MMORPG: The Elementalist

Seizing the opportunity of the Underworld’s invasion against the Mythical Continent, the top one hundred Clans in the rankings had collectively raised their total Honor Points by a great margin. In just a half a day, the number had been elevated by at least ten to twenty thousand points. This had way exceeded a few days’ efforts during uneventful periods.

Those who were further up on the list were the most efficient ones. This was because the amount of Honor Points gathered was directly proportional to the strength and scale of a Clan. A clear gap was seen in the top 30 Clans, as they jumped forward by roughly 30-40,000 Honor Points. As for the two best Clans, both Netherspirit’s Claw and Fallen Angels had amassed 50,000 more points so far.

Netherspirit’s Claw had just passed the 250,000 mark, while those of Fallen Angel were pushing fast toward 300,000.

The entire Angel Faction, even the rookies, could tell just how intense the competition was between the two leading Clans. This was judged by the fast-changing numbers on the Honor Points Ranking.

Despite only seeing the numbers, the rate at which it propelled signified that there was indeed an ongoing war—one that was not involving bullets or canons, yet significant enough that the bystanders could almost smell the gunpowder.

The Honor Points changed by digit of hundred with every passing minute. Occasionally, the sum increased by as much as a thousand points.

The fierce competition was like a giant hand that clenched the hearts of every future league member from both sides.

More players went online and remained active since. Every single player had thrown themselves into the intense battle for Honor Points without hesitation. More and more parties were formed to hunt down the Undead Boss.

Half a day later, the average attendance percentage of each Clan had reached an unprecedented rate—98%!

In other words, for a big clan with 10,000 members, there were at least 9,800 members simultaneously online.

In this case, Netherspirit’s Claw was being cruelly realistic. They directly kicked out those offline players with no significant amount of Honor Points and substituted them with players that had done rather well in the big cities.

Shortly, the gap between them with Fallen Angels had been closed to no more than 40,000 points.

In contrast to the drastic measure adopted by Netherspirit’s Claw, Fallen Angels had acted more modestly. The victory at Death Valley had successfully revived their recent low spirits. They no longer felt oppressed by Netherspirit’s Claw, and surprisingly had the smallest online percentage among the top Clans—92%.

Although their Honor Points had greatly surged, the observers could somehow feel that Fallen Angels were not as desperate for the title of No.1/First League.

Besides, the remaining two partner parties of Fallen Angels were yet to be revealed. Seeing that the accumulated Honor Points of Netherspirit’s Claw and its four partner Clans had just breached 960,000 marks, in about two to three hours’ time, they were near to forming the first League of Angel Faction. Quite a number of players were regretful in seeing Fallen Angels losing to Netherspirit’s Claw this time and narrowly missing the opportunity in becoming the “First League of Angel Faction”.

***

“Our total Honor Points had just exceeded 980,000!” Snowmelt’s excited voice reached Netherclaw’s eardrum. “Netherclaw, soon, we will need to address you as League Commander again!”

“Mm. Have you confirmed the remaining two parties that will join the Fallen Angels alliance?” Netherclaw refused to celebrate so soon. The rate at which Fallen Angels gathered Honor Points was not far behind Netherspirit’s Claw. Moreover, he would not have let his guard down before he confirmed which two clans would merge with Fallen Angels.

The League is going to be formed no matter what. He will be known as a League Master sooner or later. His only objective now was to be the best of the best to make sure Netherspirit’s Claw would be recognized as the First League of Angel Faction.

“I knew you would still be troubled by this. Stop worrying already. Someone had just tipped us. The two persons that Qin Ruo had contacted earlier have just been confirmed. They are Remorseless Warrior from The Executors and Slash from Ascendant Saber Clan!”

“I knew it!” Netherclaw angrily hissed. “I have long suspected it. Now I understand why Remorseless Warrior rejected our invitation. So he is siding with Fallen Angels now… Not bad keeping it a secret for so long.” He paused for a while, then said with a concerned tone, “The Executors own quite a lot of Honor Points…”

“Let them be. The main point is that Qin Ruo has selected Ascendant Saber Clan. They only have 130,000 so far; too weak to be a threat… Their sum is precisely 7000 points lesser than our total count for now. Judging by this rate, we will only widen the gap further as time goes on.”

The data reported by Snowmelt relieved Netherclaw’s locked forehead.

Although he was still unhappy with the fact that The Executors had opted to join Fallen Angels, his recent effort had been fruitful, at the very least, which had now placed them in a favorable situation.

As long as they have the First League title in their bag, all the humiliation suffered at Savis Town and Death Valley will be wiped clean after their glorious crowning moment.

“Guess how’s Qin Ruo must be feeling now seeing that we are so far in front?” Netherclaw asked jubilantly.

They now only needed another 10,000 Honor Points before Netherspirit’s Claw would be declared the League Status by the system (All five Clan Leaders had already reported to the Ruler of Moonrise City beforehand).

‘It not hard to imagine how awful those in the Fallen Angels must be feeling now…’

“Wait!?” Just as Netherclaw’s mood was brightening up, a confused and solemn exclamation was suddenly heard from Snowmelt’s end.

“Netherclaw, something is not right!” Snowmelt urgently declared. His intonation escalated gradually out of anxiety.

At the same time, Dark Dragon and another Clan Leader had also contacted Netherclaw. “Netherclaw, quick, take a look on the Honor Points Ranking!”

“What had just happened? Why do they suddenly have a surplus of 10,000 Honor Points? F*ck, it’s 20,000 now!”

Netherclaw’s face went pale and uttered, “What!!” He hastily called out the Ranking…

‘Shit!’

Fallen Angels was still short of 300,000 Honor Points just a while ago. But right now, the numerals read as slightly above 321,000 points!

Netherclaw felt like something was clutching his heart and turning his stomach after he took another good look on the horrifying figure. He still remembered every word Snowmelt had just told him earlier.

“…Their sum is precisely 7000 points lesser than our total count for now.”

This meant Fallen Angels should be 200,000 less to reach the million mark. But Fallen Angels Honor Points had just increased by that exact amount!

Netherclaw held his breath and refused to believe what he had just witnessed. He rounded his eyes and gazed sharply at the numbers. To make matters worse, it had just turned to 322,000!

Netherclaw’s brow flickered and he felt deflated. Something had sucked out the energy in him. His burning heart had just fallen into a bottomless pit of despair.

‘It’s over…’

“This is cheating! They cheated!!!” Dark Dragon’s voice rang beside Netherclaw’s ears.

“Fallen Angels is clearly cheating. Damn it! Those points must have come from Black Jail and Hall of Heroes! Their Honor Points have just been deducted by roughly the same amount. This is their doing! I can’t believe they asked for external aid!”

“Shameless bunch of crooks!”

No matter how much Dark Dragon complained, or how shocked the other four Clan Leaders were, they were unable to revert the unexpected overturn.

Fallen Angels had indeed received powerful reinforcements. They were helped by Black Jail and Hall of Heroes. Changing Clan loyalty was entirely up to the player itself. It was just like how Netherspirit’s Claw had freely kicked their members out when they were aiming the no.1 spot.

The only difference was Fallen Angels did it in an even more merciless manner…

At the very last minute, they changed the mark by several tens of thousands of Honor Points in one go.

***

The First League of the Angel Faction has now been officially formed.

Fallen Angels League is established.

Bauhinia joined the Fallen Angels League.

Violent Army joined the Fallen Angels League.

The Executors joined the Fallen Angels League.

Ascendant Saber joined the Fallen Angels League.

Just as everyone was expecting Netherspirit’s Claw to snatch the First League title, the continuous notifications that had blasted through the entire Mythical Continents utterly stunned every single Angel Faction players who were online!

***

After the announcement ceased, Majestic Hero suddenly felt remorse and said to them, “Aren’t we a bit villainous taking such a dishonest approach?”

“Of course! Your cunning idea must have dealt our Brother Claw a fatal blow. Sigh, I wonder what kind of bad shape he is in now… Perhaps he’s fainted?” Black God purposefully teased Majestic Hero in an exaggerated tone. He also sighed hard and long, like he held no responsibility on the matter.

Majestic Hero went silent at first, then reminded them, “Wait a minute, you were the one who suggested us to make the switch at the last minute, claiming that this will only hurt Netherclaw even more. Why am I taking all the blame now?” Majestic Hero said innocently, “Plus, you had transferred more Honor Points than I did.”

“Oh, I did?” Black God changed the subject quickly, “Hey. Do you guys think we should congratulate him when Netherspirit’s Claw League is officially formed?”

“Please don’t.” Majestic Hero was helpless against Black God.

Qin Ruo was baffled too. The way Hall of Heroes and Black Jail bailed Fallen Angels out this time was too obvious, which it had not gone unnoticed by Netherclaw. Sending an ironic congratulations afterward would do more harm than good by further deepening the grudge between the two parties.

“No matter what, we still belong to the same Faction. There is no point in pushing the rivals to a point of no return.” He had twice brought down Netherspirit’s Claw’s face in short succession. The tension was at its breaking point. If he continued to poke Netherclaw, it would eventually develop into a civil war that might involve at least ten thousand players. Qin Ruo did not want to get tangled with the same clan forever.

This is because the real enemy of Angel Faction is bigger than that. The Demon Faction is always looming in the dark. This non-stop internal conflict would only expose another opening to the enemy like the last time.

“Little Qin is right.” Majestic Hero nodded and lamented, “It’s time to set your petty rivalry aside for good. According to an informant, Sinistress from Demon Faction had reached Level 55. Savior and Death Jesus had also attained Level 54. Look at us. Not many of us have even reached Level 53. Angel Faction will be doomed if we don’t have a single Demigod-Tier if the enemy reaches Tier-6 before us.”