Chapter 103: My Performance Was Affected Because I Was Too Poor


    Trantor: 549690339


    As per the agreement, there was no limit on the number ofbatants for this battle.


    The reason was that Lin Xiao’s n was mostlyprised of Fishmen, and while numbers below a thousand were manageable, any more and the disadvantage would be overwhelming.


    This was something he didn’t hide, nor did he need to.


    If this had been before, a n primarily consisting of low-level Fishmen like Shang Xiaoxue’s wouldn’t even get a nce from him, but after the previous battle, he no longer dared to underestimate them.


    Even though in thest battle the Fishmen werepletely crushed by his Centaurs, he had noticed that Lin Xiao’s Fishmen were extraordinary. Had it not been for his well-armed Centaurs, the oue might have been uncertain with equal equipment, which intrigued him.


    Once the details of the battlefield were set, Lin Xiao immediately deployed four hundred Naga and ten thousand Fishmen, effectively deploying nearly all his avable forces, all of which were at least Level 1 Fishman warriors. After receiving the Generalist Warrior Profession Card, theirbat power exceeded Level 2, but they were just shy of reaching Level 3batants.


    If these Level 2 Fishman warriors were equipped with a Profession, or if their Professional Level was raised, they could beparable to Level 3batants.


    Compared to Lin Xiao, who had nearly emptied his ranks, Shang Xiaoxue also fielded an army surpassing two thousand fully-armed Minotaur Cavalry under the lead of a Centaur Hero on the ins at the edge of the battlefield.


    In Shang Xiaoxue’s Divine Realm, there were nearly three thousand Centaurs, along with over five thousand Kobolds.


    Kobolds were his initial Race, but after acquiring the new Centaur Race,


    Kobolds became a vassal Race mostly tasked with mining and cksmithing.


    The wealthy Shang Xiaoxue procured a full set of cksmith’s Professional Cards and trained a portion of the Kobolds as dedicated cksmiths. Half of the weapons and armor equipped by his Centaurs were forged by these Kobold cksmiths, which made Lin Xiao envious, as he longed for a set of his own.


    Just like thest time, Lin Xiao again relinquishedmand, letting rda take the helm to act freely. After all, it was a simtion challenge, and death here wasn’t permanent.


    Since Lin Xiao did this, Shang Xiaoxue naturally wouldn’t show weakness. After briefly instructing his Hero, he refrained from any furthermands. Both of them sat at the Vault of Heaven, overlooking the Earth, where the vast grasnd was dissected by several rivers and swamps. Both armies, under themand of their respective heroes, gathered at the center of the terrain.


    In less than an hour, the two armies converged across a river that bisected the terrain. The river was shallow and calm, and without hesitation, the Centaur Hero ordered an attack to beunched.


    But rda on the opposite bank of the river was even quicker to react, ordering the vanguard Fishmen to use their “Salted Fish Charge” first, hastening into the river to seize the advantageous position.


    The “Salted Fish Charge” no longer required a target to activate and instantly bridged a fifty-meter gap, allowing them to be the first to enter the river and upy the favorable terrain.


    The river was over a dozen meters wide. Even though the river was calm and shallow, about a meter deep, at the center it neared two meters. The Centaurs could wade through it without obstruction, but by this time, arge group of Fishmen had already entered the river.


    The moment the Centaurs attempted to cross, rda shouted loudly:


    Stop them.


    The Fishmen who had rushed into the water surged out. With a powerful flick of their strong tails, the skill “Thunder Strike” exploded around them with great force. The water of the river rapidly expanded and distorted, sting upwards in a wave several meters high that spread out from the Fishmen. The sheer force of the skill knocked the fording Centaurs into disarray, and many close by were stunned and toppled into the water, the skill proving more potent than when used onnd.


    Seizing the moment, a swarm of Fishmen rushed forward to drag the fallen


    Centaurs under the water and hold them down.


    However, the water was too shallow for such a tactic to be lethal. In deep water, it could be deadly, but in the barely two-meter deep river, it was less effective, as the Centaurs could easily regain their footing.


    But this provided just enough time for more Fishmen and even Naga to arrive as reinforcements. Along the several kilometers of riverbank, they formed a defensive line, firmly keeping the Centaurs to the other side of the river.


    After that, both sides reached a stalemate.


    The Fishmen and Naga couldn’t assail the Centaurs on the shore, and the Centaurs couldn’t affect the Fishmen in the river, even with javelins. As everyone knows, the refraction of light makes objects underwater appear in a different location than they are, and unless you have the experience of an old fisherman, the aim is negligible. The two thousand Centaurs threw more than twenty thousand javelins, but less than a thousand Fishmen were killed. After they expended all their javelins, the situation becamepletely deadlocked.


    Fortunately, this was only a simtion challenge. Since they were at an impasse, there was no need to continue fighting.


    Next, they simted challenges across different terrains.


    There were terrains favorable to Naga and Fishmen, with plenty of water, as well as deste nds suitable for Centaurs. They also faced off in forest terrains, less suitable for both, and even volcanic terrains, which were particrly harsh for Naga merpeople.


    They deployed different forces to different terrains not only to grantbat experience to their ns but also to themselves.


    With such experience, in the future, they would be able to respond more adeptly to these adverse environmental conditions.


    After exchange for five or six rounds, others joined in the exchange. Lin Xiao immediately sent out mass invitations, and soon someone responded, entering the challenge mode as if they had been waiting all along.


    The respondent was Tang Ling, who shed a strange smile at Lin Xiao and entered the virtual environment ahead of him.


    His n consisted of Bull Monsters, not the orc Race Minotaurs but a type of Bull Monster dwelling in the Dark Territory underground. These formidable creatures with a human body and a bull’s head towered over two meters tall and were incredibly strong, excellent candidates for heavily armored infantry that specialized in siege warfare.


    Apparently fixated on defeating Lin Xiao early on, he dispatched over three thousand fully-equipped Bull Monsters in one go.


    Fully d in armor cards, their enclosed steel helmets revealing only their eyes, wielding a two-handed axe and a row of small hand axes each the size of a palm at their waists—they too were armed to the teeth.


    There was no suspense in this round ofbat, as the front ranks of the Fishman warriors were instantly ttened by the Minotaurs arrayed in formation. No matter how high the Fishmen’s morale or how tenacious their will, the disparity in equipment was simply too great.


    The Fishmen resisted stubbornly, refusing to retreat even in death, persisting stubbornly even as more than half had fallen.


    Tang Ling stood above the ne, in the Vault of Heaven, arms crossed, looking down on the realm with a face full of smug satisfaction.


    Lin Xiao sat cross-legged in the Void on the other side, emotionless, looking down upon the Earth. His face didn’t show any disappointment; instead, he was carefully observing the battlefield and rda’s performance within the battle.


    Almost as if cast from the same mold, while he still managed to observe the battlefield with a cool and calm demeanor, rda also retained a measure ofposure even as his subordinates faced such a disadvantage, standing on arge rock overseeing the battle with a cold gaze.


    Above the Vault of Heaven of the ne, unknowingly, over a dozen figures had appeared. Seeing the one-sided nature of the battle, Bai Ze shook his head and said:


    This guy is bullying people again.


    A few beautiful girls nced at the battlefield, and one of them shook her head, saying:


    The Fishman side is doomed, they’re bound to lose.


    No one argued with that, as an absolute gap made aeback impossible.


    Then, one of the girls, whose pupils gleamed with a green radiance, suggested:


    “Should we make a bet on how long he can hold out?


    Upon hearing this, Shen Yuexin furrowed her brows and shook her head:


    They are ourpanions, let’s not embarrass them.


    Bai Cheng also nodded and added:


    There’s no need for a bet. This student Lin Xiao does have strength; it’s just that his resources can’tpare to ours. If he had ess to our resources, some of us might not even be able to match him.”


    Just then, there was a change within the ne. rda, who had been observing the enemy, suddenly rallied all the reservists to leave the Central Army and charged towards the raging battlefield.


    With him at the forefront, nearly two hundred Naga followed closely behind, piercing like a sharp knife into the slightly scattered ranks of the unsuspecting Minotaurs.


    Leading the charge, rda leaped over fifty meters high from above, unleashing a Thunder Shatter that tossed up a thickyer of shattered stones, clearing over twenty meters of space around him. The nearest circle of Minotaurs were killed by the shock, while the outer circle was sted back, left dazed.


    Then, with a brutal Salted Fish Charge, he burst through a straight line of Minotaurs, traversing a hundred meters to crash fiercely into a Minotaur Hero who had unknowingly entered his line of sight.


    This towering three-meter-tall Minotaur Hero was an ordinary hero. Though its rank was much lower than rda’s, it had be a hero earlier and its current strength was no less than rda’s. It’s just that rda’s sudden and berserk attack was too abrupt, catching him off guard.


    In a critical moment, Tang Ling directly and preciselymanded the Minotaur Hero’s guards with a Divine-mandate. A group of guards rushed selflessly forward, and along with the Minotaur Hero who grabbed one of his guards to use as a shield,


    Bang!


    With the arrival of the vast shadow, a group of Minotaurs flew through the air together. rda’s broad snake tail swept away the surrounding Minotaurs, and with a fierce leap, he brought down an anchor from above, smashing the Minotaur Hero into the ground mid-air, denting its thick chest armor.


    Regrettably, the Minotaurs had already reacted, and arge swarm of them crowded around, blocking rda’s path forward.


    Up in the Vault of Heaven, Tang Ling’s expression changed slightly. With a thought, she took direct control of all the n movements within the ne, orchestrating each of their actions with fine precision from a god’s-eye view, easily thwarting rda’s n.


    Already advantaged, thebat power exhibited by the Minotaurs under the cheat-like guidance of the god’s-eye view surged manifoldpared to before. With rda now enveloped by the encirclement, the situation took a drastic downturn.


    No way to turn this around.


    The equipment gap is just too wide.


    The onlookers gazed at Lin Xiao with eyes that bore no ridicule but rather aplexity.


    After this battle, they had clearly seen that Lin Xiao’s Fishman Followers possessedbat capabilities far surpassing normal Fishmen, with each of the Fishmen, whom they remembered as pitifully feeble, showing impressive might, even going toe to toe with some Level 2 Minotaurs—a truly preposterous notion.


    What surprised them the most, however, was the Fishmen’s tenacity, maintaining an extremely strong fighting spirit even after losing more than half their forces.


    Even now, with casualties exceeding seventy percent, they had yet to copse, which was truly inconceivable. They admitted to themselves that if their own ns suffered more than half losses in battle, morale would waver, and without a Supervising Team, the lines could not hold; if the losses exceeded seventy percent, even with a Supervising Team the situation would copse, save for a few core members with insufficiently devout faith.