Chapter 798 - 793: War Mission: Raid on the Shadow Island Chain
"Which part of the Shadow Island Chain do you plan to attack?"
Beiming Jihu remained expressionless, although his heart was already in turmoil.
The Shadow Island Chain is the largest chain of islands in the Eternal Night Dark Sea and is considered the Core Area of the Black Emperor’s power.
Profound Water Palace, Yellow Springs Belt, Ox Demon Mountain, Spider Demon Cave, Tide Demon Pool...
Many important strongholds are located within the Shadow Island Chain!
You could say that attacking the Shadow Island Chain is like grabbing the Black Emperor by the balls; attacking any part of it would make the Black Emperor go wild.
"Of course, it will be the Profound Water Palace." Bai Pu said with a smile, "In the Corruption Forest, we attacked the Palace of Roots; in the Eternal Night Dark Sea, naturally, we should target the Profound Water Palace!"
Even Beiming Jihu, who had profound Qi cultivation, couldn’t help but change his expression.
"Let me remind you, the Palace of Roots is just one of the three palaces of the Corruption Forest, which also includes the Palace of Leaves and the Palace of Flowers! However, the Profound Water Palace is the only Royal Palace of the Eternal Night Dark Sea, and its importance is more than three times that of the Palace of Roots!"
Beiming Jihu said coldly, "When you attacked the Palace of Roots, you only encountered two or three Guardian Demon Generals. If you want to attack the Profound Water Palace... you might encounter more than ten Demon Generals, along with countless elite demons in assault."
Bai Pu chuckled, "You’re talking about the worst-case scenario. From the moment the Black Emperor learns about our movements and begins to deploy troops, it will take time, right? The Guardian Demon Generals from various areas will need time to gather at the Profound Water Palace, right? Our advantage lies in concentrating superior forces, supplemented by the high-speed surprise attack of arrow boats! We will strike the Profound Water Palace and retreat before the Demon Army can encircle us."
"This is too risky. We have quite a number of Wild Warriors under our command; who can guarantee their absolute loyalty? If any information leaks, the Black Emperor’s army will be lying in wait at the Profound Water Palace. The consequences would be disastrous!" Beiming Jihu said in a deep voice.
"So even the great Lord Beiming Jihu knows that Wild Warriors are not to be trusted. Well, it’s simple then, just give them a false strategic target, right?"
Bai Pu’s finger gently slid upward along the map, finally landing on a demon stronghold in the northern segment of the Shadow Island Chain.
"We’ll target this place, the ’Spider Demon Cave,’ on the surface. It is the hatching ground of the Swamp Demon Spiders under the Black Emperor’s command.
If there is a traitor among the Wild Warriors, and the Black Emperor knows our target is the Spider Demon Cave, he will only gather heavy troops to the north to protect the Spider Demon Cave! Meanwhile, we can take multiple arrow boats and head straight for the Profound Water Palace in the middle of the chain!
If there are no traitors among the Wild Warriors, so much the better; we’ll proceed with a normal operation to surprise the Profound Water Palace, and the demons under the Black Emperor won’t have time to gather."
Beiming Jihu squinted his eyes in thought and finally nodded.
He felt the pressure too.
The Four Great Oaths are both allies and secretly competing.
The Vermilion Bird Oath Expedition Team, part of the easy-win group, is systematically exterminating demons in the Red Annihilation River with unopposed success.
The White Tiger Oath Expedition Team has been active in the western "Obsidian Plain" of the Underworld, and it is said that the Patriarch, Xiyuan Zhang, is capturing and training neutral Demon Lords of the Underworld, accumulating great results in combat power.
The Cyan Dragon Oath Expedition Team has also accomplished significant feats in the Corruption Forest, launching a surprise attack on the Palace of Roots, destroying the Emperor Qing’s Barrier...
As for the Black Tortoise Oath...
They have been doing minor actions on the outskirts of the Eternal Night Dark Sea; what does that count as?
Beiming Jihu, the mighty King of the North, doesn’t care about his reputation?
Beiming Jihu had no choice; the Northern Underground World is the Eternal Night Dark Sea, after all.
Within the Eternal Night Dark Sea, the range of action for the Expedition Team was greatly limited, and most of the demons possessed Water Talent, moving freely within the Dark Sea.
If Beiming Jihu acted carelessly, the Turtle Ship might be surrounded by demons any day, with no escape!
It’s essential to know that the underground world is the main stage for demons, where they have the advantage in both top-level combat strength and overall force intensity.
Now, Bai Pu presented such a feasible plan, allowing Beiming Jihu the opportunity to prove that the Black Tortoise Oath Expedition Team is not just sitting around doing nothing.
After Beiming Jihu agreed, Bai Pu received a notification message.
[Side Task: Assault on the Shadow Island Chain Initiated.]
[Task Objective: Launch a surprise attack on the Shadow Island Chain under the Black Emperor’s command, causing significant damage.]
[Task Difficulty: Unknown]
[Task Deadline: None (equivalent to your remaining stay in this world)]
[Task Reward: Unknown]
[Failure Penalty: Decreased favorability with Beiming Jihu]
Bai Pu felt assured.
The task difficulty being unknown suggests it’s related to the location choice of the assault on the Shadow Island Chain. Attacking the Profound Water Palace, compared to other strongholds, is undoubtedly of different difficulty.
The task reward being unknown indicates that the reward requires the Awakened to fight for it themselves. Many temporarily triggered side tasks have this feature, which hinges on the Awakened’s negotiation capability.
"Since Lord Beiming Jihu agrees, I would like to borrow an arrow boat to scout for enemy information," Bai Pu seized the opportunity to say. This was his main objective.
"You can just seek out Beiming Chuan and take an arrow boat," Beiming Jihu agreed casually since there were no fewer than ten arrow boats on the Turtle Ship, and they weren’t difficult to make, except that materials were hard to find in the Eternal Night Dark Sea.
...
With Beiming Jihu announcing the matter publicly, the many Awakened on the Turtle Ship received the [Assault on the Shadow Island Chain] war task.
The tasks they received were quite different from Bai Pu’s.
Bai Pu’s task is a "side task," which is not mandatory to participate in, and the reward for completing the task is also floating and unknown, requiring him to obtain it himself.
The other Awakened received a "war task," which is mandatory to participate in, and the rewards for completing the task, such as Merit Points and Spiritual Points, are definite; however, the amount of Merit and Spiritual Points awarded depends on the task completion assessment.
The reason for such a difference is Bai Pu’s high status and position.
He is already part of the decision-making echelon in this war, capable of significantly influencing the choices of the natives, thereby affecting the war’s direction.
Just like in the past in the world of Flesh and Blood Plague: Aberration, where he fought as the Commander of the rebel forces against the Blood Ring Imperial Army. That battle also initiated a war task, and many Awakened matched in, but Bai Pu’s task was different from those Awakened soldiers.
Anyway, once the war task of the assault on the Shadow Island Chain begins, it’s simply impossible to keep it secret from the Awakened.
However, the exact location of the attack on the Shadow Island Chain remained unknown to the Awakened. The important demon strongholds on the Shadow Island Chain were spread out over a dozen locations along the narrow island chain.
The Awakened related to Bai Pu’s team were all excited, praising Bai Pu’s ability to stir things up - the task of assaulting the Shadow Island Chain was clearly a major action initiated by Bai Pu.
On the other hand, reactions from the Star-Picking Tower varied.
"This is an opportunity..."
In the secret chamber, the Dragon King spoke solemnly, "Figuring out the Black Tortoise Oath’s target of attack...we can coordinate with our allies from the Demon Square, to obliterate the Black Tortoise Oath and the Cyan Dragon Oath at once! We might even accomplish a one-time resolution of Gangxin!"