novelraw Chapter 275 - 28: An Army of a Million (Part 2)
Chapter 275 - 28: An Army of a Million (Part 2)
But now, they could barely utilize their core combat strength, forced to charge in and hack away like common line infantry.
Second, the Imperial Capital’s wall defenses were just as tricky.
Not only were several thousand Extraordinary Mages from the Evil God Faction personally stationed on the walls, but there were also various Extraordinary Defense Towers on standby behind them.
As long as these towers were supplied with enough Magic Stones rich in Elemental Power, they could perfectly coordinate with the individual Magic of the Evil God Mages, weaving together a terrifying web of firepower comparable to a WWII bomber squadron, enough to shred any invading enemy.
Finally, one last obstacle lay in their path.
If the Divine Chosen Army wanted to reach the Imperial Royal City, they first had to break through the outer Death Zone, which was completely occupied by Void Creatures.
Previously, these Void Creatures had been no threat at all. Their strength was scattered and weak, only at the Zero-star Mortal Realm. Even when they gathered into a massive monster tide, they couldn’t stir up much trouble.
But it was unclear whether they had reached some fixed evolutionary point or if Nesia had secretly used some special means.
Now, these Void Creatures were rapidly evolving into Extraordinary Creatures, and the level of threat they posed was skyrocketing.
Qin Feng would have to expend considerable effort to clear them out before he could pass through the Death Zone they occupied.
’Huh?’
’So that’s how it is?’
’This seems a bit tricky.’
’But it’s not entirely impossible.’
’If I’m willing to pay the price, I can use some of the Divine Chosen Soldiers as cannon fodder to constantly drain the Extraordinary Mages’ Magic Power. Combined with the self-destructing Magic of the Fire Fox army, there’s a high probability I can break straight through the Imperial Capital’s walls.’
’And once the Imperial Capital’s walls are breached, the Divine Chosen Soldiers will be able to engage in close-quarters combat. At that point, those Evil God Mages with their extremely fragile Attribute panels won’t be much trouble.’
’As for the Death Zone outside the Royal City, the situation is no different.’
’As long as I don’t care how many Divine Chosen Soldiers are sacrificed, I can have the entire Divine Chosen Army advance and force their way through these dangerous Death Zones...’
Therefore, the key issue wasn’t whether he could conquer Gulad’s Imperial Capital, but whether he was willing to let the Divine Chosen Soldiers he had "protected" for so long truly experience the blood and brutality of war, and offer their hearts and blood to the Emperor they were loyal to.
With that thought, Qin Feng let out a helpless sigh. Only one thought remained in his mind.
’What’s bound to happen will happen.’
The Royal City of the Gulad Empire was a prize Qin Feng had to win.
Only by completely conquering it and claiming it as his own would he have the leverage to negotiate with the Flame Emperor Galukasa head-on, significantly increasing the chance that the latter would willingly submit to him.
Furthermore, completely eliminating the Evil God Believers within the Gulad Empire would also win the Holy Empire, which backed Qin Feng, an unexpectedly vast amount of influence among the various Native Powers.
And by leveraging the recognition from these Native Powers, combined with his top-tier reputation among the Lord Players and the support of the Hafke Alliance, who had already gained the trust of the Queen of Ventecenia...
Qin Feng had a real chance to claim the title of Heaven’s Chosen Ruler without losing a single soldier, ultimately achieving the complete unification of the Lord World.
If he gave up this perfect opportunity to attack the city, even if he could still vie for the title of Heaven’s Chosen Ruler through other means later, no one could say what price he would have to pay or how much precious time would be wasted.
’Attack?’
’Or not?’
After hesitating for a long while, Arthas, under Qin Feng’s control, took a deep breath and finally, resolutely chose to attack.
Since he aspired to become a great figure like the Warhammer Emperor, he had to have a long-term vision and understand the need to make necessary sacrifices for a greater goal.
Having made up his mind, Qin Feng immediately deactivated his Divine Descent State and issued a combat directive to Arthas, ordering him to lie in wait near the Royal City and await the arrival of the main army.
However, what Qin Feng never expected was that his private message interface had already been completely spammed with messages from Su Mumu, MC, and the others. The notifications were coming one after another, nearly flooding his chat window.
"You’ve gotta be kidding me!"
"Bro!"
"That Nesia creep openly barged into our castle!"
"And you!"
"Of all times, you decide to go missing at this critical moment?"
"My cousin said that this Nesia seems to have a ’Clone’ ability, because she killed her with her own hands earlier but didn’t get any reward."
"Hello?"
"You there?"
"Answer me as soon as you get this!"
"..."
Qin Feng quickly scanned through the messages from them and soon pieced together the whole story.
It seemed Nesia had sent a Magic Clone to provoke them, but unfortunately for her, the clone was slain by Su Mumu single-handedly the moment it appeared.
But Qin Feng felt that rather than a simple provocation, Nesia had more likely sent the Magic Clone this time to gather intelligence.
The dozens of Extraordinary Mages he had killed while controlling Arthas earlier were clearly cannon fodder scouts Nesia had deliberately sent to their deaths to test Arthas’s true combat strength.
’We’re the same kind of person, with the same combat style.’
’Heh...’
’This one... is quite cautious...’
’Willing to sacrifice two Magic Clones and dozens of Extraordinary Mages just to figure out my true strength...’
’The Evil God Players from before were complete and utter idiots. They didn’t do any intelligence gathering or preliminary probing, yet they dared to brazenly lead the Evil God Army to attack me...’
"Ignore Nesia."
"You guys get ready."
"Next, I’m going to lead all our forces to attack the Royal City of the Gulad Empire. When the time comes, try to rack up as many event points as you can."
After quickly replying to everyone, Qin Feng immediately summoned Kuge and ordered him to issue marching orders to all the Divine Chosen Soldiers stationed there. They were to assemble their ranks and advance toward the Royal City of the Gulad Empire.
Next, Qin Feng summoned Ashes and instructed it to deliver a message to Finneir and Amilia, telling them to come to the front lines immediately and join the battle.
The former, a Mythical Level Destiny Hero, possessed a powerful skill that could summon a massive Animal Soul Army, capable of unleashing a Sea of People Tactic of staggering scale.
The latter was a top-tier Mage who fought while riding an Ancient Giant Dragon. In terms of sheer damage output, she could easily annihilate tens of thousands of enemies, making her combat power truly terrifying.
With the two of them assisting, not only would victory in this siege battle come more easily, but it would also significantly lower the death rate of his Divine Chosen Soldiers, reducing unnecessary sacrifices.
Soon, the Divine Chosen Army finished assembling and began to march out in an orderly fashion.
Thanks to the various forces that Kuge had efficiently recruited throughout the Gulad Empire, the Divine Chosen Army now numbered over a million strong.
They lined up in neat formations, their footsteps shaking the heavens, their procession surging forward like a torrential flood toward the Death Zone in the center of the empire.
This unprecedentedly magnificent sight left all the surrounding Lord Players stunned.
"Holy crap!?"
"An army of a million!?"
"That’s just insane!"
"Is Lord Tingfeng getting serious? Is he preparing for a massive, tough battle!?"
"So you’re saying... that Undead Legion he sent before was just to scout out the enemy situation near the Imperial Capital?"
"Definitely."
"It’s not like you haven’t seen Lord Tingfeng’s battle strategies before."
"Those Undead Soldiers are the front-line troops who take the brunt of the attack. He doesn’t care how many of them are lost; they’re just disposable cannon fodder."
"But he treasures his other Divine Chosen Soldiers like crazy."
"He almost never lets them face danger directly."
"So, since Lord Tingfeng has sent all these guys out today..."
"...it means he’s about to bring the pain to that group of Native Evil God Believers causing trouble in the Imperial Royal City."
"Come on."
"Let’s hurry up and follow them to leech some points."