Chapter 133: Heaven-sent Fortune [Two-in-One]

Standing at the control pod window, Afnora and Phobos looked at the densely deployed Fourth Calamity, their hearts trembling.

“Is this what you call airborne combat?” Afnora exclaimed, shocked.

“Exactly!”

Yu Sheng’an nodded, explaining:

“The problems you mentioned boil down to three points: one, adaptation to fighting in foreign lands; two, supply issues deep in enemy territory; three, the cost of war.”

“My solution is simple: use the Fourth Calamity as the main force, incentivize with wealth, not seeking to kill enemies but to gain wealth. This war will turn into a game, a game of hide and seek, and the dwarves’ advantage will cease to exist!”

What is the dwarves’ advantage?

Terrain!

The vast, labyrinthine underground passages render even the largest armies incapable of deploying effectively.

It’s also quite hard to find the dwarves’ hiding spots!

It’s fair to say that the dwarves have mastered guerrilla warfare to an unprecedented degree.

This is the fundamental reason the War God Corps has failed.

Moreover, the Fourth Calamity is essentially drone warfare.

Combatants feel no psychological pressure; to them, this war is just a very realistic game!

Players return to Quever every day due to lack of soul power, back to normal human society.

Even if there’s psychological trauma, it’s easily recoverable.

So, the morale issue that collapsed the Deathless Corps will not exist for the Fourth Calamity.

In fact, the Fourth Calamity’s morale will surpass all corps.

Because for the Fourth Calamity, this war is profitable, essentially a gold rush.

“As magical puppets, they require very few supplies. If they need weapons, the dwarf world has plenty; let them fight to support the war here; it will be their best training ground!”

Yu Sheng’an continued:

“Additionally, using airborne ships as headquarters not only gains aerial control to avoid harassment but also allows for deploying and retrieving troops anytime, anywhere.”

“Soldiers don’t need to worry about getting lost in foreign lands; as long as they surface and report coordinates, we can retrieve them anytime.”

As Yu Sheng’an spoke, he demonstrated.

The airborne ship’s pod shot a beam of light onto a giant rock at the Lonely Mountain’s peak.

The rock immediately rose rapidly along the beam, shooting straight to the airborne ship.

This scene amazed Afnora and Phobos.

Yu Sheng’an’s ability to deploy soldiers with a beam of light baffled them!

Unexpectedly, this beam could also extract matter; such an ability is simply bizarre!

“I knew it, you have other Divine Sparks.”

Afnora was shocked, eyes showing complexity.

There was the emotion of her guess about Yu Sheng’an’s trump card;

There was also the dread of having her speculation confirmed.

When she allied with Yu Sheng’an, she realized he might have more than one Divine Spark.

This was the fundamental reason he dared to trade a Virtual Divine Spark.

Now it seems her guess was right.

Afnora’s words made Phobos’ pupils shrink, filling him with fear and regret.

He once thought about infiltrating the Internet alliance to counterattack the Internet God and replace him.

But now, he can’t even entertain such a mad thought.

This old schemer looks sunny but has countless hidden cards.

Perhaps he’s waiting for an ally to rebel, seize the opportunity to counterattack.

Just like the Dwarf King Cort, although he could prevent it early, he instead actively helped the dwarf king steal as an excuse to raise a ruckus.

Raising ruckus is just that!

He even prepared two plans, capturing if it fails, immediately launching a war.

Look, he even prepared an airborne ship, showing he was ready long ago!

This scheming is too terrifying!

The Prophecy Divine Spark can’t predict this.

Indeed, the human heart is the most complex existence.

Confronted with Afnora and Phobos’ stunned and questioning eyes, Yu Sheng’an smiled, neither explaining nor admitting.

He’s not foolish; when he should be honest, he naturally is.

When he should be mysterious, he should keep mystery.

It’s the cornerstone of a stable alliance.

If he appears too weak, people beneath him will harbor rebellious thoughts.

This is human nature;

It’s also the lure of benefits.

Only presenting enough strength can it suppress restless hearts.

“Now there’s one key question: the cost of war? Did this airborne ship employ ancient floating city technology?” Afnora shifted the topic.

“No, this isn’t a floating city.” It was Phobos, the god of prophecy, speaking.

Having lived thousands of years, Phobos is very experienced.

Naturally, he has seen the top alchemical creation, long sealed in historical dust—the floating city!

This was when ancient titans still existed, and true Archmage existed in the world.

It had countless nicknames and praises like a flying magic tower, airborne polis, moving fortress, and floating palace…

It was the symbol of absolute power.

Imagine an advanced magic tower that can fly over the enemy’s head and unleash magic; how terrifying that threat would be needs no explanation!

“I’ve seen the floating city; the magic fluctuations here are too weak. It’s not a floating city. This should be a new alchemical creation.”

Phobos was certain because his Shrine is a floating city.

“Phobos is correct; this isn’t a floating city.” Yu Sheng’an nodded, looking at Afnora: “I know what you mean, you’re worried about magic energy consumption, right?”

“Exactly.” Afnora nodded.

The floating city is terrifying, but its drawback is also evident.

Its magic power consumption is extremely dreadful!

If it were a floating city, this battle wouldn’t need to be fought. Just the floating magical energy consumption would be a loss.

“Rest assured, the airborne ship uses physical principles, not magic. It consumes not magic power but gold coins.”

Yu Sheng’an intentionally used “gold coins” as a metaphor.

The principle of the ship’s buoyancy is to fill it with gas lighter than air density, such as hydrogen or helium, to support heavy objects floating.

This technology is easily obtainable in the Velia dimension.

So it essentially consumes gold coins.

However, after Yu Sheng’an acquired this technology, it underwent significant magical modifications.

For example:

The steel frame supporting the ship is magically reinforced, making it more tenacious.

The frame’s skin uses Wood Spirit element magic, covered with giant leaves that can grow and repair quickly if attacked.

After anti-gravity Magic Seals are engraved on the pod, they can initiate rapid ascent.

Moreover, his ship abandoned traditional engine power and switched to wind-based magic jet power, making its maneuverability outstanding.

The pod’s bottom is also engraved with many Light Forceps Divine Runes—an ability Yu Sheng’an deduced using the Prophecy Divine Spark.

It will have remote non-contact boarding capability!

“Physical principles?” Afnora and Phobos exclaimed in unison.

What power is this?

Could this be the mysterious Divine Spark the Internet God possesses?

…

While Yu Sheng’an was confident, the Dwarf King Kauth was equally assured!

He wore magic armor, sitting high on the throne, with tribal chieftains and prophets gathered below.

The hall shone with magical light, magical waves rampant, and magic communication tools reverberated throughout.

“Inform all hunting squads that the Internet God’s deployment consists of the Fourth Calamity Corps—a puppet army controlled by humans that can merge into the earth. Keep the magical shields active at all times and closely monitor the magic alert stones!”

“Notify the magicians to activate the Wizard’s Eyes everywhere and closely monitor the enemy’s movements. Once discovered, dispatch worms to attack!”

“Order the major tribes to activate the Alert Spell to prevent enemy approach!”

With a calm demeanor, Dwarf King Kauth issued a series of orders!

He admits the Fourth Calamity Corps of the Internet God is quite suited to Khazad-dûm’s environment.

But that’s it.

The dwarves are the greatest forging race, and thousands of years of weapon trade have amassed a wealth of magical tools.

Though limited by a medium-sized dimension, the Internet God’s wrathful strike couldn’t fully unleash power, it killed only eleven dwarves.

Dwarves have numerous ways to deal with the Fourth Calamity.

Remember, the Underworld God’s undead armies have plenty who burrow,

But in the end, weren’t they defeated?

With magical alert stones, before enemies approach, dwarf warriors can be forewarned;

Covered in magical tools, dwarves have high fault tolerance, significantly surviving even when ambushed;

Wizard’s Eyes planted everywhere can guard crucial paths;

The giant worms fear no rock layers, able to burrow into any battlefield for strong support;

All tribes have set up numerous Alert Spell tools. If a small force attacks, it’s suicide; what about a big force?

Humph, pathways to the dwarf core living areas are carved according to dwarf height; regular armies can’t invade.

Even for the likes of the Fourth Calamity, able to ignore terrain squirm in, dwarves have too many ways to escape.

After all, this is the underground world, not the surface.

Front, back, left, right, up, and down—where isn’t a corridor?

Who doesn’t have a back door under their floor?

That’s the complexity of the dwarf world.

Dwarf King Kauth has the patience to wait until the enemy drains of patience, morale collapses, and retreats in defeat!

“My King, something seems wrong. The boys haven’t even found the Fourth Calamity’s trace, it’s like they’ve disappeared completely. Have you noticed anything?”

“Not at all!”

“My boys haven’t found any trace of the enemy either.”

“What’s the Internet God up to? Are they gathering for an all-out assault on a tribe?”

“Humph, if so, that would be great!”

Dwarves discussed the Internet God’s invasion with disdain.

“Buzz—”

At this moment, a magic communication tool resonated in the hall.

“Chieftain, bad news, the mithril refining plant was attacked, and the recently refined mithril was swept away!”

“What? Wasn’t anyone stationed at the refinery?”

“They… were lured away!”

“Buzz—”

More magic communication tools vibrated, with one magical fluctuation after another raging.

“Prophet, the mountain guards’ cabin was attacked; currently, there are no casualties. However, the materials in the cabin were swept clean, including a Demon-breaker Blade.”

“Bad news, mushroom farm attacked, request support!”

“Chieftain, Uncle Caesar is dead. He died horribly, stripped completely!”

Reports flooded into the royal hall one after another.

Some tribes were harassed;

Some production bases were attacked;

Worst of all, solitary dwarves outside were all assassinated, stripped of equipment.

Yes, no matter how powerful the dwarf mobilization, there are always mobilized or solitary members outside.

Maybe they’re solitary by nature;

Or tending a mushroom farm alone;

Or secluded for smithing;

… so many.

How could a race with billions all live together?

These solitary ones became the best targets for Fourth Calamity’s raids.

As this news arrived, Dwarf King Kauth was dumbfounded!

This picking soft targets behavior doesn’t seem like war at all!

Most importantly, the Fourth Calamity’s plundering spree suddenly made him realize the Internet God’s true strategic purpose!

“Damn it! The Internet God is seizing our wealth! Counterattack, counterattack!”

Dwarf King Kauth roared in anger!

At this moment, dwarves fearfully realized their greatest advantage had fully turned into the Fourth Calamity’s advantage!

…

“Struck it rich! Struck it rich!”

Justin raced toward the surface, his body packed with refined pure mithril!

If he sells this mithril, at least 100,000 gold coins in hand!

He was so lucky!

Frankly, upon reaching the underground of Khazad-dûm, he was dazed.

The underground world was too vast, full of corridors; he drifted into a passage.

He once happened to peek in front of dwarves; seeing blades flashing, he quickly ducked back into the rock walls, scared into a cold sweat.

By running around like a headless chicken, he lucked into the dwarves’ mithril refinery.

To his delight, besides some dwarves packing mithril, there was almost no defense.

He thought for a moment, copying high-level players’ tactics for ambushing orcs, disguising as a dwarf, and cautiously rushed in.

The moment he stepped into the cave, he intentionally fell flat on his face.

After falling, he didn’t get up; instead, he retreated in terror, as if something terrifying was hunting him from the depths of the corridor.

The remaining dwarves were stunned, picking up weapons and rushing over.

At that moment, Justin also retreated in terror, grabbing the mithril and sinking into the ground.

The whole operation was unbelievably smooth!

Now in retrospect, it felt like a dream.

“Stay calm, stay calm. Cool down, cool down!”

Justin kept reminding himself while constantly changing direction, advancing upward, and controlling the system, seeking a way back to the ship.

With no danger, he emerged from the surface.

And at that moment, a beam descended from the sky; feeling the light beam, an invisible force enveloped him.

He rose straight along the beam, entering the airborne ship’s pod.

“What kind of pose is this? Quite unique, huh?”

Just stepping into the airborne ship’s pod, teasing voices came from the side.

Justin looked around, seeing a circle of players looking at him with playful expressions.

Isn’t it?

At the moment, he looked very much like a large spider.

Because his belly was packed with a lot of mithril, his body was huge, and his head was tiny. The high-purity mithril was too heavy, so he couldn’t stand up, only supporting himself on all fours.

This made him look quite funny!

Justin had no intention of responding to the players’ jokes; he quickly crawled to the supplies exchange point, shouting: “I want to exchange for gold coins!”

The magical puppet NPC at the exchange point chuckled: “Alright, please present the materials you wish to exchange.”

Justin’s belly suddenly tore open, revealing a mountain of refined mithril.

Gasp!

The large ship pod fell silent.

Many opened their mouths wide, staring in shock!

“You sure you want to exchange it all?”

The magical puppet NPC asked calmly.

“Yes, hurry, hurry, hurry!”

Justin was in a hurry. Although he knew no one dared to rob here, he was still urgently urging.

“Okay, the value of the materials you’re exchanging is 119,000 gold coins. After deducting the fee, you have 116,000 gold coins. The coins are deposited in your Internet Bank; please check.”

With the magical puppet NPC’s voice, the ship pod filled with gasps.

Justin’s pupils dilated, his body stiff on the ground, his eyes losing focus.

He wasn’t scared; he went offline.

Seconds later, he logged back in, body restored to human form, grabbing a player’s shoulder beside him, shouting excitedly: “Did you see it? I struck it rich! I struck it rich!”

“I struck it rich, I struck it rich! Hahaha!”

Justin was utterly frenzied.

He continuously shouted this phrase, grabbing one player’s shoulder after another, sharing this shocking fact!

“Brother, brother, guide me!”

The player who teased Justin earlier clung to him, shamelessly shouting.

“Big Shot, amazing, take me with you. I’ll go west if you say so, never east!”

More players rushed over to recognize him as a leader.

“Amazing!”

“1119,000 gold coins? Really?”

“Rumors say it’s true, dwarves are rich!”

“Hurry, the first wave eats meat, the second drinks soup!”

The ship pod was in chaos!

Through some people’s actions, this matter quickly spread across the Internet.

In an instant, the Internet was abuzz, and the Empire was shaken!