The Era of Gods

Chapter 513: Chapter 513: Wu Zhonglin’s Current Strength

“Don’t rush, if you can win, when the time comes, I’ll head over there with Lonely City to help you pluck out one or two Children of Nightmare. It’s perfect timing since Lonely City and I haven’t established a fortress yet, we can just snatch an existing one.”

“That would be great, just in time… Huh, the Dragon Emperor and his group are coming.”

Everyone turned their heads to look towards the other side of the high ground.

Lin Xiao also turned his head and saw a large army made up of different races hurrying over from the slope below. What caught his attention the most was a group of Half-Dragon Men that somewhat resembled the Supreme Naga but were slightly smaller and had red scales on their bodies.

He remembered that Wu Zhonglin’s core race seemed to be the Dragon Descendants, and his gaze searched through the group of Half-Dragon Men. Soon, he spotted one… a tall Half-Dragon Man sitting on the back of a Giant Lizard, no matter…

“No, he’s not Wu Zhonglin!”

This Half-Dragon Man was not a player but a powerful Half-Dragon Leader.

His gaze swept through the crowd and he did not spot anyone who could be him.

Turning to look at the others, they all greeted the newcomers with smiles. He asked Lonely City:

“Which one is Wu Zhonglin?”

Lonely City gave him a surprised look and said:

“Brother, you’re bold to just call out his real name. He hasn’t arrived yet, but his subordinates have, and his true body should be nearby.”

Lin Xiao laughed and said:

“A name is just for calling, right? We are all…”

Lin Xiao’s voice trailed off dramatically as he quickly turned to look towards the distant sky; a dark silhouette was rapidly approaching from afar. As he looked up, the silhouette closed in and revealed its true form, prompting Lin Xiao to show a rare hint of surprise and to grumble:

“Damn, that’s awesome?”

With a deafening dragon roar, a Red Dragon with wings spanning over fifty meters enveloped in scorching winds descended close by, its huge presence landing heavily.

Then, in front of everyone’s astonished eyes, it quickly shrank and transformed into a tall figure with fine scales on its face and a pair of horns, like flames, burning atop its head.

“Damn, what a show-off!”

At this moment, Lin Xiao felt a bit of regret for not having chosen the Naga as his race. Although the Star Spirit was pretty, it couldn’t compare in grandeur to the Supreme Naga and Dragons.

It seems that the treasure in Wu Zhonglin’s hands was related to the Dragon Clan. From this, one could infer that his core race must now be the Dragon Clan itself, as only those within the Divine Realm could choose this race as their avatar in this world.

As Wu Zhonglin transformed into human form, most of the players went up to him with various flattering compliments.

Their expressions were sincere, their attitudes genuine, and their eyes filled with passion. Lin Xiao stood at the back, chin in hand, pondering something.

Those few who, like Lin Xiao, did not go up were full of envy. Seeing that Lin Xiao also remained stationary, Lonely City said with a laugh:

“Envious, aren’t you?”

He nodded honestly:

“A little.”

Another player nearby laughed and said:

“Stop being coy, admit you’re envious. No one will laugh at you; we’re all envious, but that doesn’t change anything. He’s just that impressive.”

“Haha, that’s true.”

Lonely City said:

“His strength is a good thing for us. At least there is a powerhouse to deal with the powerful Children of Nightmare, and we don’t have too much competition. At most, he’ll monopolize a Broken Floating Land, but there are plenty of them in this region. By monopolizing one, it doesn’t really affect us, it will only… Oh, he’s coming over.”

Immediately, Lonely City straightened his collar and tidied up his clothes, lowering his voice to remind Lin Xiao and the others:

“The Dragon Emperor is coming. He’s quite approachable. You should go ahead and say hello to get acquainted. Later on, when you know each other better, you can…”

“Dragon Emperor!”

Lin Xiao blinked and took the initiative to greet the approaching figure.

Lonely City also greeted him and subtly gave him a thumbs up:

“You move fast, I tell you, Dragon…”

Wu Zhonglin walked straight up to Lin Xiao and shook his hand with a smile:

“Who would have thought we’d bump into each other here, what a coincidence.”

“Not really coincidental. I’ve been here for almost a year now. I hadn’t expected you to be here too.”

“It’s good that you’re here. Did you see the Children of Nightmare? One of them is a super elite that’s no less mighty than I am. Later, we’ll team up and take him down, suppress the arrogance of the Children of Nightmare.”

Lin Xiao waved his hand and said:

“You’re giving me too much credit. I didn’t bring my main force this time. I’m just average in strength, and my avatar wasn’t chosen from my core race. Currently, my combat power doesn’t compare to yours at all.”

Wu Zhonglin gave him a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me look and pointed at a portion of his subordinates on the high ground, asking:

“Isn’t that your force over there?”

He nodded.

Wu Zhonglin looked scornful:

“A Lord Template along with seven Leader Templates and you tell me your strength is just average?”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Cough, it’s okay, I guess.”

“You’re just showing off, right? Just the fact that you have more Lord and Leader Templates than I do right now.”

“And what about your five or six hundred enhanced elite Half-Dragon Men?”

“What’s there to say about this little lot? I’d rather trade with you.”

“Are you sure?”

Lin Xiao’s face was full of skepticism, leaving those around him, like Lonely City and the others, staring wide-eyed in shock.

They listened to him chatting familiarly with Wu Zhonglin, hearing every word, but when put together, they couldn’t quite grasp the meaning, their brains failing to react for a moment.

After a while, Lonely City took the opportunity to ask during a lull in their conversation:

“You guys…. know each other?”

Lin Xiao and Wu Zhonglin nodded at the same time.

He took the chance to ask Lin Xiao:

“Brother, you seem so familiar with His Excellency the Dragon Emperor, could it be that you’re also an elite of the War Throne?”

He waved his hand and said:

“No, I’m not from the War Throne.”

“Then?”

“He comes from Lustrous!”

Wu Zhonglin turned to everyone around and said:

“You should have heard his name before, he’s Lin Xiao! Lustrous Lin Xiao! The one who challenged all the juniors and seniors from Lustrous University’s third and fourth years on his own, and who directly killed more than a dozen True God Level Sons of the Void in face-to-face combat!”

….

Lin Xiao placed his hand on his forehead, speechless.

Of course, no explanation was necessary, as it was clearly a tease.

However, the players around him were utterly shocked, with Lonely City and the others staring at him in awe:

“Brother, you’re THE Lin Xiao?”

“The real deal!”

“I…wow!”

What followed was ecstatic joy:

“Turns out I’ve already added you as a friend, big shot, I’m begging you to carry me!”

“Mutual aid, it’s all about helping each other!”

Lin Xiao waved his hand dismissively.

Being recognized was inevitable, and he never thought about keeping it a secret forever.

Next, the command of the team naturally fell into his and Wu Zhonglin’s hands. No one had any objections, and he willingly joined Wu Zhonglin in discussing the upcoming tactics.

Of course, before that, they needed to share their backgrounds and understand their own strengths.

Compared to Lin Xiao, who had taken the path of a top-tier elite with a bunch of boss-level followers of the Leader rank and above, Wu Zhonglin had a total of only five Leaders and one Lord; the rest were all Enhanced Elite Template Half-Dragon Men, with roughly six hundred of them brought to the fray.

Though Enhanced Elites were a lot weaker than Leaders, their sheer number of over six hundred Enhanced Elite Template Half-Dragon Men was formidable.

Beyond that, Wu Zhonglin’s true body was a giant Dragon. The usual maximum level limit for humans was Level 70, but the Dragon Template’s bonuses were so significant that Wu Zhonglin, now at Level 76, had over three million health points, making him a true Dragon BOSS in all but name.

According to Wu Zhonglin, even with the Dragon Template, he was just a scaled-down version of a dragon with only a few tens of thousands of health points before reaching Level 75.

But once his level surpassed 75, the power of his Dragon bloodline was fully awakened, leading to a transformation where his Template evolved to a Dragon Template, granting him the health and stature akin to a real Dragon BOSS.

This kind of transformation theoretically happens for all races, but the worse the racial bloodline, the higher the level required. For instance, the Star Spirit bloodline that Lin Xiao possessed is of a Sub-legendary Race, one rank below the Legendary Races like Dragons or Naga. Therefore, he must raise his level to Rank 80 to fully transform into a Star Spirit and fully realize the Star Spirit Talent.

From this, it can be inferred that other mid to high-tier races would need at least Level 80 or even Level 85 and above to transform.

Judging by the increasing experience needed for each level advancement, races below Sub-legendary shouldn’t even think about bloodline transformation.

Of course, low-grade races don’t need to worry about this either, as a weak race transformed would still be weak. Instead of pondering over this, it would be more practical to think of ways to improve their Template in other respects.

The tactics were straightforward: they would pile on the front with the two of them as the main force.

Wu Zhonglin’s Half-Dragon Men, although thick-skinned warriors, were granted some rudimentary spellcasting ability by their dragon blood, including the Kobolds Dragon Blood Magicians’ signature Flame Explosion, a medium-range burst type spell, which could be used several times a day.

As for Lin Xiao, his Leaders possessed Legendary Creature bloodlines, far stronger than normal counterparts of the same rank, capable of assassinating powerful enemy Leaders or even Lords.

Although the Children of Nightmare on the opposing side also had two Lord Template subordinates, they had enough confidence to defeat them head-on.

After the communication and preparation, an army of approximately 22,000 troops descended from the highlands, formed up into a battle formation, and began to advance towards the Children of Nightmare’s position. The ancient arena gates nearby were opened, and Biggs along with about a dozen players inside the Fortress joined forces with them.

At this point, there was no need to defend the city. If they lost the battle, they surely wouldn’t be able to hold it, and if they won, there would be no need to defend it.

The frontline warriors of both sides quickly approached with their shields raised, and the first wave of Blizzard and Rain of Fire fell simultaneously, slowing down the frontliners of both sides even before they clashed, with many falling in succession.

No matter when, the cannon fodder always die the fastest.

Group after group of cannon fodder fell in the center of the battlefield, and another group after group of cannon fodder followed orders and continued to rush to their deaths.

Thankfully, all these NPCs were Alchemy Creatures and not real living beings; otherwise, giving such orders would produce some moral resistance.

One side had around 30,000, and the other about 35,000, with about half of each being cannon fodder.

The brutal mutual attrition of cannon fodder continued for about half an hour, with the total casualties exceeding 10,000, before both sides began sending in their elites. This signified the official start of the battle.

Wu Zhonglin transformed back into a giant Dragon, soaring into the sky, and with a heaven-shaking dragon’s roar, a scorching Dragon Breath descended from the heavens, scorching the ranks of the Nightmare army.

Meanwhile, a gargantuan form rose within the ranks of the Children of Nightmare as well: a 30-meter-tall immense humanoid Child of Nightmare. Its lower half had no legs but was supported by several thick tentacles, with a layer of flesh between them like a long skirt.

The upper body appeared to be that of a warrior clad in Armor, with many smaller tentacles beside the two massive main tentacles, writhing behind the back and the head in constant motion.