Chapter 11: The Pursuers Arrive
Though puzzled as to why Bai Lingyu had committed all her troops so recklessly, Li Bin found such chaos too valuable an opportunity to waste. He dispatched Jessica to aid Bai Lingyu while leading his forces in a charge toward the city hall.
What Li Bin had never anticipated was that, lacking city walls, most of the city’s defenders were concentrated near the city hall. No sooner had Li Bin’s troops emerged than two heroes, each with their own retinue, blocked his path.
At the forefront stood an elf with a pale teal complexion, wielding a wooden bow. He pointed at Li Bin and declared, “I am Yi. The security here is under my jurisdiction. Take one more step forward, and I will count you as an enemy.”
Behind him stood an elven beauty clad in priestly robes. Her glowing pale skin marked her as a member of the Moon Elves. Behind them quickly gathered at least two squads of elves. Facing this combined force of archers and priests, Li Bin gave a direct order: “Gelu, Deirdre, deal with these two.”
Without hesitation, Li Bin moved to lead his troops from another direction toward the city hall. The Moon Elf priestess attempted to intercept him, but Gelu had already launched his attack.
Though both sides fielded archers and priests, Li Bin’s forces were clearly outnumbered. Yet Gelu leveraged the 150-meter extended range of his phantasmal undead archers to press back the grand elves’ archers.
Seizing this advantage, Li Bin and his men reached the city hall’s entrance. Along the way, they had to leave troops behind to guard and cover their retreat, so now only the personal guard, the first aerial unit, the first cavalry, and the second archery division remained under his command.
Outside the city hall, Li Bin found Trist and his forces already assembled. Curiously, he asked, “Weren't you waiting inside the Dragon Chariot? What made you storm into the city?”
Trist replied slowly, “Bai Lingyu’s reconnaissance beasts spotted the pursuers. They should arrive in about eight hours. If we don’t seize the city now, we might have to flee again.”
“Eight hours should be enough,” Li Bin calculated. “But from what you say, you intend to hold this place?”
“Not just hold it, but eliminate those pursuers. It’ll be a constant nuisance if they keep tailing us.”
Li Bin understood the wisdom in Trist’s words and said no more. He directed his remaining troops to break through the city hall’s last line of defense—the city guards.
Without their heroes to lead them and forced into close combat, the slender elven archers were no match for the death knights under Li Bin’s command. Before long, Li Bin, surrounded by his men, stormed into the mayor’s office.
There, he tore down the banner of the Verdant Alliance from the wall and replaced it with the Storm Butterfly flag. At that moment, a system notification appeared: “You have occupied the Level 3 public village, Jiyue Village. In half an hour, its facilities will resume production.”
Soon after, Bai Lingyu, Almu, Trist, and Deep Sea Solitude arrived, having resolved their own skirmishes.
Li Bin divided control of the city into five shares, handing one to each leader before saying, “You all know the situation now. What’s the plan?”
“Give me all the control,” Deep Sea Solitude said without hesitation.
“What did you say?” Bai Lingyu and the others exchanged strange looks.
“Don’t look at me like that. Even if you hold the city’s reins, it’s useless. Better to entrust it to me. I guarantee to build a solid defense in the shortest time possible,” Deep Sea Solitude said calmly, indifferent to their gazes.
Li Bin and the others found merit in his words and gradually transferred their authority to him. In front of everyone, Deep Sea Solitude issued several orders.
First, he commanded the demolition of part of the houses outside the city, creating three large concentric circles around the perimeter. Then, he sent teams beyond the city to fell trees, using the timber to fortify those three rings. Soon, a triple-layered city wall rose before their eyes.
Meanwhile, Deep Sea Solitude converted the vast energy accumulated from the public city into troops summoned within the city and stationed them in the nearby forest.
Watching Deep Sea Solitude’s actions, Bai Lingyu and the others finally recognized his control over the city. Together with Li Bin, they left the city hall to discuss how to deal with the pursuing forces.
According to Almu, who knew the Verdant Alliance’s internal affairs best, the pursuers likely consisted of two heroes. One was Shadow, known as “Two-Headed Trouble,” whom Almu had encountered during his time in the Elven Forest.
A player by origin, Shadow mastered the long-lost training methods of the Elven Phantasmal Archers but preferred to train his forces personally rather than share the techniques. He was taken by the Verdant Alliance before Almu but was regarded merely as a human training tool due to his temperament.
Nonetheless, his forces were formidable. Years of training had produced a pure phantasmal archer battalion—nine squads of elite marksmen.
The other was Ent, another troublesome figure. As a Hunter, he regularly eliminated undesirable individuals for the Verdant Alliance elders and thus enjoyed their relative trust.
His troops were also among the Alliance’s finest: six squads of hunter leaders, three of Elven druids, one of silver unicorns, and six adult tree ents.
Additionally, cannon fodder units gathered from nearby villages and heroes and players who had fled their own villages accompanied them. Altogether, the pursuing force numbered around five squads.
Faced with such numbers, Li Bin planned to send elite units to intercept the main forces, drawing away the two hero-led main contingents. Then, he would use his larger force to swiftly dismantle the cannon fodder units in segments. Once the cannon fodder was eliminated, they would turn to face the two challenging enemy heroes.
Yet, plans are often outpaced by events. As they finalized their strategy, the first wave of pursuers arrived an hour and a half early—those dreaded phantasmal archers.
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