Xiao Lin was furious, but ultimately powerless. The man had actually managed to delay them. Even if it was only a very short time, the intensity of their battle had been felt from kilometers away. Those that were secretly transporting the energy stones had definitely felt the danger behind them, and decided to destroy the passage.
Since it had already collapsed, it was definitely too late to go after the energy stones. Thinking it over, Xiao Lin decided to abandon clearing up the passage. That was because he suddenly understood why the man had spent so much effort digging the passage. It was obviously not to transport energy stones. If enemy forces appeared in the heart of the royal city, then the consequences would have been dire, so blocking the way like that was a good idea.
He had busied himself the entire night without anything to show for it. In the end, they had lost all the energy stones in the warehouses. After that, news from the palace came. The palace had their own energy stones in their warehouses, but they were all just low-ranked, and in low volumes. Low-ranked energy stones could only be used to power the normal defensive towers–the high-ranked defensive towers needed much more energy.
It was already dawn when Xiao Lin left the residence. The waves of undead had once again been repelled, and with the rising of the sun, the royal city once again returned to peace. However, it was unclear for how many more days the peace would hold.
Dragging his fatigued body back to the embassy, Luo Jianhui and the others were already back. No one had slept yet, obviously waiting for his news. Xiao Lin told them the general situation and the lounge fell into silence.
The defensive towers had been their greatest trump card. Relying on the destructive power of the high-ranked defensive towers, they could absolutely hold out until reinforcements came from Dawn Academy.
“How long can the defenses hold out for?” Liang Taibai asked.
“The normal towers can still be used for a month, but the high-ranked ones will only last for at most two more days.” Xiao Lin had already calculated the numbers that concerned their life and death beforehand.
“What’s happening with the merchants?” Xiao Lin asked. He knew that Liang Taibai had been with the merchants the entire day, trying to get more help.
Liang Taibai shook his head. “Very few of them are willing to help. No one is really willing to fight. You know as well that there are no resurrection towers at the moment.”
“Are they just going to wait for the city to fall?” Xiao Lin said in disbelief.
“Most of them want to try breaking out. They did not want to get involved in a war that had nothing to do with that. As for the other academies, we don’t even have to mention them; it will be impossible to gain their help.”
Luo Jianhui smiled coldly. “Those shortsighted people! Even if this territory isn’t directly ours, the Rosa Kingdom is still a buffer that shields us from other areas. If we lose this place, Dawn Academy would be faced with danger from all sides. Don’t forget our other sides are surrounded by the Endless Sea and orc territories!”
Liang Taibai motioned. “This is all within our calculations. Let’s talk about how we can defend this place, the reinforcements will need at least a month to arrive.”
“Why do they need so long!” Unsatisfied complaints were heard.
“There’s no choice, Dawn Academy hasn’t been faced with large-scale war for a long time. The preparing and gathering of the army–as well as the supplies–are not things that can be done in a matter of days.”
Pausing, Liang Taibai said, “I’m not very good at military matters, so please bring up any ideas you have. The price of long-range communication is too great, and I can’t use it a second time for the time being, so we can’t rely on Dawn City for now.”
Thanks to the betrayal of the minister, everyone now mistrusted the palace even more. As a foreign embassy, even if it was just in name, the palace should have sent a representative to military meetings like this, even just for show. However, this time they had completely ignored anyone from Rosa, especially since it was not the time to point fingers.
Everyone gave their opinions, but the main point was conscription–conscripting the entire city to help with the defense, especially the dark clans. If they were successful, they might be able to hold on for more than a month.
“We’ll need to rely on Xiao Lin for the dark races. Hasn’t Ibeiya been staying in our embassy?” Everyone knew of Xiao Lin’s relationship with Ibeiya, even if Xiao Lin felt like they seemed to have formed the wrong idea.
Xiao Lin did not have anything to add. His ideas were more or less the same as the others. They would need the strength of the dark races as well as help from the entire city to be able to defend themselves.
Even though everyone was tired after a whole night of activity, no one could rest at the time. After the meeting ended, everyone busied themselves with their own responsibilities. The main tasks were primarily propaganda and garnering support.
Even if most of them did not have much experience in defending cities, thanks to the education of Dawn Academy, they still had the basics down. Morale was definitely important, and with the war prolonging, the commoners in the city were very important.
In that arena, those foreign workers with years of experience were definitely very familiar. They had even seized the government away from the palace, but the king used his silence as acknowledgement as usual. Since the king did not object, the officials and ministers naturally knew what to do, and did not hesitate to cooperate.
Xiao Lin then brought Ibeiya to visit the dark clans. In order for there to not be conflict among the dark races and the regular folk, they had been designated a special district in the city. Even with the intense battles the past two days, the district was still very quiet.
Since the death of Valen Argos, the Argos clan had rapidly fallen. After all, that man had killed off his own siblings, and their remaining fortunes had all been seized by the other clans. That was all done in a matter of two days. The dark clans definitely did not show mercy when it came to those matters.
The first clan Ibeiya brought Xiao Lin to was the succubus clan. Even if Ibeiya was not very happy with it, she had said that after the fall of the Argos clan, the succubi were the most powerful.
The clan of succubi was called the Sisaiya clan. Xiao Lin had met one of them before in Valen’s castle–the voluptuous, beautiful, and mature woman.
“The succubi aren’t that strong, and don’t have that much of a history, but they’re very good at seducing men. These years, they’ve used marriage into other clans as a way to trap all the clans into their network. If we gain their support, we will have mostly succeeded.” Ibeiya had told Xiao Lin the gist of things on the way.