Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 272 Resilience
As the alternative battlefield on the ground raged, the aid team below also encountered its first batch of opponents.

That was a team of horn followers who stayed behind. They didn't even last a minute before they became a bunch of limbless "living intelligence".

Hela acted too quickly; her movements were precise and dangerous, as if she were holding her breath...
“They’ve been gone for over three hours, but it’s not too late. There are a lot of people, so it won’t be easy for them to clean it up.”

Finally, some good news arrived: the pursuers weren't far away, and with so many ordinary people with them, they weren't moving very fast.

The other side clearly did not expect the pursuers to be so fast; they thought they would waste more than three days.

That Ulda Bull Demon, as a fallen creation of the World Tree, might not have outrageous combat power in its weakened state, but its vitality is quite outrageous.

This being, which can be seen as a natural embodiment in a certain sense, is virtually impossible to kill head-on; its repeated resurrection can make anyone vomit blood.

The normal strategy obviously requires failing a few times to test the situation before seeking help from professionals. Without prior intelligence gathering and the professional help of Mushroom, Rean's team would have to follow this procedure, and might even have to find a specialized Archdruid.

The Beast Order knew about Radiant City, and in their estimation, even if the royal family forcibly organized a campaign, it would take at least one or two days for the war to begin.

The immortal Bull Demon will buy the cult enough time, and their plan doesn't even need to drag on for two or three days; one day is enough. If they can't rescue the hostages in one day, their infiltrators can further incite chaos and sow discord. They can even use this "failure" to directly attack the royal authority.

Time is precious because it relates to people's hearts.

Unbeknownst to them, Rean and his group had staked the fate of the city on it; at least in Dania's eyes, Rean seemed to have become a "hero."

"Let's continue." Rean can walk independently now, but he's probably not quite ready for combat yet.

The power of two-character "words" was too early for him, even if it was an incomplete dragon incantation.

However, he was still very satisfied, not only because he had experienced such a powerful sword of light and enjoyed a super, super, super evil-slaying slash, but also because he had obtained what he had been looking forward to for a long time.

[Dragon Transformation: 11.6%]

Finally, by utilizing such a powerful dragon-language spell, Rean's dragonification level also exceeded 10%.

[Awakened Racial Talent: Dragon Wings (Soaring Through the Stars)]

The snake's guess was correct; the next awakened dragon transformation ability was indeed dragon wings, which prevented Rean from becoming a target for "Owl".

Is it a racial talent rather than a bloodline-based ability?

The clues in this Heroic Spirit Encyclopedia are really concise. Rean's current race is "Dragonborn," so all the dragon abilities he has awakened are racial talents.

All of the beast's abilities are blood-related superpowers. This means that the former is more like the ability of physical hardware, while the latter is more like the superpowers of a superhuman profession, only the source is "blood".

Bloodline abilities are not unique to beasts; in fact, many beast-human hybrids possess similar abilities.
"Don't worry, they won't die that easily, at least not before they have their heads and hearts. Well, actually they might not die even without their heads, but they're definitely going to die without their hearts. Be careful, they might have several hearts."

Rean is actually hinting at something, or even revealing the necessary knowledge for dealing with the "Beasts" to the ordinary soldiers off-camera.

Even bloodline-based superpowers must adhere to basic principles; the "Deer Heart" is the source of the deer's bloodline.

Their unreasonable self-healing ability can continue to work as long as they have "deer blood," so their hearts must be destroyed to kill them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

"Judging by the time, it should be about right."

Rean wasn't worried about the plan to attack the slave market failing. The elite forces of the slave market had already died in two waves underground. Even if they needed to be replenished, it would take time and backstage coordination, which was too late now.

Meanwhile, their backers—the churches, international organizations, and high-ranking nobles—had also been attacked in their regional headquarters in Radiant City. Naturally, they would use most of their forces to protect themselves, at least to see how things develop and reserve mobile forces. In this situation, a reactive approach was the most sensible thing to do.
"If the church is really so proactive as to send bishops to support the slave market at this time, then his death is not unjust." Rean gave Talia complete freedom of decision-making and even made preparations for assassinating the regional bishops. With the goddess and Bai lurking among the invaders, even high-level professionals of the fifth or sixth rank could die mysteriously.

Bai and the goddess truly don't think too far ahead; given their special status, they dare to kill anyone.

As Rean moved forward, he also considered the situation above. He had tried his best to think of the best possible solution, but human strength has its limits. The more problems he couldn't think of, the more likely they were to arise. He could only trust that the executors could handle the situation as it came.

As per the original plan, the "slaves" were not intended to be rescued directly, except for a few specific individuals.

Because these assets were legally still considered wealth from the slave market, belonging to an owner, openly and forcibly plundering and preserving them was tantamount to challenging the entire social order.

Therefore, this incident is legally considered a "cult attack".

"It feels like the cultists in this world are a bit like terrorists from another world. They can really throw any kind of blame at them, and they mostly accept it quite happily."

Terrorists need prestige and influence, and cultists need prestige and faith; in a sense, they are the same kind of people.

The plan was for the attackers to bring along a group of slaves with special status, smash all the cages, and then send someone to incite the slaves to escape on their own.

However, barring any unforeseen circumstances, they will be unable to leave this city.

There are many boats in the dock area, but probably none are willing to take them away.

Those captains and sailors often had deep dealings with the slave market.

Once on board, they might easily become slaves again, and the slaves wouldn't trust the sailors, most of whom were brought there by those ships.

So, they would naturally try to integrate into the dock area and into this "gang game".

In this plan, Dimon's "Bonebreaker Gang" will face a lot of pressure.

"We'll probably need to tighten security around Dimon. Getting him connected with the Radiant Guard this time should make some people wary."

As the most dynamic new force in the dock area today, and with its own physical industry, the Broken Bone Gang will naturally try its best to absorb these "talents".

The Bonebreakers currently possess a wrecked ship, capable of transporting some sensitive or valuable slaves, but transporting the majority of people is impossible. Rean does have plans to absorb these people and take the opportunity to grant them new citizen status, but all of this will take time and require achievements to sustain it.

"At the very least, I need to complete the rescue mission and become a 'city hero' in front of everyone for my plan to be successfully executed."

Therefore, during this period, conflict with the slave market and even the forces behind it was probably inevitable.

Dimon would be best to use this opportunity to make his presence known; he's destined to be the first to stick his neck out.

Those "weaver knights" would inevitably clash with the pursuers and mercenaries who were hunting down the slaves.

In a sense, this is why Rean has to fight so hard. Only with sufficient strength and deterrence can he avoid some troubles that could otherwise be avoided.

The royal family will provide some protection and assistance, and the tacitly approved Dania and the city lord will also do their best to help. Conflict is inevitable until the various forces determine that the "slave market" has become a liability.

"No matter how it's handled in the end, the slave market is destined to be severely damaged, it's just a matter of whether it's crippled or completely crippled. Since it's not a loss, let's do it."

(End of this chapter)