Chapter 248 - 151: Sniping the Northern Expedition Legion
One day later, the Teleportation Gate in the White Bone Wilderness closed.
Before the Teleportation Gate closed, all the members of the territory had returned through it.
After searching for a day, they found many territories and their cities near the Teleportation Gate. Unfortunately, they were almost all empty. Most cities were deserted, with only a handful showing any signs of activity.
Furthermore, these cities were very cautious, avoiding any large-scale activities, much like Xiong Liang up on his mountain. It was clear what a shock Mei Yuan’s Northern Expedition Legion had been. Even though the legion had been gone for several days, the inhabitants still didn’t dare to move about freely.
The scouts made inquiries in these cities and confirmed that the territory where the Eye-Pleasing Demon was found was indeed Mei Yuan’s. They also persuaded those lords to pay for Eye Demon removal surgery for any of their heroes who had recently undergone a tier upgrade.
Lin Yu passed all this information to Li Hua, then paid no more attention to the Northern Expedition Legion’s affairs, immersing himself in the arena battles of the Cosmic Arena.
Due to the lack of evidence, Li Hua didn’t directly announce on the world channel that Mei Yuan might be controlled by an Eye Demon. Instead, he spread the rumor through friendly neighboring lords.
Given that many lords were unaware of the symptoms of Eye Demon parasitism, Li Hua thoughtfully disseminated the related research materials he had received from Lin Yu.
...
Yan Yingqiu was an ordinary lord on the plains west of Lin Yu’s territory.
Since she wasn’t on the leaderboards, she had originally planned to just pay a protection fee and stay out of the struggle between the Northern Expedition Legion and the other ranked lords.
But then she heard the news that the Northern Expedition Legion was controlled by Eye Demons. ’This area is pretty much the continent’s Northern Territory,’ she mused. ’And judging by the legion’s speed, they’ll be here by the end of the month.’
’If the Northern Expedition Legion defeats the ranked lords around here, they probably won’t move on.’
’In that case, the Northern Expedition Legion would probably disband right here. If those Eye Demon-controlled soldiers run rampant, won’t my territory be ravaged?’
’Even if the territory is no longer my problem after this stage ends, I can’t just stand by and let them destroy everything I’ve worked so hard to build.’
And so, she quickly contacted Eugene Scott, the lord in charge of assembling the Sniper Corps to counter the Northern Expedition Legion.
Yan Yingqiu (Private Chat): "Lord Eugene, how’s the Sniper Corps coming along?"
Eugene Scott (Private Chat): "All the ranked lords in the area have agreed to join. That’s twelve lords in total, and we’re expecting to gather 600,000 troops."
Eugene Scott (Private Chat): "I reached out to the unranked lords before, and they were hesitant. But lately, many have been contacting me on their own. So far, 42 have confirmed they’ll join, and we’re expecting another 600,000 troops from them."
(There are about 100 lords in the entire Western Plains, so those who’ve confirmed their participation already constitute the vast majority. And that’s not even counting the fact that the ranked lords are far more powerful than the unranked ones.)
Eugene Scott (Private Chat): "So, you’re thinking of joining?"
Yan Yingqiu (Private Chat): "I’ve been considering it. Eugene, what do you think our chances are?"
Yan Yingqiu (Private Chat): "I heard the Northern Expedition Legion has grown even larger. That a bunch of new lords have joined them."
Eugene Scott (Private Chat): "They’re great! Don’t mind their numbers; they’re just a rabble. They might do okay when things are going their way, but the moment they hit a real tough fight or the tide turns, they’ll completely fall apart."
Eugene Scott (Private Chat): "Besides, the quality of our forces is much higher. The Northern Expedition Legion is just relying on having a lot of Excellent Tier heroes. Here on our side, which of the ranked lords *doesn’t* have a few Legendary Tier heroes? And on top of that, it’s rumored that a lord is bringing actual Legendary Heroes and troops of that same tier to the fight."
...
After Eugene Scott finished listing the Sniper Corps’ many advantages, Yan Yingqiu was deeply tempted.
’If a Legendary Hero is anchoring our forces, we might actually win. The tier multiplier for a Legendary Hero is "only" 104x, which might not sound that crazy compared to an Excellent Tier hero’s 1x multiplier. But a Legendary Hero’s growth per level is double that of an Excellent Tier hero, their stats can reach over 200 times that of an Excellent unit of the same level, and their level cap is far higher. Combined with their skill multipliers, they can easily deal a thousand, or even ten thousand, times the damage of an Excellent unit.’
Yan Yingqiu (Private Chat): "Is there really a Legendary Hero on our side?"
Eugene Scott (Private Chat): "I’ve only heard rumors, so believe it or don’t. That’s up to you. Oh, right. The powerhouses Li Hua and Lin Yu are among those who’ve confirmed they’re joining."
Yan Yingqiu was overjoyed when she heard this. She knew of both Li Hua and Lin Yu. One of them had a territory filled with an incredible number of High-tier Heroes. His territory was also very unique—so much so that a group of rich heirs had once tried to force him to sell it. The other was the runner-up in the legion competition, rumored to possess three or four Legendary-tier combat units, making him extremely formidable in large-scale battles.
’With these two powerhouses on our side, we can definitely defeat the Northern Expedition Legion!’
Yan Yingqiu (Private Chat): "I’m in, I’m in, I’M IN!!!"
Eugene Scott (Private Chat): "Alright. How many troops can you commit? How many heroes? And what are their tiers?"
Yan Yingqiu (Private Chat): "I can commit forty thousand troops and thirty heroes. Twenty-five are Excellent Tier and five are Legendary Tier."
Eugene Scott (Private Chat): "Whoa! Pretty strong! How did you not make the leaderboards with a lineup like that?"
Yan Yingqiu (Private Chat): "Sigh! I don’t know! Maybe my territory’s prosperity wasn’t high enough? Or not enough Combat Points? The competition around here is brutal. We have to fight for resources, we even have to fight for mobs!!!"