Rendezvous (Combined Chapter)

Bai Xiaowen, Li Shuyi, and most of the summoned creatures are all melee-focused damage dealers, so it's easy to see how high-armor enemies can counter them.

Moreover, Nazir isn't just a tank with high defense and low attack; his defense is very high, but his damage output is even more ferocious! 72 points of strength is no joke, and no one can ignore that menacing giant hammer.

The good news is that a portion of the city guards, under Nazir's orders, have rushed to the city gates in an attempt to regain control and prevent the Resistance Army from entering the city. Nazir does not have many troops with him.

The Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier formed Shield Wall and focused on defense, while Li Shuyi, under Bai Xiaowen's instructions, abandoned attacking Nazir and instead helped the Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier fill in any gaps, searching for and eliminating Elite Tier Imperial Army.

"There don't seem to be any spellcaster-type enemies."

Bai Xiaowen scanned the battlefield with his spiritual senses, muttered to himself, and released the Vengeful Spirit.

The Vengeful Spirit raised its hand and aimed at Nazir, unleashing its Venomous Resentment skill! It was successfully detected without a doubt, and a thin, invisible but actually ghostly blue line connected the Vengeful Spirit spirit to Nazir, the commander of the Imperial Army, drawing away waves of Divine Might.

"Damn evil monster!"

Nazir shuddered. He didn't recognize the Vengeful Spirit and roared as he swung his hammer down, only to hit nothing but air.

After that first blow, Nazir realized what was happening and set his sights on the summoner, Bai Xiaowen. He strode forward and unleashed a powerful, sweeping attack.

Bai Xiaowen retreated, maintaining continuous fire with his gun in Rapid-Fire Mode.

Nazir, clad in crimson heavy armor, did indeed possess high armor, but Bai Xiaowen's bullet that Piercing armor every four shots ignored it. Furthermore, the Blood Essence Stone's Killing Thirst, which was triggered occasionally, dealt true damage that ignored defense! Therefore, Bai Xiaowen's output still had some effect.

The Bone Warlock was also summoned; its Thunderstrike Art were pure magical damage, rendering even the highest armor useless.

It's worth mentioning that, besides slowing down Nazir's actions, the Butcher also plays a significant role in damage output. His Rotting Toxin damage is increased by 50%, and poison damage is a type of magic damage that is not affected by armor reduction.

Even more powerful is the other passive effect of the Butcher's three-piece set—enemies damaged by your poison have their armor and magic resistance reduced by 50%!

Before the Butcher used his Rotting Poison Mist, Nazir's armor was over 100, making physical attacks ineffective. However, after being affected by the Butcher's Rot Mist, Nazir's armor plummeted to only 50 or 60 points!

According to the armor damage reduction formula, Bai Xiaowen's level 6 squad, when attacking an enemy with 50 points of armor, will have a physical damage reduction rate of 45.45%. Taking into account the reduction from the Lionheart War Banner, the physical damage reduction rate when hitting Nazir, who is affected by the poison mist, will be approximately 60%.

Although the damage reduction ratio is still very high, at least creatures like Shadow Assassin and Skeleton Champion can no longer damage him.

In pain, Nazir roared and suddenly spun around!

Having Insight, Bai Xiaowen gave the order in advance, manipulating the summoned creatures to retreat en masse. Nazir's combat skill— Maul Sweep —only hit the Butcher.

The Butcher's Life Value dropped drastically, and he was also successfully inflicted with the Armor Break effect.

However, Nazir's subsequent attacks still don't deal much damage to the Butcher. This is because the Butcher's damage reduction ability mostly relies on the three-piece set bonus, followed by the +6 enhancement effect of defensive gear, both of which are fixed percentage damage reduction! Armor is certainly useful to the Butcher, but it is not the most important factor in the damage reduction system.

After using this skill, Nazir's Divine Might was rapidly depleted. Finally, unable to withstand the Vengeful Spirit's Venomous Resentment drain, his Divine Might dropped below 2 points, causing him to fall into Stunned Status that theoretically lasted for a full seven seconds! Even with the "Lionheart Empire Oath LV2" Boss Tier universal resilience bonus, which reduced the duration of the control effect by 40%, he still remained in Stunned Status for 4.2 seconds.

During those precious 4.2 seconds of control time, Bai Xiaowen and the summoned creatures focused their fire, and Nazir's Life Value dropped rapidly. When he woke up from his Stunned Status, he had been reduced to only one-third of his health.

Nazir was originally a boss who became more resilient the longer he was attacked; a third of his Life Value meant a terrifying 150 points of armor! However, under the Butcher's Rotting Toxin, his armor was halved to only 75 points. While he's not exactly as fragile as paper, he's certainly been weakened from a titanium alloy plate to a wooden plank.

Upon waking, Nazir lost the ability to turn the tide. His Divine Might had been completely drained, and he couldn't unleash any skills, only able to swing his giant hammer for basic attacks.

If Bai Xiaowen manipulates his summoned creatures to fight, he can minimize losses, but the time will be extended accordingly. Now that they are in enemy territory and time is precious, Bai Xiaowen has Butcher take the lead, leading the summoned creatures to deal full damage.

The Butcher's Giant Serpent Scepter is purely defensive, focusing on Block, Parry, and reducing the opponent's damage, since the Rotting Poison Mist output.

With Bai Xiaowen's current level 2 Polearm Specialty ( with the Ultimate Academic Ace bonus), Parry Nazir's attacks was still somewhat difficult. Fortunately, both sides were using large, heavy weapons, which increased the possibility of Parry.

Just as the Butcher's Life Value was barely half full, Nazir's last bit of Life Value finally reached zero, and his heavy body collapsed to the ground with a thud. A golden treasure chest materialized.

Bai Xiaowen reached out and scooped up the treasure chest.

The surrounding Imperial Army soldiers panicked. Apart from a few brave soldiers who continued to fight, many Imperial soldiers involuntarily began to retreat in the face of the ferocious Butcher.

Bai Xiaowen did not turn off the Rapid-Fire Mode, and began to mow down the resisting Imperial Army soldiers.

Li Shuyi's sword flashed, her figure flickering like a ghost. Each sword strike pierced the throat of an Imperial Army soldier, instantly killing him with Vital Strike!

Previously, because the Lionheart War Banner reduced damage to the Imperial Army soldiers, Li Shuyi's attacks, although able to hit vital points, were not enough to instantly kill an enemy by one-third of their health! Often, it took two more strikes to kill an enemy.

Now that Nazir is down, Li Shuyi's single-target attacks have reached their target, greatly increasing her killing efficiency.

The Butcher, who had initially lost half his Life Value, was slowly recovering due to the passive effect of the Slaughterhouse. For each Imperial Army soldier who died, the Butcher would recover about 10 health points. By the time Bai Xiaowen and his group had scattered the enemies, the Butcher's health had recovered to about 75%.

"Go to the city gate."

If Bai Xiaowen had been a bit more greedy, he could have gone straight to the Justice Court or North Palace to continue killing the Boss Tier —given the team's current state, that was entirely possible. However, Bai Xiaowen chose to play it safe and regroup with the Resistance Army first—he hadn't summoned his Rageclaw yet, so it was essential to keep some trump cards in reserve.

The Butcher led the way, followed closely by Li Shuyi and the summoned creatures. Imperial Army soldiers were unstoppable, turning into the Butcher's flesh and blood in the Slaughterhouse, nourishing his Life Value.

Bai Xiaowen opened the treasure chest directly. Since the creatures of the Spirit Realm couldn't see the chest, they could only see that Bai Xiaowen's actions were a bit strange. In this chaotic battlefield, no one would notice this.

Patrol Captain Massa has a B-Tier Battle Rating. He dropped a Patrol Token, which can be exchanged for 1,000 merit points, and also a piece of Gold Equipment, the Fine-Grained Leather Helmet he was wearing.

Upon seeing the "Bind on Pickup" affix, Bai Xiaowen shook his head slightly. Looking closer, the Fine-Grained Leather Helmet added 3 points of Agility and 2 points of Constitution, but had no special skills attached; it could only be considered a standard Gold Gear.

Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi currently have good headgear. Take Li Shuyi for example, although the "Ghost Mist Veil" she wears increases spirit, the passive skill "Meditation" which restores an extra 1 point of Divine Might per minute is invaluable. It makes up for Li Shuyi's lack of Divine Might and greatly improves her endurance. She would never change it.

The treasure chest belonging to the city guard commander, Nazir, has an A-Tier Battle Rating. Although he and Massa are both level 7, Nazir's attributes are very strong, making him Rare Boss, and he also has the extra special skill, Lionheart War Banner, so A-Tier rating is not surprising.

With his first draw, Bai Xiaowen drew the "Lionheart Empire War Banner" amidst a flash of golden light!

[Lionheart Empire War Banner: S-Tier Item. Upon use, erects a war banner at the user's location. All friendly units within a 1500-meter radius gain a 15% increase in attack power and receive a 15% reduction in damage taken, lasting until the banner's Durability reaches zero. The Lionheart Empire War Banner has 300 Durability points, automatically decreasing by 1 point per Durability. Armor and magic resistance are zero by default. Currently has 1 use remaining; disappears after use.]

"Finally, I look handsome." Bai Xiaowen blew on his hand and chuckled to himself. This S-Tier item [Lionheart Empire War Banner] could be extremely useful if used properly, much better than a simple Gold Equipment.

However, it seems that this draw used up all his good luck. In his next two draws, Bai Xiaowen not only drew the "City Guard Commander's Token" as proof of a kill, which could be exchanged for 2000 merit points, but he also surprisingly drew a red linen shirt (miscellaneous item)...

This red linen shirt seemed to still have a slight... body odor? Bai Xiaowen was speechless and could only pinch his nose and dismantle it, gaining 50 Psionic Points.

"So? Is this Nazir qualified?" Li Shuyi asked quietly.

Bai Xiaowen knew that Li Shuyi was referring to the main quest "The Hero Returns," which required killing a B-Tier Boss Tier as proof of return. He glanced at the quest, shook his head, and said, "I haven't received any notification. Looks like this guy isn't qualified either."

"My God..." Li Shuyi shook her head and sighed, "I guess the only way is to kill Grand Lord Galandis in the North Palace."

The two chatted in the Team Channel while continuing their battle, quickly carving a bloody path and heading straight for the city gate.

The 600-strong Resistance Army led by Grima truly lived up to its reputation as the elite troops selected by Usok. Before Bai Xiaowen even reached the city gate, they had all entered the city and joined up with Bai Xiaowen.

"Brother Dio, what's the situation in the city now?" Grima asked loudly. "I heard from Orlan that you've approached the commander of the Imperial Army!"

"I killed him!" Bai Xiaowen shouted, showing his "City Guard Commander's Token." "The great War God Ishtar is watching us! The Vikings are unstoppable!"

These words undoubtedly boosted morale, and the Viking Resistance Army soldiers following behind the two men raised their weapons and roared.

"Even with your necromancy, you are still a true Viking warrior!" Grima was overjoyed. The death of the enemy commander increased the Resistance Army ' chances of capturing the city by at least 30%! He immediately gave orders, and the entire army marched towards the North Palace. Once the North Palace was captured, they could declare the Northshire under their control.

Bai Xiaowen stopped Grima: "During the battle, I received a lot of spontaneous help from my Viking brothers. If these volunteers can be organized and equipped, they will definitely be a formidable fighting force!"

Grima wholeheartedly agreed, "The Dio brothers were indeed very thoughtful."

One Resistance Army leader said, "We don't have any spare weapons to give them."

Grima laughed heartily, "Look at our enemies, those Imperial dogs! What are they holding? These cowardly Imperials, even with swords in hand, are nothing but horned sheep. We Vikings warriors can Disarm them even with our bare hands!"

Grima leaped onto a rooftop. "Vikings brothers! The glorious moment to liberate Northshire has arrived! Join us, follow Usok's guidance! Take up arms and settle scores with the Imperial dogs! If we have no weapons, we'll steal them from the enemy! Under the watchful eye of the great War God Ishtar, we are invincible!"

Grima's voice boomed like thunder, and the Vikings commoners responded enthusiastically.

Bai Xiaowen curled his lips. Grima was indeed worthy of being Usok's chief steward; his ability to stir people's hearts was quite similar to Usok's. It made sense; if Grima were mediocre and incompetent, Usok would not have entrusted him with such a crucial battle as the surprise attack on Northshire.

Grima jumped off the roof and led his army northward along the street. The Imperial Army soldiers along the way could only resist in scattered formations under the orders of some mid- to low-ranking officers. Without unified command, they were just a disorganized mob and collapsed at the first touch of the elite Resistance Army.

Along the way, Vikings civilians took up arms, Incarnation volunteer soldiers, and joined the fight alongside the Resistance Army, causing the snowball to grow bigger and bigger.

However, the Resistance Army met with resistance at the Justice Court in the heart of Northshire City.

Judge Costello, leading twenty court guards, stood watch at the Gate of Justice, with the divine support of High Justice Hurd behind him. The Resistance Army left behind more than a dozen corpses, but were unable to break through.

Costello is Boss Tier class similar to Divine Grace Knight, while High Justice Hurd is a priest class specializing Lord of Light divine spells and laws. The two complement each other perfectly, making them more difficult to deal with than typical Boss Tier combinations.

"Ignore them, charge straight into the North Palace and capture the False Lord Glandis alive!" a Resistance Army general whispered.

"No, this is the city center, a vital urban area second only to the North Palace and the military camp. We must take it!" Grima shouted.

"I'll take care of them," a deep voice rang out. The Resistance Army looked surprised when they saw who spoke.

Posting two chapters in one is for a more coherent reading experience. People used to complain about broken chapters... but actually, splitting it into two 2K-word chapters is no different from posting one 4K-word chapter. The only difference is that there's one less broken chapter.