Chapter 68: Divine Assistance from the Vassal Teammates
On the battlefield where the smoke of gunpowder had yet to dissipate, the Wild Boar Warriors and Dwarf Pigmen were cleaning up the battlefield. The enemy's weapons were good stuff, usable by their own side directly. The combat suits were even better; though their own side couldn't use them, they could be sold to the Human Race side.
Regarding the combat suits of the vassal soldiers, the Human Race had been coveting them for quite some time. Just the metal fibers that possessed the texture and softness of cloth alone had considerable value.
Beyond that, the officers' weapons were also valuable. As for the remaining spoils, whoever found them got to keep them.
As soon as Su Xiao gave this order, some injured Wild Boar Warriors braved their wounds to gather the spoils. These were Wild Boar Warriors who already had wives; they had begun to develop concepts like private property and family.
Su Xiao walked across the battlefield. Suddenly, he saw a red glow flashing within a pile of corpses. Approaching, he found a Scarlet Card beneath the heap formed by the bodies of vassal soldiers and Wild Boar Warriors.
An enemy contractor had died in this battle. With the fighting that chaotic, even if contractors wanted to retreat, they had to do so with the main force. Joining one side's camp in such a large-scale battle came with many benefits.
As a cost, for example, if a contractor from the Apocalypse Paradise side joined the Vassal Alliance and participated in the battle as part of that faction, and then fled before the fight, only to be caught by the military police, they would be investigated by the Tribunal later.
Continuing to participate in the war would be impossible. Ultimately, because they didn't fight, their war mission would fail. If they were judged as cowardly desertion, they would face forced execution by the Apocalypse Paradise.
As a contractor of the Apocalypse Paradise, failing a war mission wouldn't result in death. However, if they didn't participate, or if they ran away before the battle started when facing a huge disadvantage, that was cowardly desertion, and they would be forcibly executed.
This was why, even though the contractors of the Apocalypse Paradise were terrified of the madmen from the Reincarnation Paradise, they still had to fight every time they encountered them. Becoming a contractor in the Apocalypse Paradise meant that losing a fight at most resulted in punishment, but fleeing without a fight meant certain death.
Su Xiao pulled the Scarlet Card from the corpse pile, wiped the bloodstains clean, and stored it in his storage space.
After walking forward a bit more, he saw a slender figure in a white robe, bent over. Looking closely, it turned out to be the High Priestess kneeling on the ground, her hands clasped together and pressed to the earth, her forehead touching her thumbs, which gave the impression of a bent posture.
"Lord, will the Sun truly favor us? I hear the dead wailing; they resent you."
The High Priestess's voice was sorrowful, even a bit choked.
"You mean the enemies have turned into vengeful spirits after death?"
"Yes."
"You can see them?"
"No, but I can hear their voices, and they can hear my call."
The High Priestess's expression grew even sadder.
"Is that so? Good. Then tell them for me to come find me soon. I've been short on experimental materials lately."
"Huh?"
The High Priestess's voice was thick with confusion. She couldn't connect vengeful spirits with experimental materials.
"Your name is..." Su Xiao thought for a moment, then said, "Octavia."
"Yes, Lord, I am Octavia. Thank you for remembering my name."
"Octavia, actually, there are two ways to use Sun Maidens."
"Use..."
High Priestess Octavia carefully savored these two words.
"You should know that the Holy Nest was created by me. Regarding Sun Maidens, if they are unwilling to go to the battlefield, just pierce their fifth vertebra with a 'Bone Needle,' then put them in a vertical cage. They can then be used as healing pillars. However, there is a cost. Piercing the fifth vertebra with a 'Bone Needle' will paralyze the central nervous system."
Su Xiao gently placed his hand on High Priestess Octavia's head. Octavia had smooth, golden hair. Her golden-white pupils were a transformation she underwent after becoming a Sun Maiden.
"Octavia, would you rather be loaded into a vertical cage and carried onto the battlefield, or walk onto it yourself?"
"I... I prefer to walk onto it myself."
As High Priestess Octavia spoke, the hand hidden beneath her sleeve trembled slightly.
"Then, can you still hear the voices of the dead now?"
"No... I cannot."
High Priestess Octavia lowered her head completely.
"Stop listening to the words of the dead so much. Listen too much, and perhaps your own death day will come. Don't you agree?"
"I... I understand. The Lord is right. We are favored by the Sun. Praise the Sun."
High Priestess Octavia nodded repeatedly. Seeing this, Su Xiao stood up and walked towards the other side of the battlefield. Behind a nearby pile of corpses, the Five Fireball Brothers were hiding.
"Should we burn that woman?"
"Do it!"
"Wait! The Lord didn't order it. Are we really going to do it?"
"So many of our kin died this time, and instead of doing the post-battle tally, she's over there praying. Who is she putting on a show for? And she says she can hear the words of vengeful spirits? I'll hear her 'Pu Luo Pi' (Pu Luo Pi: a local curse word). Brothers, let's kill her. If the Lord blames us later, I'll take the fall."
"Last time, when we snuck out to find Mr. Caesar, Fourth Brother said you'd take the fall too. When the Lord ordered an investigation, you were the first to run. I was hung in front of the fortress and beaten half to death, while all of you ran off."
"The Lord is looking this way. Smile, quick, all of you smile. The Lord seems to be in a bad mood. If He takes a dislike to us, we'll be in trouble again. That last matter isn't settled yet."
The Five Wild Boar Brothers all put on smiles, looking particularly stiff, like simpletons.
Seeing this, Su Xiao paused in his steps. The hearts of the Five Wild Boar Brothers all skipped a beat. The youngest, Fifth Brother, trembled, remembering the time Su Xiao ordered Amu to hang him up and whip him. He had cried that time.
"You five, come here."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, the Five Wild Boar Brothers immediately stood in a line. The tallest, Fifth Brother, was shoved to the front, moving forward quickly in a foot-braking posture, pushed by his four older brothers, leaving two furrows in the ground behind him.
"L-L-L-L-L-Lord... M-M-M-Master..."
Fifth Brother was a stutterer to begin with. Facing Su Xiao, whom he feared the most, he stuttered so badly he couldn't even speak properly.
"You five go to Warehouse No. 2. Use the teleportation array there to go to the Human Race side. For this business deal with the Humans, you five go find Azba. He'll tell you what to do next."
After Su Xiao finished speaking, Baha tossed out a bag of Living Ore, about 10 kilograms. This was for the Five Wild Boar Brothers' expenses once they reached the Human Race side.
Upon hearing they were going on a paid business trip and to find Azba, Fifth Brother stopped stuttering, and Fourth Brother's cross-eyed gaze even straightened out a bit.
Ever since these five guys last contacted the slave trader Azba and he took them to a brothel, the Five Wild Boar Brothers had opened the door to a new world.
In the past two days, Su Xiao had contacted Azba several times. That guy, upon arriving at his new territory, the Human city, had gone missing the very night, presumably in a brothel.
If Su Xiao hadn't asked the Human high-level authorities to help search, he would have thought the guy had died in some hotel or sauna.
Seeing the Five Wild Boar Brothers so cheerful, Baha squinted his eyes. Some things Su Xiao, as the Sun Lord, couldn't say, but he could. Baha said:
"If you're not back by dawn tomorrow, I'll have Hausmann perform a permanent removal on you. 'Cut for eternal peace,' understand? It means *snip* and your little brothers are all gone."
As Baha spoke, he made a cutting gesture. The Five Wild Boar Brothers instinctively clamped their legs together, nodding repeatedly, indicating they would be back before dawn.
"Go on."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, the Five Wild Boar Brothers ran off, beaming with joy. Fifth Brother slapped his belly as he ran. They were going to find Azba, and Azba would definitely take them to a brothel. No wonder the five were so happy.
Su Xiao patrolled the battlefield for a while longer. Finding no more Wild Boar Warriors that could be saved, he turned back and entered the main command room on the top floor of the fortress.
Sitting on the sofa, Su Xiao checked the fortress data. The data was as follows:
Name: Sun Fortress (Living Entity).
Level: T0 (Unbreakable Fortress).
Living Energy Reserve: 95,380 points.
Total Population: 318,085.
Wild Boar Chieftain: 1 (Hausmann).
Wild Boar Great Headmen: 2 (Steel Fang, Gluttony).
Wild Boar Mages: 5 (Five Wild Boar Brothers).
Wild Boar Headmen: 34.
Heavy Tanks: 12.
Sun Maidens: 1.
Wild Boar Warriors: 231,800 (Core Combat Power).
Dwarf Pigmen: 53,370.
Females: 32,860.
After this battle, the forces that had been stockpiled for a long time were severely depleted. However, there was also a benefit: the Vassal Faction would no longer underestimate them. Their next attack would surely be well-prepared.
This had both pros and cons. The downside was that the next battle would be even more brutal. The upside was that after one of the Vassal Faction's elite units, the 'Hammer Unit,' was crushed this time, would the Vassal Alliance dispatch another ace unit, the 'Heavy Cannon Unit,' along with other slightly lower-tier units, to launch a strong assault on them?
The answer was possible, but the probability was low. Don't forget, the Vassal side was a 'three-party' alliance. The current situation was that the Vassal Alliance would inevitably make the other two factions also send troops to besiege the Sun Fortress.
This was easy to understand. The Vassal Alliance's sentiment was: 'My head is almost smashed in by the Sun Fortress, and you two still want to watch the show?'
The result of this was that the Aurora Council was willing to send troops, but they were too far from the Borderlands, and their other side bordered Human territory. While deploying troops for an expedition, they also had to leave enough forces to defend their home. If the Human side stabbed them in the back, the 'big brother' of the Vassals, the Aurora Council, would be in a terrible state.
The Aurora Council wasn't afraid, but the Watchtowers were. Their attitude was definitely to tell the Vassal Alliance to wait a bit longer until the 'big brother' arrived before attacking the Sun Fortress together.
In this situation, the Vassal Alliance, which had just had a tooth knocked out and was bruised and battered by the Sun Fortress, was full of rage and cursing, but they wouldn't act rashly.
What Su Xiao needed most now was time. In the coming period, it was a race between his development speed and the speed at which the three Vassal factions, united by their shared hatred, could allocate their troops.
War was a competition of efficiency, but the bureaucrats of the three Vassal powers had the least efficiency. No wonder the Vassal soldiers were so fierce, yet still allowed the Human Race to have room to breathe.
This time wouldn't be long. Su Xiao had to hurry up and develop. The fortress's daily output of Living Ore was about 1,000 units. Hunting in the Aberrant Beast territory could yield about 200-300 units of Living Ore. The previous over-hunting had caused a decline in this income.
The 140,000 sets of combat suits just captured were a windfall. They could be sold to the Human Race through the slave trader Azba's channel, and then used to purchase Pig-Headed Men from the Humans to replenish their troops.
As Su Xiao sat on the sofa pondering, a notification from the Void Tree appeared.
[Notification (Void Tree): The first round of war in the Borderlands has subsided.]
[Because your soldier-type units have killed over 10,000 enemies, your exchange level in the Title Shop has reached Lv.2.]
[Because your soldier-type units have killed over 50,000 enemies, your exchange level in the Title Shop has reached Lv.3.]
[Because your soldier-type units have killed over 100,000 enemies, your exchange level in the Title Shop has reached Lv.4.]
[When your Title Shop exchange level increases, the Title Shop will open for you personally for 5 minutes. This time, it will open for 15 minutes.]
[Your exchange level is Lv.4. You can exchange for 1-star to 4-star titles in the Title Shop.]
[You can exchange for the following titles.]