The Great Worm Lich

Even though the Wizard Li tribe’s conquest battle lasted for less than forty days, the Shrimp World No. 2 explorers personally participated in this foreign world’s cold weapon battle with strong magical fantasy and personally experienced the hardship of having sleep — or lack of — of just one night every seven to eight days with just temporary shutting of eyes during the army march,

With no support from any divine power, it was a miracle that the will of these explorers did not collapse. Such process of tempering and hardening naturally made them change their point of view a lot.

For example, when these explorers — particularly the Earthlings — felt scrupulous against the Hellfire people last time, they would have a faint sense of superiority of coming from a higher civilization. However, right now, when they saw the way the indigenous warriors demonstrated their ferocity cooperating with their ‘partners’ during the war; and the chief warriors who mastered the spellcasting ability casting their profound sorcery; and the traits of brutality, bellicosity, courage in sacrificing themselves that were unique to the Hellfire civilization, such a sense of superiority had completely disappeared without a trace. This was also the reason why when they finally obtained an opportunity to take a three-day break, they did not rest but gathered to have a meeting together.

Zhang Lisheng did not know what the rest were thinking. After he walked into the tree house, he smiled at the explorers sitting on the ground, surrounding several fire pots that had been arranged into the shape of petals. Appearing to be high in spirit and refreshed, he sat on the empty space of the animal blanket and joked, “Looks like all of you are more energetic than I am. We finally obtained the opportunity to get a rest but all of you are in a meeting instead.”

“Dr., we also wanted to just have a good night’s sleep right away but since we get a three-day break, we still have plenty of time to rest. If we don’t set some things straight, we’ll still be awakened by nightmares when we sleep.” Harman forced a smile.

When he was talking, the CIA agent’s white teeth, that was completely opposite in color with his skin, gleamed brightly in the firelight. However, the worries in his tired eyes showed that his mood was not as nervous as his expression.

“Other than being tired, I feel that this Wizard Li conquest has gone quite smoothly. What’s there to have nightmares about, Mr. Harman?” the young man was taken aback and asked in confusion.

“It’s precisely because of the smooth-sailing of the Wizard Li’s conquest that it’s worrying, Dr.,” Harman’s expression turned solemn. “We realize that the Hellfire tribe is very aggressive. I’m worried that the Wizard Li tribe will pose a threat to the US after it has unified the entire Hellfire Archipelago.”

“Oh, Wizard Li is only a small native tribe and even if it has some strange and peculiar methods…”

“Dr., Wizard Li is not just a small native tribe, but a country with a territorial area that is about to reach a religious dictatorship of 130 square kilometers,” Harman interrupted Zhang Lisheng’s words and said with worry. “At the same time, it’s also a ‘war machine’ running in high precision. When those supernatural creatures known as the ‘spiritual monsters’ cooperate with the Hellfire people, their combat power is in no way inferior to the army of any powerful country on Earth. On top of that, they also dare to pledge their lives and have a willpower of steel that no army on Earth has…”

“Don’t be so nervous, Mr. Harman. Wizard Li hasn’t even unified one-tenth of the Hellfire Archipelago yet…”

“But their rising momentum seems to be unstoppable at present. Judging from the current situation, it is only a matter of time for the Wizard Li tribe to conquer the entire Hellfire Archipelago. And the nearest strategic target after they unify the entire archipelago is New York.”

“N-New York…” As Wizard Li’s overlord, Zhang Lisheng had never thought of attacking Earth before. For this reason, when he heard how Harman was not only baffled by Wizard Li tribe’s powerful strength, and how he actually imagined New York was going to be attacked, he could not help but laugh out in shock. “This is really absurd! Oh Mr. Harman. I don’t have the intention to offend you but the Hellfire people have great enmity that runs deep in their veins against the mainlanders. If Wizard Li can really unify the Hellfire Archipelago, their next conquering target would only be none other than the mainlanders.”

“Dr., the mainlanders in Shrimp World No. 2 may indeed be the most likely target for Wizard Li after it has conquered the entire Hellfire Archipelago but don’t forget that New York is only less than 100 nautical miles away from Wizard Li Island. We can’t be certain that New York won’t be invaded by the Wizard Li people. You must not forget that the US gathering place on that island has once been slaughtered by the Hellfire tribe before.

“OK, Mr. Harman, even if that happens,” Zhang Lisheng opened his mouth but could not tell him out loud to guarantee that the Wizard Li would never attack Earth. After pondering for a while, he smiled at Someril and shrugged as he asked, “With the Atlanteans as our ally and the advanced military weapons possessed by the government, do you think the army will lose this war?”

“We’ve already discussed about this issue and the conclusion is of course, no. However, if this war really takes place, the number of deaths, injuries and losses is not something the federal government can afford.”

“Don’t tell me that you all have spent an entire afternoon discussing about this absurd topic?” Zhang Lisheng asked, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

“This is not an absurd topic, Dr. Even if the possibility is small, as intelligence officers, we must still analyze and make a judgement…”

“Mr. Harman, it’s exactly because of the analysis and judgement of your CIA intelligence officer that hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money are spent to breed extreme terrorists in the Middle East.” The young man did not want to continue this topic that would never take place. Turning around, he told Someril, “Madam Someril, I’ve heard the choresmen said that they have found the mainlander’s fleet in the Red Mountain Harbor. Mr. Sweltman has guessed correctly. The native tribes here in Scorpion Island do indeed have trade relations with the mainlanders.”

“The mainlander’s fleet.” The Atlantean woman immediately had her spirit jolted up. “What happened to them now?”

“They’re detained. Because of the amazing performance demonstrated by you, Mr. Guteali, the siblings Kazanoerki and Kazanona, as well as Captain Nordick and his subordinates in Scorpion Island’s war of conquest, my position here in Wizard Li tribe is much more significant now…” Zhang Lisheng smiled reservedly.

“It’s you who asked the Wizard Li warriors to not injure the mainlanders who came to Scorpion Island?” Someril naturally understood the meaning implied in Zhang Lisheng’s words. Immediately, she gratefully said, “Thank you very much, Dr. The Atlanteans will definitely remember your sincere friendship.”

“This is just a small matter, Madam Someril. What do you plan to do now? Go to the Red Mountain Harbor to see the mainlanders or continue to stay here in the front line?”

“I intend to let Travis and McCardy see the mainlanders so that they can translate their language first.” The Atlantean woman seemed to have already come up with a plan long ago as she answered without hesitation. “Guteali, Kazanoerki, Kazanona and I, on the other hand, will remain here in the front line and will continue to help Wizard Li in their battle three days later. Sweltman has analyzed and said that the civilizations in Shrimp World No. 2 have matured in order. Only by relying on Wizard Li as the foundation that we can understand the truth behind the fog in the shortest time. Right now, the more efforts we exert, the more gains we’ll reap in the future.”

It was only those who were at the top of the world who could see the true face of the ‘world’. The person who had more resources would get to know more ‘truth. This was an inevitable truth in any society. When Someril pointed this out ambiguously, naturally, Zhang Lisheng immediately nodded and agreed with it.

Therefore, the next morning, the two Atlantean linguists took the airship and went to the Red Mountain Harbor while the rest of the Atlanteans remained at the same place.

Originally, according to Zhang Lisheng’s proposal, Allison, Harman, and Pocky, these three cumbersome people who were not of any help in the war, should also have gone together but the federal intelligence officers unanimously disagreed — an action that was extremely rare — and insisted on staying in the front lines so that they could get first-hand intelligence right away, rendering the young man speechless.

After three days of rest, the explorers followed the Wizard Li army who had regained their full combat power and continued to embark on the road of conquest. At this time, the Scorpion Island foreign tribes had already joined together to form a tribal alliance with shocking strength. Because of this, the battle that both sides easily invested in millions of warriors became more fierce.

However, relying on the elite armed forces and the war partners that each of the warriors had, —and most importantly, the boost of divine power that Zhang Lisheng granted to them after transforming into a god — the Wizard Li expeditionary army never let go of the upper hand they had in the battlefield from the beginning till the end.

As the pace of conquest went further on, Zhang Lisheng gradually felt that his divine power began to make a breakthrough. The boost that he could grant in the battle slowly increased by another level. Other than the extra 50% gain of the Wizard Li tribesmen’s strength, agility and physique as well as the 20% in their willpower, the temporarily overall gain obtained by the Wizard Li warriors also increased from 15% to 20% during the battle.

This 20% improvement sounded insignificant but it meant that the Wizard Li warriors could have higher accuracy and strength in stabbing the foreign tribesmen during the battle; the Wizard Li warriors could also send the enemies flying when they slammed into their enemies; when the Wizard Li people were injured, they could persist for a longer time.

Sometimes, the gap of 20% would be an insurmountable gap between life and death.

Not only that, Zhang Lisheng also gradually discovered that his own divine power had begun to have a restraining effect on the foreign spiritual monsters.

The two types of Hellfire tribal guardian spiritual monsters — the forest spiritual monster and the ocean spiritual monster — would have their nature of strength controlled and inhibited by the young man. Come to think of it, it was just a matter of course. Right now, the inhibiting ability was not too obvious and when he carefully experimented it, he often needed to deplete a great amount of power of faith before he could inhibit the spellcasting of a newborn spiritual monster. Even so, the meaning implied in this matter made Zhang Lisheng overcome with joy.

Unfortunately, despite the many advantages, the battle on Scorpion Island still inevitably became more and more difficult. After sacrificing about 300,000 tribesmen, the Wizard Li tribesmen finally occupied the entire body of the ‘giant scorpion’, with only the ‘scorpion head’ that occupied about one-fifth of the island yet to be conquered.

At this time, no matter how much the remaining foreign tribes on the island, that had a population close to eight million natives, had enmity running deep in their veins with each other, all of them had finally united.

The alliance of eight million Hellfire tribesmen also meant that they could mobilize almost four million warriors and more than 3,000 guardian spiritual monsters if they fully dispatched their men. Such strength could send chills down one’s spine so when this news reached Zhang Lisheng’s ears, he decided to slow down his conquering pace.