Chapter 15

Time passed, and it was already several months since Zhou Tian attacked that NPC village. After that incident, the area where Zhou Tian's territory was located experienced a rare period of stability. Both Zhou Tian and the group of NPCs were quietly accumulating strength, preparing for the next battle.

Given the atmosphere at the time, it was believed that the environment around Zhou Tian would not change for a considerable period. Until one side was fully prepared to provoke the other, there should not have been any warfare in the area where Zhou Tian and the NPCs were located.

However, although Zhou Tian and the NPCs had no intention of starting a war, the insertion of a third party changed the situation in the area under Zhou Tian's control.

Zhou Tian did not take many precautions against that NPC village. Although he did not see the final outcome, based on the situation when he was still on the battlefield, Zhou Tian knew that his last action had severely damaged that NPC village. Given their condition, it was believed that they would not take any rash actions for a long time, as they would not recover their strength quickly.

In fact, Zhou Tian's thoughts were not wrong. Even though the NPC village suffered a significant loss at the hands of the half-orcs, they did not take any extreme actions. Although the atmosphere was tense, they only made some preparations for battle and never initiated war again.

However, while Zhou Tian had anticipated the NPCs' reactions, he still underestimated their desire for revenge.

Indeed, in the current state of the world, the various NPC factions were already struggling to resist the pressure from the monster factions. In such a situation, a small village suffering a loss would not receive help from other NPCs, even if they sought assistance.

However, Zhou Tian had forgotten to consider that the NPCs had another force at their disposal: the players. Players were a unique group, used by the monster faction to reproduce and by the NPC faction to reduce the strength of the monster faction. As a result, players had become a destabilizing factor, and any situation involving them would inevitably bring about unpredictable changes.

While the existence of players provided Zhou Tian with more opportunities to earn merit, he really did not want the players to get involved. Players were too free, and high-level players could easily enter the territories of low-level monsters. Killing players would earn him merit, but if he accidentally provoked high-level players, Zhou Tian would not have the ability to deal with them.

However, even though Zhou Tian did not want the players to get involved, the NPCs had already taken action, and his opinion could not change anything.

The NPCs, having underestimated Zhou Tian, had been at a disadvantage in their previous confrontations. Now, when Zhou Tian thought he had the upper hand, the NPCs used some tactics to make Zhou Tian realize that they were not as weak as he thought.

The NPCs, lacking the ability to deal with the half-orcs themselves, directly used quests to make the players fight against Zhou Tian and his group. While it was unrealistic to expect the players to kill all the half-orcs, the large-scale attacks by the players would certainly slow down the recovery of the half-orcs' strength, allowing the NPCs to recover first.

The NPCs' plan was clear, but even if Zhou Tian understood it, what could he do? He still had to cooperate with the NPCs' actions.

The arrival of the players was inevitable, and Zhou Tian could not influence them. On the contrary, after a large number of players entered the area, Zhou Tian had to avoid causing too much chaos, otherwise, he might attract the attention of the players.

Zhou Tian, having been a player himself, knew that if something newsworthy happened in the game, bored players would go to see it, regardless of whether it was necessary. If that happened, given Zhou Tian's current strength, he would likely be wiped out by the players in a few rounds.

He could not let the players, who were a source of merit, go, but he also had to avoid drawing too much attention. The NPCs had given Zhou Tian a difficult problem. If he did not handle it well, he would face a major crisis.

Faced with such a situation, Zhou Tian quickly made preparations when the players appeared.

The first thing Zhou Tian did was to rearrange the patrol routes of his half-orc warriors. Although Zhou Tian was wary of the players, he would not send his subordinates to their deaths. To avoid danger, Zhou Tian would certainly send out scouts, but he also needed to ensure that his half-orc warriors did not encounter the players too often. Otherwise, if too many of his half-orc warriors were killed by the players, it would be exactly what the NPCs wanted.

After making some hasty arrangements, Zhou Tian had no time to prepare further when, under the NPCs' arrangements, groups of players began to appear near Zhou Tian's territory.

In fact, the NPCs might not have been sure who their enemies were, so the quests they issued were quite broad, with the content being the killing of half-orcs. Therefore, the players did not just appear in Zhou Tian's territory; in fact, the number of players in the entire area where the half-orcs lived increased several times in a short period.

However, because the quest submission points were closest to Zhou Tian's territory, the players caused the most damage there.

On the first day alone, while Zhou Tian was observing and not taking any rash actions, he did not expect that his half-orc warriors would lose over a hundred in a single day. Even with the preparations he had made, the information Zhou Tian received showed that over ten thousand half-orc warriors had died or been injured, and even several half-orc heroes had been killed.

Although, according to the characteristics of the monsters, the half-orc leader could replenish the half-orc heroes in a day if he wished, there was a significant difference between veteran half-orc heroes and new members, both in terms of strength and influence. Therefore, even if the half-orc leader replenished the lost forces, the overall combat strength of the half-orcs would still be weakened.

Regardless of the overall situation of the half-orcs, after seeing the performance of the players on the first day, Zhou Tian was even more hesitant to show himself.

In just one day, the players had reduced the overall strength of the half-orcs by thirty percent. It was easy to imagine that if this situation continued, even if the half-orc bosses were replaced several times, the overall strength of the half-orcs would be significantly affected.

Of course, while the overall situation of the half-orcs was related to Zhou Tian, it was not something he needed to consider too much at this moment. What troubled him now was the situation in his own territory.

Losing over a hundred half-orc warriors at once was not an unacceptable loss for Zhou Tian. At least, losing a hundred half-orc warriors would not shake the foundation of his territory. However, although the players had not yet posed a real threat to him, their current actions already showed the threat they posed to him.