Chapter 501: Peace Negotiation
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
Aamir cracked a smile. Although Hans was also a level eighteen Mastery Caster, his name was not nearly as well-known as that of Guan Dongyang. The levels of a caster only translated to his or her soul energy, but not the exact power.
“Sigh… Guan Dongyang is a real talent. He is already one of the top five casters on Mars. Based on the damage he had done to the Zergs, I suspect that he has already advanced into level nineteen.” Hans said with admiration in his voice. His eyes were filled with reflection and jealousy. He was turning forty this year, and he was still stuck at level eighteen. Each day, he scraped the bottom of his mind to find a sliver of inspiration, but it was not that easy. For many years he had tried to advance his level but failed. One difference between the METAL fighter and the mastery casters was in the level at which they would start to understand the Divine Way. The METAL fighter would need to reach level twenty, while the Mastery caster would only need level sixteen.
“Is that so? Now I am interested.” Aamir rubbed his stubby chin and then pondered if he should get involved in this mess.
Aamir thought hard about it as he weighed his options. Although Guan Dongyang was a powerful mastery caster, even Lie Jian was not able to bring him under his wings. Hence, Aamir knew that at most, they could be allies, and Guan Dongyang would never bow to him. However, Aamir reckoned that he was very different than Lie Jian, as he didn’t want a guard dog, but a strong and reliable ally whom he could trust.
Plus, if he helped Battle Wolf in pulling through this difficult time, it would be easier for him to ask them for help in the future. In such reduced circumstances, no one could say for sure when they would need a hand.
After having made up his mind, Aamir waited patiently for Guan Dongyang to come and ask for his aid.
Meanwhile, at Battle Wolf’s camp, everyone was on high alert, and its scouts followed the Thunder Fire’s movements closely.
After realizing that they didn’t have enough men to fight their enemies out in the open, Guan Dongyang dug in for a siege defense. However, he didn’t order to beef up the camp defense, and left it in its meager state. Was it a ruse or an oversight?
Wang Tong stood on top of a watchtower and studied the terrain below. There was nowhere to hide outside this valley — either they would be chased down by the pursuing Thunder Fire, or be ambushed by Zergs. Therefore, it would be even more dangerous for Battle Wolf to run away, instead of digging in for a fight.
The only way to get stronger as a resistant force was to taking over other factions. However brutal and cruel the process of assimilation was, it was a small price for the eventual victory against the Zergs. Not only did the humans have to pay the price for their success, but also the Zergs. In order to further strengthen themselves, they had given up many traditional Zerg traits and become more like the humans.
One of the unsolved mysteries about the Zergs was their origin, since no one knew where they came from, not even the Kaedians. The Kaedeians were the first race to have encountered the Zergs. That happened during a time when Kaedeians were fearless space travelers instead of planet dwellers. One of the Kaedeian spaceships had run into a Zerg horde during a random expedition. The Kaedeians were confident that they could squash the Zerg Fleet with ease. However, the Zergs’ power quickly gave them a dose of reality. As the Kaedeians pulled back during the war, they brought the scourge of the Zergs to the rest of the civilizations.
Wang Tong decided to go down the hill and survey the terrain himself. Like a phantom, he flashed in and out of view. One second, he was at the eastern edge of the large opening, and in the next, he was already behind a large rock to the west.
Charcoal suddenly appeared beside Wang Tong and announced, “All completed, master.”
“Very well! “
“You are in a good mood, master. “
“Hehe, why not? Tell me a joke and brighten up my mood even more.”
“Master, we have been through this… I can’t tell jokes.”
“Yeah, yeah. Well, can you at least give me the number?”
“Yes, master. They are within three kilometers.”
“Excellent! Let’s find a chair and wait for our show to start!”
“Captain, as you have advised, I have spread the news about our attack.” Li Xiu said with an obsequious smile.
“Hehe, good. Let them be scared.”
“Scared they will be! We need to give some pressure to those despicable weaklings.” Li Xiu nodded in agreement. Their goal in the attack on Battle Wolf was not to eliminate them, but to display their strength in front of all factions.
“But, the report seemed to suggest that the Battle Wolf didn’t run away as we expected. They are going to fight.” Randolph said.
“Let them fight. They only have one Mastery caster, and I doubt he would be able to wreak havoc by himself. Plus, we have Nihlathak on our side. Maybe, Guan Dongyang won’t even get the chance to use his mastery.” Marcos said with a broad smile. After Nihlathak had received the news about what happened during Battle Wolf’s Zerg encounter, the absence of the mechanic’s role in their victory made him realize that he might have been fooled by the latter.
He had never heard of any young warrior who had reached the legendary level other than Michaux. The more Nihlathak thought about it, the more he was convinced that it was Guan Dongyang who had tricked him to believe that the furface was a powerful warrior.
Unable to come to terms with the blow to his ego, Nihlathak offered to fight against Guan Dongyang again.
“What is our plan, captain?”
“In order to establish our authority, we need to do two things… show off our strength and get rid of Blizzard. The attack on Battle Wolf is our first step, and we have to make sure that we succeed. The goal of this operation is displaying our might. Therefore, we can’t attack with surprise… It will have to be a direct frontal attack.”
“A marvelous plan, boss! The world needs a ruler like you.” Li Xiu said servilely.
Everyone else chimed in and applauded Marcos’ plan.
Thunder Fire had poured all of their force into this operation. The formation marching toward Battle Wolf was made up of five thousand well equipped and well-trained warriors, as well as five hundred heavy METAL units.
The five thousand warriors were mostly high-level warriors. The merger of Thunder Fire and Rock Buster had deepened Thunder fire’s ranks significantly. In addition, there had been a few other smaller factions that had joined the Thunder Fire.
By then, it was already too late for Battle Wolf to escape.
Despite his imminent victory, Marcos had sent a negotiator to his enemy’s camp as a perfunctory gesture to avert the crisis. The price Battle Wolf had to pay was to become part of Thunder Fire.
“Please consider the offer, Captain Guan. You don’t want the two hundred warriors of yours to die, do you?” Li Xiu was the person that Marcos had sent to Battle Wolf.
Guan Dongyang might have been tempted to surrender for the sake of his comrades’ lives, but he knew he didn’t have to because he had Wang Tong.
Guan Dongyang cracked a smile and then replied, “Why don’t you go back and tell Marcos that he better give up the attack and surrender for the sake of his five thousand warriors?”
Li Xiu’s face blacked and then he fired back, “How dare you! You have left us with no other options!”
“Try me!” Guan Dongyang’s smile evaporated from his face, and he cast a chilling glance at Li Xiu.
“Why? Do you want to kill me to vent your desperation? I never feared death the moment I joined Thunder Fire.” Li Xiu asked.
“No. I need you to tell Marcos to clean his neck for my blade. Get out of my sight… NOW!” Guan Dongyang waved a dismiss and sent an unseen force at Li Xiu, who was blown out of the meeting room in a blink.
