Chapter 391 Torture, Information, and Detachment
Despite bouncing around his cell for half a day like an oversized baby in a diaper, Kaven Mor the Hill Shaman did not give the information Angora wanted.
In the end, he was considered half a chosen one-even though he was not one in an orthodox sense. His outstanding powers came from the Lord of the Peaks’ generous strengthening of his believers when his wager against Xi Wei began as a hasty, last-minute effort. Still, half a chosen one was a chosen one, and held a higher position in their church. On the other hand, for a G.o.d like the Lord of the Peaks who had no formal religion, his chosen one would therefore show up in a form of someone holding the position of village chief.
The threat of his b.e.s.t.i.a.lity being known to all could not force Kaven Mor to betray his allies either. Betraying allies was usually no big deal for the hill-folk since they were bandits who knew nothing about morals, and friends were made to be betrayed. However, with two churches in conflict and the clash itself involving their G.o.ds, betraying his allies now was not too different from betraying the Lord of the Peaks.
That was exactly why Kaven Mor decided to grit his teeth and weather through it even if his name would get dragged through the mud.
However, that was within Angora and Xi Wei’s calculations, which was why Angora read about the other torture techniques included in the reference materials for his quest. For example, there was the technique of painting the person’s soles with bee honey and have goats or other livestock lick it, a torture technique which killed humans from laughter back on Earth.
Another was to bury a person beneath the ground, open a hole in their head to pour in mercury, forcing them to struggle amidst extensive pain and wanting to break out of their skin and leaving it in the mud—that was most likely just a rumor since it was unrealistic for Earth, because humans would die when mercury was poured into them and they had no chance of crawling out of their own skin. However, this world has sacred arts for healing, and even if no clerics would be willing to cooperate with such inhumanity, Angora could simply rely on several bottles of cola to achieve the same effect.
Likewise, skinning was even more cruel in this world. After the victim was tied up, they would be kept alive through sacred arts or potions while their flesh was peeled off piece by piece, tormented by the extreme agony without the chance of dying in the process…
The more he read, the more Angora himself felt uncomfortable.
If his faith was not so strong and Xi Wei had never done something so outrageous, the reference material would have been evidence enough that the G.o.d of Games was an evil G.o.d demanding ritual sacrifices.
It also left Angora rejoicing that he did not bring Vela with him to the dungeon. She would have nightmares even if she was a girl from a border town who was much stronger than the delicate city girls of Tunaya.
On the other hand, Kaven Mor directly fell apart. Begging for his death in his cell, he started bounced around again as if trampolining (which looked like a cheerful scene to outsiders) before eventually giving up and revealing all the information he had, hoping he could exchange that for sweet death.
And once he got his hands on the first hand information, Angora promptly uploaded it on the Player forums and accomplished the quest Xi Wei a.s.signed him.
The situation was actually not complex, and indeed simple and straightforward.
There were three major hill-folk tribes near the Valla Empire that could threaten the Sky Horizon, the weakest of which was the major tribe led by Kaven Mor himself, which had less than three thousand standard warriors. Around eighteen hundred were captured by the Players in the battle before, and of the remaining twelve hundred, half were killed on the spot while half had fled, and were basically useless.
However, when Kaven Mor launched his a.s.sault, two of the tribes further away were rapidly advancing to the Crookes’ refugee camp as well.
Those two tribes boast a combined population of twenty-five thousand, although they had less than ten thousand warriors. Still, it would be troublesome even if they really joined forces to a.s.sault the Sky Horizon.
Their horrific numbers would keep the Players in a disadvantage. Even if Xi Wei was convinced that the Players could destroy up an army of up to thirty thousand people and let alone ten, the wager this time was not to completely wipe out opposing forces, but to prevent the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) from being taken!
As such, Xi Wei who added a flight function to the Sky Horizon out of a whim and thought that it was quite safe that way felt threatened for some reason.
If the Players were really suppressed, would the Lord of the Peaks’ believers really still be unable to reach the Sky Horizon which hovered several hundred meters in the air?
It was undoubtedly reckless and foolish to pin one’s hope on the enemy, something which Xi Wei and Edward knew, the latter of whom was acknowledged by all Players as their chief commander.
That was why Edward was keen on dividing and conquering. His tactic was to use multiple small groups and have them do what they can to prevent the two hill-folk tribes from gathering
And the reason for that was simple.
reason
Moreover, whether deliberately or inadvertently, the cla.s.ses Xi Wei had set in place have some degree of damage output. Unless the Player was deliberate in piling points in certain skills, there was no pure-take or pure-support in the truest sense of the term.And that was why each Player was highly effective in single duels.
In fact, if they were not overwhelmed in level and facing an opponent without a special module, it was not hard for a Player to fight ten monsters of the same level.
However, while ten Players might defeat a hundred monsters in a single battle as well, it was naturally more difficult to challenge ten monsters of the same-level alone.
Then, as both sides doubled down with a thousand monsters attacking a hundred Players at once, the Players would definitely be cut down in numbers despite having the greater chance of winning.
And now, the Players were less than a thousand, and it was a pain for them to face ten thousand monsters at once.
That was exactly why Edward determined that the Players would have an easier time facing two armies of five thousand than a single army of ten thousand.
Moreover, if they launched an attack right now, the Players would have enough time to revive even if they would die in a seesaw battle. On the other hand, their opponents would die one by one without any chance of coming back!
However, as the Players began to carry out Edward’s divide and conquer tactics, a new and surprising development occurred at the frontlines.