Chapter 227

Everyone: ……

For a moment, the hall fell into an eerie silence.

Xiao Feng's tone was somewhat frivolous, off-key.

What he said, however, was exactly the truth!

Ariel is just a pure meat tank, with zero attack power!

He could kill Cassius, famed for his attack power and proud of his flight ability—isn't that a joke?

Even if it's just the four NPCs of the Storm Temple, together they're not inferior to a demigod; what could the pitifully weak-attack Ariel use to kill?

At the scene, Norton and the others were instantly killed by a sharp force piercing their brains; even Ariel with his great shield lacked the capability to do that.

But…… everyone remained silent.

They doubted Ariel, not merely because he was the sole witness.

More importantly…… they wanted to overthrow this grand marshal, to prevent Ariel from jumping from second-in-command to commander-in-chief and becoming city lord directly.

This is an internal power struggle within Stormwind City's military.

The Storm Temple, having lost its backbone, got dragged in as well, wanting an explanation, so they turned their spears toward Ariel.

At this moment Xiao Feng spoke, not to remind them of the truth; to them, it was actually a threat!

Someone who knows the truth trying to straighten out their distorted facts—that's hardly good news!

If the speaker were a mere underling, they might have already disposed of him casually.

But the one saying this is the lord of War City—who would dare lay a hand on him?

Never mind whether we could win; if the War City lord died in the Storm Temple, War City's million-strong army would come pressing down, and the whole Stormwind City could be flattened!

"My lord, that…… are you sure you saw it with your own eyes?" Parlas asked.

While speaking, he kept giving Xiao Feng meaningful looks, hinting "let's step aside to talk."

Xiao Feng, seeing his expression, finally realized there was something fishy going on.

But he was still in a hurry to go fight; he had no time to linger here chattering.

So he ignored him, speaking with an emphatic tone: "Of course I saw it with my own eyes! At the time, Cassius and Ariel found the corpse of an intermediate god from another realm and tried to absorb its divine power. In the process, Cassius inadvertently had his intellect stripped and was possessed, wildly attacking those around him. Norton and the others went to check the situation, but were slain by the mad Cassius. I had no choice but to strike down your city lord. Ariel did nothing the whole time; you may blame him, but now I've laid out the truth—if you continue to give him trouble, don't blame me for not showing mercy."

To save trouble, he simplified the matter a bit.

After hearing this, everyone furrowed their brows.

"So it was you who killed City Lord Cassius?" Parlas furrowed his brow.

Xiao Feng said lightly: "What, I killed a person possessed by an alien evil god, devoid of intellect, and I still need your approval? If Cassius hadn't died, it would likely have been you who died!"

"This…… I, your subordinate, dare not!" Parlas hastily lowered his head.

Xiao Feng added: "Immediately withdraw your suspicions of Ariel; he is not only not the murderer, but the most suitable person to inherit the city lord's position. That's all I have to say—you decide what to do, I'm leaving."

Having said that, he strode straight away.

There are still 100,000 people waiting for him on the Zhan Chang of the Cold Wind Mountains—can't linger here too long!

"Seeing off the Arcane Master Xiao Feng!"

A host of senior NPCs saw him out of the temple.

Watching Xiao Feng's retreating figure, a bishop of the Storm Temple frowned and said, "This Arcane Master Xiao Feng… I keep feeling I've seen him somewhere."

"Yeah… oh right, that was the adventurer who came that day to report the news that Bishop Norton and the others had been killed! He looks exactly like this lord!" a divine general exclaimed, realizing it.

"That's right, it's him!"

The bishop nodded, then frowned again, saying: "It turns out Arcane Master Xiao Feng that day deliberately disguised himself as an adventurer to report the news, wanting to see how we would handle it. This time he appears in his true form, likely because he's dissatisfied with our recent performance. Marshal Parlas, the power struggle between you and Grand Marshal Ariel, we probably can't continue to interfere."

Everyone immediately imagined a drama: "A second-tier city lord painstakingly sets a trap to test the loyalty of all the high-ups."

In the end they unanimously concluded: can't afford to provoke, can't afford to provoke—better to honestly elect a new city lord!

Parlas sighed, "Ah, that fellow Ariel lacks any heart for conquest; if he becomes city lord, Stormwind City will probably never develop."

"But it cannot be denied that, in Stormwind City now, his strength is the greatest." said a divine general.

……

Inside Stormwind City's lord's manor, Ariel sat alone in the garden, drinking to drown his sorrows.

Beside him was a neatly trimmed flowerbed, where Cassius used to love pruning the branches.

But now his good friend has passed, so he can only drink alone here.

"Ah, Cassius, now that you've gone, I feel I can barely hold on. If Parlas's lot barge in, tell me—should I resist or not?"

"Forget it, I won't resist; let them beat me to death. Living is meaningless—clearly we were the best of friends, yet someone suspects I killed you, I feel so wronged~"

"If only you were here…"

…………

Cold Wind Mountains.

After leaving the Storm Temple, Xiao Feng immediately canceled his hidden info, restored his player identity, and rushed to the battlefield.

As a battlefield second only to the Ashens Plains, the map of the Cold Wind Mountains is slightly smaller, covering only seven to eight hundred kilometers.

Here the lowest-level monsters are level 80, and the strongest Abyssal Marshal is a demigod, exact level unknown.

When Xiao Feng arrived, the garrison fortress "Cold Mountain Stronghold" of the Cold Wind Mountains had already gathered tens of thousands!

"Xiao Feng, bro, this lineup—is it impressive enough?"

Zhulong waited by the Teleportation Array; seeing Xiao Feng appear, he immediately pointed at the vast crowd on the square and said proudly.

"What a partner, you really got me a whole army!" Xiao Feng was quite surprised.

These tens of thousands are all members of the Dragon Soul Guild!

The Divine and Conquest factions, because the teleportation square couldn't hold them, had already left the fortress early and were waiting on the battlefield's outskirts.

Zhulong laughed: "Altogether 120,000, my Dragon Soul contributed more. How about it, bro—how should we farm this wave?"

Xiao Feng looked at the mission introduction; it required leading a Group Army of 100,000 to defeat the Abyssal Army of the Cold Wind Mountain Range.

The requirement is just to defeat them; they don't need to be completely annihilated.

Because he was under the 【Exorcism Vanguard Grand Marshal】 mission status, he gained a 'Form Group Army' function, allowing him to temporarily organize a Group Army establishment exceeding the scale of a 'Legion'.

The upper limit of a Legion is 5,000 people, while the upper limit of a Group Army is 100 Legions, equivalent to being able to form 500,000.

In the 'Group Army' mode, the kill contributions of all Legion members continuously accumulate.

After the campaign ends, it is evenly distributed to everyone.

Of course, this is contribution, not points.

The war points algorithm remains unchanged; only the killer can obtain them.

The settlement method for kill experience is no different from normal mode: squads below Epic share, Legendary teams share, and Mythic Legions share.

"I'll form a Group Army, you all bring your Legions in, then go onto the Zhan Chang and just go on a killing spree." Xiao Feng said.

After speaking, he added: "This gameplay is special; as long as you are within the Zhan Chang range, you can get contribution sharing. You don't need to follow me; I'll go cut through the Zhan Chang myself."