Chapter 148: The Murloc Tidewalker
Matthew's words left Elio somewhat bewildered.
She unconsciously raised her arm, where the crimson tattoos glowed faintly.
"Doesn't the lord mind at all?"
"500 gold coins and 200 contribution points? That's a huge sum—enough to buy plenty of things..."
"A longsword? How did the lord know I'm more skilled with a sword?"
"..."
Staring into Matthew's familiar, dark eyes, Elio opened her mouth, and at Old John's urging, she bowed slightly:
"Thank you for the lord's reward."
With this body being a mere projection, Matthew had no reservations. He boldly reached out and patted Elio's shoulder, admiring her tall and slender frame as he praised:
"Your personal strength is outstanding, but you need to work on coordinating with your teammates and improving your command skills."
"If you can make up for those weaknesses and keep earning contribution points, you could become a captain."
As Elio stood there in a daze, Matthew signaled to Ralph, who then shouted loudly:
"The highest contributor in this battle is—Elio!"
Old John and Ji Fan quickly followed suit, shouting:
"Elio!"
The other soldiers joined in, ignoring Elio's strange appearance, and shouted with envy and anticipation:
"Elio!"
After all, everyone wanted a strong teammate—the more loot to go around, the better!
Having made a small gesture of goodwill, Matthew turned his attention to the murlocs spreading across the Silvermoon River.
Thousands filled the city; tens of thousands covered the fields!
Even though the murlocs were small in stature, when their numbers reached such overwhelming levels, covering the landscape as far as the eye could see, fear naturally arose.
With a quick glance, Matthew estimated that there were no less than 50,000 murlocs, with more still emerging from the river.
The vast fields that had been cleared for planting were now trampled into a murky mess by the murlocs.
Luckily, there were still a few days before sowing would begin. Otherwise, this would have resulted in enormous waste and loss of precious time.
Even so, watching their beloved land being so defiled made every soldier of Bay Territory seethe with anger.
After all, the land that was being ruined included the very plots they were about to be assigned!
The small murlocs posed no threat to the sturdy walls, but every soldier wanted to rush out and fight.
Matthew wasn't troubled by the large number of murlocs. Instead, he silently pondered:
"Why are these normally chaotic, energetic murlocs gathering in such large numbers?"
"Killing these murlocs only grants me 1 or 2 experience points each. How can I maximize their value?"
Glancing over the mass of murlocs, an idea struck Matthew, and he silently thought:
"Yaya, time to make an appearance!"
"Yes! On it!"
With a cheerful response echoing in Matthew's mind, a flash of silvery light streaked across the sky above the walls, accompanied by a clear and resonant dragon's roar that echoed powerfully.
Majestic!
Mighty!
Even the soldiers who had grown familiar with Yaya found themselves feeling uneasy but were nonetheless filled with excitement.
Having just come back to her senses, Elio gazed at the beautiful Yaya, feeling the oppressive aura emanating from the dragon, and a strange sensation welled up inside her:
"Is this the lord's confidence?"
"Or does he truly not care about any race?"
As Elio pondered, the murlocs below, overwhelmed by the dragon's presence, collapsed in fear.
Even the loud, chaotic noises immediately quieted.
Yaya had never had the chance to show off in front of so many creatures before and happily flapped her wings, flying toward the murlocs that hadn't yet succumbed to her presence.
Like a giant eraser, Yaya swept across the "murloc blackboard" with astonishing speed.
Wherever she passed, all the murlocs fell flat to the ground in terror.
Seeing how feeble the murlocs were, everyone couldn't help but smile.
Just then, several bright white ice spears shot out from the Silvermoon River, aimed directly at the airborne Yaya.
Prepared for this, Yaya skillfully twisted her wings, gracefully dodging the spears, her bright blue eyes locking onto the figure beneath the water.
Watching Yaya remain unharmed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Matthew also received information about the enemy as he observed the ice spears leaving a trail of bright white crystals behind, murmuring to himself:
"Casting ability? There's a murloc shaman among them, which means it's very likely that the one controlling these murlocs is a Tidewalker!"
Although much of his gaming knowledge couldn't be applied directly to this world, that didn't mean it was entirely useless.
His familiarity with various monsters allowed Matthew to quickly deduce the identity of the enemy.
The creature controlling this vast horde of murlocs was most likely a high-tier murloc Tidewalker!
Defeating a high-tier murloc wasn't difficult—the rapidly developing Bay Territory already had sufficient military power.
However, locating and eliminating a high-tier murloc within the vast Silvermoon River, surrounded by tens of thousands of murlocs, would be a huge challenge.
And judging by this Tidewalker's cautious behavior, it wouldn't be easy to find.
Looking at the countless murlocs below, a faint smile appeared on Matthew's face. Conventional methods would be ineffective here.
How to deal with vast numbers of aquatic murlocs had always been a major headache for the northern nations!
For thousands of years, no effective solution had been found. The only option was to spend significant resources each year on murloc hunts.
Alternatively, long-term bounties were posted, encouraging low-level adventurers to help clear them out.
However, for the players who sought efficiency and results, figuring out how to eliminate large numbers of aquatic murlocs became a matter of pride and profit.
After all, even small bounties on murlocs could accumulate into gold coins!
Through years of player ingenuity and experimentation, several effective, simple, and cheap "murloc-killing methods" had been discovered.
Eventually, entire "murloc-killing squads" formed, making a living by clearing out murlocs for lords, and it was said they earned quite a bit.
Naturally, Matthew was familiar with these methods, and one, in particular, was perfectly suited for Bay Territory's current situation.
Having made up his mind, Matthew gave Ralph a look and spoke decisively:
"These murlocs have come at just the right time. Their strength is weak, and they pose little threat. Let's use this opportunity to train the newly recruited soldiers."
Such a good target had come knocking—what a waste it would be not to drill the troops!