novelraw Chapter 233 - 9: Speedrun Strategy, Quickly Become King, Part 2
Chapter 233 - 9: Speedrun Strategy, Quickly Become King, Part 2
A single Extraordinary Hero would never be able to block a city gate and go on a wanton slaughter, leaving all the Native Creatures and hundreds of Lord Players inside utterly powerless to fight back.
Some of the weaker Lord Players could even rely on good luck and skill to take down much stronger ones...
Having grasped the fundamental logic of the Lord World—especially the key to ultimate victory—Qin Feng already had a clear course of action for the King’s War.
It was to completely abandon the cautious, long-term development strategy he had previously followed!
Instead, he would choose an all-out, ferocious assault!
He wanted the exhilarating thrill of battle!
He wanted to steamroll his way through in a lightning-fast speedrun!
Then, before the Divine Chosen Lords who posed the greatest threat to him could fully develop—and especially before they could amass tens of thousands of Extraordinary Forces—he would seize the final victory of the King’s War!
Originally, this goal would have been incredibly difficult.
The Gulad Empire’s territory was situated right in the heartland of the Lord World.
Furthermore, its military strength was firmly ranked second among all the Native Powers.
To speedrun the entire King’s War event...
...he would first have to find a way to crush this behemoth, which possessed nearly ten thousand Extraordinary Soldiers and several thousand Dragon Cavalry!
Only then could he free himself up to deal with the island nations to the west, the Ventecenia Kingdom to the south, the Dragon Realm to the east, and so on.
This would undoubtedly take Qin Feng several months at least, giving other Lord Players the breathing room to develop and grow, allowing them to gradually catch up to the progress of both the Native Powers and Qin Feng himself.
But now, the Evil God Players and their believers, lurking secretly within the Gulad Empire, had successfully clouded Flame Emperor Galukasa’s judgment, tricking him into leading his main army to the southern battlefield.
This gave Qin Feng the perfect opportunity to steamroll the Gulad Empire.
And as long as he could steamroll the Gulad Empire, all the resources within its borders—the native armies, native heroes, surrounding villages, and core cities—would be rapidly converted into his own national and personal power under the blessing of the Riding and Cutting system, creating explosive, snowballing growth.
To make matters worse for him, Flame Emperor Galukasa couldn’t just bring his main forces straight back to reinforce.
The Ventecenia Kingdom to the south was surely infuriated by the Gulad Empire’s opportunistic attack.
They would definitely not let Flame Emperor Galukasa withdraw so easily.
They would find a way to pin down his main army.
This would make this "dishonorable enemy" pay the price for his recklessness, forcing him to lose the Gulad Empire’s control over the cities in the Northern Territory, and perhaps even the central regions and the Imperial Capital.
’It seems...’
’I really have to thank those high-ranking Evil God Believers hiding in the Gulad Royal Capital.’
’If they hadn’t been stirring up trouble behind the scenes.’
’With my army’s current strength, it would be impossible to shake the Gulad Empire, which has over three thousand Dragon Cavalry and more than ten thousand Extraordinary Soldiers.’
’If I chose to compete with them in a head-on development race...’
’Flame Emperor Galukasa has his "Destiny Team" Talent, not to mention the large number of Divine Chosen Players loyal to the Gulad Empire, plus their massive population and urban resources.’
’In the end, who would develop faster?’
’Me, or all of them combined?’
’It’s really hard to say.’
With this in mind, Qin Feng no longer hesitated. He immediately activated his strategic-level Talent, the Gate of War, and led all his main forces on a rapid march to the frontline Minotaur Kingdom.
This mixed army was a formidable sight.
It included the Undead Legion, the Desert Demon Wolf Army, the Fire Fox Magic Team, the Violent Bear Squad, the Steel Ant Squad, the Sielo Knight Team, and numerous Sub-human Legions such as the Ratmen, Tiger-men, and Wolfman Cavalry.
Combined with the Minotaur Kingdom’s Extraordinary Forces and Minotaur Army, as well as the newly incorporated Dragon Cavalry Team and Gulad Legion, the total force numbered close to 400,000.
However, the majority of this mixed army consisted of scattered, ordinary units serving as "cannon fodder."
Their impact on the overall battle would only be about twenty percent.
They were basically negligible.
The real key was the quantity and quality of the Extraordinary Soldier Types, as this would decide the final outcome of every subsequent battle.
Fortunately, Qin Feng was once again enjoying a "version bonus."
His Hidden Talent, War Merit Enfeoffment, could directly promote Soldier Type units into Heroic Units.
And these Heroic Units only needed a Book of Extraordinary Promotion to transform from ordinary, Zero-star (Red) combatants into 1-star Extraordinary powerhouses.
In comparison, the prerequisites for an ordinary, Zero-star (Red) Ordinary Soldier Type to be promoted to an Extraordinary Soldier Type were far more complex.
Even if Qin Feng could use his Unit Upgrade Talent to speed up their promotion, the massive amount of Experience Points required was astronomical and extremely difficult to manage.
Thus, while marching toward the cities of the Gulad Empire’s Northern Territory, Qin Feng directly used the Necromancer’s Big Move, "Great Pioneer," to perform a Divine Descent into Arthas in the Northern Death Zone.
He then relied on Arthas’s immense power to easily slay Void Creatures that had not yet become Extraordinary, thereby harvesting the Unit Promotion Cards and Red Lost Secret Realm Keys that they dropped.
As for the Middle-earth Warhammer Teleportation Gate...
...he left it to Diablo, whose strength had already risen to Zero-star (Gold), to handle.
It was also a good way for him to grind his Professional Level.
In any case, the Undead skeletons pouring from the Teleportation Gate would never submit to an outsider directly; they would only surrender after their morale was broken by an enemy.
Therefore, it didn’t really matter who was stationed to guard this special area.
Moreover, Arthas’s Divine Descent State allowed Qin Feng to receive the Divine Chosen Spoils granted by the King of War.
This was unlike Valkyrie, where killing monsters only stacked Bloodthirsty Layers and dropped no loot whatsoever.
More importantly, the spoils obtained from slaying Void Creatures were significantly more bountiful than those from killing Native Creatures, ordinary players, or Evil God Players.
For this reason, Qin Feng had deliberately deployed Arthas to the Northern Death Zone and had not brought him along for the impending battle for the Northern Territory.
Although this meant the front lines lost a top-tier "scouting cannon fodder" and an opportunity to gain a large number of Undead Soldiers, it allowed Qin Feng to accumulate Books of Extraordinary Promotion and Unit Promotion Cards with much greater efficiency.
All in all, it was a massive net gain.
"Your Majesty Tingfeng."
"Ahead is the great wonder our Gulad Empire uses to guard the Northern Territory."
"It is called the ’Great Wall.’ It was first built a thousand years ago to defend against the invasions and raids of the Forest Tribes."
"But ever since the fall of the Elf Kingdom, the power of the Forest Tribes has waned. They no longer have the strength to invade the south, and so this wondrous structure, which spans the entire Northern Territory, has not seen the fires of war since."
"However, every generation of Emperor Gulad has spent a fortune on its maintenance."
"This is because this great and wondrous structure represents our Gulad Empire’s past road to ascension."
"It was because of it,"
"that the Gulad Empire was able to withstand the continuous harassment and raids from the Forest Tribes back then,"
"and grow into the behemoth it is today..."
Listening to Kuge’s detailed explanation, Qin Feng looked down from hundreds of meters in the air at the colossal Great Wall standing majestically below. It was a perfect replica of the Wall in the North from Game of Thrones.
’Clearly, the higher-dimensional being that created this Lord World couldn’t be bothered with originality and just grabbed a template of the northern wall from somewhere.’
Riding his Winged Dragon, he turned to Kuge beside him and asked:
"Kuge!"
"We want to take it!"
"How many men do you think we should send?"
Kuge, the Dragon Rider Commander-in-Chief, slowly replied:
"Your Majesty."
"I alone am sufficient."
"The Great Wall currently has no Gulad Legion stationed there, just some laborers responsible for daily maintenance and sentries in training."
"We can take it first and use it as a Frontline Base to attack the various cities of the Northern Territory that stand behind it."