Chapter 3296: The Horn of the Decisive Battle

The words of Osmanthus undoubtedly cast a massive boulder into an already turbulent lake; he had already characterized this incident as an internal rebellion within Yierlan, far exceeding the scope of merely tracking down Illuminati remnants.

This caused a deep sense of unease among the representatives in the assembly hall and several observers, including Xia Duo.

Even Xia Duo could not help but reveal an expression of astonishment; he never imagined that simply handing over the captured Illuminati prisoners to the Alliance would result in an internal rebellion in Yierlan!

This was too exaggerated, too unreal!

If what Osmanthus said was correct, then the current situation within Yierlan was nine times out of ten a part of the Illuminati's final counterattack plan.

Currently, the nations of the Alliance were quite vigilant against any actions by the Illuminati—at least, that was what the nations themselves believed—but for the Illuminati, who were anxious to complete the Time-Involving Ritual, this was very troublesome.

Therefore, they had staked all their trump cards to take a desperate gamble for the final ritual; according to Xia Duo's previous judgment, the Illuminati's leader, the Sage, was very likely a Wood Elf diviner who originated from Yierlan.

Moreover, due to the existence of the Moonshadow Family, the Sage likely managed Yierlan as a base of operations; in other words, most members of the Illuminati were likely present in Yierlan, or at least originated from Yierlan.

This could also explain why merely handing over a few prisoners caused such a massive reaction; it was very likely that those prisoners had confessed or inadvertently pointed out some big fish.

And so, the Illuminati went all-in.

Since they had gone all-in, this meant the final decisive battle had already begun; thinking in that direction, shouldn't other countries start having problems next?

If the Illuminati exposed the existence of Osmanthus and the Outer Territory, it would likely immediately make Netheril the eye of the storm for the Northland and even the entire Main Plane.

And if the Illuminati did not know about the existence of Osmanthus, the people of the Tianshui Three Planes would actually not have any problems; after all, with the shared interest of the Outer Territory being so great, the people of the Tianshui Three Planes would have to be insane to break ties with the Netherese mainland.

During the Thunder Peak Battle over a hundred years ago, Netheril gathered its strength to wipe out the largest group of Orc tribes within the Nether Territory; ever since then, Orcs could only be considered a minor irritation to Netheril.

Unless another large tribe possessing a large number of Shaman Wizards capable of countering Mages appeared, it would be impossible for Netheril to be too busy to attend to matters outside the country.

Nowadays, within the entire scope of Netheril, the places most likely unable to deal with Orcs were probably those Pioneer Territories; the pioneering itself consumed a large amount of resources, and this naturally included Magic resources.

It was just that now, one must guard against the Illuminati deliberately guiding them.

Compared to the internal rebellion in Pulita and the troubles that other countries were not yet aware of, Orcs could no longer be considered a major problem for the current Netheril.

This was already a conspiracy in the open; to deal with it, one could only play hardball with the Illuminati. While doing one's best to resolve domestic troubles, it was imperative to maintain a powerful rapid-response force to be ready to depart at any time to stop the Illuminati's ritual.

Thinking this way, Xia Duo wanted to remind the representatives of various countries, but the words died on his lips; the situation had developed to the point where it was no longer a matter of whether to remind them or not. There was no need for him to remind them at all; as long as the representatives were not fools, it was not difficult to see the situation currently facing the Northland.

If the Illuminati knew about the existence of Osmanthus, then the rest made no difference whether they were exposed or not; there was no need to consider it at all.

Neither Xia Duo nor Tiao had much understanding of this aspect; the two only knew that the territory demarcated by Netheril was definitely empty. Outside the territory, there might or might not be some; as long as those tribes were not foolish enough to invade Netheril, the Netherese had no interest in running so far to look for trouble with them.

After finishing, Youfunisi looked at the other representatives again, "The Illuminati has no bottom line; next, the countries you are in may also encounter situations similar to what is happening in Pulita. The more such situations occur, the more one must maintain the existence of a rapid-response force."

Once the Orcs attack, if one cannot receive support, one might really not be able to handle it.

But as it happens, Netheril currently has one massive explosive point, and that is the existence of Osmanthus!

But are there such powerful Orc tribes near Netheril?

This move caused the Orc tribes on Wolf God Mountain to decline completely; later, with the continuous clearing by Yierlan Territory and the Great Xia Territory established by Xia Duo later on, there were now few traces of Orcs on Wolf God Mountain.

They were either wiped out or migrated to other places.

"None."

Only if the Northland was chaotic enough and forces were sufficiently scattered could the Alliance be prevented from forming an effective obstruction to stop the Illuminati's ritual.

After Youfunisi finished speaking, the assembly hall was silent at first, but then erupted into intense discussion; Xia Duo was also discussing with Tiao which points within Netheril could be exploited by the Illuminati.

"The Illuminati, this malignant tumor of the Northland, is clearly no longer something a single country can handle. All countries must unite to completely eliminate them. I will say no more; everyone, take action!"

Then there was actually only one possibility—the Illuminati wanted to play the Orc card against Netheril!

After a long while, Youfunisi, acting as the Zhuren Speaker, spoke again: "The war has begun. This time, the Illuminati must be completely eliminated. There is no room for compromise. As long as they are not eliminated, the war will not end. Does anyone have any objections?"

If even this force could not be maintained, then the Illuminati's plan might truly succeed.

"Additionally, Ambassador Saviertus, I know Pulita is in a difficult position right now, but in order to completely eliminate the Illuminati, I hope Pulita will continue to support the updating of the rapid-response list. This is the final battle; please, by all means, persevere!"

But such a thing was basically impossible to happen. The Princess's Divine Office was pioneering and protection; the destruction of a Pioneer Territory by Orcs would directly affect the Princess's Divine Power. Under such circumstances, the Princess's Priests and the Tower would provide support to those Pioneer Territories.

Sure enough, after the Pulita representative Saviertus offered the explanation that the Illuminati had caused the internal rebellion in Pulita, the representatives of various countries also fell silent, leaving only the sound of hurried or slow breathing in the hall.

After the New Covenant was signed, Netheril was stable in all aspects, except for that biggest explosive point; the rest was likely the conflict between the Tianshui Three Planes and the Netherese mainland—oh, and the threat of the Orcs.

It was only a declining territory like Yierlan Territory, which hung isolated in the Nan Jing, that would feel worried about Orcs; but even so, the Orc Tide in the Nan Jing only came once every ten years or so.

Xia Duo was not foolish enough to discuss the matter of Osmanthus at the Alliance General Assembly, but he did make some allusions and references, and Tiao also expressed the same concern.

From previous comprehensive checks, it was true that there had never been a human transformed into a Demon Descendant in the past; at most, they were infected with varying degrees of Abyssal Aura. But the lack of human Demon Descendants did not mean that humans would not join the Illuminati or become pawns of the Illuminati.

Furthermore, now that it had reached the critical moment of the decisive battle, the Illuminati had caused such a huge incident in Pulita; they had definitely gone all-in. Under such circumstances, could one still expect them to be gentle with Netheril?

But most recently, in order to obtain the Totem Pole that Yierlan had deliberately left on Wolf God Mountain in the south (Yierlan had left it for research, but did not expect to be exiled to another plane, leaving a huge problem for their descendants), the Princess sent the Archmage Olong to the Nan Jing to help deal with the Orc Tide, and later even personally took action to resolve the most troublesome Totem Pole.