Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 347: Chapter 146: Hundred Cities Alliance! The war has begun!

Spencer’s face flushed with anger, and the other Great Nobility also wore grim expressions.

These mages had all been cultivated by the Saral Royal Family for many years, at great expense.

And now, to think that they had been bought over by the Hundred Cities Alliance was bad enough, but to utterly betray Saral was unfathomable!

Moreover, these damn traitors actually wanted to endanger the lives of everyone on this ship!

William indeed would not die, and might not even get hurt. But it was not certain they could cheat death in the explosion.

The only way to destroy an airship made by a Legendary Alchemy Master was this.

Detonate the Elemental Crystal in the power source.

Even if an explosion caused a spatial rift, it wouldn’t be much danger to William, and of course, the Undead Tribe wouldn’t care at all.

It was only them, who at best were Sky Knights, who had the smallest chance of surviving.

Even if William were to save people, who knew if they would be the unlucky ones ignored?

A few of the Great Nobility known for their ruthless ways had already exchanged glances, planning to go down and clean up this mess.

Even if William’s defenses were impeccable, these people were courting death by entertaining such a thought!

William started to laugh, ”What’s there to be angry about? Betrayal happens everywhere. Their choice is not only because the Hundred Cities Alliance offered a lot, but probably because they think humanity is bound to lose!

They think by defecting early, they can secure more benefits!

Short-sighted fools, they don’t want to be human, preferring to be dogs instead. Yet they fail to see whether the elves and dwarves would want such useless dogs!”

”The other nations didn’t think we’d win either, but at least they’ve maintained neutrality,” Spencer replied. ”They didn’t even receive the messengers from the elves and dwarves, and sent the Legendary straight to the border to send them away.

Even if it was just a front, they at least put on the act.

On the other hand, these people nurtured by Saral directly became traitors!”

William sneered, ”Since they think the elves and dwarves are better, we might as well send them to them when the time comes!”

Spencer was stunned for a moment, then realized the implication behind William’s words.

On the battlefield, he definitely wouldn’t accept people pushed over by the enemy faction.

Even if these people were spies sent by the elves and dwarves, who knew if they had been tampered with by William?

So, was the outcome for these people to be directly executed by the masters they betrayed humanity to join?

Understanding the fate of these people, the Saral nobles all smiled faintly.

There were no kind-hearted people on this ship who would plead for the enemy; they didn’t execute these traitors themselves because this outcome was more satisfying.

William stood up, ”We’re almost at Central City. Prepare yourselves to welcome the dawn of tomorrow there, everyone!”

”Your Majesty, won’t the elves and dwarves make a move?” someone asked.

”The Hundred Cities Alliance is of the Human Race. To the elves and dwarves, they’re just a buffer to avoid direct conflict between the two tribes, just like how the Human Kingdoms leave vast swathes of land for the Magical Beasts to occupy,” William said with a cold laugh. ”For the elves and dwarves, the so-called Hundred Cities Alliance is even less significant than their own dogs.

The dwarves and elves are both waiting to see who we attack first after we finish with the Hundred Cities Alliance.

Neither believes they will be the ones to lose, but neither wants the other to gain the upper hand!”

The Captain of the Guard stepped in, looking puzzled, ”Some of the people we’ve captured have already confessed. They’ve also revealed the names of the cities that sent them to sabotage the ship.”

”What’s with that expression?” Spencer interjected and asked.

”After questioning them thoroughly several times, it turns out the cities they mentioned were all fake,” said the Captain of the Guard with a wry smile. ”A bunch of idiots. None of them even know who the real instigator is.”

”No need to ask further. The city names related to the elves are likely reported by the dwarves, and vice versa. Both sides have made preparations for either outcome: if they can destroy our ship, that’s best, but if not, the next best thing is to make us attack the other side first,” William smiled again. ”Let them wait! Let’s clear out the Hundred Cities Alliance first!”

William’s airship had been hovering over Central City for some time, yet not a single elf or dwarf made a move.

William swept the city below with Divine Power and found that there were no longer any people of those two tribes in the city.

He furrowed his brow, why had the elves and dwarves retreated so cleanly?

Even if they believed humanity was bound to fail, they shouldn’t have given up so completely, should they?

The Hundred Cities Alliance had been their slaves for over a hundred thousand years, always obedient; why would they suddenly not care anymore?

”The Hundred Cities Alliance, not all of its cities have been so obedient,” Miller said slowly. ”Even if they are slaves, with more money and power, they will also want to elevate their status.

But to the elves and dwarves, what they give is always right; these slaves reaching out for more is seen as rebellion.

However, many of these cities are connected to certain tribes of elves or dwarves, and they can’t possibly take action and slap their own faces.”

”So, His Majesty clearing out the nobility of the Hundred Cities Alliance this time is a good thing for both tribes.

Once they thoroughly break the humans this time, they can just support another obedient dog.”

William looked at this Legendary Mage and recalled that the Magic Tower of Saral often had good things from the elves, mostly sold to them by this man.

Was this information Miller got from trading with that city?

William waited for Miller to continue.

”Your Majesty the King, even when it comes to cleaning up the City Lords and Nobles of the Hundred Cities Alliance, it’s divided by faction, right?”

”Yes, the Undead Tribe will activate Alignment Detection and first eliminate those red and black figures.” William added, ”Black represents the Evil Faction, while red signifies individuals hostile towards Saral.”

Miller nodded, ”I will inform some people to stay still at home. The Undead won’t randomly enter the homes of those from the Neutral Faction, right?”

”They won’t.” William smiled faintly, ”But the Neutral Faction, if they initiate an attack first, become valid targets to the Undead.”

All the Faith Power acquired by the Gods of Time and Space was used to strengthen the control of the Divine Artifact that commands the Undead.

Situations like the one Hill initially faced hardly occur now.

Whenever the system detects actions that attack the Neutral Faction, it can now directly dissipate the bodies of the Undead.

Counted as death and level reduction.

The virtual reality games of the technological world are strictly regulated.

Even if the characters they see through their eyes are somewhat virtualized, after all, they are intelligent humanoid creatures.

If any and every person could attack, they might develop such tendencies in reality as well.

Therefore, all virtual games require that any attackable character should appear somewhat distorted in appearance.

For the Undead, these humanoid creatures, which can be killed, ultimately appear as red and black mosaics.

Initially, William had only set that the Undead couldn’t target individuals from the Neutral Faction, let alone use skills on them.

Like what happened to Hill, if there hadn’t been attackable Undead nearby, he wouldn’t have been in any danger at all.

William never imagined that the Undead would try to exploit their group attack mechanic to try to kill Hill with the aftermath.

He genuinely did not anticipate the hatred among the Undead to be so profound.

So he wasn’t prepared, allowing those creatures to find a loophole in the system.

Luckily, Hill wasn’t harmed.

If a problem occurs that players exploit, the game company can only accept it.

But the God of Time and Space was actually very angry.

So, over the years, he has been in the Divine Kingdom, using Faith Power to optimize the system artifact that controls players, and learning many methods from that world on how to prevent players from killing indiscriminately.

Now, if the Undead tries to do something foolish, they’ll be directly kicked offline, and then, depending on the severity, they could be punished, ranging from a minimum level reduction to a permanent ban on their account.

The reason he chose that world was that the legal system of their virtual games was already mature, and the period of adjustment had long passed.

While players will look for loopholes, if they can’t find any, they will abide by the rules.

But William also admitted that if Hill truly had died in that attack, he wouldn’t have done much.

At most, he would have permanently banned those players’ accounts.

After all, those players had no idea that the person they killed really existed.

Then Fran and Adrian would probably leave Saral forever and even join the Mage Association as enemies of Saral.

One can only say, fortunately, Hill preserved his life.

So William is quite lenient towards Hill. Sometimes, he even wishes the boy would not be so well-behaved, stiring up trouble for him to resolve. Otherwise, William always feels he owes something to Hill.

That’s why, when Valencia from the Sorcerer Tower came to test the waters, he didn’t hesitate to send her packing.

Let Hill live freely!

Even if Hill doesn’t get along with the Mage Association, he shouldn’t join the Sorcerer Tower out of spite.

William knew Valencia meant no harm and genuinely wanted Hill to become a high-ranking member of the Sorcerer Tower.

But this woman is a political creature, accustomed to exploiting everything at her disposal.

If Hill joined the Sorcerer Tower, with his clearly evident blessing of Silvermoon, his innate alignment would be with the Silvermoon Sorcerer faction.

Hill, who didn’t want too many people even in his own territory, would not seek power to become a pawn for others to use.

Hill is a man who has sworn a Noble’s Oath of Loyalty, and as long as he does not betray Saral, William, as the King, innately has the power to include him in the protection ring.

Although this is just the most basic contract between a Noble and the King, one many people disregard,

If William regards this matter seriously, then no one dares to go against his will.

Once Valencia realized that the King of Saral valued Hill greatly, she abandoned the idea of taking him into the Sorcerer Tower.

After all, she had no ill intent; she simply felt that Hill joining the Sorcerer Tower would be safer.

William glanced at the satisfied Miller withdrawing and sat on the throne.

The ceiling of the King’s Hall suddenly split open, and the throne ascended into the air.

William spoke softly, yet his voice thundered through the heavens, ”The war has begun!”