Alone and Infinite

[Mission Objective: Survive to the end]

The final stage of the main storyline will be unlocked after completing the second stage.

[Note: The ranking of the Five Armies Battle is now open]

[Apostles may contribute to the Battle of Smaug using any means, including but not limited to control, status effects, damage, and attraction.]

The Apostles' contributions will be quantified as war contribution points and included in the leaderboard. Rewards will be distributed based on rankings after the trial concludes.

[Ranking of Contributions in the Battle of the Five Armies]

1. (Empty) [Reward: Seed of Destiny (Provided by the Temple of Light)]

2. (Empty) [Reward: Dragon Blood Potion]

3. (Empty) [Reward: Dragon Fang Blade (Special, Blue)]

4. (Empty) [Reward: Dragon Scale Leather Armor (Special - Blue)]

5. (Empty) [Reward: Random Weapon Chest (Blue)]

6-10. (Empty) [Reward: Random Armor Chest (Blue)]

10-20. (Blank) [3000 points]

[Notice: Battlefield information platform is now open]

Battlefield information platform? Before Li Xia could figure out what this was, a page that looked like a group chat suddenly popped up in the upper left corner of his vision.

And amazingly, it doesn't obstruct the view; if you don't focus your attention on the page, it will become very faint and blurred.

Isn't this just a group chat?

Almost instantly, the group chat erupted into a frenzy, like boiling water.

Cute Beast (Apostle No. ****): "Wait, really? I'm fighting Smaug?"

Tyrannosaurus Rex (Apostle #****): "Is the Temple trying to kill us? This is Smaug, not Smaug!"

Baron Despair (Apostle No. ****): "You can hide in the water the whole time and basically get through it lying down, but you won't get any contribution points."

Mu Xia (Apostle No. ****): "Stop spouting irrelevant information here, get to the point! Smaug is strong, but he's not without a chance, otherwise the Temple wouldn't have issued such a mission."

Upon seeing this nickname, Li Xia silently closed the input box. He could already imagine how his messages would be distorted if he sent them under the pseudonym 'Xia'.

Aheral (Apostle #****): Am I the only one curious about what the first-place reward, the Seed of Destiny, is? And what is this special blue item?

This message went unnoticed, as if it had been completely ignored.

Li Xia looked at the flood of chat messages, and the occasional message asking about the reward, but no one replied. This was quite interesting.

Either no one knows, or those who do know are tacitly keeping silent.

So it's very precious? Li Xia pinched his chin and began to consult his cheat.

[Your Majesty, the Seed of Destiny is a rare S-class resource with extremely limited production. It is only effective at Tier 3, and its effect depends on the user's fate. This is a special reward from the Temple of Light to apostles with exceptional potential.]

[Your Majesty, please strive with all your might to obtain the Seed of Destiny of Origin Life. According to the Hall's statistical probability, an Apostle who obtains the Seed of Destiny of Origin Life has a 16.7% chance of breaking through to the ninth rank!]

Li Xia thoughtfully turned off the notification. The effect of this thing was not fixed, perhaps that was the origin of the "destined" in its name?

Although it's still unclear what this is, just take it!

Looking at the chat group again, they had finally finished chatting.

Watchdog (Apostle #****): "Although this is a Tier 1 world, Smaug is almost the extreme of Tier 1 worlds. Those who know, know. The template of this monster is not the same as our human template."

Watchdog (Apostle No. ****): "For the same Tier 1 extreme value, the monster template can be much higher than the human template, not to mention that we are now the newbies."

Watchdog (Apostle #****): "There's not much of a chance. Hide, or wait to die."

Black Jack (Apostle #****): "Of course there was! If there really wasn't a chance, how did Smaug die in the original story?"

Watchdog (Apostle #****): "Bard has the Black Arrow, that's an anti-dragon Noble Phantasm. What, you have the Black Arrow too?"

Li Xia nodded, "I have it!"

Soon the chat channel was filled with heated arguments. Li Xia shook his head. Such group chats were almost meaningless; they were basically just people chatting aimlessly.

However, he soon discovered that things were not so simple, because while Blackjack and the watchdog were arguing fiercely...

A new conversation popped up in the group chat.

Kagura (Apostle No. ****): "You two are so rich! You can chat for so long over a single sentence at 10 o'clock!"

The intense, battlefield-like group chat came to an abrupt end.

Two heart-wrenching screams seemed to suddenly echo through the quiet town of Changhu. Roughly estimated, the two had just argued about two hundred times.

Cloud (a prospective member of the Brotherhood of Steel): "Actually, everyone knows in their hearts whether there is a chance or not, it's just that we can't bear to part with the items we exchanged for in the previous faction."

Claude (a prospective member of the Brotherhood of Steel): "I think everyone knows that many of those items are targeted at specific purposes, and their effect on the battlefield is not very significant."

After that, the communication platform fell silent. Obviously, there was nothing worth saying, and people were no longer willing to speak up.

The communication platform has finally returned to its original purpose.

Li Xia closed the chat panel, ignoring the people in front of him, and hurriedly left with his followers. That person was right about one thing.

Bard may be the key to this battle.

A strange, sharp roar seemed to echo from the distant horizon, and a small point of light, like a spark, appeared in the distance.

Immediately afterwards, the point of light transformed into a fiery red line that stretched across the sky, tearing through the clouds and rapidly approaching Changhu Town.

In just a moment, the ferocious dragon revealed its full form.

Smaug was extremely large; according to records, it was over 140 meters long from head to tail.

However, Li Xia measured it with a combat power detector, and it was 62.4 meters long. If you remove the tail, it is less than 30 meters long. Even so, it is still a huge creature.

The scales resembled layers of metal armor covering the dragon's skin. Its head was enormous and ferocious, with a gaping maw filled with sharp fangs. The breath it exhaled was hot and smelled of sulfur. Its eyes were like two burning flames, gleaming with malice and greed.

The enormous roar of the dragon roused the slumbering town. The guards jumped in fright, pounding the alarm bells and roaring with all their might.

"The dragon is attacking!"

Looking at Smaug circling back and forth in the sky, Li Xia felt as if there was a huge mountain above his head that might collapse at any moment.

It's hard to imagine just how oppressive such a monster is without facing it directly.

Smaug didn't seem to want to kill Lake-town in its sleep; it preferred to see its people wail in fear and beg for mercy before it.

This is Smaug, the last dragon known as the 'most evil' and the 'tyrant'.

'dang dang dang'

The alarm bells rang incessantly, and in an instant, the once peaceful and tranquil Changhu Town was thrown into chaos.

Just then, a brand new notification suddenly popped up in front of Li Xia.

[Hidden Human Faction Quest: Rally]

Bard is assembling the Lake-town archer guard.

Please try to reunite with Bader.

——————————————————————————————

1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

Chapter 48 Legendary Creature

I closed the task panel. The small team from before was still standing there, deep in thought.

Clearly, they hadn't received any tasks and were still watching the group chat.

These people just questioned their own actions as stupid, but people aren't necessarily stupid; they could very well be simply malicious.

Although there's no further development yet, Li Xia can roughly guess what they want to do.

They simply wanted to use this method to obtain the secrets hidden by the human camp from themselves.

It's an old-fashioned but very effective tactic in reality. Countless honest and law-abiding people have been bullied to death by villains who turn the tables on them in the workplace and in life.

They were all newcomers, and unconsciously brought their old habits into the classroom without realizing that this was a prestigious place.

It contains the most sincere feelings as well as the most ruthless cruelty.

If it weren't for the neutral zone, Li Xia wouldn't have listened to their nonsense; he would have shot them dead long ago.

Li Xia withdrew his gaze, sweeping them away from his attention as if sweeping away trash, and hurriedly ran towards the tower while calling over his followers to give them careful instructions.

These lackeys are all treasures; we need to keep them away from us.

It's okay against regular soldiers, but against Smaug, it's like sending him to his death.

Number 1 and Number 2 nodded with a "hehehe" sound, and led their four henchmen towards the wooden boat.

The tower wasn't far, but panicked people blocked the road. Clutching their hastily packed belongings and leading their families, they frantically ran around Changhu Town like headless flies.

Some people wanted to jump onto small boats and leave, but they weren't the only ones thinking this, and soon the waterways between towns were blocked by small boats.

When Li Xia arrived at the foot of the tower, most of the Longlake Town guards had already arrived, nervously watching Smaug hovering in the sky with bows and arrows in hand.

Bard's face was much gloomier than before. He stared coldly at the dragon in the sky, his fingers gripping the bow turning white.

I wonder if he was thinking of his homeland, which was destroyed by Smaug.

"Everyone——"

Bud's voice trembled slightly and was very low:

"The evil dragon has come! The mayor has already fled, taking all the gold from the treasury with him—it filled an entire ship."

The guards below immediately stirred, their eyes filled with disbelief and anger.

“But we can’t escape. You see, everyone is like a goat encountering a pack of wolves. No one can outrun Smaug, so…”

Bard's voice suddenly rose:

"We must fight, we must drive away this evil dragon, to save our families, to save ourselves!"

[Note: The mission assembly has changed]

Mission: Defeat Smaug!

[Mission Rewards: 2 Time Coins, 3 Merit Points, 10% weighted bonus to battlefield contribution]

Li Xia instantly realized that this was what the human camp had been hiding!

This is a ticket, a ticket to the Battle of Smaug that no one else has!

Other apostles can certainly attack Smaug, but they certainly don't receive this extra reward.

Li Xia didn't know what Time Coins were, but he understood that battlefield contribution was weighted at 10%.

Once the task is completed, your contribution will be calculated at 1.1 times!

The monocle reflected the firelight.

Combat strength: 90!

A message suddenly popped up in the chat group.

[Cloud (Brotherhood of Steel prospective member): I just used a top-tier green reconnaissance scroll and got some of Smaug's stats. Getting 50 points in one go isn't unreasonable, is it?]

[Hint: Cloud (a prospective member of the Brotherhood of Steel) has posted paid information. Would you like to pay 50 points to view it?]

The price of 50 points is not expensive. Groups will only buy one, and Cloud can only collect around 1,000 points at most, which is considered the cost.

Li Xia immediately selected to pay. The moment he saw the panel, he felt a strange sense of melancholy. "I finally see the normal panel!"

Smaug

[Category: Legendary Creature - Regional Overlord]

Physical Strength: 4 (Tier 1)

[Attribute: Legendary Creature Template]

【Strength: 36】

Dexterity: 30

【Intelligence: 18】