The beastman invasion of the border was a natural disaster for Risel City, but for Dawn City, wasn't it precisely an opportunity?
Judging by the beastmen's direction of attack, their final target might very well be Green City. If Green City truly fell, his losses would be astronomical.
But that didn't stop him from reaping enough war dividends in the current campaign.
Moreover, Green City was still far from falling. As the core city of the Southern Province, it gathered all the top forces of the South.
Just how terrifying the hidden strength beneath this iceberg truly was, no one likely knew.
Even the beastmen might not be able to bite into this tough bone.
"How can I extract the goblins while also seizing high-end population?"
Once Li De sorted through his thoughts, he couldn't help but feel a headache. The problem circled back to the original point.
Under the encirclement of a beastman army several hundred thousand strong, trying to bring out a large number of goblins was practically impossible.
Not to mention he also wanted to plunder high-end population.
His mind spun wildly. To gain sufficient benefits from Risel City, this problem had to be solved.
A direct assault? Impossible. If he had that kind of strength, why would he even need to think this hard?
From the sky? Wyverns would be eager to hunt them down.
Escaping through tunnels? Maybe possible with one or two, or even a few dozen, but thousands of goblins, let alone trying to grab even more high-end population, was simply out of the question.
The beastman wolf cavalry had keener noses than anything. A few dozen people could still hide, but once numbers grew, even high-level magic couldn't fully mask the scent of a crowd.
Using magic or teleportation arrays? At this stage of the war, the space had long been sealed off by the beastman spellcasters.
Spatial magic was most vulnerable to spatial instability. Every time war broke out, the space was the first thing spellcasters would disrupt.
The fact that the goblins were able to safely teleport from their territory to Risel City last time was already mostly due to luck.
So, what seemed like the most feasible option now appeared even less reliable. After all, no one wanted to be torn to shreds by spatial turbulence.
"Too low a success rate from the outside." Li De murmured, then his eyes slowly lit up. "If the outside doesn't work… what about from the inside?"
Suddenly, he thought of Craig, who he hadn't been able to reach for some time.
After becoming a Temple Warrior of the Dawn Order, this Level 16 wolfman had been sent to the Dwarf Valley to rebuild the Lionmane Tribe.
Later, when the beastman army launched its assault, Craig was conscripted to join the war.
For some unknown reason, he had never reestablished contact with Dawn City. Instead, he had disappeared into the beastman army.
And trying to locate Craig and reestablish communication through previous channels amidst hundreds of thousands of soldiers was practically impossible.
So the matter had been left unresolved.
Originally, Li De hadn't paid it much attention. After all, he could sense Craig's soul at any time. The man was brimming with vitality and unwavering loyalty toward him.
If they couldn't make contact, so be it, he had no use for Craig at that point anyway.
But now things had changed. The goblins' call for help, combined with his new target on Risel City's elite population.
Depending solely on external forces would not accomplish his goal. So now, he had to reestablish contact with Craig. This wolfman embedded within the beastmen might just offer a new path forward.
Li De shook his head. He hadn't expected that the Craig, who'd been conscripted into the beastman army, would now become his most valuable card.
At this moment, Li De was in excellent spirits. Fate was indeed strange, no one could say what the next step might bring.
"But the priority right now is to get in touch with Craig." With his thoughts sorted, Li De closed his eyes slightly.
His consciousness sank into his Mental Sea, where he located Craig's imprint. Then he wrapped his consciousness with faith energy and crossed time and space. In the blink of an eye, his awareness traveled through the spiritual brand he had left in Craig's mind and entered the wolfman's thoughts.
This was the greatest 'bug' of faith energy. As long as he expended faith energy, he, as a deity, could descend into the mind of any believer.
The more devout the believer, the more power he could channel. At a certain level, he could even lend his own strength to his followers.
His exclusive Holy Priest, Nilo, was a prime example. Li De could transmit 70% to 80% of his power to her.
This was the legendary Divine Descent.
Of course, Craig, having been transformed through the Divine Spell Soul Assimilation, would never reach Nilo's level.
Li De estimated that he could, at most, transmit 30% of his power to Craig. But for a Level 16 wolfman, even 30% of a Level 14 god's strength wasn't much to boast about.
Hundreds of kilometers away.
Craig, the wolfman with a fierce lupine head, suddenly opened his eyes wide and let out a low cry, "Your Majesty?!"
Then he dazedly looked around, and after confirming no one was near, quickly hid himself in a shadowy corner.
---
Hun Yuan, Thunderhands, and Cheng Kun, the three players, shared a strange look, each seemingly wanting to speak but stopping short.
In the end, Hun Yuan braced himself and stepped forward, pointing at the rust-covered, abandoned sewer entrance in the woods. His voice was a bit stiff as he said.
"Majestic Iro, that abandoned sewer is the secret passage that leads into Risel City. The other end of the tunnel opens into a collapsing house. It's very safe."
After he spoke, he looked speechlessly at the super boss in front of them, wearing a black mask that revealed only a pair of deep, penetrating eyes.
This was the ruler of the Dark Pact. Who would've thought that one day they'd be doing a mission alongside an NPC of this level?
They absolutely had to cling tightly to this thick golden thigh.