The Era of Gods

Chapter 628: Chapter 628: Invasion and Massacre

“I agree with the ideas of Division Commander Arlen. This world presents a certain difficulty for us, and just maintaining local governance after conquest would be a major issue. We might as well go straight for the kill and push through,”

Another division commander, hailing from the Sea Clan, also agreed with Arlen’s decision, and his view was even more radical, proposing outright racial extermination.

No one voiced objections to his proposal at the moment, and though Lin Xiao found it somewhat cruel, he raised no objections either.

After a wait, the corps commander Leo, who was seated at the head of the table, said in a deep voice:

“Since everyone’s opinion is aligned, this time our strategy for conquering the Grey Crow World will be to implement an extractive and plundering method of conquest. Later, I will have my secretary put the assessment resolution into writing, and it will be submitted to His Majesty the Sea Emperor within three days. If anyone has any other opinions, please present them to me within this time frame.”

He looked around at everyone. As no one spoke, the corps commander continued:

...

“With that, you can now prepare for mobilization. In a week, I will send the action plans to each of you separately. Dismissed.”

The Merfolk filed out in succession, parting ways with their colleagues, and Lin Xiao returned to his division’s station.

Once back, he convened a meeting with centurions and other First Level officers within his division and communicated part of the meeting’s content to his subordinates, instructing the division to ready themselves for the expedition.

A week later, the corps received approval from His Majesty the Sea Emperor for the expedition plan, and the vast army swiftly mobilized in preparation for the campaign.

This did not require much worry on his part. As a division commander, he only needed to control the overall direction while the deputy division commander and various camp commanders handled the specific troop deployments within the division.

With ample resources within the vast fortress, it took only a short month to prepare, and Corps Commander Leo officially activated the teleportation gate. The first batch, a vanguard camp from the Second Division, began entering the Grey Crow World.

The Thirteenth Corps consisted of five divisions, the strongest being the First Division, which was directly commanded by Corps Commander Leo. They mostly garrisoned the fortress and did not move, while other divisions typically undertook the external campaigns.

The other divisions varied in strength, but their statuses were not much different. The Third Division, commanded by Lin Xiao, ranked third, neither high nor low.

The Second Division led the charge this time, with a total combat force of about 130,000, plus various auxiliary troops and logistics personnel, amassing nearly 500,000 in total.

It took them nearly half a month to transport this nearly 500,000-strong army through the portal, successfully establishing an expedition base on the other side.

Next up was Lin Xiao’s Third Division, with a main force of 120,000 and a total force of about 450,000, including all auxiliary and logistics personnel.

The space gate in the center of the fortress was extremely stable, so stable that even common people could easily pass through. Lin Xiao barely felt a tremble as he stepped through the gate, and he did not sense any shaking or instability as he passed through the spatial corridor, silently crossing billions of miles of the void from the Sea King World to the Grey Crow World.

As soon as he stepped out of the portal, Lin Xiao sensed a strong malice mixed with pressure assailing him—the world’s will resisting them, the invaders.

Unfortunately for the Grey Crow World, they had discovered it too late, and the vanguard forces had already arrived and successfully established a base. The world’s will was too late to react and no longer sufficient to suppress the nearly million-strong tremendous army.

The connection point of the portal in the Grey Crow World was at the edge of a great sea, a place well-suited for the Sea Clan People.

Despite the Sea Clan warriors evolving over tens of thousands of years of conquests in other domains to adapt to land environments—strictly speaking, most of the Sea Clan had become amphibious creatures—they still preferred and thrived in the water.

The world was draped in gloom, the sky enshrouded in thick gray fog, and a sun hung in the sky, its light obscured by the fog, making the entire vista as dim as a moonlit night—dusky yet visible.

Through the dim light, they could see a certain distance, even the seawater was gray.

The vast camp stretched over ten kilometers. The Third Division, after emerging from the portal, established a new large camp away from the Second Division, forming horns around the portal, while sending out a vanguard camp to move northward. According to a detailed map drawn up by explorers after hundreds of years of reconnaissance, there was a small mountain range about forty to fifty kilometers north of the Second Division’s camp, and beyond the mountains lay a plain where a powerful Grey Crow lord resided.

The Grey Crow World still employed an ancient lord system whereby each powerful Grey Crow lord ruled over a specific region without interference from the central kingdom, not much different from the Sea King Empire, which also had a Sea Emperor and relatively independent eighteen Sea Lords.

According to the plan, given the Grey Crow World’s strength, a joint operation by the corps was in order. They planned to first jointly strike at the three major Grey Crow Human Kingdoms and the Grey Crow people’s spiritual faith, the Setek Temple, and destroy them before they dispersed to plunder at will.

But that was the overall plan. Before that could happen, they were free to eliminate the small-scale Grey Crow people around their base.

The First Division to arrive had already attacked a great Grey Crow lord to the south, so naturally, Lin Xiao had to seek a different target.

According to the information, the Grey Crow lord to the north was much weaker than that southern great lord whom the Second Division was attacking. Not only was the lord’s power significantly lesser, but his territory was also much smaller. After Lin Xiao settled the camp’s affairs and caught up, the vanguard First Battle Camp had already captured a Grey Crow small town.

All the Grey Crow people from the town and nearby villages had been herded into the town, and Lin Xiao, quite curious, observed them up close. These Grey Crow people were like giant human-shaped crows, their bodies covered in layers of feathers, highly resistant to slashes from swords but vulnerable to piercing attacks.

Their hands grew beneath their wings, with hooked fingers. When they spread their arms as wings, they could glide short distances. The males of the Grey Crow people typically had uniformly black or gray feathers behind their bird-like heads, while the females’ feathers in the same area usually displayed various vibrant colors such as red and blue.

Apart from those slain in war, the town had by now gathered seven to eight thousand Grey Crow people from the surrounding villages.

These Grey Crow people all looked at the ferocious Other Races with eyes full of terror, their gazes filled with unease about their destiny.

After inspecting, Lin Xiao indifferently waved his hand, and the accompanying wizards began setting up a Soul Gathering Witchcraft Formation and another Blood Refining Magic Formation in the center of the town.

The Soul Gathering Witchcraft Formation was used to collect the souls of the deceased, and the Blood Refining Magic Formation was used to refine the essence of blood and flesh, for the purpose of enhancing one’s bloodline.

An hour later, the town was filled with sounds of agony erupting everywhere. Soon, a wizard brought over a snow-white soul pearl and a jar of solidified blood-flesh essence.

According to the regulations, twenty percent of all gains in the Different Domain would be turned over to the Empire, and twenty percent to the Legion. The remaining amount would be distributed by each division on its own.

The allocation method Lin Xiao devised was simple: half of the common resources were designated as public property of the division, which meant they were to be used in the name of the division; the rest was then divided among the officers in accordance with their rank, including a significant share for himself.

Although he did not need these common resources, as a division commander he must claim a share, as that was the rule.

Besides, the allocation of rare resources depended on the situation. In most cases, it was similar to the distribution of common resources, unless it was a special resource.

Furthermore, the harvested souls were generally not split among the lower-ranking officers, because they could not utilize them.

Unless they were Level 4 or above wizards, direct soul fusion could lead to severe consequences. Without being a Soul Apostle or possessing similar means to completely merge with a soul, or lacking a Creation Rubik’s Cube to fully refine a soul, haphazard fusion led only to death.

This soul pearl, containing the Soul Power of seven to eight thousand Grey Crow people, would see two-tenths go to the Empire and another two-tenths to the Legion; the remaining six-tenths belonged solely to Lin Xiao.

What he had to give up in return were merely some other resources he did not need, to compensate the lower-ranking officers.

As for the pain and death of the Grey Crow people, he wasn’t concerned.

Who cares about the life and death of Other Races?

Humankind itself has seen insane genocides, such as a certain southward sweep, certain comfortably living neighbors, the white colonization and slaughter of the Americas, and so on.

Capable of genocidal slaughter against their own kind, humans feel no psychological pressure when raising the sword against Other Races.

There are no right or wrongs; it’s simply a matter of different races and the law of the jungle.

This Grey Crow people Lord had under his command two cities, fourteen towns, and over a hundred villages scattered within a hundred miles, with a total of over a hundred thousand subjects.

The First Battle Regiment, through surprise attacks, swiftly annihilated two towns and the surrounding villages, then divided forces. About two thousand went left, while roughly eight thousand went right; the left attacked one of the cities of the Grey Crow people Lord, and when the Grey Crow people Lord sent reinforcements, the main force on the right side launched a surprise attack on the primary city.

Lin Xiao followed throughout but only as an observer, without participating.

This Grey Crow people Lord had merely Level 2 power. The First Battle Regiment of the division had two Level 3 wizards and more than thirty Level 2 officers; it was an absolute crushing force.

After defeating the main force of the Grey Crow people Lord, what followed was a massacre and plunder of the city, as well as the large-scale gathering and refining of blood-flesh essence.

Lin Xiao had already stated that for this expedition he only needed soul pearls and blood-flesh essence. He would buy at a high price any small amounts of soul pearls and blood-flesh essence his subordinates collected outside of Legion battles—aiming to acquire as many soul pearls and blood-flesh essence as possible. @@novelbin@@

Soul pearls could strengthen his soul, while blood-flesh essence was to replenish his True Body.

Other division commanders of First Level strength typically used the soul pearls to craft Powerful Magic Devices or trade with the Sea Emperor and various Sea Kings for other precious resources. They seldom refined the pearls themselves, as their methods could not fully refine the spiritual Branding within the souls.

As for blood-flesh essence, it was mainly used for direct consumption and refinement to fortify oneself. This material was effective even for Level 1 and Level 2 wizards and was relatively more favored by lower-ranking officers.

Lin Xiao was collecting large quantities of blood-flesh essence this time because he was in the process of forming a True Body; he required a substantial amount of blood-flesh essence.

Once he succeeded in forming a True Body, his power would soar, allowing him to instantly break through Level 4 to reach Fifth Level or perhaps even Sixth Level—a price he was certainly willing to pay.