If it weren’t for the opponent’s overwhelming strength, why would Paradise react so strongly?
In all my time as a Contractor, this is the first time I’ve seen Paradise pay such... attention to someone."
The word he originally intended to blurt out was "fear," but considering that Paradise holds sway over him, badmouthing Paradise wouldn’t be wise.
It would also be detrimental to the mobilization of contractors against the threat to come.
"According to the stats exhibited by You Ci, I believe everyone here has at least been recognized by Paradise as having sufficient strength. At the very least, you should all be able to easily take him down one-on-one."
The skeleton man scanned his surroundings and, seeing no one showing signs of weakness, continued his analysis:
"Moreover, You Ci himself provided quite a bit of useful intel, such as the reconnaissance capabilities of our target this time and the specific numeric evaluations for various judgments.
Thermal vision, magic power vision, and even spiritual detection—though extensive, the reconnaissance isn’t exactly proficient, more of just a sheer pile of stats.
This could be our advantageous point.
The traces of that Lord’s territory are already somewhat detectable.
According to early reconnaissance, no tracks were found in the forest, and You Ci’s close reconnaissance confirmed it wasn’t a mirage-like cover-up, which means it likely exists underground.
For insects, having a nest underground is not impossible.
The only challenging part is to figure out exactly what the opponent’s strength is; You Ci died too quickly and failed to obtain the expected results.
If indeed hiding underground, we utterly lack knowledge of the opponent’s true combat power.
According to the information provided by Paradise, the opponent is a ’Lord’, having many different forces under them; it can’t just be these we’ve confronted so far."
The skeleton man regretfully shook his head.
This was also his first time facing such a Lord; his understanding relied only on his impressions and part of the intelligence from Paradise.
Originally, he expected You Ci to find the enemy’s encampment based on Paradise’s hints, infiltrate it, and gather intelligence on the units under their command.
At the very least, know what each of the opponent’s units is skilled at so we could make targeted arrangements.
But who would have known that once You Ci carefully approached, forget about the camp, he couldn’t even find any traces of human activity.
Let alone knowing what different forces the opponent possesses.
After discovering the stats of those insects, he didn’t even have a chance to retreat before dropping dead instantly, leaving no chance for a second reconnaissance.
At this moment, a blood qi blade man holding a long knife tapped on the long table he was leaning against, drawing everyone’s attention.
"No, there might be some misunderstandings here.
If it’s a Lord, then the composition of their forces should most likely have some pattern.
In the previous two world progresses, I experienced a world invasion where I encountered and successfully eliminated a Lord and gained some understanding.
These Lords, unlike us, don’t pool various systems of abilities into themselves but develop in a specific direction.
For instance, this time, encountering insects suggests the opponent’s other forces might also be insect-class units.
At most, to cover weaknesses, they might have various insect troops specializing in different areas, but there wouldn’t be any mages or beastmen.
What we need to be more cautious about is the opponent’s mass troop-producing capability.
These Lords have something called a barrack structure, which can build a special construct to continuously produce their units.
If we let these Lords have time to develop and snowball, we’re in big trouble.
Especially considering this Lord’s troops are insects, and I believe none of you would want to face an overwhelming swarm of insects then...
As for what was mentioned earlier about the opponent’s Plant Affinity, I personally lean towards it being a unique Lord’s ability possessed by these Lords..."
The blood qi blade man recounted the intelligence he’d gathered from his previous encounters with Lords.
Including the fact that when a Lord descends, only a few troops follow, requiring development and resource consumption to produce more troops.
The addition of this information immediately eased the previously tense atmosphere overshadowed by the target’s formidable strength.
Fear stems from the unknown, and though the blood qi blade man’s intel once again heightens the threat level of this unknown Lord;
It also, to some extent, elucidates the situation, revealing the health bar of this boss.
"Excellent. If we infer based on this, the opponent’s existing combat power might not be vast.
Other meanings might lie behind the opponent’s actions!
The exhibited strength might just be mere posturing!
Even if the opponent’s insects are strong, based on Blood Night’s explanation, their strength means the resources needed to create a single insect are more!
Therefore, we should organize our forces promptly and take action before that Lord matures in this world!"
The short man who initially spoke concluded, with no one opposing—clearly, everyone agreed with this perspective.
According to current intelligence, the opponent evidently needs time to develop, so choosing this moment, before the opponent fully develops, for a surprise attack is the smartest option.
However, all these deductions lie within their comprehension, utterly unaware that Bai Yi does not abide by conventional rules.
After descending into this world, Bai Yi, at a speed they could not fathom, completely bypassed the initial weak phase shortly before they began their reconnaissance.