Chapter 489 - 459 Preparing for Battle
Now Da Fei was just waiting for the Mage City to ship him the goods, and he finally had time to summon the Blood Eagle to do a round of reconnaissance along the coast. Speaking of which, if he had occasionally done some reconnaissance around the area back then, he wouldn’t have ended up in such a predicament today. But sometimes mistakes lead to opportunities; let’s see who eats whom!
The Blood Eagle flew invisibly in the Otherworld, its vision revealing a sea of black, with black mist bubbling and churning. On the tree roots that seemed to touch the sky, countless red dots wandered about. These were tens of thousands of small spiders spinning webs.
Da Fei furrowed his brow. Spider demons again! Spider demons could weave webs that are immune to pollen and swarm magic, making them the ultimate nemesis of Flower Demons! His main force was three thousand Flower Demons. If tens of thousands of spider demons descended from the sky to forcefully siege, it would be a massive threat! It seemed that this battle was more than just pollution management.
Now, the Blood Eagle reached the lakeside. From afar, surely there stood a not-too-high stone wall. Its level was clearly low, but its seemingly endless and imposing aura was indeed impressive! Moreover, the wall was teeming with a massive number of Demon Child Generals, an ocean of fiery red skin. The scale of their low-level soldiers still retained the characteristic of the Demon Race.
Thinking about how magnificent this engineering project would be if he could swallow it whole, Da Fei couldn’t help but feel his heart surge with excitement! But even if he captured it, what would he use to defend it? Ask the Kingdom to send troops? Who would pay for that? This was indeed a problem.
Then Da Fei saw the root of all evil: dozens of sewage outlets spouting torrents at the base of the wall. And standing on that segment of the wall were dozens of players pointing and gesturing, the leader being none other than Lei Huolong, with his blazing fire armor!
Damn! It was indeed Dragon Slayer messing with me! Look at him, so pleased with himself, without a sense of guilt! Damn it!
And just behind that wall section, Da Fei saw a giant spider as large as a car, standing conspicuously in a blood-red aura. It was a hero!
Da Fei’s eyebrow twitched. Wasn’t this the hero he blasted with a round of crossbow cannons back in the Ancient Tree Space? Talk about a narrow path with an old enemy, and he was the NPC commander here? His spider demon army was the main attackers?
At that moment, the Blood Eagle’s screen flashed red!
—System Prompt: Reconnaissance Skill warning! You have entered the Plane Surveillance Magic Eye’s alert range. Approaching further will initiate combat!
Damn! There’s even anti-invisibility magic eyes! This is high-end stuff!
Da Fei immediately controlled the Blood Eagle to retreat, feeling even more shaken. A large guild was worthy indeed, they had quite the resources, even deploying a magic eye; who knew how many powerful troop types they could employ.
Thus, the Blood Eagle had to do a wide loop along the lakeshore. Every section of the wall was heavily guarded by masses of low-level soldiers, each turret housed unidentified high-end demon soldiers, and beyond the walls were densely packed mobile reinforcements, their numbers indiscernible!
As expected of the Demon Race! The scale was always grand, always impressive, this wall wasn’t something he could easily conquer with just a few vines and three thousand Flower Demons, only—
After the initial shock, Da Fei suddenly thought of a question: Are you attacking or defending?
I get it! This is called using defense as offense! A war of attrition, assuming pollution could force my hand, causing the Pool of Radiance to crumble without attack. But what if pollution fails to defeat me? Then I exhaust you instead!
In ancient wars, there were often jokes like these: hundreds of thousands of troops besieged a city of ten thousand, surrounding it for days without capture, ending up retreating due to lack of supplies because logistics weren’t advanced then, and a protracted front meant no food supplies.
And in this game, to make warfare realistic, they had also set rations for expeditionary forces, consuming one unit of water and food for a level-one soldier per day, with high-level soldiers consuming even more resources. The consumption of tens of thousands of enemy troops daily would be astronomical! Moreover, the Demon Race loved warfare; their soldiers were like the capital in a capitalist’s hands, needing constant operation and battles. If they couldn’t succeed after prolonged assault, it would wear down their patience and morale. After all, the Demon Race’s aim is the Star Sea, with many important strategic goals awaiting them!
Ultimately, the most reliable and stable strategy for this battle was an attrition war!
As for this wall, even if taken, I had no troops to defend it. If I didn’t take it, I exhausted you! If I did, you exhausted me! So, the wall, I wasn’t in a hurry. My goal was to stabilize the situation to prevent the battle from occurring, but if you insisted, then I had no objections.
The main issue now was figuring out how to deal with those giant spiders that posed the greatest threat.
Da Fei recalled the reconnaissance eagle and asked the military advisor behind him, "The Demon Race’s spider demons are weaving webs on the roots of trees above. Do we have any effective response plans?"
The military advisor solemnly said, "This must be the spider demons laying the groundwork for a larger force of giant spider demons. After all, large spider demons can’t walk upside down on cliffs; once the webs become thick and sturdy, our city’s situation will be precarious. Ordinarily, we should request reinforcements from the Kingdom, but—"
At this point, the military advisor frowned, saying, "But because of this incident, the Kingdom’s military department is very doubtful and dissatisfied with Lord City Lord. Applying for reinforcements will hugely lower your evaluation, seen as a sign of no confidence and no capability, which will severely disadvantage you. Hence, I suggest we rely on our strength to get through this. Do you have any more Holy Vine Seeds? If we plant more seeds in the city and coordinate with the Flower Demon Army, we should be able to resist the spider demon army’s attack."
Da Fei felt incredibly frustrated! So now even calling for reinforcements wasn’t convenient? Would the Kingdom even partner with me?
The military advisor continued, "However, the prerequisite for the spider demons’ attack should be whether their pollution tactics are effective. If we break their pollution strategies, the spider demons can’t be supported by other units, potentially making them hesitant to attack solo; therefore, I believe the key is quickly managing the pollution."
Da Fei heaved a long sigh of relief, presumably so. His Holy Vine Seeds were so precious that he was counting on them to take territory in New Oriental. But better plant a few as a gesture, just in case.
Wait, why plant anew? The Holy Vine had transplantation special skills! The Demon Race didn’t have ships or siege capabilities, so there was no need for Holy Vines on the outer walls; they should be transplanted inside the city. Besides, the Holy Vines on the walls had absorbed so much dark energy and had grown thicker, much stronger than the newly sprouted ones inside the city.
Wrong! Why was I in a hurry? Let the Holy Vines at the wall grow fatter in Black Water before transplantation; that’d be more lethal!
Wait! Still wrong! Transplantation requires a God-level vine gardener! Only Tamilia can transplant them! But Tamilia and the Holy Vine Heart fused and disappeared; who knew when she would reappear?
Da Fei furrowed his brow. Guess I’ll head to the Flying to see how the fusion was going.
Da Fei walked to the dock, and by then, the Flying had turned entirely black, but below the ship was a pool of clear water, not a trace of black pollutants present, not even the white color of the previous Pool of Radiance!
Da Fei’s eyelid twitched in astonishment, damn, this Holy Vine Heart could consume both light and dark energies! Nice! Not picky, I like it, grow quickly!
Da Fei hurriedly checked the attributes of the Flying:
Vessel Name: Flying (Quest reward bound, player cannot trade)
Ship Level: Level 3.
Captain: Da Fei
Vessel Special Skill: Divine’s Blessing (Crew Luck +2), Ship of Misfortune (Both sides’ luck -3)
Vessel Model: Large four-mast, three-deck high-speed sailing ship.
Ship Cargo Capacity: 500 units (temporarily unavailable)
Ship Gun Cabin: 32 gun positions (16 on port, 16 on starboard)
Minimum sailor capacity: 30
Ship Durability: 13740/13740
Ship Speed: 12
Ship Armor Defense: Port 166, Starboard 166, Bow 141, Stern 140.
Ship Room Configuration: 1 Cockpit, 1 Captain’s Room...
Ship Auxiliary Equipment: White Shark Ship’s Figurehead, Space Transfer Array, Wind Energy Magic Sail, 4 Landing Crafts.
Sea God Insurance Level: 0 (Ship not under Sea God’s protection, permanent sinking if disaster strikes)
Ship Current Status: Evolving.
....
Durability 13740!!!
Da Fei was overjoyed! When I planted the seeds before, it was just over 3800; the ship recovered 10,000 durability in less than half a month in the game! At this rate, I don’t even need to wait for the World Tree to awaken; the ship could resurrect with just the Holy Vine! Oh, and it seems the armor defense increased by a few points too!
And just then, 13740 turned into 13741! Da Fei’s eyebrow twitched; damn, it increased durability right under my eyes! Hahaha! This water is nutritious; I like it!
As he laughed wildly, Deirdre came out to greet him, presenting a serious expression rather than her usual charming smile, saying, "Master’s back. The demon army’s advance must not be underestimated, and we must deal with it with all our might!"
Da Fei’s eyebrow twitched; that’s right! She was once part of the Demon Race and understood their tactics better. I should ask her!
Da Fei quickly asked, "What plan do you have?"
Deirdre took out a piece of paper and said seriously, "Master, I ascended to become an Artillery Master some time ago but haven’t had a chance to use my skills in actual combat. I can’t miss this opportunity. This is my alchemical procurement order. It allows us to manufacture smoke bombs, incendiary bombs, and poison gas bombs. With these special shells, our ship’s cannons could deal devastating blows to the encroaching enemy!"
Da Fei took the order, feeling a jolt. True, her Artillery Master was a hidden hero, with Professional Skills to create fancy shells like these. They must not go unused! Besides, she was in the gun cabin—the safest spot with minimal risk of attack—deploying her should be fine.
Alright, this was something that must be dealt with now!
Da Fei pulled out the list and asked the consultants behind him, "Where can I buy these materials?"
The economic consultant took the list, stunned: "Sir, these are... prohibited materials! Normally, they can’t be purchased!"
Damn it! Don’t give me this crap at a crucial moment!
(Seeking monthly votes, recommendation tickets...) (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)