Chapter 454 - 37: Taking the Initiative to Attack (2)

Chapter 454: Chapter 37: Taking the Initiative to Attack (2)

Diados: "Hmph, how could Prince Clara have such a disappointing son like you!!"

Keze: "Cousin Diados, if you get some better technology at the Lord Competition, you won’t forget about loyal subordinates like us, right?"

Diados: "If you’re so loyal, then you should hurry up and clear out the Slime Monsters from your territory and come help us deal with the rebels."

Keze: "Your Highness, I really can’t. All the soldiers in my territory have been killed by these Slime Monsters."

Keze: "But I’m personally quite safe for now, so there’s no need for you to send reinforcements. I’ll just manage on my own!"

Keze: "Oh, right! I noticed in the channel that everyone complaining about Slime Monster sieges is one of us nobles."

Keze: "Could it be those rebels are behind this!"

Sankrug: "It’s very likely. See, we really do need to wipe them out to create a stable environment. If they can’t win a fair fight, they resort to underhanded tactics."

Kazaria: "We’re not taking the blame for this. Our lords in the south are also being besieged."

Kazaria: "If you ask me, for these Slime Monsters to act in such a coordinated fashion, someone has to be commanding them."

Kazaria: "You’d be better off investigating who’s pulling the strings behind these Slime Monsters!"

Keze: "Yes, yes, hurry up and investigate! Tell whoever’s behind this to let me out. While the Slime Monsters are kind of fun, my territory can’t do anything now except act as their feeding trough. Nothing else can get done."

Behind the scenes of the chat channel, Kazaria rolled his eyes when he saw Keze’s message. ’That Keze is just too cunning. By saying this now, he can plausibly deny everything even if the investigation eventually points to him.’

’But what exactly is the faction behind Keze and Al trying to do?’

’If they wanted to conquer territory, the best time to strike would have been when the fighting between us and the nobles was at its most intense.’

’But instead, these Slime Monsters waited until our fighting had died down a bit before suddenly launching their attack.’

...

Kazaria thought for a long time but still couldn’t figure out the logic behind Lin Yu launching the Slime Monster siege.

However, he didn’t want to say anything more in the chat channel. Based on what he knew now, that third-party faction was already very powerful. Since they were stirring up trouble in the south, he would just avoid a direct confrontation. He decided to have the Civilian Lords abandon their southern territories and shift their main forces in other directions.

In the chat channel, thanks to Keze muddying the waters, the matter of finding the faction behind the Slime Monsters ultimately fizzled out.

The lords in the south couldn’t spare the time or troops to investigate. Meanwhile, the lords in other regions were wary of the Civilian Lords’ presence and didn’t dare send their own armies south to help.

...

Under the large-scale assault of the Bee Swarm Gluttonous Slimes, the southern lords—both noble and civilian—pulled their forces back to their territories to focus entirely on defense.

Even with the enhanced power Lin Yu had given the slimes, the lords were no longer completely helpless when facing their Telekinesis.

But this was exactly what Lin Yu wanted. He hadn’t sent the Slimes out to conquer territory, but to make the war even more intense.

However, the lords who had pledged allegiance to him didn’t all see it that way.

[We All Have a Bright Future]

Al: "The Lord already made his position clear in the previous meeting. With us as a buffer zone, the main territory will no longer expand its own borders."

Al: "Any territory the Slimes conquer from now on will be destroyed, and their Free Territory Hearts will be used to upgrade the level of the main territory’s Heart."

Al: "Territory that *we* conquer can be allocated to us as our own."

Keze: "I feel like, even if we conquer territory and it’s given to us, what’s the point?"

Keze: "We’ve already thrown our lot in with the Lord. As long as he advances, we’ll advance with him. What are we going to do with more territory?"

Al: "Lord Keze, we’re not like you. Your family has no need to climb higher, and you’re perfectly content just feeding Slimes."

Al: "We ordinary nobles need to redeem technology and Extraordinary Items to strengthen our families’ power and foundations."

Al: "Even though we aren’t independent lords anymore and can’t earn points when this stage concludes..."

Al: "...we can still earn battle merits for the main territory and use them to redeem its technology and Extraordinary Items."

Keze: "Speaking of which, how advanced is the main territory’s technology anyway? I’ve only visited once."

Keze: "Al, you’ve spent more time in the main territory than the rest of us. What do you know?"

Al: "I don’t know that much either. I only know that the territory’s technology is incredibly profound, not much inferior to the tech on our homeworld."

Al: "The main territory has..."

Al described what he had briefly witnessed in the main territory, filling the other lords who had never been to the World Tree Territory with a sense of yearning.

In the end, after some discussion, everyone except Keze—who planned to stay put and peacefully feed his Slimes—decided to attack the other lords’ territories after the Slimes had worn down some of their forces.

And so, a few days later, a group of southern lords erupted in curses in the Titan Race’s chat channel.

...: "Help! Someone launched a sneak attack on me while I was locked in a brutal fight with the Slime Monsters! My city is about to fall!"

...: "My city has already fallen. Can anyone take me in?" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

Kaku Dang: "Dammit, what kind of lord attacks me right after I finish a battle with the Slime Monsters?"

Kaku Dang: "@Kazaria, if you’re going to play dirty like this, don’t blame us for kicking you when you’re down the next time you’re fighting the Slime Monsters."

Kazaria: "Don’t blame us! It couldn’t have been us!"

Kaku Dang: "If it wasn’t you, was it one of us Noble Lords? Sneaking around without even flying a banner. That’s exactly the kind of despicable tactic I’d expect from you commoners."

Kazaria: "If they didn’t dare fly a banner, it was definitely one of your own nobles who did it."

Kazaria: "We have no reason to hide our banners these days."

Kaku Dang: "Bullshit! When you ambushed me before, you didn’t fly a banner either! You even tried to frame lords from other countries for it, tricking me into fighting several wars with them."

Kaku Dang: "I’m not falling for that again!"

Kazaria: "You fucking idiot. You were brainless enough to get tricked before, and you’re still just as brainless now!"

Kazaria: "You know what? It’s because of nobles like you that we started this revolution in the first place! If we could just live a decent life, who would choose to risk their neck every day?"

Kaku Dang: "You dare curse me? Just you wait!"

Kazaria: "Dammit! Scum!"

...

Although Kaku Dang’s cursing was ugly, the other lords who were attacked began to figure things out. These opportunistic armies probably weren’t sent by the rebels, but by some unknown nobles.

Judging by their secretive behavior, they clearly didn’t want anyone to know their origins.

However, looking at the chat channel, it seemed like every lord in the south was crying about being attacked. Surely, some of them were faking it.

That being the case, they would just have to repel these sneaky bastards first and investigate their origins later.

They believed that with their Temple Guards, as long as they were careful, they could definitely send these armies home in defeat.

But dreams are beautiful, and reality is harsh.

The Titan Race lords who served Lin Yu had been planning this for a long time; of course they wouldn’t be repelled so easily.

They knew the drawbacks of building a Divine Hall and recruiting Temple Guards. Therefore, aside from Al, who had initially built a Divine Hall in his territory to advertise and sell the blueprints, none of the others had built one.

In fact, after selling all the Divine Hall blueprints, Al had also dismantled the one in his own territory.

However, not having Temple Guards didn’t mean they lacked other legendary-grade units.

After requesting support from the main territory, they received a new unit dispatched from it—a fleet of Anti-gravity Bombers.