Mountain and River: "@Dragon King... Brother Long, there's a problem. The Forest Tribe I pledged allegiance to was just wiped out. Now the whole village is nothing but women and children with no combat ability. It's a total loss."
Mountain and River: "What should I do now?"
Dragon King: "Wiped out?"
Dragon King: "Not a single soldier escaped alive?"
Dragon King: "Didn't you say that Forest Tribe had over a hundred elite Ratman soldiers with extremely high potential?"
Dragon King: "How could a force like that get beaten so badly?"
Gale: "???"
Gale: "Holy shit! Unbelievable! Hajichuan! Your luck is as shitty as ever! How do you mess up a god-tier start this badly?"
Gluttony: "That's Zhao Chuan for you."
Greed: "I bet Zhao Chuan screwed up again, provoked some terrifying enemy, and indirectly got those elite soldiers killed... It's not the first or second time he's been a massive liability. It's happened so many times I've had to label him as weak."
Dragon King: "Quiet!"
Dragon King: "Everyone, shut up!"
Dragon King: "Zhao Chuan! Tell us what you know! Who was the enemy? What's their combat power?"
Seeing the messages pop up in the FSC group chat, Zhao Chuan scratched his head in embarrassment before continuing to type:
"I don't know either... Sigh, I screwed up. I didn't send any soldiers to supervise the battle, so I didn't even see what the enemy was. All hundred-plus Ratmen just died."
"It might have been another player's Divine Chosen Army."
"Or maybe a boss-level creature roaming the Northern Forest."
"Anyway."
"It's definitely a tough one."
"With my current combat power, I'm no match for it at all."
The player named "Greed" immediately chimed in:
"See!"
"I knew it!"
"That kid Zhao Chuan screwed up again!"
"He chose the King of Tactics Destiny, which gives him the ability to monitor the battlefield from a distance, but he got lazy and didn't even supervise... Now he has zero information!"
"Is that something a normal person would do?"
The player named "Gluttony" agreed:
"Yep."
"Yeah, that's pretty moronic."
"Fits the stereotype I have of him."
"I suggest he change his ID. He shouldn't be 'Mountain and River' anymore. 'Tang Chuan' would be more fitting."
[Ding!]
[You have been muted by the group owner!]
[All-Mute Mode has been enabled! Only the group owner, "Dragon King," can speak now!]
After muting the few people who were talking, the Lord Player named "Dragon King" frowned. He thought for a long time before posting a long message in the FSC group chat.
"@everyone!"
"Everyone!"
"Listen up!"
"I have something important to announce!"
"The Northern Forest is a core strategic region for our FSC conquest of this Lord World. It's also our key bargaining chip for defeating the Hafke alliance and seizing the Heart of the God during the Evil God Invasion!"
"Although I don't know exactly what happened on Zhao Chuan's end,"
"a terrifying existence capable of completely annihilating over 100 Zero-star (white) elite soldiers at this stage..."
"is definitely a hidden threat."
"It might be that an elite player from Hafke discovered our plans."
"And wants to stop us in advance..."
"Therefore."
"I've decided."
"We will temporarily halt our development."
"We're going to transfer our territories directly, move into the Northern Forest, and start our plan ahead of schedule."
"Those of you who started in the Northern Forest, or whose territories aren't far from it, go find Zhao Chuan's territory and figure out a way to rendezvous with him."
"Then we'll concentrate our forces to eliminate this unknown threat that's obstructing our plan."
"That is all."
"Any objections?"
[Ding! You have been unmuted by the group owner! You can now speak freely!]
Gluttony: "Brother Long! We don't even know what the enemy is yet! Are we just going to pack up and move?"
Gluttony: "What if it's just a boss-level creature roaming the forest, and Hafke hasn't discovered our plan? If we make such a big move, won't we expose our real objective?"
Dragon King: "It doesn't matter. My informant inside Hafke told me they decided to pledge allegiance to the Southern Kingdom. The Northern Empire lies between them and the Northern Forest."
Dragon King: "As long as we move all our Lord's Halls to the Northern Forest and concentrate all our forces,"
Dragon King: "Hafke won't be able to interfere with us unless they're willing to abandon their established base in the Southern Kingdom and spend massive amounts of manpower and resources on a large-scale, long-distance territory relocation."
Dragon King: "Otherwise, there's no way they can affect us."
Greed: "Then... Brother Long? What if this enemy isn't one of Hafke's veteran players, but a decent veteran solo player, or a really lucky new player?"
Greed: "Should we try to recruit them into our alliance?"
Dragon King: "No! We kill them! This group of us who went through the Rebirth are all core veteran players who passed loyalty tests! There's no need to risk a mole being planted among us by recruiting a stranger!"
Dragon King: "Don't forget! How much effort did our FSC Player Alliance spend on this Rebirth!"
Dragon King: "We absolutely cannot lose the crucial Heart of the God over an avoidable little problem! That would be a waste of all the sacrifices we made to get here!"
Gale: "Okay, I have no objections. But when you say 'kill them,' do you just mean destroy their Lord's Hall, or do you mean kill the player themselves too?"
Gale: "If they're a complete newbie... isn't killing them directly a bit too cruel? They might not even know what we're doing!"
Upon hearing this,
Dragon King said without hesitation:
"Just in case."
"Kill them."
"We've made it this far, reached our current position... Our hands are already stained with more than enough blood. One more newbie doesn't make a difference."
"Don't you dare get soft on me."
"And deliberately let them live."
"Understood?"
Everyone replied one after another:
"Understood."
Seeing this, Gale sighed softly, a flash of helplessness in his eyes, before replying:
"Fine."
"Brother Long."
"I understand."
"I'll send a large force over tonight."
"Hajichuan... you handle the Reconnaissance first. Get a clear picture of the enemy's background and strength. See if it's a Lord Player or a boss creature."
"If their strength isn't too outrageous, the two of us should be able to solve this problem for good."
"The rest of you should stay put for now."
"Focus on developing."
"And prepare for the upcoming 'Strongest Lord' event."