Chapter 617: Contribution Overload (1/2)
[V6C147 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Li Tianquan’s expression sank as he shouted, “What’s with the ruckus!”
The female clerk who had come in replied fearfully, “Young Master Jingzhan has just returned to base. He’s badly wounded and unconscious.”
Li Tianquan shot to his feet in great alarm. “How did that happen? Didn’t he bring an entire unit of elites? What were they doing?”
“Young Master Jingzhan’s troops have been wiped out entirely. General Hong suffered grave injuries in order to bring him back.”
“Where is he? Take me to him!” Li Tianquan said urgently.
“Elder, there’s another news…” The clerk was hesitant.
“Speak quickly!” Li Tianquan shouted impatiently.
“We just received news that the squad transporting resources to the Song clan have encountered an accident, only a few people managed to escape.”
“What?!” Li Tianquan was shocked out of his wits. He grabbed the clerk’s hand and said, “That squad was being overseen by Li Ke, wasn’t it? Where is he? Take me to him!”
“According to the survivors, he’s already fallen in battle.”
Li Tianquan’s vision darkened and his body swayed unsteadily. He supported himself on the table and collected his thoughts before asking, “He fell in battle?”
“Yes, the escapees witnessed Sire Li Ke being beheaded.”
Li Tianquan’s expression went pale and he could even smell some blood in his throat.
Li Ke was one of the few core powers of the Li family. He was both strong and clever, a true general who could shoulder great responsibility. He would have already reached an important position if only he weren’t born from a side branch. Most importantly, Li Ke was an important fighting force for Li Tianquan’s branch. The man’s death was a huge loss to the latter.
Li Tianquan forced himself to remain calm. “How could someone of Li Ke’s strength be slaughtered so easily? Who is the enemy? How many of them were there?”
The clerk lowered her voice. “The enemy only consisted of ten or so men. They rushed straight for the commander and won the battle in one stroke. The leader is a demonkin, and it was him who had injured the general first before beheading him. This demonkin calls himself Eden of the Dark Abyss.”
“Demonkin count... Eden…” Li Tianquan recited the familiar name. He suddenly recalled Qianye’s recount about fighting a demonkin count for the greater part of the last month. What was that count’s name again?
Li Tianquan tried hard to remember, but he just couldn’t recall it in his frustration. Back then, he simply didn’t believe Qianye would be able to keep a demonkin count occupied. He was even less inclined to believe that the area had been free of passing dark race squads due to the fight between Qianye and the demonkin.
His heart burned in rage as he thought about how Li Ke had died yet half of his subordinates had run back. “Issue my order! Seize the escapees and put them to death on account of desertion and harming the general!”
The clerk was shocked out of her wits upon hearing this order. No longer caring about the rebuke she might receive, she said hurriedly, “Elder, shouldn’t we investigate clearly before convicting them?”
She spoke rather tactfully, but Li Tianquan quickly realized his mistake. Putting hundreds of soldiers to death—even if they really were deserters—was a huge matter. Even the second elder didn’t have this authority. It would have to go through the elder assembly or be approved by the clan lord.
That was true in principle, but without any place to vent, the flames in Li Tianquan’s heart burned even more violently. In the end, he diverted all of his anger onto Qianye. “Little animal, you must’ve set the demonkin on us! Otherwise, Li Ke wouldn’t die such a miserable death!”
However, he could only keep these thoughts to himself. Li Tianquan took a deep breath and recovered an elder’s dignity. “Where are the escapees? Bring me to them. Additionally, bring all of that demonkin’s information to my office, don’t miss a single thing!”
Li Tianquan left in a hurry, stirring up quite a lot of waves in the base. The Li family had never suffered such severe casualties before since the beginning of this war. They had lost a great general and hundreds of private soldiers in a single day. Although the death of mercenaries wasn’t a big issue, the Li family would still have to fork out considerable compensation to their families. Otherwise, who would be willing to risk their lives for the Li family?
Li Tianquan’s hatred for Qianye grew along with the casualties. He knew full well that he was merely taking it out on the latter, but he couldn’t control himself. What Li Tianquan didn’t know was that his theory was, for once, correct.
These losses were only the beginning. Bad news rolled in almost every day in the period that followed. The weaker squads were destroyed immediately, while even the stronger ones were occasionally attacked. Most of the casualties were related to a single name: Eden.
Only at this point did the people truly understand how terrifying this demonkin count was. Especially within the Misty Wood, there was virtually no way to deal with him.
As the person in charge, Li Tianquan convened several meetings to analyze the battle reports and research strategies to counter Eden. The reports regarding the latter were fairly complete, but the more they analyzed him, the more they felt that only experts at rank fifteen, sixteen, or perhaps even higher, would be a match for this demonkin.
But in the Misty Wood, a pure increase in origin power rank didn’t equate to an extension in perception range unless they possessed special sensory talents. According to current reports, Eden’s visual range was over four hundred meters, a number which only gave rise to more despair.
The meeting inevitably fell into an impasse. Could it be that the only way to deal with this demonkin count was to invite a divine champion to take action? This wasn’t a good idea at all because if a human divine-champion were to oversee the Misty Wood, the Evernight side would dispatch dukes in response. The battle would then escalate prematurely with neither side being well-prepared.