199: Chapter 199 Why aren't you laughing anymore?

Thick nightfall descended, and the vision of other countries vanished completely.

Chen Aoyun and Toslev watched the Wave Demons attacking along Russia's route together.

"There is also a wave of demons advancing along the road toward the crystal under the cover of nightfall, but the demons under the nightfall are larger and faster in terms of both physique and movement speed compared to those outside the nightfall."

Accompanied by Toslev's explanation, Chen Aoyun saw the larger and faster demons mentioned by his companion falling one after another under the artillery fire unleashed by the Towers.

"No matter how powerful the demons are, they cannot withstand the sheer number of Towers Russia has and the frequency of their upgrades. Look, they're falling one by one." Chen Aoyun flattered him, giving him plenty of face.

The incoming demons fell one after another, but they seemed endless. The number of demons in a wave under the nightfall was on a completely different scale than those outside the nightfall; kill one, and there was another.

Meanwhile, Chen Aoyun also noticed two specks of light, one gold and one red, approaching in the sky not far away.

"Those two specks of light must be the 'Special Targets', right?"

The golden Special Target grants one point of total score upon being killed; the red Special Target grants a [red token] with 'attack authorization' upon being killed.

From the previous conversation where the USA was searching for the culprit behind their 'Tower loss', Chen Aoyun learned that for Russia and the USA, the two countries tied for first place in the preliminary tasks...

...their number of Towers and their strength were more than enough to deal with the Wave Demons on the road.

Even without using the Heroic Spirit Manifestation, the strength of Russia's Towers was sufficient to ensure the Wave Demons wouldn't threaten the crystal while still managing to take down one of the 'Special Targets'.

The firepower of Russia's Towers should be enough to take down one 'Special Target', but to clear both the gold and red 'Special Targets' before the nightfall disappeared, they would still need to utilize the power of the Heroic Spirit Manifestation.

"The two 'Special Targets' have arrived; aren't you going to place a Manifestation on the Tower?"

Chen Aoyun was curious. Seeing the two specks of light representing the Special Targets getting closer and closer, why wasn't Toslev preparing in advance?

Even if he didn't place the Heroic Spirit Manifestation on the Tower this instant, he could at least prepare the piece he intended to play, holding it between his fingertips.

The duration of a Heroic Spirit's Manifestation was limited, but the duration of the nightfall was also limited. If everything were prepared in advance, wouldn't it be easier to clear them out once the Special Targets approached?

Toslev's gaze remained on the direction of the two light specks as he explained, "Not yet. Once the Special Targets get closer and I can clearly see what type of enemies they are, only then can I selectively choose which Heroic Spirit to play."

At first, Chen Aoyun didn't understand the meaning of these words, but soon, after the two Special Targets moved from afar to close by, he understood.

The artillery fire from the Towers toward the Wave Demons didn't stop, but it was clear that the threat these Wave Demons could pose was too small. Toslev could easily divert a portion of the Towers to attack the flying red Special Target.

With the red Special Target handed over to the Towers with excess firepower, Toslev singled out one Tower for the remaining golden target, mobilized the resources within the crystal, made a gesture as if holding a piece, and placed a Heroic Spirit's Manifestation into it.

The Heroic Spirit Toslev played was one that Chen Aoyun did not recognize. It was not a 'True Martial Heroic Spirit', but rather a 'Fantasy Heroic Spirit' based on mythology.

Regarding historical figures from the Old Era, Chen Aoyun dared to boast: any True Martial Heroic Spirit he didn't recognize was trash. But because he had no concept of the mythological systems of the various countries in the Old Era, Chen Aoyun dared not say the same for 'Fantasy Heroic Spirits'.

Just like the Manifestation of the Fantasy Heroic Spirit Toslev played before him, Chen Aoyun didn't recognize it, but its Manifestation was holy and majestic, looking quite formidable.

While manipulating the Tower with the Heroic Spirit Manifestation to attack the 'Special Target', Toslev explained, "Golden Special Targets must be engaged using Fantasy Heroic Spirits, and with attribute suppression, to be locked on. The red Special Targets are similar, except that to deal with red targets, one needs to use 'Legendary Category' Heroic Spirits, and attribute suppression is also required."

The golden Special Target was a monster that looked like a demon, with a hideous face, terrifying fangs, and a pair of bat-like wings.

Toslev was manipulating the Heroic Spirit Manifestation to fiercely attack this golden demon. The other Special Target was a humanoid creature with the appearance of an angel.

"The mythology of my Russia mostly consists of Heroic Spirits with holy attributes, which just happen to suppress the golden demon. As for the red angel, it's just right to leave it for the Towers to handle."

Chen Aoyun finally understood. The firepower unleashed by the Towers didn't need to consider attributes or origins; it could attack all enemies at will. Only the use of Heroic Spirit Manifestations was troublesome, requiring different origins of Heroic Spirits for different targets, and they also had to have mutually suppressing attributes.

"How about it? Do you recognize this Fantasy-origin Heroic Spirit I played? Do you have any knowledge of its lore to impart?" Toslev did not forget his original intention for bringing Chen Aoyun into this nightfall and pressed him for relevant lore.

Chen Aoyun was full of embarrassment. He didn't even recognize this Russian Legendary Heroic Spirit, so how could he be qualified to educate the other party on its lore?

Seeing this, Toslev felt both regret and a certain degree of relief. The regret was that because Chen Aoyun couldn't tell more lore about this Heroic Spirit, it wouldn't receive the desired enhancement for Russia. The reason for his relief was not hard to understand; if Chen Aoyun knew everything about Russia's Heroic Spirits and had them at his fingertips, that person would be too terrifying.

Failing to give Toslev the answer he wanted, just as Chen Aoyun was about to offer an explanation, he suddenly paused, "You need to use Fantasy-origin Heroic Spirits to deal with golden Special Targets, and Legendary-origin Heroic Spirits to deal with red targets. How did you find out about these two restrictions?"

Toslev said bluntly, "They are all rules we tested out."

Chen Aoyun then asked, "Then have you ever thought that if Fantasy Heroic Spirits are used for golden targets, and Legendary Heroic Spirits are used for red targets, what about True Martial-origin Heroic Spirits?"

Toslev immediately understood what Chen Aoyun wanted to express, "Are you trying to say that True Martial Heroic Spirits can target other countries' Towers?"

Chen Aoyun nodded, "The three types of Heroic Spirit origins—the first two have specific targets in this 'Tower Defense Game', so why doesn't the True Martial-origin Heroic Spirit have one?! You said earlier that you tried using a Tower with a Heroic Spirit Manifestation to attack another country, but it prompted 'Target Error'. The Heroic Spirit you used at the time probably wasn't a True Martial Heroic Spirit, right..."

Upon hearing this, Toslev felt slightly disappointed in Chen Aoyun's analytical ability, "Strategists from all countries are sharp; how could they turn a blind eye to such an obvious issue? I tried similar attempts long ago! I believe other countries have tried it too. But the result is that even when switching to a True Martial Heroic Spirit, it is impossible to lock onto another country's Tower as an attack target."

Toslev pointed to the battle before them and said, "Do you still not see it clearly? My Russia is simply one tier higher than other countries in terms of the number and strength of Towers. Relying on stronger Towers, Russia and the USA can take down one more 'Special Target' under the nightfall than other countries. But the Heroic Spirit Manifestations are the same for everyone. No country is allowed to have two Heroic Spirit Manifestations at the same time, but one Heroic Spirit Manifestation is already enough to handle one Special Target and leave some spare time. This spare time is enough to change Heroic Spirits before the nightfall disappears. If simply switching a Heroic Spirit to a True Martial origin allowed one to attack another country's Tower, then the number of countries that lost Towers after the last nightfall would definitely not just be the USA!"

These words directly refuted Chen Aoyun's speculation. That was the bad thing about being eliminated oneself; many things were only half-understood. Even if Toslev was willing to tell him many of the tested rules without reservation, the rules Chen Aoyun heard were the rules as understood by Toslev, not the original text of the rules, which was very disadvantageous for a contestant like Chen Aoyun who was good at parsing words and picking at details in the rules.

Furthermore, Chen Aoyun could also see that Toslev was already expressing doubt about his analytical ability. Subsequently, when he asked Toslev for the original text and details of the rules, the other party just brushed him off with a few simple sentences.

It was also at this moment that the golden demon finally fell under the Heroic Spirit Manifestation Toslev had played. As for the red angel being attacked by the concentrated fire of the Towers, Chen Aoyun's observation was about the same. The duration of the nightfall was 20 minutes, and with 5 minutes left, this red Special Target should be able to be killed by the Towers before the nightfall disappeared.

After the golden demon crashed to the ground, the gold didn't represent its attribute; gold only represented that its death could provide an additional point of total score for Russia. When the golden light on the demon turned into a wisp of golden thread, drilled into the sky, and transformed into that point of total score, only then did the demon's evil, pustule-like green blood splatter everywhere.

Chen Aoyun's gaze subconsciously lingered on this lifeless demon. Watching it being swallowed by the ground bit by bit after bleeding from its severe wounds, Chen Aoyun suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

"Fantasy Heroic Spirits deal with golden targets; besides the premise of origin, one must also consider the suppression relationship between attributes! Suppression relationship... Could it be that using a True Martial Heroic Spirit to target another country's Tower also needs to follow this point?"

Chen Aoyun's silent thought was heard by Toslev, who found it ridiculous, "Stop fantasizing. How could a suppression relationship exist between True Martial Heroic Spirits and Towers? If this were the premise for attacking another country's Tower, it could not possibly hold true!"

Yes, how could there be a suppression relationship between Heroic Spirits and Towers? The only person who could be related to the Towers, that existence starting with the character 'Ben', even if considered a Heroic Spirit, was not within the scope of the nine countries. So, was it just Chen Aoyun overthinking it?

Five minutes passed very quickly. Three minutes before the nightfall disappeared, Russia's Towers killed the red angel. The originally thick nightfall had already begun to fade.

It wasn't until the nightfall began to dissipate that Chen Aoyun suddenly thought of something! Turning his head, he looked at Toslev and lowered his voice to the lowest, Chen Aoyun said, "True Martial Heroic Spirits cannot possibly have any suppression relationship with Towers. But True Martial Heroic Spirits do have lore-based connections with different countries!"

Toslev was stunned, "Go on."

Chen Aoyun: "In the history of the Old Era, countries that had wars with each other—the corresponding Heroic Spirit, when placed on a Tower, would be able to lock onto the other country's Tower as a target. Of course, this is just my guess, but..."

Toslev: "But it's worth a try!"

Chen Aoyun continued, "It is a very common tactic for the Game of National Destiny to dig pits in the rules. The so-called [red token]—the more people value it, the more they think it is the only prop for launching attacks on other countries' Towers, and the less they will consider the problem from other perspectives! Don't you think this 'Tower Defense Game' is too simple now? It has already progressed to the twentieth wave; if you count the two waves under the nightfall, that's a total of twenty-two waves! Yet every country, even Rome, which had the fewest Towers and the worst firepower at the start, hasn't let a single demon slip through to this day. This is simply unreasonable. If it continues like this, which wave will be the end? Even if you, Russia, and the USA are not afraid of making enemies from now on and keep throwing [red token]s at each other, there is still no end in sight!"

During their conversation, the nightfall had completely dissipated. Just as the nightfall vanished, Toslev's eyes suddenly sharpened. Because, at the very last moment before the nightfall completely disappeared, another Tower collapsed inexplicably. The country whose Tower collapsed this time was not another country; it was his own, Russia!

"It's the Tower's trajectory!" Previously, Toslev suspected that Brown from the USA was not telling the truth, but now, seeing it with his own eyes, it wasn't any other factor—it was an attack launched by another country's Tower!

Toslev was just about to say something when a set of rules entered his mind at this moment, making Toslev's expression very interesting. After a moment, after Toslev had carefully reviewed the rules in his mind a few times, he said to Chen Aoyun, "Previously, I wanted to say that having nightfall descend every ten waves and getting one point of total score every ten waves, if it continued like this, it wouldn't be a bad thing. But new rules have come..."

Chen Aoyun was curious: "What new rules?"

Toslev: "Starting from the next nightfall, there will no longer be Special Targets that add to one's own total score, but instead, they have been replaced by Special Targets that either prevent one from losing points or deduct points from others' total scores. Golden and red Special Targets will not appear in the next nightfall. They will be replaced by a black Special Target and a white Special Target. Before the nightfall disappears, one must kill the white Special Target, otherwise, one point will be deducted from the corresponding country's total score. And killing the black Special Target can be used to reduce another country's total score by one point."

Now it was Chen Aoyun's turn to be stunned, "This rule... is quite good! If you can't defend, you lose points. Killing a black target allows you to deduct points from other countries. Now, the atmosphere between you countries that haven't been eliminated is probably going to get lively."

The smile that had just spread across Chen Aoyun's face hadn't even lasted a few minutes before he was left completely speechless by Toslev's next sentence, "You're smiling? Killing the black target to deduct points from other countries doesn't just apply to countries that haven't been eliminated; the eliminated Dragon Kingdom is also within the selectable range!"

Chen Aoyun: "..."

Toslev patted Chen Aoyun on the shoulder: "Smile, why aren't you smiling anymore?"