196: Chapter 196 Awesome! The main hall reaches level 14, unlocking new abilities.

This batch was collected when fighting Aisela previously,

although they were all consumable self-detonating troops,

they were also good for harassment.

Thus, he personally commanded,

dividing the three thousand Storm Wingguard into thirty squads

to conduct all-around reconnaissance and harassment on the Centaur Clan continent.

His plan was to first mark the positions of the opponent's core buildings

and troop assembly points.

If they encountered isolated small squads, they would directly dive and self-detonate.

After the order was given,

three thousand grayish-white skeletal wingguards

soared into the air from the Floating City Combat Readiness Platform.

They dispersed into thirty squads, crossed the collision line, and flew towards the opposite verdant continent.

Xu Qin looked at the troops flying away and said with a smile,

"Do not think that retreating can let you wait for an opportunity."

"You must know the saying that the monk may run away, but the temple cannot run with him."

...

On the other side of the collision line.

Inside the core building of the Centaur Clan continent,

the lord of the Centaur Clan floated in mid-air.

The reason it could float was because it was not of the Centaur Clan, but a Stellar Race being.

Its translucent body was composed of light blue starlight.

This Tier 3 Star Lord was named Star Chart.

Just like Xu Qin's situation, what it controlled was not its own race.

Xu Qin chose the Undead back then.

While Star Chart chose the Centaurs.

The reason it chose the Centaur Clan was because the Stellar Race was too weak in the early stage,

while the Centaur Clan had extremely high mobility,

able to obtain maximum returns at minimum cost.

This set of tactics

allowed it to kill its way from an ordinary lord all the way to the Void,

and kill its way from a Tier 1 Star Lord all the way to Tier 3.

But now...

it encountered a troublesome opponent.

According to the current situation, Star Chart

began to utilize the racial talent of the Stellar Race to carry out battlefield deductions.

It could, based on known intelligence,

simulate the trend of future battles,

and calculate the win rate.

Blue starlight flowed within the building.

Data began to pour in.

The opponent was a Tier 3 Star Lord,

and the territory area was 15,000 square kilometers.

The troop type was the Undead branch, with an unknown quantity but presumed to be extremely large.

The ground defense system was complete, with crisscrossing trenches and a depth exceeding eight kilometers.

The Ranged Troops strike capability was extremely strong.

As for the air troops, it was not very clear at present.

As for its own side's information,

Centaur Warriors, 400,000,

Centaur Archers, 250,000,

Centaur Priests, 58,000,

Elite Iron Hoof Knights, 200,000.

Totaling 908,000.

After confirming the situation, the deduction began.

First was the frontal Charge.

After three seconds of starlight flowing, a conclusion was reached.

There was absolutely no chance of successful victory.

The reason was that the trench terrain completely countered the centaur cavalry Charge.

The troops could not rush across and could not hit the target.

If it chose to flank the sides, the win rate might be a little higher,

but it still infinitely tended toward zero.

As for the reason, naturally, it was because the opponent's trench coverage was too wide.

Flanking required a lot of time and provided the opponent's Ranged Troops with an opportunity for a sneak attack.

Of course, they could also fight a positional battle, destroying trenches while fighting.

But doing so...

the Centaur Clan would fall into a positional battle, losing all advantages.

Finally, after much deliberation,

Star Chart thought the best way turned out to be a defensive counterattack to consume the opponent.

That's right, dragging it out to wait for changes and look for opportunities.

Star Chart finished the deduction, and the starlight within its body trembled.

This meant that,

no matter how it fought,

the winning odds did not exceed thirty percent.

Its 900,000-strong centaur army,

when facing those dense trenches,

couldn't even scrape together a 50% win rate.

Star Chart immediately made a decision.

"The entire army retreats to within a five-kilometer radius of the core building."

"Spread out, do not form ranks."

"Preserve the main force and wait for the opponent to take the initiative to attack."

Its judgment was very clear.

The opponent hid behind the trenches, and its side could not Charge across.

But if the opponent wanted to win, it had to cross the collision line and enter the territory of the Centaur Clan.

And once entering the flat grassland...

That would be the home ground of the Centaur Clan.

"Drag it out."

Star Chart made a decision.

"Drag it out until it exhausts its patience."

...

On Xu Qin's side.

Reconnaissance reports were continuously sent back.

"The centaur army is retreating across the board?"

Xu Qin looked at the red dots retreating continuously on the regional map.

"Retreating near the core building?"

He touched his chin, instantly guessing the opponent's intention.

"Interesting, wanting to drag out time with me, huh?"

Xu Qin slid the map and began to study it.

The opposite continent was 9,600 square kilometers,

and the core building was in the north-central part.

It was about thirty-one kilometers away from the collision line.

The entire Centaur Clan retreated to guard the core area, waiting for Xu Qin to take the initiative to attack.

On the flat grassland,

the high mobility advantage of the centaur cavalry would be brought to the extreme.

If Xu Qin sent beetles to go by land...

"So what if the movement speed is fast?"

"Do you really think I will fight you on the grassland?"

Xu Qin chuckled softly and opened the command panel.

"Tian Ming, how is the excavation progress?"

"It has advanced one kilometer and two hundred meters."

"Continue. Dig towards the direction of the core building."

"No need to rush, steadily and surely."

"Yes."

Xu Qin opened the command panel,

although the Troglodyte's excavation speed was fast,

a distance of thirty-one kilometers would take at least a day and a half.

But it didn't matter.

As for time, Xu Qin had plenty of it.

Anyway, the territory contention battle had no time limit.

Whoever destroyed the opponent's core building first would win.

He brought up the reconnaissance screen of the Storm Wingguard.

Thirty squads had already scattered across the sky of the Centaur Clan continent,

continuously marking the opponent's troop deployment.

The locations of the ballista positions were also marked one by one.

Xu Qin noted down these positions and shook his head.

"The wingguards can at most just harass the stray cavalry on the outer perimeter."

Swoosh!

A wingguard squad dived down,

pouncing towards a team of patrolling Centaur Archers.

Seeing this, the Centaur Archers raised their bows and shot.

-2800!

-3100!

...

Under the dense arrows, two wingguards were pierced through on the spot.

But immediately afterwards...

Bang bang!

[Wraith Fury] triggered!

Two dark purple explosions burst in the middle of the Centaur Archers.

-195750!

-195750!

...

Dozens of Centaur Archers died on the spot.

Xu Qin looked at this damage value and nodded with satisfaction.

"Not bad, exchanging wingguards for archers is a huge profit."

He continued to mobilize the wingguard squads to carry out harassment.

Every dive was a suicide attack,

but every time it could take away several centaur troops.

This kind of piecemeal consumption,

although not much, could affect the opponent's mindset.

This was the privilege of an Undead lord.

...

Time passed in this flow,

unknowingly passing twelve hours.

The Troglodyte's tunnel had advanced to the fourteen-kilometer position.

Right in this stalemate situation,

Beep!

the command panel popped up a golden prompt.

[Lords Hall upgrade complete!]

[Lords Hall: Level 14!]

Xu Qin bounced right up and opened the panel.

Lines of information refreshed.

[Level 14 Lords Hall · New Features:]

[soul energy Endowment (Active · Lord Skill): The lord can consume soul energy to apply an 'Endowment' buff to designated troops.]

[Buff Effect: All attributes of the target troops are increased, and the increase magnitude is related to the troop quality. The higher the quality, the greater the quantity, and the larger the multiplier, the more soul energy is consumed.]

[Buff Duration: Permanent (until the battle ends).]

[Note: The same troop can only be applied once.]

Xu Qin finished reading and raised an eyebrow.

"Good stuff!"