by Zhuang Bifan
Lin Li's purpose of establishing that principle was because he hoped that the Tower of Dusk could grow healthily in the business sector, and not get rid of all obstacles tyrannically with brute force. However, if anyone were to use non-business means to deal with the Tower of Dusk, they would definitely be dealt with using the harshest means.
This time, Lin Li left for three years in one go, and those forces had already forgotten the rules of the Tower of Dusk. Forces like the Black Sun Brothers Union and the Blood Crow Bandits could not come up with any clever business tactics, so they would naturally resort to using brute force, which was the most direct and simplest method. Anyway, in their opinion, the Tower of Dusk would not be able to continue upholding the rules, because Lin Li the Sanctuary powerhouse was not around. Thus, they felt that they could do whatever they wanted to do with them.
After knowing the significance of Alan reading out those names, the leaders of the various forces in the hall had strange expressions too. Those who had their names called looked extremely dejected, while the others who did not get named were secretly thankful, but also worried. After all, they were involved in the suppression of the Tower of Dusk, and even if they were lucky not to die, they would probably have to pay a huge price.
Finally, Alan rolled up the scroll and handed it to the mage beside him while looking coldly at the people around him. "Kill!"
That word was like a cold gust of wind that blew into the hall, causing the temperature to drop. The hall immediately became chaotic. Some were cursing loudly, while others were looking around for a way to escape. There were also some who were grimacing and trying to fight.
Since the people in the hall could become the leaders of the various forces, they were naturally competent. Almost all of them were Legendary powerhouses, especially a few level-21 and level-22 Legendary-mages who had advanced to level-23 or level-24 after the magic tides.
"What are you panicking for? There are so many Legendary powerhouses here. Are we supposed to just let them kill us!?"
"Let's fight them to death. Even if we die, they must pay the price!"
Those tyrants were not kindhearted people in the first place. Alan's command immediately triggered the ferociousness of those people, and they decided to go all out and drag a few people down with them. Besides, in their opinion, there was a possibility of survival. After all, there were more than 10 Legendary powerhouses on their side, while the Tower of Dusk only had three Legendary powerhouses even though they had more people.
Hence, in their opinion, as long as they could escape successfully this time and immediately leave the Breezy Plains, then even if the Sanctuary powerhouse of the Tower of Dusk stepped in, he might not be able to get them all.
Of course, those who wanted to fight for their lives were those whose names had been called. The remaining ones who weren't named had all snuck to the corner in the hall. To them, staying alive was the most important issue, and even if they had to lose everything they had, they would be able to rise again.
Generally speaking, Alan was actually not acting too smart, and he felt that he could send some people to split up and siege the place, which was the real foolproof way. Now that he had angered all of them, they would definitely be provoked, and that would make his mission a lot more difficult.
It was not that Alan did not think it through well, but because the Tower of Dusk was not only seeking revenge this time. They also wanted to assert dominance in the Breezy Plains and tell all the forces that the master of the Tower of Dusk had returned.
Lin Li had been away for only three years, and the forces in the Breezy Plains had already begun to forget about the authority of Lin Li, a Sanctuary powerhouse. That just meant that the deterrence Lin Li had given them before was not enough.
If it had been the Supreme Council, things would have been different. There had been rumors of the three Arbitrators dying in Anril. After all, the three Arbitrators rarely appeared in front of the world, but no force had ever dared to verify the truth. In the past 1,300 years, they had already acc.u.mulated so much authority and power that no one dared to provoke them. Even if the three Arbitrators did not appear for 100 years, those forces would not dare to covet the Supreme Council's power.
The Tower of Dusk was established for a short period of time, and they did not have much time to manage it, so they could only assert dominance by resorting to menacing methods. Using the enemies' blood and lives to assert the dominance of the Tower of Dusk would make those people too scared to even think of touching the Tower of Dusk.
Although the Tower of Dusk only had three Legendary powerhouses including Alan, Ujfalusi and Norfeller were powerhouses who were at the peak of the Legendary-realm, and had experienced many near-death situations which honed their skills. They were far more powerful than those who had received a sudden surge in power.
Besides, they were supported by 100 Archmages who could get into a Magic Net Array and have the strength to confront a Legendary powerhouse who was at the peak of the Legendary-realm. In fact, even without Ujfalusi and Norfeller, the Archmages alone would definitely not allow them to escape easily, even if they could not kill the enemies.
The people in the hall were just screaming for their lives when Norfeller disappeared into thin air, and turned into a black bolt of lightning that flashed into the hall. Norfeller was holding the Heaven's Wrath Daggers in his hands which were glowing red under the fusion of power. Before the others could react, they saw two heads floating in midair, while blood spurted out like a fountain before splattering like rain.
Seeing that two people had been beheaded as soon as they started to fight, the people in the hall finally realized what was going on. Intense fighting spirit emerged in the hearts of the Sword Sages, and the Legendary-mages raised their elemental shields, while two Legendary-level Assassins silently hid in the shadow of the shields.
"Master Ujfalusi, don't let them escape," Alan said to Ujfalusi respectfully. Although he was a servant of Lin Li, no one in the Tower of Dusk dared to regard him and Norfeller as servants.
"Haha, don't worry about it. I'll make sure none of them can escape." Ujfalusi chuckled sinisterly and raised his Skeleton Staff. As a ray of light emerged from the gemstone on top, a large number of skeletons appeared in the hall and covered it.
It was merely a Necromagic spell known as a Bone Cell whose function was to briefly limit the enemy's movement. Usually, it would cause one to be trapped by more than 10 bones.
Chapter 1023 - Confidential News
However, when Ujfalusi cast it, the Bone Cell seemed to have become a skeleton fortress as the densely packed white bones engulfed the entire building such that not even a single fly could escape, let alone a human.
After casting the Bone Cell, Ujfalusi chanted two incantations, and a large vortex door appeared out of thin air. A massive number of Undead creatures then surged out from the door like a white tidal wave, gushing towards the crowd.
Those Undead creatures were naturally insignificant to the Legendary powerhouses, but there was limited space in the hall, and the exterior was covered by the sturdy Bone Cell. When the Undead creatures surged in, they seemed to have immediately filled the space in the hall. The leaders of the forces opposite had to cope with a large number of Undead creatures while guarding against Norfeller's sudden attack. Hence, they were somewhat in a mess.
Although Norfeller's speed was dependent on the space, the Undead creatures did not affect him at all. There was a reason for Vampires to be called natural assassins. As a Vampire who was at the peak of the Legendary-realm and had maximized his talent, Norfeller managed to kill the army of Undead creatures in his way quickly and smoothly without much effort, especially with the support of Necromagic.
A Sword Sage suddenly felt a sharp pain in his c.h.e.s.t as soon as he blasted away the Undead creatures in front of him. He looked down, only to see a blade that had pierced his back moving slowly out of it. There was a Legendary Assassin hidden in the shadow, carefu
lly moving towards the gate. However, he suddenly felt his neck turn cold, and the scenes in his field of vision began tumbling continuously.
The few Legendary-mages continued to cast magic spells, only to see that the number of Undead creatures was increasing. They had no choice but to fly into the air using their Power of Flight. However, as soon as they moved away from the army of Undead creatures, they saw a wave of radiant and lethal magic spells, and they were immediately blasted by a magic storm.
The entire battle lasted for only a few minutes. When Ujfalusi stopped the Bone Cell that covered the building and the Tide of Death, he looked at the building in the Bone Cell that had long turned into scraps. Amidst the ruins, Norfeller was holding the Heaven's Wrath Daggers and holding down a few people whose faces had turned pale and bodies were trembling.
The remaining few were naturally not on Alan's name list, and they were allowed to stay alive for a few reasons. Other than the fact that they had only used business tactics against the Tower of Dusk, they also wanted to use those people as a mouthpiece to propagate and publicize this matter. If all of them were wiped out, it might not cause a huge uproar even if they kicked up a commotion. Hence, they had to keep a few of them behind to publicize that matter.
Those who did not get killed no longer had the temperament of Legendary powerhouses as they stood still fearfully while being held down by Norfeller. Along the way, they passed by the corpses and arrived in front of the Tower of Dusk's team. Although they were not presidents of any trade unions, they had also seen countless corpses in their lives, and had killed several times before. However, they had never been as frightened by corpses as they were now.
Those who died were real Legendary powerhouses, and each one of them was extremely domineering. However, everything had turned into nothingness as they had all gotten wiped out by the Tower of Dusk's team in the blink of an eye, be it a strong individual or one with the support of a powerful force.
"Master Alan, I was compelled by them, and I had no choice but to do those things that harmed the Tower of Dusk…"
"Master Alan…"
After those few people stood in front of Alan, they immediately started blabbering on and on, explaining that they had their compelling reasons for what they had done. Some even knelt down, admitted to their mistakes, and begged for forgiveness. There were also some who were so frightened that they were at a complete loss for words.
It was not strange that a few of them knew Alan. After all, he was the leader of the Mage Legion of the Tower of Dusk three years ago. However, at that time, they did not take Alan, the said leader who was just a beginner in the Legendary-realm, too seriously. However, Alan now held the authority to decide if they could live or die. They couldn't help but be extremely respectful to him.
"Master Alan, these people might have gotten the punishment they deserved, but they definitely have some loyal followers. I hope that you can give us a chance to redeem ourselves and allow us to deploy some men to help you with the cleanup." The president of one of the trade unions was good at finding chances as he actually wanted to send some people to help Alan purge the forces that used to be their allies.
The few people at the side immediately showed their loyalty after hearing the reminder of their companion. They patted their c.h.e.s.t and put their lives on the line, not daring to frown at all.
However, Alan shook his head calmly and glanced coldly at the crowd, causing them to flinch. He then slowly said, "No need for that. Those forces no longer exist."
Alan's words made those people feel stunned as they had thought that the Tower of Dusk only wanted to hold the culprit responsible. After all, those who had died in the hall were all the leaders of various forces. In a certain sense, they were representatives of the forces too. However, they would soon realize that the Tower of Dusk had never been kind to their enemies.
"Master Alan, I have a piece of top secret information, and I hope that it'll be of use to you and the Tower of Dusk," said the chubby mage who'd been the first to leave in the beginning. His name was Ralph, and he was the president of a medium-sized trade union.
"Go ahead," Alan said calmly, clearly not too interested in the top secret information that Ralph had mentioned. However, his attitude soon changed drastically after hearing Ralph's words.
The chubby mage Ralph inched towards Alan carefully and suppressed his voice. He then said in a deranged manner, "Master Alan, this alliance was not started by the Black Sun Brothers Union, but someone who played an important role here. This person connected the major forces, and made them develop the idea to go against the Tower of Dusk."
"Oh, is that so?" Alan's expression was rather impassive, but after hearing Ralph's words, he couldn't help but raise his brow and ask, "How did you know about that? Where's that person?"
Although Alan seemed a little shocked, he did not believe Ralph entirely. After all, there would definitely be some who would put the blame on others and try to gain some credit so as to negate their sins at this juncture.
"Master Alan, I swear that what I say is true. If I make up nonsense, I shall die a horrible death." Ralph could tell from Alan's tone that he was doubtful. He hurriedly patted his c.h.e.s.t and swore an oath. When he saw the look of annoyance on Alan's face, he finally lowered his voice again, and said, "I heard Anlork and the others calling him Master Tanu, and rumor has it that he's not from the Breezy Plains or Anril at all. He's from the sea."
"The sea?" Alan couldn't help but frown. If what Ralph said was true, he would miss a big fish this time.
At this moment, Alan thought about the prisoner Lin Li had brought back after annihilating the enemies. Although they had yet to find out anything from interrogating him, they could already confirm that there was a mysterious force behind the siege of the Tower of Dusk. In this case, could there be some special relation between Master Tanu, the prisoner, and the mysterious force?
At the thought of this, Alan knew that Tanu was probably a lead to luring out the mysterious force. Hence, he asked Ralph, "What else do you know about this Tanu?"
"This…" Ralph's features were squished together on his chubby face, but after contemplating for a long while, he hesitantly answered, "That person named Tanu is very mysterious, and he only interacted with the leaders of a few forces. I've only coincidentally met him once, but I remember that he had a strange tattoo on the back of his hand, but I don't know the origin of the tattoo."
"Draw it. If your information is accurate, I'll take it that you've made it up for your mistakes with your credit." Although he had only found out about the tattoo, Alan could vaguely sense that it would be an important lead.
"Yes, yes, I'll do it immediately without any discrepancies." Ralph was overjoyed to hear that he could atone for his mistakes. He immediately found a piece of paper and a pen, and then went to a suitable place to begin drawing.
Compared to Ralph, the others were far less fortunate. Although they managed to stay alive, they had no choice but to sign a contract to sell their lives and hand over their freedom and their businesses to the Tower of Dusk. After signing the contract, they would no longer be the presidents of trade unions, and would instead become slaves to the Tower of Dusk who would have to slog their guts out for the Tower of Dusk even until their death. They could not turn their backs on the Tower of Dusk at all.
Although the few of them were upset at the time of signing the contract, they only knew how fortunate they were after leaving this place and receiving the news from others. Alan stopped them from taking part in the purge of the enemies, not because they wanted to let those forces off, but because the Tower of Dusk had already sent someone to handle them.
Connoris' team was in charge of handling those factions. Other than the mages, they also had the Death Knights that had Divine Power. However, they should be called the Retribution Knights now. The death of the Blood Crow Bandits was the doing of Connoris. The Dark Decay that the 20 Retribution Knights released caused all the bandits and people i
n the den to die and instantly turn into ashes.
After the death of the Blood Crow Bandits, the forces of those who had been named by Alan suffered the same fate too. Soon, the news began to spread in the Breezy Plains, and the forces that had manpower of more than 1,000 were wiped out in the Breezy Plains, as if they had never existed before.
The Tower of Dusk's cruel retaliation had shaken the entire Breezy Plains as more than a dozen forces were completely wiped out. Other than letting the others know the strength of the Tower of Dusk, they also wanted to let them know how cruel and ruthless the Tower of Dusk was to their enemies. At this moment, those who had become slaves to the Tower of Dusk finally knew how fortunate they were.
After the Tower of Dusk managed to assert dominance, they soon regained all the assets that they had lost in the past three years, without any losses at all. The leaders of the various forces dared not delay as they quickly proceeded to the Tower of Dusk with hefty gifts in hopes to see the president and resign various business cooperation agreements.
The top forces of the Breezy Plains like the Mithril Alliance, the Caesar Family, and the Blood Moon Clan had gradually changed their attitude towards the Tower of Dusk. Although they had not suppressed the Tower of Dusk directly, they had either terminated their business cooperation with them or offered even harsher conditions.
However, now that Lin Li had returned and reestablished his inviolable majesty in the Breezy Plains, the various major forces immediately changed their attitude again. However, since they had all gained massive benefits in the magic tides this time, some of their members were even rumored to have become actual Sanctuary powerhouses. Hence, even their attitudes had changed, and they were no longer like what they used to be three years ago.
Of course, only the top forces had the confidence to show such an attitude. The other medium-sized forces would not have the right to speak to the authorities of the Tower of Dusk if they did not have a Sanctuary powerhouse as their leader. They would have to cowardly bow down. Hence, the leaders of those forces dared not make any mistakes in pleasing the Tower of Dusk.
