Four Split Personalities

At this moment, in the entire Southern Territory, aside from a few deliberately avoided or left-behind mutant groups, practically all the monsters had been lured to the north bank of a tributary of the Jin Hui River. Without a doubt, Cordova and Xia Lian had created a miracle. They managed to traverse most monsters’ hatred ranges with their formidable strength and extremely precise positioning. Of course, in this process, the custom-made "Strong Concentrated Vitality Powder" from Luna, the observers hidden in various high-risk areas, and the action routes which Motan had repeatedly verified and finalized played a crucial role. The most critical point, however, was whether the two baits could successfully complete the guiding task, or to be precise, whether they could complete the guidance within the allotted time.

This task was exceedingly more difficult than confronting the mutant army head-on because Xia Lian and Cordova could not stray far from the precarious Twin Cities during this period, meaning they had no opportunity to rehearse or familiarize themselves with the terrain. They had only a nearly error-free map to rely on, which had been hastily sent over by the main forces after they’d finished collecting the primary locations of the mutant groups. Despite the routes and reference points on it being extremely clear and explicit, the tremendous pressure of undertaking a critical mission for the entire plan on their first foray, without the prior ground reconnaissance, and the risk of jeopardizing everything should even a slight mishap occur, goes without saying. Cui Xiaoyu hasn’t been able to eat since noon today (in real time), spending nearly half a day hunched over the computer memorizing the map.

Truth be told, it was also due to both individuals’ decent sense of direction; if it were Motan who had to carry out the task of luring the enemy, well, then Misha County might indeed have been safe—although neighboring regions like Skalan Duchy, City of Freedom, Fire Claw Territory, or the southern part of Holy Land might have suffered instead~

Returning to the point...

Aside from the issue of familiarity with the terrain, Xia Lian and Cordova also had to ensure that they did not miss any mutant groups of over a hundred in size, which was also an exceptionally arduous mission. Especially under the circumstances where every second counted and they couldn’t afford to stop even for a moment, even with the ’Taunting Halo’ created by the Vitality Powder, it wasn’t anywhere near easy. Going too fast risked losing the farthest mutants from their influence, while moving too slow not only made it easy to be caught but also delayed completion of the first phase, imposing huge risks on those holding the bridge. Thus, the two of them had to not only maintain the mutants’ ’hatred’ towards them but also sometimes adapt on-the-fly to fly this unprecedented large-scale kite successfully.

Luckily, Motan draw on the prior collective insights into the mutants’ behavioral patterns, and his route map, which had been revised and recreated multiple times, included numerous overlapping movements designed to reinforce this ’hatred’. Otherwise, no matter how talented Cordova and Xia Lian were, it would have been impossible to make frequent and significant adaptations while also controlling the speed, ensuring the route, and maintaining the effects of the Vitality Powder.

In summary, regarding the results, both of them did well, not letting any large group of mutants break away from control and managing to return to the bridge within the allotted thirty minutes.

However, there were some unexpected incidents. Despite Cordova leveraging the unique advantages of his Rune Creations to secure the Vitality Powder firmly in place, Xia Lian’s Divine Arts malfunctioned. Had she not taken drastic measures to address the issue, the situation could have been dire, with nearly a thousand mutants failing to be led to the predetermined location, and it would have been a struggle to find any survivors left on the bridge in front of Ebien City...

But Xia Lian ultimately made it back within the assigned time, not only re-attracting the vast number of mutants that had broken away due to the earlier error but even managed to return to the bridge half a minute earlier than Cordova, having executed the plan flawlessly!

"Fall back to the city."

Her Highness the Saintess descended steadily in front of the forty-something survivors. Xia Lian compressed her left hand, and a dazzling cross of Holy Light, like a promptly slammed gate, appeared behind her, instantly halting the monsters’ fearless onslaught. She reduced the hundred-or-so mutants in the forefront to clusters of golden flames that dissipated, leaving not a single trace of impurity behind.

"May the Goddess bless Her Highness the Saintess."

The survivors didn’t hesitate; they had completed their mission and clearly understood that staying there would only be a burden to Her Highness the Saintess. Besides, life was something that could be gambled with, but not many would choose to waste it, so they saluted Xia Lian in a rather disorganized fashion and left as quickly as possible.

The reason for ’as quickly as possible’ was that these people were already at their limits. It was only after seeing Xia Lian return that they remembered they were probably supposed to have collapsed by now, and then, truly, they could no longer hold on...

An orc who had been robustly invoking blessings for Her Highness the Saintess just a few seconds before turned to leave, took two steps, and collapsed to the ground, silent.

Undoubtedly, he was dead, completely and utterly, and even Xia Lian now couldn’t save him.