As the one-minute timer ran out and the betting arena closed, all the players eagerly awaited the beginning of the war. The only issue was that in 'Evolution Online' there was no recording facility, which was something the streamers always complained about.
So even if the war was taking place, unfortunately, no one would be able to see it, which made all the players very frustrated. Being invested in the war, they really wanted to see it from start to finish and enjoy the thrilling experience. Only that wasn't a possibility.
However, all of a sudden, something unexpected happened. In every major city in every kingdom, a huge square appeared in the sky, just like the one that had appeared during the PVP Tower Tournament finals.
This enormous square divided into six squares, each encircled by dazzling light. This made every player stare up at the sky in awe.
And when the brilliance faded, surprisingly, the scene of thousands of players gathered together appeared.
"Dang! Isn't that the war?"
"We can actually see this go down?" Everyone was shocked and happy at the same time.
Coincidentally, even Liam did not know that this was going to happen, as this was the first time there was a guild war between two S Rank guilds in both his lives combined.
While all the players around the world rejoiced at this unexpected surprise, the stars of the actual show did not know any of this was happening.
Every single player involved in the guild war was completely cut off from the outside world. No messages could be sent in or out by these players.
Instead, there was a new war channel open, through which all the players in the war could talk to each other. Individual messages between the various players participating in the war were also banned.
In essence, there were only two group chats active, one for the attacking side and one for the defending side. This came as a shock to everyone, but it was nothing game-changing. Both sides quickly adapted to it.
Since the audience could see the transformations occurring in real-time, the mood quickly became electric. Many groups started chanting the team names they were supporting.
"Go! Go! Dragons of Justice!"
"Down with Crimson Abyss!"
Naturally, many of these were supporters of 'Dragons of Justice,' but there was still a small portion supporting 'Crimson Abyss.'
"Underdog for the win! Crimson Abyss! Crimson Abyss!"
Other players looked at these delusional idiots with pity and continued to watch the show.
Meanwhile… At the real battlefield…
Thousands of players started arranging themselves in straight files, forming rows and columns. Every single one of these players was fully geared with at least one or more Unique grade items, and there were several thousands of these men.
The entire scene, with everyone standing together, was chilling, and they were not done yet. The men were still continuing to walk out of what looked like a huge cave.
A huge mountain range spanned this end of the battleground, and from within a gigantic cave in this mountain range, the members of the attacking team, 'Dragons of Justice' were assembling together.
However, the war hadn't started yet. There was some sort of invisible barrier that prevented this army from spilling out. For now, all everyone could do was come out of the mountain range and assemble in front of the barrier.
As for what was beyond the barrier…
Tall trees and a dense forest sprawled out in front of them. The entire place was full of brambles, and a visibly viscous green liquid dripped out of these brambles.
However, amidst this suspicious-looking forest, there were also five other clear paths laid out in front of them.
The instant everyone saw these five paths, they already knew what battleground they were dealing with. This was none other than the 'Capture the Flag' battlefield.
"So, they ended up selecting this battleground?" Rowan walked out along with a group of players to stand at the front of the slowly assembling army.
He was the guild leader of the 'Dragons of Justice' guild, the third S-Rank guild in the game, and also the person who was going to emerge victorious from this war. He had put in a lot of effort, made some questionable deals, everything to ensure that this would be the case. There was no turning back now.
"Rowan, what is the plan now? What are we going to do?" Lorenzo, the guild vice leader of 'Dragons of Justice' asked him. There was a little anxiety visible on his face. Unlike others, he still could not bring himself to be confident.
However, such prudence was not welcomed by his peers. One of the newly appointed elders of the guild, Vikram, loudly cleared his throat. "What is there to discuss in this situation? They couldn't have picked out a worse battleground. This is going to be an easy win."
"Hmmm." Rowan also nodded, agreeing with him. "Capture the Flag' battleground was a pretty straightforward one. Both sides had a flag, and whoever captured the enemy's flag first won the war.
On their side, this flag was located inside the cave in which everyone had teleported or spawned for the battleground, their starting point. The battleground description given by the system mentioned that the opposite side would also be very similar.
This left both groups with only selected options, namely the five paths that opened up in front of them. Obviously, the 'Dragons of Justice' guild had studied this map well in the 48 hours they had to prepare.
In fact, they had studied all the maps well and thought of many possible strategies for each of the maps. Coincidentally, this was one of the extremely straightforward ones.
90% of the battleground was the poison forest, which was completely inaccessible. This simply left the five paths between the poison forest as the only routes available. Any one of these five paths would directly lead them to the enemy.
Under these circumstances, if they used a strategy to split their group into five and assaulted the enemy on all five paths, they could without a doubt bulldoze their way into the enemy's base and capture the flag.
This was the most simple and straightforward strategy that gave the side with the overwhelming numbers an unfair advantage.
And this was also why the entire guild was already celebrating their victory. Of all the battlegrounds, Crimson Abyss could have chosen, this was definitely the worst. They had dug themselves a big, deep hole and were simply waiting to be killed and buried.
"Let's go with what we have planned! We won't be the ones to lose this war!" Rowan confidently declared.
"But what if they used the Poison Forest to bypass everything and come to the other side?" Lorenzo was not convinced. There was a glaring loophole to this battleground.
However, his question only brought mocking laughter from the others.
"Sure, by the time they bypass this forest and come to this side, we would have already taken the flag from their side."
"Did you forget the number of men on our side?"
"You are thinking too much!"
The few people started ridiculing him when suddenly a loud blast was heard in the distance and an assortment of colorful fireworks lit up the sky. It was daytime, but these fireworks were still radiant.
And the next second, the invisible barrier disappeared.
"EVERYONE! IT'S STARTING! THE WAR HAS BEGUN!" Mustafa, the main guardian warrior in the guild, also one of the elders and the commanding general for the first unit, loudly shouted. He activated his skill [War Cry] and the effect was simply amazing.
In an instant, everyone became alert, and their attention was on the battleground.
"All units start moving!"
"First, second and third unit, take the first three paths."
"The remaining units split yourselves into the fourth and fifth paths."
Instead of distributing all the players evenly on the battleground on all five paths, this was a special surprise Mustafa concocted on the spot for Crimson Abyss.
By sending considerably more men onto the fourth and fifth paths, there was a chance that they could secure a swift and easy victory!
The other side would only realize that such a move had been made after they encountered each other on the paths, but then it would be too late.
There was simply no way one player can move from one path to the other.
They would have to cross the poison forest to do so or retrace their steps all the way to the base, both of which would only result in their downfall.
After announcing, Mustafa looked at Rowan for confirmation and the guild leader also agreed. In reality, this was not something he had pulled out of his ass at the last minute. They had discussed several strategies beforehand, and this was simply one of them.
Everything else was smoothly sorted out, and the attacking side finally began marching forward! It was time to pulverize their enemies and become the overlord of the Gresh Kingdom!
