Chapter 461: Your Reserved Superweapon is About to Enter!
The “Blood Servant problem” at Fort Crimea was indeed quite serious. This issue was a small flaw concealed beneath the brilliant victory of the Winter Wolf Legion of the Nordtov Kingdom, who under the Wolf Queen’s command, launched a massive invasion into the Kafhoka region during the final stages of the Ten-Year War.
This fortress, known as the “Unbreakable Wall,” had been a military stronghold maintained and repaired at great expense by the Portia Federation for the past 400 years. Elite members of the Blood Vulture Clan and 10,000 elite Blood Servants were permanently stationed here, representing an undeniable force in the land of Transia. However, the Winter Wolf Legion didn’t capture this fortress through siege warfare.
Lady Shani of the Thorn Clan infiltrated the fortress and, through a combination of successful persuasion worthy of a “Minister Wang” plus the harsh reality of Kadman City’s destruction and the Blood Vulture Clan’s extinction, the Blood Vulture vampires in Fort Crimea surrendered quite smoothly.
These scoundrels didn’t even negotiate for better terms. After surrendering, they joined the Thorn Clan, received preferential treatment, and even got their own faction. They were originally planning to move into Transia, but after encountering the powerful rise of the “fish-turned-dragon” couple Murphy and Tris, they could only accept new territories assigned by Lady Shani, who wished to avoid trouble.
The Grand Duchess of Thorn clan sent those traitors to Joseph Port in the Far East, on the other side of the Great Wilderness, where they began their new lives happily. However, this left the 10,000 armed Blood Servants still faithfully guarding the castle in a difficult position.
The previous situation with Maxim taking over the Third Brigade showed that while there were plenty of “soldiers just doing their job” among the armed Blood Servants, there was also a large group who maintained loyalty to the Portia Federation and Transia. After their vampire commanders fled, how to handle these stranded armed Blood Servants became General Baldwin’s headache.
Over these months, the General tried many approaches, incorporating some Blood Servants who were willing to surrender, but approximately 6,000 remained in a “non-cooperative” state.
Although they followed orders and obeyed the General’s command, Baldwin didn’t dare gamble on what these individuals might do if given orders to fight against Transia.
They couldn’t just slaughter so many people either, that would only create problems. If they started a revolt, it could easily compromise Fort Crimea’s defenses.
This matter had become almost like a mental illness for the decorated General Baldwin, affecting his sleep quality at Fort Crimea during this period.
According to the General’s previous thinking, he had planned to use these stubborn Blood Servants as “expendable resources” in the fight against the Gnolls. However, now with the Black Plague about to break out, this troublesome problem seemed to show signs of turning around.
“Governor Murphy previously accepted a batch of Blood Servants returning from the Great Wilderness, didn’t he? They also received Blood Servant prisoners from Eastern Prussia through Marshal Loren of the Goldflower Kingdom.
This shows that Governor Murphy doesn’t hold their failures against them and is willing to give them a chance to start anew.”
The General’s aide suggested:
“The loyalty of the armed Blood Servants in the fortress is quite problematic. I know this has been troubling you. I think we might as well take advantage of this cooperation to send them back to Transia too. Of course, Governor Murphy would need to pay a certain price for this, or his warriors would need to take on more work to earn the qualification for Blood Servant slots.
Such as the war supplies we need most urgently now.
Winter is coming, and while Fort Crimea’s proximity to the swamp means winters aren’t lethal, we still lack fuel and winter clothing for the cold season.
Currently, order hasn’t been restored in the Kafhoka region, with rebels causing trouble everywhere. Gathering these supplies here would require several times more time and effort.
What I mean is, if Governor Murphy’s warriors can bring us what we need…”
“Hmm, not a bad idea.”
The Winter Wolf General nodded.
He had obviously thought of this solution before but was waiting for his aide to voice it.
As the highest local military official, certain “politically incorrect” words couldn’t come directly from his mouth, as they could easily become a stain on his military record.
Although General Baldwin was deeply trusted by the Wolf Queen, politics was too frightening. The General didn’t want to tarnish his and his family’s currently perfect reputation because of this.
So, following his aide’s words, he said:
“We can first select some of the most resistant and disobedient Blood Servants as ‘gifts’ to send away, while also relieving some pressure on the fortress prison.
As for what Murphy’s warriors must pay in return, let me think… The beast overflow problem in the swamps near Fort Crimea has been persistent, hasn’t it?
According to our recent investigation, these beasts’ migration is due to large-scale activities by those damned Gnoll sorcerers in the swamp, which is essentially a chain reaction caused by this issue, and it conveniently falls within the scope of the mutual assistance agreement we reached with Transia.
So, let the Transians on the northern defense line handle the cleanup!
After all, Murphy’s warriors aren’t afraid of death.
They treat death as their return home!
Having such people as enemies on the battlefield would be very troublesome, so taking this chance to wear them down can be considered as reducing our future pressure.”
“Yes, I will immediately proceed according to your thoughts.”
The aide solemnly recorded the General’s orders, then added:
“I heard from some Transians who couldn’t keep their mouths shut that Governor Murphy plans to open a road through the swamp, allowing their soldiers to make contact with the Blood Pact Knights stationed in the Dark Mountains. This means the Transians are arrogant enough to plan on turning the Foul Swamp into their new frontier.
General, should we intervene in this matter?
Once the swamp is truly conquered by the Transians, Fort Crimea’s position would become quite awkward.
We would change from a continental-level military stronghold into a dispensable border fortress, which would weaken the Nordtov Kingdom’s voice in addressing the Black Plague issue.”
“Intervene? No, we’ll wait and see.”
The Winter Wolf General shook his head and said:
“That’s just a slogan proposed by Murphy, and in my view, it would be very difficult to achieve. Throughout countless ages, many have desired to conquer the Foul Swamp, just as we Nordtov people conquered the Great Wilderness, but so far, no person or force has ever succeeded.
I don’t believe Murphy, this miraculous vampire, can create such a spectacular miracle.
But if they do succeed, it wouldn’t be bad for us either.
Since Fort Crimea’s establishment during the Second Black Plague until now, every Black Plague has caused severe damage to this fortress, though this has also forged its undefeated reputation. However, it’s no longer the Transians who guard it now.
My soldiers are the most elite brave warriors of our motherland. If Governor Murphy’s adventurous action can reduce their sacrifices, I would raise both hands to sing praises for that vampire lord.
We may be soldiers, Duke.
But we can’t mindlessly pursue war.
As commanders, we should carefully maintain our defensive duties and fulfill our mission to the kingdom. War should always be our last resort of self-sacrifice.”
Baldwin, who maintained an elegant mustache, gripped the general’s staff beside him and walked to the window of his office at the fortress’s highest point to gaze outward.
Those grey eyes, as merciless as the cold wind, took in an endless vista of swamp scenery.
After several seconds of silence, he said:
“My ancestors, my grandfather, my father all died in wars against the Black Plague. From the glorious era of Boris’s Vanguard until now, each generation of my family has shone brilliantly in every Black Plague, and our family’s fate has become tightly bound to this swamp.
Perhaps this is my destiny as well.
If the Gnolls want to invade our motherland, they’ll have to step over my corpse first!
But if before the Gnolls reach my sight, they need to cross over Transian corpses first, that’s not a bad thing either. At least it could buy us some final preparation time.
I admire the brave.
To be honest, I also hope to see them create a miracle.
You go draft the proposal first.
After my review, send it to the Crimson Citadel. If Governor Murphy and his reportedly very young regent agree to this ‘prisoner exchange’ model, then we can proceed to resolve this ‘loyalty’ issue.”
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The swamp campaign was indeed a long process.
The event announcement issued by Lord Murphy explicitly gave a completion time of 40 days, which proved that in the developers’ view, even if all current players threw themselves into the swamp front line, it would be impossible to crack this super tough nut in a short time.
The facts indeed matched the developers’ expectations. Although all three front lines had now been activated and were all progressing fairly well, by the end of the second week’s weekend and into the fifth day of the third week of operations, even the student party, who had made the most progress, had only just captured the ninth outpost.
They had broken through two layers of the skeleton army’s positions in a difficult manner, officially advancing to near Plague Town.
But the student party members had already become quite exhausted from the high-intensity battles. Facing the elite skeleton army guarding the road to Plague Town ahead, they had no strength to push forward and could only hold their position.
Progress on the other two front lines was much slower than the student party. Both Meow King and Brother Stick had only just broken through to near the second defense line.
At this rate, when the 40-day period ended, players would definitely not be able to take down the heavily defended Plague Town.
However, apart from the scattered players who became anxious and started taking increasing casualties, members of the major guilds had uniformly slowed down their pace.
Brother Stick’s side hadn’t even deployed the NPC army from the Maginot Line to assist, relying only on the combination of veterans and recruits from the Crimson Hammer and Sickle Corps to advance steadily, and even had the leisure to build forward camps in the swamp.
Meanwhile, Meow King and the Silver Moon Corps focused on “planting trees” near the Avalon Church camp on the southern front line.
Over the past 20 days, these folks had thrown over 3,000 seeds of various effects into the swamp’s muddy water, with “Bursting Belly,” who had decided to walk the path of the Druid, responsible for watching over and nurturing them.
The student party and Shadow Trail Sect on the western front line were even less rushed, though they couldn’t hurry even if they wanted to.
Their rapid advance had already caused skeleton armies from other directions to transfer to the western front line, causing the enemy forces here to swell by more than double in just a few days. Even with the captured outposts handed over to the Goldflower vanguards to garrison, letting themselves focus solely on attacking, the student party still couldn’t push forward at all.
Although they could be considered elite and were brave enough, their fatal weakness of having too few people couldn’t be ignored.
The early advantages they had gained were gradually being caught up to by other teams as time progressed, making Cheche and Ah Yuen a bit anxious and upset. However, Leading Pigeon acted contrary to his usual behavior and didn’t urge everyone to work harder.
This guy had been mysteriously going out early and returning late these past few days with Niuniu, Master Yang, and Brother Mao, as if they were going scouting, but no one knew what kind of “secret operation” they were planning.
In this unbearable stalemate, some “clever ones” finally realized that the current stagnation of the three front lines was waiting for some kind of “superweapon” to make its debut!
This had been a frequently mentioned topic in posts over the recent days.
Especially yesterday afternoon, when Brother Loyalty posted a photo on the forum showing an armed wagon full of black bombs, it basically became an “open secret.”
News spread quickly about how the First National Armament Factory of Transia had produced “weapons of mass destruction” for this swamp war, and at the collective farms some distance from the front line, this matter had already been confirmed.
“You guys come quickly! Follow us in the wagon to Morland Village. Brother Loyalty has already issued the mission. We need to transport the bombs they’ve produced to the Maginot Line position within four days.”
At the square of the “Lion’s Pride” in Farm No. 2, the village chief Pink Cat Rabbit’s subordinate “Rainbow Cat Hero” stood on a crate and shouted to a group of newbies who had just entered the game yesterday:
“Come quickly and prepare to depart. This trip will pay five gold coins per person upon completion! Brother Loyalty is providing the money. You just need to follow along for the trip and handle some loading work. You don’t need to fight monsters or participate in the dangerous front line campaign.
Once you get there, isn’t it sweet to just enter the swamp and level up by fighting those outer perimeter skeletons?”
The tone was no different from an HR person recruiting for a factory.
In fact, Rainbow Cat Hero had worked in a factory for a period. However, he and Pink Cat Rabbit had a junior-senior relationship from school. Although he didn’t have career plans to become a civil servant like Cat Rabbit, Rainbow Cat Hero now enjoyed a comfortable life as a mid-level leader in the HR department of a large company in reality.
This time he was pulled in by his senior to help purely to repay a favor, but after experiencing it for a week, he immediately became a die-hard fan of 《Reality Realm》 and was now appointed as the militia captain of “Lion’s Pride” village, managing thirty militiamen, basically achieving a “rags to riches” story.
As he shouted recruitment calls, the newbies who had just entered the game yesterday and hadn’t figured out the basic game play gathered around when they heard about the five gold coin reward.
Before long, he had completed the selection of twenty people who, together with militia members pulled from the village, formed a team of forty people, driving twelve empty wagons toward the armament factory.
As a village positioned to handle postal and logistics business in the future, Pink Cat Rabbit had equipped his village with many wagons. After this batch left today, another batch would set out on the same transport route tomorrow. This was the village chief Cat Rabbit’s second “official order” after the “Treasure Bay” support business.
He attached great importance to this.
Tomorrow’s larger-scale transport would be personally escorted by Cat Rabbit, today’s trip with Rainbow Cat was just to scout the route.
Along the way, the newbies chatted while crowded onto the last cargo wagon, discussing the customs and practices of Transia and what they had seen in the Crimson Citadel. However, among this batch of newbies, there was a very “unique” player who drew attention.
First, this guy’s ID was quite informal – he was called “Doorman Old Qin.”
Second, this guy was extremely talkative!
Since entering the game until now, he had already made friends with quite a few young people, and was now telling the young people in the wagon about his past war experiences.
Whether true or false, the details were very realistic and had everyone listening intently, though some raised objections.
“Old Qin, you say you fought in wars in reality, but the closest battle in our area was almost 50 years ago, right? How old are you anyway?”
A student party member with the ID “Three Jin Sweet Potato Wine” couldn’t help asking.
He was from Cheche’s hometown, one grade below Cheche, studying art specializing in oil painting, and entered the game with “Drawing Specialization” and “Artistic Sense” character traits.
He applied half a month ago and just entered the game yesterday.
Hearing Sweet Potato Wine’s question, Old Qin chuckled, patted his leg, and said:
“That age would definitely be quite advanced. It’s just that this helmet is quite magical. I use a wheelchair in reality. Ah, when people get old, that’s how it is. I really envy you young people.
But this game is pretty good too. Being able to play while sleeping makes me feel much younger.”
“I don’t believe it.”
Sweet Potato Wine pursed his lips and said:
“How could elderly people be so trendy? Are you coming to the game to retire like Professor Chen?”
“Hey, are you one of those legendary contrarians, young man?”
Old Qin was about to argue with him, but before the verbal duel could begin, the wagon stopped outside and Rainbow Cat, who was acting as “supervisor,” shouted:
“We’ve arrived! Everyone get off and move the goods, remember what was said before departure, handle with care!”
“Let’s go, let’s go, time to work.”
Old Qin said as he jumped off the wagon. The temporary warehouse outside Morland Village was already full of boxes of “secret weapons”. Not only their team, but worker teams and wagons from five collective farms including Torrent Fort had come to transport weapons, making the site quite lively.
Locals were moving things while witch hunters patrolled around to prevent fires.
Sweet Potato Wine and several classmates went forward to lift a box toward the wagon, but when putting it down, they accidentally dropped it and broke the wooden board, revealing black iron tubes inside.
The student party members hadn’t yet realized what these were.
Sweet Potato Wine touched one and asked puzzled:
“Is this some kind of otherworld weapon? Why doesn’t it have a trigger or handle or anything?”
“That’s a mortar tube, silly child.”
Passing by, Old Qin glanced at it and squinted:
“If I’m not mistaken, it should be a replica of the ‘Stokes’. This thing’s got history, I used it when I was young. Not hard to operate either.
If necessary, you can even fire it stuck in the ground.
These guys did a good job, actually making these things. Just wonder how they solved the impact fuse issue?”
“Holy crap, a mortar? That’s so awesome?”
The young people became excited. This was their first time seeing such “real steel”, and they hadn’t expected to encounter modern weapons in this otherworld.
A few seconds later, Sweet Potato Wine belatedly watched Old Qin walking away carrying a box of shells, and muttered:
“Damn! Old Qin really did fight in wars! He’s really keeping a low profile.”
