Chapter 234: I’ve Got Plenty of People
Since the old emperor kicked the bucket and unleashed a whole lot of energy, it’s been a while—long enough for the royal heirs to set up their supporters for the throne.
They were already prepared; now, all they had to do was sit tight and wait.
Usually, that’s how it goes.
Unless… someone decides to stir the pot.
Now that the clock’s more than halfway ticked, Isaac was getting a tad ticked off himself since none of his subordinates had checked in with any support.
Meanwhile, over on the other side, Elia was as chill as a cucumber, casually chatting with Little Guy every now and then.
Isaac summoned a servant, “Go see what’s going on!”
After a bit, the servant rushed back, looking grave. “Your Highness, we haven’t received any news…”
“How is it possible that with so many nobles, there’s not a peep?”
“Yes…”
“What a bunch of useless twits!”
After the signal of the old emperor’s d*ath, the nobles could zip straight to Emerald City using the Teleportation Array. It should have been quick as a flash; the silence screamed that something was seriously wrong.
“Forget the nobles for now; keep an eye on the Radiant Knight Order’s situation.”
Compared to those corrupt, greedy aristocrats, the knight orders were his true backbone.
Strong and loyal.
After a short wait, a servant suddenly barreled in.
“Your Highness! Your Highness! Bad news! Lord Bazel’s Radiant Knight Squad was hit hard by a horde of unknown adventurers at their base! Major losses! They’re asking for backup!”
“Adventurers? A bunch of adventurers can bring Bazel down hard?”
“Reports say the adventurers aren’t individually strong, but there are loads of them, and they’ve coordinated a massive united spell. Things are urgent!”
“Where did these adventurers come from? What gall! What about reinforcements from Emerald City?”
“Uh… currently, Emerald City is under lockdown; the city guards can’t move. ”
“And the knight orders?”
“The Royal Knight Order can’t move without your command, and the Dark Moon Knight Order… well, they took off for a secret mission a while ago…”
“A secret mission?”
Isaac frowned, his intuition kicking in.
He looked at Elia, who was also looking back at him, even waving her hand.
Isaac took a deep breath. “I see…”
Nobles, the Dark Moon Knight Order, adventurers, and Elia—everything clicked together.
The Dark Moon Knight Order’s action was completely unexpected. He thought they’d be lying low, at most. As for the adventurers, Isaac had anticipated them but never imagined they could rally such power.
Elia managed the Adventurer Guild because it was a thankless job. A constant headache, low rewards, and all a chance for chaos.
Isaac never underestimated the strength of adventurers; what he underestimated was their organizational skills.
If a massive number of adventurers could coordinate effectively, their combined strength would rival that of the Radiant Knight Order.
So it seemed Elia was indeed talented.
“Well done, Elia. No wonder you’re so confident today.”
“Your Highness, you flatter me. I just feel it’s a chance to strive and give it my all.”
“I respect your effort. But this merely gives you a chance to fight me head-to-head; in the end, it’s all about raw power.”
“I’ll give it my all.”
Even eliminating all outside factors, it still boiled down to strength.
Isaac didn’t think he would lose in that regard.
As the saying goes, timing, location, and people—these are the conditions that are already set in stone.
While Elia could eliminate the human-factor and the geographic advantage, she couldn’t balance the timing.
No matter how talented, time wouldn’t wait at your beck and call.
Isaac closed his eyes, calming his mind as he awaited the trial realm to open.
Elia did the same.
Though she appeared unfazed on the surface, her heart was racing.
Just as she once told Yuliya, Isaac was strong.
All this preparation was simply to give herself a fair shot.
Do what you can, and let fate decide.
———–
A little earlier, before the cosmic phenomena hit Emerald City, a team of players lurked in the wild outside a distant fort, keeping a close watch on the situation.
After a full day of scouting yesterday, they had gathered all sorts of intel.
From observing at various distances, taking screenshots, and even sending someone to knock on the fort’s door.
Of course, knocking didn’t get them inside.
If you looked at them as soldiers, these players were more like outlaws lurking on the hill.
If outlaws could slip into a military fort, the soldiers must be joke-level weak.
Yet it also implied that something was off inside the fort.
“President, from what we can see, those knights don’t seem any higher than level twenty, occasionally spotting a thirty, who is probably a commander. We can totally take them.”
“Yeah, yeah, got it, don’t get cocky.”
Fiery Conflict Across the Sky, Can’t Sleep, WZC, and Little Moon were the core of this operation, all taking on legendary-level quests.
The first three were in charge of coordinating, while Little Moon couldn’t handle that, so she led the charge instead.
That was her own demand, and her reasoning?—can’t slack off!
“Let the folks offline know to stay sharp. We got a message from the princess saying today’s probably the day we’ll officially take action.”
This batch of ten thousand players had been away from Emerald City for two days now, making this the third day.
These three days couldn’t have been more boring—no experience gained, no dailies done, just sitting around and waiting.
Don’t worry, the lockdown in Emerald City meant the other players weren’t faring much better—misery loves company.
Everyone was nearing becoming salted fish, and not the tasty kind.
But today, big things were happening!
Pumped hearts, trembling hands.
Legendary quests, let’s put our skills to the test!
They waited a bit longer.
Finally, a fierce disturbance appeared in the skies over Emerald City, followed by a wave that no one could ignore.
The wind howled, carrying a deep sense of foreboding.
But the players snapped into action.
“Let everyone offline know! Get ready to log in!”
Fiery Conflict Across the Sky slid into a private chat with their offline command.
The official forum was the only place online and offline could communicate.
And that’s why the “Shadow Soldiers” strategy was even possible.
If neither side could communicate—while one was already fighting, the other would still be snoozing—what a mess that would be.
Sure enough, just about simultaneously, there was movement from within the fort.
Not long after, the gates facing Emerald City swung open, and rows of cavalry trotted out in formation.
Once all the cavalry had exited and reformed, they charged towards Emerald City.
However, barely a kilometer out, the scene ahead left the cavalry dumbfounded.
Various anti-cavalry tools just sat there glaring back at them.
Horse snares, caltrops, even regular tree stumps.
“Definitely cavalry. The princess’s intel is spot on.”
The trio slowly revealed themselves from the side.
“So, you’re not getting past here. If you cooperate, we can both avoid a lot of trouble.”
The leader frowned. “Princess’s people? Just this few of you think you can stop us?”
“Like you’re concerned about numbers. Brothers, attack!”
In the next moment, the once-empty forest erupted with thousands of silhouettes.
