Chapter 53: You Are Surrounded
Inside the first layer of the Sun Fortress.
Su Xiao closed the mission list. The first ring of his main quest was already completed. This task was particularly simple; as long as he didn’t just lie around doing nothing every day, it would automatically finish after 8 days.
[Main Quest: First Ring (Completed).]
[You have obtained Treeborn Page ×1.]
[You have obtained Space-Time Power (100 ounces).]
[You have obtained 4 True Attribute Points.]
[Main Quest: Second Ring cannot be activated (expected not to activate).]
[At the appropriate time, this main quest will change to a War Mission. Activation time pending.]
[Prerequisites for activating the War Mission: 1. Ensure the current defensive line is not breached, or 2. If the fortress is breached, no party successfully sets a World Coordinate within 5 natural days. Meeting either condition will satisfy the prerequisite for activating the War Mission.]
…
The entry fee Su Xiao paid to enter this world had already been recouped, and he had even earned 4 True Attribute Points. More precisely, the Treeborn Page he obtained was the very same one he had handed over earlier; even the broken edges on the side were identical.
The current situation was simple: hold the fortress. As for when the subsequent mission would activate, Su Xiao had already guessed the gist.
At that moment, the communicator in his pocket rang. He took it out and glanced at it, quickly grasping the situation.
On the other side, Holy Maiden and Orlando had initially believed that the defensive force inside the Sun Fortress was only one person. In their speculation, Su Xiao wasn’t trying to guard the World Core alone but was instead using this opportunity and the terrain to kill more enemy Contractors and rack up battle merits.
The combined number of Contractors sent by Holy Light Paradise and Watchful Paradise into this world totaled over 700, while Apocalypse Paradise had 673. This showed the numerical advantage.
If Reincarnation Paradise were to send troops this time, they’d bring at most 100 people. Death Paradise could send 200 at most, and Sanctuary Paradise would fare slightly better, around 260 to 300 people.
For Su Xiao to face over 700 Eighth Rank Contractors alone would be suicide. So it was only natural for Holy Maiden and Orlando to guess that he was using this chance to kill enemies and earn battle merits.
How did Su Xiao know this intel? He had Light Spark to thank for that. The contract Light Spark signed stipulated that, when Su Xiao needed it, she would provide one piece of critical intelligence.
It wasn’t that Su Xiao didn’t want to use Light Spark more often. As an Eighth Rank healer, she could tolerate doing one thing for Su Xiao, who was on the enemy side. But if the contract required her to act as a permanent mole, Light Spark would immediately turn against him.
How to convey a single piece of intelligence without being forcibly executed was something Light Spark had racked her brains over. If Su Xiao demanded more, she would definitely steel herself and fight him to the death.
Light Spark had successfully conveyed the intelligence. As for the situation on her end, Su Xiao wasn’t sure. In any case, the contract with her was half-dissolved.
As long as the other party didn’t leak information about the contract itself or the signing process, the contract had no other effects. For now, that was the case. As for whether there would be any “aftereffects,” that depended on whether they had the fortune to meet again in another world.
Su Xiao checked the time. The offensive and defensive battle would officially begin in three hours. At that point, the World Core would start forming. After holding out for three days, the World Coordinate would be fully established.
In the 20-plus hours since obtaining the World Core, his own forces had stopped developing, and mining had ceased, all to successfully surround the enemy.
Was this worth it? The answer was yes. Once the battle erupted, reducing the casualties among the Wild Boar Warriors would be equivalent to saving resources. Ultimately, mining the vein resources was meant to develop more Wild Boar Warriors and achieve the goal.
Su Xiao, who had been resting in an iron chair, opened his eyes. He faintly sensed that someone had arrived nearby. However, due to the opponent’s strong stealth ability, he couldn’t pinpoint their location.
Su Xiao wasn’t omnipotent. In terms of perception, he was stronger than Perception-type Contractors at close range. But beyond a perception radius of about ten meters, cough—his perception was… passable.
After sensing for a moment, Su Xiao found that the enemy had already retreated without approaching the fortress. Just then, a notification from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[Notification: Detected that the Hunter has a large number of soldier-type units under his command. Over 98% of these soldier-type units share the same belief.]
[Belief Trait: Sun.]
[Checking whether there is a faction within this world that worships the Sun.]
[Check complete. There is no Sun-worshipping faction within this world. Furthermore, the way your soldier-type units worship the Sun is a unique, heartfelt devotion, distinct from other Sun-system factions.]
[This is a special event. You may choose one of the following rewards.]