With godlike talent from the start, how did he become invincible?

Chapter 599 Taking the Initiative

"What about the barbarians?" a garrison captain asked.

"Send a small force to make a feint on the eastern front, creating a stir and making the barbarians think we're also making a big move there," Lin Tian said. "A feint doesn't need many people; fifty cavalrymen running back and forth a few times will be enough. The barbarians won't risk an attack; their command structure hasn't fully recovered since their leader was killed last time."

Qin Zhi glanced at Lin Tian, ​​and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.

"The plan is feasible," she said.

She turned off the map projection, walked to the long table, and placed her hands on the tabletop.

"Colin, you lead the main assault team out of the city through the north gate and head straight for the orcish encampment. Lin Tian, ​​you will be the spearhead, infiltrating the enemy ranks first to kill the orcish frontline commander. After the command node is destroyed, Colin will lead the team in a frontal assault."

"Understood." Colin stood up.

"Lin Tian, ​​your mission is the most dangerous." Qin Zhi turned to him. "The beastman frontline commander has at least fifty elite guards, and their ranks are no low. Are you confident?"

Lin Tian opened the system panel and glanced at his status—level 73, experience bar almost full. All skills were on cooldown, and potions were plentiful.

"have."

Qin Zhi nodded: "Then it's settled. All units, begin preparations and depart promptly at 6 PM. Night combat is our advantage; the orcs' visibility will be suppressed at night."

Fang Ping walked over to Lin Tian and whispered, "You went a bit too far this time. Going deep into enemy territory to take down the commander—that's something only suicide squads used to do."

"That's why I went alone," Lin Tian said. "If there were more people, it would be easier to get spotted."

Fang Ping opened his mouth, then patted him on the shoulder: "Come back alive."

At noon, Lin Tian was making final preparations for battle in the preparation room.

He checked the items in his backpack: twenty stacks of recovery potions, fifteen stacks of mana potions, three spatial imprints, and two spare weapons. The Ice Crystal Bone Armor fragments had already been embedded into Little White's collar, increasing its ice resistance by 20% and also inflicting the Frost Slow effect.

Celia emerged halfway from the shadows and sent a message to Lin Tian's mind: "I'll go into the camp tonight to scout ahead."

"Okay," Lin Tian said. "Don't alert the watchtowers; their anti-stealth runes are still active."

The little white disc sat beside the preparation table, the dragon's eyes half-open and half-closed, a thin layer of frost clinging to the tip of its tail.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Colin pushed open the door and came in.

"The commando team is ready," he said. "One hundred and fifty men, all the best fighters in the Great Gorge garrison. When are you leaving?"

"5:30," Lin Tian said. "The stealth is most efficient after it gets dark. I'll infiltrate half an hour early and signal you when I reach the target location. Once the signal arrives, you launch the assault."

Colin nodded. He hesitated for a moment, then said, "Be careful. The commander's guard has at least three elites above level 80. If you're exposed, no one can save you."

Lin Tian smiled.

At 5:30 p.m., it began to get dark.

Lin Tian left the city through the north gate and walked alone into the twilight. Fang Ping and Su Qing stood on the city wall watching him. Su Qing was still clutching several sets of high-grade potions that she had just prepared—she hadn't had time to give them to him yet.

"He forgot to take it," Su Qing said.

Fang Ping remained silent. He watched Lin Tian's figure disappear into the twilight, and after a long while, he said, "He won't forget. He just doesn't want to carry too much stuff and slow down."

The north wind blew in from the wasteland, carrying the acrid smell unique to the orc camp.

Lin Tian activated stealth and swiftly traversed between the ice ridges and rubble. On his perception panel, the red dots ahead grew increasingly dense—the outline of the orc camp gradually emerged in the twilight.

He quickened his pace.

......

Lin Tian squatted on the edge of an abandoned mine pit outside the orc camp, his perception panel already at its maximum range.

The layout of the camp's interior gradually came to mind—the outer perimeter was patrolled by ordinary orc infantry, with waves of them every five minutes or so.

In the middle was a wooden fence and simple watchtowers, with an orc archer standing on each watchtower;

Deep inside were several large tents, one of which had a significantly higher density of light spots around it than the others, indicating at least fifty elite guards.

That's it.

Lin Tian's gaze was fixed on that tent.

A black battle flag was planted on the top of the tent, with blood-red orc script embroidered on it: "Ironskull Tribe Frontline Command".

"Celia, go in and explore first."

Celia slid silently out of the shadows, moving close to the ground as she moved into the camp.

Her Shadow Stalking ability was much better at night than during the day, and with the shadows cast by tents and torches everywhere in the camp, her movements were almost invisible.

Five minutes later, she transmitted a message to Lin Tian's mind: "There are three targets in the tent. The one in the middle is the frontline commander, an 83-level elite, with the title 'Iron-Skull Warlord' on his stats. There is a guard captain on each side, an 81-level elite. There are twelve elite guards outside the tent, with levels between 75 and 78."

Three elites above level 80, plus twelve elites above level 70.

Lin Tian quickly went through the skill combinations in his mind.

If he were to charge head-on, even if he could instantly kill all fifteen NPCs, it would still take him at least ten seconds to deal damage—enough time for the other orcs in the camp to complete the encirclement.

Chaos must be created first.

He gave Celia instructions in his mind: "Create shadow fluctuations on the west side of the camp to draw the patrols' attention. Little White, create ice mist on the east side to cover the eastern half of the camp. Leave the gap in the middle to me."

"Received," Celia replied with a brief confirmation.

Little White silently flew off Lin Tian's shoulder, its dragon body unfurling in the night sky, the icy blue luster on its scales suppressed to a minimum by the darkness.

It hovered over the eastern side of the camp, took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled—ice mist spread from its dragon-like mouth, like a gray veil, silently covering the eastern half of the camp.

The ice fog has no offensive capabilities, but visibility within it drops to less than ten meters.

The archers on the orc watchtower began rubbing their eyes and cursing, and the patrol slowed down.

At the same time, a low, dark energy fluctuation emanated from the west side of the camp. Celia's Shadow Thorns slowly crawled beneath the ground; although they hadn't fully emerged, the fluctuation of the shadow energy itself was enough to alert the patrol.

"There's movement to the west!" "Follow me!" The orc patrol began to assemble to the west.

The camp's attention was breached.