Chapter 22: Reincarnation Paradise Surrenders?
[Announcement: A contractor is now in possession of the World Core.]
[Announcement: The World Core must be delivered to the Ancient Ruins: Babakab within 5 natural days.]
[Announcement: Ancient Ruins: Babakab: Located at the center of Thornbug Star. Upon arrival at the Ancient Ruins: Babakab, the World Core can be placed at a specific location to form a World Coordinate. The World Coordinate must be defended during its formation. If the World Coordinate is successfully established, the defending side will become the victor of the World War.]
[Announcement: Current holder of the World Core: Holy Light Paradise.]
[Tip: The war mission has changed. The Hunter must seize the World Core before the 'World Coordinate' is formed.]
...
This sudden bad news made Su Xiao frown. The World War had only been going on for three days, and the Holy Light Paradise side had already found the World Core.
Just as Su Xiao was about to close the notification, a new one appeared.
[Announcement: A contractor has arrived at the Ancient Ruins: Babakab carrying the World Core.]
[Announcement: All contractors from Reincarnation Paradise, Death Paradise, Apocalypse Paradise, and Holy Light Paradise must arrive at the Ancient Ruins: Babakab within 2 natural days.]
[Announcement: After 2 natural days, the Ancient Ruins: Babakab will be completely sealed. Any contractor located outside the Polar: Hot Rainforest will be subject to the Void Tree's judgment.]
...
Seeing the second round of announcements, Su Xiao sensed something was wrong. The location of the Ancient Ruins: Babakab had been marked by Reincarnation Paradise. Even if Su Xiao set off now, it would take over 25 hours to possibly reach the Ancient Ruins: Babakab.
Currently, the insect race was still in its development stage. The 1307 Demon Beasts played a significant role, but they wouldn't be decisive.
Moreover, the insect nest was immobile. Jila needed the nest's help to precisely control so many insects. This meant that once Su Xiao left, he would have to leave a portion of the Demon Beasts to protect Jila.
Ultimately, it was one against three. Even if the Reincarnation Paradise side was fierce enough, their numbers were limited. The three-Paradise alliance clearly had a division of labor.
Without thinking, Su Xiao knew that the Holy Light Paradise side, with average combat power, must be responsible for thoroughly searching for the World Core. As for the stronger Death Paradise, they would be allying with some totem tribe.
As for Apocalypse Paradise, those guys must be mining. Don't think this is a stupid move. Unless their brains were addled, the resources they mined would definitely be handed over to the Death Paradise side, allowing Death Paradise to quickly rise in status within the totem tribe using these rare resources.
As long as they didn't clash head-on with Reincarnation Paradise, the three-Paradise alliance cooperated very effectively. Each had their strengths.
"I refuse the summons."
Su Xiao, sitting on the insect nest, spoke. He planned to use his Hunter authority to test a certain possibility.
Even before entering the war world, he had been puzzled by a Void Tree announcement:
[Announcement: Verification complete. During the World War, Death Paradise, Holy Light Paradise, and Apocalypse Paradise are not permitted to provide any form of support to their travelers under their jurisdiction. Under special circumstances, Reincarnation Paradise may provide appropriate support to its travelers under its jurisdiction.]
Clearly, the Void Tree was the absolute arbiter. But this three-against-one situation hardly seemed fair. Therefore, Reincarnation Paradise could provide a certain degree of support to its own contractors, or even directly abandon this World War.
[Tip: The Hunter does not have the authority to refuse the summons.]
[Tip: Detected that the Hunter has controlled a small number of insect races in this world. Individual count: 1340. Insect race development status: Good.]
[Checking Hunter's World War record...]
[Check complete. Number of World Wars participated in by the Hunter: 3 (including one as a temporary Arbiter overseeing the battle).]
[The Hunter's World War record is excellent, having played important roles multiple times.]
[Evaluating Hunter's authority...]
[Detected rare title: Old Hunter.]
[Tip: The Hunter will receive a special war mission. This mission is extremely difficult, severely exceeding the Fifth Rank. If this mission is accepted, the Hunter will become the representative of this side. The remaining contractors of this side will return to Reincarnation Paradise with zero rewards.]
[Warning: If this mission fails, the Hunter will be forcibly executed.]
[Tip: If this mission succeeds, the Hunter's merit rewards will be increased by 300%.]
...
Seeing the prompt from Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao decisively accepted the special war mission.
[The Hunter's request to refuse the summons has been approved. Evaluating... Estimated World Coordinate formation time: 12 natural days.]
[Tip: Reincarnation Paradise's special authority has been activated. Void Tree verifying...]
[Verification complete.]
[Announcement: Reincarnation Paradise has completed its support for its travelers under its jurisdiction.]
...
A large number of prompts appeared. Except for the last announcement, all were personal prompts for Su Xiao.
[Reincarnation Paradise Tip: If the enemy successfully forms the World Coordinate after 12 natural days, the special war mission will fail, and the Hunter will be forcibly executed. This forced execution cannot be exempted by any authority.]
[All-war mission locked...]
[Lock complete.]
...
What Su Xiao lacked most was time, and Reincarnation Paradise gave him time. As the price, he had to fight 1 against 910.
Clearly, in Reincarnation Paradise's judgment, sending his own people to the decisive battle had a very low chance of victory. Teleporting them away was damage control, as the cost of cultivating Fifth Rank contractors was not low.
Three Paradises against one was obviously not a fair fight. The Apocalypse Paradise side was an old opponent, nothing special. As for the Holy Light Paradise and Death Paradise sides, they were opportunists. They had probably been beaten by Reincarnation Paradise before, hence their participation in this melee.
The relationship between Paradises was competitive. Although they weren't guided by a certain consciousness and only followed initial protocols, competition was still competition. Once an opportunity arose, the three Paradises would unite against Reincarnation Paradise.
As for why this was the result, it was beyond Su Xiao's current authority to know. If he had the chance to advance to a high rank, he might learn the reason.
Reincarnation Paradise bought Su Xiao time. Su Xiao planned to return a world to Reincarnation Paradise. It was that simple.
[Announcement: Reincarnation Paradise side has abandoned the World Coordinate struggle.]
All contractors received this announcement.
In the Sun Tribe, inside a wooden tent, Akuro, who was disassembling a mechanical arm, was stunned. He had participated in four World Wars, two of which were against the Reincarnation Paradise side. He never expected the Reincarnation Paradise side to back down.
"Boss, the Reincarnation Paradise side chickened out! They gave up!"
A male contractor dressed like a primitive man rushed into the tent. His expression was both excited and uncomfortable. To win, he had sacrificed his dignity.
"I found that previous announcement strange. Now it seems, the so-called support was just to ensure their contractors didn't die. But... since Reincarnation Paradise has surrendered, why haven't we been judged the victors by the Void Tree?"
Akuro looked thoughtful, feeling something was off about this announcement.
"The forced summons have stopped. As long as our people guard the Ancient Ruins, in 12 days, we win. But... which Paradise the World Coordinate belongs to is worth 'discussing'."
The male contractor sitting beside Akuro spoke. Akuro nodded. He had never experienced a situation where one side surrendered in a World War, so he didn't know if this was normal or harbored hidden dangers.
...
Compared to Akuro's side, Twilight and the Witch, located in the Hasalo Tribe, were a bit dumbfounded.
"Um~, did we... give up? Although, we might not have won, it still doesn't feel like Reincarnation Paradise's style."
The Witch spoke slowly and softly. She was about to be teleported out of this world.
"Not fighting anymore? All that ideological work I did on my subordinates for nothing. Some of them were so excited they were about to jump. What kind of members did I recruit? Knowing they might die, they still got that excited."
Although Twilight said this, the corners of her mouth curled up. She was an extremely ferocious woman.
"Nice, talk. You, knowing you might die, weren't you excited to the point of being wet..."
"You crazy woman, you have no right to talk about me."
Twilight interrupted the Witch. To outsiders, Twilight might seem like an utterly insane woman, but in her eyes, the Witch was the real abnormal lunatic.
As they spoke, spatial force enveloped them.
[Announcement: 99% of Reincarnation Paradise's combatants have left this world. Remaining Reincarnation Paradise personnel in this world: 1 person.]
[Reincarnation Paradise side: 1 person.]
[Death Paradise side: 140 people.]
[Holy Light Paradise side: 237 people.]
[Apocalypse Paradise side: 503 people.]
Seeing these prompts, Akuro, far away in the Sun Tribe, stood up. The dozen or so contractors near him all looked at him.
"Not good. Very not good. This remaining guy..."
Akuro reattached his mechanical arm. He now judged that Reincarnation Paradise had used that special authority to cause trouble.
"Insect race. No mistake. This person is developing an insect race. I can't think of any other possibility."
A girl wearing a gold and white priestly robe stood up. She was that super healer.
"He must be eliminated as soon as possible. The insect race, once it develops, is terrifying. Reincarnation Paradise just gave up on the World Coordinate struggle, not this world!"
The healer's voice was gentle, but her words made Akuro's eyelids twitch.