195: Chapter 195 Special Target

The members of the Dragon Country, who had secured third place in total points after the first three acts, were even more fired up upon learning that the reward for first place this time would be ten times the usual amount. They were rubbing their hands, ready to welcome the start of the next act.

However, after seeing the content of the fourth act, the expressions of Chen Aoyun and the other three immediately fell.

"A Tower Defense Game? The prerequisite task is: a ring competition between Roleplayers? Then, we obtain materials for building defensive Towers based on the ranking of the martial arts competition. The higher the ranking, the more advanced and abundant the building materials obtained. Conversely, the fewer and trashier the materials. The most fatal part is that the countries ranked eighth and ninth won't receive any materials at all?"

After carefully reading the rules for this act, Fan Ling said with a depressed expression, "It's similar to the wonder statue battle in the second act, but it's even more disadvantageous for our Dragon Country. The prerequisite task of the second act at least involved climbing the Tower on our own without interference from other countries, and regardless of how high or low one climbed, one could get some materials, more or less. This time is different. It's a direct one-on-one duel between countries, and the two countries at the bottom get absolutely nothing. Moreover, the duels are deathmatches! Although those who die can be resurrected immediately according to the rules of this act without waiting for the next act, it's still too disadvantageous for our Dragon Country! You're the leader, what do you say we do?"

Chen Aoyun's gaze remained fixed on the new rules that had appeared, his brain working rapidly. "There is one more thing about this act that is different from the first three. In the first three acts, the prerequisite tasks involved you and me appearing in the scene first, and then searching for the rules within the scene. But for this act, several important rules were thrown out first, and then the [Strategists] of each country decide the order of the participants."

Zhao Hongxiu, who was to the side, took over the conversation and analyzed, "The ring battle is divided into three rounds, corresponding to the three Roleplayers of each country. Roleplayers cannot appear repeatedly, and most countries have Roleplayers of varying strengths, so it's all about strategy and deployment. This design for the fourth act must have taken this into account."

Xiao Zhenghong smiled bitterly, "But the three of us don't have a distinction between strong and weak; compared to the Roleplayers of other countries, we are all very weak..."

Chen Aoyun smiled even more bitterly than Xiao Zhenghong, and he said, "It's not just the deployment of the Roleplayers, but also the use of the 'Backstage Heroic Spirit'. Stating the rules in advance is not just to remind the [Strategists] of each country to deploy their troops according to the strength of their [Roleplayers], but also to test the [Strategists]' use of the 'Backstage Heroic Spirit'. When to use the 'Backstage Heroic Spirit', how to use it, whether to use this one-time skill to buff all three [Roleplayers], or to focus the 'Backstage Heroic Spirit's' ability on a single [Roleplayer], these should all be points of strategy."

Mentioning the 'Backstage Heroic Spirit', the other three looked eagerly at Chen Aoyun. Fan Ling lowered his voice and asked, "Which ancestor is our 'Backstage Heroic Spirit' this time?"

Fan Ling had learned to call the Heroic Spirits 'ancestors' from Chen Aoyun. Because the Foundation Item [Optimal Choice] had been forcibly activated by the Sakura Country people. For the prerequisite task of each act, other countries could choose their 'Backstage Heroic Spirit' themselves based on the content of the task, but the Dragon Country was different; the seven 'Backstage Heroic Spirits' of the Dragon Country had long been locked in advance due to the Foundation Item. The locked 'Backstage Heroic Spirits' had absolutely nothing to do with the word 'Optimal'. In the first three acts, only [King Wu of Qin] from the third act was very useful; the other two Heroic Spirits, [Ying Quliang] and [Ying Si], were not very practical as Backstage Heroic Spirits. Fan Ling was worried that this act would be the same, so he asked. Seeing Chen Aoyun's constipated expression, his heart tightened, "Don't scare me with that expression. Could it be that our ancestor in the background this time is yet another big shot who isn't very practical?"

King Zhaoxiang of Qin [Ying Ji], this ancestor is the Backstage Heroic Spirit for the fourth act. [Ying Ji] was indeed a great monarch with significant historical achievements and many anecdotes. During his reign, he implemented the strategy of allying with distant states and attacking those nearby, destroyed Yiqu, ended the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and consolidated rule over the Ba and Shu regions... he had both civil and military accomplishments. But the problem was that this ancestor's one-on-one combat ability was lacking, and there were no highlights in terms of martial prowess. And for one-on-one ring duels, what was needed were anecdotes related to martial prowess and 'Backstage Heroic Spirits' with martial prowess; [Ying Ji] was not suitable. Even if one were to forcibly construct a combat-type Heroic Spirit skill based on his anecdotes, the Heroic Spirit skill would not be very powerful. The [Roleplayers] themselves had the weakest combat power, and the Backstage Heroic Spirit wasn't easy to use; the four members of the Dragon Country fell silent for a moment. ... The ring battle was about to begin.

This Game of National Destiny was becoming more and more interesting, especially after it was revealed that the reward for first place was ten times the normal amount, which attracted even more attention from the whole world. Casinos everywhere, whether formal or informal, opened betting pools, attracting people to place bets.

- "The Dragon Country performed quite well in the first three acts, with total points even ranking third among the nine countries. Why are the odds for the ring battle offered by various casinos so high for the Dragon Country? Do they still not look favorably upon the Dragon Country? Are they treating the Dragon Country as the weak country it once was?"

- "You don't know anything. Casinos have specialized analysts, and the odds are set based on specific circumstances. The ring battle is overly disadvantageous for the Dragon Country; isn't it normal for the odds to be high?"

- "Then I'm betting on the Dragon Country. I've finally understood the Dragon Country: the more you think they can't do it, the more they can! As long as they aren't the bottom two in the ring battle, it's one to two; if they squeeze into the top three, it's one to twenty; and getting first in the ring battle is actually one to two hundred! With such high odds, betting on the Dragon Country to be the dark horse again is worth it!"

The status of the Dragon Country in the hearts of viewers around the world had truly risen. Even when major casinos did not look favorably upon the Dragon Country, there were quite a few people betting on them. It was just a pity that after the ring battle started, the dreams of these people to get rich... were completely shattered.

The ring battle started with a [Roleplayer] from Russia fighting against a person from France. Under the premise that neither side used the 'Backstage Heroic Spirit' skill, which could only be used once, the French person suffered a crushing defeat.

"The rules state that the Backstage Heroic Spirit's skill must be planned before entering the arena. The Russian Roleplayers are all very strong; I can't understand why the French person didn't use the Backstage Heroic Spirit skill."

- "What's so hard to understand about that? Russia is strong; there's no need for France to fight to the death with them for the ranking. Saving the skill for an opponent of equal strength is the wise move."

The ring battles went on one after another, and soon it was the Dragon Country's turn to appear, which had attracted a lot of attention.

"The Dragon Country people are about to appear. I've placed a heavy bet on the Dragon Country. You people who underestimate the Dragon Country call me stupid, but I think you don't understand the Dragon Country! The Dragon Country is best at being unexpected, so let's wait and see!"

The Dragon Country is indeed good at being unexpected, and this time was no exception! The country they were matched against in the ring was Ottoman, and the Dragon Country's choice was...

"Eh? The countdown is about to hit zero, why hasn't the Dragon Country sent anyone to the ring yet?"

Time passed for another minute, and when the countdown for personnel to appear showed 0, on the Dragon Country's side of the ring, there was still no sign of any Roleplayer.

- "Damn! No one showed up! Could the Dragon Country be giving up on this act directly?"

The audience who bet on the Dragon Country were dumbfounded and started cursing, while many viewers mocked,

- "If it were me, I wouldn't send anyone to the arena either. The ring battle is a deathmatch, regardless of resurrection or not. People dying requires deducting total points, just wait and see. As the Strategists of each country deploy their troops, there will definitely be more than just the Dragon Country giving up when they encounter a strong enemy!"

- "Damn it, I can understand giving up when encountering a strong enemy, but Ottoman doesn't count as a strong enemy, right? Among the Roleplayers of the nine countries, besides the Dragon Country itself, the Ottoman Roleplayers are the weakest, right? If the Dragon Country gives up even against Ottoman, then what's the point of the Dragon Country fighting the ring battle? My heavy bet... won't I lose everything now?"

Sure enough, for a total of three rounds of random opponents, not a single person from the Dragon Country stepped onto the ring; they gave up on everything directly! Although this choice didn't look good, it was the wisest choice.

In the three rounds of the ring battle, the countries showed their own strategies in deploying troops, and the key was the use of the 'Backstage Heroic Spirit'. When the round battles ended, the rankings of the countries were as follows:

Russia and the USA did not encounter each other in the three rounds of the ring battle, and were tied for first place with a perfect record. The number of Towers they could build after the fourth act officially started with the materials won was: 10.

Prussia, Britain, France, and Sakura Country each lost one round, and the number of Towers they could build after the start was: 8.

Next was Rome, and the number of Towers they could build with the materials obtained was: 6.

Ottoman once again became the Dragon Country's partner in misery, ranking second to last, without receiving any materials. However, Ottoman was even more miserable than the Dragon Country; the Dragon Country gave up all three rounds, not a single [Roleplayer] appeared, no one died, and no total points were deducted. But Ottoman was stubborn; besides winning one round against the Dragon Country, they also sent out one Roleplayer, who eventually died in battle. Not only did they not get any materials, but they also had one total point deducted. Adar could have regretted it until his intestines turned green, but there was no regret medicine to eat.

...The prerequisite task ended, and the next step was the segment where the 'Tower Defense Game' officially began. Each country defended one path, and at the end of the path was the crystal that needed to be protected. The Calamity Demons would launch surprise attacks on the crystal in waves, and each country's 'Tower' could fire ammunition to kill these demons. If more than ten demons were missed, the crystal would collapse, and the corresponding country would end the battle of the fourth act. The demons would drop resources, which could be used to build and upgrade Towers, or to summon the descent of Heroic Spirits for a short time. That's right, without Roleplayers appearing, the Towers became the 'foothold' for the Heroic Spirit Manifestation. The existence of the Towers was continuous, and the Heroic Spirit's manifestation could deal more effective blows to the demons, but the duration was limited. Each country had to find a balance among the options of summoning Heroic Spirits, building, and upgrading Towers.

Similar games existed in the real world, so the 'gameplay' of these basic Tower Defense Games was not surprising. What was surprising was... in the interval between each wave of demons, there was a probability of a 'Special Objective' appearing. The reward for killing a Special Objective had nothing to do with the ranking of the fourth act, but it was related to the total points!!! Successfully dealing with one wave of Special Objectives could directly earn one total point!!! That was total points! Getting first in each act only earned ten total points. If one could successfully deal with more than ten waves of Special Objectives in this Tower Defense Game, wouldn't the total points obtained be higher than winning first place in this fourth act?! There was no need to guess; the Special Objective must be very difficult to kill, and perhaps only by activating the Heroic Spirit Manifestation could it be successfully dealt with. The appearance of such unique content not only made the original balance harder to master: whether to use the limited resources on Towers or to deal with Special Objectives. Most importantly, this might be a beginning. A beginning where total points were not only obtained from rankings, but could also be obtained from extra special tasks in each act!

Seeing this extra task, the expressions of the four members of the Dragon Country naturally looked even worse. "Having given up on the prerequisite task, the Dragon Country, without a single Tower, not only can forget about ranking, but the extra objectives have absolutely nothing to do with them." The commentator in the broadcast room, Heller, said this. Heller was right; in this snowballing Tower Defense Game, each wave of demons would be stronger than the last. The Dragon Country would not only miss out on the total points that could be obtained from the ranking, but would also miss out on the total points that could be obtained from dealing with the Special Objectives!

The Tower Defense Game officially started after each country set up their Towers. The four members of the Dragon Country, plus the four members of the Ottoman country, became the only two countries in the fourth act that could only watch the battle. Adar came over, but Chen Aoyun had no time to pay attention to him, his gaze remaining focused on the direction of the Towers of each country. Soon, Chen Aoyun discovered that after the trajectories fired by the Towers of each country killed the demons, the resources dropped by the demons were used to strengthen the Towers in a very special way: it wasn't that one could strengthen them however one wanted, and there was no specific strengthening route... but rather, the Towers were strengthened in the way of 'wonder entries'! Just like the USA was currently operating: the USA was one of the two countries with the most Towers at the start, and more Towers allowed them not to have to consider the strength of the first few waves of demons, and not have to save resources for the Heroic Spirit Manifestation as a backup. Instead, they could directly use them to increase the number of Towers or strengthen the Towers. The USA chose to strengthen the Towers. When the USA injected resources into a specific Tower to be strengthened, a blank 'entry' would appear on the Tower. The entry was written with content from a wonder; the USA, using the [statue of liberty] as a prototype for a Tower, wrote the following 'wonder entry': "[statue of liberty]'s torch illuminates a wider range; wherever the light reaches, it is the striking range!" The USA was using the torchlight of the [statue of liberty] to modify the Tower, and after the modification, this Tower, according to the 'wonder entry', increased the 'striking range' of all Towers within a certain range! Similar strengthening also appeared in Russia.

Chen Aoyun stared at all of this without blinking, and Adar looked at him curiously, "This fourth act has nothing to do with us anymore; what is the point of you staring so intently at the situation? Think positively; things have already reached this point, and you just staring like this will only disturb your state of mind. Out of sight, out of mind. Why don't you and I chat, and let this fourth act, which is frustrating for both you and me, pass by without us noticing..."

Although he said it was for a chat, Adar had an obvious purpose: Chen Aoyun was too bizarre; it was already incredible that he could know so much about the Dragon Country's Old Era regarding Heroic Spirits and wonders, and in the previous acts, this guy even had unique understandings of the wonders and Heroic Spirits of other countries. Adar intended to probe Chen Aoyun's background, but never expected that before he could even start his probing words, the Chen Aoyun in front of him suddenly had his eyes light up.

"Why are your eyes lighting up again, you guy? Could it be that you're going to pull some weird trick again? This fourth act has nothing to do with your Dragon Country anymore; what other tricks do you want to play?"