"Leave that to me. You’d better reclaim your old base before I solve the problem," he coldly glanced at Yohkel beside him, then took off his dark steel gloves and put them on. The Lizardman bandit leader stood awkwardly silent, knowing that Conrad was on the brink of an anger explosion and a rash move could cost its life. It often dared to oppose him, but now was not the time to press his luck.
Seeing Conrad turn to leave, it stammered, "Sil... Silver Elf?"
"Handle it yourself."
Conrad snorted coldly without looking back; if the Silver Elf really was provoked by this brainless lizard, he had no need to wade into this muddy water. Although the Shepherd Tree Man, as a huge organization, did not necessarily fear the Silver Elf Empire Hayalan — especially since the race had been concealed and forgotten for so long. After all, those sacred warriors mentioned in legends, no one wished to provoke them without reason.
This stupid lizard was just a disposable pawn. Compared to Yohkel’s trouble, Conrad was more worried about explaining the ’sacrifice’ of a Lower Rank Dark Priest. The Black Fire Sect members held a higher status in the Shepherd Tree Man. Though Lord of Gu Worm Mayade was just one of the Twelve Pastors, he was also one of the four major leaders with considerable power.
The deaths of those dozens of High Order Cultists could be covered up — after all, this operation was quite significant, even involving a Duke of the Kingdom. But the loss of a Lower Rank Dark Priest hadn’t happened in the organization for at least ten years. The thought alone gave Conrad a headache.
He lifted his head, his chilling gaze fixing on Brand, Medisha, and Qian. To him, the immediate strategy was to find Duke Lune’s heir and proceed from there.
"Drive these Lizardmen off the central battlefield!" Brand slashed down a Lizardman Warrior and then turned to shout orders to Qian beside him. The red-haired girl nodded, her fiery ponytail swishing as she spun around, swinging her war-hammer back — a bow-shaped lightning arc crackled, sending the Lizardmen retreating. Those who moved too slowly were instantly turned to charred ashes.
"Good job!" the young man praised without hesitation.
Although the Lizardmen were only around Level 20, their large numbers posed a threat. Brand’s own forces, along with Namenis, consisted of only twenty-one Silver Intermediate Elf Guards and seventeen Black Iron Middle Upper mercenaries — facing five to six hundred Lizardmen, not counting Conrad’s over a hundred Dark Mercenaries. If they were to rush all at once, the consequences would be disastrous.
So he had to find a way to diminish the Lizardmen’s attack advantage, infinitely reducing their numerical advantage while enhancing their own strength advantage.
The method was simple — he, Medisha, and Qian had to hold the center of the battlefield firmly.
Brand hadn’t expected that even before explaining his strategy, the red-haired girl seemed to understand his intentions as if they were mind-linked. This tactical insight was not typical of a Mercenary Group. But the praise made Qian turn back and look at him with confusion, "Why praise me?" the red-haired girl asked, "Trying to curry favor?"
"Huh — you did well, isn’t that enough reason?"
Brand caught a Lizardman’s thrusting long spear and swung it back, cutting it down as he panted.
"Whatever." Qian gave him a look and turned back. She once fought for the Gray Wolf Mercenary Group, having no family, and regarded every member as family. She wanted to protect her home, but now it was gone, leaving only hatred. She preferred action to words, a somewhat taciturn girl. She just knew this was the right thing to do — praise was anything but familiar.
All eyes were on Ecco, be it the squad leader or others. Even her.
But Brand’s thoughts were different. He disliked complicating things. He knew Qian now had Gold Level power, with the Gray Wolf Mercenary Group no longer existing, he would be a fool not to recruit her into his ranks. While he held some principles, he wasn’t stubborn.
Coincidentally, both Qian, Medisha, and even himself possessed remote attack skills before mastering the Enlightenment Element, making them terrifyingly effective on the battlefield despite being just Silver, Gold, and Gold strengths. Qian had mastery with Thunder Gun’s resonance, mainly using Thunder Arrow Slash. Medisha, being an Elf Princess, typically only learned basic swordsmanship from the Elf Holy Land, but after becoming a Ghost Knight, she learned Charge, Spirit Gun, and Thousand Army Strike, turning her into a mobile cannon. He was even more formidable; despite being only at Silver Rank, his combat skills alone — Charge, Power Burst, White Crow Swordsmanship, and Frontal Breakthrough — were envy-inducing for any warrior profession.
Not to mention his badge’s Conflict Aura, Wind Queen’s Ring’s Wind Bullet, and Flame Ring’s Fireball Technique. At his level, he couldn’t imagine a better setup. Even top players couldn’t compare in terms of gear and Will restrictions.
With them, their combat force multiplied by hundreds. Fortunately, both Medisha and Qian, despite their prowess, were just naive girls. Brand, once a renowned player recruiter, relished the challenge, finding it easy to sway them into his camp.
More troubling now was Conrad’s unexplained delay. Despite setting up their stance and clear tactical intent, why wasn’t Conrad appearing? The Lizardmen army, pushed to the sides, could be managed by the Silver Elves’ superior strength, with mercenaries rotating to maintain stamina.
Shouldn’t he see through this?
What’s going on? Fınd the newest release on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝔫𝔢𝔱
He looked around, wondering if Conrad had recognized him as not being Ecco and abandoned the fight, or if there was another scheme. He soon found out, as Medisha’s loud warning came from the left flank:
A gust hit from behind.
Damn, the enemy’s underground!
(PS: Continuous effort is exhausting. To thank everyone for their support, I have to write hard.
Messing around with "Prophet Emperor" once or twice is a joke, but daily Book Review Area remarks, is that fun?)(To be continued, for more Chapters, log on to www.qidian.com, support the author and read the genuine version!)