Chapter 38: Upgrading the Village, Wolf Cavalry Attacks!

Another month had passed. Lin Mu was now level 36, while Xiao Hu and Feng Zhong had both reached level 43. The planned 3,000 soldiers with Grade 6 aptitude had also filled the camp; under Feng Zhong's training, their average level had reached 35, the mid-tier level for Grade 3 soldiers. Lin Mu estimated he could now annihilate the 100,000 soldiers within the Azure Dragon Fortress.

During these three months, Lin Mu, Xiao Hu, and the others had trained extremely hard. They had slept in the open and fought through blood and grit, sustaining many injuries. However, once the territory's infirmary was established, they no longer feared dying from wounds due to a lack of timely medical treatment.

On March 27, Year 180, *Mythic Three Kingdoms* had been active for nearly four months. Lin Mu did not know how the territory construction of other players was progressing; the territory rankings had not yet opened, so he didn't know their village levels. However, Lin Mu could imagine that with the help of the government system and massive capital investment, advanced villages should have been upgraded by now.

It was time for his own territory to upgrade as well.

...

In fact, a month ago, many player lords had upgraded their villages. However, because most of the residents in their territories were players who were out adventuring, when the lords upgraded their villages, the surrounding monster camps launched collective assaults on the villages. Caught off guard, these attacks destroyed many buildings and killed several NPC residents who couldn't escape in time, causing significant losses.

Furthermore, these monsters specifically targeted NPCs with their aggro. In other words, if a monster encountered both a player and an NPC, it would attack the NPC first and ignore the player. This was one of the reasons player lords suffered such setbacks—they had miscalculated the aggro values.

The daily respawn rate for residents was limited, and now half of them had been wiped out. How were they supposed to survive?

The player lords were extremely distressed and went to [Nuwa] to complain, but the Main Brain's response was merely a single sentence: "Everything is normal! We hope players work harder to become kings and marquises!"

Naturally, after other players learned from this lesson, they stationed player combat forces outside their villages during upgrades to defend the village and its residents.

The hardest hit was the military-aligned second Huaxia village, [Yanhuang Village], as it was the first to upgrade to a Level 2 village.

At that time, most of their soldiers had gone out to adventure and level up, leaving very few troops in the village. They assumed that upgrading the village wouldn't trigger monster attacks, since no monsters had besieged them when the village was first established.

Experience can be a deadly thing. In previous games, establishing a territory always involved monster sieges, but since there were none when the village was founded, they naturally assumed there would be none during the upgrade.

It was only because Lin Mu had the lessons of his past life that he had not yet upgraded his village. Additionally, another reason Lin Mu hesitated was the appearance of a King Beast in his territory!

Lin Mu would not take risks without certainty! Now, everything was ready; all he needed was the final push!

Lin Mu instructed Chang Yin to temporarily suspend the work of all residents working outside and have them return to the village to be settled in their homes.

The monsters that siege a village are spawned by the system outside the village walls. They only assault the village to destroy its facilities; they do not trample or destroy external structures like farmland, mulberry fields, or logging camps.

However, if they manage to break into the village, they will cause massive destruction, tearing down everything in their path.

Feng Zhong had arranged personnel around all four sides of the village. The south, east, and north were each defended by 600 Grade 3 soldiers.

The west, however, was the site of the King Beast raid. This area was defended only by Feng Zhong, Lin Mu, and 1,200 soldiers. This was the priority zone, guarding against the Howling Moon Silver Wolf King!

Unfortunately, when the system triggers a monster siege, the monsters spawn at fixed locations around the village. This meant that some facilities set up around the village would also be reset by the system—for instance, any pre-set traps would simply vanish.

Lin Mu knew this, so he hadn't wasted effort on that aspect.

The walls here were specially reinforced, standing 3 meters high and 3 meters thick! Other walls were only 1 meter thick and 3 meters high.

The basic bluestone walls had been specially constructed for this village upgrade. Because he lacked wall construction blueprints and special skills, these walls had very low attributes and were only meant for minor defense.

His territory was developing very rapidly, and the village area was constantly expanding; the walls had not yet been formally planned.

In the future, once the village's military strength grew and their numbers increased, the monster camps in the territory would no longer be a threat—they would merely be training grounds for recruits.

This was the downside of building a village on a plain: enemies could approach from all four sides, and the flat terrain was highly advantageous for the attackers.

After arranging the personnel, Lin Mu went to the rear of the village's assembly hall and summoned his attribute panel via the stone monument. Under territory upgrades, he clicked the option to upgrade to a Mid-level Village. Everything went smoothly.

A burst of white light rose from the stone monument, ascending into the air and illuminating the entire village. Like a celestial sprinkler, the light poured from top to bottom in a bowl-like shape, bathing the village in a mysterious and glorious glow.

"Roar! Roar!" Beasts from some of the monster camps began to spawn outside the walls. They were incredibly agitated, appearing as if they had been starved for days. Their bloodthirsty, fierce eyes seemed to glow with a red light, looking truly terrifying.

"Charge! There is food and women inside! The leader said whoever grabs them keeps them!" Some rebel soldiers from high-level camps also appeared. As usual, these rebel soldiers had dialogue.

The rebel soldiers were the ones requiring the most attention. After all, humans possessed higher intelligence, unlike beasts that simply charged blindly with chaotic, uncoordinated movements.

A rogue is not scary; what is scary is a rogue with an education!

It was quite bizarre that the beasts and the rebels were attacking the village in harmony; such was the power of the system.

The prepared guards first unleashed a volley from their sandalwood bows. Countless arrows fell like rain—*shiu, shiu, shiu, shiu*—upon the rebel soldiers and beasts. Continuous *thud, thud* sounds echoed as blood blossomed everywhere, and the momentum of the attackers slowed amidst a storm of blood and wind.

As the monsters charged, if they were hit by arrows, the collision of the two massive forces meant the monsters took even higher damage.

By the time they were still dozens of meters from the walls, most of the beasts and rebel soldiers had already fallen.

The basic bluestone walls had a Defense of +10 and 10,000 Durability, standing 3 meters high. Even if the monsters and rebels charged to the base of the wall, it would still take some time to break through.

Even if they managed to climb the walls, the soldiers stationed atop them were no pushovers; being well-equipped, their lethality was even higher than that of the ranged units.

Because Lin Mu had been foresightful, he had not destroyed the monster camps during his upgrades but had preserved them, intending to upgrade them once his territory's army became stronger. Thus, the monsters in these camps remained at their original levels—neither weak nor overly strong.

Aside from the west, the combat on the other three sides of the village was being controlled by the soldiers.

At most, a small portion of the wall was damaged, and no monsters managed to break into the village.

The rebels' equipment was also very backward. They lacked siege engines like catapults, scaling ladders, or battering rams, and even had very few shields; only a few elites were equipped with them.

Some rebel elites reached the base of the high walls, and some were already able to quickly scale them to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the defending soldiers.

The clanging of metal, the roars of soldiers, the chaotic drumming, and the wails of the wounded shattered the long-standing peace of the Yinglong Valley!

Against the monsters attacking the territory, the Grade 3 soldiers were essentially one-sided...

Just as Lin Mu had predicted, except for some damaged walls, the three sides other than the west were completely annihilated without any casualties.

However, the situation in the west was much more serious. There were 20,000 Level 30 rebel soldiers, 10,000 Level 50 Howling Moon Wolves, and a Level 60 King Beast—the Howling Moon Silver Wolf King!

The Howling Moon Wolves were covered in white fur, measuring 5 meters in length and nearly 3 meters in height. They were ferocious and massive, with extremely sharp claws and mouths full of jagged teeth. Their glowing red eyes were the size of mangoes, bloodthirsty and brimming with killing intent. If such a wolf existed in reality, it would cause a massive sensation! A calf in its mouth would likely be swallowed in just a few bites; they were incomparably fierce.

Standing atop the 3-meter-high wall, Lin Mu could already see the mysterious Wolf King. Feng Zhong saw it too. The Wolf King was a true monarch, standing out from the crowd with a majestic and heroic aura!

However, what worried Lin Mu more were the swarms of Howling Moon Wolves and the rebel soldiers.

He stood tensely on the wall, watching the abnormal masses of monsters from a distance.

These monsters did not immediately charge the walls like the other three sides; instead, they kept gathering together, likely under the secret command of the Howling Moon Silver Wolf King.

Sure enough, while the other walls were in the midst of heated battles, this side was quiet aside from occasional wolf howls. Everything was orderly. Was this military training? It was incredibly efficient!

Suddenly, a heaven-shaking wolf howl erupted across the open field. The Howling Moon Wolves lowered their bodies, and the elite rebel soldiers actually mounted the wolves.

Cavalry! Holy crap, they are actually combining to transform...

The Howling Moon Silver Wolf King actually possessed such intelligence! By combining the rebel soldiers with the wolf pack, they had formed a makeshift cavalry. The wolves provided the mount, compensating for the rebels' lack of speed, while the rebels acted as the soldiers, providing protection for the wolves, blocking arrows, and making their charge invincible! In close combat, with mounts as fierce as the Howling Moon Wolves, the combat effectiveness of the rebel soldiers would be elevated by an entire tier.

Truly extraordinary!

"What beasts! What intelligence!" Feng Zhong cursed and praised simultaneously.

"Holy crap, this Howling Moon Silver Wolf King actually has such a tactic! That's incredible!" Lin Mu also remarked with emotion. Being familiar with the sieges in *Mythic Three Kingdoms*, Lin Mu knew that the ability of these beasts and rebels to act this way was their own capability, not a pre-set system mechanic. In Lin Mu's words, the monsters in the camps were just a pile of data, but these spawned monsters were flesh and blood, even exercising their own intelligence.

Such a wolf-man combination truly increased their strength several times over!

It looked like there was going to be a desperate, life-and-death struggle. Lin Mu gripped his spear, his gaze serious and determined.

"Archers, prepare! Half-angle volley!" Feng Zhong commanded.

The soldiers were currently commanded by Feng Zhong, as he possessed many buffing attributes.

Lin Mu, the novice, would just act as a common soldier at the front.

The prepared wolf-man combination began their charge amidst the massive howl of the Howling Moon Silver Wolf King.

The countless snow-white wolves charged forward. From a distance, it looked like a white tidal wave, sweeping away and destroying everything in its path!

"Release arrows, fire!" After waiting a moment for the wolf cavalry to reach effective range, Feng Zhong gave the decisive order.

Lin Mu was not equipped with a bow; his archery skills were only basic. He wondered if he could even pierce the fur of a Howling Moon Wolf!

*Whirrr...* Like a swarm of bees, the purple sandalwood arrow shafts and black steel arrowheads poured down like black rain upon the wolf-man combination.

The rebels riding the wolves were occasionally hit, but most were deflected. Furthermore, with the speed of the Howling Moon Wolves, they had already reached the base of the walls by the time the second volley of arrows arrived.

The effectiveness of the arrow rain was minimal; aside from a few extremely unlucky wolf-men who died in the volley, most of the wolf cavalry survived.

"Abandon the bows, prepare for melee!" Feng Zhong spoke heavily.

Hand-to-hand combat was a clash of flesh and blood, incredibly cruel and tragic.

In a narrow path, the brave prevail. Kill, kill, kill!!!

Xiao Hu's blade whistled through the air, with almost every swing sending a rebel to the ground. However, once a rebel fell, their mount, the Howling Moon Wolf, would attack desperately. For a time, even the high-level martial officer Xiao Hu was held back by ten wolf cavalry. Realizing Xiao Hu's prowess, they had resorted to a siege tactic. Dammit!

Lin Mu did not act overconfidently. During his fierce battle with a wolf rider, he relied on technique, maneuvering constantly to attack. He used his left-hand Azure Wolf Iron Shield to resist the rebel soldiers' attacks, while his right-hand Black Iron Spear continuously thrust at the Howling Moon Wolf to wear it down. Only when the wolf collapsed from exhaustion would he move in to kill the rebel soldier.

Though slow, it was safe—which was how a novice like him had to play.

Although the Howling Moon Wolves were massive, their movement speed was incredibly fast, passing by like white afterimages.

Upon reaching the base of the walls, some wolves actually leaped into the air, jumping directly onto the battlements with ferocious intensity!

However, the 1,200 soldiers on the wall had also fought rebels and Howling Moon Wolves before; they had killed many and possessed rich combat experience.

As the wolf cavalry leaped up, the soldiers used their Azure Wolf Iron Shields to block. A series of metallic crashes rang out, sounding the horn for close-quarters combat.

Though they had been surprised by the wolf-man combination, after the initial tension, the soldiers began to slowly regain control, and casualties gradually decreased.

*Roar! Roar! Awoooo!* The Howling Moon Silver Wolf King appeared. "Everyone, leave your lives here, or I'll chase you down and bite you!"

(End of Chapter)