Chapter 93 - 90: Growing through Battle
Chapter 93 -90: Growing through Battle
The watchtower became even busier, with curses and scolding clearly reaching Da Fei hiding in the puddle.
——”Idiots! Who did this! How could the scaffold possibly collapse!”
——”You trash, clean up all the debris within 2 minutes, otherwise you’ll become part of the trash!”
Having succeeded in the first strike, Da Fei dared not make any rash moves, and immediately directed the two Little Charm Emperors to fly high into the sky to a safe spot.
However, as the Little Charm Emperors flew over the top of the tower holding the Flower Demons captive, Da Fei suddenly saw a large golden exclamation mark—a task exclamation mark bursting forth from above the head of a Flower Demon locked in a cage! A Task!
As expected! Just like when he encountered the Captain at the bottom of the sunken ship, players could only see the exclamation mark task hints if they were on the scene in person, reconnaissance and photography were not feasible.
The task goes without saying, it must be to rescue the Flower Demons. Meanwhile, with the extinguishing of the watchtower’s lights, the Magic Array that held these Flower Demons captive also faintly showed signs of disappearing.
Da Fei’s eyebrows twitched—should he rescue them or not? What if they restore the Magic Tower before the battleships arrive? What if my battleship destroys the Magic Tower and crushes these Flower Demons to death? And on top of the tower, the guard force consisted only of four Horned Demon Governors and several dozen Level 0 Demon Infants carrying water, all weak as trash!
To be exact, these could not be considered forces, but mere workers. In normal circumstances, how could a player undertaking this task possibly have flying soldiers to air-drop like Da Fei does? How could normal players possibly bypass all surveillance and sneak directly into the tower to sabotage the watchtower like me? This meant I was doing extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances! If not now, then when?
Da Fei began to quickly calculate the combat power comparison between both sides.
——Horned Demon Governor: Attack 2, Defense 3, Health 13, Damage 1-3, Attack Speed 8, Move Speed 5, Special Skills: Intimidate, Enrage.
This is a standard form of the Hell Race’s Second-level Soldiers, the low-level form of the previously mentioned Hell Elite Second-level Soldier Screaming Jumping Demon with the reputation of mixing into the ranks of higher-tier soldiers due to their higher health and abundance. Of course, compared with the same level 17 HP zombies, these two advantages are again completely overshadowed.
——Demon Infant: Attack 0, Defense 0, Health 2, Damage 0-1, Attack Speed 6, Move Speed 6, Special Skills: Laborer, Mana Collection, Unable to Join Battle.
This is the Hell Race’s peasant, easy to kill, combat power negligible.
As for the Charming Emperor’s attributes: Attack 2, Defense 0, Damage 2-3, Health 5, Attack Speed 8, now under my command, the attributes are:
Attack 21, Defense 1, Damage 3-4, Health 7, Attack Speed 9, Morale 3, Luck 1
(Note: Da Fei is Level 26, 18 Strategic Attack, plus the 5 attribute points from the Navigator, and 7 attribute points from leveling up, a total of 12 Attribute Points still undecided whether to add to Defense or not. Captain’s Sword provides a land-based army boost of Attack, Defense, Damage, Attack Speed +1, the achievement of 100 consecutive victories gives the whole army +2 Health,)
Then, balancing out the Governor’s 3 Defense against the Charming Emperor’s 3 Attack, it’s 18 Attack. Each one point of Attack boosts damage by 5%, which makes it 90%, so 3-4 Damage becomes 5.7-7.6, plus my Master Level Archery’s 50% increase to ranged damage, it’s then 8.5-11.4. With the Governor’s 13 HP, two Banshees can easily kill one Governor with a single shot and even waste damage!
Let’s do it! As long as we succeed, I’ll immediately take these Flower Demons and flee. Even if we fail, we just need to shout for the two Little Charm Emperors to fly away! skillfully using flying stunts is the mark of an expert, and I, am precisely an expert.
Da Fei commanded the two Little Banshees to silently descend near the cage holding the Flower Demon Instructor tasked with the mission, at that moment Da Fei finally saw her name—Flower Demon Instructor!
I see! With barracks and an instructor, this task was definitely about rescuing them back to the barracks within the barrier, then to repair the barracks for development and growth!
Continue to approach!
The Flower Demon Instructor spoke, “You must have been sent by the heroes to rescue me, hero, please save us! Our sisters are enslaved by the Demons, constantly providing energy to weaken the World Tree Barrier, we can’t let the Demons’ schemes succeed!”
——System Prompt: You have received the Epic Quest “Purifying the Pool of Radiance” sub-quest “Rescue Enslaved Flower Demons”!
——Task Hint: The more Flower Demons you rescue, the more it will benefit the completion progress of purifying the Pool of Light. Current number of rescued Flower Demons: 0.
As expected! I easily saw through the game developers’ mannerisms. And once the Flower Demons spoke, it immediately alarmed those four Governors!
——System Prompt: Your Phantom March has been exposed, battle begins!
Then battle it is!
The two Little Charm Emperors waved their little hands, and two Magic Bullets whistled out, -9, -4!
——System Prompt: Your troops have killed a Horned Demon Governor, you gain 11 Experience points, and your underage Charming Emperor has grown!
Growth? Da Fei’s eyelids twitched—do minors really grow up faster on the battlefield? Without further thought, the two Little Charm Emperors fired another shot and took out another Military Governor. The remaining two Military Governors let out a furious roar as the dozens of water-carrying Demon Infants hopped and jumped into the fray to join the encirclement.
Pff, flying + ranged troops, dealing with these slowpokes with only 5 Move Speed, it’s just too easy!
After the two Little Charm Emperors blasted away the third Horned Demon that charged at them, Da Fei immediately made them take flight, flew over the enemies’ heads to the other side of the tower top, and with a raise of their hands, they instantly killed two pitiful Demon Infants with just 2 HP each. You’re all children, you have nothing to complain about, blame the fact that you were behind right from the start.
—System Prompt: Your troops have killed a Demon Infant, you have gained 1 Experience point, and your minor Charm Emperors have grown!
Da Fei’s eyebrows twitched again, it was confirmed. The more they killed, the faster they would grow up! What would they become if they slaughtered these several dozen Demon Infants? How many would they have to kill to mature? If they reached the predicted stature of Level 7 Soldiers upon maturing, wouldn’t this infiltration mission be like the legendary special forces of the Allies? The legendary 007? If so, could he avoid launching a costly siege?
Da Fei’s mind raced, but his actions didn’t stop. Flying back and forth, in just a couple of ups and downs, he annihilated the dozens of Demon Infants. Wahaha! So useful, these special soldiers are too handy! Flying ranged troops, seems like they haven’t appeared anywhere in the game yet, this is simply heaven-defying!
—System Prompt: The battle is over, your troops have re-entered Phantom Marching Form.
—System Prompt: Your Charming Emperor’s Army has used the War Plunder Skill to retrieve a Magic Bottle holding 17 points of Mana from the corpses of the Demon Infants.
—System Prompt: Your Charming Emperor’s Army has used the War Plunder Skill to retrieve a Magic Bottle holding 28 points of Mana from the corpses of the Demon Infants.
—System Prompt: Your Charming Emperor’s Army has used the War Plunder Skill to extract 19 points of Mana from the Magic Bottles of the Demon Infants’ corpses.
—System Prompt: Your Charming Emperor’s Army has used the War Plunder Skill to extract 21 points of Mana from the Magic Bottles of the Demon Infants’ corpses.
Wahaha! This War Plunder really came in handy! Although War Plunder can only rob one item, Magic Bottles are different; you can concentrate the mana from other bottles.
Speaking of which, because of the existence of the Level 0 special soldier Demon Infant, which has a special skill for collecting Mana, one of the biggest advantages of the Hell Race is that they never lack Mana. It’s a pity that players still have problems with Mana before they have a castle and Demon Infants. And the Level 1 Demon Child soldiers of the Hell Race, which are just bigger Demon Infants with plump bodies and a pair of small fleshy wings, are adorable little red Demons with a special skill to steal Magic. Whenever an opposing hero or Magic Species casts a spell, they can steal that Magic and replenish their own heroes or Casting Army. They are truly the strategic force among Level 1 Soldiers, shaming the Second-level Soldiers Horned Demons, and of course, they are the first target of the enemy Commander in a battle.
Da Fei let the two Little Banshees gleefully search the bodies while he eagerly checked the basic attributes of the Charm Emperors.
—Growing Charm Emperor: Attack 4, Defense 1, Damage 3-4, Health 8, Attack Speed 8…
Wahaha! The name changed to “Growing Charm Emperor,” and they gained 2 Attack, 1 Defense, 1 Damage, and 3 Health. That’s on par with Level 1 Soldiers, and their damage is even approaching that of Level 3 Soldiers! So that’s how they grow, by continuously killing enemies!
And at this moment, the light from the Array at the top of the tower disappeared, and all the imprisoned Flower Demons regained their freedom!
—Task Hint: You have rescued 105 Flower Demons! 105 Flower Demons have joined your army and will follow your commands!
—Task Hint: Flower Demons are very fragile, melee combat is not advised.
—System Prompt: Your Flower Demon Army has entered Phantom Marching Form.
Oh yeah! Rescued at last, two pieces of good news!
Just then, the Flower Demon Instructor in the cage shouted, “Hero, quickly take the sisters and escape into the Barrier, don’t worry about me!”
Oh man! There’s one still locked in the cage! Is a key needed? The normal course of the quest must involve attacking up from the bottom of the Watchtower, killing a leader with the key or something, right? Damn, how am I supposed to restore the barracks without the Instructor? I have to rescue the Instructor!
At that moment, another loud shout came from downstairs: “You fools! Hurry up to the rooftop and check—if one slave escapes, I’ll feed your heads to the Three-headed Dog!”
Da Fei was startled—a party was coming from below! It’s a NPC Mage Apprentice, whose combat strength cannot be measured by the data of regular soldiers. Fight or withdraw?
Da Fei quickly opened the attributes of the Flower Demon troop; these Flower Demons, who had just been freed from torture, only had 2-3 points of Mana on average, not even enough to cast a Swarm Disturbance spell. There’s no fight, we have to run!
Wait a minute! Didn’t the Little Banshees just loot a lot of Mana bottles from those Demon Infants? How much was it? 300 points! Using all of it could just allow each Flower Demon to cast a spell!
Wahaha! A normal player without the War Plunder Skill can’t replenish the Flower Demons’ Mana and could only run, but I’m not normal! I choose to fight! With more than a hundred Flower Demons, each casting one spell, are we still afraid of not being able to take down one Apprentice? If we really can’t, it’s not too late to retreat then!
(PS: Thank you for the suggestions from book fans, I have removed the Mana consumption setting from the previous chapter, a spell will use exactly as much Mana as it should. Of course, it does not affect the plot. Regarding the setting of the whole army sharing damage for Destruction Magic, it mainly differs in online games compared to single-player games. Even in single-player, there’s a shameless H&R tactic in Heroic Might, where a dungeon hero with very high Magic Attack brings a few troops and charges to use one, or even two, lightning strikes to kill the opponent’s most valuable dozen or so ranged troops, then flee or fight to death happily. After two or three back-and-forths like this, the opponent runs out of soldiers, which is the so-called wolf pack tactic. If online games were like this, then it would be unplayable for players leading troops, and National Wars would be impossible to fight.
Happy holidays to everyone, and I’m looking for all kinds of votes!)