Chapter 323 Riven's Gamble
The tens of thousands of civilians in the camp were standing too densely.
Just this round of arrow rain alone could easily take the lives of thousands of people.
Add to that those who lost control and fled in panic and despair, trampled to death, pushed each other into the water and drowned...the death toll caused by a rain of arrows may be far greater than the number of arrows themselves.
Even if Riven attacked Urgot with all her might, it would still take a while to kill him.
This short period of time was enough for the Noxian soldiers to fire a few rounds of arrows and massacre the tens of thousands of civilians crowded in the camp. Not to mention, even if Urgot died, the soldiers might not stop killing immediately.
They came here to kill people, but more importantly, to save people. If almost everyone is dead, then what is the point of their coming here?
We must not let the rain of arrows fall, absolutely not.
This was Riven's instinctive thought.
"Wind Barrier!"
Riven waved her hand to summon a storm, erecting a giant invisible wall in the air for the people.
The air current blew away the rain of arrows, giving the panicked civilians a chance to catch their breath.
"Shoot, shoot!" But Urgot was not going to give them a chance to catch their breath.
While he was frantically yelling at his subordinates to continue shooting arrows, he was also arrogantly waving his giant axe and actively rushing towards Riven.
And Riven was just as he guessed...
Because she needed to use most of her divine power to block the continuous rain of arrows for the civilians, Riven's power had been weakened a lot compared to before.
Moreover, this force is still decreasing at a terrifying speed due to the existence of the huge wind wall.
The greatsword and the greataxe collided. After several rounds of fighting, Riven, who had been unilaterally crushing Urgot, gradually showed signs of decline.
"Hahahaha." Urgot finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Oh...you want them all?
You talk so big, but this is all you can do?
"You fools who like to sympathize with the weak are so easy to deal with!" Urgot's giant axe kept chopping down at Riven, and the attack became more and more fierce.
After a few more moves, Riven became increasingly weaker.
Because at the same time, there were thousands of Noxian soldiers outside the battlefield, faithfully carrying out Urgot's orders, continuously shooting arrows at the civilians in the camp.
These arrows were all stopped by the wind wall.
However, every time the wind wall is maintained for a period of time and every time a wave of arrows is intercepted, a large amount of Riven's divine power will be consumed.
The less divine power Riven consumes, the less strength she has to take down Urgot and end the battle as quickly as possible.
This is undoubtedly a vicious cycle.
Riven was trapped in this vicious cycle, with Urgot constantly draining her strength and her hope of victory.
"President Orianna!" Jie flashed and wanted to come to support, but as soon as he appeared, he was stuck by the general's guards who were endless to kill.
In desperation, he could only remind loudly: "Don't hesitate any longer——"
"Don't worry about the civilians, kill Urgot first!"
Feiya was silent for a while.
She clenched her fists and bit her lips until they bled. But she finally yelled , "President Orianna, give up..."
“We can’t save everyone.”
"This..." Master Yi's mouth twitched slightly, but he was unable to speak.
This choice is cruel.
But sometimes, leaders have to make such difficult choices.
Leaders should be moral role models, but they should not be morally obsessed. People who are morally obsessed and flawless will never achieve anything.
"President Orianna!" In the end, Master Yi had to succumb to reality.
Even the most sincere and simple-minded Wuji swordsmen realized the necessity of this heavy choice.
"Give up, President Orianna!" Such voices kept echoing on the battlefield.
"No, don't..." The people in the camp panicked.
They knew that if the wall of wind no longer protected them, they would face inevitable death in the next second.
"Don't... don't give up on us." Such pleading voices came from the crowd.
"Lady Orianna." They hurriedly called out the name they had just heard, "Don't give up on us!"
"Enough!" Riven finally spoke.
She tried her best to break free from the fight with Urgot, flew into the sky, flew in front of the continuous rain of arrows, and also flew into the eyes of tens of thousands of civilians.
"I saved you not to let you call me sir. And not to watch you standing here, doing nothing, waiting for the savior to come."
Riven's voice floated out with the wind and reached everyone's ears.
"You—can save yourselves!"
"I..." The civilians were stunned.
They have no power, how can they save themselves?
In the extraordinary world, there is no such thing as the masses uniting as one, rising up in rebellion, and defeating all powerful enemies.
This kind of thing simply doesn't work in Runeterra.
Just like now...
Any soldier picked out of Urgot's regiment is a tough guy who can run a 10-kilometer forced march without taking a breath while wearing 100-kilometer heavy armor.
Not to mention, there are many extraordinary warriors and many mages among them.
Even if they had another million, they would not be enough to kill all these weak and powerless country farmers.
So Li Wei said in the article that leaders must mobilize the masses, but they must also protect the masses in a pragmatic way.
The common people in this world are indeed incapable of resisting oppression. It cannot be blamed on them being cowardly.
Here, "no savior" is more like a kind of political correctness insisted by the leaders. It means that the power of Goddess Gana comes from humans, so the savior of mankind is naturally themselves.
But leaving aside the theory of leaders, in reality, many times, the weak need the strong to play the role of savior and save them from danger.
"But you are not ordinary people." Riven said.
She said loudly to everyone, "I know that some of you have read the book of the Leader."
"Not just one or two people, but many people. Thousands and thousands of people read it."
In order to provide a safety insurance for their lives, the residents of the Yipu River Basin have been frantically studying and researching "A Brief Account of Gana's Thought" over the past 20 days.
This was discovered by Urgot's subordinates.
When Zed had sneaked into the camp to gather intelligence, he had already brought this news back to tell Riven.
So she knew that among the tens of thousands of people present, many had read the Leader's book.
"I don't know if you can understand what's in the book."
"I don't know how many of you have developed faith in Goddess Janna and become our comrades."
"But I choose to believe in you." Riven called out loudly: "I believe that many of you have already agreed with our ideals and embarked on the same path as us."
"so……"
"Pray to the goddess Janna!"
"Show your faith and let the goddess grant you divine power!"
"This..." Yi, Jie, Feiya, and the leaders were all stunned.
They finally understood what Riven was doing.
She was betting that among these tens of thousands of civilians, enough of them had become believers of Goddess Gana.
If she loses the bet...
"I'm sorry, everyone." Riven said, "Please forgive me for taking this risk. If I fail, I will do my best to get everyone out of here safely..."
She knew that what she was risking was not only her own life, but also the lives of her comrades and fellow soldiers.
So Riven felt a little guilty.
"No, don't be sorry!" Fia shouted, "Orianna, you are the president!"
"We recognize you as the president, so we trust your decision!"
"Besides..." Feiya and the leaders looked at each other and said in unison: "Don't underestimate us, President!"
Riven made the right decision.
As long as the bet succeeds, she can save everyone and avoid the deaths of at least tens of thousands of people.
"Even if we fail, the worst outcome is death, right?"
"We are not afraid of death." These leaders, who have been in the club for no more than a month, have been tempered into true warriors in bloody battles.
Facing this bloody battlefield, they all laughed freely:
"Even if you die, you will just go to the spiritual realm."
"That's perfect - we can set up a 'Wind Leader Spiritual Realm Branch' in the underworld and continue the struggle there!"
"Ha ha ha ha……"
The leader's laughter echoed across the battlefield.
Jie, Yi, the shadow assassin, and the Wuji swordsman were all relieved by this laughter.
If the leaders are willing to risk their lives and fight hard, why can't they do the same?
So everyone laughed out loud.
Faced with the increasingly dangerous battlefield situation, not only did they not show any fear, but they also discussed loudly and with relish while fighting, wondering whether they would be reincarnated .
"This..." Now it was Urgot's turn to be afraid.
Although he still has the advantage now, he has never been a coward who is afraid of anything.
But somehow, looking at these guys who could die with a smile, he felt scared.
Then……
The real fear is coming.
Urgot was shocked to find that, along with the hearty laughter of the leaders, the person who appeared on the battlefield was...
Wire.
More and more lines, thousands and thousands of lines.
Countless threads of faith, along with people's prayers, were pulled out of the concentration camp that should have been filled with despair...
Ride the wind and go straight into the sky!
