Chapter 224: Second Official Main Quest Settlement
The shouts of the Knights of the Round Table and the sounds of the Silver Fortress's defeat grew closer, while Cheng Tian, who had already finished his scavenging, had long since restored the treasure room to its original state.
He wasn't sure if anyone had seen him charging on a dragon, but at the very least, he couldn't let them easily know that he had already obtained more benefits.
Cheng Tian had been educated by Heaven's Chosen Space; after experiencing being targeted for showing off his wealth once, he relearned the importance of "keeping one's wealth hidden" and "not worrying about scarcity but about uneven distribution."
Now that he had monopolized the drops from the main BOSS, Prince Allen, and completed the scavenging ahead of time, he would definitely curse a few times in his heart if he were in their shoes.
Squatting at the top of the fortress, watching the remaining Silver Fortress troops collapse like a mountain, Cheng Tian opened his Space notification log.
[The main general of the Roman Empire faction in the current instance, "Prince Allen," has died. All players of the Roman Empire faction have their main quest forcibly failed and enter the evacuation phase.
After thoroughly occupying the Silver Fortress and killing or expelling all fleeing Roman Empire faction players, the main quest settlement can begin.]
[Note: Although Britannia faction players have successfully killed the enemy faction's main general, their own main general still has the possibility of being killed, and the death of their main general could also lead to a sharp drop in the main quest score, or even a forced failure.]
Unlike Metal Slug, which also had main quest confrontations but where each area was more inclined towards PVE, Knights of the Round Table was a mix of PVE and PVP, and also included some escort mission elements.
The Silver Fortress would collapse due to Prince Allen's death, and the Knights of the Round Table would similarly disintegrate due to Arthur's death.
Although Lancelot and Percival were both excellent Knights of the Round Table, neither of them possessed Arthur's leadership charisma, capable of overseeing the entire situation, nor the kingly demeanor that, while starting with Merlin's machinations, was gradually beginning to truly emerge; they could not replace Arthur.
In other words, if there truly was a player in the Silver Fortress who possessed strength, courage, and luck, and dared to take enormous risks to forcefully kill Arthur, then their situation, which had already entered a state of forced failure and retreat, would turn the tables, and their subsequent main quest would be directly taken over by Golden Grand Duke Garibaldi.
However, Arthur's overall strength might not be as good as Prince Allen's, and none of his attributes were particularly outstanding, but he had almost no weaknesses. In terms of personal attributes, legion buffs, parries, and counterattacks, he was all first-rate. Not to mention, because he had already encountered a seamless combination of the Eight Trigrams Formation and a large fireball once before, Lancelot and Percival now basically accompanied him long-term and never left his side.
Even Cheng Mouren in his overpowered Ghost Rider state would most likely be forced into a protracted battle, let alone anyone else.
If someone could still forcefully kill Arthur under such full protection and defense, then that would probably be an opponent Cheng Mouren couldn't handle… Rather, if such a person existed, the Silver Fortress wouldn't have fallen to this point step by step.
After a brief consideration, Cheng Tian decided not to join the pursuit of the Roman Empire faction players.
The reason was simple: do not pursue a cornered foe.
For these players who were fleeing for their lives, not escaping meant death, and since death was certain, things they originally intended to keep hidden might all explode at this time.
Cheng Tian's backpack was already full, even the magic pouch he had just acquired was packed. He wasn't too interested in adding a few more red or green shock orbs. He understood the principle of knowing when to quit while ahead.
He just didn't know how many people, having gained little due to his monopolization of the main quest rewards, would choose to pursue players to try and make up for their "losses"... Cheng Tian closed his panel and subconsciously looked diagonally downwards, his gaze meeting Arthur's, who had just led his subordinates to break through the Silver Fortress's main gate.
The two were silent for a moment, then nodded at each other.
Communication between men doesn't need many words; sometimes, just a look is enough.
As the battle flag representing the Knights of the Round Table, with its blue and red striped base and a leaping lion-like design in the center, was hoisted to the very top of the fortress, it signified the complete expulsion of the Silver Fortress army and the complete occupation of the Silver Fortress.
The Knights of the Round Table, soldiers, and players who had gathered in Prince Allen's hall also raised their weapons high above their heads, symbolizing their glorious victory once again.
And at this very moment, the scene froze, and space fell into stillness; only the Heaven's Chosen Space players remained in a movable state.
A montage of scenes began to play in the sky.
As expected, Cheng Tian's camera footage occupied the vast majority.
There were scenes of him riding a war elephant and roaring to meet the enemy in the middle of the night, of him using two Bull Demons to petrify and behead the Twin Blade Knight, and the most significant, of course, was in the Altar of the Blazing Sun, where Cheng Tian, in his Ghost Rider form, unleashed the Eye of Judgment, burning away Prince Allen's soul, leaving his eyes resembling a nearly burnt honeycomb, before casually throwing him to the ground and letting out a long howl as hellfire erupted from his body and mounts.
The montage of scenes also completely froze at that moment.
[Beginning instance settlement.]
[Instance Scene: Knights of the Round Table, Great Plains + Silver Fortress.
Instance Difficulty: C
Main Quest: "Sounding the Horn of Counterattack" — Team Quest, break through the blockade of "Twin Blade Knight Balford," kill "Prince Allen." Completed √.
Side Quest: "Holy Grail Mission" — Team Quest, collect Red Shock Orb (1/1); collect Green Shock Orb (1/1). Completed √.
Kill Evil Roman Empire soldiers (5/100). Not completed.
Non-Quest Plot Summary: Killed 2 enemy faction players, won the Sun God Gem Shard competition with Prince Allen, found and plundered Prince Allen's treasure room, Knights of the Round Table Knight Investiture.
Instance Achievements/Titles: Louis XVI Simulator / Guillotine (Blue), Britannia Supernova / Knights of the Round Table Dragon Elephant Knight (Purple), Are You Also a High-Tier Lord? / Silver Fortress's Demise (Purple, automatically obtained after killing Prince Allen), The Esoteric Art of Three-Ball Spells / I'm Not Karl (Purple, completed collection of three-color shock orbs).
Quest Completion: 100%
Scene Exploration: 100%
Instance Settlement Rating: S+
Instance Settlement Rewards: 14 Free Attribute Points, 3 Free Skill Points, 86,000 Heaven's Chosen Coins (36,000 commission + 5,000 bounty — enemy faction players * 2 + 15,000 bounty — Twin Blade Knight + 30,000 bounty — Golden Grand Duke).]
[Due to your illustrious military achievements, Arthur, in his capacity as the future Lord of Britannia, officially conferred upon you the title of the first honorary foreign Knight of the Knights of the Round Table of Britannia, and bestowed upon you the exclusive title of "Dragon Elephant."]
[The instance entry derivative mutated skill 『Chaotic Step Slash』 has been preserved. You can re-learn this skill during your next instance entry.]
[Your Knights of the Round Table related experiences have been archived.]