Chapter 25 Burial

  For this group of beasts with the blood of innocent civilians on their hands, Lin Tian would not show any mercy and ordered his army to pursue and kill them. The beastmen scattered in all directions, but the dense forest was a natural hunting ground for the elven warriors, and Lin Tian even summoned the 40 sword dancers who were hiding in the snow to join the pursuit. The plain road was also an excellent place for the cavalry to charge, and the infantry of the beastmen had no chance of escape. The pursuit continued until sunset before it was thoroughly ended, and none of these beasts survived... Lin Tian ordered his troops to clean up the battlefield, and each enemy corpse was stabbed with another knife. If any were left alive by mistake, they would report back to their side, which could lead to a larger-scale enemy attack and bring trouble to Xianlin County. The enemy's corpses were simply gathered together and burned away. However, some people in this volunteer army still couldn't change their sloppy habits, and there was a small-scale looting of spoils, but it was quickly suppressed.

  The bodies of the comrades were also gathered together, a good place was chosen by the mountain and water, and preparations were made for cremation and burial. This way, there would be no materials left behind to summon undead warriors for the spirits nearby, which is also an ancient tradition left over from Xianlin County.

  At the strong request of everyone, the young lord presided over this ceremony. The shells shed by the warriors were neatly placed on the ground, Lin Tian squatted down, looked at the face of the young man in front of him with a slight reverence, gently wiped away the blood stains on his face, stood up straight, and delivered his speech to the silent army.

  "This warrior, who can let me have this honor, knows the name of this brave man?"

  Someone in the crowd whispered: "He is a free mercenary named Nad, a native of Xianlin City, with an elderly father and mother at home."

  Lin Tianchong smiled kindly and said in a slightly low tone, "I noticed him during the battle earlier. He had already killed several beastmen by then and was quite skilled. At that time, he was also heavily injured, and I even treated his wounds personally. However, as the battle situation became increasingly intense, he still bravely charged towards the center of the beast tide..."

  His voice suddenly rose high: "But I believe he will never regret it, because he is worth it. This brave warrior used his own life to protect the land that nurtured him, defended Xianlin City and his loved ones. I, Lin Tian*Mei Lin, Baron of Xianlin County, swear in public that from now on, his elderly parents will be supported by my city lord's manor."

  "Today, many of our brave warriors fell here, possibly including relatives and friends of those present. This is a helpless war. But we won, didn't we? Accompanying them in burial are thousands of beastmen, these man-eating beasts that slaughtered civilians and lost their humanity. We thoroughly eliminated them outside the city. This glory belongs to you, belongs to every brave warrior present!"

  "I declare that all warriors of the Merlin family will receive comfort and good treatment from my Merlin family. And all spoils obtained on the battlefield will be handed over to the volunteer army, which is you, for your own distribution, because this is also what you deserve!"

  A huge cheer erupted in the sky above the battlefield...

  Hint: A perfect victory! Killed 1000 beastman warriors, totaling 4000 military strength. Acquired treasure Dwarf King Shield.

  Dwarven King's Shield: This treasure can be equipped in the off-hand position, increasing the hero's defense by 3 points and reducing magical damage taken by 50%.

  Absolutely great stuff! Just in time for Lin Tian's deputy position which has been vacant all along. Yoohoo! Gear up!

  Our casualties include 20 swordsmen, 25 guardsmen, 55 dwarves and 5 sword dancers.

  This is the greatest loss Lin Tian has suffered since crossing over, with 30 of his vanguard guards lost in a single battle, leaving only 5 remaining. If it weren't for the fact that they managed to preserve some of their troops' morale, they would have had to disband entirely. Similarly, among the 90 dwarves standing at the front lines, most were killed, with only 35 remaining, and it's likely they won't be able to withstand much more. This is still a result of Lin Tian giving them stone skin; otherwise, their lines might have been breached directly. The 40 sword dancers, who had abandoned defense, lived up to their reputation as fragile warriors, losing 5 in just one pursuit battle. This outcome made Lin Tian lose hope for them and he didn't dare use them again. Finally, among the 90 swordsmen, although they were of high rank, they were still the main force executing the piercing tactic, and despite having monks providing close-range healing, 20 of them failed to be rescued and died on the battlefield. What struck Lin Tian most deeply was that not a single one of the 20 monks following the piercing troops was killed in action; it seemed that these warriors with martial arts skills were actually just pretending to be weak.

  The system does not recognize volunteer troops, so this group of brave warriors has never been mentioned. In fact, the ones with the most casualties are precisely these people. When they left the city, there were 500 people, but only 240 could return, more than half were killed in action, and almost all of them were injured. After all, their overall strength was lower than their opponents by a whole level, after all, they were a motley crew of miscellaneous soldiers, although they had a strong bloodlust, these casualties are really too tragic. Of course, Lin Tian had already made compensation before, if he really had to take out his own property, this miser would never do it.

  Hint: Get 4000 gold coins. Remaining 77100 gold.

  Having seen the gold coins earned here, Otaku B dared to speculate that the system might automatically hook up the enemy's eliminated military strength with the gold coins obtained from the battle. If there were no accidents, it should be around 1:1.

  Hint: Hero level upgraded to 8, attack +1.

  This time Lin Tian directly chose the Primary Defense Technique!

  Basic Defense: Increases physical and magical defense effects of self and all subordinates by 10%.

  It's worth noting that this ability is even more powerful than its in-game counterpart, as it not only boosts physical defense but also magical defense. This change prompted a certain someone to quickly review the basic attack skill they were born with: increasing their own and their subordinates' attack effects by 10%. It's likely that this includes ranged and magic damage as well. In any case, it seems the system has abolished the archery ability setting from Heroes of Might and Magic III. Not bad, at least one less ability slot is saved.

  This time, with the upgrade of the main profession, the sub-profession seems to be still quiet, last time when 6th level was upgraded to 7th level, the crazy promotion momentum of the sub-profession's level was restrained. A certain otaku who is good at thinking boldly speculates that at level 9, there should still be no upgrade, but when the main profession is upgraded to level 10, the sub-profession will probably break through this watershed and reach the level of a 7th-level mage. This makes the dead house boy very much look forward to it!

  Don't be too self-deprecating!