novelraw Chapter 394: Special Storyline
Chapter 394: Special Storyline
Even those veteran Ability Users were like this, let alone those low-level Ability Users who were still ordinary people just a few months ago. When Mark activated his ultimate move and charged into the breach in the city wall, there was no need to kill to shed blood or engage in slaughter. Wherever the divine light shone, all Ability Users were as if winter snow had met the spring sun.
In a short two or three seconds, the three to four hundred Ability Users at this breach in the city wall had all reverted to normal.
One by one, they stood stunned in place, as if awakening from a grand dream.
At this time, however, that Neanderthal Cross-Border Player let out a bizarre cry, forced Li Wei back with a slash of his blade, and turned and fled in the very next second. Snatching up the Gold Card and Purple Card dropped by that Neanderthal Spellcaster, he dashed out with a few strides, summoned his warhorse, and escaped.
He wasn't the only one who fled. Upon seeing the divine light on Mark's body—which, although it had dimmed, was still clearly visible—that Neanderthal Cross-Border Player leading the three-hundred-plus ambushing troops to the west also halted his steps and retreated without a second word.
It was impossible not to retreat.
There was a Paladin on the opposing side! If they truly charged up, with just the Ability Users beside him, they would undergo a Reborn and Transformed change in the blink of an eye. How could this battle still be fought?
In fact, even those Centaur Cavalrymen were shocked and uncertain.
Because in just this short period, several dozen of their companions had transformed from Centaurs into normal humans.
Fuck, this isn't right!The great Frost Duke didn't say it would be like this.
A portion of the Centaurs shouted to retreat, giving chase to rendezvous with those two Neanderthals.
However, a small portion of the Centaurs remained behind. While staring nervously at Zhao Xuanxuan and the others, they simultaneously guarded their companions who had turned back into normal humans. After all, their brains weren't broken; who didn't have a few relatives or friends?
Even those heavily armored Half-Pigmen and Half-Minotaurs were stupefied. Some turned tail and ran, continuing to seek their great Frost Duke; others wanted to get close to Mark, hoping to be illuminated a bit by the divine light to see if they could revert to normal humans.
After all, this was something happening right under their eyelids. Those who didn't want to be human were still in the minority, so long as they had a chance to make a choice.
However, it was a great pity that Mark's strongest form was extremely extravagant. In just these short ten-odd seconds, it had directly depleted and emptied all the remaining Light of Faith within the temple.
It couldn't be helped. For such a miraculous event, the price was correspondingly immense.
And this was exactly the source of the confidence Li Wei had to dare run into the enemy's encirclement.
This was a subversively strategic weapon.
At this time, Zhao Xuanxuan and the others had already quickly picked up all the Gold Cards outside the city walls.
Before being picked up, the status of these Gold Cards could be preserved for a period of time depending on the situation. But once picked up, a decision had to be made within a very short duration.
And Li Wei already had a plan calculated. He left behind one hundred and fifty Four-Star Gold Cards to be used for reinforcing the equipment of the heavy armored cavalry.
The rest were all sold to be exchanged for land.
Ultimately, selling 280 Four-Star Gold Cards yielded 280,000 standard gold coins. Added to the previously sold sum, it was just enough to exchange for another 30 square kilometers of legal land.
At this point, the legal territory Li Wei could obtain had already reached 80 square kilometers.
As for that Six-Star Gold Card, he used it to heal and fortify that Four-Star warhorse.
Yeah, under normal circumstances, this warhorse would have been crippled. But as the saying goes, blessings and misfortunes inherently accompany one another. This unique Mental Shock was a rare tempering to its soul. As long as it didn't die, it was a heaven-sent good fortune.
And indeed, it didn't die; this was its stroke of luck.
However, after Li Wei used the Six-Star Gold Card to heal its injuries and complete the fortification, this Four-Star warhorse transformed into a streak of golden light and returned into the Pet Card.
The fortification wasn't instantaneously successful, and it only had an 86% success rate, furthermore requiring an incubation period of at least one year.
Five-Star Hunting Pets weren't that easy to obtain.
Otherwise, those Neanderthal Cross-Border Players wouldn't all be lacking Five-Star warhorses either.
Li Wei had entirely no other options regarding this; regretting it now was too late anyway.
However, there was another piece of good news. The Gold Card dropped by the Neanderthal Cross-Border Player killed by Mark was opportunely picked up by Zhao Xuanxuan and exchanged for a Silver Token. In addition, there was also a dropped Purple Card.
Overall, the anticipated objectives were basically achieved.
Of course, this also once again triggered a Region-Wide Announcement.
[Region-Wide Announcement]
[Pioneer No. 11, Li Wei, led his troops on an expedition a thousand kilometers away, discovered the fortress stronghold established here by the Frost Duke and the Barbarians, forcibly breached and occupied the city, and killed one Barbarian Cross-Border Player. He obtained 500 Campaign Points and a Duke's Medal of Honor.]
—
Following this Region-Wide Announcement, Li Wei subsequently received several system messages that could only be seen by himself.
[You have occupied the Otto City Survivor Base. You have captured 32 Level 4 Centaurs, 15 Half-Pigmen, 7 Half-Minotaurs, 9 Half-Catmen, 4 Half-Goatmen, and 1,524 ordinary survivors. You displayed formidable martial prowess and the radiance of the Gods to them; they can no longer muster the will to contend against you. You may occupy this place, but you need to garrison troops here for at least half a month before it is considered officially occupied.]
[You obtained a One-Star Magic Well, but the magic within it has already been depleted. You need a Spellcaster of at least the Second-Order to be able to relocate it.]
—
Not bad. Li Wei bared his teeth in a smile and was just about to issue commands when unexpectedly, several more messages flashed across his eyes. It was another Region-Wide Announcement!
[Region-Wide Announcement!]
[Pioneer No. 3, Hathaway, with the aid of her ally Poison Scorpion, assisted by the Five-Star Hunting Pet of her allied force Li Wei, and with the help of her allied force Thomas, successfully beheaded a Barbarian Centurion and successfully withstood a catastrophic flood disaster that could be called a once-in-a-millennium event!]
[Hathaway obtained 300 Campaign Points, and obtained a Duke's Medal of Honor and a reward of 10,000 gold coins.]
[Poison Scorpion obtained 100 Campaign Points, and obtained a reward of 10,000 gold coins.]
[Li Wei obtained 100 Campaign Points, and obtained a reward of 10,000 gold coins.]
—
Holy shit, it's 'Double Happiness Arrives at the Door'!
Finally, news from the territory's side had been received. Hathaway is awesome, Li Yue and Adai are awesome, Thomas is awesome!
Li Wei couldn't hold back an urge to laugh out loud.
However, what he completely didn't expect was that for some reason today, yet another string of Region-Wide Announcements spammed the screen.
[Region-Wide Announcement]
[Pioneer No. 1, Zhao Kewu, launched a surprise attack on the Frost Duke's main base camp, successfully obtaining a population of 5,000, successfully occupying that damaged Mage Tower, and successfully triggering the special storyline of this round's Pioneer City Building Mission!]
[Mage Phelan, the King's Envoy of Locke Kingdom, personally initiated an offer of amnesty and enlistment to the Frost Duke. After suffering massive blows one after another, and after learning of the existence of Paladin Mark, the Frost Duke finally chose to accept negotiations and temporarily cease hostilities for three months. During this period, neither the allied nor enemy sides are permitted to launch attacks or take action unauthorized.]
[Friendly Reminder: The moment the Frost Duke accepts amnesty and enlistment three months from now, it shall also signify the end of this Pioneer City Building Mission. All participating Pioneers must unconditionally accept Task Settlement.]
—
Holy shit?
What's the situation? A King's Envoy from Locke Kingdom?
When did Zhao Kewu become so awesome that he could launch a surprise attack on the Frost Duke's main base camp?
Amnesty and enlistment? A forced settlement in three months?
These thoughts flashed rapidly through his mind. Li Wei immediately shouted to Zhao Xuanxuan, who was equally stupefied: "Xuanxuan, take Benjamin, Javier, and the others—the nine of you—and immediately set off to return to the territory headquarters. Notify Second Aunt, command Nelson, Linus, and the others to immediately begin construction of the Level 4 City Wall. At the same time, relay a message to Li Yue, Hathaway, and Qin Yu. I hope they can join forces; no matter what happens, within three months, before the mandatory Task Settlement, they must build the Level 4 City Wall and the One-Star Mage Tower for me! Also, these are all the conditions required to upgrade to a Level 5 Territory. Go quickly!"
"Got it!"
Hearing Li Wei's words, Zhao Xuanxuan almost exploded as well. She wasn't stupid; she instantly realized that the moment that whatever Locke Kingdom King's Envoy reached a negotiation agreement with the Frost Duke and the Frost Duke was amnestied and enlisted, it would equivalently mean that after two and a half years of bitter and strenuous effort, Li Wei and the group were getting stuck and shafted right at the very last shudder.
Clearly capable of becoming a Substantive Viscount, yet ultimately and unluckily ending up as a Titular Viscount. Motherfucker!
In the next moment, Zhao Xuanxuan leaped onto her horse. Benjamin, Javier, Santiago, Seth, and the other nine Riverside Knights also mounted their horses without the slightest pause. Treading through the night, they roared away. Given their strength, they completely didn't fear the Neanderthal Cross-Border Players. Furthermore, they could rapidly recover their horse stamina. At the latest, they would be able to return to the territory headquarters by tomorrow morning.
At this time, Li Wei also rapidly issued orders to the remaining cavalrymen. Those who were to stand guard stood guard, those who were to mount the city walls mounted the city walls, and those who were to control the giant ballistas controlled the giant ballistas. Furthermore, he found a twelve-story office building near the city walls. The windows here had all been sealed with cement; this was originally the core district where survivors resided.
At this moment, Li Wei first commanded Mark to lead twenty soldiers to escort and lock up all fighting-capable captives into another six-story building. As for those who had already reverted to human form, they were directly handed a weapon to coordinate in standing guard.
Although they had recovered the appearance of ordinary people, in reality, they still retained at least half of their formidable attributes, remaining in that "mini-superman" state.
And currently, Mark, serving as both a Paladin and a Temple Priest, still possessed a very impressive deterrent effect over these captives.
After managing all these arrangements, Li Wei then called over a batch of captives to help transport out the ruins of the collapsed city wall, conducting a salvage excavation of those destroyed Enchanted Giant Ballistas.
It didn't matter if they were damaged; since the survivors in this city were able to forge them, they would also be able to repair them.
Regardless of anything else, fortifying the city defenses first was the priority. Enduring through this night was the key, otherwise, Li Wei would be worried that those two Neanderthal Cross-Border Players would stir up trouble. Even a cornered rabbit will bite, after all.
However, the good news was that the situation was pretty good.
This city might have once been the homeland to a million people, but after sixteen years of apocalypse, only the Industrial Zone tightly confined in the southwest corner had become the homeland of the survivors. These survivors had sealed off an area of roughly five square kilometers with cement walls. The buildings sitting on the outer fringes acted like massive Arrow Towers and fortresses.
Once upon a time, many stories must have taken place here too, right?
But the only ones greeting Li Wei today were fewer than one thousand six hundred shivering survivors.
Perhaps they too once possessed extraordinary martial prowess, but they had all been subdued and enslaved by the Blood Plague.
In this battle, at least eight hundred Ability Users had died. Who knows how many of them were their relatives or friends?
Li Wei rode his horse, leading all the heavy armored cavalrymen to patrol outside the city, not daring to let his guard down. Straight until dawn broke bright, the soldiers in the unit who had Hunting Pets released their Hunting Pets to scout the surroundings, and then reported back: no enemies were seen. Those two Neanderthals, along with roughly four hundred Centaurs and four hundred Ability User infantry, had vanished without a trace.
But Li Wei could no longer be bothered to chase or do anything else; he was waiting for Zhao Xuanxuan and the others to return, bringing back a massive number of vehicles.
They couldn't stay here for long. Hurrying back to the territory and sprinting toward a Level 5 Territory was the absolute most important objective.
"Mark, Mark!"
Just as he was pondering, he suddenly heard Mark calling out from the breach in the city wall.
"Lord, those captives wish to speak with you."
"Oh?"
Li Wei nodded his head; he had exactly this intention. Mark already possessed absolutely no means to release his ultimate move anymore. This ultimate move of his required one year to cool down once; it was an extreme luxury, extremely expensive. Therefore, it was impossible to turn those remaining Centaurs, Half-Pigmen, Half-Goatmen, Half-Minotaurs, and Half-Catmen into humans anymore. Thus, it truly was a bit thorny as to what to do moving forward.
(End of this chapter)