Chapter 254 - Stubborn

Even as members of the same faction, the rules allowed Han Wu and Li Zhe to engage in combat, provided they issued direct commands to their respective towers. Consequently, new rows of defensive towers rapidly began to rise along the border separating their territories. Given that Li Zhe’s core race was the Azure-Eye Tiger, it was no surprise that most of the structures he erected were Azure-Eye Tiger Towers.

Han Wu scanned the newly erected towers, noting down their stats. He had to admit that, for Elite towers, their attributes were quite excellent.

[Azure-Eye Tiger Tower (Elite)

Armor: 800

Attack: 80

Defense: 50

Attack Method: Claw Rend

Range: 10 km

Attack Rate: 0.8 seconds

Skills: Roar Bomb – Gathers energy to form an attributeless tiger-shaped energy bomb. Attack range is twice as far as the tower’s. Damage set at 250% of tower’s Attack.

Sacred Object Slots: 3]

The tower had impressive Attack and Defense stats. While its attack range and attack rate were initially quite average, those aspects had been compensated and enhanced by its Roar Bomb skill. When analyzing the raw data, it was clear that Han Wu’s own towers, even at the same rank, would be incapable of destroying them.

Han Wu, however, remained completely unconcerned.

If I can’t destroy his towers with one of the same rank, I’ll just rank my towers up! If one isn’t enough, I’ll just make two!

With his resolve solidified, Han Wu proceeded to erect 100 Locust Towers, costing him 10,000 Energy in total. Li Zhe, observing this move, couldn’t help but scoff disdainfully at what he saw as Han Wu’s misguided strategy of quantity over quality.

With a sneer, he taunted, “Junior, is this a display of desperation? Surely, you haven’t abandoned all hope after witnessing the power of my towers! Erecting that many towers is nothing more than a waste of time and resources—in fact, by doing so, you are simply handing me free Energy!”

“Oh, no, I’m not giving you Energy,” Han Wu calmly stated, his voice devoid of concern. “Just make sure you watch carefully.”

He proceeded to merge the 100 towers into 10, then he merged them again to 1, ultimately obtaining a single Heroic tower.

[Giant Dark Cursed Bug Tower (Heroic)

Armor: 8,000

Attack: 200

Defense: 100

Attack Method: Giant Shadow Nail

Range: 30 km

Attack Rate: 0.5 seconds

Skills: Shadow Stun (Passive) – Has a 50% chance of immobilizing the target for 1 second.

Sacred Object Slot: 6]

The towering Giant Dark Cursed Bug Tower now stood at the border separating their two territories, its vast shadow stretching to engulf several of Li Zhe’s towers. The Azure-Eye Tiger Towers relentlessly rained down a barrage of blows upon it, yet, despite their efforts, not a single one was capable of breaching the Giant Dark Cursed Bug Tower’s defenses.

Li Zhe was stunned. Ordinarily, one would require Upgrade Stones to upgrade their towers. This was precisely why he possessed many Elite Towers but no Unique Towers. This rule, however, didn’t seem to apply to this arrogant junior! Right before him, Han Wu had inexplicably merged 100 Locust Towers into one Giant Dark Cursed Bug Tower!

“Wait, that’s not fair at all! That’s practically cheating!”

Naturally, the wargame’s participants ignored him. Seizing this opportunity, Han Wu commanded his tower to target and attack all Li Zhe’s towers nearby. In response, massive Shadow Nails rained down, crashing into the Azure-Eye Tiger Towers.

The Giant Dark Cursed Bug Tower’s 200 Attack easily tore through the Azure-Eye Tiger Towers’ 50 Defense, dealing 150 damage. Given that the Azure-Eye Tiger Towers only had 800 Armor, just five Shadow Nails would be enough to destroy each.

With its rapid 0.5-second attack rate, the Giant Dark Cursed Bug Tower was capable of taking one of Li Zhe’s towers down in just about three seconds. Li Zhe began to panic; his towers each cost 1,500 Energy to erect, and he certainly wasn’t rich enough to sustain such heavy losses!

“Quick, use the Roar Bomb!”

The Azure-Eye Tiger Towers initiated their counter-attack, rapidly gathering energy to unleash devastating bombs at the Giant Dark Cursed Bug Tower. However, though each bomb dealt 200 raw damage, and the Giant Dark Cursed Bug Tower possessed just 100 Defense, the resulting 100 damage per bomb, while seemingly quite powerful, was only truly effective against regular towers. The Giant Dark Cursed Bug Tower had 8,000 Armor, allowing it to easily withstand the Azure-Eye Tiger Towers’ attacks.

Han Wu calmly directed his tower, easily obliterating all the Azure-Eye Tiger Towers within the attack range of the Dark Cursed Bug Tower and recovering 1,200 square kilometers of territory.

However, Han Wu still wasn’t satisfied—Li Zhe had to pay the price for backstabbing. He instantly spent 20,000 Energy to construct two more Giant Dark Cursed Bug Towers at the edge of his territory, intending to intensify his invasion into Li Zhe’s lands.

Li Zhe was practically losing his mind. He, a seasoned bully, was now suffering a crushing and humiliating defeat at the hands of a mere first-year student! This was nothing short of humiliating! To his utter despair, he was completely helpless—his Azure-Eye Tiger Towers were incapable of destroying the Giant Dark Cursed Bug Towers, after all.

To prevent further losses, Li Zhe chose to surrender. “Han Wu, we’re fellow students from the same college. Let’s just drop this here and now—do not, I repeat, do not push this any further. Remember,” he stated, his voice a calculated blend of forced civility and unmistakably thinly veiled threats, “we’ll definitely continue to cross paths in college from this point forward.”

It was clear that Li Zhe desperately wanted Han Wu to cease his invasion immediately, subtly threatening to deal with Han Wu once they returned to the college. Han Wu, of course, was completely unfazed. He had dared to go against even a God King, so a mere Demigod was nothing in comparison.

“Thanks, but no,” Han Wu responded. “I’ve been called a stubborn bastard ever since I was a kid. I tend to go all the way until the bitter end.”

With “negotiations” completely broken down, Li Zhe’s face contorted in a furious snarl.

“Fine then, you bastard! Take this!” he spat, giving Han Wu a sarcastic thumbs-up before pouring every last bit of his remaining Energy into erecting a large number of Azure-Eye Tiger Towers around his territory’s core.

Li Zhe’s calculations revealed that one Giant Dark Cursed Bug Tower could endure no more than 80 Roar Bombs before collapsing. So, he decided to go all in, completely depleting his remaining resources to construct 74 Elite Azure-Eye Tiger Towers and two even more powerful Unique Azure-Eye Black Tiger Towers.

He built the towers close together, ensuring their combined power would instantly overwhelm and obliterate the Giant Dark Cursed Bug Towers. He was confident that even a Giant Dark Cursed Bug Tower, despite its 8,000 Armor, would be unable to endure the concentrated barrage unleashed by all his towers attacking in unison.

Even though Li Zhe knew his defeat was imminent, he refused to give Han Wu an easy victory—his pride as a third-year senior was on the line. Han Wu, observing the new arrangement of Li Zhe’s towers, instantly realized Li Zhe had spent all his remaining Energy to deal as much damage to him as possible before his elimination.

Han Wu let out a dismissive scoff, a new strategy already forming in his mind. He knew that a head-on attack against Li Zhe at this point would be too costly.

But... what if I choose not to attack Li Zhe’s forces at all?

he thought.

He began constructing numerous low-ranking towers, placing them just outside the reach of Li Zhe’s towers, effectively encircling the entire area. With this strategy, all of Li Zhe’s remaining territory would fall under Han Wu’s control, leaving Li Zhe confined to only the tiny area in the center.

Han Wu relished the thought of witnessing Li Zhe’s suffering, unable to destroy any towers to obtain additional Energy and forced instead to rely on the slow trickle of Energy generated by that tiny remaining patch of territory in the center.