Chapter 215: They’re Running Too Fast

Galen shouted into the broadcast.

[Galen Tervain: Stop, Lord Austin! You still have a hundred thousand Rare and Epic troops! How many can his Dragons and Extreme troops hold off? You can bury Cassian under your army!]

Commander Merwick sounded equally distressed.

[Commander Merwick: Kill him, and you might even be able to take those Extreme troops for yourself! If you withdraw, all the reinforcements you gathered will fall apart!]

[Lord Austin’s broadcast has ended.]

Galen stared at the notice, then swore.

"Damned coward!"

Thirty seconds later, Austin successfully withdrew from the Provincial Capital.

Rhea looked puzzled.

"Lord, even with a hundred thousand troops in the way, we Praetorians could have stopped him from escaping."

"Austin is one ant," Cassian said with a smile. "He isn’t worth all the Battle Essence those armies can bring me. If I killed him even behind defenses like that, who would dare come and fight us afterward?"

A Lord from Coldridge suddenly posted in shock.

[Austin has left Tidecrown altogether!]

Cassian laughed.

"He really doesn’t waste time."

[Darian Frost: Losing his precious Legendary troops in one blow must have hurt. He’s gone home to his mother.]

That was only the beginning.

[Nessa Fenwick: Selene has left the Capital too! That bitch ran without even waiting!]

Nessa was beaming. The others brightened as well. Leaving the Capital meant an hour under White Flag.

Cassian’s plan was working.

[Number four ran! Another Black Banner coward scared out of his wits!]

[Number five, from the Sunspire Federation, is right behind him!]

[Why didn’t we think of this?]

[Would it help if you had? Could you make them run?]

[I was wrong earlier. He isn’t fighting a Marches by himself. He’s fighting a whole Province!]

Cassian, meanwhile, was happily harvesting the army Austin had left behind.

More than a hundred thousand Heroes and troops remained on the battlefield. Without Austin’s direction, they were a disorganized mass and no threat to his force.

Little more than ten minutes later, Cassian examined his gains.

"One point two billion Battle Essence..."

He offered Austin his heartfelt good wishes.

"What a good man. May he live a long and peaceful life."

The Battle Essence and equipment from those few minutes matched what he could gain in a day in Swordheart.

Even there, Rare monsters were minor bosses. Austin had practically gathered a hundred thousand bosses in one place for him to kill.

"Relocate."

This was a Combat site. Cassian moved his Domain into it, gaining another substantial boost to his fighting strength, then checked the death list for his next target.

Not a single living target on the first list remained in the Capital.

Mira posted a second list almost at once.

[1. Isadora Vaust — Veylan Security Captain. Site 3113: Combat.]

[2...]

"Vaust? Another descendant of Osric Vaust."

Cassian challenged her before she had time to react.

[Isadora Vaust: I’m only a defenseless woman! Mira Calder, you bitch, why did you put me first? I’ll haunt you even after I’m dead!]

Mira hurried to answer.

[Mira Calder: Don’t listen to her, Boss. She’s one of House Vaust’s best-known hardliners.]

[Nessa Fenwick: Don’t worry, Mira. Cassian sees friends and enemies, not men and women.]

"There is a difference, actually," Cassian found time to say.

It made no difference to Isadora’s fate. Amid her furious curses and desperate pleading, his troops broke through her Lord’s Hall in little more than ten seconds and killed her.

As expected, when Cassian checked the list again, every remaining target had fled. Even the Lords in ninth and tenth place were gone.

[Mira Calder: They’re running too fast! I haven’t finished the third list yet!]

[Cassian Vale: Put a hundred names on the next one. Keep them roughly in order of strength. It doesn’t have to be exact.]

That made the job much easier.

[Mira Calder: Yes, Boss!]

Galen was beside himself.

[Galen Tervain: Deserters! Every one of you! You’ve disgraced the Black Banner!]

[Galen Tervain: We already have sixty-eight percent Occupation Progress. The Crown changed Commanders. They’re starting from zero! Cassian’s main force was outside Tidecrown. He can’t have more than a few hundred War Intent. How many Lords can he kill?]

[Galen Tervain: Hold on for a few more hours, and victory is ours!]

In theory, he had a point.

But he had forgotten a simple question. Who wanted to trade his own life for one point of Cassian’s War Intent?

One of the War Lords who had just withdrawn could no longer hold his tongue.

[You haven’t entered the Capital to fight once, Lord Tervain. Easy to say when it isn’t your life.]

[Galen Tervain: I’m not afraid of death! But if I die, who will lead us to the Governorship?]

[Commander Merwick: Perhaps I could try?]

At that moment, Mira’s new list of a hundred names appeared.

Nearly two hundred Black Banner Lords withdrew at once.

For a moment, Galen could only stare. Then his fury returned.

[Galen Tervain: Why are people who aren’t on the list leaving too?]

One comparatively honest Lord answered awkwardly.

[Sorry, Lord Tervain. I misread it.]

The Crown Lords roared with laughter.

[You’re going to kill us laughing before you kill us in battle!]

Colonel Mercer was trembling with excitement.

"We can win. We can actually win!"

A strange sight spread across the battlefield that had been so fiercely contested only minutes before.

Whenever Mira posted a hundred names, every Lord on the list vanished from the Capital within three seconds. Dozens more fled with them, afraid of waiting long enough to become Cassian’s next target.

Most of the Crown’s War Lords were still under White Flag, unable to challenge for sites. For the first time, empty positions began appearing across the Capital map.

Cassian frowned.

If this continued, winning the Governorship would be easy. His plan to earn Battle Essence, however, would be ruined.

Another ten minutes passed. During that time, the military and Darian’s group offered to reinforce his Domain in the Capital.

Cassian declined.

Galen had fallen silent. He seemed to be discussing a countermeasure.

Then a name on Mira’s latest list caught Cassian’s eye.

[44. Nestor Alderwick — Black Banner military Lord. Site 7778: Combat. Defensive Reinforcements present.]

Ten seconds had passed. He was still there.

"Good. They’ve finally organized themselves."

Light flashed. Cassian and the same force appeared outside Alderwick’s Domain.

He smiled at what he saw.

"Not as good as Austin’s, but it’ll do."

There were still more than a hundred thousand troops. Their Quality was lower, though. Many were only Elite.

Then a system notice arrived.

[Your Domain is being challenged by another Lord.]

"Good. They finally thought of it. All that effort wasn’t wasted."

Cassian smiled.

"Sending me kills on both sides. I should send the Black Banner’s military a banner of thanks afterward."