The Era of Gods

Chapter 512: Chapter 512: His Excellency Dragon Emperor Wu Zhonglin is Coming?

The Children of Nightmare indeed had no intention of ambushing; after leaving the town, they headed straight for the ancient arena fortress of Biggs. When they had traveled to within a few dozen kilometers from the ancient arena, they received a message from Biggs saying that the Children of Nightmare had arrived and were preparing to attack the fortress.

In the ancient arena, Biggs looked gravely at the many Children of Nightmare amidst the ruins outside. The place had once been teeming with the Undead, which had now been slaughtered, and any occasional respawns were immediately killed.

The number of Children of Nightmare was beyond his expectations, but fortunately, they had anticipated this, and there were over a dozen companions with him at this location.

Although their numbers were far fewer than the Children of Nightmare, early defense wasn’t a problem.

As long as the human players from other areas and the players from various fortresses in the Bunal Floating Land could quickly arrive, defending and counterattacking wouldn’t be an issue.

News from group chats showed that the first batch of reinforcements was nearby, which slightly calmed him.

Lin Xiao followed the others very discreetly, mostly because it was his first time dealing with such a large-scale group fight, but also because he didn’t bring many subordinates with him.

He had left most of his subordinates at the base, bringing only one Lord-level warrior, two Leader-level warriors, one Leader Shooter, two Leader-level Mages, two Leader Priests, five enhanced elite warriors, fifty elites, and three hundred ordinary cannon fodder.

The elites and cannon fodder, mostly recruited in the past few months, had leveled-up to around Level 65, barely reaching the average level of the local monsters.

With a group of leaders, picking a fight wasn’t an issue, but the enemy was too numerous, so it was better to keep a low profile.

Over twenty human players, whose average strength was roughly on par with the Children of Nightmare, had amassed an army of seven to eight thousand subordinates maintaining a few kilometers’ distance. Lonely City spoke through the channel:

“Let’s hang back and not get too close. We’ll move in together after the people from the other points arrive. By the way, the Dragon Emperor will also be joining us this time; he’ll handle the elite among the Children of Nightmare.”

“The Dragon Emperor?”

Lin Xiao’s mind instantly conjured the image of a mild-mannered black-haired youth.

Lonely City nodded and said:

“Yes, the one from the Throne of War Super Academy, His Excellency the Dragon Emperor. He was one of the first players to arrive here and has since established a fortress on the Floating Land of Kuluin, which has already become a Level 2 fortress. With his strength and resources, there is a great chance he will upgrade it to Level 3 within three years.”

“This bigshot rarely speaks and previously remained silent. I never expected him to come here quietly.”

“Back in the day, this bigshot was the top of the reserve list of talents to advance to the college stage, and even though he’s only a freshman now, his strength has grown immensely. The seniors at the Throne of War College believe he will surpass many juniors and seniors once he’s a sophomore, continuing to be ranked among the top talents.”

“Many bigshots have high praise for him. One of the military bigshots even ranked all the players from the previous reserves of the talents list, including Peerless and Outstanding Reserve, and he placed second.”

“Oh!”

This ranking was quite high, but if even Wu Zhonglin could only rank second, who could possibly be first?

Curious, he asked:

“So, who ranked first?”

A player named Yue Lingzhi said:

“Lin Xiao!”

Uh… ah!

He almost responded instinctively.

The answer was even more unexpected than before.

“The one ranked first comes from Brilliant Super College. It’s rumored online that he defeated all the seniors from both his junior and senior years during his first university lecture, and later personally killed several True God Level Sons of the Void, including one comparable to a being with Medium Divine Power.”

….

Lin Xiao was dumbstruck, his mouth opened as he felt the urge to explain.

“Of course, that rumor is so outrageous it’s definitely false,”

Yue Lingzhi said with a laugh:

“But it’s certain that his combat achievements are astonishing; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been ranked first by that bigwig. Keep in mind, His Excellency Dragon Emperor Wu Zhonglin defeated a senior from the Throne of War College in a direct challenge and overcame his peers in terms of both personal strength and God Realm Kin. That record is incredible and undeniable.”

Lonely City said with envy:

“To be able to defeat a senior in his first year, by the time he’s a senior, he’ll probably have his Divine Enthronement. It’s truly enviable.”

“Naturally, we can’t consider super elites like him by ordinary standards.”

“Not just his senior year, even his junior year is possible.”

“His junior year is too soon, right? Maybe they have the strength to achieve Divine Enthronement early, but they will definitely accumulate more before taking that step, by which time their strength and resources for the extraterritorial battlefield will be much deeper, making it safer.”

“Regardless, these people are not on our level.”

….

After a moment of silence, Lin Xiao could clearly sense their sincere envy.

Stroking his chin, he was quite looking forward to seeing Wu Zhonglin again. It had been a long time, and he wondered if Wu was still as formidable.

Speaking of which, he hadn’t given himself a grand nickname yet. Look at others like Dragon Emperor, Draco, and so on—just hearing them sounded impressive. He should come up with one for himself.

Considering his abilities, his Clan, and his treasures, there were actually several suitable and impressive names that came to mind.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

For example, the Creation derived from the Creation Rubik’s Cube?

The Bloodthirsty Naga derived from the Slayer?

The Star Spirits derived from the Star Spirit Clan?

Wait a minute!

He stroked his chin and pondered for a few seconds before uttering a name:

“Star God?”

“Bloodthirsty and Star God!”

Both names were easy to make an impression, as they were as familiar as thunder and had enough prestige, which made them quite suitable for his own nickname.

However, there could only be one nickname, and he had to choose one.

Relatively speaking, he preferred… Star God?

“Alright, Star God it is!”

The nickname Bloodthirsty definitely had enough prestige, but it was too ostentatious and not fit for his character, whereas Star God sounded better.

“From now on, my nickname will be Star God!”

Rubbing his chin, Lin Xiao was quite satisfied with this nickname.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly suitable to promote this nickname now. It’s not like he could just go up to them and say—hey, I’m that top-ranked big shot you’re talking about, call me Star God from now on…

He would be treated like a lunatic.

Moreover, indulging in such cringe-worthy and embarrassing thoughts was not something he would do.

“Boom!”

A massive flame mushroom cloud rose from beyond the walls of the ancient arena, signaling the commencement of the Children of Nightmare’s attack on Biggs’ Fortress. The chatting players fell silent upon seeing the war message from Biggs in the group chat, their expressions turning serious as they looked towards Bloodthirsty and Lonely City, the two acting commanders.

It wasn’t that they were the strongest, but they had the widest network of friends. Many present knew each other through them, so they were chosen to lead.

However, as everyone present was an elite, it wouldn’t work to command them as if they were subordinates. Thus, while it was called commanding, it was actually more about discussing and then issuing orders through the two of them.

After a quick discussion in the group chat and continued communication with players from the other two teams, a decision was made to regroup at a certain location before joining forces with the other two teams.

The meeting point was about six or seven kilometers from Biggs’ ancient arena, at a high ground ruin.

From this high ground, they could observe the battlefield near the ancient arena and support it immediately if the situation turned dire, while also exerting some pressure on the Children of Nightmare, discouraging them from committing fully to the battle.

Moreover, this terrain was easy to defend but tough to attack. If the Children of Nightmare turned away from attacking the ancient arena to encircle them, they could detect it early and retreat.

Once they joined forces with the other two teams of players, their combined strength would be enough to confront the Children of Nightmare head-on.

In fact, their tactic was to gather everyone and fight head-to-head, as they were all players, and stealth attacks on a large group were nearly impossible—only a direct confrontation was plausible.

The Children of Nightmare’s ranks also included professions like Mages and Priests and various races, just like them, though they had slightly fewer Mages. Still, with a large number of players adding up, a portion of the thousands of Mages assembled at the front within casting range unleashed a barrage of Blizzards and Rain of Fire. A thick defensive barrier rose along the wall, with its durability of over a million dropping like a waterfall, yet recovering as they consumed a large amount of military supplies.

This defensive barrier was characteristic of a First-Level Fortress. Lin Xiao’s fortress had just been upgraded and hadn’t had time to install one before he left, but it had been equipped by the time of his departure.

The barrier itself had a durability of one million, and allies within it received a significant BUFF—increasing both their maximum health and mana or energy by 20%, doubling their recovery rate, reducing all incoming damage by 10%, and increasing all damage dealt by 10%.

This BUFF would strengthen with the fortress’s upgrades and subsequent upgrading of the barrier; after two or three upgrades, it would become quite formidable.

Biggs’ ancient arena had only two main gates, with a dozen players and nearly ten thousand subordinates staunchly defending these entrances and exits, making it not easy for outsiders to breach.

Given the Children of Nightmare’s absolute numerical and strength advantage, they would inevitably break through the fortress if given enough time, but they didn’t have that luxury.

The fierce battle lasted from morning until noon. In less than half a day, the second reinforcing army arrived and joined forces, instantly doubling their strength.

The besieging Children of Nightmare immediately ceased their attack, with their troops slowly retreating for regrouping.

They quickly rallied, ready to retreat if the Children of Nightmare’s Allied Forces advanced, preparing to counter-attack once the last support team arrived.

However, the Children of Nightmare did not initiate an attack but rearranged their forces and sent an envoy.

After reading the Children of Nightmare’s envoy’s declaration of war posted in the group by Lonely City, Lin Xiao was rather surprised. Yue Lingzhi clapped her hands with a laugh:

“This is exactly to our liking. Since they want to have a proper field battle with us, this is good news. Once the Dragon Emperor arrives, we’ll gather the brothers inside the fortress, and have a straightforward clash with them.”

“This battle is crucial to our overall interests in this region. If we win, we’ll secure a significant advantage over the Children of Nightmare. If we lose… it will be a disaster for us. It will be difficult to reclaim the lost territory later, so everyone must give it their all!”

“Of course,” someone laughed.

“We’re now the vanguard of the human lineup; the greater the risk, the greater the reward. My assigned floating land fragments have two Children of Nightmare fortresses. If we defeat their main force in this battle, I can overtake one and seize the territory before they recover.”

“I’m worse off than you—I’m the only human there. I’ve been on the defensive the whole time. If we can defeat them in this battle, I’ll be able to catch a break.”