Chapter 209: Leaderboard Competition, Welcoming the Ice Dragon Horn Challenge (6000)

"Ah Xing, are we going out this afternoon?"

Hearing this question, Cao Xing pondered for a moment.

Then he shook his head and said, "We won't be going out for now. This afternoon, we will continue buffing the Wild Boar Warriors and Ascalon Warriors."

"At night, I plan to use the Ice Dragon Horn to push for some levels."

"It just so happens that we are currently in the middle of the leaderboard period, and there is a small chance that boss-level and leader-level creatures will appear inside the Ice Nest. Let's see if we can climb the leaderboard."

Hearing this, a serene smile appeared on Liu Muxue's face.

"Alright, I will fight alongside you."

She wasn't worried, as they had already used the [Ice Dragon Horn (Small)] once before.

Although a large number of Ice Nests were dropped at the same time, they had managed to hold their ground completely.

Furthermore, during this period, the territory's strength had undergone another qualitative leap, and dealing with even more Ice Nest Monsters would be a piece of cake.

However, what Liu Muxue didn't know was that this time, Cao Xing planned to use the medium-sized Ice Dragon Horn, and the difficulty would be several times higher than the last one.

Of course, high difficulty meant high rewards.

Last time, Cao Xing had wiped out tens of thousands of Ice Nest Monsters in six hours, obtaining a massive amount of experience points and over forty thousand Ice Dragon Marks.

And this time, it was conservatively estimated that the number of monsters would be at least four times that.

In other words, if Cao Xing wanted to maximize the benefits of each Ice Nest just like last time,

He would have to kill at least three hundred thousand Ice Nest Monsters!

That was a terrifying number!

Although these Ice Nest Monsters wouldn't appear all at once, it was still very frightening.

Then, Cao Xing and Liu Muxue began to apply various buffs to those warriors.

Time passed slowly…

In the blink of an eye, the afternoon had already passed.

Through their combined efforts, all combat personnel and staff in the territory had been applied with the new group buff [Faith's Thought].

Cao Xing also continuously cast [Source of Extreme Ice], applying this powerful golden status to all key members and the sixty Ascalon Warriors.

There was no helping it; [Source of Extreme Ice] had a five-minute cooldown and was a single-target buff.

If Cao Xing wanted to apply it to all several hundred people in the territory, it would take at least a day or two.

Meanwhile.

The sky had darkened.

After all the staff returned to the territory,

Cao Xing looked at the combat personnel and said, "Get ready, everyone. Tonight, I will summon the power of the dragon once again."

"A large number of Ice Nests will descend upon our territory. This will be a tough battle!"

Hearing this, the expressions of the hundreds of combat personnel turned stern.

The three newly joined Dragonblood Valkyries immediately raised their spears.

Alice said with a grave expression, "Is it those damned Ice Nest Monsters again? These minions of the dragon once destroyed countless cities and took the lives of many of our kin."

"This time, I will definitely crush them all!"

Beside her, Finis also said, "That's right, we must drive the dragon's power off this continent, at all costs!"

Watching their serious expressions, Jonard stepped forward to comfort them: "You guards of the Saintesses, there is no need to be so tense. Relax a little."

Hearing this, the three Dragonblood Valkyries looked at him with some confusion.

Alice said solemnly, "How could we relax? That is the power of the dragon! Have you forgotten the damage Zhuoma caused to our homeland?"

"Even those weak Ice Nest Monsters, when gathered together, will quickly reach a terrifying number, enough to destroy one Giant City after another!"

"This territory is still too weak right now and will be overwhelmed by those monsters in an instant!"

Jonard was stunned, then shook his head.

"I naturally know that the dragon's power cannot be underestimated, but the dragon is currently in a recovery phase, and its minions are not that strong yet."

"As for your claim that this territory is weak, they certainly don't think so."

"Just look at the reactions of these warriors and you will know."

Hearing this, the three female warriors simultaneously turned their gazes toward the Wild Boar Warriors and the Ascalon Warriors!

At this moment, the group of Wild Boar Warriors had expressions of excitement on their faces.

The Wild Boar leader, Rabb, stepped forward and said, "Buck up, everyone! Tonight, we are going to kill more enemies than those Ascalon Warriors!"

Other Wild Boar Warriors said excitedly, "Oh! We get to show off our skills tonight! We will definitely perform better than those Ascalon Warriors!"

"Haha, that's right! The power bestowed upon me by the Lord makes me feel like the blood in my entire body is boiling!"

"The Beast God is above; He will see my heroic figure as I slaughter in all directions!"

The Ascalon Warriors beside them were also high-spirited.

Warrior Captain Yaskin gave the order.

"Attention, everyone! Last time, we only fought for a few hours before our stamina was exhausted, forcing us to withdraw. It brought shame to the Lord's prestige."

"This time, we must fight until the very end!"

"Also, we absolutely cannot lose to those Wild Boar Warriors!"

Hearing this, the other Ascalon Warriors immediately gripped their weapons and shouted.

"Fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death!"

They had already experienced one battle against a large-scale Ice Nest invasion and were still brooding over their midway withdrawal last time.

Everyone began to prepare for action.

These combat personnel were not in the slightest bit afraid of the battle tonight; on the contrary, they seemed to be looking forward to it.

Even the archer squad, including Elisa, didn't say much and immediately began checking the arrows in their quivers.

A look of bewilderment appeared in the eyes of the three Dragonblood Valkyries.

Jonard said, "You should have seen it."

"The warriors of this territory are not afraid of the dragon at all. By comparison, they are more afraid of not exerting enough strength and failing to kill more enemies."

"Even when facing the dragon, they maintain an optimistic mindset."

"This mindset allows them to fight with greater ease. Although we of the Norn Clan are a warrior race, we should also learn this spirit."

The three Dragonblood Valkyries were thoughtful after listening, then nodded solemnly.

"I understand. Thank you for your guidance."

…

Meanwhile.

The combat personnel all entered the cafeteria to enjoy today's dinner and replenish their stamina before the battle.

As for Cao Xing, he opened the chat channel to see what major events had happened after the first day of the region merger.

Scanning the chat history, he roughly understood the situation in District 17.

After a day, the Survivors had already adapted to their new companions.

The legion commanders of each district had also managed to survive the large-scale attacks of the Ice Nest Monsters.

Although… it was a bit of a struggle.

These legion commanders, in order to show off their strength, followed Jiang Qingyun and used the [Ice Dragon Horn].

However, they had all somewhat underestimated the power of the Ice Dragon Horn.

Ice Nests kept falling, and they kept hatching more Ice Nest Monsters.

As time passed, the difficulty kept rising.

In the end, even if they destroyed the Ice Nests with all their might, they couldn't keep up with the speed at which the monsters appeared.

Moreover, the Ice Nests were now hatching Tier 2 Ice Nest Monsters, including a large number of elites, and occasionally, some bosses would appear.

There even appeared leader-level Ice Nest Monsters!

This resulted in quite a few casualties on the first day.

Many Survivors and recruited creatures had died in the various legions.

However, behind these casualties was an increase in the levels and points of the Survivors who remained.

Those commanders killed a large number of Ice Nest Monsters and participated in finishing blows, each gaining quite a bit of experience.

The lowest gained 2 levels, and the highest even gained 4 levels.

Now, among the more than two hundred thousand Survivors in District 17, the first echelon had already reached level 18 or 19, and Tier 3 Survivors were about to appear.

Scanning the information in the chat channel, Cao Xing roughly understood the general situation.

"Not bad. Although the Ice Dragon Horn challenge is very difficult, the rewards are equally high."

"These people's leveling speed is still quite fast."

Although compared to Cao Xing, their leveling speed was nothing to look at.

But compared to other Survivors, this speed was skyrocketing like a rocket.

Besides the soaring levels of the legion commanders, another thing that caught the Survivors' attention was the current rules for the [Points Leaderboard].

They discovered that the calculation method for this points leaderboard was based on the entire territory.

In other words, the points obtained by arrow towers, recruited creatures, and other Survivors in a territory destroying Ice Nests or killing boss/leader-level Ice Nest Monsters.

All points obtained would only be counted towards the Lord.

Seeing this rule, Cao Xing was thoughtful.

"If this is the calculation method, then it's a bit troublesome."

"Because this way, my idea of letting Muxue also gain points and taking the first and second place rewards together with me probably won't work."

"Unless… I let Muxue go out and develop a new territory now."

Cao Xing shook his head and quickly dismissed this idea.

Obviously, letting Liu Muxue go and develop a territory now was equivalent to starting everything over from scratch, and even with Cao Xing's help, it would be a waste of a lot of time.

"Besides this method, there is another way, which is to cooperate with other Survivor Lords."

"I provide him with military support, help him win the leaderboard, and then have him give the rewards to me."

"Of course, this requires someone trustworthy, and I don't really know anyone, so let's forget it."

After considering it for a while, Cao Xing couldn't think of any suitable solution.

Shaking his head, he decided not to dwell on this problem for now.

After all, there are still nine days left for the leaderboard challenge, so there's no rush.

He glanced at the current leaderboard.

[District 17 Points Leaderboard]

[1st Place: Jiang Qingyun 227 points]

[2nd Place: Chen Feng 213 points]

[3rd Place: Gao Yiyi 207 points]

[4th Place: Huang Xinhai 202 points]

…

[10th Place: Nan Yiman 183 points]

…

Obviously, the top ten of the current leaderboard had already been occupied by the legion commanders of each district.

They all started with at least 180 points.

Because the number of Ice Nests dropped by the [Ice Dragon Horn (Small)] over six hours was at least 160 or more.

Plus, the bosses and leaders that hatched inside would give points after being killed.

Therefore, using one [Ice Dragon Horn (Small)] could yield at least 160 points to start.

After looking at the leaderboard, Cao Xing nodded.

"These legion commanders of the districts do have some strength; they actually all completed the first wave of the Ice Dragon Horn challenge."

"However, the casualties of these legions are quite severe."

"In the six hours of Ice Nest battles, each legion lost about a hundred people."

"This casualty ratio is still very high, almost equivalent to one-third of the combat personnel in a territory."

"In the short term, they should be unable to use the Ice Dragon Horn challenge a second time."

…

Just as Cao Xing expected, most of the legions at this moment were exhausted and had suffered heavy losses.

Looking at the corpses all over the ground outside the territory, a heavy look appeared in everyone's eyes.

However, the one that died the most was the Wangjiang Pavilion legion.

In order to maximize the benefits, Jiang Qingyun also wanted to imitate Cao Xing, waiting for some of the monsters inside to hatch before destroying the Ice Nest.

However, by the time he realized the number of Ice Nest Monsters appearing simultaneously had exceeded his imagination, it was already too late.

At this moment, looking at the one hundred and fifty mangled corpses in his territory, a look of regret flashed across his eyes.

It was not the deaths of these people that he regretted.

It was because the losses this time were so great that it would be troublesome to recruit new people.

Jiang Qingyun feigned sorrow as he offered a few words of comfort, then had his subordinates dispose of the corpses.

As for how they were disposed of, that was unknown.

Jiang Qingyun arrived at the edge of his territory and opened the [Points Leaderboard].

When he saw that his ranking was firmly in first place, he slowly let out a sigh of relief.

"Fortunately, although we paid a significant price, we managed to secure first place, and that Cao Xing didn't even make the leaderboard."

"It seems this kid just had good luck; he happened to obtain that powerful fish meat, but his true strength is actually not that great."

During the day, after Jiang Qingyun was targeted by Cao Xing, he failed to purchase those two types of precious fish meat, and his attributes were a cut below other team leaders.

He even sent people to privately find other Survivors to purchase them.

However, upon seeing that they were from District 171, the other party decisively refused the trade.

This left Jiang Qingyun feeling furious.

At the same time, a sense of crisis emerged in his heart.

But now, through the leaderboard, Jiang Qingyun deduced that Cao Xing's strength was not strong, and he gradually felt relieved.

Jiang Qingyun thought to himself: "Next, as long as I maintain this momentum, taking first place is a sure thing."

"Then, I will use the recruitment scroll to summon a Commander-level creature and go straight to find this Cao Xing's territory."

"When that time comes, I will make him wish he were dead, and understand what happens to those who offend me!"

Speaking of this, a sinister grin appeared on Jiang Qingyun's face!

He looked at an old man nearby with a weathered appearance and graying short hair, and said: "Old Liu, notify everyone. We are going to continue using the Ice Dragon Horn and begin the second round of battle."

But this old man, called Old Liu, shook his head and said: "Young Master Jiang, I think we need to pause. We cannot continue using the Ice Dragon Horn."

"Hmm? Why?"

Jiang Qingyun questioned suspiciously: "My Lords Cabin is already level 4, and I have over four hundred people. Even if over a hundred died today, don't we still have nearly two hundred combatants?"

Hearing this, the old man before him sighed, "We do still have two hundred combatants."

"But they have been fighting at high intensity for a whole day and are about to reach their limit."

Hearing this, a look of contemplation flashed across Jiang Qingyun's eyes.

He asked again: "After the duration of the first Ice Dragon Horn ended, didn't I have them take turns fighting while the others rested in the territory? How can they be at their limit?"

The old man sighed: "They have only rested for about two hours in total today. They have been fighting non-stop the rest of the time, and both their bodies and minds have reached their limit."

"Currently, the combat condition of these team members is getting worse and worse, and the casualty rate has also started to increase."

"Young Master Jiang, let them rest. And you, your own condition is also a bit off."

The old man said in a heavy tone.

He had already seen the bloodshot eyes of Jiang Qingyun.

However, Jiang Qingyun's expression gradually turned gloomy.

"Rest? How can we rest at a time like this?"

"We finally managed to secure first place; we must maintain it at this time!"

"Besides, you all saw how terrifying the benefits are after using this Ice Dragon Horn—a full 50% experience bonus!"

"Today, most of the combatants on the field leveled up by one or two levels, and I have surged to level 19. It won't be long before I reach level 20 and complete the Tier 3 advancement!"

The Ice Dragon Horn allows you to choose between an experience bonus or a material bonus.

For Jiang Qingyun, the experience bonus was naturally more important.

Although most of the Ice Nests were destroyed directly by them, they still killed a large number of Ice Nest Monsters.

However, Jiang Qingyun did not have Cao Xing's [Eternal Power] talent and could not share in everyone's experience.

But he could still share some of his subordinates' experience; he just needed to contribute some damage.

For example, if an Ice Nest Monster has 1000 HP, he can get 50% of the experience just by touching it.

Therefore, Jiang Qingyun's leveling speed was still very fast.

Even the powerhouses in other major districts had tasted the benefits of the [Ice Dragon Horn].

With this thing, if they could use it non-stop, they would be able to boost everyone to level 20, or even level 30, in a short period!

Of course, this required extremely strong power.

Even the previous Cao Xing could not do it.

Just as Jiang Qingyun decided to let these team members continue fighting.

The little girl beside him said: "Daddy, those uncles look so pitiful. They have so many wounds from being bitten by those monsters, and they still have to go fight."

"Can you let them rest for a while?"

The little girl before him looked innocent, her pure, large eyes filled with pleading as she looked at the man.

Hearing the girl's crisp voice, the ferocity on Jiang Qingyun's face gradually vanished.

He said in a softened tone: "Alright, Yingying, Daddy will listen to you."

"Then let them go rest for a while."

A happy smile appeared on the little girl's face, and she hugged Jiang Qingyun's waist, "Thank you, Daddy! Daddy is the best!"

Jiang Qingyun also had a doting smile on his face as he patted the young girl's head.

At this moment, he turned to the old man nearby and asked: "Old Liu, what about the second batch of team members I recruited from nearby territories today? How long until they arrive near my territory?"

The old man respectfully said: "Young Master Jiang, the second batch of team members are on their way."

"They encountered some accidents on the way and a few died, but there are still over two hundred people. They should arrive at the territory in about half an hour."

Jiang Qingyun nodded: "Good, then we will wait another half hour."

"After these newcomers arrive, expel the old members from the territory and let them go rest nearby."

Speaking of this, Jiang Qingyun added.

"My territory doesn't have enough population capacity; I can't recruit everyone."

Hearing this, the old man said: "Alright, Young Master Jiang."

Half an hour later.

The second batch of Survivors from Wangjiang Pavilion arrived at Jiang Qingyun's territory.

Jiang Qingyun looked down at these excited Survivors.

Through the battle reports from today, they knew that the team members who followed Jiang Qingyun into battle had all leveled up several times.

However, Jiang Qingyun reported the good news but not the bad, and did not tell the other team members about the battle casualty rate.

These Survivors thought that being allowed to participate in the battle was a benefit given to them by Jiang Qingyun!

Looking at their excited expressions, a smile also appeared at the corner of Jiang Qingyun's mouth.

Then, he took out another Ice Dragon Horn and clicked to use it immediately.

A system prompt appeared.

Regional Announcement: "Survivor Lord: Jiang Qingyun has used the Ice Dragon Horn (Small). For the next six hours, some territories will not be attacked by Ice Nests. Please arrange development time together."

…

At this moment. A chorus of exclamations appeared in the chat channel!

Fan Zeyu: "Holy crap! Jiang Qingyun actually used the Ice Dragon Horn again. Didn't he just use one this morning?"

Zhao Yandong: "Yeah, this is too strong! What kind of existence could use the Ice Dragon Horn consecutively!"

Ye Zheng: "As expected of the number one on the leaderboard. It seems Great Lord Jiang Qingyun is determined to win the reward for first place on the points leaderboard this time!"

Listening to the praise for Jiang Qingyun from everyone, the Survivors of Wangjiang Pavilion swept away the gloom of the day and said proudly in the chat channel.

"That's for sure. Our Boss Jiang Qingyun is definitely a man of action."

"He is determined to take first place on the leaderboard this time, unlike some people who only know how to use underhanded methods."

"That's right. Don't think you can do anything to us just by not trading with Wangjiang Pavilion. Even without your fish meat, it won't have any impact on us at all."

However, this time, the snide remarks from these people in Wangjiang Pavilion did not receive any agreement from others.

After all, they had all seen the situation during the day. If Cao Xing treated them the same way he treated the people from Wangjiang Pavilion and stopped trading with them, that would be a huge problem.

A Survivor from District 174 retorted: "What's the big deal about using an Ice Dragon Horn? Our Great Lord Cao Xing used one days ago."

"That's right, Cao Xing just hasn't exerted his full strength yet."

But the people from Wangjiang Pavilion countered: "We only hear you bragging about how strong he is. If you have the ability, make him use an Ice Dragon Horn and let us see?"

"Exactly! He can't even make the leaderboard, yet you're still bragging?"

The Survivors from District 174 were left speechless. After all, what the people from Wangjiang Pavilion said was a fact.

And just at this moment. A regional announcement appeared.

Regional Announcement: "Survivor Lord: Cao Xing has used the Ice Dragon Horn (Medium). For the next six hours, some territories will not be attacked by Ice Nests. Please arrange development time together."

The chat channel fell silent instantly, followed by a huge commotion!

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