Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 351: The Deterrence of a Top-Tier Scout

"These Neanderthals are cunning as ever — it's almost like they knew we were coming. No, wait — something's off here!"

Li Yue murmured, unable to hide her shock. She had, out of habit, considered the possibility of reinforcements, but hadn't truly believed the enemy had any — or if they did, that the numbers would be significant.

Yet now it seemed as though the enemy had anticipated their every move.

"Something is off, yes — but not because they predicted us. It's because they've made up their minds to build a Great Bridge Fortress on the south side of the bridge."

"Over the past month, they needed to gather supplies, scout our position, and figure out our manpower and overall strength. That's why they held off on construction."

"But after yesterday's Neanderthal scout did his work, our situation was essentially laid bare. That's what triggered the start of the fortress construction."

"My guess — that's the truth of it. It has nothing to do with last night's scout dying, and it's not an ambush set for us. We simply stumbled into it at the right moment. Though if we'd recklessly gone with Plan A, the consequences would've been hard to predict. Even if we'd won that skirmish, we couldn't have stopped them from building the fortress — their team almost certainly includes casters."

"I'd even say this is Frost Duke's plan. Seal the bridge, build a fortress — that's a strategic objective, likely decided over a month ago. Which means, by that logic, I'd bet there's a pioneering territory somewhere to the southeast of the bridge's south bank. And there's a good chance it belongs to Zhao Kewu."

The image of Plague Witch Alice flashed through Li Wei's mind. That would explain why Zhao Kewu had gone to such lengths to send her to cause trouble.

Li Yue said nothing. She hadn't been there for any of that, so there was nothing for her to add.Li Wei continued:

"In fact, I think the next six months might be exactly when Frost Duke masses his forces to crush Zhao Kewu. Right now we think he's building the Great Bridge Fortress to cut us off — but it may well be that he's cutting off Zhao Kewu's last escape route."

"So — what's your plan?"

Li Yue glanced at him quickly, her expression full of admiration. She thought that even at her own peak, she wouldn't have done much better than this.

A scout who could only locate enemy positions and count their numbers wasn't truly exceptional. The rarest skill was analyzing enemy intent at speed — and doing it right.

In many ways, a scout was a commander's eyes, hands, and half their brain.

Li Wei hesitated for a moment, then shook his head decisively.

"Zhao Kewu won't cooperate with me. He's finished — unless Alice the Plague Witch is willing to stay on as his strategist, and his territory's mana wells have at least a hundred units of mana in reserve."

"So this is our opportunity. The only one we'll get."

Li Wei's assessment of Zhao Kewu was actually quite high — the man had simply run out of luck.

"But we need to fight a battle first. Right here, north of the bridge — a straight-up, head-on fight. We may not be able to stop them from building the fortress in the end, but we need to hurt them badly enough that they think twice about getting too bold. Otherwise, I'm worried Zhao Xuanxuan's training exercises will turn into a nightmare."

"Also, after this fight, Aunt Yue, I'll need to ask one more thing of you — stay and hold down Riverside Fortress. I'm planning to reassign Javier, Seth, Paul, and Jocelyn to the eastern front. Zhao Xuanxuan's group needs a strong enough knight squad, otherwise they won't have any room to train — they'll just get their formation shattered, and Northern Fortress will suffer for it too."

"Understood."

Li Yue nodded, no objections.

Li Wei actually gave her a surprised look.

"Aunt Yue, anything you'd like to add?"

Li Yue smiled. "Nothing. I think you've arranged it well. We do need to fight — hurt them, make them cry. We can't realistically stop the fortress construction given our limited manpower; our focus is on developing Riverside Fortress, and we can't afford to spread ourselves thin. If we let the enemy dictate our pace, we'll end up reactive."

"Good."

Li Wei nodded, then called out to Adai. "Brother Dai, do me a favor — go out there and show off those gorgeous feathers and that beautiful voice of yours, then head north and let Zhao Xuanxuan know to get ready to receive us."

Adai tilted his head, gave Li Wei a look that said 'you idiot,' then spread his wings and launched into the air, kicking up a fierce gust. He was now a great bird with a wingspan exceeding six meters — not exactly subtle.

He'd barely gotten airborne before the Ability User Legion to the south spotted him. Horns blared instantly, and from within the valley, massive siege weapons were rolled out — resembling siege crossbows, but radiating an eerie red glow.

"Those are enchanted siege crossbows. Extremely powerful — a single mana bolt can blow apart Thomas's stone golem. Frost Duke clearly has a deep understanding of magic. They're slow to move and consume enormous energy, so they're not cost-effective, but if a territory has no mana wells or resident casters, encountering one of those means certain defeat."

Li Yue noted calmly.

Adai, clearly sensing the danger, immediately climbed altitude — shooting straight up to fifteen hundred meters, then circled lazily twice before heading north without a care in the world.

But Adai's casual patrol had an enormous impact on the Ability User Legion below.

Especially on their commander.

They already knew who Adai was, and who Li Wei was. If Adai could find them so precisely, did that mean Li Wei's scouts — or Li Wei himself — were already here?

No one could afford to ignore a top-tier scout.

It wasn't just about gathering intelligence. When necessary, burning supplies, destroying equipment, torching stockpiles — all of that was well within reach.

Unless you had a top-tier scout of your own to counter them.

Li Wei and Li Yue exchanged a glance. Without a word, Li Yue slipped away and reappeared several kilometers to the south, near the valley's edge — in plain sight. She summoned a four-star warhorse with a flourish and rode hard toward the north, deliberately staying within range of Li Wei's bow.

Immediately, fifty centaur cavalry burst out of the valley in pursuit.

The rest of the Ability Users went on high alert and began breaking camp, preparing to move out.

Li Wei watched in silence, easing into a suitable sniper position. When the fifty centaur cavalry came charging past, bloodlust in their eyes, passing roughly two hundred meters in front of him —

He drew his bow.

In one smooth, unbroken motion, he loosed twenty-two arrows in ten seconds.

A storm of arrows. In an instant, ten centaur cavalry were dead — these Level 4 centaurs each had dual life cores, so one arrow wasn't enough; each needed a follow-up shot.

At almost the same moment, Li Yue, who had been galloping ahead, wheeled around and began firing back. Three arrows in quick succession destroyed the lead Level 5 centaur's cores. Then, rather than fleeing, she turned her horse and charged back in, her Enchanted Strong Bow singing continuously — every two arrows, another centaur fell.

With Perception +6 and the Second-Order Nightrider class, dealing with Level 4 and Level 5 Ability Users was effortless.

The remaining centaurs fired back with their own bows, but it amounted to nothing.

Their range simply wasn't enough. Li Yue was shooting from three hundred meters out, barely slowing her horse, guiding it with her legs alone, arrows flying like shooting stars — a gale sweeping through. A masterclass in mounted archery for the centaurs to witness.

And then there was Li Wei, firing steadily from the forested hillside. His range was shorter, but he had trees and rocks for cover.

He didn't even need to aim carefully — no Destiny Resonance required. Two arrows per kill. In a short time, the fifty centaur cavalry were completely rattled.

Some tried to chase Li Yue. Some tried to return fire at Li Wei. Some tried to retreat. A few even tried to grab the Universal Gold Cards dropped by their fallen comrades.

Total chaos.

The price for that chaos was death.

One centaur fell every second on average. Li Wei and Li Yue worked in perfect sync — he'd put an arrow through one life core, and she'd immediately finish off the second.

Two top-tier scouts with Perception +6, at this moment, were bullying these enemies like they were children.

"Woo-woo-woo!"

The horns in the distant Ability User camp sounded again, and more centaur cavalry charged out — but they were too far away to matter.

Li Wei and Li Yue moved at their leisure, methodically cutting down forty-five centaur cavalry in short order. The remaining five were so terrified their souls had nearly left their bodies, and they fled in a panic.

Li Yue swept forward and collected all forty-five Universal Gold Cards, then rode off.

Li Wei never showed himself — he was already sprinting north through the forest.

Come after us if you dare.

In the end, the several hundred centaur cavalry who had given chase pulled back after a few kilometers. They could have kept going — but what about all the supplies and equipment back at camp?

Standing at a distance, Li Wei watched the scene unfold and let out a cold laugh. Without further delay, he summoned his four-star warhorse, rode down from the ridge, and rejoined Li Yue. Even so, the Ability User Legion behind them didn't dare make a rash move — securing their supplies came first, above all else.

Good. That's more like it.

"Forty-five Universal Gold Cards. I took the liberty of selling twenty on your behalf, and converted the rest into black iron tokens."

After they reunited, Li Yue said it casually.

"Works for me."

Li Wei smiled slightly. The two of them rode hard toward the bridge, no longer bothering to conceal themselves. Ahead at the north bank, Zhao Xuanxuan had already received Adai's message and was standing by, ready to receive them.

As for the enemy squad of fifty-odd Ability Users, they lit a distress signal at that very moment.

"Bang!"

Blood-red smoke drifted high into the sky, thousands of meters above.

"Hold steady! Our reinforcements are coming — they want to hit us from both sides, but now we're the ones who'll hit them from both sides!"

The centaur count roared, and gave an approving pat to the Neanderthal crosser beside him. A true military advisor — he'd predicted everything!

He didn't notice the flicker of panic in the Neanderthal crosser's eyes.

Because the crosser had already realized — his companion, the top-tier scout, was almost certainly dead.