"Hello, is this Mina? Has Phakin logged out yet?" Lilian's voice spoke up as she called Phakin's house, and Mina answered the phone.
Mina on the other end replied, "Master has logged out already and just logged back in a moment ago. Additionally, the master is on a quest outside the city and is not with my character in the game, so I couldn't contact him immediately. Anyway, I'll inform him to call back when I meet him."
"Sure," Lilian responded languidly. She didn't intend to wait, so she called the next line.
"Amant, are you there?" This time Lilian called Winter Solstice, who she preferred because the people she trusted most at the moment were those five individuals the group targeted.
But apparently, "It's been two days, and the master hasn't returned yet," the assistant AI responded, seeming unconcerned. "He's probably at the vineyard as usual," was the assistant's guess about his master.
Lilian hung up again and ended up shaking her head. Calling Li Wei wasn't an option either, as he was also struggling with the same problems as her. Asking him for an opinion on how to separate spies within the city seemed a bit much. "I better go horseback riding to relieve stress first; I'll think of something," she thought. She had managed to become the city's leader on her own. If she needed to find a good solution, she believed she had the ability to come up with one. But the paranoia embedded in her mind prevented her from thinking clearly. Going out to relax was another way to clear her mind and think of a solution.
Several days passed at the log building, which served as the workshop for the Templar Knight guild.
A portly man got down from a luxury car and swaggered inside. The guild members warmly greeted each other in numbers.
A skinny man approached and asked, "Lillian called for troops to attack the city of Tuguria. What do you think?"
The portly man pretended to ponder, but in truth, he had known about it since the morning from an insider. He cleared his throat and asked, "What does the guild leader think are the chances of winning this battle? Don't forget, the last battle in the city of Sirius cost us dearly."
The guild leader shook his head, unsure, and said, "That side will cooperate with Guhai Wubian . It's uncertain if they have a better chance than us."
Knowing beforehand, the portly man feigned contemplation and then agreed, "If we don't respond to Camelot's call, and if Guinevere 28 truly defeats the dwarves, she might turn her blade on us. The Templar Knight guild is established in the territory of Camelot. We can't make the host see us as enemies. We cannot ignore the request."
The guild leader agreed, "I think the same... In that case, please rally fifty thousand players to join with Camelot."
The portly man gave a sly smile and further asked, "Do you know if Camelot will use tanks in the battle? Will our guild have the right to use them?"
The news that Camelot could produce tanks wasn't a secret. The guild leader, who had been pursuing Lady Lillian, knew well and said, "I'll ask her about it."
The portly man smiled back, trying to mask his cunning expression.
They went their separate ways to work. Suddenly, the guild leader turned back and asked, "Ben, I can trust you, right?"
The portly man, or Ben as the guild leader called him, froze for a moment before nodding and replied casually, "What are you talking about, Steve? How many years have we known each other? Why ask about trust now?"
Stephen, or Steve, or Blazing Knight, the leader of the Templar Knight guild, forced a smile and said, "It's nothing. Just hearing about Raspberry Pie betraying Mewku Mewku in the Rigel 2 battle made me feel sad for Mewku Mewku. We all knew Raspberry Pie well. She seemed so loyal, always working for the guild... Sigh, you never know someone's heart. If Sagittarius hadn't turned the situation around then, Mewku Mewku's fleet wouldn't have been recovered."
Ben laughed heartily to cover his unease and said, "Rest assured, our Templar Knight guild doesn't have that happening."
Besides plundering the town of KirkFarm, Sagittarius also spent millions of baht on travel expenses for the entire convoy, which greatly shortened the travel time. Upon logging back in, the convoy of tens of thousands had already traveled halfway.
Sagittarius on horseback turned to the NPC warrior who rode up from the rear to report.
"Another half day, my lord."
He timed his login perfectly. Sagittarius immediately issued an order,
"Dig!"
Dig what... Dig the path their long convoy was passing through.
Sagittarius looked up at the sky and loudly said, "I hope it's thorough."
A force of one thousand consisted of fifty tanks, and the rest were armed golems.
AI Dwarf officer traveled to KirkFarm town and found only a deserted town with just over a hundred people. He slapped the lord Kirk, who was standing loyally at the town gate, several times, then abandoned the town and headed south to follow Sagittarius.
The AI's brain thought the same as GM initially, which was that what Sagittarius led was just "refugees."
What harm could refugees do? Just follow them and herd them back.
Now, in the temporary camp, the dwarf officer started to wonder why the refugees were retreating so quickly. They drove tanks, so they should obviously be faster than those on foot. Why haven't they caught up yet?
Then, the scouts sent news back, making the dwarf officer understand, "Everyone has transportation??"
If they were on foot, they would surely catch up in no time. But if they had horses, carriages, that would be a different story.
"If we leave now, we'll catch up in one hour and thirty minutes," the dwarf soldier saluted and reported.
The dwarf officer responded, "Then speed up and catch up with them!" and ordered the camp to be quickly packed up for pursuit.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang
It was a tank running through various potholes, which made it significantly slower.
This made the dwarf commander wonder once more how these potholes came to be, and why there were so many.
But just as he was wondering, a dwarf soldier climbed into the tank and reported,
"The rear unit, which is responsible for packing up the camp and following behind, has now lost contact, sir!"
The commander's AI began processing and ordered, "Send five golems back to scout and report!"
It was standard for force organization to have a front line, middle line, and rear line, with the rear line being the supply, ammunition, and other support units.
For the rear line of this dwarf armored battalion, it consisted of five tanks while the rest were golems used for logistics.
After the dwarf commander shook his head as he ran through potholes for a while longer, the same dwarf soldier climbed up the tank and knocked once more.
"Commander, the rear unit has been completely annihilated, sir!"
As the dwarf commander was about to ask for details, the forward scout unit reported, "Commander, a convoy has been spotted setting up camp just five kilometers ahead. Judging by their attire, they appear to be refugees from the colonies of our Iron Mine Kingdom, sir!"
Do they not intend to run!!??
Coupled with the rear unit being destroyed... The AI calculated for a brief moment and understood.
They had fallen into a trap.
They were surrounded on both sides.
The humans traveling on horseback were merely bait to lure their battalion into this trap!
But in reality, it's not quite so.
Phakin logged out partly because he needed to eat, take a shower, and sleep on a soft bed. But the main reason was this.
Phakin arranged with Mina to send reinforcements due to the vast expanse of the Asia-Oceania server map, which required time to travel. From the city of Chandra in the far southeast of the map, they were to meet halfway. So, Sagittarius was willing to pay the exorbitant costs to provide all refugees with means of travel in order to "create time" for the convoy of refugees to meet with his army. Furthermore, the iron mining dwarves had to stop by KirkFarm town first and then follow.
It was correct to lure them according to the AI's plan, but this attempt required time to call for reinforcements.
This made the journey take three days.
Additionally, the AI brain of the dwarf commander calculated that they were trapped, based on the assessment that there was a refugee army ahead and some force attacking the rear.
Squeezing from both front and back made it difficult to survive... But Sagittarius wasn't playing just to make survival difficult "only."
"Hey!!!" As soon as the voice cried out internally that they were tricked, the Azure Warrior sprinted out from the trees lining both sides of the path, flanking the middle of the army convoy.