204: Chapter 204 The Final Wave

It was not the Heroic Spirit that had participated in the war, but the war itself.

War was the excuse to attack the Towers of other countries.

Furthermore, the same 'excuse' could only be used once. Once Sakura Country had borrowed the name of a war, Russia could not use it again!

During several dusks, Sakura Country had continuously destroyed Russia's Towers, depleting Russia's resources.

As for Toslev and Chen Aoyun, they had been completely kept in the dark.

What they thought was a reciprocal counterattack was actually just an illusion created by Saku Kenichi.

Now, everything had settled.

Russia had wasted too many resources, with its Towers constantly being destroyed and rebuilt.

Meanwhile, Sakura Country had secretly hoarded all its resources, and now, it was using them to max out the combat power of its Towers.

In such a situation, facing the final wave of demons, there was no way Russia could hold out longer than Sakura Country!

Toslev was still being stubborn. After glancing at the rating displayed on the Tower, he said, "A low rating doesn't mean low attack power."

"The USA is hard to compare with, but it might still be a fair fight against your Sakura Country."

"The final wave of demons is coming next, and killing power is king."

"Have you forgotten that yourself?"

"Between 'increasing resource collection efficiency' and 'monitoring/control'... your Sakura Country's Towers waste too many resources on flashy features."

"Of the 52,000 comprehensive rating, how much of it is actually related to attack power?"

The final wave of demons would be very difficult to kill, and the difficulty would increase over time.

It was impossible to continue earning resources during the final wave.

Control abilities would also have no real effect once Toslev was on guard.

After stripping away those messy functional abilities, would Sakura Country's Towers really be more efficient at killing demons than Russia's? Would they really be able to better defend the crystal at the end of the road?

Not necessarily!

Faced with Toslev's argument, Saku Kenichi laughed scornfully. While laughing, he reminded Toslev, "What? Is being stubborn contagious?"

"It's one thing that Chen Aoyun still has that stubborn, unyielding expression. How long have you been with him that you've caught this bad habit?"

Pointing coldly at the rating displayed on the Tower, Saku Kenichi said, "The comprehensive rating aggregates all the Towers, not the various abilities of a single Tower."

"Open your eyes wide and look carefully at the prefix of the rating: Killing Power Rating! Do you understand?"

"The 52,000 comprehensive rating means that the killing power of my Great Sakura Empire's Towers is 52,000! Whereas your Russia is only at 40,000, a difference of over 10,000!"

Toslev looked closely and saw it was indeed so; his previously unyielding expression instantly lost its edge.

Only Chen Aoyun remained unchanged, still wearing that stubborn expression.

Saku Kenichi turned to look at Chen Aoyun, his tone very flippant. However, his flippant tone could not hide the excitement in his heart.

Finally. Ever since Chen Aoyun burst onto the scene, he, Saku Kenichi, had hit walls everywhere and had been suppressed by the Dragon Country at every turn.

Even the Judgment that had just been won was a calculated scheme by Chen Aoyun. He had suffered too many setbacks.

At this moment, he, Saku Kenichi, was finally going to win against Chen Aoyun once. "Before long, the Dragon Country will have its civilization inheritance severed due to the [National War] and be carved up by the whole world. Before the Dragon Country is destroyed, I would regret it if I didn't beat you fair and square."

In the Game of National Destiny, a [Strategist] is all about the contest of means and Judgment; the phrase 'fair and square' was used without any issue.

Seeing Chen Aoyun silent, Saku Kenichi knew what he was thinking, so he continued to strike at Chen Aoyun, "Still thinking of using a Heroic Spirit to turn the tables?"

"You're suffering from path dependency, friend. Then again, come to think of it, you, this Dragon Country Strategist, aren't that smart; you just have the average IQ of a Strategist."

"The reason you were able to turn the tables every time in the previous few Games of National Destiny wasn't because of how high your IQ was, but because of those strange historical and cultural knowledge of the Old Era in your brain."

"It's just a pity that those things in your mind aren't useful anymore. The [Final Wave Rules] restrict the use of Heroic Spirit Manifestation! Without your Heroic Spirit, what is left of you?!"

Chen Aoyun did not deny Saku Kenichi's statement; he had never thought of himself as very smart. The reason he had won the Game of National Destiny for the Dragon Country a few times was simply because he was a transmigrator.

Now, the [Final Wave Rules] restricted the use of Heroic Spirits; they could not be used to deal with the incoming demons, nor could they attack Sakura Country's Towers. Heroic Spirits had become meaningless.

Heroic Spirits could no longer be used to turn the tables, but what about wonders? wonders wouldn't work either!

wonders could only be written into the Towers as entries; regardless of whether it was attack power or other abilities, they were locked within the limits of the Tower itself and could not provide absolute rule-based buffs like real wonders.

In desperation, Chen Aoyun circled his thoughts back to the rule he had once misunderstood. 'Excuse'!

One could treat the Wave Demons as the common enemy of the whole world, and the Towers of all countries were allies. You could not use your own Towers to target allies unless you had a suitable 'excuse'. The wars that had happened in the Old Era were the 'excuses'.

An 'excuse' could only be used once; if Sakura Country used it, Russia could not use it again.

When Chen Aoyun adjusted his thinking back to this rule, he discovered something strange: of the seven times dusk had descended, besides the very first time when Sakura Country and the USA cooperated to test the rules—resulting in the USA losing a Tower—Russia had lost a Tower in each of the remaining six dusks.

"Six times, the numbers don't add up! Sakura Country and the USA didn't use the [red token] in their hands. Yet Russia lost six, which completely contradicts Chen Aoyun's existing common sense!"

The Russo-Japanese War, and the Soviet Union declaring war on Japan during World War II. Historically, these two countries had only fought these two wars! A war could be considered an 'excuse', so Sakura Country could fire on Russia at most twice. So where did the number six come from?

Didn't Saku Kenichi think he had the victory in the bag and would answer any question? Chen Aoyun did not shy away and asked this question directly. The answer he received shocked him.

"Only two wars? Don't you look like you are very familiar with the history of the Old Era? How could you ask such a stupid question? Many materials handed down from the Old Era regarding the wars between Sakura Country and Russia clearly record a total of six. These six war 'excuses' have already been occupied by me, otherwise how would I dare to reveal the true rules to you?"

A total of six? Chen Aoyun was stunned at first, and then suddenly realized something.

"The Old Era didn't just come to a sudden stop after I transmigrated! Before I transmigrated, Russia and Sakura Country indeed only had two wars. But after I transmigrated, the wheels of Old Era history would still roll forward; couldn't the two countries have had new wars subsequently?"

The more he thought about it, the more he felt this possibility was extremely high. Six minus two leaves four, which means that looking forward from the day Chen Aoyun transmigrated, Russia had fought at least four more wars with Sakura Country. Could these two countries fight four wars? Was it that after Chen Aoyun transmigrated, Sakura Country became stronger, or was it that Russia had already declined to the same level as Sakura Country by that time?

Chen Aoyun leaned towards the latter. Firstly, before Chen Aoyun transmigrated in the Old Era, Sakura Country had already been completely suppressed by the Dragon Country; it was almost impossible for it to make a comeback. Secondly, only two sufficiently weak countries would fight back and forth four times. Russia must have declined, not Sakura Country having become stronger. If Russia hadn't declined, and the two countries started fighting, wouldn't Sakura Country have been treated to a 'Tsar Bomba'?

After figuring this out, Chen Aoyun's expression held a hint of relief amidst the disappointment. Why relief? In the East Asian monster room of the Old Era, both Sakura Country and the USA had declined, so guess who was the one that rose? But Chen Aoyun was also very disappointed. This was because, now that Russia's six destroyed Towers had all been reasonably explained, it meant that this rule had no loopholes.

Saku Kenichi's tone suddenly changed, and he said to Chen Aoyun, "Do you really not know there were six wars, or are you pretending to be stupid? Hahahaha. I get it. So, you, this guy, look like a consultant helper invited by Russia, but in your heart, you don't really want to help Russia, do you?"

"You are determined to get first place for the Dragon Country. Russia's total score is not only not low, it is even tied with the USA for the highest total score. I have been racking my brains here to dig pits for Russia. I was thinking of occupying all the war 'excuses' before you could react. You, Chen Aoyun, cooperated so well; could it be on purpose!"

Saku Kenichi's words were obviously meant to sow discord. If Chen Aoyun hadn't previously 'popularized' so much about Russia's Heroic Spirits to Toslev, and the two sides hadn't established a certain degree of trust because of that, this kind of instigation, which could be seen through at a glance, would not have made Toslev immediately suspect Chen Aoyun, but it would definitely have planted a seed of distrust towards Chen Aoyun in Toslev's mind.

The Game of National Destiny is like this; it is too difficult for Strategists to trust each other. Russia was ranked high, so it wasn't as if Chen Aoyun had no reason to pit Toslev against himself. But after trust was established, it was different.

There was no need for Chen Aoyun to defend himself; Toslev took the initiative to defend him, "In this act, the top three were basically determined at the start. You, me, and the USA. Chen Aoyun purposefully pits me? Why would he pit me?"

"If my Russia is pitted, the ones who benefit are the strongest and top-ranked USA, and you, Sakura Country, who are the most at odds with the Dragon Country! How stupid would Chen Aoyun have to be to intentionally let you two countries get ahead of my Russia?"

Toslev's extremely intelligent rebuttal left Saku Kenichi speechless. However, Saku Kenichi didn't care. Sowing discord was just something he did while he was at it; it didn't matter if it failed.

...The countdown for the final wave began to count down by the second, and Chen Aoyun still hadn't found any point to turn the tables.

"The demons of the final wave are coming immediately, and there are still some resources in the crystal..." Heroic Spirit Manifestation was useless, so Toslev prepared to use all the remaining resources in the crystal to strengthen the Tower, but was stopped by Chen Aoyun.

"The remaining resources in the crystal can at most increase the Tower's combat power by a few hundred points; it's a drop in the bucket, so it's better to keep them. Don't forget, the war 'excuses' have all been used up by Sakura, but the Sakura people still have one [red token] in their hands!"

"Wait until Sakura Country uses the [red token] in its hands, then we'll see how to use the resources in the crystal."

The [red token] was also a means to destroy Towers. Previously, Chen Aoyun guessed that Russia, Sakura Country, and the USA should each hold two [red tokens].

However, now that Chen Aoyun knew that Sakura Country had used its Heroic Spirit Manifestation to create illusions during several dusks. Except for the first dusk, when the special target was easiest to kill and Sakura Country obtained one [red token], Sakura Country had not obtained the second [red token] afterward.

The [red token] might be Russia's turning point. Of course, the [red token] could also make Russia's situation worse. Because, although Russia had one more [red token] than Sakura Country, don't forget that the USA also had this thing, and it also had two!

"If the USA were willing to use the token in its hand to attack Sakura Country, that would be great." Toslev himself felt that this was absolutely impossible as he said it.

One didn't need a sharp eye to see that the USA and Sakura Country were in cahoots. Cooperating to explore the rules, mutually covering up known rules—regardless of whether the USA viewed Sakura Country as an ally or as a loyal dog, the tokens in the hands of the USA Strategist would never land on the Sakura people's Towers.

Chen Aoyun and Toslev would even be grateful to the other party if they didn't land on Russia's Towers.

...The countdown overhead finally reached zero. There was no dusk, but the system of Calamity Demons spawning on the periphery of the roads was incomparably massive. Like a tide, demons poured out of the portals, filling the roads of the three countries: Russia, Sakura Country, and the USA.

When these demons approached the Towers of the three countries, the Wave Demons, which were previously decimated in large numbers by a single shot of Tower firepower, had now become exceptionally difficult to kill.

Whether it was Towers focused on direct damage or Towers with status damage that could cause demons to rapidly and continuously lose health after being hit, their killing power was no longer sufficient to handle the situation with ease.

Even the slowing effect of Frost Towers, the traps laid by Trap Towers, and the efficiency of subversion attacks—these effects were mostly absorbed by the resistant skin on the demons!

"Is this the intensity of the final wave? It's so hard to kill them just as it's starting, and they will continue to strengthen later; how long can my Russia hold out?"

Although he was mentally prepared, the intensity displayed by the final wave of demons still far exceeded Toslev's expectations.

"The demons of the final wave are endless. It's not about how long you can hold out, but that your Russia's crystal cannot be destroyed before those two countries."

Although that was the case, Chen Aoyun and Toslev looked up, and regardless of whether it was the USA or Sakura Country, they also had pressure when facing this last wave of demons, but their pressure was much smaller compared to Russia.

Heroic Spirit Manifestation was useless, wonders could only provide entries, and the killing power of the Towers decided everything. With a gap of 10,000 in killing power, no matter how you looked at it, Russia would be the first to not hold out.

Toslev had even started to give up. Even if the crystal was broken, his Russia was already in third place, and since he had learned quite a bit of inside information about his own Heroic Spirits from Chen Aoyun, he wouldn't lose out anyway.

But Chen Aoyun didn't want to give up. Currently, the Dragon Country was only leading Sakura Country by 9 points in total score; if Sakura Country took this act, not to mention first place, even if it was second, the Dragon Country's top three position would be in jeopardy.