Volume 9: From Green Leaves to the Undead Chapter 2: Facing the Decisive Battle

After meeting up with Cardoqin, Li Bin did not linger. In full view of the Elf player, he opened the portal he had arrived through and ducked inside.

The Elf player, well aware of what Cardoqin was carrying, grew frantic and immediately ordered his troops to pursue Li Bin with all their might. However, they first had to deal with the skeleton soldiers and zombie troops Li Bin had been forced to leave behind. By the time they finished clearing them out, Li Bin was already long gone.

The pursuit force sent by the Elf player, unfamiliar with the layout of the tunnels, was ultimately blocked by a narrow passage that stood no more than 1.5 meters high. When the Elf player learned of this, he could only watch helplessly as Li Bin escaped. Later, Aska, who had been away meeting his junior sister Dreamy, flew into a rage at the two elders left behind upon discovering that the treasure had been stolen. Everyone knew that what Li Bin had taken was the "Forest Shepherd’s Whip," the most critical artifact in the "Dense Forest" project.

While the three elders of the Green Leaf Alliance were suffering from headaches, Li Bin was not having an easy time either. The moment he acquired the Forest Shepherd’s Whip, he received a system notification: he would be attacked by trees in every forest he entered, but if he won, he would gain control over the movement of those woods. To Li Bin, this seemed useless; he was not a Nature-aligned player, so what use was controlling forests?

As he pondered this, Sannei and the others returned to his side. Upon hearing the properties of the whip, Sannei immediately exclaimed, "Master, this is a good thing!"

"What’s good about it? I’m troubled by it. Why would I want to drive these forests around? Wouldn't that just be doing the Green Leaf Alliance's work for them?" Li Bin shook his head. "I think I should find a place to destroy this whip."

"Don't, Master," Sannei urged. "We should make good use of it. We can drive the nearby forests into each other, forcing the old and new woods to fight for territory..."

A light bulb went off in Li Bin’s mind. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of that? Toying with the whip, he realized he could drive forests toward the headquarters of the Green Leaf Alliance, letting them experience the trouble of blocked roads firsthand.

With that thought, Li Bin tossed the Forest Shepherd’s Whip to Lide. "This is in your hands now. You can fly high and know where to drive the woods. Everyone else, prepare for battle; I don’t think the Green Leaf Alliance will give up that easily."

Li Bin’s guess was spot on. Three days after he used the whip to control the first forest, he came under a massive attack from the main force of the Green Leaf Alliance.

This time, the Green Leaf Alliance had mobilized a vast number of troops from all their cities, led by Sarbali, one of the three great elders. They even recalled an elite force from the front lines that had been fighting against Disya to surround and annihilate Li Bin from all directions. According to urgent intelligence sent by Disya, this force included at least ten Golden Dragons, about two squadrons of Green Dragons, five squadrons of Withered Wood Warriors, five squadrons of Silver Unicorns, a battalion each of Treants, Silver Pegasi, Elven Archers, and Elven Druids, and over a battalion of Battle Dwarves and other mixed units. Five or six heroes and players followed Sarbali with their own troops, ready to provide reinforcements at a moment's notice.

The report also mentioned an NPC hero named Aska—full name Aska Reptodus Wukodo Misa—the Grand Elder of the Green Leaf Alliance and the top disciple of Kelaosa. He was the primary controller of this mission. It was said that he had just left to meet his junior sister when Li Bin stole the whip; otherwise, with a hero of legendary combat prowess present, Li Bin would never have succeeded so easily. Reliable sources indicated that if Sarbali failed, Aska would immediately intervene to deal with Li Bin personally, posing a daunting challenge.

Aware of the dire situation, Li Bin did not retreat; instead, he was filled with a desperate resolve. To prepare for this battle, he even mortgaged his territory to Disya to borrow a large number of Vampire Castles, using them to transport troops from his domain to his side time and again.

Soon, Li Bin had concentrated five battalions of troops. Three of these were mixed units of newly reincarnated skeletons, zombies, and ghosts, and one battalion consisted of mixed units already upgraded to level 7. Elite forces were also distributed among his heroes; for instance, Lide alone received over three squadrons of Bone Dragons and Pseudo-Bone Dragons.

A large number of Phantom Undead Archers were the priority of the transport, accounting for half of the final battalion. Once they arrived, Li Bin had Gru take them for intensive training; they would soon form a core archer unit managed jointly by Gru and Little Carter. Gru and Little Carter’s original troops were quickly dispersed among Li Bin’s other main heroes to strengthen their overall combat capability.

Li Bin also gave thorough consideration to the terrain. In the days before Sarbali arrived, he had Lide and Ted take control of several forests and arranged the battlefield according to his requirements. Under his influence, the woods around his camp became incredibly dense, impassable to anyone. He modified the only path into a narrow, winding corridor, forcing the enemy to march in single file. He stationed his skeleton fodder there, intending to exhaust the bulk of Sarbali’s strength at the very first opportunity. In the woods on either side of the path, he built two secret tunnels, allowing his Phantom Undead Archers to quickly seize vantage points to strike the incoming enemy.

To prevent aerial strikes, he persuaded Lide to turn all his Bone Dragons over to Bloodnight, who was temporarily placed in charge of the newly arrived Harpy and Vampire units. Finally, Li Bin called the three Trouble Knights aside, promising that if they fought alongside the skeleton fodder, they would be restored to the core Terror Knight regiment after the battle, and would be the first choices for the future elite Terror Knight hero regiment he planned to establish.