Chapter 98: The Draconian High Priest and Preparation for War
He could only wait patiently.
Zhang Nu continued sending troops to attack the nearby tribes or forcing them to surrender.
Currently, excluding Giantree City, there were as many as 31 small and medium-sized forces under his control.
These forces had a population ranging from a few hundred to over a thousand. Although they were quite insignificant, they had provided a lot of labor force.
The development of Giant Tree City was going smoothly.
Even though the establishment of the caravan and the Hero Order could not be completed in a single step.
Nevertheless, dozens of acres of elf farms had been set up beside the Tree of Life.
The scale of the elf farms would be astonishing in the future. Not only could it produce food, it could also be used for animal husbandry. The elf farms were nourished by the Tree of Life, its efficiency would be comparable to that of a spirit field.
To be honest.
Just from the harvest of goblin farms.
Zhang Nu had so much food and provisions that his granary was about to burst.
Soon, the elf farms would start producing even more harvests. So, won't the food and provisions just piled up and left to spoil? Zhang Nu hastily worked up three solutions to resolve this issue.
First, increase food exports.
The food and provisions would not be sold to Demon Kings exclusively. In fact, there were many cities and tribes in the forest that lacked food. Food has always been an important resource in this world.
Second, increase the planting of other crops.
If too much food was produced in a short period of time, more land could be allocated to grow medicinal crops or other fruits and vegetables.
Third, increase the population of his territory and the size of his army.
For the next few days, Zhang Mu successively recruited thousands of Draconian Laborers and Soldiers.
The unit structure is as follows:
Logistics: 7500 Draconian Laborers, 3000 High Draconian Laborers, 500 Draconian Craftsmen, totaling 11000.
Army: 8800 Draconian Soldiers, 500 High Draconian Soldiers, 60 Super Draconian Soldiers, 50 Draconian Battlemages, 20 Mythic Draconian Battlemages, 15 Draconian Generals, 5 Draconian Priests and 1 Draconian Marshal. Nearly 10,000 in total.
The total population reaches 20451!
Zhang Nu has met the recruitment criteria of the "Draconian High Priest".
He sent Li Si, the draconian priest, to the altar and upgraded him into a high priest.
[Draconian High Priest] Level 3 Lord unit, 600 HP, 1000 MP, 45 Strength, 50 Constitution, 55 Agility, 100 Willpower. Loyalty 100% (Locked). Fatigue 10%, Hunger 10%.
Skills: Inferno Winged Drake Form (Talent), Blood Ritual (B Rank), Teleportation Field (B Rank), Healing Field (B Rank), Death Field (B Rank), Weakening Field (B Rank), All-Knowing Eye (C Rank), Thunderfall Curse (C Rank), Flame Explosion Curse (D Rank)...
Most of them were the same as before.
In spite of that, the skill level has been increased by one level. In addition, all of its stats have been greatly enhanced. More importantly, there was a change in its bloodline.
The Draconian Priest was originally of the Abyssal Winged Drake bloodline.
The Draconian High Priest, however, was now of the Inferno Winged Drake bloodline.
The Inferno Winged Drake was an advanced species of the drake family. Not only did it have a more ferocious temperament, it also possessed a more terrifying combat prowess.
There was another matter especially worthy of attention.
The Draconian High Priest has a brand new B Rank skill: Blood Ritual.
[Rite of Blood] A B Rank skill, consumes 100 MP. It links all Draconian units within 1000 meters through the ritual, so as to achieve the effect of damage sharing. The maximum damage shared is 70%. It will consume 50 MP of the caster every second. The caster will be stationary during casting.
The description of the skill may be confusing.
In fact, it was very easy to understand. As long as the Draconian High Priest was casting this ritual spell, all Draconian units within the radius of 1,000 meters would have life sharing!
This would mean.
Even after a Draconian received a mortal blow.
Through the effect of the ritual, Li Si could transfer most of the damage received to other Draconians.
With this spell, a Draconian would most likely survive an attack that was supposed to be fatal.
As for the transferred damage, since it could be evenly distributed to dozens, hundreds or even more Draconians, the damage would be instantly reduced to the minimum on average.
This was an extremely terrifying skill!
It was also a core skill unique to the high priest.
The role of the Draconian High Priest was far greater than imagined, enough to greatly improve the survivability and combat capabilities of an entire army.
However, this unit would really draw a lot of aggro if the enemy became aware of how the skill works.
It would definitely become the target of concentrated attacks.
In the future, it was best for Li Si to not fight in person and leave the frontlines to the Draconian Marshal, Zhang San. The Draconian High Priest, Li Si, should just stay in the backline and provide support in peace.
Once this pair worked together.
Even Zhang Nu would have a headache facing them.
Just then.
A soldier rushed in.
"Master!"
"Urgent report from Giantree City!"
"There's been movement from Berserk Beast City!"
"A huge army is heading for Giantree City!"
Zhang Nu was slightly taken aback at the news. He originally assumed that the Heroes would attack the Darkness Valley; he never thought that they would directly target Giantree City.
However.
Zhang Nu understood their motives after some thoughts.
Berserk Beast City must have speculated that the Giantree City, after undergoing continuous internal strife, being taken advantage of and conquered by a Demon King, would currently be in a state of instability and weakness.
Berserk Beast City already had the ambition of annexing Giantree City in the first place.
This time, not only could they take the opportunity to capture the Giant Tree City directly, but also lure the Demon King out of the Darkness Valley, which would be easier to deal with.
The orcs thought they knew the elves very well.
The elves were a stubborn and extremely proud race. It was impossible for the elves to submit themselves to a foreign invader. Their relationship with the Demon King would not be amiable.
After Zhang Nu figured it out.
He could not help but to laugh out loud.
"So it seems."
"This is no longer just a fight between Heroes and Demon King."
"It's now a war between two forest cities."
"Oh well, this is fine. Better to finish everything in one battle than wasting time going back and forth."
Zhang Nu would like to take this opportunity to test something.
After pouring in so much time, money and effort into building his Draconian army, as well as strengthening his Draconian Marshal Zhang San and Draconian High Priest Li Si. He would like to see how well his army can do on the battlefield.
Zhang Nu teleported to Giantree City.
Due to the news regarding the invasion army of Berserk Beast City.
Giantree City was in a state of great panic.
After all, Berserk Beast City had been overpowering Giantree City in recent years. They only barely managed to mediate with the orcs when the Great Elders were still around.
After experiencing such turmoil a while ago.
With the death of several elders, including the eldest, the forces of Giantree City were extremely depleted. It would definitely not be an easy task to hold off the assault of Berserk Beast City.
In terms of military strength.
Giantree City is incomparable to Berserk Beast City.
In the end, even if they could repel the army of Berserk Beast City with the city barrier and various defense facilities.
The casualties would be huge.
And so.
The personal arrival of His Majesty the Demon King himself.
It put the elves of Giantree City at ease.
The elves of Giantree City have long acknowledged the Demon King, who was suspected of having an affair with the Goddess of Nature. His presence has boosted the morale of the Giantree City army and made the elven commoners gain a sense of security.
The city lord of Berserk Beast City.
He was undefeated.
His bravery and ferocity were feared.
One can only hope that the Demon King would be able to hold him back.
Zhang Nu asked directly, "What do we know about the current situation?"
"The Dragonhawk Riders from the Ancient Tree have just returned from their reconnaissance." Nancilia was very nervous, "I'm afraid Berserk Beast City is going all out this time!"
All these years.
Giantree City and Berserk Beast City have been at odds for many times.
It was not the first time that the orcs have assaulted Giantree City.
Before that, however, it was mostly blackmail and plundering for the purpose of simply trying to suppress and weaken the Giantree City as much as possible.
This time, it was different.
Nancilia continued, "From what we know, not only did Grey, the city lord of Berserk Beast, appear in person, but he brought along four commanders with the rank Master of Ten Thousand! It's a lineup we've never seen before!"
Zhang Nu urged on, "What is the size of their army?"
"Their number reached about 30000. They have sent out their strongest Berserk Beast army, including Berserker Corps, Wolf Rider Corps, and Winged Beast Corps!"
The entire population of Berserk Beast City was all fighters.
30000 did not seem to be a lot or powerful.
That was in fact incorrect.
These 30000 were Berserk Beast City's strongest military force.
Almost all of them were elite units, and they were personally led by the city Lord and his four Masters of Ten Thousand.
This time, the Berserk Beast City has sent out at least 70% of its forces
It was no wonder why the elves of Giantree were so panicked.
After understanding the situation, Zhang Nu was unfazed, and ordered Li Si, the high priest, "Teleport half of the Draconian army over here before dark."
"As ordered!"
Li Si immediately went to make arrangements.
The forces of Giantree itself were not weak.
Half of the Draconian army was more than enough.
Zhang Mu calculated the time, and when the Berserker Beast army was almost there, he spent 50,000 gold coins to perform an offering at the Temple of Nature.
[You have completed the offering!]
[Current Divine Skill Level: 3!]
[Goddess of Nature's Blessing lv3] Special status, +30% Max Hp, gain 5 HP and 5 MP recovery every minute, lasts for twenty-four hours.
This very instance.
Every elf felt it.
The divine blessing bestowed by the Goddess of Nature had suddenly amplified.
The elves were surprised and delighted.
Was it because of the Demon King again?
What was his relationship with the Goddess anyway!
Zhang Nu was very satisfied with the Temple of Nature. A 30% maximum HP increase was not a small boost, it was enough to raise the strength of an army to another level.
<em class="chakra-text css-0">Why aren't the Berserk Beasts here yet?
Zhang Nu was getting a little impatient.