That kind of high standard and the unfavourable outcome of today’s battle made all the party leaders take this meeting very seriously. All of them understood the principle that no egg would remain unharmed if the nest was overturned. Therefore, none of the party leaders invited missed the meeting.

Jax did not start the meeting off with a speech. Instead, with a few simple charts and figures presented in the most concise style, he fully displayed to the audience the severity of the current situation. However, nothing he showed was out of Sheyan’s expectations.

“The chance for us to win this war is in the first two days of the war. Once the Rohirrim cavalry join the battle, we will be forced to shift from offence to defence, and the scale of victory will start tipping towards the Minas Tirith side. And once Aragorn arrives with the Army of the Dead, victory will become close to impossible.”

Jax stared at all the party leaders in the meeting and continued solemnly, “Hence, we only have today and tomorrow left to do something if we wish to achieve victory. There must be a breakthrough in our progress in these two days!”

His argument was obviously supported by most. “What do you think of his argument, boss?” Reef secretly asked Sheyan in the party channel.

Sheyan nodded silently. “He’s basically right, but I still feel like I’ve missed something very important. Moreover, there’s still one crucial thing that I can’t figure out.”

At that moment, the entire audience suddenly let out exclamations of surprise. In order to convince the leaders of all the major parties, Jax finally showed them something of value.

It was a 3D holographic map —

— a magnificent 3D holographic map of Minas Tirith!!

The map was more than three metres tall. It was a complete replica of Minas Tirith in the form of a miniature 3D model. The structures were transparent, so be it the exterior decoration of the Citadel, the storage rooms inside, or the internal structures and tunnels within the city, they were all vividly displayed. But some of the places were pitch black – those should be the yet unexplored areas.

“This map depicts the current situation in the city based on the latest information sent back by our men. I can guarantee you that everything you see here has been inspected in person. Remember the earthquake the enemy induced today? Well, the city did not escape from it completely unscathed. Please take a look at this comparison.”

As he said that, another miniature 3D model of Minas Tirith appeared next to the one before. The two 3D models appeared very similar, but there was a label on the new one which indicated that it was from 8 pm last night. By comparing the two, they could see that in the latest version of the Minas Tirith 3D map, a lot of tunnels and buildings in the city had collapsed. The city did not look too different on the outside, but its interior had undeniably suffered some damage.

Jax pointed to one of the thickest looking walls in Minas Tirith and said, “This spot looks like the strongest place in Minas Tirith, but at its foundation, two deep cracks that are more than ten metres long have appeared! The cracks have been mended, but we all know mended things are definitely not as durable as the undamaged versions. Therefore, this seemingly strongest part of Minas Tirith is actually one of its most fatal weaknesses. There is only one way for us to win – we must get our hands on a trebuchet and relentlessly bombard the weak spot! This plan will definitely work!”

Jax finished his speech in one go, then looked around at all the party leaders. A man in the audience suddenly stood up and asked, “No offence, but what if the information is false? If the person who delivered the information did so under intimidation or under the enemy’s mind control, we’ll have fallen for the enemy’s trap. We can’t pin all our hopes on this alone.”

Another man in a red cloak also stood up and voiced his doubts, “Since the enemy were able to create an earthquake, they naturally have a large number of earth mages in reserve. Even if the information is true, I believe many of the enemy contestants will also be aware of this problem. There’s no way the enemy wouldn’t let the earth mages fix the cracks. That’s why, it’s hard to say if the so-called weakness still exists.”

Jax seemed to have considered these problems already. He answered with confidence, “We have planted six people inside the enemy alliance, and none of the six know each other, so the probability of all six being found and put under enemy control is slim. As for why they didn’t use earth magic to quickly repair the city wall, that’s because, when Minas Tirith was built, the king of Gondor at the time had borrowed the power of the gods. The city walls are protected by divine power, so magic isn’t effective on them. That’s why we won’t be able to make the city walls collapse with earth magic, but similarly, the enemy also can’t use magic to quickly restore the wall to its previous solid state.”

Jax’s explanation was indeed consistent with Kulutego’s findings, but Sheyan was still not completely convinced. He knew very well that the most clever way to lie was not to slip in a lie among nine truths, but to tell ten truths, yet mislead the listener in a different direction.

A few more people voiced their questions after that, but Jax answered all of them convincingly. During the process, the rhetorical question he threw back at a questioner left an especially deep impression.

“Perhaps you have a better idea?”

Many of the people there could not find any reply to this question. That’s right, it was easy to reject a proposal, but to reject a proposal, then provide a better solution was the hard part.

Under such circumstances, even though there were still many doubts, a consensus was grudgingly reached and a loose alliance was finally formed. But there was something which felt kind of weird and unreliable in the atmosphere. First of all, the Blu-ray Party had not showed convincing strength, and secondly, their solution felt too simple, so that, too, felt very unconvincing.

Because Sheyan and Reef had broadcasted the meeting in real-time through the party communication channel, they did not have much to explain after returning to their tent. However, they still had to inform the other members of some of the finer details.

Sheyan had been silent ever since he got back. After he got into the tent, he poured himself a drink and had been sipping it slowly, seemingly lost in thought. The others knew he must have either found a breakthrough or was trying to break out of an endless loop, so they refrained from disturbing him.

Suddenly, Sheyan stood up with a frown. “What’s that smell?”

The moment he mentioned it, a gust of wind blew into the tent, carrying a foul stench that almost made everyone pass out. Then, they felt the ground shaking faintly. When they looked outside, they could hardly believe what they were seeing – the three Trolls Black-Ear, Big-Nose and Limp were walking over, bringing with them a large amount of wood and stones. Before long, they had built three Troll shacks near Party Ace’s tent.

“What are you guys doing?” Sanzi went over and asked.

Black-Ear slapped its fat belly and replied heartily, “We Trolls are an outstanding race that will always return the favour. Look at how weak you guys are. You’ll surely be trampled on by the enemies on the battlefield. So, in order to pay you back for your help, we’ve decided to come protect you.”

“……” Party Ace looked at each other with stupefied expressions on their faces. Gaining three Trolls may not necessarily be a good thing. First, they were not followers officially recognised by the Realm, so Party Ace would not receive any contribution points for the enemies the Trolls killed. Second, Party Ace had to feed them. But most importantly, even though the Trolls were amazing in melee combat, there had not been any chances for melee combat so far, and it was hard to say if there would many of those chances.

However, seeing how happy Sanzi looked, Sheyan could not find it in himself to refuse. In any case, those were three powerful Trolls. They must have some uses.

Zi, though, was almost having a meltdown. “If they want to live close to us, they’ll have to take a shower first! Oh, God, is that Troll taking a dump? They have a habit of pissing and defecating everywhere?!!”

Sanzi quickly comforted her. “It’s okay, my good sister-in-law. I’ll go talk to them and make sure they understand. These guys are smart. I can definitely persuade them.”

“Who are you calling sister-in-law?” Zi immediately retorted with a blush.

But Sanzi had already ran towards the three Trolls with a big smile. Sanzi was limited to only one summoned creature because the two-headed Cyclops was too strong, but Sanzi was still a contestant, so he could also have servants. It was small wonder that he was so happy. The Trolls would make for excellent bodyguards.

Sheyan suddenly told Reef, “It’s about time we sell our goods. The price of wood and stones must have spiked by now. We’ll be able to make a small fortune after we sell the resources we saved up.”

Zi went over to Sheyan’s side and told him, “Don’t forget one other thing. The Realm asked us to make a choice, remember? If we give up the right to return to the Realm from the Source of Darkness hall, we can upgrade our mission. The deadline for the decision is approaching.”

After she said that, she suddenly realised that there was something wrong with Sheyan, like he was in a daze. Following Sheyan’s line of sight, she found that he was staring at a certain lump on the ground. It was the excrement Big Nose had just shamelessly left on the ground!

But Sheyan was looking at it like he had just found a priceless treasure!!

“Are you out of your mind?!” Zi was speechless. She poked Sheyan’s forehead with her teeth gnashing. But right when her finger came into contact with Sheyan, Sheyan exhaled a long breath. His previous hesitation and gloom were all gone. He suddenly pulled Zi in and gave her a deep kiss.

Zi’s body was shocked stiff from the sudden attack. Sheyan was lucky she did not send him crashing with a ‘Force.Collision-Wall’. But after Sheyan’s mouth touched hers, she could smell the manly smell of his body. A mixture of sweetness and shyness suddenly washed over her. Her body softened, and she closed her eyes slightly, letting Sheyan’s hands move up and down her body.

Sheyan only let go of Zi after quite a while. He looked up at the thick grey clouds in the sky, narrowed his eyes and smiled with glee.

“I’ve finally figured out the last missing link! Hahaha! Indeed, there are no sure-lose battles. The key to victory lies here! ”

***

Party Ace once again appeared in the Source of Darkness hall. This time, they came to make the final decision. All of them went before the Eye of Sauron and chose to upgrade their mission. They immediately received a series of notifications:

[ Temperer 1018, you and your party have chosen to upgrade the mission ‘Destroy the Kingdom’ ]

[ Your mission has been upgraded into a Golden Main Mission without any increase in difficulty. If you complete the mission, you will receive special rewards that are only available for Golden Main Missions. ]

[ After you upgrade the mission, you can no longer return to your Nightmare Realm even inside the Source of Darkness hall. However, you will still enjoy the buffs provided by the Source of Darkness hall. ]

[ Hint: The Special Creatures, Special Items, and Special Equipment options in the Source of Darkness hall are now available to you. ]

[ Hint: You now have a higher status in Sauron’s army. You have also gained Sauron’s appreciation. All your attributes have increased by 10% (this increase can stack with any other similar effects). ]

[ Warning: If the Source of Darkness hall is captured, all the contestants of the dark faction remaining in this world will die. ]

After going through the notifications, the eyes of Sheyan and his party members lit up.

“There are special options?” They immediately went over to check.

Quite a few of the new redeemable options left a deep impression on Sheyan.

For example, under the Creatures category, there were now three new special options.

The first were the Orc arsonists, which could perform long-range attacks. They were proficient at throwing torches but they had shorter range than archers. Not only could the torches cause a considerable amount of AoE damage, the foul-smelling smoke and fire they produced would also greatly affect the accuracy of the enemy’s long-range attacks. What’s more, the Orc arsonists were very cheap, only costing 20 contribution points each.