The Fourth Calamity: Starting with Dungeon Slimes

And so, after being tormented by the players, the Nightmare Clan squad and the Dark Elf squad finally decided to retreat.

The players naturally knew the principle of not pursuing a desperate enemy, so after clearing out some of the slower ones, they did not chase after them.

"How many times have we died this time?"

After the war ended, one of the players inquired about the situation.

"I did it a total of 5 times."

"I failed three times."

.......

The players were in an uproar, and after some calculations, they roughly tallied the number of casualties.

Including the number of resurrections, on average, this wave of players lost nearly 1000 players.

That is to say, each of them revived at least 5 times on average. Of course, some people revived more times, possibly seven or eight times, or even more.

"The enemy's casualties are around 2000, and that's only because we used safe houses made of war weapons and made advance preparations."

As they talked, the players began to discuss among themselves.

From a purely military perspective, it goes without saying that the players have achieved a resounding victory in terms of casualties.

However, the actual situation cannot be calculated that way. From the perspective of playing a game, this battle can be considered to have resulted in heavy casualties.

You know, in other games, monster sieges are not exactly crushing, but they can at least be easily swept through.

And this game was surprisingly difficult to play.

"We can only say that the difficulty of this game has indeed exceeded our expectations."

"That's normal. Don't you look at the monsters in the siege? What are their levels? They're basically almost 10 levels higher than us. Given that difference, it's not hard to understand why we'd suffer such casualties."

"However, our weapons and equipment are still quite good. Without these things, we would probably have been crushed by these monsters."

"Watermelon Knife did do a good thing. If it weren't for his idea to build this safe house, we wouldn't have realized that using it as a city wall would be so useful."

"Yes, you didn't see that all their skills were blocked back then."

"If it weren't for this thing protecting us from all that damage, I reckon they would have broken through our defenses long ago."

Hearing the discussion, a watermelon knife appeared above their heads without them even noticing.

"What kind of city wall is this thing supposed to be used for? I can't believe you guys even came up with that idea."

"These materials are useful to NPCs, but the ones I've collected are all snatched from their hands, so they can't be used on a large scale."

"So forget about using this stuff to build city walls. I only have so many, and once they're all destroyed, that's it."

Then, he continued to replenish his supplies with the watermelon knife on his head.

"However, I need to explain the situation to you beforehand."

"I want to take an extra portion of the profits from this one. You should know that this is a collaborative project between me and that stupid dragon. If I don't take anything back and damage so much, that stupid dragon will definitely come after me."

Hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry, we understand."

And so, the players began cleaning up the battlefield while discussing the situation.

The rewards this time were quite substantial for the players. All the items left behind by the attacking Dark Elves and Nightmare Clan were seized by the players.

After all, they had dealt with nearly 2000 enemy units, and almost every one of them had armor and weapons, although the weapons of these soldiers were rather inadequate.

Naturally, the ultimate destination of these materials is for players to melt down and forge into other metals, which are then used to craft equipment.

Besides the profits, the players also tallied up their losses, and after making up for those losses, the remaining money naturally became the profits that could be divided equally.

"Brothers, this time our total earnings are close to 3 gold coins. If we split it equally, each of us will get about 100 gold coins."

Upon hearing this number, everyone's eyes lit up.

This period is a slow, unproductive phase, during which they generally don't make much profit.

Therefore, this profit is undoubtedly a huge sum of money for many players.

After the profits were settled and the distribution was complete, the players gathered together again and began to communicate.

"Brothers, I think that given the current situation, how should I put it, passively waiting for the monsters to attack the city here is not a solution."

Just then, a player suddenly spoke up.

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at him, waiting for him to continue.

Seeing the way everyone was looking at him, the player shared his thoughts.

"First, we have determined the monster's spawn point."

"Then we also determined the mechanism of the monster siege. Simply put, they will only attack us after a certain number of monsters have gathered."

"Instead of waiting for them to gather and then launching a general offensive, which would be extremely difficult for us to withstand, it would be better to take the initiative and strike first."

Upon hearing what this player said, the group exchanged glances and couldn't help but feel that this idea seemed quite feasible.

"I have to admit, I feel this approach is actually feasible."

"This game is different from other games. We don't have to play this game the way other games do. And to put it another way, even if I wait for monsters at the spawn point in other games, that's normal behavior."

As they chatted, they all agreed that this was the right thing to do.

"Brothers, I think this strategy works."

"Furthermore, I've been thinking about it, and as long as we keep attacking and constantly depleting their forces, I feel they might never be able to mount a decent monster siege."

"Because I also studied the game's mechanics carefully. Simply put, unlike other games where monsters spawn directly, it has a set logic: monsters need to be summoned from other places through operations like sending troops from elsewhere."

"The time it takes for troops to arrive can be understood as the monster respawn cooldown in the game."

So, while discussing the matter, everyone began to gather troops and prepare various equipment needed for the upcoming battle.

After preparing their equipment, the players naturally set off.

Unlike other races, players don't need to make thorough preparations before going to war. For players, going to war is not complicated. Once you have enough people and your equipment is ready, you just go for it.

As for other things, we'll consider them later. If we lose, it won't matter to the players; they can just start over.

For this reason, when the Dark Elf and Nightmare races learned of the players' troop deployment, the Nightmare squad leader was somewhat puzzled.

You have to understand that they had just finished fighting not long ago, and both sides suffered heavy losses. Yet, not long after that, these Pata dared to come over on their own initiative.

This was something they truly hadn't expected.

"So, how many of these Pata came?"

"The Nightmare Clan squad leader asked in a deep voice."

"There were nearly 200 of them, all carrying those strange weapons."

"They are also setting up fortifications about 5 kilometers from our front line."

Hearing the previous information, the Nightmare Clan squad leader wasn't particularly concerned.

When two sides go to war, and the fighting goes back and forth, this is simply a perfectly normal thing.

So there was no need to care at all, but when he heard the news that followed, the Nightmare Clan squad leader felt like his whole horse was going to break down.

"Wait a minute, what did you just say? Repeat it again."

"Captain, those Pata soldiers are coming."

"Not this sentence, but the last sentence."

"They are setting up fortifications about 5 kilometers from our front line."

He took a deep breath. "So you mean they were setting up their so-called defensive fortifications right in our faces, and you were all dead? Didn't you know how to stop them?"

The subordinates felt somewhat aggrieved by this.

"Our group is here, but the problem is that without your orders, we dare not send troops directly, so we can only cast spells from a distance. However, because of that distance, the power of the spells is weakened a lot. And as you know, Captain, the materials they used to build their defenses are something we simply cannot break through."

Upon hearing his subordinate's explanation, the Nightmare Clan squad leader almost laughed out of anger.

This is practically blatant mockery.

Just because they had won, they dared to be so arrogant, launching a counterattack immediately after the fight ended.

Moreover, the opponent not only fought back, but also came over and used their ultimate skill at close range.

This fueled the Nightmare Clan squad leader's anger.

They really don't respect themselves at all.

How can we tolerate this?

Without saying a word, he immediately led his troops there.

The base already had a considerable number of troops, and with the troops that returned after their previous defeat, the number of troops here is still quite sufficient.

However, just as the troops were assembled, a deafening explosion rang out.

He knew without a doubt that it was caused by those strange weapons in the hands of those Pata.

Clearly, the Pata group launched the first attack.

"How dare you! Do you really think I'm afraid of you?"

The Nightmare Clan squad leader immediately mustered his men and began to counterattack the players.

Soon the two sides resumed their fierce fighting.

Because they had cover, after the Nightmare squad leader sent out several waves of soldiers to try to charge, only to be repelled by the players using war machines and tactics, he also began to use the cover to engage in ranged combat with the players.

Both sides hid behind their own city defenses and kept launching various attacks at each other's city defenses.

For a time, explosions continued to occur around both sides of the base.

On the Nightmare Clan and Dark Elf Clan side.

At this moment, the Nightmare Clan squad leader is directing the battle.

Seeing the barrage of artillery fire raining down from the sky, he immediately ordered the mage beside him to erect a magical shield to block some of the damage.

"Everyone who can cast long-range magic, aim at that group of 'pa-pa' formations and bombard them! I refuse to believe we can't shatter their shells!"

As the Nightmare Clan squad leader finished speaking, countless arcane missiles flew towards the players' location.

A series of explosions accompanied by billowing smoke and dust that blotted out the sky.

However, soon, a large number of shells burst out of the smoke and flew towards them.

The same explosion.

Not only that, some players on the other side who had learned ranged spells like Arcane Missiles were not to be outdone, unleashing various spells to counterattack.

Of course, many players who hadn't learned it immediately found an opportunity to learn it on the spot.

Soon enough, the players also launched a number of ranged magical counterattacks, along with cannonballs. Although the players' magic was several levels weaker than the opponent's magic, getting hit was still quite painful.

Therefore, once the battle began, the losses on both sides increased at a visible rate.

Sometimes, players hiding in cover are just about to move to a new spot when an arcane missile falls from the sky and blows them up instantly.

Immediately afterward, as soon as a shell popped up from the blast, dozens more followed.

Then you can watch as this thing is instantly killed by an arcane missile in the sky, without even having time to react.

The players are in this situation, and the opposing side is in a similar predicament. Having city defenses and magical shields as cover is manageable. However, if they try to relocate, move, or transport supplies, a few shells can obliterate them completely.

Just as the battle resumed at the front, in the rear...

The sky also has a factory for amateur welders, which is brightly lit and bustling with activity.

"Amateur welder, how's it going on your end?"

At this moment, the sky kept asking questions of the busy amateur welder.

Even amateur welders were given a headache by him.

"This is not an easy thing to do. Although I have been doing research in this area, the problem is that it is not mature yet."

"Didn't you just say that some immature parts can be replaced with manual labor? What we need to do now is get this line up and running as quickly as possible."

As he spoke, Tianqiong hopped over to the amateur welder's side.

"Our factory has all the materials ready, and we're just waiting for your production line."

This is an artillery production line, which is actually staffed by amateur welders who have been planning it for a long time.

After all, mortar shells are consumables, and they sell so well, which means that the sales volume of shells in the future will definitely not be small. It goes without saying how profitable the arms industry has been throughout history, so it's no surprise that amateur welders had the idea of ​​setting up an automated shell production line a long time ago.

However, it is clear that setting up a complete production line is not something that can be done overnight.

Fortunately, some progress has been made during this period. However, because the monster siege came too suddenly, they are in a hurry to get the production line working. Even if some areas are not yet ready, they can simply send people to replace the machinery.

In this way, it can barely be considered a semi-automated production line, but it's enough for the welders.

Even semi-automated production is far more efficient than manual production.