Masato Ikeda

Ordinary people were arguing heatedly, while the leaders of various countries were running around like headless chickens.

They brought in a whole bunch of “experts,” desperate to analyze every single word in the announcement.

But no matter how much they analyzed it, they could not shake the feeling that being “downgraded to a lower civilization” meant more than simply becoming a vassal of Huaxia.

Could it be that slavery was about to be restored, turning all their countries into slave states?

The more they thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. The battlefield was brutally savage. So many people had been killed in the blink of an eye, and human rights seemed not to exist at all.

Once you became a lower civilization, whether you lived or died would be entirely up to the higher civilization, wouldn’t it?

As a result, some small countries were seriously considering whether they could exploit a loophole and pledge allegiance to Huaxia ahead of time.

Even if it did not work, the outcome could not be any worse, right?

Besides, it would count as declaring their loyalty in advance. Maybe they would receive better treatment than those who were forced to become vassals later on?

The people of Huaxia should still be reasonable, right?

Other countries that were unwilling to accept their fate began issuing protests one after another. Some even brought in their American daddy and jointly demanded that Huaxia sign an agreement immediately:

Regardless of whether other countries were forcibly made into vassals in the future, Huaxia could not acknowledge such a thing, much less actually treat them as vassals.

Otherwise, Huaxia would be violating human rights and destroying world peace.

Among them, aside from the island nation, Han Nation, and the other Asian countries whose own interests were at stake, the most enthusiastic of all was the United States.

They were anxious too.

The third-stage battle would decide the fate of the entire Asian continent. Who knew whether the fourth and fifth stages would determine the fate of the entire Blue Star?

That was entirely possible, because the announcement had stated that the ultimate victor would represent the whole of Blue Star.

It had also said that this was the first round of advancement defense battles. Since it was called the first round, there would certainly be a second and third round.

So if they could not win later on, would that not mean even the United States would have to become a vassal of Huaxia?

No matter what, they absolutely could not allow this to become a reality.

But Huaxia was not stupid either. They simply played a game of verbal deflection:

“We will respect human rights, and we will safeguard world peace. But the advancement battlefield is not under our control, is it? You were the ones who got downgraded. What does that have to do with us? If you have the guts, go protest to the mastermind behind the advancement battlefield.”

Seeing that the talks were getting nowhere, Britain, Europe’s most notorious troublemaker, came up with an idea:

“Huaxia, you can keep sending people into the battlefield for now. Then tell them that if they are randomly assigned to Battlefield 2468, they should pass along the following order:

“Deliberately lose and let the attacking side win.

“After all, if the defending side fails, all they have to do is spend some time and effort rebuilding Orenburg.

“During that period, if another country captures Orenburg and starts a new advancement defense battle, the same thing can be done. The defending side can continue to throw the match and let the attackers win every time.

“That way, everyone can keep fighting defense battles forever. Everybody wins, everybody’s happy, and no one has to be downgraded.”

The higher-ups in Huaxia stared at him.

“Look at my face. Do I look like an idiot to you?”

No wonder it was Britain. Every time it could not stand on its own, all it could think of was how to drag everyone else down with it.

We had a guaranteed victory, and they wanted us to deliberately lose? Then hand our country’s fate over to someone else?

Yes, yes, with this plan, our “Blue Star family” could all live happily ever after. Everyone would be satisfied, and we could play around in Orenburg for ten thousand years.

But what if other planets did not feel like playing along?

When the two sides finally went to war, we would still be here playing in the mud at Orenburg. How would we fight them then?

If we really listened to you and did this, we would be letting down all the heroes fighting on the battlefield!

So come on, keep watching me perform another set of “Tai Chi maneuvers.”

……

Of course, the people having the worst time of all were those already inside the battlefield.

The moment the announcement came out, they all looked at one another, completely at a loss.

“Do you think we have any chance of winning?”

“Winning? Have you looked at the level rankings? Liu Xuan, the guy in first place, is already level 16. They still have three days, along with more than twenty times the experience bonus. How high will he be by then? At least level 20, right?”

“But we can send thirty thousand people! And they’re all the highest-level players we can pick. No matter how strong he is, he’s still only one person.”

“What good are thirty thousand people? There are more than three or four thousand people in a single battlefield, and we still haven’t been able to take down even a second-stage [Giant Salamander]. He soloed one!”

“You don’t think thirty thousand people will get soloed by him, do you?”

“Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Even if they were thirty thousand pigs, it would take him half a day to catch them all!”

“What should I do? I’ve already received a war invitation. I’m one of those thirty thousand pigs—uh, I mean, one of those thirty thousand people.”

“If you don’t want to go, you can stop leveling up during these three days and wait for someone else to knock you off the list.”

“A bunch of cowards! Traitors! Don’t you know that if we lose, our entire country will be downgraded?”

“Shut up! You’re only level five, you idiot!”

At that moment, on a certain battlefield belonging to the island nation—

A five-man team was attacking Eagle Spirit Mountain.

Their levels were generally only around 12. Normally speaking, they should not have been able to attack Eagle Spirit Mountain.

Players had to reach level 13 to trigger the Eagle Spirit Mountain quest from the village chief, so these people had made their way there on their own.

The reason they were so confident was entirely because of one person on their team.

The soldier serving as the team’s tank was currently taking attacks from several [Hamovi Soldiers]. Suddenly, a black figure appeared silently behind one of the soldiers.

He wore a pair of sharp clawed gauntlets and viciously plunged them into the monster’s lower back.

“-8759!”

A huge number burst out. The [Hamovi Soldier], which had only a little over 3,000 HP, was instantly killed.

The figure then vanished. Several seconds later, he reappeared behind another monster and struck again, killing it in one blow as well.

Before long, all the monsters at the outpost had been cleared. The group stopped to rest and recover, finally finding the time to discuss the announcement they had just received.

“What do you think, Ikeda?”

One of his teammates looked at Ikeda Masato, the core of their team, and asked him.

This was the same islander who had briefly climbed into the top ten of the level rankings. His class was the hidden class Ninja.

The experience bonus after level 10 had only just been unlocked by Liu Xuan, so at this moment, many of the Huaxia players on the rankings were only around level 14.

That was even with the free level they had received included.

Therefore, Ikeda Masato’s level 12 was already extremely high.

The reason was his terrifying damage output.

His Ninja class was no ordinary one. He could repeatedly turn invisible, and while invisible, his backstabs dealt massive damage.

Even calculating only his own power, he could deal more than 5,000 damage.

That was already incredibly powerful, especially since there was no need to fight alone on this battlefield.

Ikeda Masato had found several teammates capable of buffing him, allowing his backstab damage to soar to nearly 10,000.

Against ordinary monsters and bosses, he could deal with them effortlessly.

That was indeed the case: their side had already captured the quarry.

The problem was that the “Monstrous Salamander” had thoroughly grossed Ikeda Masato out. Whether it was the tentacles or the fish head poking above the water, the thing had no back whatsoever.

It left Ikeda Masato in a rather awkward position.

But regarding the promotion defense battle mentioned in the announcement, Ikeda Masato declared:

“It’s time to show them what real skill looks like!”