Chapter 318: Playing with Monsters
After the army broke through a small cohort of monsters near the entrance and fully ventured into the underground ruins, they finally got a sense of just how massive this place really was.
It was an incomplete city, but now it was completely overrun by monsters.
Monsters were everywhere, and a rough estimate put their numbers at over ten thousand.
And this was just a part of the underground ruins!
Though the soldiers had never doubted His Highness the Princess’s judgment, seeing it for themselves still made them exclaim, “Wow, the princess really is smart!”
“Alright, teams, move according to plan!”
First, they released a massive cloud of special smoke inside. This smoke only affected the monsters, calming and hypnotizing them.
When they had entered the underground earlier, it had made quite a racket, stirring up the many monsters.
This initial disturbance was necessary to prevent an all-out monster revolt that could derail their plans.
After a while, the army split into teams and quietly positioned themselves at designated spots without startling the monsters, ready to wait.
Yuliya came down with the army while the adventurers waited above, just twiddling their thumbs.
Once everyone was ready, Yuliya tossed a Fireball Spell right into the center.
Boom! The fireball explosion announced that the operation had officially commenced.
They surrounded an area and began the monster extermination, moving from the outside in.
But not long into the operation, the monsters outside the perimeter started getting restless.
These monsters might not have much smarts, but even they could sense that humans had invaded their nests and wouldn’t hesitate to attack.
Of course, Yuliya had already anticipated this.
She had only committed two-thirds of the army to the extermination, reserving the other third to guard against incoming monsters, ensuring the extermination went off without a hitch.
The extermination force was all about offense, while the guards remained defensive according to the terrain.
Defending was a lot easier than attacking.
So even with just one-third of the army over there facing potentially more monsters, they weren’t at risk of any major problems in the short term.
As long as the extermination could advance quickly and finish up without dragging on too long, the defenders would be just fine.
Things were developing just as Yuliya had predicted.
With limited intelligence, the monsters’ actions were easily predictable.
By making targeted arrangements, they could be played like a fiddle.
Sure, the monsters had the numerical advantage, but as long as they could dodge that little detail, everything was peachy.
So once the extermination was done, and both forces merged, Yuliya immediately ordered a retreat.
Yes, a retreat! They could always come back tomorrow!
Yuliya’s goal was to exterminate the monsters, not to occupy an area. Once they took down a stronghold, there was no need to keep it.
If the monsters want to take it back, they can too!
They could retake it; they’d come back for round two tomorrow!
This time, they exterminated about one-sixth of the monsters, leaving five-sixths to redistribute throughout the ruins.
Show up again tomorrow, and it would be the same frighteningly efficient operation—fight, then dash away, then wait another day.
That was Yuliya’s overall battle strategy.
After two or three rounds, once the monster count dropped by more than half, they wouldn’t even need to be this fancy. They’d just roll in and wipe everything out!
Meanwhile, the adventurers entered the fray about one-third of the way through the extermination, collecting loot and clearing the battlefield, making sure no monsters were left behind.
Then they would leave before the army retreated.
Without interfering with the army’s actions, they collected every monster material they could find.
Each adventurer was grinning from ear to ear.
This was way easier than grinding! Like picking up money off the street, and the profits were looking fancy.
Sure, the crystal rewards weren’t that great, but monsters didn’t just drop crystals—they dropped all sorts of loot everywhere!
The stuff wasn’t much needed back in the Golden City, so the players could sort it out themselves.
After all, as participants in the action, giving them some perks was only fair.
Plus, the reason Yuliya insisted on calling the players in was that they had backpacks, making looting a total breeze!
Thus, the first day of operations wrapped up nicely, and everyone started to regroup.
The army, needing the most recovery since they did the heavy lifting and suffered some casualties, was the main focus for Yuliya’s rewards.
Each soldier who participated in the operation would receive one hundred gold coins once the mission was completed.
Those who got seriously injured during the fighting would snag an extra five hundred gold coins.
And for those who gloriously perished in battle, their families would receive five thousand gold coins as consolation!
This reward package was downright outrageous for the locals.
It was several times higher than the empire’s regular military pay standards.
Even those soldiers who came seeking glory and ideals got a little excited when they heard about these rewards.
Yuliya wasn’t short on cash.
She liked gold coins – a natural inclination – but she wouldn’t be stingy in this situation.
On the second day, the operation rolled out just as planned.
But this time they switched up positions.
Monsters may lack smarts, but after a blunder, they certainly ramped up security.
Having gone through the battles from yesterday, everyone was now more familiar with the process, and they pushed forward even quicker.
Yuliya didn’t have to keep such a close watch like the day before.
The extermination continued smoothly, and she headed to an area that had already been cleared, starting to closely observe the architecture there.
She had originally seen it from players’ screenshots, and yesterday she only had a distant view.
Finally, she could examine it up close!
Getting closer confirmed for Yuliya that this was, without a doubt, part of the golden capital of the Golden Kingdom.
Some decorative patterns and significant buildings looked just like those in the Golden City.
But compared to the Golden City, this place had lost all its brilliance.
Eons of erosion had stripped it of vitality and life, along with its former pride.
Besides the ghosts trapped in the Golden City who couldn’t venture out, perhaps Yuliya was the only one left who could recognize its former glory.
If time kept passing, it would inevitably merge completely with the sands of history.
Why was there such a large deposit of blue crystal mines and the corresponding monsters? Maybe this ruin was desperately trying to find its past self.
“Hm? What’s this?”
Yuliya suddenly lifted her head and looked at a circular building in front.
This style… seems somewhat familiar. Have I seen it somewhere?
Yuliya tilted her head in thought.
Suddenly, she jolted in surprise.
Oh my! Isn’t this the Heroic Spirit Tower?!
