Chapter 398: Harvesting and Acting

"Such decisiveness in retreating! This style of not standing under a dangerous wall is perhaps an important factor in it securing its position as the number one Greater Daemon!"

Watching the Chaos Rift in the sky, which was gradually becoming unstable due to the lack of a maintainer, Sinuoli offered a word of praise. Once strength reaches this level, every opponent he encounters has much that is commendable.

"Duang!"

"Die! You were so rampant throwing spears just now, why are you throwing them softer and softer now?"

After a brief adjustment of his breath, the Dwarf climbed up and delivered a Storm Hammer strike directly at the mechanical base of the Soul Grinder. The Heavy Strike from his crotch area flipped the giant beast onto the ground, and he immediately followed up with a flurry of hammer smashes and axe chops, sending it back to the Warp.

As the Chaos Rift gradually closed, the Daemons summoned into the Mortal World by Kairos lacked energy replenishment to maintain their forms. They lost all will to fight, and the weakest Blue Horrors were the first to begin disintegrating.

Sinuoli seized this precious opportunity, using skills and Runes in tandem to begin a frantic harvest. With the increase in his level, the experience required for him to upgrade rose geometrically; at the same time, his role transition from "General" to "Marshal" also caused him to lose many opportunities to kill enemies with his own hands.

The few rats chopped down during the battle at Tiefengbao did not make the experience bar progress visibly. Beheading an ancient black Dragon on the Jade River was a decent harvest, but it remained a regret that Lokhir Fellheart managed to escape in the end.

"Boom!"

"Hmph, you ran fast! Very well, let the Cathayans worry about these Chaos Warbands themselves!"

Seizing the final opportunity to eliminate half a squad of nearly collapsing Exalted Flamers with a Thunder Strike, and watching the local Tzeentch cultists flee in all directions, Sinuoli wiped the filth off his hammer head with satisfaction.

This wanton harvest finally allowed him to cross the threshold of level eight. The comprehensive improvement of his various attributes suppressed the fatigue brought about by the great battle. What excited him even more was obtaining a new skill point, which could unlock the long-awaited Heavy Strike.

He had never spent points on this passive skill, which gave normal attacks a probability of causing higher damage and a stun effect. Although Causality Weapons were very attractive, rather than praying for the blessing of the Dizziness Hammer Cult Leader, strengthening active skills was more immediate.

"Does this thing count directly as an Authority?"

With a click of the skill, the newly activated Ascension Staircase popped up a prompt. He had obtained a small portion of the "Heavy Strike" Authority, which was a sub-item belonging to the "Strength" Authority.

"The attribution is so complex? Well, it makes sense; as long as someone is a master of melee combat, they will have more or less unique understandings of how to make attacks more powerful."

These names, which could not be displayed on a single page in list form and whose boundaries could not be seen even when divided into sectors in a pie chart, formed a stark contrast to the clarity and distinctness of the Storm Authority.

"Clean up the battlefield, treat the wounded, and repair the city walls! And most importantly, wipe out the thieves causing trouble in Nangao City."

Facing the waves of praise from the Cathayan troops who had returned from ending the pursuit, Sinuoli did not have much mood to interact with them; he quickly issued a few orders and returned to the city to preside over the overall situation.

Under the infiltration personally directed by Kairos, Nangao City suffered heavy losses. About one-tenth of the low-to-mid-level commanders were turned or corrupted, and a considerable proportion fell to sudden assassinations by their comrades.

The appeal of Tzeentch's doctrine is not prominent among the Four Gods, and she herself is relatively difficult to please, but her followers often possess a certain level of knowledge and status, and the damage they cause to order is enormous.

The anti-traitor operation led personally by Sinuoli was carried out from the second half of the night until the afternoon of the next day. The altars, offerings, objects of worship, and the mutated corpses of the executed followers that were seized piled up at the crossroads where the main longitudinal and transverse streets met.

"Pass on my order: execute all captured thieves on the spot, and burn all seized filth to ashes! Let the villagers watch to rectify the public's view!"

At the Dwarf King's command, the few remaining living captives had their heads severed, and accompanied by the crackling of flames, the filth was purified in the most direct way. After calling up the system to confirm that the corruption level had dropped to an acceptable range, Sinuoli set his mind at ease and hurried toward the palace on the mountain top.

"Sigh, I wonder if Miaoying has woken up, and when she will wake up. How to tell this story is crucial; of course, the responsibility must be pushed entirely onto the Tzeentch Greater Daemon, and how to establish my own glorious image will also be very helpful for future developments."

Sitting in the carriage, Sinuoli stroked his beard and pondered to himself. During the recent cleanup, he had searched many Taoist temples, attempting to catch the old Taoist who had told fortunes the day before. Although this person was, unsurprisingly, nowhere to be found, the fact that a large number of Taoist temples hid Tzeentch cultist strongholds proved that guy's identity to a certain extent.

"My lord, you turned the tide when it was collapsing and propped up the building when it was falling; please accept this bow from this young woman!"

Arriving at the gate of the Storm Dragon's palace, the Jade Blood Clan lady-in-waiting who had been waiting for a long time came up to meet him. As the chief lady-in-waiting to the Storm Dragon, she was undoubtedly a major combat force in Nangao City, but before setting off, Sinuoli had requested her to remain guarding the palace, never leaving for a moment.

The Dwarf King dared not tell her that Miaoying was unconscious in the study. The explanation he gave was that this place was located at the highest point of the entire defense system, and once attacked by the Daemon army with a surprise maneuver, it would leave the frontline defenders caught in a pincer attack, damaging morale, so it could not be left unguarded.

"Resisting Chaos in the north is everyone's duty! Please rise, please... cough, cough!"

Sinuoli slowly moved off the carriage; he did not need to bend over to help her up, but before he finished speaking, he suddenly looked pained and began to cough, spraying a mouthful of black blood directly onto the lady-in-waiting's jade neck.

"You, what is this?"

"Cough, cough! Do, do not make a scene! The demonic thieves have not been completely eradicated; you must not let them discover my true condition."

"So you were suppressing your injuries in broad daylight to search the city and capture thieves in order to stabilize people's hearts and deter the petty and wicked; how heroic!"

Although the lady-in-waiting appeared to be a beauty in her twenties, she did not know how many years she had lived, and she certainly did not lack wisdom. After whispering a word of praise, she used the inside of her robe sleeve to wipe the bloodstains off her neck, and only then did she turn around without revealing any emotion.

"Please move to the side hall to rest for a while; when the Princess returns, there will surely be a reward."

Sinuoli's righteous performance dispelled the only bit of doubt in her heart. That two-headed bird Daemon had boundless magic power, and even someone as proud and arrogant as Miaoying could not hide her wariness of it.

It was unimaginable for a foreign king to force a Daemon lord to retreat amidst ten thousand troops, even if he were the second on the Heavenly Ranking of strength and possessed supreme treasures; the well-timed severe injury made everything much easier to accept.

For the next few days, Sinuoli lay peacefully on the bed to recuperate, accepting all the tonics sent to him—the damage caused to his body by forcibly wielding the Authority was real.

Several high-ranking generals who had proven their loyalty with outstanding performance in the great battle came to visit after receiving the news. Sinuoli took the opportunity to bring his acting skills to the extreme, vowing not to stop until the martial generals were moved to tears.

"How is your recovery, my lord? May I disturb you for a moment?"