Glory and sorrow, renown and regret… all sorts of complicated emotions intertwined, reflected in the expressions of every person’s eyes .
None of them expected so many comrades to turn up .
A feeling of longing and nostalgia welled up in their hearts .
Everyone watched as Black Hell slowly walked up to the center of the square, their vision growing blurry with tears . Brother, what a familiar term of address . Even after such a long time, the word still remained deeply etched in their minds . At this moment, no one saw Black Hell; they saw their guild leader—Invincible!
Many races were gathered in the square . Humans, elves, orcs, giants, dwarves, they had all come together for one person .
Seeing all these passionate people, a thought surface in Nie Yan’s mind . If I were to disappear one day, only to show back up several years later, how many would heed my call? Could I just be like Black Hell?
Nie Yan didn’t know the answer . To be able to engrave yourself in the hearts of so many people, Black Hell—no, it was better to say Invincible—had a place he belonged .
Even more players came pouring in from all over after receiving word of Invincible’s return . Nie Yan roughly estimated there were at least 300,000 players here . Imagine if all these people were brought together under a single banner . It would be the inception of a powerful guild no weaker than the likes of God Executioner Sword and Divine Protectors . If Black Hell still had the heart of a conqueror, he would become one of Asskickers United’s greatest rivals .
However, Nie Yan knew Black Hell wouldn’t become his enemy . This sort of trust came from the bottom of his heart .
Black Hell, Black Heaven, and Nie Yan arrived at the center of the square .
“Brothers, long time no see,” Black Hell said, choking up with emotion . The memories of old resurfaced in his mind .
“B-boss… Invincible, is it really you?”
“Hehe, the boss changed his name,” a player said, wiping the tears from their eyes .
“Boss! It’s really great to have you back . Y-you don’t know half how much we missed you . . . !”
…
The crowd in the central square stirred with emotion .
The 20 players who’d kept an open space in the center of the square rushed over to Black Hell .
“Boss, i-it’s me, Requiem . . . !” Dark Requiem exclaimed . He tried to force back his urge to cry, but the trembling in his voice betrayed his emotions .
All of them were overwhelmed with joy . After Invincible disappeared, they had never stopped searching for him . Outsiders couldn’t possibly understand this feeling .
“Boss! It’s me, Street Vulture,” an elven Elementalist said, choked up with tears . He was the sole Magister here .
“Big Bro, it’s me, Netherluna!”
“Boss, do you remember me? I’m Canon . ”
. . .
Black Hell swept his eyes over everyone . Even though their appearances were somewhat different, he still recognized every single one of them . All sorts of emotions welled up from the bottom of his heart, closeness and familiarity as well as sorrow and guilt .
Black Hell engraved the figures of every person here into his mind . “Have you all been well . . . ?”
“Y-yeah . Same as always . Just living,” Dark Requiem replied . His light words carried a hint of bitterness and pain .
“Fire Dragon isn’t here? Sky Master too . Is that guy still pulling everyone into his tricks?” Black Hell noticed there were still a few people missing .
Everyone became silent .
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Black Hell noticed the strange atmosphere .
“The last time we heard from Fire Dragon was over three months ago . We haven’t been able to get in touch with him since,” Dark Requiem explained before breaking out into sobs .
Black Hell was dumbstruck . A figure slowly surfaced in his mind . Fire Dragon was a simple-minded fellow who liked to tease the girls in the guild . Yet he could also light up the darkest room with his big grin that was always plastered on his face . When they ran dungeons together, he would often charge ahead before the Mages were even ready, hollering like Leeroy Jenkins with his greatshield raised . However, his recklessness was backed up by skill, not to mention his stupid luck, miraculously getting out more scared than hurt .
“Then what about Sky Master?”
“Sky Master doesn’t play Conviction . We haven’t been in touch since the game’s release…”
“Up until the very end, Fire Dragon always believed in you . He would always say you would come back, and we would rebuild Dark Hero together . ”
Of those former brothers in arms, some had scattered to a faraway place, impossible to find ever again; others had moved to another planet; and still others had changed their names and could no longer be reached . Only about a quarter to a third of them still remained behind . It was to be expected . But because of his willfulness, he couldn’t be there with Fire Dragon in his final moments . Black Hell was wracked with remorse, the guilt stabbing at his heart like steak knives .
“Boss . . . let’s rebuild Dark Hero . ”
“Yeah, Boss, we can all start over again!”
“Boss, it’ll just be like the good old days!”
…
Many excited shouts rang out . The voices of hundreds of thousands of players shook the entirety of Calore .
“If that’s you want, to rebuild Dark Hero, I won’t stop you . I can release both you and Black Heaven from your contracts,” Nie Yan said . He understood how powerful of a force could be created if all these people were gathered together . However, he didn’t have the heart to stand in the way of such a strong bond . Even if Dark Hero and Asskickers United became enemies in the end, he wouldn’t mind having a worthy opponent like this .
Black Hell turned to Nie Yan . He could tell Nie Yan was serious . He shook his head and said in a desolate tone, “Dark Hero is no more . Invincible is no more . I’m Black Hell, the Dark Archbishop of Asskickers United . ”
Nie Yan could vaguely understand how Black Hell felt right now .
Dark Hero was a relic of history, and so it would remain .
Black Hell raised his hand . Over 300,000 voices silenced in an instant . They all stared at him in anticipation, their expressions blazing with fervor .
“Dark Hero is no more, personally destroyed by my own two hands . It is no longer the Dark Hero of the past, and I am no longer Invincible,” Black Hell said, dousing the flames of passion in their hearts, quenched with a murky forlorn . “However, if you wish, you can still call me Invincible . Right now, I belong to Asskickers United . Heaven is here too . If you’re still willing to follow me, I’ll say the same thing as I did in the past . As long as I’m here, I won’t allow any of you to suffer any injustices!”
What followed was a long period of silence .
After struggling with the complicated emotions in their hearts, many people were still willing to follow Black Hell . He was Invincible . Even if he now used a different name, he was still Invincible .
Invincible wasn’t merely a guild leader to these players . This was also one of the reasons why Dark Hero fell to ruin after he left . He was Invincible, no matter where he went . A Dark Hero without him was not the guild they knew .
However, many people still carried a bit of hope in their hearts . They would first follow Black Hell . Then later on, they would try to convince him to rebuild Dark Hero .
The commotion in the central square in Calore shook the hearts of the leaders of the various major guilds . They naturally knew of Invincible . He was the ruler of several large virtual reality video games, until his sudden disappearance . Who would’ve thought the return of the king would play out like this? A single call from him had rallied 300,000 players, and more were still heeding his summon! If you gave him a bit of time, he could erect a powerful new guild! However, it was rumoured he had no plans of reviving Dark Hero and instead would remain in Asskickers United . This caused everyone’s eyes to pop out in shock . The various guild leaders couldn’t help but envy Nie Yan . Being able to recruit a figure like Invincible was like falling upon a priceless treasure .
Nie Yan established a separate branch in Asskickers United . It was reserved to only former members of Dark Hero . For now, he didn’t dare to assimilate all these people into the guild, for fear of creating an unforeseen influence . Black Hell was naturally put in charge of them . There was no one else more suitable for the role .
Asskickers United grew substantially in size . In the future, he could slowly assimilate the players from Dark Hero .
Following these players joining the guild, Asskickers United’s army expanded to more than 1,000,000 troops . The number of Masters had also increased from 13 to 15 .
Under Black Hell’s arrangements, these former players of Dark Hero were rapidly dispatched to the various strongholds of Asskickers United to aid in their defense .
Meanwhile, on the forums, posts started popping up discussing Invincible’s return .
Nie Yan browsed the forums .
「The King has Returned! Invincible is Back! Rallying All Former Brothers of Dark Hero!」
All of these posts were plastered at the top of the front page . Only more people would see this news, including the former players of Dark Hero scattered all over Conviction .
With the addition of 300,000 new players, Asskickers United’s moral soared . They felt all the more confident in defeating the Monet Financial Group .
Qin Han’s skeleton army was like an ocean of white . As they pressed forward, they had swallowed up three strongholds along the way and were gradually approaching the Cripps Stronghold .
Nie Yan viewed the videos sent to him . God Executioner Sword’s 100 catapults were formidable . If they were allowed to all fire at once, the Cripps Stronghold would be overrun by the skeleton army .
「Guo Huai, how many catapults and trebuchets do we have?」Nie Yan asked . Asskickers United had never stopped producing siege engines this whole time .
「According to the latest update, 923 Armoured Ice Catapults and 623 trebuchets . We have about 100 siege engines stationed in the Cripps Stronghold . The rest are all stored away,」Guo Huai replied . Everything was carried out according to Nie Yan’s plan .
「What about the Magic Bombs?」
「All 800,000 have been distributed among trustworthy guild members . 」
「Good, when Qin Han’s skeleton army arrives . We’ll give them a ruthless blow!」Nie Yan said confidently .
「Are all the preparations on your side complete?」Guo Huai asked in a worried tone .
「Everything is ready . All I need to do is hit confirm, and the guild headquarters will be moved to Okoron . 」
What Qin Han didn’t know was that he had already failed his main objective before his skeleton army even arrived at the Cripps Stronghold . Nie Yan had already long since planted all his traps and was simply awaiting their attack these last couple of days .
Time ticked away . Everyone focused their attention on the Cripps Stronghold . This battle would decide the future layout of the Viridian Empire!
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