The Future of Durkes City

With a cacophony of cracking and snapping, a bizarre spectacle of beastmen encased in frost appeared across the vast plains! The zero-degree floodwaters froze instantly, trapping the majority of the beastmen, including the vanguard Golden Behemoth Battle Array. A lucky few escaped before the freeze, but the continuous cataclysms had shattered their morale, reducing them to anything but soldiers...

They were merely bewildered, disoriented wretches, paralyzed by shock, fear, and awe!

But Heaven itself seemed unwilling to spare them. Under Deboning's cover, the remaining Flame Cannon also fired from high above, engulfing the ground in ice and snow while the sky blazed with fire!

Hamley despaired! He knew with chilling certainty that, apart from a few Masters, his soldiers were already brittle and stiff from the cold, destined to be slaughtered by the flames!

But it wasn't over! Flames rained down from above, covering the advance of the Lanning soldiers who marched across the icy surface. They weren't rushing to claim military merits by beheading beastmen; instead, their targets were the sacred artifacts of war. Seizing an artifact, they immediately attuned it to their attributes, then swung its muzzle to bombard the beastmen! And that dark mist in the sky had already cut down over thirty Six and Seven-Star Battle Gods—Hamley himself was only a Seven-Star!

Defeat came crashing down like a mountain. Hamley watched bitterly as a small squad of Lanning soldiers, moving in a wondrous battle array, advanced on him. Slowly, he drew his sword and pressed it against his throat, his gaze silencing his Retainers' attempts to intervene. He gave a bitter laugh. "Eighteen years ago, I fell to Arges. Today, I've lost to him again, and what's more, I've sacrificed the Golden Behemoth Battle Array and a hundred thousand troops. I have no face left to see His Majesty... Arges, you've won!"

With a twist of his wrist, a streak of blood spurted from his neck, but just as his throat was about to be severed, an iron fist knocked his sword away. The insignia on the armored gauntlet told Hamley this was the armor of a Lanning soldier!

Hamley crumpled to the ground, watching his Retainers fall one by one. He choked out, "You want to capture me alive? Dream on..."

A towering figure approached Hamley, a chilling voice accompanying him. "Before you die, there's one thing you must know... Arges's reinforcements haven't arrived yet. The ones who defeated your hundred thousand-strong army were the three thousand Durkes City Guards!"

Hamley's eyes snapped wide open. "Three thousand... in less than three minutes!" *Thud*. His head hit the ground with a heavy impact. Flames descending from the sky shattered the brittle ice clumps, and squads of Black-armored Warriors, wielding stolen sacred artifacts, bombarded the frozen beastmen. Iron-masked figures in black armor, long halberds slung across their backs... Scenes flashed before his eyes, culminating in a pair of terrifying blood-red pupils!

"Lord, please don't kill me!" Liedo, half his body frozen in ice, could barely move. With Hamley dead, he frantically yelled at the charging Lanning soldiers, "Hamley's dead! I'm the highest-ranking military officer here... don't kill me! Please, you see, there are too many beastmen! Many are still alive, running around in terror! If you spare me, I'll order them to surrender!"

Dud, his long halberd slung on his back, saluted Hamley's corpse in silent mourning. He slowly approached Liedo, who immediately offered a fawning smile. "So many beastmen... if you take them back, they'll fetch a good price in the slave market. That's much better than slaughtering them when they're panicking and causing a riot, isn't it?"

The long halberd gently rested on Liedo's neck. Dud coldly stated, "You are unworthy of being a soldier! But issue the order!"

The blood-red pupils slowly closed. They had won! Three thousand Durkes City Guards had defeated a hundred thousand-strong beastman army! But why did he feel such profound emptiness!?

From the moment he deciphered Arges's plan, he had focused on Intensive Training the city guard's Earth-element combat capabilities, even teaching them the Subterranean Assassination Array. This enabled them to dig traps capable of ensnaring a hundred thousand beastmen within just a few days and to re-engineer the Star River canal with the excavated frozen soil. Everything that happened today had been fated long ago... He had won, yet felt no exhilaration...

Yes, the enemy was too weak! So weak that he didn't feel a shred of pressure!

Undying Death God Lynch Baton, Water's Embrace Divine Maiden Margaret, Marshal Bonis the Demonic, Demon King Kuban, the Brockman Family with their nine Divine Generals... Who were the masters of these names?! Why did this string of names flash through his mind?! And... thinking of them, a heavy sensation weighed on his heart, and battle intent surged forth, almost impossible to suppress!

Dud couldn't understand. His head throbbed faintly again, and he could only unleash a roar to vent his anguish!

"Roar!"

...

With Liedo's command, most beastmen dropped their weapons and surrendered. However, many fierce beastmen chose death over surrender. The battlefield was the most merciless place, and what awaited them were the sacred artifact cannons in the hands of the Durkes City Guards!

Du Chen also emerged from the underground tunnels, arriving at the re-erected commander's tent on the surface. He sat grim-faced on a fur-covered chair, staring across the table at the few people before him—Porter, Dud, Aliza, and one of the Commanders from the city guard!

*Snap!* Du Chen opened his pocket watch, eyeing the time and smirking. "Excellent work! From the moment the beastmen fell into the trap until now, with Deboning holding the line, rounding up captives, and seizing sacred artifacts of war, you took less than ten minutes! Ten minutes, and three thousand men defeated a hundred thousand beastmen! Truly excellent, simply splendid!"

*Bang!* Du Chen slammed his hand on the table again. "But I received absolutely no prior notice! Is this still my army? Are these still my people!?"

The Commander was the first to kneel. Just as he was about to speak, Du Chen waved his hand. "Not you! I already know that you only realized the purpose of digging those tunnels fifteen minutes beforehand. To stabilize morale in such a short time and utterly rout the beastmen's entire army! You and those three thousand brothers have done well, with no fault! Setting aside the Empire's rewards, I will grant you the honors you deserve when you return home! But for now, silence!"

Du Chen's gaze landed on Aliza. The big man, still gnawing on beef jerky, had an excited expression. Meeting Du Chen's eyes, he chuckled bashfully and lowered his head. "Aliza, you were responsible for excavating the Star River canal to flood the beastman army, and you knew about the entire operation when the Second Division was routed. Why didn't you tell me in advance!? You had plenty of time to inform me!"

Aliza scratched his head, embarrassed by Du Chen's scolding. "Bro, Brother Porter told me that if I didn't tell Young Master, I'd achieve great merit, become a high official, and earn big money!"

Du Chen fumed, "Become an official? Earn money? With me here, will you ever lack military rank or Gold Coins? My treasury is yours to command!"

Aliza earnestly replied, "But, but I wanted to use the money I earned myself to buy my uncle a set of dentures... diamond ones!"

Du Chen was torn between laughter and tears, waving his hand. "Alright, you're dismissed. Go help with guarding the captives outside!"

Glancing at Dud's cold, iron-masked appearance, Du Chen shook his head, bypassed him, and directly asked Porter, "What do you have to say?"

Porter squatted before the table, hands clapped over his ears, glancing furtively left and right. Once Du Chen had sent everyone else away, he meticulously lined up three sour plums on the table. "Care for one?" he mumbled, his head hanging low. "Can I ask a question first? If I had told you beforehand, what would you have done?"

Du Chen answered without hesitation, "I would have ordered Deboning, accompanied by two Precious Lotus Scriptures, to use his speed to evacuate our three thousand brothers from danger in batches! I would never have let them risk confronting a hundred thousand beastmen... Damn it, if there had been a single flaw in that plan, not one of those three thousand men would have made it home alive! And I would have had no face to meet their parents, wives, and children!"

Porter nodded, his head bobbing up and down. "Then let me ask you another question: What exactly is the future direction of Durkes City?"

Du Chen was taken aback by the question. "Nonsense, of course, it's to become the wealthiest city on the Three Continents!"

Porter immediately pressed on, "But what then? With the Holy Church's unlimited Gold Coin investment and Lanning's tax exemption policies, Durkes City will transform completely within ten years at most! But what comes after that? Will the Holy Church use this city to control the situation in southern Einz, or will Lanning covet this sweet fruit and simply find an excuse to replace your fiefdom?"

*Hmph*, by then his Merit from good deeds would be secured. What did it matter if he no longer had the city? Du Chen was well aware of these two major threats, but he didn't care—he was destined to become an immortal ancestor; what use did he have for a mortal city!?

However, the matter of the Precious Scroll was Du Chen's absolute secret; he wouldn't reveal that he was merely using this city to accrue Merit. "What do you think the future of Durkes City should be?"

Porter picked up a sour plum and ate it. "I've been contemplating the future of Durkes City. There are two paths to ensure this city forever bears the name Saint Kaine, forever belongs to you! First, use it to expand territories. With the Holy Church's backing and a commander of Dud's caliber under your command, declaring yourself king wouldn't be a joke..."

Before Porter could finish, Du Chen interrupted him. "No interest! What's the second path?"

Porter nodded. "I figured you wouldn't be interested in dominating the continent. So the second path is to emulate the Five Families of Fallen Gods—transcending the various nations of the Three Continents, yet making it so that no nation dares to underestimate them!"

Du Chen rubbed his nose. "Go on!"

Porter explained, "Take the Batuk Family, for example. They possess merely a single Emerald City, yet why are they able to stand on equal footing with the great powers of the Three Continents? Because they command a hundred thousand Thunder Legion soldiers, and furthermore, they have an alliance with the Sea Clan! Similarly, Arges is merely an Eight-Star Battle God, yet why does he dare disrespect the Holy Church and repeatedly quarrel with you!? Because he has the two hundred thousand-strong Sigurd Legion and a multitude of sacred artifacts of war! And what do you have, Francis?"

Porter answered his own question, "You have a fictional Du Chen, the Divine, a Titled Battle God, a small sect, and a few thousand troops... But is that enough? Leaving others aside, once Lanning turns hostile against you, with hundreds of thousands of troops pressing down on your borders, what will you use to resist!? If it comes down to individual combat power, you have Deboning who can deter a single Master, but one person does not equate to an entire power. No matter how strong Deboning is, he cannot single-handedly confront an entire empire..."

Du Chen frowned. "Are you saying I should establish a formidable power, using Durkes City as my foundation?"

Porter nodded. "This is a world where the strong prey on the weak. When your Durkes City truly becomes so prosperous that it makes others envious, rather than its current state as a wasteland awaiting reconstruction... if you don't have enough power to protect it, you'll face immense trouble! The recent battle saw Dud seize enough equipment and sacred artifacts of war to arm a hundred thousand troops for you, and it has shown the Three Continents just how formidable the Durkes City Guards truly are!"

Sighing, Porter gently bit into a sour plum. "This battle is the beginning of the Durkes City Guards' deterrence across the Three Continents. From now on, anyone who wishes to encroach upon your territory must first consider the fate of those hundred thousand beastmen! If I had told you beforehand, you would have withdrawn your troops... and I don't know when such an excellent opportunity would present itself again!"

Indeed, even if he had known about such immense gains, he wouldn't have gambled with his people's lives... Perhaps Dud was right; he wasn't suited to command troops!

Du Chen tapped Porter's forehead, chuckling. "You rascal, there's some truth to what you say! But... do you understand what I mean?"

Porter, a sour plum dangling from his lips, made a long face. "I understand. After all, I made a mistake this time, and I'm also one of the drafters of the Durkes City Guard's military regulations, so I can't escape punishment... Alright, how do you plan to deal with me?"

Du Chen glanced at the brazier in the tent. "According to military regulations, Dud's merits and demerits cancel each other out. As for you, for withholding information, and your military achievements not matching Dud's, your demerits outweigh your merits... You are hereby reassigned to the Quartermaster's corps and will start anew!"

Porter's eyes rolled back. He covered his face with his military helmet and slumped onto the chair!

With a yelp, he sprang back up, hastily calling out to Du Chen, who was about to leave the tent. "You big idiot, I *was* knocked senseless by you! Don't forget, Arges's reinforcements are arriving soon! This time, the credit is too immense, and there are too many witnesses for him to usurp your achievements. However, be wary of him trying to seize your spoils!"

The temperature in the tent suddenly dropped. Porter shivered. Du Chen stated calmly, "If he doesn't come for me, I'll go for him... Since Arges wants to kill me, I won't hold back any courtesies!"