019 The Military Genius—Jiang Yuan
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Thirty minutes ago, deep within a dense forest—
Jiang Yuan was directing his jungle trolls as they cleaned up the battlefield.
Like most lord players, he had adopted the door-blocking strategy. However, the legendary hero of the troll tribe, the Spirit Warrior Huskar, was unlike Camus, who could stand alone at the forefront of the formation. While Huskar’s offensive power was terrifying, he was also heavily reliant on his comrades for cover.
After the first round, Jiang Yuan, who had assumed he’d easily make it into the top ten, found himself ranked only twenty-third with a time of 50.27 seconds—a far cry from his expectations.
If he didn’t make some changes before facing the second wave of attacks, it would be very difficult to achieve an ideal result.
He knew he had thirty minutes to prepare—he had to do something.
As he gazed at the towering trees all around, a faint spark of inspiration flickered through his mind.
Suddenly, an idea struck him like lightning; the clouds parted and his doubts vanished instantly.
Defensive battles depended on timing, terrain, and unity. Since there was no way to improve the timing and unity, terrain became his only option.
Having made up his mind, Jiang Yuan immediately summoned his cadre of officers.
His idea was simple: lead his tribe in felling trees.
The trolls were naturally gifted at logging—strength was in their blood. But this time, Jiang Yuan didn’t want all the trees cut down; instead, he had them chop at the roots with stone axes, weakening them so that they could fall at any moment.
It was this precarious state—trees ready to topple at a moment’s notice—that Jiang Yuan deemed ideal.
...
In just thirty minutes, with the combined efforts of the trolls, more than a dozen ancient trees as thick as a man’s embrace had been half-chopped through at their roots. The trolls were born loggers; even with crude stone axes, they wielded them with masterful force and precision.
Staring at the trees, their bases now mostly hollowed out, Jiang Yuan’s plan became ever more concrete.
The countdown quickly ended. With a spatial distortion, a massive triceratops appeared in the forest, leading a hundred raptors.
Three...
Two...
One...
As the preparation time expired, Jiang Yuan climbed atop a massive boulder and swung his weapon.
“Down!”
At his command, the entire troll tribe sprang into action.
Hundreds of robust trolls worked in perfect unison, toppling the half-cut trees toward the triceratops. For these forest dwellers, the technique of tree-felling was second nature.
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The triceratops, caught off guard by this sudden appearance, was instantly engulfed in the shadow of the falling timbers.
A thunderous quake erupted through the dense forest as a dozen massive logs crashed down, crushing the triceratops half to death. The surrounding raptors were reduced to paper-dragons under the onslaught.
Pinned beneath the logs, the triceratops let out a series of anguished roars, struggling to break free. At that moment, a troll warrior armed with a blood-boiling spear charged forward...
Behind him, hundreds of troll warriors surged, overwhelming the beast.
Two minutes, eleven point two seconds—this result exceeded even Jiang Yuan’s wildest expectations.
It was thanks, in part, to the trolls’ top-notch logging skills—unmatched among the countless races in “Defense and Civilization”—as well as their extraordinary teamwork, especially in small-scale engagements.
What many overlooked was the remarkable synergy between the troll heroes themselves.
...
Western Norcen Plains
West side of Horseshoe Mountain Highlands
Yang Jie was feeling rather depressed. He’d assumed that after the first wave, no lord would dare attempt a door-blocking defense, but there were always monstrous exceptions among the ranks.
The only good news was that once the triceratops fell into his trap, the battle was as good as over.
The diminutive raptors stood no chance against his towering walls; the ratfolk archers stationed atop simply picked them off at will. The frenzied raptors became little more than target practice.
Just then, after Twitch on the tower picked off another raptor, a glow enveloped him.
LEVEL UP!
Not only did these monsters provide precious food, but they were also a source of vital experience for his heroes.
After two waves, the number of raptors felled by Twitch had surpassed thirty.
At this pivotal moment, the ratfolk’s legendary hero—The Plaguebearer, Twitch—finally reached level ten.
And with it, he unlocked his ultimate: [Full Barrage]!
The one-sided slaughter did not last much longer. In the end, Yang Jie’s clearance time was recorded as four minutes, eleven point one seconds, placing him sixth.
Jiang Yuan, with his two minutes, eleven point two seconds, held first place. Second was a female player named Ruan Qiuyue, with three minutes, thirty point six seconds.
Tao Changkong’s minotaur tribe settled for nineteenth place—clearly, this challenge was a bit much for his usual brute-force approach.
As a closed-beta player, Yang Jie knew the system would rate performances over three waves, and he also knew what rewards awaited the top ten in this dinosaur siege.
The top three would receive a legendary key, which could summon their race’s legendary hero with a 100% success rate.
Additionally, the top three would receive resource packs, special weapon bundles, and exclusive race building kits.
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Players ranked fourth through tenth would only receive a race-exclusive building chest, from which only special racial buildings could be drawn.
[Esteemed Lord, you have two hours and fifty-four minutes to prepare for the third wave.]
[The system will rank players based on their overall performance in the three waves.]
[Once all three waves are over, a variety of ancient ruins will appear across the entire continent of Rox. They will officially open in twelve months.]
The system prompt rang out. Yang Jie, being a closed-beta player, knew exactly what these so-called ancient ruins entailed.
In short, they were the game’s dungeons, offering all kinds of equipment and even race-exclusive artifacts. There were two types: exploration ruins and kingdom ruins. The latter were akin to elite monsters within the ruins. After the dinosaur rampage event, only ordinary exploration ruins would appear.
As for the boss of the third dinosaur rampage, Yang Jie was quite familiar—it was the tyrant of the Jurassic land: the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
But the T-Rex boss in this third wave was a far cry from the short-armed beasts of film and television—here, it was a completely different creature.
As the final boss of the siege, it would easily wipe out a host of underprepared lord players. Even the simplest ruin bosses in “Defense and Civilization” were beyond the means of the average player.
The third wave’s T-Rex boss had been comprehensively enhanced; compared to the triceratops of the second wave, it was in a whole different league.
In summary:
It could tank, it could run, it could dish out damage.
It was all-in-one: offense, defense, and intelligence.
The verdict:
No weaknesses.
...
This was no exaggeration. Even after countless closed beta sessions, Yang Jie had never discovered any glaring weak points. More importantly, the boss had intelligence, making it nearly impossible for players to exploit positioning tricks to wear it down. In previous runs, Yang Jie’s only option was to throw bodies at it.
Moreover, the T-Rex boss could continuously evolve. Over time, it would randomly gain new abilities, forcing players to end the fight quickly. If it managed to evolve three times, it became virtually invincible.
Among the old closed-beta players, there was a saying: "all run."
Short for “all in or run?” The meaning was clear—it was coined for the T-Rex: either everyone charges in together, or you abandon your base and flee, because once the T-Rex destroys your base, it vanishes automatically.
The only silver lining was that, in the third wave, aside from the T-Rex boss, no other dinosaurs would appear.
A testament to its overwhelming power!