The battle of Tien City made the Elven King famous overnight. The news spread like wildfire throughout the empire in a matter of days. The situation in the Chaos Forest was far more complex than anticipated. People initially believed that the Chaos Federation was just an organization established by the Demon King. Now it seemed that behind the scenes, there were other forces at play, with the Elven King possessing strength even surpassing that of the Dragon Kings of the Darkness City.
What did this imply? It suggested that the Darkness Trio of the Chaos Forest could be mere pawns, with the true puppeteer being the mysterious Elven King. She stayed in the shadows all along to avoid premature exposure, fearing heightened vigilance from the empire.
However, after the battle of Tien City, where the Darkness Trio succumbed to the Mage King Halyfax, the mastermind behind it all had to reveal herself. That's right! This must be the truth! It was the only reasonable explanation! No one expected the Chaos Forest to be so formidable, concealing such a super powerhouse capable of suppressing an entire region!
The main city of Bachor, along with other cities in the empire, was abuzz with rumors. The latest updates on the southern front became headline news:
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In no time, rumors and speculations about the Elven King filled the air. It was not just the major cities with well-informed sources; even remote places and inconspicuous tribes near the empire received the news. Take, for example, the Moonwell Tribe, an elven tribe bordering the eastern edge of the empire. The Moonwell Tribe was of considerable size, divided into twelve clans, with a total population exceeding three hundred thousand. For the elven race, this was a significant community.
"Great news!"
"Huge news!"
"The Elven King has emerged from the Chaos Forest!"
"Not only is there an Elven King, but I heard there's also the Ancient Tree of Eternity!"
"What? The Tree of Eternity? How could something like that exist in this day and age? This might be false information intentionally spread by the empire!"
"No! It's definitely not false!"
"The High Elder sensed the aura of the Tree of Eternity!"
"The news might be fabricated, but this aura cannot be faked!"
"By the grace of the Goddess, if this is true, it's a blessing for the elven race!"
The Moonwell Tribe erupted in excitement. Tens of thousands of elves began planning their migration. The Moonwell Tribe was just one of the elven tribes that caught wind of the news.
With the news of the Tree of Eternity and the emergence of the Elven King spreading, all Elven clans and tribes could not resist the pull, initiating a massive elven migration! In the future, within one or two months at most, millions of elves would surge into the Chaos Forest.
This colossal population would easily establish an Elven Kingdom. Moreover, this was just the beginning; the elven population under the control of the Darkness City would continue to grow, making the power of the Darkness City even more formidable!
The battle of Tien concluded with a great victory. The Darkness City Legion suffered some significant losses, and Zhang Nu needed to resurrect approximately 25,000 units, costing him around 42 million gold. Compared to previous battles, this one incurred relatively larger losses due to the presence of many skilled participants, including the Blood Lion Knights. Despite the considerable losses, the gains were substantial. The fifty thousand Blood Lion Knights, all starting at the minimum rank of Level 3 elite, generated a total income of 110 million gold from killing's rewards alone. Therefore, the income easily covered the costs.
The Resurrection Altar immediately came into play. One by one, fallen warriors were resurrected and summoned to the Darkness City Grand Plaza.
"I thought I died in battle?" exclaimed an elven mage, his face filled with disbelief. "How am I alive again? This is the Darkness City!"
"Me too!"
"I actually came back to life!"
"It's unbelievable! What's going on?"
Unit after unit that should have perished appeared on the Darkness City Grand Plaza. After exchanging information, these soldiers quickly realized the situation---they had indeed died in battle, but due to the intervention of the Demon King, they were all resurrected.
"Praise the Demon King!"
"He actually resurrected us!"
"What a miraculous and powerful ability!"
These resurrected members of the Darkness Legion were all astonished by the Demon King's incredible power. They were just nameless foot soldiers of the Chaos Federation, yet they received the privilege of resurrection.
Truly unheard of! Inconceivable!
The soldiers' awe and loyalty to the Demon King immediately reached a new level. If they could be resurrected even after death, what couldn't the Demon King do? Charging into battle, whether summoning units or vassal subordinates, would no longer carry the concern of death. Instead, falling in battle became a matter of honor!
The Demon King's method of resurrecting fallen combat units proved to be more cost-effective than summoning new ones. The cost savings amounted to approximately one-third to one-half of the expenses. Given the advantages of these resurrected soldiers who had spent considerable time in the Darkness City and the Chaos Federation, it made more sense to revive them. Additionally, many units in the Darkness City Legion were not directly summoned but affiliated as vassal units, and the ability to resurrect them ensured a steady and experienced force.
Moreover, since the Darkness City Legion comprised both directly summoned and vassal units, resurrecting fallen soldiers became a preferred option, allowing the Demon King to save substantial resources. With the Resurrection Altar in place, the worry of depleting population forces due to war was eliminated, provided there was enough funding. After resurrecting the fallen troops, the Demon King bestowed a Sacred King's Baptism upon outstanding soldiers among them, granting them a rapid increase in strength.
Following the resurrection of the army, the Demon King proceeded to enhance other units. He spent 30 million gold and materials to bestow the title of Dragon Elder upon Long Yi. Although a regular Abyssal Dragon could be directly upgraded to Dragon Elder through the Demon King's Altar and further to a Level 6 unit, Long Yi was already a monarch. Upgrading him to a higher level proved challenging. Nevertheless, Long Yi experienced a noticeable improvement in talent, attributes, and mastery of over a dozen new magic spells.
Not content with these enhancements, the Demon King initiated a super baptism for Long Yi. Despite having undergone several cleansings before Tien City, combined with the power of the Dragon Elder, Long Yi's strength had neared a bottleneck. However, with the super baptism, Long Yi underwent a significant transformation, instantly breaking through the bottleneck.
A formidable force, ten times stronger than before, erupted from Long Yi, radiating a terrifying draconic pressure felt by all residents of the Darkness City.
[Abyssal Dragon King: Long Yi] Level 6 monarch unit...
Seeing the current information, Zhang Nu nodded in satisfaction. Long Yi lived up to expectations by breaking through to the Level 6 monarch. Although he, as the Dragon King, had not yet unlocked the potential of a Mythic Dragon, even in this state, he was not to be underestimated. Acquiring the skills of the Dragon Elder and the new talents of the Level 6 Dragon King, coupled with the inherent advantages of his race, Long Yi, in his newly attained Level 6 status, was on par with Duke Bachor, if not superior.
In addition to Nancilia, the Darkness City now had another Level 6 monarch unit. This significant addition substantially increased the strength of the Darkness City. Zhang Nu then subjected Zhang San and Li Si to a super baptism. While unable to achieve a breakthrough, it effectively enhanced their abilities. In the future, advancing along the promotion path through the Demon King's Altar would also reduce the cost.
Upon being upgraded through the Demon King's Altar, Zhang San and Li Si would directly gain mythic-level talents. However, given the high material resources required for this path, the current state of the Darkness City could not afford it, so a breakthrough was temporarily unfeasible. Nevertheless, their current strength was more than sufficient.
Moreover, in the upcoming week, Zhang Nu planned to elevate the remaining Abyssal Dragons, Long Er to Long Shi, to Abyssal Dragon Elders, enabling them to possess the combat power of Level 6 overlords. The cost for upgrading each of them to Dragon Elder was approximately 30 million gold, totaling a staggering 270 million gold coins for all nine. Although the actual cost would be reduced due to their prior exposure to the Demon King's Baptism, it still amounted to around 200 million gold.
This expense was significant for Zhang Nu, but the substantial gains from the operation in the Abyssal Trench and the victory in Tien City made it manageable, albeit challenging. After this round of upgrades, the high-end combat capabilities of the Darkness City would undergo a qualitative improvement.
In the past period, the Darkness City has conquered one marquis territory, four counties, along with several viscounties, totaling at least twelve imperial provinces and fifty cities, with a population exceeding twelve million.
With so many cities, such a vast population, and such a large area of newly acquired territory, it would take time for the Darkness City to fully digest and integrate its conquests. Conquest was not always better; what matters for the Darkness City was how to gain more benefits. Therefore, Zhang Nu was not in a rush to consume everything at once. While enhancing the strength of the Darkness City, he was simultaneously managing the consolidation of new territories and populations, observing changes on the Imperial side. The grand strategy of attacking the Empire was temporarily put on hold for ten to eight days.
During this period, the acquired gems began to arrive, and the Darkness City could finally construct its first Enigma Tower. For a territory, the Rift Tower is an open-instance and an endless resource production site. Zhang Nu immediately spent gold and materials to summon the Rift Tower.
The residents of the Darkness City felt a strong magical fluctuation, and soon, ten towers emitting a mysterious aura emerged from the forest not far from the Demon King's castle.
Upon seeing the information about the Rift Tower, Zhang Nu was also greatly surprised, finally understanding why the construction cost was so high.
[Rift Tower: The Remnants of the Stars] Level 5 mythic rift...