Volume 6: Fighting for the World Chapter 293 Artifact Crisis
Khufu and Jefferson's soul energy has been lost by more than half in the dual consumption of self-burning and suffering, and has become quite weak. Although the thousand-year-old pharaoh Jefferson is still obviously stronger than Khufu, with the help of the "Soul of the Dead" magic I constantly cast, especially the effect of the "Ten Thousand Years Fire Crystal" that drives the "Pyramid" to speed up the decomposition and digestion, Khufu is struggling hard and has not been knocked down by Jefferson. He can continue to use the "Burning Soul Magic Wand" to fight with Jefferson for a while. Khufu's tenacious performance obviously exceeded Jefferson's expectations. No matter how he intensified his offensive, he could not completely defeat Khufu, and had to continue to stalemate. In particular, he paid more and more attention to the small ball of fiery red light that appeared above Khufu's head and was covered by the "pyramid". It catalyzed the decomposition of the "Ten Thousand Years Fire Crystal". His expression and eyes showed surprise and confusion from time to time, as if he could no longer see through Khufu's strength, and his previous confidence in victory had been shaken.
The wavering of confidence will inevitably lead to the weakening of fighting spirit, which will in turn affect the tenacity of mental resistance. I changed tactics in time, gave up using "Soul of the Dead" to heal the damage suffered by Khufu's soul, and began to frequently cast "Intermediate Puppetry" magic to affect Jefferson's attack. The effect was indeed much stronger than before, which brought greater trouble to Jefferson. Every stagnation or deviation from the correct attack line would make its attack fail, and it would suffer damage from Khufu instead. The advantage it had was weakened little by little by the repeated attacks of the staff, making it increasingly unlikely to win. At one point, the situation would be reversed, and it would have to be defeated by Khufu's fire bone staff, become a dependent, and forever lose the qualification to compete for the Pharaoh.
Perhaps he was aware of his bad situation and foresaw the possible tragic ending. After a moment of fear and hesitation, Jefferson's expression gradually revealed a look of determination. His eyes were filled with hatred as he looked at Khufu. He suddenly let out a series of low roars and rushed towards Khufu's fire bone staff without any intention of dodging or avoiding. At the same time, he swung his staff directly, gave up defense, and devoted himself to attacking. It was obvious that he was going to trade injuries for injuries and fight with Khufu. Judging from his crazy posture, he must be really determined to fight to the death with Khufu.
At this time, Jefferson's remaining soul energy was still slightly stronger, and it was not time to confront it head-on, so he hurriedly instructed Khufu to dodge as much as he could. But Jefferson pushed too hard, not letting up a step, and not leaving any room for maneuver. He had to force Khufu to fight him head-on. Many times, if Khufu was forced to dodge, it would be equivalent to giving up his attack, and it would be easy for Jefferson to get more chances to hit him, causing greater damage to himself, and the consequences would be more serious. It seems that Jefferson has made up his mind and implemented the most resolute plan, using his remaining strength to attack with the "Soul Burning Wand". Even if he cannot defeat Khufu, he must make his soul suffer more serious damage, at least unable to rest during the one-month challenge protection period, so that Kurt Haber or Vilenzov can take advantage of it. He is determined not to let Khufu, his great enemy, get what he wants and become the Pharaoh smoothly.
Jefferson's physical condition and combat experience are better than Khufu's. Once it attacks desperately, it will be more powerful. It is difficult to get rid of its close entanglement smoothly. It is always under the threat of its bone staff. Blindly dodging is too passive and will pay a greater price. Khufu can only deal with it head-on, using the staff back and forth. While being hit by the staff, he tries his best to cause more damage to Jefferson. I did not take a defensive position to reduce the damage suffered by Khufu with the "Soul of the Dead", but used the "Intermediate Puppetry" magic to contain Jefferson's actions and make Khufu's attack more efficient. Facing Jefferson's crazy counterattack, I have no better choice. I have to fight Jefferson to the end to see whether its more powerful thousand-year-old pharaoh soul and high-level "Burning Spirit Wand" skill are more powerful, or whether the combined effect of Khufu's and my "Intermediate Puppetry" magic, "Burning Spirit Wand" skill and "Ten Thousand Years Fire Crystal" can be better.
The attack was not long. The more fierce the attack, the more the staff hit, the greater the loss of soul energy. After a frenzy, the battle finally died down and the final winner was decided. Lying motionless on the ground like a dead body was Jefferson. He had used up the last bit of soul energy and kept his last breath under the protection of the challenge rules. He was not in danger of death, but suffered a serious soul trauma and lost the ability to fight again. He was no longer the top pharaoh who was once so powerful and glorious. He also lost the "burning soul magic wand" skill that only the pharaoh who had never been defeated and maintained independence and freedom could comprehend. He completely lost the qualification to compete for the pharaoh and became Khufu's dependent. Of course, Khufu also paid a huge price. In addition to winning the final victory, his condition was not much better. His body, which barely managed to stand, was shaky and could fall at any time. His soul was severely traumatized. At the last moment, he even lost the ability to activate the "pyramid" to speed up the decomposition of the "ten thousand year fire crystal". He could only fall back into his stomach and spontaneously release a little bit of fire energy, which made Khufu's situation even worse. The situation was so critical that I almost thought I couldn't hold on any longer. I was almost scared to death.
Although they have won the challenge and defeated Jefferson, the biggest obstacle, the prospects are not optimistic. The key is that Khufu's soul has been severely injured and he lacks relevant experience. It is unknown how long it will take for him to recover. If he cannot recover within the one-month protection period, Kurt Haber and Vilenzov will definitely not give up the opportunity that Jefferson has fought for them, and will definitely take the opportunity to challenge him. Their strength is only slightly inferior to Jefferson, and they are also not easy to deal with. Even if they absorb 10% of Jefferson's "pyramid" energy, they are seriously injured and have no ability to absorb and transform it for a while. At that time, it will definitely be two hard battles, and they may not necessarily win.
In the following days, he stayed by Khufu's side all the time, constantly casting the "Soul of the Dead" magic to speed up the repair of its soul, until it was able to activate the "Pyramid" again to refine the "Ten Thousand Years Fire Crystal" and speed up the release of fire attribute energy, and then he was able to breathe a sigh of relief. However, it is still impossible to judge the recovery of its injuries, and I don't know whether it can be healed within a month. I can only do my best to try to restore it to a better state. And Kurt Haber, who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, had already applied for a challenge to Khufu early, and he would start to accept its challenge as soon as the challenge protection period was over. Although the situation was dangerous, it also contained opportunities. As long as Khufu could successfully survive this most difficult stage, recover in time, and defeat the challenges of the three giants one by one, there would be a smooth road ahead. The remaining four great pharaohs were not a problem at all, and it was easy to subdue them and successfully ascend to the throne of Pharaoh.
In the human world these days, due to the destruction of the Huadu Mercenary Group, led by Vice Senate President Hua Mantian, although the surface remained relatively calm for the time being, the Church of Light did not immediately launch any large-scale retaliatory actions. However, the currents were surging in secret, and it seemed that a bigger storm was brewing, and some of the impacts and consequences on the relevant situation were gradually emerging at different levels. For our United Alliance and the resistance alliance, it can be said that the expected goal has been initially achieved. As for whether it can be fully accomplished, it depends on the reaction and response of the Church of Light and Hua Mantian in the next period of time, which can also determine our next stage of targeted action plan.
As we expected before the war, the destruction of the Huadu Mercenary Group was a heavy blow to Hua Mantian. The development of the situation, especially the time limit of the remaining game of "Tianxia", made it impossible for him to make a comeback, rebuild Huadu, and become one of the powerful forces in "Tianxia" - even if he could win the quota of another mercenary group in the Eastern Continent, he could only be promoted to a medium-sized mercenary group of 1,000 people at most, and he would definitely have no chance of becoming a large mercenary group of 10,000 people. According to the latest news, Hua Mantian has no intention of struggling in vain to try to re-establish the Huadu Mercenary Group. He has publicly announced at the general meeting of all members in Huadu that he has given up his efforts in this regard. In other words, the Huadu Mercenary Group, for which he has devoted so much effort, will become a history and will no longer appear in "Tianxia". However, this does not mean that Hua Mantian is willing to fade out and completely accept that he may fail in "Tianxia". He still hopes that he can regain his glory and change another way to strive for Huadu to be reborn - he planned a new plan to merge Huadu with Yamato Spirit's Never-Setting Sun Mercenary Group and "list through a backdoor listing". Mobilize the idle forces of Huadu, join hands with Never-Setting Sun, and try to win a "Prince Order" to help Never-Setting Sun quickly advance to become the third super mercenary group of 30,000 people in "Tianxia" after Longteng of Longxing Tianxia and Wuwei Warrior's Wuwei. The merged super mercenary group was renamed "Never-Setting Huadu", with Yamato Spirit and Hua Mantian as the two leaders with equal power. Using such a roundabout way to strive for better results, not only can Huadu be reborn, but also further expand its own power. The help it can bring to itself and the impact it produces should be greater than that of Huadu, a single large mercenary group of 10,000 people.
This is really a brilliant plan that kills two birds with one stone. It immediately made Afeng and Xue Wuxia, who had just been happy for a few days, nervous again. If Hua Mantian really succeeds in his plan and merges with the Never-Setting Sun to become a super mercenary group, the momentum will rise again, and the series of suppressions we have carried out against him before will be in vain. This is definitely not the outcome we want to see. For now, in order to destroy Hua Mantian's plan and prevent his re-emergence, he must not be allowed to obtain the "Prince Order". Without this necessary prop, the Never-Setting Sun cannot be upgraded to a super mercenary group of 30,000 people, and it is impossible to merge with Huadu. Hua Mantian can only join the Never-Setting Sun or other mercenary groups in his personal name, and he can no longer have his own power, and it is definitely impossible for him to have a bright "political future". The mercenary guild of "Tianxia" has always announced an open task to obtain the "Prince Order", which has attracted many large mercenary groups to undertake and try to complete it. However, the difficulty of the task is too high. It is necessary to pass several levels in a row within the specified time and obtain the required task items. As long as one level is stuck, it is equivalent to giving up all the previous efforts and there is no hope of completing it. For this, a high fee must be paid. Once failed, it is a situation of losing all the money, which makes the general large mercenary groups unable to try to complete it continuously. Until now, only the Fearless Warrior, who is the chairman of the Neutral Alliance Joint Conference, has successfully completed it once with his Fearless Mercenary Group and obtained the "Prince Order", helping Fearless upgrade to a super mercenary group of 30,000 people. There is no second success. Our Tongxin League once transferred the "Prince Order" to Long Xing Tianxia, and we have no ambition to dominate "Tianxia", so we naturally don't have too strong a desire to become a super mercenary group. After trying to complete it once and spending a lot of gold coins but failing, we never tried to get it again. However, Hua Mantian wants to get the "Prince Order" and make a comeback, but Afeng and Xue Wuxia cannot allow it. This is a public task that can be undertaken by multiple people at the same time. Whoever completes it first can get the "Prince Order" reward, and then it will take some time for the system to launch a new public task to obtain the "Prince Order". We don't have the ability to complete this task before Hua Mantian, and that is the dumbest way to do it. It is said that it is easy to break a dream but difficult to complete it. Anyway, our Tongxin League has no intention of getting involved in the "Prince Order", so we decided to secretly sabotage the actions of the Sun Never Sets and the Flower City, and try our best to prevent them from completing the task. We must not let them obtain the "Prince Order" and have the opportunity to upgrade and merge into a super mercenary group. This can be said to be Hua Mantian's last chance. If his hope is shattered, he will not be able to do anything big anymore. Let his dream of "the Flower City that Never Falls" go to hell. The Flower City is destined to wither forever in "The World" and there will never be a day when spring flowers bloom again.
Of course, the negative impact of Huadu's destruction on Hua Mantian was obvious. There was also something that Afeng and Xue Wuxia had been looking forward to, something worth celebrating. At the regular meeting of the Guangming Senate held on May 15, Hua Mantian lost the solid backing of Huadu, which greatly damaged his power and reputation. He could no longer keep his position as the Vice President of the Guangming Senate, which had already been strongly impacted and somewhat shaken. On the one hand, another influential job-changing player, the Peacekeeper from the Southern Continent, took the opportunity to attack. On the other hand, his former ally Real Madrid also abandoned him, ostensibly maintaining neutrality, but actually leaning towards the Peacekeeper, making him even weaker and finally fell from power. He lost the position of Vice President of the Guangming Senate, which he had almost always held, and was replaced by his rival, the Peacekeeper. Hua Mantian, who was no longer the leader of Huadu, was now just an ordinary senator in the Light Senate, and his status had declined a lot. If he was not still one of the most outstanding representatives among the players who changed their jobs to the Light, and if he also held a Light Artifact "War Angel Helmet", it was estimated that it would be difficult for him to keep his position as a Light Senator. Winning the "Prince Order" and merging with the Sun Never Sets to form a super mercenary group was his only hope to regain his lost status. Otherwise, at most, he could only participate in the final battle between the Light and Dark camps as a top Light player who held an artifact and was promoted to the tenth-level Light Knight profession. Even if the Church of Light won the final victory, he would not be able to gain much benefit from it that was equal to his efforts.
The Church of Light suffered a heavy blow and lost a powerful minion in the Eastern Continent, making the situation quite unfavorable for them. It is difficult for them to directly have a greater impact on the power structure of the Eastern Continent. Basically, just like the Northern Continent that they voluntarily gave up, it is impossible to organize an effective resistance action, and there is no sufficient strength to stop our resistance alliance from destroying the Cathedral of Light in the main city. It will enable us to solve the problems of the Northern and Eastern Continents as soon as possible, freeing up our hands to focus on competing with the Church of Light in the Southern Continent, which will shorten the time they have to expand their power and reduce their reputation. Quite a number of players are no longer optimistic about them - in the latest opinion poll of "Tian Media", the "expected winning rate" of the Church of Light fell below 50% after reaching 61%, setting a new low since the start of the "Southern Expedition". Another most direct change is that the attitude of the Neutral Alliance towards our resistance alliance has suddenly become more positive. Although they are unwilling to turn to support us, more and more high-level or powerful figures of the Neutral Alliance, especially those with power in the Northern Continent and the Eastern Continent, have promised to remain neutral as much as possible, not to provide convenience to the Church of Light, and not to get involved in the disputes between our two camps. Obviously, they have also lost confidence in the Church of Light. They do not think that after they have consolidated their power in the Southern Continent, they still have the opportunity to counterattack the Northern Continent or even the Eastern Continent. In order to ensure that their respective interests are not damaged, they have extended olive branches to us or made secret gestures to us. At least they dare not continue to maintain a tough attitude and openly offend our resistance alliance. This makes Qingwu Feiyang and Romantic Sakura, who are responsible for the public relations work of the Northern Continent, feel much more comfortable and their work efficiency has improved a lot. When holding regular meetings, they no longer have to complain at length, but report more on their work progress and the gratifying results they have achieved. With the cooperation of these neutral forces, our resistance alliance only needs to focus on dealing with the Church of Light, and no longer has to worry too much about the attitudes of those neutral forces. This will also be more conducive to our actions in the northern continent and possible subsequent actions in the eastern continent, speeding up the process of destroying those cathedrals of light and saving a lot of trouble.
With its reputation damaged, it must find a way to improve it as soon as possible. The most direct way is naturally to start a war and use another key or significant victory to severely dampen the spirit of our resistance alliance in order to restore its influence. The Church of Light suffered such a big loss, which not only caused the balance of light and dark forces in the Eastern Continent to be lost, but also led to personnel turmoil in the upper echelons of the Senate of Light. The position of the Vice President of the Senate of Light also changed, and the powerful figure Hua Mantian retired to the second line. These internal changes will directly affect the efficiency of their ongoing "Southern Expedition". The comments from the outside world, including "Tian Media", are mostly negative about the Church of Light, believing that our resistance alliance has turned the situation around and even got the upper hand, and the situation is quite unfavorable for them. The Church of Light would certainly not accept defeat. After a short period of silence and after resolving internal personnel issues and replacing Hua Mantian with the Peace Guard as Vice President of the Senate of Light, it quickly began to act, carrying out large-scale personnel mobilizations and gathering in the Southern Continent. It had already issued a war mobilization order internally, and although there was no clear target of attack, it was definitely planning some large-scale action.
All of this is within our expectations. The Church of Light's revenge will definitely be launched in the southern continent. The most valuable target of attack, in addition to the two main cities under the control of our resistance alliance, is the Sun Mercenary Group of the Dark Vice President Desert Eagle, and Sun is the most likely. Once Sun is destroyed by the Church of Light, the impact on our resistance alliance will be absolutely disastrous. It will cause the dark forces in the southern continent to suffer a heavy blow and be dominated by the light forces. It will be extremely unfavorable for our future march into the southern continent. Therefore, we must not allow any mistakes. This is also a basic premise for the dark council of the southern continent headed by Desert Eagle to agree to support the "Northern Raiders" operation. The resistance alliance has also issued an emergency mobilization order, and all combat teams have entered a state of combat readiness. As long as the Church of Light launches an attack on the Sun Mercenary Group or the two main cities under our control, there will be no room for circling. We must reinforce with all our strength and confront the Church of Light head-on in advance to ensure that the goal is not lost.
The Dark Council suddenly called an emergency meeting. Because I entered the "Dead Space" through the "Dead Gate", there was no limit on the resurrection time. When I returned to the human world and learned the news, it was too late. When I hurriedly summoned the "Mind Castle" to enter, the meeting had already begun, and other dark council members were freely discussing what had happened. The content of the meeting was not what I expected. The Church of Light finally launched a revenge operation in the southern continent, but the target they chose was beyond our expectations. It was not Jiaoyang or the two main cities under our control, but the connected Undead Forest and Dark Demon Forest.
The Undead Forest is a distant memory. If it hadn't been mentioned, I would have almost forgotten its existence. It is not the power of our players, but the promotion place for our Undead Wizards before the fifth level. In addition to a large number of undead creatures living in it, there is also an undead hut, where a ninth-level Undead Holy Mage NPC is stationed, who is responsible for promoting low-level Undead Wizards. The Dark Magic Forest, which is just next to the Undead Forest, is the promotion place for Magic Knights below the fifth level. There is also a ninth-level Holy Magic Knight NPC stationed there. This is the inherent regional setting of the system. It exists in the east, south, and north continents. The Church of Light chose the Undead Forest and Dark Magic Forest in the southern continent as the target of attack. It is obvious that it wants to kill the two ninth-level NPCs stationed there as revenge for our resistance alliance.
At this stage when our players have all been promoted to the ninth level, the status of the ninth level NPC has become very low. For example, when we attacked the Cathedral of Light, we killed hundreds of them each time. Even if it was the top elite ninth level NPC, the death of one should not be a big deal. In a one-on-one decisive battle under normal circumstances, many top players could kill them. However, the targets that are worthy of the Church of Light's large-scale deployment as a means of revenge against us are definitely not the kind of low-level goods that will not matter if a few are killed. On the one hand, their identities, after all, are NPCs responsible for job transfer, and have a greater impact. Once the Undead Forest and the Dark Magic Forest are razed to the ground, if the two ninth-level NPCs stationed there are killed, it will directly affect the job transfer of those low-level undead wizards and magic knights who entered the game late or played the game intermittently, and then affect the reputation of our resistance alliance, especially the Dark Council. If the situation is serious and there are many players complaining, they will also encounter certain system penalties. To restore the old look and rebuild the Forest of the Dead and the Dark Forest, it would take some of the power of the old man and Lucifer, which would affect their strength. Of course, this is a later story. After all, it is now the late stage of Tianxia, and there are very few low-level players. Maybe the situation is not that serious, and there are other ways to save it afterwards. What is more troublesome is that the two level nine NPCs stationed in the Forest of the Dead and the Dark Forest are not ordinary people, and each of them holds a divine weapon. If the two NPCs responsible for promotion are killed, the two dark divine weapons will fall into the hands of the Church of Light, which will have a great impact.
