Chapter 16: Who Is Plotting Against Whom

"Alright, I will have those undead players follow your command. I believe you can lead them to conquer every city," King Lu Yi nodded in agreement. He no longer bore any resemblance to the conscripted soldier he once was.

Li Bin smiled and said, "I have no problem leading those players into battle, but the troops under their command are too weak. Do you think—"

"Of course. I’ll issue orders right away so that those players can recruit some troops in this city," King Lu Yi replied immediately.

"Good. Once the players have organized their forces, I’ll lead them out," Li Bin said. Without further pleasantries, he turned and left the city hall.

After Li Bin departed, King Lu Yi summoned several undead heroes. "How are your preparations?"

"Everything is ready," replied one hero. "Once we take those two cities, control will fall into our hands. Afterward, we can push them out as scapegoats. I suspect Zombie Lord Sand of Ghostrock City will never let them go."

"Excellent," King Lu Yi said with a satisfied grin.

Yet what King Lu Yi did not know was that before leaving the city, Li Bin had stationed the Amazon Valkyrie and two squads of Amazon warriors. Their task was to attack the city hall and the prison holding players and heroes while Li Bin led his force against the two small villages under Ghostrock City.

Li Bin believed that before the other two cities fell, the lord of Ghostrock City would be more eager to reclaim the already lost Winterhold. As for the other two cities, he would at most send reinforcements.

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Gathering all the players slated for the coming battle, Li Bin raised his voice, "You all see it now—this city is ours. That proves Lord Sand of Ghostrock City is not invincible. So long as we try, this world can belong to us!"

The players, freshly reinforced, roared their approval.

"Now, who among you wants to become the next city lord?" Li Bin shouted even louder.

"Me!" the players nearly shouted themselves hoarse.

"Then take action. Split into two groups and attack Jialuo City and Mingjian City. I will depart half an hour after you do and assist one of your groups in the assault. King Lu Yi promised me that for every city we conquer, I’ll receive a City Heart. Two cities, two City Hearts. So don’t underestimate my ambition for them," Li Bin declared, his words slow and deliberate.

No sooner had he finished speaking than the players erupted, not because they begrudged Li Bin his rewards but because victory in half an hour meant the cities would be theirs.

In such an atmosphere, Li Bin had to accelerate his pre-battle speech. He realized that even without the skill of leadership, the right temptation could still rouse the troops’ morale.

Within two minutes, the crowd that had gathered under Winterhold had scattered, hurtling toward Jialuo and Mingjian Cities.

Li Bin, meanwhile, waited another half hour beneath Winterhold before leading his force out. But no one knew that soon after leaving, he veered toward the largest nearby city: Ghostrock City.

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Within Ghostrock City, the local lord, Zombie Sand, was furious. His trusted subordinate, Cardis, had gone to conscript soldiers and had not sent a single message back.

Meanwhile, the forces of the Infernal Sea were pressing their attack on Moonshadow Valley. If this continued, its final defenses might soon collapse, exposing his capital to the Infernal Sea’s strongest assault.

Just then, a zombie slave delivered news that nearly shattered Sand’s composure: two player-led armies had simultaneously launched attacks on Jialuo and Mingjian Cities.

With trouble on his own turf, Lord Sand’s first instinct was to gather every available soldier and wipe out those reckless invaders.

But at that moment, a skeletal bird glided in, forcing Sand to suppress his fury. The bird was Cardis’s communication beast, just freed by Li Bin’s Valkyrie. In a few brief sentences, Cardis explained everything that had transpired.

This prompted Sand to make a decision: he ordered Jialuo and Mingjian Cities to reinforce their defenses, while he personally led all his forces to attack Winterhold.

Back in Winterhold, King Lu Yi’s earlier satisfaction had turned sour. The prison break had made it clear he had been outmaneuvered.

Until Li Bin conquered Jialuo and Mingjian Cities, King Lu Yi would likely have to withstand Zombie Lord Sand’s wrath.

What pained King Lu Yi most was that, in order to motivate the players to attack Jialuo and Mingjian, he had sold them all the city’s reserve troops. Now, aside from his personal forces, only the mysterious unit that had rescued Cardis remained to defend Winterhold.

At the same time, Li Bin, concealed outside Ghostrock City, waited for the outcome of the battle so he could execute his next plan. If Sand defeated King Lu Yi, Li Bin would seize Ghostrock’s greatest City Heart and flee. If both sides were weakened, he intended to claim all the City Hearts for himself.

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Yet no one realized that the situation in Ghostrock was spiraling into unpredictability. Before the battle between Lord Sand, Li Bin, King Lu Yi, and the players’ coalition could begin, the master of the Infernal Sea had conquered Moonshadow Valley and invaded the Ghostrock region.

The force that swept in was led by a high-ranking battle demon—a succubus by origin. She was not especially muscular: her fiery red hair and seductive beauty, black curling horns, small bat-like wings, and a long, pointed tail set her apart. She wore a black, tight-fitting bikini and knee-high boots, and wielded a flaming whip—the Soul of Agony.

She led three squads of succubi and one squad of Pain Mistresses, bursting out of Moonshadow Valley and racing toward Ghostrock City.

She made only one circuit outside Ghostrock before discovering Li Bin in hiding.

Upon seeing Li Bin, she brandished her war banner—crimson, adorned with a sinister black spiral—and spoke with enchanting charm, "You must be the expert responsible for the chaos in Ghostrock City."

"Who are you?" Li Bin stared coldly at the succubus, his two bone dragons rising behind him.

"Me? You may call me Averia Deltis. We can be allies, for now. Don’t you agree?"

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Character Averia Deltis provided by reader Quick-Handed Little Crook

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