Chapter 513 - 481: Douglas Fragment
(Note: Chapter 479 previously omitted the Cannibalism signature skill of the Suture Monster.)
The flames rose at the entry of the tunnel, thick smoke starting to fill the cells, and the sounds of troop mobilization and shouting from the loudspeakers became more and more urgent.
The count was complete, a total of 1100 prisoners, with 300 injured and weak knights, and 500 armed dwarfs which means those 500 dwarfs were the real fighting force.
Now, everything was ready. Hangeval said solemnly, "Brothers, the forces of the Kingdom will soon be assembled, we must depart now."
Da Fei nodded, "I need 5 particularly capable fighters under my command to lead the charge."
All these prisoners were NPCs, and only NPCs could make up the population of a city. But for player heroes, leading NPCs is a bit troublesome. NPCs can join a player’s team and they also benefit from the player’s attack and defense attributes and hero skills. However, each NPC occupies one tactical position. At level 41, Da Fei has 5 tactical positions, plus one tactical position bonus from being the Chamber of Commerce president, meaning Da Fei could only team up with 6 NPCs. Since Douglas has taken up one, he could only organize 5 more.
This is of course completely different from the feeling of being able to bring hundreds or thousands of troop types from the barracks at any time. However, most NPCs have high combat power and intelligence, and most of the time they do not need players to command them personally, making it quite comfortable to play in the player’s small-scale adventure missions.
Hangeval immediately said to the burly dwarf, "Stok, can you still fight?"
At this moment, the burly dwarf wearing the prison guard armor raised his giant axe and laughed heartily, "Fight! I haven’t had enough fun fighting!"
The scar-faced dwarf also said, "Count me in!"
Three more strapping dwarfs chorused, "Me me me!"
Hangeval nodded, "Brothers, I’m too weak and don’t have the strength to lead everyone anymore. You guys join our hero team and we’ll all depend on you for the breakout!"
"Understood, big bro!"
——System Prompt: Stok, Scarface, Bazaar, Broken Steel Hand, Copper Hammer have joined your team.
Da Fei immediately checked their attributes. Each had an attack and defense around 60, damage at 50, and Life Values around 500—a solid level 7 troop standard! With his own sky-high 100 Attack, 80 Defense, and various S-grade equipment, Divine Artifact bonuses, these 5 NPCs are definitely harvester machines!
Good, what I fear most is to command frail units. I get too busy and can’t manage when there are thousands of troops; isn’t commanding 5 blood bulls manageable? The only flaw is having no healer; now, that’s a real hassle!
Not much else to say, Douglas led the way with the well-equipped thousand-man troop beginning to move towards the lower levels.
The fourth floor was a mess, filled with dead bodies, and all defenses had been wiped out, leaving the entrance to the fifth floor completely open.
Just then, Douglas suddenly slowed down while letting out a muffled groan: "The wheels of history grind to a halt amidst famine!"
Da Fei was taken aback. Famine? He quickly checked Douglas’s condition, his Stamina Value had already turned red! Darn it, why is stamina depleting so fast? But then again, it makes sense, rolling that big mountain of flesh, it would be impossible not to use up stamina.
At the same time, the Cannibalism skill was flickering!
——Cannibalism: The Suture Monster can recover health and stamina by devouring corpses. With Douglas equipped with the Divine Artifact Fragment Core, Douglas can obtain special powers from the corpses through Cannibalism.
Darn it, I always knew why I disliked Undead Creatures so much; it’s this kind of disgusting thing! But the Emperor does not skimp on his soldiers, there are so many monster corpses it would be a waste not to let it feast; let’s see what this Divine Artifact Fragment is all about.
Da Fei opened Douglas’s Equipment Bar and re-equipped it with the Life Core.
At that moment, the mountain of flesh flashed with what, er, a white light, and Douglas began to speak: "Master, Douglas needs to replenish power, and the flesh of the strong is especially needed by Douglas. Please allow Douglas to devour corpses, a stronger Douglas can serve the master better!"
I can hardly refuse such a reason!
Da Fei waved his hand, "Go on then!"
Douglas roared with excitement: "The history books are written with two words – eat people!" After saying that, it pounced onto the huge body of the Crystal Turtle Shell Beast, peeling skin and tearing flesh, chewing sinew and gnawing bones; the scene was too bloody, Da Fei couldn’t bear to watch!
Da Fei started to truly admire the Undead players. It’s said that during the public tests, the top-notch Undead players were mostly real-life doctors, not because they had impressive operations, but because of their brilliant troop development and research. Average players truly couldn’t reach that level of play!
Just then, the dwarfs couldn’t help but gasp in awe. What now?
Da Fei hurriedly looked up and indeed, Douglas was eating meat while the flesh on his own body was rotting, falling to the ground with a sloshing sound, and piling up into a heap of muddy flesh!
Oh my god! What the hell is this? I feel like throwing up!
At this point, Hangeval spoke indifferently: "It is said that the innate nature of dwarves is greedy, and Prince Talberon’s greed is beyond anyone’s imagination. His craving for power, wealth, and authority has reached an insane level! He hoards everything of value or potential value, even meddling in the Divine Domain. The existence of these giant beasts is proof of his madness."
Da Fei was taken aback. Are we telling stories now?
The burly dwarf Stok interrupted: "That’s why the eldest realized the nature of his madness and no longer wanted to work for him."
The scarred dwarf said indignantly: "So the despicable prince used the farewell feast as an excuse to get us all drunk and then locked us up!"
Hangeval gave a wry smile: "I thought I had seen through his nature at the time. I didn’t expect him to have no bottom line. If not for his greed for our hidden treasures and my Hero Power, and since we know many of his secrets, we would have been silenced by him long ago. However, as his patience runs out and my Hero Power is being drained, we are becoming less and less valuable and are nearing death. Thankfully, the hero saved us. Regardless, we will take hold of this last chance and fight to the very end!"
The crowd of dwarves exclaimed passionately: "Yes! We will fight to our last breath!"
Only then did Da Fei suddenly realize, "So you guys were underlings of the eldest prince before?"
Hangeval laughed heartily, pointing at the scattered monster corpses in the field: "These monsters were all captured by us from the New World, from the most dangerous places in the world, and we managed to evade the king’s edict and smuggle them to the eldest prince. Then, once we lost our usefulness, we were captured by the eldest prince, and even helped him achieve the great merit of cracking down on a major smuggling ring! The eldest prince is impressive, right?"
Da Fei couldn’t help but nod dumbly. The eldest prince is so awesome, does the Second Prince even know?
Da Fei quickly asked, "Do you know about the Second Prince?"
"The Second Prince?" The dwarves laughed heartily, "He’s not even a hero. How can he compare to the eldest prince!"
Da Fei was stunned. That’s right, the Second Prince seems to be just an ordinary NPC! Damn, have I sided with the wrong team?
Hangeval chuckled, "However, the Second Prince is good at doing business, and the king also realized that the eldest prince is too greedy, and deliberately transferred some power to the Second Prince as a measure to restrain the eldest prince. I remember that we used to give the Second Prince a lot of trouble."
Da Fei’s eyebrows twitched, "Does the Second Prince have the capital to compete with the eldest prince for the throne?"
Hangeval laughed: "In terms of finances and military power, maybe he’s not too bad. But if it really comes to a fight, the Second Prince is just a ’second-rate.’ Not to mention, the eldest prince has absorbed my Hero Power and must have leveled up by who knows how much! Moreover, within the entire Alliance, there are probably not many heroes who can defeat the eldest prince!"
Holy shit! Not another powerhouse like Makar, right? I hope my opponents are not this frustrating!
Da Fei then asked, "Isn’t the Second Prince in danger?"
Hangeval shook his head, "The old man is still in power, the Lionheart Empire and the Elf Kingdom are watching. If the eldest prince were to seize power by force, even the supportive dwarf public would not back him, for his strength is there for all to see. We dwarves recognize the strong, and given time, it’s only natural for him to ascend to the throne. He has no need to be impulsive."
The dwarves sneered, "Talberon must be hoping every day for the old man to die soon!"
Da Fei nodded thoughtfully. Based on how the system gives out quests, there should be a balance to this kind of succession struggle, right? If the eldest prince is a martial arts master, he must lack both money and soldiers, otherwise, he wouldn’t crave power and wealth so much. So the Second Prince must be a tycoon—no, a royal tycoon! Hanging out with him isn’t completely useless, right? So it means throwing money around in a tavern must be a piece of cake, right?
Excellent, I like it!
While they were talking, Douglas had already devoured the huge Crystal Giant Beast to bits, and it was at this moment that Da Fei suddenly noticed that the newly grown muscles had turtle shells similar to that of the giant beast!
Da Fei’s eyelids twitched in surprise, and he quickly checked its attributes. Sure enough, its Defense incremented by 30 points and its Life by 3000 points! Holy crap, this is too awesome!
Da Fei asked in amazement, "Then you guys know about this Divine Level Fragment of Douglas, right?"
Hangeval spoke solemnly, "We don’t know what it is either. The eldest prince has also obscured the information about this artifact, but I believe, it is a Divine Level Fragment of a deceased Ancient Evil God!"
Da Fei was startled, "Divine Level Fragment? So does that mean this Douglas is actually a god?"
Hangeval spoke gravely, "Perhaps! We risked our lives to collect it from the Ancient God Battlefield in the New World. I lost my good brother permanently in that battle! Since then, I realized the madness of Talberon and no longer served him!"
—System Prompt: You have gained information about the Divine Artifact Fragment of Douglas!
Another piece of information! For a moment, Da Fei sighed in contemplation, unsure of how many troublesome issues awaited him with this fragment. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)