Leonel slowly lowered his bow, his eyes narrowing as he looked off in a certain direction. He looked down and scanned the Skies family members. They were indeed in a sorry state. They had just maintained their domain of lightning for several hours. Although Leonel's armor made it a lot easier on them, they would need quite a bit of time to recover unless they used the pods.
"Return to the Ice Island," Leonel commanded.
Unfortunately, the outposts were always tied to a single city, as in the city they were summoned from. As such, Leonel's convenient teleportation network wasn't useful here. He would have to build up another network for this city that could bridge the gap between the two and make it more convenient. He definitely had the funds to do so, but it would take time because one had to personally place the outposts down in their chosen location.
In addition to this, Leonel didn't yet know if he would have the points to spare. That was because he now had 3 trillion more points and another city to potentially upgrade. He would have to decide, once again, whether to save what he had or use it immediately.
As Leonel had expected, the options weren't many for the Water Lotus territory. So many of the advantages of the territory were baked into it already that giving it any more upgrade paths would be too overpowered and break the balance of the Heir Wars. The only option Leonel gained was one that allowed him to exchange points for a faster "closing" time.
This closing time referred to the green pads of the Water Lotus entering a defensive position. Right now, it took about eight hours to close the pads and enter the strongest defensive state of the city. He could spend one trillion to half that time, two trillion to cut it down to two hours, and four trillion to cut it down to an hour.
For every halving, Leonel would have to pay double the points. Other than this, there were no other options to gain.
Leonel narrowed his gaze.
He was in a bit of a situation now. He had, indeed, sensed that he had expelled someone from his territory. But just like he had sensed them, they had definitely sensed him. If they were smart, their next action would be to attack him with their full force as quickly as possible.
His people were, indeed, dispersed, just as Rychard had said. In addition, the Skies family that had fought by his side were too fatigued for another round of battle. It would take them only 15 minutes for the uninjured among them to recover once they returned, but it would take at least an hour to return and an hour to come back to his side. That was two and a half hours total.
He had just gained 3 trillion points from clearing the Heir Grade challenge. Although there were points to be gained from the dungeons and challenges as well, those points were adjusted to account for individuals potentially having millions of subordinates to begin with.
He only gained 100 000 points for dealing with an Heir-Grade threat, while the others, in exchange for clearing an Heir-Grade dungeon, might receive anywhere from a few hundred million to a few billion. While this might sound like a lot, one would need to clear a thousand such dungeons just to get one trillion points, let alone the tens of trillions he felt like he needed.
'I have to release the stingrays and let them start clearing challenges on their own…'
Leonel shook his head. It seemed that he would have to hold this line alone until the Skies family could return. Unfortunately, he had also told the others to stay out of this sea due to the danger of the method he was planning on using, so it would take them about an hour to rush to him, and that was if they were wiped out from their dungeon clearing in the first place.
With a wave of his hand, Leonel spent all three trillion points, cutting the time needed to two hours and beginning the closing process. He was feeling a hint fatigued after the battle himself, but the hour he estimated it would take them to get here was more than enough for him.
With a step, he appeared on the edge of one of the slowly moving green pads. His bare feet dangled in the clear waters, his expression calm as he closed them, laying his spear across his lap. His breathing seemed to match the rhythm of the slowly churning waters.
The reason he had claimed this city in the first place was to ensure that no one else could claim a sea for themselves, and he planned to do it twice more. He didn't care even if he had to leave the Water Lotus territory closed into perpetuity. His only goal was to hold this land, what happened with the rest of it didn't matter to him.
Oddly enough, this was a rare moment of relaxation for him since the Heir Wars had begun. Listening to the rushing waves as an army approached him, he felt an unprecedented calm. It was a calm that came from the depths of his soul, a confidence built on a track record that ran deep, a blemishless resume.
Suddenly, Leonel opened his eyes. By this point, the edge of the green pad he sat upon had raised into the skies, leaving just the smallest gaps to squeeze through. However, the city was still too exposed. In order to stop someone from reaching the city core and claiming the city for themselves, it would take a great deal of effort on his part.
The last hour felt as though it had passed in the blink of an eye, but the tranquility of Leonel's gaze was more gentle than even the waves of a serene lake. Even when he saw the large army before him he was unmoved… even after he recognized Rychard and Orinik he reacted as though they were nothing more than air.
He stood to his feet slowly, holding out his spear from his body and pointing it toward the waters below.
If one drew a line from the tip of his spear to the once calm surface, it would be possible to see a gentle ripple spread out, almost as though someone had touched the surface with a finger. And yet… Leonel's spear and Spear Force was nowhere near it.
It was as though the ocean's waters were informing the world that Leonel's presence was much larger than it seemed to be.
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