Chapter 44: War of Attrition
Su Xiao described the general situation of the mission within three sentences. The process still had to be followed. As for whether that female contractor could complete the mission, that was her own problem.
Of course, if she felt the mission reward was too low, Su Xiao still had campaign missions at Lv.39 and Lv.40.
"This…"
Mina organized her words in her mind. Although she still maintained a smile on her face, her heart was filled with greetings like MNP and other such phrases.
"Your humble subordinate cannot do this."
Compared to dying during the execution of the mission, Mina felt that admitting defeat now was actually nothing.
"This is a test for you. I have high hopes for you."
Su Xiao waved his hand, signaling Mina to leave. Mina clearly wanted to argue further, but the demon beasts around her gradually became unfriendly.
When Mina left the stone house, her teammates outside had been waiting for a while.
"I feel like this Azure Steel King is… strange."
Mina frowned. She sensed the difference between Su Xiao and the plot characters, but she couldn't quite articulate exactly what was different.
In reality, Su Xiao didn't care whether he was exposed. If these low-to-mid-rank contractors collectively rebelled, that would actually be a decent profit.
What Su Xiao was truly worried about was another matter. The Sun Tribe was doomed to defeat. The nearby Ya Wa Tribe (Poison) and Ha Sa Luo Tribe (Predator) were both becoming restless.
Once these two sides sent reinforcements, it would turn into a war of attrition, and the final outcome would be hard to predict.
…
Frontline Battlefield.
This was a slope with a slight incline, covered in uneven broken stones. Countless bodies lay here. Further up was the most central area of the Sun Tribe, the Blazing Fire Sanctuary.
The Blazing Fire Sanctuary was not a single building; it was a hollowed-out mountain peak. Although the mountain was only over two hundred meters tall, it covered a large area.
Normally, the Sun Tribe's clansmen were forbidden to enter. Today, forced by circumstances, the Sun Tribe had retreated into the Blazing Fire Mountain.
The roar of explosions continued incessantly over Blazing Fire Mountain. The Titan forces were continuously unleashing long-range firepower, and the Mag camp's long-range insect race was doing the same.
If it were a normal mountain, it would have been leveled by now. But Blazing Fire Mountain only had its outer shell blasted away, revealing a layer of black rock.
This rock had a texture similar to ore and had withstood nearly two hours of relentless bombardment. Blue flames almost completely enveloped the entire mountain.
Blazing Fire Mountain had three entrances. Two were on the left side, attacked by the Mag camp.
As for the entrance on the right side, it was the responsibility of the Jila insect race.
This cave entrance was about five meters wide and seven meters high. It seemed spacious, but demon beasts had nearly blocked the cave mouth, surging in wave after wave.
The Sun Warriors inside fought to the death without retreating, turning the decisive battle into a war of attrition.
Su Xiao hadn't expected the Sun Tribe to have such a primitive fortress, but this was just a last-ditch struggle.
Of the Sun Tribe's 120,000 Sun Warriors, only a little over 30,000 remained. Nearly all of the 170,000 ordinary clansmen had died in battle.
The Sun Tribe was trying to fight to the death. They had reached the end of their rope. Of their 400,000 clansmen, half had died in battle. The elderly and children had been sent to the Ya Wa Tribe by Great Chief Gu La Ba.
Don't think this could continue the Sun Tribe. Those elderly and children would gradually be assimilated by the Ya Wa Tribe and become their own people.
The Sun Tribe's Great Chief, Gu La Ba, hadn't left. The four Fire Priests hadn't left either. They wanted to guard the tribe's final glory: Blazing Fire Mountain, the place of the Sun Tribe's origin and also its end.
Su Xiao didn't know the casualties on Mag's side, but his demon beast army had suffered nearly 70,000 losses.
Su Xiao now hoped there were valuable resources inside Blazing Fire Mountain; otherwise, this war would be a loss.
…
Behind the war zone, inside a wooden tent.
Several contractors stood outside the wooden tent, their expressions somewhat dazed. The quartermaster of their own camp was actually a dog. This was a real headache for these charm-type contractors.
At first, someone tried to negotiate with Bubu Wang using bones. The result was that the exchange price increased by 10%, and their charm attributes were ineffective. This was only natural, as Bubu Wang's charm attribute was higher than theirs.
Inside the wooden tent, a few contractors were negotiating with Bubu Wang. Bubu Wang was bored, so it occasionally raised or lowered the prices.
Bubu Wang yawned. After checking the battle merits of a contractor in front of it, it lowered the exchange price by 12%.
Seeing this, the man in armor showed a delighted expression. He nodded politely to Bubu Wang and said, "Thank you. I'm only 57 battle merits short. I thought I'd miss out on this gold-quality equipment."
In reality, there was no need to flatter Bubu Wang. It would adjust prices based on the battle merits the contractors had earned. The more battle merits, the better the contractor's performance in the war, and Bubu would lower the price by 10% to 15%.
If battle merits were low, Bubu Wang would raise the price by about 5% to 10%, encouraging these contractors to participate more actively.
If someone was only a small amount of battle merits away from exchanging for a desired item, Bubu Wang would also lower the price appropriately. After all, these items weren't its own; they were provided by Reincarnation Paradise.
…
Left Entrance of Blazing Fire Mountain.
Wave after wave of elite demon beasts charged inside. Ordinary demon beasts couldn't enter at all; they would die instantly, unable to hold on for even a few seconds.
Over two hundred contractors were gathered near the entrance. The waves of elite demon beasts charging in left them stunned. Those boss-level creatures charged in and died in batches.
No contractor dared to step even one foot into the cave. They might not even get far before being burned to death by the flames spewing from within.
The sky gradually darkened, but the siege continued. The elite demon beasts were far stronger than ordinary ones. They charged in waves, and after ten hours, the Sun Warriors inside the cave could no longer hold them back.
"The line has been breached!"
A contractor standing by the cave entrance peered inside and saw that the demon beasts had already pushed deep into the cave.
"What do we do? This place is basically a volcano spewing fire."
"Going in might mean death, but we're sure to get plenty of benefits."
The contractors discussed among themselves. They were all from the same camp, so there would be no infighting. This wasn't because the contractors from Reincarnation Paradise were particularly united, but because if infighting occurred, the initiator would be forcibly expelled from the insect race camp.
The result was predictable. The surrounding area was full of demon beasts. Once you became an enemy or neutral, you were dead.
"Let's go in! Great fortunes come with great risks."
"Coincidentally, I was thinking the same thing."
Most contractors chose to enter the cave. The inner walls were black and shiny, filled with a pungent, burnt smell. The ground was covered with the ashes of insect corpses burned to cinders.
Ten minutes later, a cacophony of wails and howls came from inside the cave. Dozens of contractors who had entered rushed out. Most of them were covered in burns, and a few had limbs charred to carbon.
"What happened to you guys?"
A female contractor spoke with a smile, a somewhat malicious grin on her face. She had known from the start that this place wouldn't be easy to enter.
"Don't even mention it. A Fire Priest and three Flame Dikas are blocking the way inside. We can't get through."
"Pfft~"
Laughter came from the crowd. The disheveled contractors looked toward the source.
"I feel like we're playing a dungeon. You guys just ran into an elite mob."
A young man laughed. The war wasn't as dangerous as he had imagined. As long as you didn't court death and just picked up benefits behind the demon beasts, it was great. The one thing to remember in this world was not to go head-on; you really couldn't win.
"Elite my ass. Go take a look. That Fire Priest bastard is ridiculously strong. If a Fire Priest is that powerful, then Great Chief Gu La Ba must be off the charts."
The speaker was a slightly plump contractor. He patted the black ash off his clothes. Just moments ago, he had nearly been burned to ashes.
Just as the contractors were discussing how to take down that Fire Priest, a tall figure wearing a mask and with bull-like horns on its head walked through the crowd and headed into the cave.
Crack, crack, crack…
Ice spread, instantly sealing the cave entrance.