The Mage Association of Risel City had a prestigious reputation in the South, perhaps even on par with Green City’s association, since its predecessor had been the Royal Mage Association of the Risel Empire thousands of years ago. Yet during the war for Risel City, he had barely seen any high-end combatants in action. A city of five hundred thousand couldn’t possibly be defended by just ordinary soldiers. That was too abnormal. It was true the beastmen had prepared in advance, but the power Risel City displayed didn’t match that of a major city. Even in the end, Li De had only detected the presence of three to five top-tier human professionals. That was far too suspicious. Only after leaving Risel City and thinking it over carefully did Li De realize something was off. This wasn’t the level of power a major city should have possessed, especially not one with thousands of years of legacy. Andabella’s expression grew a bit complicated, and she shook her head. "Risel City’s mage corps was requisitioned by Green City. Even Lord Locke requisitioned most of our top-tier professionals." "Requisitioned?" Li De looked stunned. Right when their own city was under attack, Green City’s transcendent forces had pulled Risel City’s backbone strength away, what kind of… Then, as if recalling something, his brows furrowed slightly. "Is it because of the undead in the north?" There was no other reason that could justify such a critical redeployment at a time , except for the undead. Andabella nodded, her silver eyes heavy with emotion. "Before the beastmen encircled Risel City, Lord Locke had already pulled out the city’s upper-echelon forces. The undead in the north invaded too quickly. One-fifth of the Thornflower Province has already fallen, and over a dozen cities on the Southern Province border collapsed in succession after Solins City was taken by the undead. If we don’t stop them, not only the northern frontier, but the entire southern region of the Nolan Empire will become a dead land." Hearing this, Li De finally understood. No wonder Andabella, a City Lord, had no high-tier protectors by her side. He had previously assumed they’d died in the chaos of war, but now it was clear they’d been reassigned. "So in the end, the loss of high-end strength directly led to Risel City’s rapid fall." The girl looked into Li De’s dark eyes and both nodded and shook her head. "The beastmen were clearly well-prepared for this war. Even if we’d had our elite strength, Risel City couldn’t have held. It’s true our mage corps had been reduced to scattered remnants. But the beastmen never even used their shamans. The power gap between Risel City and the beastmen was simply too great, so great that a few top-tier combatants couldn’t have made a difference." Li De understood. War was the contest of two entire forces. Unless individual power reached the Transcendent or Legendary level, it couldn’t shift the outcome of large-scale conflict. Top-tier fighters weren’t as invincible as people imagined. Even with weapons like Castro and Witherbone at his command, he couldn’t expect to win a large-scale war with just two top-tier combatants. Just like in the Dwarven Valley, Kosso and Castro were more than powerful enough, but in the end, it was the vampire spellcasting corps that secured victory. Though Li De hadn’t personally participated in the war at Risel City, he had been collecting intelligence the entire time and tracking the progress of the conflict, so he understood the dynamics clearly. This battle at Risel City had also been a great lesson for him. It gave him new insights into future warfare and new considerations for planning Dawn City. It was an unexpected reward, beyond just acquiring the goblins. "Lord Ezreal, we’ve arrived." Andabella’s sudden voice interrupted Li De’s thoughts. Following the girl’s indication, Li De slightly turned his head to look down toward the ground a thousand blades below. Deep within a series of rolling hills, a medium-sized valley appeared before them, clearly, this was the secret base of Risel City that Andabella had mentioned. To the west of the valley, a river was flowing slowly. The river emerged from beneath a low hill, appearing for less than a thousand blades before disappearing again into the next valley. No other traces of the river could be seen nearby, this was obviously the underground river. His gaze shifted slightly. The valley was about a thousand blades wide and fifteen hundred blades long, surrounded by hills two to three hundred blades tall. The entire area was enclosed by dense low hills stretching across several dozen li, and the surroundings were extremely barren. Clearly, even centaurs rarely ventured into such a place, making it an extremely secure choice for a secret base. But now, in this desolate valley, crowds of centaurs had gathered. Centaurs had the lower bodies of horses and the upper bodies of humans. With powerful arms holding various weapons, their appearance didn’t differ much from how they were portrayed in Earth’s films. These strong creatures generally stood around 3 blades tall, with sharply defined muscles bulging like forged steel, every inch of their bodies exuded a heart-stirring sense of power. Their towering forms were like stone towers that would never collapse. The centaurs wore primitive beast hides. Some held longbows over two blades in length, while others wielded spears made of bone and stone, giving off an aura both primitive and backward. Humanity didn’t just restrict the export of weapons and military supplies to the Barren Plains, the Dwarven Hills were subject to the same embargo. As a result, these impoverished centaurs lived lives as primitive as the beastmen. Seeing this scene, Li De’s eyes suddenly lit up, as if struck by inspiration. He turned to look at the girl still leaning into his embrace, his expression somewhat excited. “Bella, do centaurs reject trade with the outside world?” Andabella looked at the handsome face beside her, her silver eyes filled with certainty. She nodded slightly. “Centaurs are no less intelligent than humans, some of their wise ones can rival human scholars. As long as you can earn their respect, these intelligent beings are actually not difficult to deal with.” Earn their respect? A playful curve formed at the corner of Li De’s lips. Turning to the empty space beside him, he spoke coldly. “Witherbone, let these centaurs witness your strength. Remember, wound them heavily, but do not kill them.” The rıghtful source is 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾·𝗇𝖾𝗍 “As you command, my master~” Witherbone, who had kept a spatial anchor locked onto Li De, tore open space and flew out, wings spreading wide. With a wingspan of twenty blades, the bone dragon composed entirely of white skeleton once again descended upon the world. A meaningful glint flashed in Li De’s eyes. He had suddenly come up with a brilliant idea, one that he could experiment with on these centaurs. If successful, Dawn City would reap enormous rewards. There would be no such thing as failure. If the idea worked, he would obtain the Risel City elites as planned. If it didn’t, he would still get them, only the process would be far less pleasant. A bunch of centaurs had no right to evoke mercy from a Vampire Progenitor, a supreme dark villain boss like him.