse, the price of purchasing and repairing equipment was also double the usual cost!

The cruelest thing one could do to a nation was to destroy their Celestial Capital…

“You’re really gone overboard this time…”

“It’s like you say, ‘Go big or go home.'”

Using Forever Together (A skill that enables instant teleportation back to the user’s Celestial Capital), Jiaojiao returned back to her National Mecca. She then issued another King’s Order, which pulled back her people that were still clustering about in the Southern Continent.

The timing for the invasion could not be any better. They struck right when Arthur’s Empire was having an internal conflict and when his popularity was at an all-time low…

Although they had won, Invincible Continent’s victory had come at a heavy cost. Almost every player that participated in the city sieges had died around ten or so times, which resulted in level drops, including Jiaojiao. There were even players that had died 50 or so times and were at the verge of returning to Level 1.

In order to obtain something, one must be willing to lose it all. In a battle between two tigers, one must surely die, and the other, wounded.

“Perverted Wing, we’re going to claim the double EXP buff now, make sure to pull us back later.”

“I’ll do it tomorrow, I’m dead tired right now…” The battle had lasted two days and one night, and Li Yi had grinded so many monsters that he was close to puking. He was already at his limit long ago, and if he did not want to learn the outcome of the battle as soon as possible, he would have slept long ago.

“Just pull us over before you log off.”

“I refuse. If I do that, you’ll pull another all-nighter.”

Li Yi logged out.

Soon after, a sneezing Jiaojiao walked out of the bedroom.

Since Xie Qin was on a business trip and Jiaojiao was on holiday, she was cooped up in Li Yi’s house for nearly 24 hours every day.

“I’m going to make dinner.”

Probably because of the rush of battle, Jiaojiao was humming a tune as she prepared the food. When he heard it, Li Yi was unsure to laugh or cry.

“Sigh, I guess our grudge with the hooligans from the Southern Continent is finally settled. Now that their Celestial Capital has fallen, the Southern Continent Players should be suffering, and I’m guessing that they’ll band together once more.”

“Let them. If it’s a fight they want, it’s a fight they’ll get. It’s their fault for camping us at the Dragonbone Wastes. After all, what goes around, comes around.”

A silly smile dwelled on Jiaojiao’s face while they ate.

Smiling, Li Yi replied, “I don’t really care whether they band together or not. I am curious though, now that Arthur can’t carry on, who’ll be the next king of the Southern Continent?”

Jiaojiao mused, “Amber Sword Heart for sure. Although you destroyed him, I could tell that the punk is actually quite skilled.”

Li Yi shook his head, “Not possible. He’s not steady enough yet, and he isn’t as well-known as Arthur, there’s no way he can claim the throne of the Southern Continent.”

“Then who do you think is qualified to become king?”

Li Yi had a slip of the tongue as he whispered, “Qian’er…”

“What?” asked Jiaojiao as she could not catch his words.

“Ahem, nothing much, I’m guessing it’s Big Boy.” Li Yi attempted to change the subject.

Jiaojiao narrowed her eyes, and like a cat, she glared at Li Yi. She pointed her chopsticks at him and asked, “Perverted Wing, tell me the truth, are you seeing somebody else?”

“I swear to god, you’re the only person I’m seeing as of now, there’s no one else.”

“Hmmph!”

Jiaojiao scarfed down her dinner and fumingly returned to the bedroom.

‘She didn’t even tidy up the table. Is she p*ssed?’

Before Jiaojiao had managed to lock the door, Li Yi managed to ooze his way in.

“Pervert! What’re you trying to do?”

“Nothing, I just want to sleep together.”

Li Yi suddenly scooped up Jiaojiao, turned off the lights and laid on the bed.

“If you touch me, then I-I’ll touch you too…” With both hands protecting her chest, she curled up in a fetal position.

Contrary to her expectations, Li Yi ignored her. The only thing he did was to hug her, and before long, the faint sound of snoring could be heard.

‘He’s already asleep…’