Chapter 43: Contractors on the Verge of a Mental Breakdown
Seeing the content of the achievement task "Supreme Enemy," Su Xiao found himself in a difficult position for a moment. It wasn't about whether to accept it—this task had to be taken.
What made it hard for Su Xiao to decide was whether he should let this task fail or succeed.
The rewards for success needed no elaboration. If it failed, losing 3 points of Luck Attribute would be painful, but losing 5 points of Charm Attribute—that was quite good.
Su Xiao was just worrying about how to drop his Charm Attribute further, and this task was clearly a turning point. He had already prepared a [Exemption Badge], so he wasn't afraid of the penalty if his Charm Attribute fell below 0.
Not only that, he could clearly sense that when his Charm Attribute dropped below 0, his blood energy would fully awaken. This meant he could once again go to the ancient battlefield to enhance his blood energy.
The current issue was that cooperation with Doyin was only temporary. When the Northern Territory was defeated, Su Xiao would inevitably fall out with Doyin. If he hit Doyin too hard at that point, would the reputation there drop to permanent mortal enemy? Causing this task to be accidentally completed.
Setting these aside for now, even if the task was completed, its rewards were equally tempting. After the enhancement level exceeded +12, each level's increase brought massive gains.
"Defton, we can talk now."
Su Xiao looked at the diplomat Defton, who was kneeling on one knee. Defton stood up, straightened his chest, and from now on, he represented King Doyin. There could be no trace of humility or cowardice in his attitude.
"Great Lord Bai Ye, we plan to engage the Northern Territory in battle around the 'Yatade Wall' area in two days. That is the Northern Territory's natural barrier. I heard that Great Lord Bai Ye can destroy that heavenly wall..."
Defton's words were cut off halfway as Su Xiao raised his hand to stop him.
"We'll discuss these matters later. The main battlefield is still in the Western Territory."
Su Xiao was preparing to reclaim his territory. The larger the territory, the higher the reward for the second ring of the main mission.
"Before I came, the King had already ordered that once this negotiation is concluded, Doyin will immediately withdraw its forces from the main battlefield in the Western Territory. All 17 of our fortresses in the Western Territory will be handed over to the Chaos Legion. The fortresses only need to be remodeled to become large cities, which can solve your side's civilian migration problem."
Diplomat Defton had long been prepared. Now that it was his turn to take the stage, he was practically unstoppable. However, half an hour later, when Defton was already a bit parched, Su Xiao still hadn't said a single word.
In Baha's words, it was just silently watching Defton show off. If he got thirsty, there was still black tea—the ones Doyin had sent over yesterday.
Through negotiations between Baha and Defton, a cooperation was finally reached, with the entire Western Territory belonging to Su Xiao.
During the cooperation period, the Doyin Empire would be the main force, responsible for confronting the Northern Territory's main army head-on. The Wolf Cavalry Legion would invade the Northern Territory, capturing several key locations there. Most importantly, they would cut off the Northern Territory's rear supply lines.
This would sever the retreat path of the Northern Territory's main force. If the Northern Territory's main army went without supplies for just 3 to 5 days, problems would arise. The number of soldiers was too massive, and the war had started hastily, so supplies had to be sent in batches.
Sending the Wolf Cavalry Legion deep into enemy territory—the risks they faced were self-evident. It seemed very treacherous, but Doyin wouldn't make idiotic demands. Accompanying the Wolf Cavalry Legion deep into enemy territory was an elite Doyin Imperial cavalry regiment, numbering 620,000.
To get the Wolf Cavalry Legion to participate in the war, Doyin was truly going all out, even dispatching the Holy Emblem Knight Order. According to Su Xiao's knowledge, the total establishment of the Holy Emblem Knight Order was 620,000 soldiers. Doyin had two most elite forces, and the Holy Emblem Knight Order was one of them.
With the speed of the Wolf Cavalry, Su Xiao wasn't worried about being surrounded by the enemy deep in the Northern Territory. When fighting the Northern Territory, he wouldn't go all out like he did against the Elf race.
As for the Void Tree fruit, Su Xiao certainly wouldn't fully believe the Elf Queen's words. He first needed to confirm whether the Void Tree fruit was in the hands of the Extreme Ice Lord. If not, it must be with Doyin—a simple process of elimination.
If he still couldn't find it, Su Xiao would use the [Navigation Compass]. The [Navigation Compass] was too precious, and in terms of finding items, this thing was irreplaceable.
Besides searching for the Void Tree fruit, there was another matter worth noting. Su Xiao had crushed the Elf race but hadn't seen any contractors on that side. The reason was that the Elf race was very exclusive, making joining extremely difficult.
As for the Chaos Legion, they accepted anyone who came, but unfortunately, no contractors joined. After all, no one wanted to get beaten up. Apart from the Wolf Cavalry Legion, the other troops of the Chaos Legion were constantly getting beaten.
This resulted in all 526 contractors joining either Doyin or the Northern Territory. Now that the two sides had fallen out, the contractors' feelings couldn't be described with just a single "WTF."
Back when the Six-Race Alliance was fighting the Chaos Legion, the contractors were happily racking up battle merits, killing some Grey Orcs.
Now that Doyin and the Northern Territory were at war, everything had changed. The world difficulty instantly reached nightmare level—the kind that made even Apocalypse's miners cry out loud. They were happily mining in the Northern Territory when suddenly war broke out.
A gentle breeze blew. Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the stone platform at the upper level of the Elf Palace. In the past few days, he had been quite idle. The Wolf Cavalry was managed by Baha, while the migration of his own civilians was handled by the old Serpentman.
When there were still 5 days left in the second ring of the main mission, the Wolf Cavalry's weapons, armor, and saddle gear were all completed.
There were many rivers in the Aier Great Forest, so the Wolf Cavalry soldiers often bathed when idle. Coupled with the newly issued weapons, armor, and saddle gear this morning, the appearance of the 600,000 Wolf Cavalry soldiers was completely renewed.
Thanks to good food, the Wolf Cavalry soldiers had grown a bit sturdier. Their sharp gazes were forged through countless fortress battles—from the Western Territory to the Southern Territory, then to the Northern Territory, and back to the Southern Territory. Fighting all the way through, many Wolf Cavalry soldiers had died, but those who survived were all elites.
There were no replacement Wolf Cavalry soldiers left. The 600,000 Wolf Cavalry were all the troops Su Xiao possessed. As for the 370,000 Grey Orc troops in the Western Territory, they couldn't be moved for now.
Yesterday, Doyin and the Northern Territory officially went to war. Su Xiao couldn't see how the battle was going, but he could see the wailing and howling in the World Contact Platform. At this moment, in the World Contact Platform:
Biting Cat (Holy Light Paradise): "Gulu, I was wrong. Please, please, please stop chasing me. Three days already. Don't you want to earn battle merits? Do you have a hole in your head? Weren't you trying to take the top spot on the battle merit leaderboard?"
Gulu (Reincarnation Paradise): "Are you... mocking me?"
Moguni (Apocalypse Paradise): "The top spot already has 3.7 million battle merits. I'm very curious—did he flatten the Elf race to get so many battle merits?"
Dragon Skeleton (Apocalypse Paradise): "To be honest, I participated in a battle merit leaderboard once. The top spot back then ended with 15,690 battle merits. In this round, that wouldn't even make the top five."
Wild Sea (Watchful Paradise): "Gray Gentleman's battle merits haven't changed recently. Still 290,000. He gave up. Keep it up, Moon Apostle. Overtake the top spot."
Moon Apostle (Apocalypse Paradise): "???"
Gray Gentleman (Reincarnation Paradise): "Moon Apostle, I wish you success."
Moon Apostle (Apocalypse Paradise): "????????"
...
Su Xiao closed the World Contact Platform. Compared to yesterday's wailing and howling, the situation in the World Contact Platform today was much better.
Su Xiao stood on the city wall, looking down at the 600,000 Wolf Cavalry soldiers below. It was time to head to the Northern Territory battlefield and "greet" the contractors there. Lately, Gulu had been a bit too reckless again.