When the plot-skips players into the game world-Chapter 1039 - 378 Narcissus Duchy Independence

Chapter 1039 -378 Narcissus Duchy Independence

March 30th, Stibium.

The heavy snow, worsened after the Winter Celestial’s promotion, still hasn’t stopped.

The conflicts on the Black Hawk Battlefield have completely subsided—under such heavy snow that blocks sight and sound, it’s impossible to execute any tactics.

More often than not, stepping out means suddenly losing sight and sound of everything. Yet one can’t just stay put and be buried by the snow… they can only wander around lost. As a result, it’s easy to stumble into the enemy’s camp and get caught

Consequently, the side inclined towards defensive inaction has a greater advantage.

The mages of Narcissus Duchy were already skilled in positional warfare. They could also control the power of this demonic snow, integrating its strength into their own spells.

In the army, predominantly composed of Black Hawk People, there was a severe shortage of spellcasters. The warriors had no way around it and could only barely use the ritual magic circles to protect the camp and shield from magical detection.

With roads blocked by heavy snow, supplies simply couldn’t reach the frontlines, and the only water source was frozen solid by distant spells from the mages, leaving them to rely on alchemists to melt snow for water. Demon Scholars exerted all their strength just to maintain the concealment rituals.

Alchemical Golems were entirely inoperable from lack of magical sources—the alchemists’ inherent mana was insufficient to operate so many golems, let alone that the snow which obscured senses had rendered the golems completely blind, unable to act autonomously and only capable of being controlled at close range.

Even the powers of the Necromancers were greatly weakened.

Ever since the promotion of the Winter Celestial… in just one night, the majority of the mana required for Necromancy had suddenly become water-attributed. Although the profession’s mana pool had also changed from purely earth to half earth, half water, the path traits they had chosen could not be retracted.

The path traits built around an earth-attribute mana pool… such as Earth Affinity or Earth Container, became mostly useless in an instant. Now, earth-attributed mana could only be used for Preservation Arts and petrifaction spells, and no longer to animate the undead. Staffs and other equipment that enhanced earth-attributed mana also lost most of their significance.

The attackers, in this moment, felt as though they were the ones besieged.

One week after the snowfall began, they had not been able to mobilize for three or four days straight. The morale of the frontline army, which was supposed to quell the Narcissus Duchy’s rebellion, had plummeted to rock bottom, just half a step from mutiny.

Normally at times like these, the military police would dispose of these disobedient soldiers to suppress them… but this time even the military police stopped and adopted a watchful attitude. It seems they had some thoughts of their own.

At this moment, a messenger who had been lost in the heavy snow for days finally arrived belatedly with the retreat order.

They let out a sigh of relief and began to prepare for retreat.

Once they vacated the camp, such a large movement of personnel was immediately detected by the Mage Tower, revealing their precise location.

Dozens of kilometers apart, the mages bombarded them with a barrage—an assault of snowstorms mixed with invisible Wind Blades and icy gusts filled with high-speed ice gravel, as well as summoning the Elemental Life Legion to harass and intercept them constantly with ice spears.

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Even with the spell augmentation from the Mage Tower, the accuracy of such distant spells was almost zero. Only large-scale spells without designated targets could be slightly effective. However, they could only serve as minor disruptions, with virtually no real lethality.

But the result was—excessively effective.

During the retreat, the Stibium army lost the last of their morale due to this wave of magical attacks and collapsed outright, quickly turning into a rout. Everything fell into disarray, commands were almost completely ineffective, some spellcasters were even trampled to death, and many more couldn’t keep up with the speed of retreat and were left behind, completely losing their way.

Apart from spellcasters, many soldiers also scattered and got lost while fleeing, fearful of falling behind and losing direction.

Compared to those killed directly by the long-range strategic spells, the number of people who lost their way was far greater.

The first group of soldiers that made it back to the fortresses in the Black Hawk Domain was less than one-third!

Meanwhile, the chaos from the rear finally reached the frontline soldiers.

Valentine VII and Valentine VIII died in succession—although the stated reason for Valentine VIII’s absence was “a serious illness requiring long-term bed rest,” everyone knew it meant he had been killed and was about to be transformed into the Son of the Moon. The so-called bedridden status was merely an excuse no one believed.

More than the succession of a Son of the Moon to the throne, what the soldiers couldn’t accept was the fact that Valentine VIII, who had just succeeded the throne a week ago, “died of illness.”

Leaving for one battle, and the Monarch changes twice—Whom are we exactly fighting for?

In the most critical battle to quell the rebellion, the decision was made for a complete military retreat, which turned into a rout, signifying that the independence of the Narcissus Duchy could no longer be stopped.

Thus, the generals of the Black Hawk Domain also began to entertain their own thoughts.

——Compared to the native armies of Star Antimony, they were the main body of the entire Stibium Army. Initially lacking Upper Transcendents, the number of Transcendents in the Black Hawk Domain, especially Upper Transcendents, surged after the “warrior” profession re-emerged.

Not much time had passed before Black Hawk had already given birth to its own two Fifth Power Level Transcendent warriors, and the number of Fourth Level Transcendents had tripled!

Most of them were originally Hunters—a profession particularly adept at long-range attacks, capable of attaching will and mana to ranged weapons for precise and enchanted strikes. Be it bows, hand crossbows, pistols, rifles, or even cannons, all fall under the category of “long-range weapons.”

They could turn those powerful but imprecise cannon-type weapons invented by Alchemists into precision armaments. Alchemists also created powerful hand cannons as individual weapons for them, and these utterly unaimed weapons combined with the Hunters’ professional abilities could become highly accurate ranged attacks within a certain distance… because the projectiles could turn corners.

As though the reticle stuck to the target.

Although the slight bullet attraction could not guarantee a hit hundred percent of the time at extremely high speeds, it was definitely enough for the battlefield environment.

However, a significant problem lies in the fact… that they are, after all, “Hunters.”

They are Transcendents on the Path of Adaptation, originally meant to hunt wild beasts, Magical Beasts, Demons, and Dragons.

While their abilities are suited for warfare, this is not at all a way to practice their Path nor does it meet the conditions for advancing their professional levels… In other words, they simply can’t gain experience from this model. The majority of Hunters are stuck at the Third Level—as they were already at the second ability level upon graduation.

But now, a large portion of Hunters have transitioned into warriors.

Although they lost the ability to guide long-range weapons, the experience they had accumulated was not wasted. The warrior profession itself has various abilities favorable for combat—robust life force and a natural mastery of weapons are key.

After all, they have always been engaged in the duties of a warrior; they just lacked the corresponding profession. Once enlisted, almost everyone is a “genius.”

Just like an old artist who has accumulated years of artistic experience, if they only step onto the Transcendent path past their fifties, they could definitely make continuous advancements on the Path of Beauty.

Unless those at the forefront of the fiercest battles are afraid to advance, fearing night ambushes… any who possessed the materials needed to perform the ritual could immediately proceed with advancement.

The Black Hawk Domain of today is completely different from before—they are no longer treated as cannon fodder due to a lack of a substantial number of Upper Transcendents. They also no longer fear being sandwiched between the north’s Narcissus and Star Antimony to the south.

In fact, on the very same day that the army retreated… the Daffodil Territory had already declared its re-establishment of the nation.

Mages used spells to send this news directly to the surrounding countries. Avalon and Iris Flower were the first to issue a statement, extending congratulations with restraint.

Without sending anyone to Lionheart City to inquire further, several military nobles from the Black Hawk Domain led small squads to the Narcissus Duchy on the second day of the retreat to negotiate the release of prisoners in a diplomatic manner—those spellcasters who were left behind in the rout and consequently frozen stiff in the snow were mostly captured.

After all, for the Narcissus Duchy with its large number of Sons of the Moon, allowing those high-quality blood sources to die outside would be the greatest loss.

These military nobles faced no obstacles or difficulties in the Narcissus Duchy… even though they had officially retreated just a day or two before, and a third of the soldiers had not even returned to the frontline fortress.

Because preparations for a peace negotiation had been made even before the order to retreat was issued.

It was only after the first wave of soldiers reached the fortress that they could take action.

After all, these military nobles of the Black Hawk Domain all have crimson eyes.

——In the Narcissus Duchy, those Mage Lords who warmly welcomed them also possessed eyes of the same color.

Different from the Sons of the Moon native to Star Antimony.

They do not worship the Banquet Master, nor are they so greedy for pleasure… instead, they believe in Sister Sasha and the Blood Celestial Marshal.

To baptize everything with Holy Blood—