As the Wight King's legion crossed into Green Star, Luo Luo and his companions were busy preparing various defensive structures within the Treefolk territory. They understood that the hellish lord on the other side of the rift would not give up easily, and the next wave of attacks was sure to be even more ferocious, so they needed to plan accordingly.
As soon as the Wight King crossed the interdimensional rift, he immediately dispatched all the hellhounds, signalling the demons in this dimension to gather, while sending wraiths to investigate the place where the hellish apostle had previously died.
Days later, the second apostle, an envoy of the hellish army, who was vigorously attacking the human base located in the Doom Valley, received the Wight King's order.
"Command your troops to assemble at full speed; do not make a mistake."
At this moment, the demon army he led had already reached the city walls, on the verge of breaching the stronghold that was impeding the advance of the hellish army. Receiving such an order unexpectedly left him with no choice but to comply. In the hellish race, the hierarchy was clear, and orders from superiors must not be disputed.
The second hellish envoy cast a harsh glare at the towering walls of the human base before issuing a retreat order.
The inhabitants of the Doom Valley base were almost in despair. Men, women, and children inside the base grabbed anything available to prepare for a final stand; the hellish race did not take captives, and being captured meant certain death. They would rather fight to the end.
But just as they were mustering their courage to fight, those despicable monsters abruptly retreated, leaving them utterly confused.
Despite their confusion, it was still a good thing. Under the command of their lord, the survivors hurriedly began repairing the city walls, replenishing supplies, and cleaning up the corpses outside to prevent the spread of plague and disease in the base.
After completing these tasks, Joseph Williams, the city lord who had not slept for seven days and nights since the demon attacks, finally got a moment to rest.
His daughter, Diana Williams, gently massaged his shoulders. She knew her father had been under immense pressure. He hadn't slept for days, constantly going up to the walls to supervise the soldiers, ensuring they remained vigilant. It was a tremendous burden for him.
Before long, Joseph began to snore softly, falling into a deep sleep.
At this moment, the Wight King had led his troops to the place where the hellish army had been annihilated.
"Why is the magical energy here so volatile?"
"Report, Commander, we have discovered the Treefolk's stronghold ahead, with a population of about five hundred. It appears they have suffered no losses. It seems as though no battle has occurred here."
"How could there be no losses? So many troops from our legion were invested here. How could the Treefolk have sustained no damage? What exactly happened?"
The Wight King felt quite puzzled. After all, the order to attack the Treefolk's stronghold came from Simmons, and he knew that this was done to acquire the treasures of the Treefolk. That's why half of the hellhounds in his territory had been sent to the first hellish envoy, yet they had been wiped out without any reaction from the enemy, which he found incomprehensible.
In truth, the Treefolk had suffered losses. They had over five hundred warriors, which was the result of Simmons's reconnaissance. However, that did not mean the Treefolk had only combatants; they also had logistical personnel, as well as children and the elderly among them. All these combined added up to more than two hundred in population.
It was this mix that led the Wight King's scouts to believe the Treefolk had sustained no losses, resulting in a misjudgement on his part.
"Could it be that the hellish army did not attack the Treefolk? Yes, that must be it. So how were they eliminated?"
"Could it be that the hellish army didn't attack the Treefolk? Yes, it must be that way. So how were they eliminated?"
People often subconsciously believe their own deductions and always think they are correct. After all, the Wight King could not believe that a legion of over seven thousand had not killed a single Treefolk but had instead been wiped out by them. When did the Treefolk become so powerful?
He ordered his subordinates to carefully search around the battlefield and capture the real culprit.
However, he specifically overlooked the direction of the Treefolk because he didn't believe that the damage was caused by them.
But the world is often so cunning; the true culprit was currently visiting the Treefolk.
While the Wight King didn't send many troops toward the Treefolk, Luo Luo and his team had left enough eyes around the battlefield.
As soon as the hellish army arrived at the edge of the battlefield, a shadow slipped along the trees and entered the territory of the Treefolk.
At this moment, Luo Luo and his team had just completed the construction of their defensive structures and were having dinner with the Treefolk leader.
The shadow melded into Cai Mengmeng's body. Sensitive to dark energy, Luo Xin also sensed something unusual.
After a few minutes, Cai Mengmeng approached Luo Luo and whispered a few words in his ear.
"Great, it seems our reconnaissance methods are superior. The enemies from the hellish race have already arrived, and in considerable numbers. With so many enemies, it looks like they take us quite seriously."
"Luo Xin, take a look at what kind of configuration these hellish troops have."
Cai Mengmeng relayed the information to Luo Xin.
After listening, he pondered for a moment and said, "This should be a main force of the Wight race, accompanied by a substantial number of hellhounds. There should also be wraiths involved. This is a formidable army. They can attack and defend effectively."
"They are well-equipped for both ranged and close combat. There are also reconnaissance vanguards, making this a well-rounded standard hellish army. I suspect they will also bring some heavy siege equipment."
"Moreover, the leader... I can't shake the feeling that he resembles the hero unit, the Wight King!"
"Wow, it looks like that lord over there has really invested heavily." Luo Luo knew that transporting such a well-equipped army would undoubtedly consume a substantial amount of resources, indicating that the opposing lord was somewhat anxious.
After Luo Xin described the various statistics about this enemy, Luo Luo finally relaxed. This configuration was easy for him to handle. The Wights were strong in physical prowess, and that was precisely what Luo Luo was adept at countering.
The weaponry of the Mechanical Race, after modifications, had an even greater restraining effect on physical bodies, while its lethality against energy beings like wraiths was almost negligible.
There was no need for concern there. The Spirit Dragon specialized in slaying energy beings; once its energy disruption skill was unleashed, it would take out wraith-like creatures with precision—just touching them would cause harm, and they would die upon contact, with no exceptions.
This was the benefit of teamwork. Luo Luo was also contemplating how to equip the Mechanical Race with a more varied and comprehensive arsenal in the future. He hoped to develop himself as a versatile leader, leaving no weaknesses for the enemy to exploit.
After several hours of intense searching, the hellish army revealed no useful leads. Now the Wight King had to face reality—a reality he was most unwilling to acknowledge: the true culprit was indeed the Treefolk.
This was bizarre. He hesitated to make a decision and decided to send wraiths to scout the Treefolk's situation. If the culprits were the Treefolk, then he would confront them openly. If not, even better; he could eliminate them and fulfil Simmons's mission, continuing his grand endeavour to conquer the other dimension.
Regardless, he had to confront it. He summoned the high-ranking members of the hellish army to discuss strategies for dealing with the Treefolk. They ultimately decided to launch a surprise attack on the Treefolk stronghold after the wraiths completed their reconnaissance, specifically targeting the nighttime.
At that time, the Treefolk would not be able to photosynthesize in the absence of sunlight and would be in a lethargic state. This was their most vulnerable time of day—a time when they were most negligent. The previous hellish envoy had used this method multiple times to destroy several Treefolk strongholds.
What he didn't know was that his actions had been exposed from the very beginning, completely under the control of Luo Luo and the others.
Meanwhile, Luo Luo's team was discussing ways to respond to the hellish army with the Treefolk leader. After all, minimizing losses was important; no one wanted to see their warriors sacrifice themselves in vain.
At that moment, the wraith scouts happened to stumble upon the tree hollow where Luo Luo and his team were discussing their strategies.
As a pure energy entity, the Shadow Clan also noticed the wraith as soon as it approached. The wraiths were not specialized in hiding and assassination, so they did not detect the presence of the Shadow Clan. However, the Shadow Clan had already set its sights on them, which meant Cai Mengmeng had also spotted the wraith. Just as Cai Mengmeng was about to remind the others, she caught a glance from Luo Luo and immediately fell silent.
The upgraded war robots, though lacking in their ability to damage energy entities, were now equipped with more reconnaissance devices. They had energy detectors, infrared detectors, and wave detectors—all capable of detecting invisible units and energy entity targets. Even without the Shadow Clan's warning, Luo Luo would have already noticed the approaching wraith who didn't seem friendly.
At this point, Luo Luo's group was aware that Simmons's plan was to conduct a night raid. And now, there happened to be enemy ears in the room.
Luo Luo had a thought, "Why not use this to my advantage?"
You see, the core of technology not only contained scientific knowledge but also a wealth of cultural images and texts from the Earth's era—virtually everything. However, although these things existed within the core of technology, they did not appear on the attribute panel because they could not enhance combat power.