88: Chapter 88 Mimicry

"Damn it."

A single teleportation gem had instantly turned the tide of battle 180 degrees—looking back at the history of the Rowen Kingdom, there had never been a war so absurd and dramatic.

"Your Majesty, do not be anxious. The key still lies with Prince Carlson."

Marquis Humel spoke in a calm tone, attempting to soothe Prince Mian's irritability.

But Prince Mian frowned deeply, retorting irritably: "Hasn't Prince Carlson lost contact as well? I fear he has long since used a teleportation gem to escape to Fu Hao's territory."

"No, he has not escaped." Marquis Humel smiled meaningfully.

In this battle, the Five Great Guilds had each dispatched one hundred elite members, totaling five hundred people, all of whom were top players ranked within the top three thousand in combat power.

Their greatest characteristic was "cross-level crushing"—although they could not be compared to Fu Hao, who held the title of "Level Breaker," they could easily handle Knight Order NPCs above level 50 without any pressure.

However, the significance of these five hundred top players went far beyond "confronting high-level Knight Order NPCs"—most of them had completed advancements into hidden classes, whereas compared to them, the NPC forces mostly possessed only single combat-type knight classes.

Looking at the Five Great Guilds, their class structures were diverse, and even included special classes specializing in "tracking."

"Prince Carlson is currently hiding in the underground of the First Prince's palace."

Tracking Captain Stoke—from the Dragon Roar Guild, possessing the hidden class <Tracking Master>—was reporting the situation to Guild Leader Allen. Even though Prince Carlson had used a magic barrier to hide his tracks, in the vision of a <Tracking Master>, all disguises were futile.

Prince Carlson had indeed used a teleportation gem to escape, which had hindered tracking efforts for a time.

They originally thought he would flee to a distant land, but unexpectedly, he was still hiding within the royal palace. Perhaps he lacked the gold coins to activate the teleportation gem, or perhaps he was reluctant to leave his attendants; in any case, he had ultimately become a turtle in a jar.

"What about the enemy forces?"

"100 soldiers below level 200, 32 knights below level 350, 1 knight above level 400, and 62 non-combat personnel."

"Very good. Once Margaret casts the domain blockade, initiate the raid immediately."

Margaret—a member of the Thunder Blade Guild, with the hidden class <Domain Master>. The "movement restriction" domain she controlled could seal all displacement skills, including Teleportation, making it a natural nemesis for teleportation gems.

The only limitation was that the domain range was too small, requiring the target to be forced into a narrow space. And the underground secret chamber where Prince Carlson was hiding was the perfect hunting ground.

——————

Fu Hao didn't waste a single soldier, using the Marquis and his family as hostages to force the enemy army to surrender.

By conventional wisdom, the nobles should have abandoned the captured lord and instead supported a successor to continue the war. But since the essence of this battle was a conflict of interest rather than a blood feud, Fu Hao successfully received two territories.

[ "Marquis Alfen's Territory" "Marquis Levi's Territory" Territory and residents have been incorporated into the territory system. ]

[ You have met the minimum requirements for promotion to "Rowen Kingdom Marquis". Would you like to claim the Marquis promotion quest? ]

Just as Fu Hao was about to click confirm, a sudden notification pop-up appeared:

[ Rowen Kingdom First Prince "Prince Carlson" has died. ]

[ NPC favorability cumulative value has decreased. ]

"What is going on! The First Prince is dead?"

- "WTF???"

- "Didn't he escape?"

- "It's completely over now."

- "Can't he be resurrected? ㅠ.ㅠ"

Fu Hao had long anticipated that assassins would go to kill Prince Carlson, but because the quest description was vague, he mistakenly thought the other party had already moved to a safe area.

"How could he die when he had a teleportation gem?" He recalled that he had given Prince Carlson a teleportation gem and activation gold coins, thinking it was foolproof, but he had overlooked two fatal issues:

First, in order to solidify his position as the crown prince, Prince Carlson had long since used most of his gold coins to buy people's hearts, leaving very little;

Second, being indecisive by nature, he insisted on bringing his attendants during his escape, which led to his whereabouts being leaked.

If he had known earlier that Prince Mian would collude with the Empire to trigger a civil war, Fu Hao would never have been so reckless.

Just as he was in shock, a series of notification windows popped up again:

[ The "Participate in Rowen Kingdom Civil War" quest has been deleted because the prerequisites are not met. ]

[ Possess the title "King's Qualifications". ]

[ Hostile relationship with current Rowen King "Prince Mian". ]

[ Generated "Establish Kingdom" quest. ]

<Establish Kingdom>

Difficulty: Immeasurable

As a Count of the Rowen Kingdom, you are already a thorn in the side of Prince Mian; you cannot protect your territory without killing him. And you, possessing the "King's Qualifications," have the eligibility to contend with him. Overthrow the Rowen Kingdom and establish your own kingdom.

Quest Completion Conditions:

- Kill Rowen King "Prince Mian".

- Kill Rowen Third Prince "Kaine".

- Annihilate or dismantle the "Prince Mian Faction".

- Occupy over 80% of the Rowen Kingdom's territory.

- Gain the support of over 80% of the Rowen Kingdom's residents.

Quest Rewards:

- Obtain eligibility to found a nation.

- Obtain treasures from the Rowen Kingdom treasury.

Failure Penalty:

- Expelled from the Rowen Kingdom

"..."

Fu Hao was speechless; the chat area exploded completely:

- "The first King quest is here."

- "Skipping Marquis and Duke to directly found a kingdom?"

- "Hahaha, this snowball is rolling way too big."

- "How is this supposed to be fought?"

Prince Carlson's life and death were a key link. If he were still alive, even if he didn't side with Fu Hao, it would be enough to stabilize the internal situation of the Rowen Kingdom and prevent public sentiment from quickly leaning toward Fu Hao.

Now that the "legitimate successor" banner was lost, the loyalty of the soldiers in the two newly acquired Marquis territories and the original four territories would drop significantly; with no legitimate title to oppose Prince Mian, the nature of the war would change from "clearing the king's side" to "rebellion," and public sentiment might completely collapse.

The previous "immeasurable" quest was just troublesome but had rich rewards; this "Establish Kingdom" quest could be called "impossible."

"Give me one month, no, two months..." If he had enough time, relying on the Enhancement Master's second awakening skills like Small Gold +10, Emperor +10, perhaps he could contend with the entire Rowen Kingdom, but right now, alone, he had no chance of winning.

——————

"That's it for today's broadcast, everyone get some rest early."

He suddenly announced the end of the broadcast, causing the audience to wail:

- "So sudden?"

- "Slacking off again!"

- "What are we supposed to watch if you end the broadcast? ㅠ.ㅠ"

"Don't worry, the broadcast will continue tomorrow. Thank you everyone, see you tomorrow."

[ Broadcast ended. ]

"What should I do now?"

After turning off the broadcast, Fu Hao sat in his chair, lost in thought. Rather than waiting to be crushed by Prince Mian's army, it was better to leave the Rowen Kingdom sooner. But the problem was—which faction should he defect to?

"Go to the Kalis Empire?"

With his current strength ranking second in combat power, he had long met the conditions for appointment as a Baron of the Kalis Empire, only failing to be officially enfeoffed due to a status conflict.

The treatment for imperial titles was far better than that of a kingdom, but the difficulty of promotion was also higher.

"Besides the Kalis Empire, are there any other places worth going..."

Just as he was filtering through feasible targets, a private chat notification sounded in his ear.

Aside from Chaos, no one else could initiate a private chat with him.

"What's wrong?"

He thought the other party wanted to comfort him like last time; however, Chaos was clearly not watching the broadcast and immediately brought up a completely unrelated topic:

"Something big is about to happen!"

"What do you mean? Be more specific."

"You asked me before how to use 'Fates Luck' to make the most profit, remember? We discussed other skills too."

"Yeah, I remember."

He had once wasted the cooldown of Fates Luck because of his stubbornness in enhancing the "troll sword". Having suffered a loss, he had consulted Chaos, the only one who knew his identity, about the skills he possessed.

Although the other party didn't provide a world-shaking plan, just discussing it together helped a lot.

"You have a skill that can turn monsters into Summoned Beasts, right?"

"You mean that 'You Are Mine' skill? What about it?"

"Although I'm not sure, something big might happen. You come over first, I'll send you the location."

[ Location Shared ]

Chaos, who was rarely this serious, made Fu Hao decide to go.

"Zayira Kingdom?"

The Zayira Kingdom was separated by the Kalis Empire and stood opposite the Rowen Kingdom.

Chaos and the Wind Guild's main area of activity was originally the Kalis Empire; he had been busy dealing with the civil war recently and hadn't had time to ask for news, so he didn't expect them to have quietly arrived in Zayira.

Fu Hao used a teleportation gem to arrive at the location closest to the coordinates marked by Chaos, and then walked for about thirty minutes.

Although he had mobilized more residents to record coordinates, the further away he was, the greater the Teleportation interval, and sending people deep into other countries was also extremely dangerous.

Finally, Fu Hao arrived at the destination and looked at the cave entrance, sending a private message to Chaos.

"I'm here."

"See the cave? Come in, the guild members are inside too."

As "Fu Hao" for so long, this was his first reunion with guild members, and he walked into the cave nervously.

However, what greeted him was not familiar guild members—but a monster.

It was a blob of black liquid-like monster, wriggling, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into the image of Fu Hao.

"... Mimic?"

Except for the Training Tower, this was the first area in "otherworld" where Mimic monsters appeared.

But what truly shocked him was yet to come—he quickly took out the convenience item "Firefly," and the cave was instantly illuminated by a soft light. And what met his eyes were dense, swarming black liquid monsters, covering the entire cave.

"... Just how many are there?"