Chapter 434 - 29: Encirclement and Suppression

Chapter 434: Chapter 29: Encirclement and Suppression

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, two more months had passed.

It was now the fifth month since the start of the third phase.

During this time, war also broke out on the Human Race’s other two fronts—the borders with the Crystal Core Giants and the Beastmen—following an initial period of reconnaissance and skirmishes.

This was especially true on the western border, where the Beastmen launched a frenzied offensive under the leadership of their respective Commanders.

The Sharp Claw Druids and Fierce Raptor Druids, stationed behind the Beastman lines, provided the Human Race with a wealth of intelligence support. (As reconnaissance was no longer needed on the eastern front, Lin Yu had transferred them to the west.)

Most of the Human Race’s lords had already industrialized. With the aid of firearms and cannons, human armies held a significant advantage in clashes between conventional forces.

However, despite having the upper hand defensively, the Human Race lacked the excess strength to occupy Beastman territory.

The ordinary Beastman troops couldn’t compete with human firearms units, but their high-tier soldiers were by no means inferior.

Large numbers of Priests and High-Tier Beastman Soldiers firmly suppressed any human counteroffensives.

Moreover, the Beastmen were fighting to the death for their god.

All resources in their rear territories were dedicated to recruiting and training troops. Even as soldiers died in droves on the front lines, a steady stream of reinforcements was sent from the rear.

The Human Race, with its limited troop numbers, could only focus on a full-scale defense.

This was because the lords on the eastern front were busy defending against the Nuclear Crystal Beasts dispatched by the Crystal Core Giants and were unable to provide support.

According to the agreement with the Crystal Core Giants, the strength of these Nuclear Crystal Beasts was designed to increase gradually.

At first, the lords on the eastern front defended with ease, even having enough spare energy to venture into the Crystal Core Giants’ continent to hunt.

Four months later, they had all pulled back to their own territories.

Their territories had also been industrialized, and the firepower of their defensive fortresses was formidable.

But the abilities of the Nuclear Crystal Beasts were bizarre and varied. No one knew the principles behind the Crystal Core Giants’ technology, and the abilities of the creatures they created were rarely ever the same.

Based on their combat abilities, they could be divided into different major categories, such as the elemental types: wind, water, fire, lightning, and so on.

Even within the same category, their methods of execution differed. Take the fire-type ability to ignite a target, for example. Some Nuclear Crystal Beasts had accelerants in their bodies and used them to start fires; others manipulated fire elements; and some could even cause a target to spontaneously combust just by staring at it for a minute.

Consequently, these Nuclear Crystal Beasts were incredibly difficult to deal with. Moreover, as time went on, not only did their numbers increase, but their power grew as well.

To use the fire-types as an example again: they started with simple ignition, progressed to using Fireball, and now, the Nuclear Crystal Beasts were already using Bursting Fireball.

The lords on the eastern front were now defending in terror, afraid that at any moment the Nuclear Crystal Beasts would start using meteor strikes to besiege their cities.

Thus, they began appealing to the lords in the Central Region—who were busy developing as fast as they could—for reinforcements on the border.

However, the lords of the Central Region had little motivation to reinforce the eastern front.

Everyone knew about the agreement with the Crystal Core Giants. They understood that even if they went to fight in the east, they wouldn’t be able to seize any territory, and even if they successfully defended, they would eventually be eliminated anyway.

Besides, the Crystal Core Giants themselves had said they wouldn’t occupy territory; they would only escalate the intensity of the fighting.

It seemed far better to support the western front. If they defeated the Beastmen, they could seize their lands.

Fortunately, these Nuclear Crystal Beasts were like monsters in a video game: they dropped loot.

Killing a Nuclear Crystal Beast offered a chance to obtain a damaged Crystal Core. After some simple processing, these damaged Crystal Cores could be embedded into equipment, granting it a weakened version of the slain beast’s ability.

This allowed the lords on the eastern border to steadily grow stronger. Although their power couldn’t keep pace with the escalating strength of the Nuclear Crystal Beasts, they were at least managing to hold on against the waves sent by the Crystal Core Giants.

At the same time, while defending, they scrambled to use their various defensive fortresses as anchors to build even larger defensive walls, enclosing their outlying farms, mines, and other production centers.

...

On May first, an argument erupted between the Noble Lords and Civilian Lords in the Titan Race’s chat group.

The cause: the Civilian Lords had conquered the territory of a Noble Lord, Dailuo Ke.

The very same lord who had once boasted in the chat channel that his Gravity Cannon was enough to annihilate a sea of Slime Monsters had just had his territory occupied by the Civilian Lords.

Dailuo Ke was no ordinary Noble Lord from the fringe; he was a top-tier noble from the Central Region. He possessed countless technologies and was just beginning to hit his stride. Given time, he could have produced even more advanced gravity weapons.

With his gravity technology far surpassing that of an average lord, Dailuo Ke had been a key player in the fight against the Civilian Lords.

No one had expected the Civilian Lords to actually withstand the attacks from the Gravity Cannons and conquer Dailuo Ke’s territory.

Furthermore, after conquering Dailuo Ke’s territory, these civilians didn’t destroy it. Instead, they occupied it, using the existing buildings and equipment to mass-produce Gravity Cannons.

Some Civilian Lords even filmed videos to flaunt their victory in the chat channel.

(Since they hadn’t captured Dailuo Ke, there was no way to keep the conquest of his territory a secret.)

The Noble Lords were furious when they saw this, and they all erupted into a flame war with the Civilian Lords in the chat channel.

The lords surrounding Dailuo Ke’s territory also marshaled their forces and laid siege to it. However, they did not attack rashly, as they were unaware of what trump cards the Civilian Lords might be holding.