Free Web NovelChapter 473: Chapter 273: Vice-Chairman of the Eternal Night Council (3)
"Alright, let’s give it a try." At that moment, Alexander spoke up, having made his decision.
"We’re going to raid Xitan."
A leader of an organization or team doesn’t necessarily have to do the most work, but they are the ones who must make the difficult decisions, like this one.
It was a pressure that subordinates could hardly understand. If you made a mistake carrying out an order, you could still blame your superior. But if the superior made the wrong decision, the entire organization would be lost.
A decision made by someone without a sense of responsibility is a disaster, and for a responsible leader, this pressure was immense.
After making his decision, Alexander said, "Fang Zhen is right. If we don’t launch an attack, Lanxi City will inevitably fall, and we won’t be able to hold it."
"But we’ll have to split our forces. We need about three hundred elite Curse Sealers to form a spearhead assault team. Fang Zhen and I will lead the breakout and head for the dam at Xitan."
"One hundred Curse Sealers and the soldiers will remain to defend Lanxi City. Don’t let the otherworldly beings conquer this place and cut off our path of retreat." ƒrēewebnovel.com
"Fang Zhen, Anglo, West, and I will be in the assault team. Everyone else will defend Lanxi City."
At this, Alexander looked as though he had made another difficult choice. He took a deep breath and continued:
"If I should fall in battle and the Whig Society is left without a leader, then if Fang Zhen returns, he will take my place and lead you in defending Lanxi City."
"If something should happen to Fang Zhen as well, then West will assume the position temporarily."
"Chairman!"
"Chairman!" Hearing Alexander’s words, the atmosphere on the city wall instantly grew solemn.
Fang Zhen shook his head slightly. ’Why is everyone being so dramatic?’
’At least I can’t die, so they shouldn’t be including me in these grim calculations. Worst case scenario, I’ll just use my new peripheral to return to my living room in the real world, then come back through the Light Gate and catch them all by surprise.’
In the current situation, no one objected to Alexander’s declaration.
An organization under the pressure of survival is, above all else, pragmatic.
The reality was that only the strongest and most clear-headed could lead them to survive and claim victory. Whether that person had seniority or personal ties with other members of the Whig Society was a secondary concern.
When survival was on the line, things like social niceties, personal grudges, and old feuds were all temporarily set aside.
Alexander’s instructions seemed to have roped Fang Zhen into the grim possibilities, but they also solidified his status from another perspective.
Although Fang Zhen was currently a guest elder, he had just leaped to the position of de facto second-in-command of the Whig Society.
With no objections from within the Whig Society, the plan was put into action immediately after the decision was made.
In front of Lanxi City’s main gate, the corpses of countless otherworldly beings were piled high.
Fortunately, the gate opened inwards.
After confirming the immediate surroundings were clear of monsters, the gate opened, and three hundred elite Curse Sealers, including Fang Zhen’s group, swiftly spurred their horses out into the night.
The warhorses galloped over the corpses of otherworldly beings as they left Lanxi City, charging toward Xitan.
Fang Zhen summoned his Red Hare Warhorse and also used bone energy to call forth a crow.
The Crystal Bone Crow circled above Fang Zhen, its eyes glowing like jewels.
Within his consciousness, Fang Zhen felt as if he had activated a detached, floating camera, giving him a 360-degree view from above. It wasn’t just sight from the crow’s eyes; the crow itself could perceive the entire surrounding space through its very being.
The sensation was a bit like playing a strategy game with the fog of war completely lifted.
In this state, Fang Zhen was immune to any surprise attacks. Everything was under his control.
Fang Zhen shouted, "Curse Sealers! Don’t be afraid to use your power! As long as you gather around me, your Power of Curse Seal will constantly regenerate!"
As he spoke, he drew the King’s Sword and infused it with his Power of Curse Seal.
Instantly, an aura formed around Fang Zhen.
Within its range, all the Curse Sealers could feel their Power of Curse Seal regenerating faster—even faster than if they had consumed an energy gel.
And each of them had been allocated a few energy gels before they set out.
Under the King’s Sword’s aura, the sensation of continuously recovering power immensely boosted the Curse Sealers’ confidence.
They formed a protective circle around Fang Zhen, guarding him as their center, and charged together toward Xitan.
Through the crow’s vision, Fang Zhen could see the moon. The rain had stopped for the moment, revealing it in the sky. At some point, the moon had taken on a red hue, casting down blood-colored moonlight, as if the stench of gore and the smoke of battle had stained it crimson.
Through the eyes of the Crystal Bone Crow, Fang Zhen watched the red moon in the sky.
’Tonight is destined to be a bloodbath.’
...
Under the light of the red moon at Xitan, thousands of soldiers were tirelessly digging earth to construct a dam.
As the soldiers worked on the dam, not a single one among the thousands uttered a word. Not one. The entire scene was filled only with the sounds of labor and nothing else.
The scene was actually quite frightening.
In a place with so many people gathered, there wasn’t even the sound of a whisper.
Thousands of people labored in silence, like ants. Their efficiency seemed high, but it was deeply unnatural.
It was as if they were all unfeeling machines, not human beings.
The only beings here who could truly be called sapient were a few particular individuals.
On a high slope near Xitan, five figures stood.
The man in the lead was extremely tall, around six-foot-three, and wore a black, silk-like robe adorned with patterns of silvery metal and diamond-shaped plates.
This was none other than Moon, the vice-chairman of the Eternal Night Council, the same man whose staff and hand had been shattered by a single shot from Fang Zhen.
Now, however, the muscles and skin on the half of Moon’s face that had been blown away had already mostly recovered.
Moon was remarkably tall with a long, inverted-triangular face that tapered to a sharp jaw. His face was lean, almost gaunt.
His skin was so pale it was nearly translucent, revealing the faint blue-green veins beneath.
Within those veins flowed not blood, but something black and shaped like tadpoles.
He had extremely long eyelashes and a high-bridged nose. His features weren’t ugly, but his expression was utterly grim, and a malicious, mocking smile seemed to constantly flicker across his face.
The left side of his face had been shattered by Fang Zhen’s sniper rifle, completely obliterating the cheekbone and muscle. Now, however, about two-thirds of the facial tissue had already regenerated.
On the still-mending wound, countless tiny black worms writhed. Each was as thin as a third of a toothpick’s width, constantly squirming as they filled in the damaged flesh.
Similar black worms, like threads of dark iron, were also knitting together the shattered bones of Moon’s left hand.
Despite the ghastly injury to his face, Moon seemed to feel no pain. He paid the wound no mind, his gaze fixed coldly on the distant Lanxi City.
Four other figures stood around Moon.
These four were all dressed in off-white aristocratic attire. On the breast of their clothing was an emblem: a red moon, partially concealed by clouds.
