Volume 3, Chapter 89 – Catching Them Off Guard

The war between Stronghold and the new faction Eden broke out very quickly.

Because of the presence of Fisiel and Xingyu Muxi, and on top of that the existence of Eden’s mysterious leader, this battle inexplicably drew the attention of almost all the players.

And when the war began, the players were surprised to discover that the army Eden had sent out to confront Stronghold was made up entirely of NPCs.

It was really strange. It was clearly supposed to be a player faction, yet the army it dispatched was entirely NPCs…

You had to know that the relationship between NPCs and players was rather delicate. Generally speaking, if an independent player faction could have an NPC army of a few hundred under its command, that was already very good… and most so called “armies” were made up of players…

And there was a huge fundamental difference between armies of NPCs and armies of players. An NPC army was an actual army in the true sense, while an army formed by players might look like an army, yet the more people you had, the more chaotic it became on the battlefield.

Taken together… an NPC army was far better than a player army…

What shocked the players was that Eden actually possessed an NPC army that numbered in the hundreds of thousands…

“This is kind of over the top… just this alone puts Eden way ahead of us…”

Since Stronghold’s war against Eden had already become public knowledge, nobody even knew how many players had gathered to watch this war, so on the outskirts of the battlefield, as the players watched the two armies facing off, they could not help sighing at Eden’s move of fielding over a hundred thousand NPC troops in one go…

“But in terms of numbers, Stronghold’s Beastmen still hold the advantage. They didn’t choose to use strategy to break the enemy but chose a direct frontal clash instead… Eden’s decision makers have made a very serious mistake…:

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Among the onlookers there was no lack of players who only knew how to talk tactics on paper, and they started picking apart Eden’s decision to engage head-on.

“Even though I admire Eden’s courage in facing the enemy head-on, they are already at a disadvantage in terms of troop numbers… and besides, this time Stronghold has dispatched four Legendary Beastmen on top of the Beastman King… Eden only has a single Legendary on their side… the outcome of this war is basically already decided…”

The watching players talked over one another. Of course, as players, they still hoped that Eden, which was also a “player faction”, would win…

Even so, while Stronghold had been beaten senseless in the war against Graveyard, dealing with Eden was still very easy…

As time ticked by, the two armies tacitly refrained from disturbing each other, instead each side deployed their troops.

However, because Eden’s army was smaller in number, their deployment was much faster than the Beastmen’s.

After the army had been deployed, the Legendary Knight Princess, who served as the overall commander of this force, rode her warhorse to the center of the army.

The moment this Knight Princess appeared, she drew the attention of the watching players.

“Fisiel. It is Fisiel!”

“Every time I see her in person I think she is so beautiful… it is just a pity she is an NPC…”

The sighs of the players watching from the outskirts of the battlefield did not reach Fisiel’s ears. At this moment, after arriving at the position of the central command, the Knight Princess’ stern gaze locked tightly onto the Beastmen army in the distance that was still rearranging itself.

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“Gawain, if we suddenly launch an attack at a time like this, is that not completely at odds with the Paladin code?”

Looking at the Beastmen army that was still adjusting its formation, Fisiel spoke without turning her head.

Behind this knight girl, the only high ranking Paladin left in the Knights of the Round Table, Paladin Gawain, gave a small shake of his head.

“That is indeed the Paladin code, but now, we are no longer Paladins…”

Fisiel had long known about the matter of the Knights of the Round Table being struck from the rolls of the Kingdom together with her.

Even so, hearing Gawain say it out loud like that still made her feel a little heavy inside.

“I understand.”

As she answered Gawain, Fisiel’s mind drifted to the words Xingyu Muxi had said to her before the battle began.

“The Beastmen on the other side will believe that you will obey the Paladin code, so as long as you deploy your forces openly on the battlefield, the Beastmen will definitely also deploy their forces openly. Since we are fewer in number, we will naturally finish deploying faster than they do, so while the Beastmen are still busy arranging their lines, we take that chance to launch a direct attack.”

Before, Fisiel had only half believed what Xingyu Muxi had told her.

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But up to this very moment… Fisiel suddenly realized that events were unfolding exactly as Xingyu Muxi had predicted…

“She really is a terrifying person…”

With that sigh, the knight girl under the gaze of the masses slowly drew the longsword at her waist.

Zheng——

In that instant, the crisp sound of a sharp sword leaving its scabbard rang through the air.

“Pass down the order, full army advance!”

As the order came down from the supreme commander, the entire army reacted at once as if it were a precisely constructed machine.

Then, under the astonished gazes of countless players…

On the very first day, the war between Eden and Stronghold, in this dramatic way, began…

Fisiel’s attack caught Stronghold completely unprepared, and while their troops were still deploying and adjusting their formations, the moment Eden launched its assault the Stronghold army lost its rhythm and fell into confusion, so right at the outset, before Stronghold could react… they were driven into a disadvantage like this.

“Amazing… amazing, taking the opportunity to attack while the other side was not ready yet, the Knight Princess really lives up to her title…”

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“If the people back in the Kingdom could see this scene, they might actually regret striking the Knight Princess from the rolls…”

The watching players all sighed, and on the forums in the real world where there were live posts about this war, countless players were also taking part in the discussion.

It had to be said that this move of Fisiel’s… really did make people sit up and take notice.

Of course, the players did not know that Fisiel acted this way only because Xingyu Muxi had been directing from behind.

However, as time went on, the situation on the battlefield shifted from being in Eden’s favor to slowly becoming a stalemate.

This happened because the Beastmen really did have far more troops. Even though they had been caught off guard by Fisiel at the very beginning, once the units at the rear surged forward to take over, the Beastmen gradually clawed their way back from their disadvantage.

“The Paladin on the other side does indeed have talent in command, but in the face of absolute power, these little tricks that are not worth mentioning can only give you the upper hand for a short while.”

Watching the battlefield from the center of his army, the old Beastman King who was personally commanding the war spoke like this to the Beastmen generals beside him, who were also Legendaries.

“If the commander on the other side only has this level of skill, to be honest… I really do not see any possibility of us losing.”