Chapter 329 – Harvest and Aftertaste

On Wolfhead Mountain, the crackling sounds of lightning and the continuous roar of artillery gradually ceased.

The foot of the mountain resembled Hell.

The treant soldiers commanded by Tree Spirit Grandma appeared listless, their branches drooping. Many treants shed leaves, their once-dense canopies now sparse and swaying weakly in the wind.

Around the treants, the ancient trees that had contributed vast amounts of life force had long withered, having fulfilled their purpose.

Though the treants hadn’t achieved any spectacular moments in this battle, their overall contribution was remarkably high. The forest front formed by the treants stood as the sturdiest defensive line before Wolfhead Mountain.

The treants blocked the majority of war monsters, and after the effects of the ‘Undead Legion’ skill faded, they bore the primary responsibility of resisting the monster tides.

They fought relentlessly from the beginning of the war until its conclusion.

Unlike Uta, who shone brightly at his peak but later lay wounded within Wolfhead Mountain Fortress, reduced to an invalid.

“Fortunately, we managed to eliminate all six Legendary Realm beings controlling the monster tides in one fell swoop. Otherwise, this battle would have been far more arduous.”

If the enemy had continued to wear them down through monster tides and war machinery, engaging in a protracted battle, it would have been excruciating for Tianyuan Territory.

Over time, the conditions of commanders like Uta, Lu Liu, and Xiliu would inevitably deteriorate. By then, they might not have been able to evade the ambush by the Gnoll Legend.

The death of the Gnoll Legend not only caused many intelligent monsters to flee in panic but also significantly weakened the momentum of the monster tides.

If the Gnoll Legend hadn’t used spatial treasures for defense, he and Dolai wouldn’t have been able to coordinate and annihilate all the enemies at once.

In Mu Yuan’s plan, Dolai’s Space Devour and the Thunderflame Dragon’s pincer attack couldn’t have eliminated all the legendary monsters—after all, the battlefield was close to Wolfhead Mountain, and he dared not unleash the Thunderflame Dragon’s full power.

He split the Nine-Headed Roaring Thunderflame Dragon into smaller dragons, launching them one by one, and ultimately didn’t release the entire super spell.

Even so, the attack collapsed several peaks of Wolfhead Mountain and affected the Treant Forest, reducing it by half.

Of course, Mu Yuan had other trump cards up his sleeve. While Dolai was locked in a stalemate with the Gnoll Legends, he had already begun charging the ‘Large Electromagnetic Coil Tower’ by connecting it to smaller thundercoil towers, accumulating lightning energy.

It just wasn’t needed.

Not needing to use it was normal. He could choose not to deploy his trump cards, but he couldn’t afford not to have them.

If he had to expend all his hidden cards just to barely defeat a formidable enemy, it would mean the entire battle was far from stable.

…

Since Mu Yuan ceased casting ‘Thousand-Prism Mirror Reflection’ in the latter half of the war, some flying monsters broke through the barrage and infiltrated Wolfhead Mountain Fortress, causing minor damage to the peripheral Arrow Towers, watchtowers, and City Walls.

Mutilated corpses lay scattered everywhere, blood congealed, emitting waves of blood and decay. However, the scent of blood was even more intense among the various soldiers of Tianyuan Territory.Lu Liu looked as if he had been fished out of a river of blood, his entire body reeking of bloodlust and gore, with tiny fragments of flesh and entrails clinging to the gaps in his armor. The other elite soldiers who had charged back and forth across the front lines were in a similar state. Some were wounded, some severely injured.

Laney was leading over a dozen Holy Light High Priests and Holy Light Priests, rushing about to treat the critically injured.

Some Lichs raised their skeletal staffs high, casting waves of energy like black smoke to reconnect the bones of half-dead but not-yet-dead skeletons. After all, with so many wounded, “denying” them all and then reviving them would consume too much energy.

Elite units like the Polar Star Archers, stationed in watchtowers for long-range attacks, remained uninjured and free from the stench of blood and gore, but they couldn’t hide their exhaustion.

“This battle was indeed far too perilous,” sighed Deadbone, who remained spotless and in peak condition.

He had achieved significant feats as well.

Earlier, it was Deadbone who had destroyed the Flesh Nests established by Jackal Fang on the front lines. Amid the chaos of battle, the Gnoll Legend hadn’t even noticed until Deadbone had wiped them all out.

The battle was over, but perhaps not entirely.

As if tying up loose ends.

Deadbone said as much.

He pulled a reserve Undead Legion from his Undead Holy Mountain and deployed them around the perimeter for vigilance.

“Right after a major victory is when everyone’s guard is at its lowest. If I were the commander of Jackal Fang, I wouldn’t miss such an opportunity.”

To be fair, Deadbone made a valid point.

It even made Lord Mu feel somewhat insecure.

While Deadbone patrolled and stood guard, the others weren’t idle either. Cleaning up the battlefield after the war was a massive undertaking.

Thus,

Lord Mu transformed into a transport hub, using his Lord’s Mark to shuttle troops back and forth. He transported a large group of awakened Skeletons, Lancers, and Slimes to Wolfhead Mountain, where they quickly began clearing the battlefield under the guidance of the still-capable elites.

“First, we gather the loot, right?” asked a Crown Slime (Outstanding One-Star) with wide, innocent eyes, somewhat uncertain.

Dolai placed its hands on its hips and shook its head.

“No, no! The first priority is to collect the corpses of those higher-tier monsters and transport them to the Soul Shrine. You, who have inherited this General’s transport skills, must do this quickly, or the monster corpses will go cold!”

But the defense of Wolfhead Mountain had lasted several hours. Many of the high-tier monsters slain earlier had likely already cooled off, far from fresh.

And most of the intelligent monsters around Wolfhead Mountain had been killed during the early stages of the battle.

Thinking of this, Dolai felt a pang of heartache, almost suffocating.

How much Soul Power had they lost!

Damn Jackal Fang—it would remember this grudge!

Dolai glared viciously at the Blackwing King, whose remains were less than half intact.

…

Outside Wolfhead Mountain, monster corpses littered the hills and fields. The Soul Sand and Remnant Souls extracted from these corpses were too numerous to count.

These treasures, like pristine lotuses blooming from mud, clean and sanitary, shimmered with faint starlight under the encroaching darkness, painting a hauntingly beautiful scene upon this hellish landscape.This scroll brings a sense of comfort.

It’s just tough on the troops who are collecting the spoils.

“No, no, no, how can exercising intelligence be called tough?”

“These recruits rarely get the chance to venture out on ordinary days. It’s exceptionally rare for them to come to the foot of Wolfhead Mountain today—it’s a tremendous blessing for them.”

After half the night, the recruits had finally gathered most of the Soul Sand scattered across the ground.

They couldn’t possibly collect all of it.

The Soul Sand was too fine and tiny, and the recruits’ intelligence wasn’t high enough yet, so missing a few grains during collection was unavoidable. Some of the veterans, having recovered their condition, also began the task of picking up and gathering.

Their duties were even more burdensome, as they were also responsible for cutting off the few valuable parts from the monster corpses that could serve as Materials.

「Prompt: You have obtained 998.6 Soul Crystals.」

「Prompt: You have obtained various ordinary-grade Materials and 68 rare-grade Materials.」

「Prompt: You have obtained various ordinary-grade Remnant Souls, 366 rare-grade Remnant Souls, and 3 exceptional-grade Remnant Souls.」

The drop rate for Remnant Souls is actually extremely low.

In the past, many players lamented on the forums that after toiling for half a day, they couldn’t even obtain a single ordinary-grade Remnant Soul.

For players trying to obtain rare-grade Remnant Souls by defeating monsters and enemies, it’s even more difficult.

This depends on the monster’s grade.

Some monsters may have high Ranks, such as Third-Order Warriors or Fourth-Order Commanders, but if their grade isn’t high and they’re merely rare monsters, the probability of them dropping rare Remnant Souls is minuscule.

Only exceptional-grade BOSSes have a relatively high chance of dropping them.

However, no matter how low the drop rate, it can’t withstand the sheer volume of the monster horde.

The number of ordinary-grade Remnant Souls is countless, though unfortunately, most are from Goblins and Gnolls.

“Even Remnant Souls from ordinary three-star Great Goblins, Giant Wolves, and Saber Axemen are hard to sell now.”

After all, his only channel is the Elven Courtyard Realm.

And those who can enter this realm are all outstanding Lords. These Lords look down on ordinary Remnant Souls.

Rare-grade Remnant Souls are much easier to sell; selling them all could fetch at least over a thousand Soul Crystals. Exceptional-grade Remnant Souls have always been highly sought-after Treasures that can be exchanged for scarce items.

“This battle has yielded quite a harvest, but…”

The consumption wasn’t low either!

The costs of creating large-scale spells, the depletion of defensive structures, the ammunition loss of city defense weapons, the recovery treatments and equipment wear and tear of elite troops from various legions, and so on.

The total consumption for Tianyuan Territory exceeded 800 Soul Crystals.

And this is with the prerequisites of him possessing an ‘Energy Well,’ ‘resurrection skills,’ and an ‘epic healer.’

If it were any other Lord, fighting such a war would likely cost at least two thousand Soul Crystals to start with. If they were to lose some elites or main forces, the Lord would be at a tremendous loss.

But then again, war isn’t something Lords can avoid just because they don’t want to fight.

They are often fighting defensive battles.

The weak and pitiful Tianyuan Territory had to mount some feeble counterattacks against the bared fangs of Jackal Fang.

The real gains from this battle were the strategic position, followed by some special drops, and lastly, the Soul Sand and Remnant Souls.

“Found it! Found it!”

Dolai fished out a few pieces of loot from the distant deep valley, still brimming with the lingering essence of thunder and fire.Shattered treasure armor; shattered staff; shattered storage ring;

Under the devastating impact of the Thunderflame Dragon, these exceptional-grade equipment had also suffered severe damage.

But at least, these pieces of equipment could be melted down and reforged. Two or three damaged treasure armors could probably be recast into one piece of exceptional equipment, right?

The only treasure that remained undamaged under the destructive force was a seemingly ordinary black pottery jar.

If not for the fact that this jar had been fished out of the Thunder River, it would have been easily overlooked on any ordinary day.

It was too plain.

It bore not a single glimmer of treasure radiance.

No,

“But there are spatial energy fluctuations, da~!”

Dolai affirmed.

Mu Yuan recalled the scene from half a day ago, when the monster legend had erected spatial barriers.

Was it related to this treasure?

He took out a pile of appraisal crystals from his territory and used them one after another on the black pottery jar. After expending a full 31 appraisal crystals, he finally managed to uncover some information.

「Space Urn」

「Grade: Epic」

「Description: A treasure containing spatial power, capable of erecting spatial barriers that isolate everything. Further uses unknown; please explore on your own.」

This was an Epic treasure!

Come to think of it, this was Mu Yuan’s first time seeing an Epic-grade item. These things were far rarer than legendary ones.

Mu Yuan tested it out.

“The Space Urn can be maintained for 30 seconds, with a coverage range of about 30 meters around the user. After that, it seems to require several hours before it can be activated again. However, this is only for foolproof usage.”The Gnoll Legend had foolishly injected energy to activate it, but he, Lord Mu, was different—he was a man who wielded spatial.”.. Dolai-brand spatial power, after all.

After a bit of exploration, he discovered some tricks.

When using the Space Urn to envelop and wrap oneself, it seemed possible to escape into a true alternate space, completely disappearing from the present world.

“This research topic is assigned to you, Dolai. I have high hopes for you, you know.”

Dolai widened its clear yet confused big eyes.

Mu Yuan continued directing his troops to salvage and collect the spoils of war, while simultaneously dispatching Asun’s squad to scout the north and locate the monster tribe’s position.

The Battle of Wolfhead Mountain had completely ended. No incidents occurred during the battlefield cleanup, but the impact of this battle had only just begun to spread, like a storm.

Winged-People Kingdom.

The Queen and some high-ranking powerhouses waited with anxious expressions.

Half a day ago, Jackal Fang had stirred up a monster tide, pressing their forces to the gates of the human fortress city.

They were, of course, closely watching this battle.

They were all astonished by Jackal Fang’s imposing momentum—the surging tide was utterly despair-inducing.

And then?

What happened next? Why is there no more news!

What are the scouts even doing!

Whether the human territory held or fell, there should be some news coming back, right? But Wolfhead Mountain was already relatively close to the entrance of their Featherfolk Valley, and during this period, they were even more hesitant to venture out recklessly.

Finally,

Whoosh—

Two Fourth Order Winged Guards, supporting each other, flew down through the spatial curtain.

Their condition was utterly miserable, bodies charred black, with feathers falling off as they descended. Their auras were extremely weak, as if they had narrowly escaped death.

Tragic! So tragic!

Their mission to gather intelligence must have involved indescribable life-and-death dangers. Indeed, gathering information right under Jackal Fang’s watchful eyes was no easy task.

Heroes, both of them are heroes!

Many veteran feathered people had tears streaming down their faces, vaguely recalling the past.But now was not the time for sentimentality—they had to understand the true state of the battle.

“The… the human Lord used a devastating weapon to annihilate all of Jackal Fang’s legendary figures.”

“We… we weren’t fast enough to escape and were slightly affected by the residual power of the sky magic. We fell unconscious and only woke up after half a day.”

The two winged warriors were deeply ashamed.

Even now, their hearts still trembled with fear.

The old winged General: “???”

The aggressive-winged faction: “???”

The Queen: “???”

Hadn’t these two been sent to investigate the Battle of Wolfhead Mountain?

(End of Chapter)