Chapter 818 - A Request to Definitely Win
Translated by: Berrrybunz
Edited by: TN and DeAndreR
In the Stone Forest Sand Continent, endless obelisks stood in place, forming a large gray forest.
Wu Ma Tian spat out the sand in his mouth, his skinny face that was covered in smoke, had stubble growing due to not cleaning up for many days. His entire body had no sloppy parts anymore, but looked more like a veteran, sharp and firm.
He and his companion who was 10m away from him looked at each other, both parties gestured to each other, then gradually retreated and disappeared in the shadows.
Returning back to camp, Wu Ma Tian sat straight down on the ground, and took a water jug and gulped down its contents, finally allowing his blazing throat to feel better.
"What"s the situation?"
Aya walked over to him and sat down. Her eyes landed on Wu Ma Tian"s body, who had become much skinnier than before, but the black pupils in his eyes were extremely bright with a dazzling with a light aura. Personally watching Wu Ma Tian transform had made Aya extremely happy in her heart, she felt extremely fortunate to have pulled the Pig Trotters King over to her side.
The Skull Unit"s plan was completely formulated by Wu Ma Tian, and was extremely effective. Wu Ma Tian was an outstanding talent, and also gained the respect of the entire Skull Unit. To Aya, Wu Ma Tian was definitely someone worthy to stand beside Master Bing, and being pushed down to Skull Unit could be considered not fully utilizing him. The Skull Unit was previously a mercenary army, and although everyone were firm and unyielding on the exterior, they still harbored a lack of confidence with themselves, and always felt that they were lacking compared to a standard army.
She knew the standard of everybody in Skull Unit, and if not for Wu Ma Tian, they would have definitely been defeated. She spoke to him with respect that came from her heart.
Wu Ma Tian laughed, his cheeks were rather prominent on his skinny face, giving off a sharp personality, but he spoke extremely gently: "Everyone performed rather well, there were some casualties, but it isn"t huge. Compared to us, the enemies are not suitable for such warfare, but Gou Cheng WenDao has met a nail at the Ocean Guardian Stronghold, and so I am afraid that the enemies on this side will become more anxious. The next phase will be the true test. The attacks everyone will face will become even more intense."
Wu Ma Tian thought about the reports of the frontlines, and still felt that it was inconceivable.
Gou Cheng WenDao who had 22 large scale siege boats was actually stopped by the Ocean Guardian Stronghold, he did not know how that was achievable. He never truly conversed with Xie Yu An before, and his only impression of him was an honest and cautious man with a warm temperament. But he never expected him to be so powerful. He felt that it was natural for Master Crane to be powerful, that was a fact too clear for everyone to see.
Compared to them, their battle achievements were much duller, but regardless of whether it was him or Aya, they were both convinced towards Xie Yu An"s achievement.
In truth, their battle record was relatively outstanding as well, and Bing had praised them on more than one occasion.
Gou Cheng WenDao"s subordinate, Cliff and his army was delayed by them for a full five days. The vast Stone Forest Sand Continent had become their best battlefield, the complicated terrain had become the heaven for urban warfare. The Skull Unit moved through the battlefield like fish in water, while the enemies moved with difficulty.
The Stone Forest Sand Continent became a mincemeat field that was not noticed by people, and when Cliff finally reacted, their casualties numbered over 3 thousand. What was worse was their morale, the mission for the Ocean Guardian Stronghold"s failure and the enemies that appeared like ghosts continued to pile up their casualties, causing the soldiers" morale to drop to an all time low.
When the Southern Expedition was like hot knife through b.u.t.ter, no matter how large the casualties were, it never affected their morale much. But when Gou Cheng WenDao had personally made a move but was still thwarted, it greatly affected the morale of the soldiers beneath him.
Gou Cheng WenDao was considered a War G.o.d in his army, and in everybody"s hearts, as long as Gou Cheng WenDao was to make his move, they had already won. They had never even welcomed the thought of Master Gou Cheng WenDao every failing in the first place.
The tenacity of Southern Alliance caused them to suffer more than expected, to the point that they felt fear. They were truly more capable in urban warfare, but even with their casualties, they did not retreat at all.
The Southern Alliance side lost about 1000 odd people, but the 1:3 ratio was enough to make Cliff feel ashamed. But the proportion of strength became even wider. They had the numbers, and 3000 casualties did not affect them. But the Southern Alliance only had about 5000 men, and 1000 casualties was a fifth of their strength.
A 20 percent casualty rate was enough to destroy any weak willed armies.
But the enemy still performed tenaciously, that meant that the other party could be considered a high standard army, but Cliff firmly believed that it was just that they had not reached a critical point.
Cliff"s conjecture was accurate, the Skull Unit"s side had truly lost about a 1000 men.
Listening to Wu Ma Tian"s judgement, Aya"s face turned ugly.
This army was handed down from her father, and many of the soldiers in the unit were all like brothers to Aya. Upon seeing those familiar companions die, her heart bled. If the situation became even more intense, it meant that they would have even more casualties, and Aya"s sword hand was clenched till it turn pale.
Wu Ma Tian understood how Aya felt, seeing his own companions fall, it was equally unbearable for him.
He remained quiet for a moment before speaking: "De Xing"s Southern Rainbow Army, Mo Sang"s Yuan Continent Army are already behind us, and can support us at anytime. But, I do not advise for them to enter the battlefield, the enemy"s strength has not been depleted, they are not even tired yet, and them entering now will not tilt the situation."
Aya looked up and stared straight at Wu Ma Tian, her sword hand was clenched so tightly that veins start popping out, and asked through clenched teeth: "You want the Skull Unit to fight to the death by ourselves?"
Wu Ma Tian did not cower back, but spoke even more coldly: "Only by doing so can we have the chance to win."
Aya swayed, her complexion pale, and after a long while: "Can we win by doing so?"
"I do not know." Wu Ma Tian muttered, a lok of loss and pain surfaced on his face, but his gaze became sharp again, and his tone became firm and cold: "It is the only way that I can think of now."
Aya remained silent, she suddenly thought about the day when her father handed down the army to her. After that, their lives became extremely bitter, their meals were periodic, they lacked weapons, lacked armor, and sometimes, and at times, for the sake of a few thousand cloud coins of reward, they had to give up their lives.
Aya calmed down.
~That"s right, what"s there to be unsatisfied about, what"s there to complain about? Our pitiful and petty lives, have already enjoyed the pay and respect that we used to dream of. We are no longer starved, and were treated like the best armies, we were treated as Master"s faction, and obtained respect and dignity.~
~It was all for today.~
~Everything led to our decisive deaths today.~
~Isn"t this the day that everyone had been waiting for? Isn"t this what everyone swore to do?~
"Regardless of what happens, we will make it."
Aya" stood up calmly, she raised the big sword in her hand, the wind blew and lifted her fiery red hair, that resembled a regiment of blazing flames that ignited in front of Wu Ma Tian.
"I only have one request."
Wu Ma Tian who had lost his focus asked subconsciously: "What request?"
"I request you to definitely win!"
Aya suddenly turned her head and laughed: "When you win, you must tell me."
Wu Ma Tian"s vision turned blurry.
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The current Southern Alliance was basking in glory. All of the various continents of the Southern Region were all on board warships towards the Southern Alliance, it was no longer alone and without help. All the goods and manpower from every corner of the Southern Region were surging towards the Southern Alliance.
The recently established Southern Alliance had become the Southern Region"s only hope. Only the Southern Alliance had the ability to resist the infiltration of the Honorable Martial Continent, this saying had long become the motto of everybody on the streets. The various aristocratic families and big traders of Southern Region had all gathered, and endlessly supported all sorts of weapons and materials to Southern Alliance.
But most of all, were the young and vigorous youths thirsting to achieve their goals.
It was to the point that every recruitment drive of the Southern Alliance became overcrowded.
Qiu Yong and Dai Shan rushed over from the distant Southern Stone Continent, if not for the shipping route towards Southern Alliance being free, no one was able to bear the hefty road tax for the long journey.
When they disembarked, their eyes were instantly shocked by the crowd.
"Oh my G.o.d, there are too many people!"
Qiu Yong"s eyes went dull, he grabbed his head with both hands, his face stunned. Dai Shan who was by his side was instead extremely excited, the fiery scene before him made his blood boil with excitement. To protect his home, to obtain his goals, that was what a young man should do!
Dai Shan spoke with conviction: "We must definitely be chosen!"
Qiu Yong was unsure: "But there are so many people…."
Even the best academy recruitments would never have such an explosive and crowded scene. The human flow was at least a few tens of thousands of people, and Qiu Yong saw the recruitment post, for the current recruitment, they were only accepting 200 men.
"Should we change to another recruitment?" Qiu Yong asked with hesitation.
Upon hearing his words, a young man beside him could not help but speak out: "Don"t even think about it! All the other recruitments are the same, there will definitely not be any less people!"
Dai Shan patted on Qiu Yong"s shoulder and encouraged him loudly: "We will definitely be chosen! Ah Yong, you must have confidence!"
Right at that moment, the clamors suddenly disappeared.
The two of them were startled, and looked up the stage.
A pale man dressed in loose robes appeared on the stage of the recruitment area.
"Xie…..Xie Yu An!"
Dai Shan stammered, his eyes flashed a look of disbelief, it was not only him, Qiu Yong was dumbstruck like a chicken as well.
The entire field suddenly became silent as though they were stricken by some silencing spell.
Xie Yu An"s arrival was unexpected, he had decided to come over himself.
Xie Yu An felt that his injuries were not too serious, and quickly left the hospital. The war was far from over, the Swift Army was practically exhausted, and he planned to quickly replenish the ranks, and quickly head back to the battlefield.
He never expected that his appearance would cause an uproar.
"Oh heavens! It"s Xie Yu An!"
"G.o.d of War Xie Yu An!"
Who wouldn"t know Xie Yu An in the current Southern Region? All the citizens that had stepped forward to partic.i.p.ate in the war had all watched the thrilling six hour battle recording, and facing their own idol, everyone was stirred up.
The entire field was so lively that it had become the hottest news to spread around Southern Region.
Xie Yu An also felt satisfied, the soldiers that he specially selected all had rather outstanding strength and self accomplishments. But what he never thought of was that his seemingly accidental actions were immediately caught on by an unscrupulous man.
In the Command Post, Bing waved his hands: "Ah ha, Little Xie hasn"t fully recovered, he is forcing himself too much, let us use this timely opportunity."
It was on that day that Xie Yu An was appointed the amba.s.sador for the Southern Alliance Recruitment, and was in charge of the recruitment stands.
The number of warships and convoys on the shipping routes towards Southern Alliance exploded multiple folds on that day.