Chapter 1238: An Army of One Person
The conference was held in the hall of the sanatorium.
Almost all of the professional martial artists were invited.
However, Roland noticed that there were only about 300 people attending the meeting, which was significantly lower than the number registered in the Prism City. Apart from those who were injured or killed during the battle, some people had cold feet after the massive outbreak of the "Erosion".
They were probably amateur martial artists who had recently joined the Association.
Garcia denounced such cowardice and believed that it was an insult to their awakened Forces of Nature. Those people would pay for their cravenness when the Fallen Evils completely overpowered human beings.
Roland consoled Garcia, but he knew the Martial Artist Association was a relatively loose organization. In a modern society like the Dream World, the Martial Artist Association had no authority to bind the martial artists and ask them to tag along.
Roland had anticipated what direction this meeting would go into.
The Defender, Rock, briefly explained the current dilemma the Association was facing. After the attack at the Prism City, more Fallen Evils attacked the Awakened. Although there was no solid evidence at this point, it appeared that the new enemy that appeared in the Erosion had the ability to control Fallen Evils. This meant that the war would enter a new stage. The Martial Artist Association would organize people and repel the Fallen Evils more systematically. In the meantime, the Fallen Evils had also come up with plans to kill martial artists. The situation for human beings was now very critical.
Rock thus suggested that all the martial artists, both official members and newbies, should stay here in this sanatorium until order was re-established in the Prism City, as the sanatorium would afford some protection from their enemies. He also expressed his wish that all the invited martial artists should realize the precarious condition they were currently in and united to fight this battle together.
This was a perfect way to raise the morale among the martial artists. Roland believed that once this information spread, some hesitant amateur martial artists would probably return to the Association.
Whether or not all the people came back depended on the outcome of the battle. If the Fallen Evils outstripped the Association, more people would probably choose to flee.
It was extremely difficult to re-establish confidence.
As Roland had expected, Rock started to discuss the countermeasure.
One strategy was to send for the martial artists from other cities to solve Prism City's lack of manpower.
Secondly, the Martial Artist Contest should continue, in order to attract more Fallen Evils. The government and the executives of the Association had already approved this plan. Once the enemy appeared, they would face the wrath of the Defender and the martial artists.
Thirdly, the Association would set up a patrol team to prevent the Fallen Evils from attacking innocent citizens. Therefore, the martial artists would be divided into several groups, each of which being responsible for defending one area. In this way, they could immediately support each other in the event of an emergency and could also besiege the enemy once they received information from the intelligence agency.
The preliminary counterattack plan was quite conservative, considering that they lacked sufficient information.
The leader of each group could select their own team members, and a heated discussion immediately swept over the hall.
Roland did not want to be assigned to any team. In a sense, he himself was an army, and he did not want anyone to interfere with his magic core collection plan. Fortunately, few people in the Association knew him, so nobody asked him to join their team.
Until Fei Yuhan walked up to him and offered an invitation.
In fact, as the most popular martial artists, Fei Yuhan only invited two people.
But Roland turned her down without the slightest hesitation.
Everyone dropped their jaws, including Garcia. She asked Roland to think it over. It appeared that even self-disciplined Garcia spoke highly of this girl.
It took Roland a while to convince Garcia that he'd be better off fighting alone. The best proof was his previous feats and his hunting license.
The only thing that Roland was concerned about was that the other person Fei Yuhan invited was the demon martial artist, Valkries.
It was 10:00 PM when Roland returned to his apartment.
After Zero went to bed, Roland entered the second floor of the Rose Caf� through the side door of the warehouse.
More than 50 Taquila ancient witches bowed to him and paid him the highest respect. This was the first time that so many witches had come to the Dream World. The room was packed.
Back in the Union age, a team of 50 combat witches would have been sufficient to conduct a small battle.
"Any luck?"
Roland looked toward Faldi.
"Yes, the flies released by the Bug Nest sensed a few disappearing magic reactions," Faldi replied as she scrolled down the cell phone screen and showed Roland the map. She was not used to using the digital map, but somehow she managed it. "Normally, this indicates that there are God's Stones of Retaliation around there, or that our target can hide its magic power. If neither of the two applies, then it would mean that the target is dead."
"But there's no God's Stone of Retaliation in the Dream World, and the Force of Nature isn't as diverse as witches' abilities," Roland said.
"That's right. So we assume that the Fallen Evils fought with the awakened martial artists. Somebody died and their cores were taken away," Faldi replied while nodding. "Based on the direction of the magic reaction, they probably went here � "
She pointed at a pier on the inner river.
It appeared that the river bank was always the first choice of locations to commit a crime.
"Since my flies can't go that far, I contacted Ling for further investigation. She told me an hour ago that she found many Fallen Evils."
"Well done," Roland said with a faint smile. This was the reason he did not need the support of the Association. The Taquila witches could locate the enemies and kill them on their own. "I believe that you're all ready."
"Your Majesty, please issue your command," the witches chorused.
Their morale was high after they had had a good time during the day.
For them, fighting was another way to savor their past.
In addition to enjoying food, using magic was extremely joyous for them.
"Everyone, ready, go!" Roland ordered briskly.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"