Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 149 - 144 Home Field Battle

Chapter 149: Chapter 144 Home Field Battle

At the moment the ultimate trial was cleared, the entire historical slice was suddenly engulfed by a sandstorm, with the black fog darkening the sky!

General Deng, the soldiers, and all the natives within the slice turned into phantoms of history, gradually disappearing into thin air.

The surrounding buildings seemed corrupted and eroded as if they had aged countless years in an instant.

The black fog coiled in the air, constantly gathering and churning.

The barriers constructed by the monsters for this slice of history had been dissolved, but this also meant that the "Return Order" effect on reversing the history slice had ended, and the monsters had become aware of the existence of the "Returners".

They would not let this go, and would stop at nothing to recapture this slice of history!

With the sky turning grim and the monstrous winds rising, the entire slice seemed like an isolated island amidst a storm, forlorn and unsupported.

But then, the players saw the ground not far away suddenly fracture as if a violent earthquake had occurred, leaving giant fissures in the earth that quickly collapsed.

Following that, amidst the black fog, a mountain loomed like a warship breaking through colossal waves, traveling through temporal streams and layers of mist to arrive!

Chu Ge instantly recognized the mountain: "The Returners’ Fortress!"

The other players also recognized the terrain; this was clearly the Returners’ Fortress that the players had transformed before.

A message in the previous clearance hints had said: "The Returners’ Fortress has successfully docked with this historical slice."

That meant that the players were not fighting on an away ground, but on their home turf.

There was no need for the monsters to come to the players’ home ground; the players’ home ground had come to them!

Then, the few players who had participated in the ultimate trial were enveloped in a pale blue glow, disappearing before the black fog could engulf them.

...

Moments later, they appeared within the Returners’ Fortress.

The rumbling tremor under their feet continued for a long while before it gradually stabilized.

There were already a large number of players in the fortress, their expressions filled with excitement, clearly looking forward to the upcoming battle.

Moreover, more and more players were continually appearing!

These players might have been fishing or hunting in their own estates, or they might have been scoring points in the regular instance in the Trial Illusion, but the moment the ultimate trial was breached, they all received system notifications and came to the Returners’ Fortress immediately.

Watching the dramatic changes in the scenery outside the fortress, the players in the square were all exhilarated.

The crowd was bustling with great enthusiasm.

"The big shots are holding it steady! Thought it would take a while longer to clear it, but it’s already done?"

"Then it’s time for the Return Order Expedition!"

"Eh, strange, this time we weren’t directly summoned to a new historical slice, but to the Returners’ Fortress?"

"It’s because the Returners’ Fortress has merged with the new historical slice! You can see it from the city wall."

The players all ascended to the city walls.

The original Returners’ Fortress was merely a small county town with walls made of rammed earth, rather rudimentary.

But with the new layout plan made by players, led by Li Weiyi, who had created new terrain and devised a construction scheme using Linyuan City as a model, a multi-layered defense system had been established.

This defense system was a vast project, and with the current construction values of the players, it was not yet fully realized.

So, the players’ first step was to get the basic structure of the city walls built!

In Li Weiyi’s plan, disregarding the most primitive county town’s earth walls, the fortress had three layers of walls.

First was the innermost layer, a circular stone wall built around the cliff tops to secure key points, ensuring that the inner city was on flat ground, which could also be seen as the core area of the Returners’ Fortress;

The next layer was the middle, built along the mountainside according to the terrain, which could also include resources from the mountain, such as farmland and mines;

Finally, the outermost wall, built close to the foothills according to the terrain, served as the frontline against enemy attacks.

Connections between the three layers of walls had to be established with more walls, with many secret passages and tunnels in between, allowing players to support each other quickly using the cover of the terrain.

However, this plan was so vast, it had to be executed in four steps.

The first step was to complete the innermost walls, the second was to finish the middle and outer walls, the third was to expand the connecting walls further, even reaching the cliffs and waters on the southern and northern sides; the fourth was to reinforce and heighten these walls and build various strongholds.

While a portion of the players struggled to earn points in the new instance, many were engrossed in building the city, absorbed in the task.

Some players were not keen on pioneering the instance and waited for others to clear it so they could copy the answers; others thought it impossible for them to rank or snatch the first completion rewards, so they stopped pushing after clearing it.

Instead, they focused all their energy on the construction of the Returners’ Fortress.

After all, no matter how powerful one was in the instances, it was all an illusion, but the money in the fortress could actually be used to exchange for equipment and weapons.

Through the players’ relentless efforts, the innermost walls of the Returners’ Fortress had been completely built, and a fortress as solid as gold was beginning to take shape.

The walls were built of huge stone blocks, and considering the future expansion of player numbers, they were planned spacious enough to quickly move forces to every corner of the defensive system.

The players stood on the walls, looking down.

From its high position, the Returners’ Fortress allowed a commanding view of the entire battlefield.

Despite the sandstorm and the swirling black fog, players could still vaguely see that the entire historical slice had expanded several times compared to before.

The land of the Return Order fortress, still surrounded by rivers in the north and south directions, had not changed. To the west were gentle slopes and a vast plain, while to the east lay rolling hills.

The original land of the Return Order fortress seemed like it was entirely embedded and perfectly combined with this new continent.

"Quick, start setting up defenses!"

Some players quickly reacted and began directing others to seize strategic locations on the city walls.

This time the defense was stronger than the last!

The first time they joined the Return Order Expedition, the players were summoned to this historical slice and could only rely on the existing rammed earth walls for desperate defense, making the battle relatively brutal.

Now, players could actually defend themselves using the city built by the Return Order fortress, which greatly reduced the pressure.

Of course, the strength of the demons could not be underestimated, but in any case, though it seemed like an away battle on the surface, it was actually a home match.

Because the home ground had been brought over!

As the players excitedly picked up their weapons to start setting up defenses, the figures of demons began to appear in the distance at last.

The sand and black fog in the sky gradually gathered, so the visibility also greatly improved.

And this time, the demons were not just Eastern Barbarians, but also a large number of Northern Barbarian Cavalry!

These Northern Barbarian Cavalry consisted of heavy and light cavalry. The heavy cavalry were clad in lamellar and chain mail, armed with the Barbarian’s machetes and small round shields, and some cavalry wielded long spears, creating an oppressive feeling; the light cavalry riders and horses were hardly armored, wearing only round helmets, but all carried strong bows and arrows, very agile.

The Eastern Barbarian raiders and the Northern Barbarian Cavalry came from different directions but did not interfere with each other, of course, because they were both controlled by demons.

Strictly speaking, they are just historical phantoms, turned by the demons into vessels to attack the historical slice.

"So many brigands..."

Many players looking at the vast armies in the distance all had serious expressions.

Clearly, the scale of this historical slice was much larger than before, so the forces of the demons were also more significant, fierce, and menacing!

Just then, the sand and black fog in the sky began to condense, and a terrifying black shadow emerged in the air.

"Returners...

"No matter how desperately you resist, this world will eventually belong to us!

"All your efforts will be in vain, all..."

The demon’s voice was low and muffled, as if thunder rolled in from the sky, shaking the spirits of many players.

If they were not protected by the power of the Reorderers, such a powerful demon’s psychic attack would have been enough to severely injure many.

"Such a powerful demon! The difficulty of this game is increasing so quickly!"

Many players looking up at the huge black shadow in the sky all had this thought.

However, before the demon could finish speaking, it suddenly grunted. The shadow, as if struck by a mighty surge of positive energy, dissipated from the inside out, like fireworks exploding.

Though the black shadow quickly reformed, it was clearly weaker than before.

Afterward, it silently concealed its form...

The players looked at each other in confusion, all a bit unclear as to what had just happened.

This demon seemed quite strong; how did it slink away in the middle of its threatening speech?

But then, everyone’s expressions turned to one of sudden realization.

Because they saw a system prompt appear in their field of view.

[Player Meng Yuan’s talent skill "Xin · Evil Spirits Disperse" (Gold) has taken effect! It has inflicted heavy damage on the demons in the slice!]

Perhaps the demon was angry when it saw the historical slice’s barriers broken and wanted to intimidate those "native phantoms" hiding among the Reorderers, but it didn’t expect the counterattack to come so swiftly.

Not only was the demon’s power heavily damaged, but even the Eastern Barbarian raiders and Northern Barbarian Cavalry it controlled were also weakened to varying degrees, their black aura significantly dissipated.

The players couldn’t help but brighten up, and their gaze towards Meng Yuan’s figure carried a few more shades of respect.

Could the game really be played like this?

The face of Chu Ge was particularly shocked.

Because when he entered the historical slice, he too had browsed through the Reorderers’ talent skill library and saw the "Evil Spirits Disperse" talent, but he ultimately didn’t take it.

The reason was simple; each player could only take one talent skill, and they had to prioritize enhancing their own combat capabilities to better play their roles and achieve the conditions for clearing the instance.

Just like Li Hongyun, if he didn’t take the "Fortune Upon Arrival" skill, how could he possibly achieve such great effects?

So, even though they knew the talent "Evil Spirits Disperse" was useful, most players simply couldn’t afford to take it.

Meng Yuan played the emperor, seemingly putting forth little effort, but this one talent effect saved the players how much trouble?

And if he took this talent skill, did it not mean that those acting performances playing the emperor were all his own?

Meng Yuan, seemingly unassuming, turned out not only to be a master of operas but also an actor worthy of an Academy Award?

The crowd couldn’t help but respect him all the more.

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