Volume 6, Chapter 14 – Speculation

On the seventh day after the false news of the Inferno Invasion began to spread.

That was also the third day since Seles appeared in the Main World.

After Kongjing Guild lost its Legendary Guild Leader Danqiu Yibai, it completely collapsed. After putting up a bit of resistance against the Underground World NPCs’ assault, it directly abandoned the power it held within its Stronghold territory.

As Kongjing Guild gave up, the scattered solo players also could not hold on alone. After all, without the coordination and support of a large guild, these solo players had absolutely no experience when it came to dealing with large groups of NPCs.

In terms of large-scale army warfare, they were utterly crushed by the Dark Elf NPCs headed by Seles. When it came to command and coordination, these solo players were nowhere near as competent as those veteran guild players.

Therefore, under the influence of these factors, after the solo players “struggled” to resist for about a day, they also had no choice but to give up resisting.

After Kongjing Guild abandoned its Stronghold’s influence, those solo players who had come to support also gave up on those now ownerless lands that the Stronghold had left behind.

With the players exiting the stage, within the former Stronghold’s sphere of influence, aside from those Underground World NPCs suspected to be invaders from below… what remained was Dawn at the head, along with the Strongholds that had already been forced to become Dawn’s vassals.

And without a doubt, now that the players had given up resistance, the first to bear the brunt was the Dawn Faction that stood blocking the Underground World NPCs’ path.

“…So Dawn and those Underground NPCs are going to have a fight…”

Some players had already vaguely guessed that there would be yet another earth-shaking war.

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Of course, regarding this invasion by the Underground World NPCs, most players still did not think very highly of the Underground World NPCs.

After all… Dawn had a real Throne-tier NPC sitting in it, whereas among the Underground World NPC forces, other than the Dwarf Fortress Emperor of the Fortress Faction… the strongest that remained were only Legendary-tier.

As for Tianyin as a Throne-tier, no matter how many Legendary-tier NPCs there were among these invaders, to be blunt they were just being sent over to be farmed.

“Well, even though that’s how we’re saying it, I still think you can’t talk in such absolute terms. After all, there’s no way those NPCs don’t know this kind of information. They definitely wouldn’t do something like throwing eggs at a rock.”

“And I think that before they have absolute certainty, those NPCs from the Underground World probably won’t choose to just rush right up in their faces.”

Some players also felt the Underground World NPCs could not be that stupid, choosing to attack Dawn straight on even while knowing there was a Throne-tier in the Dawn Faction.

However, the vast majority of players did not care about this sort of thing, because as far as they were concerned, disputes between NPCs had nothing to do with them.

And no matter how wonderfully the NPC factions fought against each other, those wars were just one spectacular show after another.

The players were simply the onlookers.

So for most players, it was not important whether those NPCs from the Underground World would fight Dawn. What mattered was only whether the war after they started fighting… would be exciting.

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“Well… so, whether they fight or not, whichever side wins will suffer some losses, right? When that time comes, it’s not impossible for us to just reach in from behind and interfere a bit.”

Among the majority of players just watching, there were still some voices thinking about “profiting as the fisherman.”

For this kind of seemingly very “sinister” talk, many rational players expressed strong disdain.

“You’re actually daring to think about stabbing a Throne-tier in the back? You must be tired of living.”

“Idiot, you can’t underestimate NPCs. Sure, we can revive infinitely, but with how hard it is to level up now, every time you die you’re wasting several days of your hard work.”

“The idea of stabbing someone in the back is fine, but you have to think about who you’re using that method on. If the strength gap between the two sides is too big, I advise you to be kind…”

In short, this talk of “fishing in troubled waters” was directly publicly executed by the mass of players.

……

In the Main World of the game, in Eden City within Dawn, Tianyin also received at the first moment the news that the Underground World’s NPC army had begun to move toward Dawn’s borders.

However, this information was not told to Tianyin by Xingyu Muxi. Instead, Tianyin herself obtained the relevant urgent reports that had been sent from the border’s guard units.

“Neutral Faction armies from the Underground World? Dark Elves… Minotaurs… looks like they really aren’t forces from the Fortress Emperor’s side, so we can mostly be sure they’re those Neutral Faction forces.”

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After receiving this news, Tianyin immediately began to analyze it.

However, this time, for some unknown reason, Xingyu Muxi was not present.

Of course… it was not just today that Xingyu Muxi was absent. Starting a few days ago, the time she spent logging into the game had been getting shorter and shorter…

The appearance of this pattern inevitably made Tianyin worried in her heart, but in the end, even with Throne-tier strength, Tianyin still could not interfere with the real world.

So no matter how worried she was, all she could do was secretly guess in her heart that Sister Xiaomu was only being delayed because she had matters to handle in reality.

And because Xingyu Muxi had been absent during this period, Tianyin was also “forced” to start trying to take over Dawn’s affairs herself.

That said, aside from a few embarrassing incidents at the beginning due to inexperience, Tianyin’s level at handling affairs had been steadily improving.

Of course, the reason Tianyin improved so quickly could not be separated from the help of the newest Legendary to join Dawn… the Astrologer Witch, Yivrea.

And right now, the one staying in the same room as Tianyin was none other than Yivrea herself.

“As far as I know, for the Fortress Emperor and the Dwarves of the Fortress, apart from their love for forging and strong liquor, what remains for them is only battling the demons of Inferno. So these armies from the Underground World absolutely cannot be from the Fortress.”

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After Tianyin confirmed the intelligence, Yivrea at the side directly affirmed Tianyin’s judgment.

“However, Xiaoyin… Dark Elves are naturally cunning, and based on some books and documents, as well as my own understanding of Dark Elves… what they’re best at is internal strife. Dark Elves like that should by rights be completely impossible to unite together and attack the Surface World.”

“Wuu… Yivrea… then what you’re saying is?”

Tianyin had also faintly noticed this point. Compared to Yivrea’s conjecture and speculation, however, what slowly surfaced in Tianyin’s heart was a bad thought.

Of course, before anything was confirmed, Tianyin could not just casually draw a conclusion like that.

“Xiaoyin, what I mean is this. Unless there is some existence that can forcibly make those Dark Elves set aside their internal strife and uniformly obey that existence’s commands.”

“Wuu… is that it?”

As Yivrea’s words fell, a name that she should have long since forgotten inexplicably surfaced in Tianyin’s mind.

Seles.