Quadruple split.

Chapter 2823 The Sharp Knives

Game time: 17:39 PM
Northeast Continent, Blood Barbarian Region, Southwest of Eagle Claw Gorge

"stop."

The young human, dressed in light, close-fitting soft armor, with long black hair, a longbow tightly gripped in his left hand and two fine iron arrows in his right, raised his right hand and made a grasping motion in mid-air.

The next moment, the nineteen people following him immediately stopped in unison, quickly forming a circular defensive formation, standing guard and watching their surroundings with vigilance in their eyes.

"Xi Yue, what's going on?"

A Templar with messy beige hair, wearing light armor and sporting a pair of fangs strode up to his partner and temporary squad leader, and asked in a deep voice, "Have you spotted the enemy?"

"No."

The profession of a silent ranger, a Templar of the Abundance Cult named Yuuki, shook his head and said calmly, "But we should rest."

"..."

The squad's vice-captain, who previously belonged to [Ye Yin], was assigned to the [Black Knife Battalion] directly under Xia Liya's adjutant due to his outstanding strength, along with Xi Yue. Now, he has been placed under the direct command of the Black Brahma Priest. Fu Tu, a Templar of the Sun Sect, twitched the corner of his mouth and said irritably, "If you're going to rest, then rest. Why are you making such a fuss?"

"Because we are currently carrying out a classified mission."

Yuuki glanced at her partner and said calmly, "As the captain, I have an obligation to ensure the mission is carried out smoothly and the safety of all of you. As the vice-captain, you also have an obligation to cooperate with and carry out all my orders."

Futu rolled his eyes, waving his hand to signal his companions behind him to set up camp and rest, while muttering under his breath, "Let me tell you, someone like you would definitely have been a teacher's lackey in school, the kind that everyone dislikes!"

"Although I don't deny that I will always become a beneficiary of the existing system..."

Xi Yue shrugged, pressed her ear to the ground to listen for a while, and casually said, "But strangely enough, not only do the teachers like me, but my classmates like me too."

Futu rolled his eyes even more and said with a sneer, "I'm listening to your bragging."

"it is true."

Xi Yue stood up again, patting her ears as she said seriously, "It's mainly because I'm handsome, have good character, a great personality, excellent grades, am generous, and my family is rich."

Fu Tu sneered and said in a dry voice, "Has anyone ever told you that you're narcissistic?"

"No."

Xi Yue shook her head, pulled back her bowstring, and fired a flying arrow that inexplicably caught fire, setting the pile of firewood her teammates had just prepared behind her ablaze. After hearing a chorus of screams, she calmly said, "I never boast about my own unfounded merits."

Knowing full well that he had no chance of winning an argument against Xiyue (and fighting was also a tough one), Futu sighed deeply, then sat cross-legged on the ground, turned to look at his comrades behind him, whose ratio of players to NPCs was 5:13, and casually asked, "I don't see that you guys are very tired. In fact, those NPC brothers even adjusted their time difference for half a day before setting off. Is it really necessary to rest so frequently?"

"It depends on the situation."

Xi Yue did not give a direct affirmative answer, but said in a calm tone: "Theoretically, with sufficient preparation and in the initial stage of the operation, we do not need to rest too frequently. However, the problem is that rest is very cost-effective at this stage. So after doing a simple calculation, I decided to increase the frequency at least in the early stages of the mission."

Ever since he learned that the other party was a student at the National University of Defense Technology, he hadn't used his brain at all. Whenever something happened, he would refer to Xi Yue as an external brain circuit. Fu Tu nodded and continued to ask, "So what's the situation now?"

"It's not too tense yet, after all, Black Vane has given us a lot of time, which means that at least at the current stage, this is not a critical juncture for us."

Xi Yue casually offered an explanation, not disliking Fu Tu's decision to abandon thought. In fact, he preferred the current pace, since the latter's willingness to 'consult' him on everything represented a form of trust, which was clearly more positive.

It's worth mentioning that Yuuki doesn't dislike Futu, and Futu doesn't have any ill intentions towards Yuuki. Although their personalities are completely opposite and they often argue or even fight, it's more like a friendly banter, and it doesn't escalate into any kind of hostility.

That's why, even though this temporary team had only been assembled for a short time, everyone had already gotten used to the "interactions" between the two captains and vice-captain. In fact, some people initially wanted to offer some advice, but after discovering that the two had almost perfect teamwork and decision-making, they chose to ignore it with the mindset of "I don't want to become part of their play".

Xiyue possesses extremely high tactical skills and is adept at wilderness survival, intelligence gathering, covert operations, on-the-spot adaptability, and long-range sniping. She has a calm and composed personality and is not arrogant or impetuous, making her an outstanding sharp-edged team leader.

Futu possesses exceptional execution capabilities. Not only can he understand Xiyue's intentions immediately, but as a weapon master, he can also perfectly handle various unexpected situations. In addition, his offensive capabilities and exceptional endurance make him extremely suitable for head-on battles and skirmishes. Furthermore, although he is somewhat outgoing, he can get along well with anyone. This role as vice-captain is truly very suitable for him.

In short, it was no accident that the two were transferred together. It was the optimal solution that someone came up with in less than three seconds after integrating a considerable amount of information. And there are at least ten other twenty-person teams in southern Eagle Claw Gorge with team leaders like 'Xi Yue' and 'Fu Tu'.

"So what exactly were we sent out to do?"

Fu Tu glanced at the thirteen NPC companions who had already started to sleep on the other side of the fire, as well as the five player companions who had voluntarily taken on the task of keeping watch, and casually asked Xi Yue, "Aren't you the one who studies tactics? Can you figure it out?"

"can not tell."

Xi Yue shook her head without hesitation, fiddling with her longbow as she explained, "First of all, I'm just a student at the National University of Defense Technology. Although I've taken plenty of theoretical classes, I'm not strictly speaking a specialist in tactics. And even if my tactical skills are better than yours, they can't compare to Hei Fan's. In other words, it's hard for me to keep up with his pace. I'm fine as an execution unit and tactical node, but it's a bit far-fetched for me to guess what he's planning."

Fu Tu clicked his tongue and sighed, "We're all players, so why is it that even someone like you who specializes in tactics is inferior to him?"

"As I said, I don't specialize in tactics; I only occasionally take theory classes."

Xi Yue shrugged and said calmly, "As for Hei Fan... I don't know much about him. I only know that he's a good person, talented, and capable. Most importantly, he always wins the final battles, big and small. That's enough."

Fu Tu whistled and said lazily, "I've been catching up on that guy's deeds lately. Although there aren't many records about the battle with Sumir, quite a few players from Misha County and Academy City's War League followed it from beginning to end. Tsk, no doubt about it, if even half of those claims are true, Black Van is a bit too powerful."

"I can tell you with certainty that the facts you've been cramming about are at least 90% accurate, and possibly even more so."

Xi Yue's gaze narrowed slightly, and she said quietly, "I've finished reading the complete 'Misha's Diary,' and I even went with a few classmates to do some paid interviews with players who experienced that battle. In addition, someone has already recreated his match in the [War League] using an emulator. Although it's a bit unbelievable, I don't think there's any exaggeration in it."

Fu Tu blinked and asked, "Isn't this a bit too outrageous?"

"So what? Aren't there enough absurd things in this world already?"

Xi Yue stretched, then pulled a huge camouflage cushion from her bag, leaned against it, closed her eyes, and said, "Let's stop chatting here, I need to rest." Fu Tu: "...We're saying even a player can't sleep in a game, right?"

"Not being able to sleep doesn't mean you can't close your eyes and rest."

Without opening her eyes, Yu Yue calmly said while still catching up on sleep, "Everyone, including you and me, is a bit too excited. We need some time to calm down so we can better deal with the trouble ahead."

Fu Tu snorted softly, then took the spear from his back and planted it in the ground. He then performed a side somersault in mid-air and stood on the spear's butt, which was no bigger than a fist. He closed his eyes while maintaining this posture.

He felt he didn't need to calm down, but he also had no interest in refuting Yuuki's arguments, so he simply used a similar method to train himself, starting balance training.

The other five players also stopped chatting after receiving Yuuki's message and focused on maintaining a minimum level of vigilance while adjusting their state to ensure they could respond in the best possible condition at any time.

……

At the same time, another team was on a high-speed forced march.

Unlike the team led by Xiyue and Futu, where NPCs made up more than half the members, this team, also only twenty people, was 100% player-driven. Therefore, they were currently in a state of high energy and vitality. Furthermore, their leader's aggressive style meant that—in short—

"We will do what other teams can do, and we will do even more what other teams cannot do!"

A man dressed in luxurious clothes, with a plump figure, not particularly handsome, but with a large face that inexplicably possessed a feminine beauty, strode swiftly to the front of the group, grinning as he said, "Do it first, report later, Black Vane's special permission!"

"Um, Commander..."

About two meters above the man, a griffin, almost as big as a ball and with its small wings flapping so much they left afterimages, said with a subtle expression, "I can forget about the first part, but as for the last two sentences, I don't recall Black Vane granting us any special permission."

"You know nothing."

The man who founded the mercenary group "Eunuch Cao" sneered, "I've just been looking for an opportunity to say this."

"His tone is incredibly arrogant, but he's saying really boring things."

Riding a griffin with a body as graceful as a basketball, the griffin, who had once been a member of the mercenary group [Embroidered Spring Blade], and later reunited with his companions while fighting side by side in Sumir, and who was the first to respond to the call of the Black Brahma priest, and rushed to the Blood Barbarian region to fight (do quests) with his companions, sighed, stuffing a low-fat meal into his mount Dudu's mouth while complaining, "What era are we living in, still playing these old jokes."

Eunuch Cao sneered and raised his hand in a delicate gesture: "I'm the team leader, so keep your opinions to yourself."

"Help."

Helpless, the eagle turned to look at the management of the [Embroidered Spring Blade] following closely behind him, namely Lingxue, Wujing, Tieshou, and Renming, and said in a dry voice, "Has our leader always been like this?"

"Not at all."

The human swordsman, Ling Xue, shrugged and said weakly, "Our leader used to be called Xiong Ba, but it seems that for a while he watched a bunch of random novels and movies and became fascinated by those powerful, skilled, and cunning eunuchs. So... um."

Eagle: "...Holy crap, what do you mean by being captivated by the eunuchs?"

"Don't ask, the answer is that we don't understand art and have no taste."

Elf Assassin Turnip shook her head sadly and said irritably, "Anyway, we've already accepted our fate. After all, the guild leader seems to have become much stronger after completing his self-castration. Some people say he can even compare to professional players."

Ironhead, the orc berserker wearing a Viking helmet, clicked his tongue and corrected, "If this were the [Realm of Innocence], the guild leader would already be stronger than many professional players. I remember he's already in the top 100 of the individual strength rankings, right?"

"To be precise, it's the eighty-ninth."

The horse-tribe half-orc warrior monk, who claimed to have the blood of Red Hare and had styled his hair red, looked resignedly at Eunuch Cao's agile, swift, and broad back, and said with a forced smile, "To be honest, I always feel that our leader has already practiced the Sunflower Manual or the Evil-Repelling Sword Technique."

The eagle was terrified and hurriedly asked, "You mean outside the game?"

"Probably not."

Turnip shook her head and whispered, "I know my sister-in-law. After several rounds of subtle questioning, I haven't sensed any negative emotions from her because her husband became a eunuch."

"You guys, can you keep your voices down when you're gossiping?"

Eunuch Cao turned and glared at Cangying and his friends, saying irritably, "We're perfectly healthy."

The eagle suddenly realized: "So that's it, it's a psychological problem?"

"You little brat... huh?"

"What's wrong with the commander?"

"Pastor Black Van has sent a message."

"Huh? What did he say?"

He said we could prepare for battle.

"With whom?"

"and……"

"Commander, wild boar-men spotted ahead!"

Chapter 2814: The End