353: Chapter 345 Howitzer Shows its Power

In a certain deep mountain cave.

The cave was not spacious, and after placing a long table and a row of radio stations, it felt even narrower.

Domit stood before the table, his gaze falling on the map on its surface, while the telegraph operator behind him reported enemy movements from time to time.

"Adjutant." The enemy had reached the expected location, and Domit's eyes turned solemn.

"Present!"

"Order the Third Army to head to the mountain forest and establish a defensive line."

"Yes!" The adjutant trotted behind the telegraph operator to relay the command to the Third Army, which was not far from the mountainous area.

"Lord Marshal." Domit walked to the cave entrance, looking at Zhang Mu's back as he gazed into the distance. "If the howitzers are used here, we must ensure the total annihilation of the enemy—the kind where not a single one is left."

"Worried about survivors?"

"After all, it's three hundred thousand Soldiers, and there are many Professionals among them."

"Leave it to me, rest assured."

"By your command."

Domit turned back to the table to monitor enemy movements at all times, while Zhang Mu opened a light gate, brought out the three Special Squads led by Damu, and rushed toward the ambush site.

...

On a small mountain, the trees were sparse.

The Third Army, formed from the reorganization of the original Ninth Legion, climbed to the mountaintop under the leadership of their Legion Commander.

He stood with hands on hips and looked around; the trees were slender and could not possibly hide a person's figure, nor were there any boulders or cover nearby. Clearly, this was not a suitable place for an ambush.

But the Legion Commander, a former Soldier of the First Army, was not discouraged by this: "Everyone, dig ambush pits on the spot."

When the Soldiers heard the command, they all stood dazed and motionless.

The Legion Commander's eyebrows shot up: "Are you deaf?!"

"But..." a Soldier said hesitantly, "But Legion Commander, the Third Army are all ordinary people, not a single Professional among us. Even if we dig pits to hide, we won't be able to escape the enemy's magic search."

"Execute the order!"

"Yes!" After a year of training, it was unclear how much the Soldiers' individual combat skills had improved, but the Legion Commander's authority was fully established.

As the Soldiers grabbed their Entrenching shovels and got to work, the Legion Commander walked around to inspect the area.

His face was calm, but he felt somewhat helpless in his heart.

They were clearly all elites of the Lake Kingdom, so why were they not even as good as the First Army, who came from Farmer backgrounds?

Seeing that the enemy's strength was greater than their own, they immediately abandoned the thought of resistance. Truly...

"Phew—" Letting out a heavy breath, the Legion Commander looked out from the height toward the wide dirt road ten kilometers away.

"Strange... Mortars can't reach that far. Why did Legion Commander Domit send us here to set an ambush?"

After pondering for a while to no avail, he shook his head to set the matter aside and continued to inspect the Soldiers.

After a few rounds, he found that the morale of the Third Army Soldiers was extremely low.

Although their hands did not slow down while digging the pits, the complaints from their mouths never ceased for a moment.

"We're probably being used as cannon fodder," a digging Soldier whispered to the Soldier next to him without looking up.

A voice soon came from next to him: "What else?"

"The Third Army is entirely composed of ordinary people. Do you really think such a legion would be the main force?"

"Ordinary people... several of the reorganized legions are all ordinary people, right?"

"Speaking of which, why did Marshal Zhang Mu remove all the Professionals?"

"Can ordinary people alone withstand the enemy's Professionals?"

"Don't we have this?" The Soldier next to him continued digging with one hand while lifting the Rifle by his feet with the other.

"This thing is indeed powerful." The first Soldier nodded in agreement, but soon his face turned bitter again, "But it can't deal with High-tier... no, never mind High-tier,"

"I'm afraid it would be difficult even to deal with an Intermediate Knight."

"That's true." The Soldier next to him couldn't help but look up. "I saw an Intermediate Knight practicing riding skills in my old legion. That running speed... I felt it was faster than a bullet."

"So we're just cannon fodder, here to die!" he cursed in a low voice, then looked around.

The Soldier next to him seemed to sense what he wanted to do and warned: "Don't do anything reckless."

"Are you sure you're not running?" He leaned a bit closer to his neighbor. "The First Army are their own people. We—heh—they don't care about our lives at all."

"Run where? Our families are still in Lake, and besides..."

The neighboring Soldier scanned the surroundings: "There must be other legions nearby besides us."

He did not doubt the truth of the guess. After a moment of silence, he gave a miserable smile: "It seems we're going to die here."

The Legion Commander, listening to the conversation of the two from a blind spot, couldn't help but sigh again.

These fellows... hopefully they can still be saved...

He walked away to inspect other areas.

...

The weather had been clear recently without a drop of rain, and the surface of the dirt road was packed very hard.

Three legions stretched for several kilometers along the dirt road, marching rapidly thanks to the good road conditions.

An hour later, a range of low mountains far off entered their field of vision.

Although Lake seemed to have completely given up resistance, the three of them still did not relax and sent scouts ahead to probe the path.

Ten minutes later, the scouts returned on horseback to report the situation ahead.

After listening, the three Legion Commanders were stunned.

A legion of fifty thousand ordinary people scattered across the hilltops?

This... did Lake really expect to defeat them with such trash legions?

Suspicion arose, and they repeatedly confirmed with the scouts whether the intelligence was true.

"There can be no mistake, I guarantee it with my life."

Actually, the three of them knew the intelligence should be accurate.

These scouts were no ordinary people. They were in pairs on one horse, a combination of a High-level Knight and a High-level Magician.

Furthermore, they were equipped with crystals that greatly enhanced perception; even a Magister could not escape their detection.

The Grizzly Legion Commander looked at the distant mountain and asked again: "Are you sure there are no Professionals?"

"Unless there's a Saint-level."

Saint-level? How could they be deployed now.

The three did not believe Lake would send out a Saint-level in the early stages of the war.

After a brief discussion, they decided to consume these fifty thousand people.

It had been over thirty days since they entered Lake's territory, and they hadn't seen a single living soul. They had long been suppressed with a belly full of frustration and just happened to need an outlet.

"Don't split the troops to scout, or we'll scare them off."

"Mhm, the main army will suddenly launch a charge when we reach the middle of the valley. At such a close distance, they won't be able to escape."

With the plan set, the three pretended not to notice the ambush and led their Soldiers forward at their original speed.

The column soon marched into the valley. The three of them slowly tightened their grip on their weapons, intending to enjoy a thorough slaughter shortly.

The Soldiers who had already received orders were the same; they appeared relaxed while marching, but in reality, their attention was entirely on the low mountain to the right.

As they marched, they finally reached the middle of the valley.

"Charge!" The Grizzly Legion Commander drew the sword at his waist and pointed toward the low mountain.

The Rose Legion Commander excitedly waved her wand and flew into the air: "Listen up, don't let a single one—"

"Boom—" A violent explosion drowned out her shout.

Magic Crystal Cannon?!

The three were startled and hurriedly looked around.

The grassland stretched endlessly without even a human figure, let alone a Magic Crystal Cannon.

What on earth made that sound?

Suddenly, they perceived something in the sky above hurtling toward them at high speed.

They instinctively looked up.

"What... is that?"

The incoming object had a strange shape: the back half was a cylinder, and the front half looked like the pointed roof of a castle.

The strange thing was that it didn't emit any magic fluctuations, and its size wasn't very large.

In the cognition of the natives of the Saul Continent, this meant it lacked lethality.

Therefore, the three observing it were a beat slow to react, allowing it to plunge into the mass of Soldiers.

"BOOM—"

Firelight accompanied by a roar exploded in the crowd. Amidst the swirling dust and smoke, flesh and severed limbs scattered outward.

"Damn it, the intelligence was wrong!" The Grizzly Legion Commander's face changed drastically as he shouted to the other two, "Quick, raise Magic Shields!"

He was a Sky Knight; in a duel, he did not fear a Magister, but his area-of-effect lethality and protection were far inferior to the other two Legion Commanders.

The two who were stunned by the power of the strange object snapped out of it and hurriedly raised their wands. The Grizzly Legion Commander swung his sword and flew high into the air, preparing to intercept the second round of attacks.

However, in the next second, the three of them stopped their movements simultaneously, quickly moved close to each other, and suspended in the air back-to-back.

The Mad Lion Legion Commander scanned left and right with a gloomy gaze: "Can't find the source. A Saint-level?

No, impossible. If it were a Saint-level, there would be no need to hide their tracks."

"I feel..." the Rose Legion Commander endured a racing heart, "I feel like I've been targeted by a predator."

The Grizzly Legion Commander remained silent, his eyes darting around incessantly, trying to find the source of the killing intent.

They searched for a long time but could find nothing, and their hearts began to grow anxious.

A stalemate wouldn't do; the bombardment from the strange weapon seemed endless, round after round, and the Soldiers were being killed and wounded heavily.

The three intended to gather the Soldiers and command a breakout, but they were shrouded by a faint, indistinct killing intent. They didn't dare to be distracted for a moment and didn't even have the energy to look for the source of the bombardment.

"No, if this continues, we'll be wiped out!" The veins on the Mad Lion Legion Commander's forehead bulged.

The Grizzly Legion Commander took a quick look at the firelight exploding not far away: "As long as we escape the valley and let the Soldiers scatter, the power of this thing will be much smaller."

"So—"

"Whoosh—"

The Mad Lion Legion Commander was about to give the order, but at the very moment his attention slightly faltered as he spoke, an icy chill, as if being stared at by a venomous snake, climbed into his heart.

To the right!

His ears caught a faint whistling sound. Relying on combat instinct, he quickly judged the direction of the attack and raised a Magic Shield there.

The Magic Shield had just appeared when the sensation of a heavy impact came through.

Blocked it.

He breathed a sigh of relief and was about to warn the other two of the ambusher's position, but his mouth was only halfway open when he heard the 'crack' of the Magic Shield shattering.

"Pfft—"

When the two turned their heads, they only saw the Mad Lion Legion Commander's head completely blown apart, his headless corpse falling toward the ground.

They even forgot to wipe away the splattered blood and minced meat, letting it cover them entirely.

The three were not flying very high, and the headless corpse soon hit the ground.

Watching the blood gush from the neck and form a pool under the corpse, the breathing of the two almost stopped simultaneously.

A High-tier Professional, a Magister... just like that... died? Died without even knowing who the enemy was?

Run, run quickly!

Their spines felt chilled. They could no longer care about the destruction of their legions and turned to flee frantically back the way they came.

If the legion was annihilated, at worst they would become commanders without an army. But if they died here, then everything would truly be gone.

"Whoosh—" Clearly, the hunter hiding in the shadows had no intention of letting them go.

Two whistling sounds rushed toward them respectively. Their souls were nearly scared out of their bodies; one held a longsword across his front, and the other surged with magic power, pouring it all into a Magic Shield.

Only the result was no different.

Three seconds later, two headless corpses fell to the ground and were trampled into meat paste by the chaotic Soldiers.

Zhang Mu, floating in the air using the Shadow Technique, looked down at the earth.

The long investment wasn't wasted; the power was terrifyingly strong. It's just... Damu and the others aren't Professionals. A sniper shot capable of killing a Magister can only be fired once by a squad in a short period.

Mhm... I'll find a way to improve it in the future.

Setting that aside for now, Zhang Mu looked at the Soldiers, more than half of whom were dead or wounded.

Of the three hundred thousand Soldiers, only a bit over a hundred thousand remained after just ten minutes.

Half of that was thanks to the howitzer positions deployed behind the mountain, and the other half... was because they were so panicked that they trampled their own people to death.

"What needed testing has been tested, and the example has been set. Let's end this." Muttering to himself, Zhang Mu's Mental Energy drifted toward the clouds as he transmitted a message, "Take no prisoners."

"By your command, Lord Marshal." A low, cold, and emotionless voice replied.

...

"Where is the Legion Commander?!"

On the ground, an adjutant was kicking away his own Soldiers who were surging toward him while frantically searching for someone.

He felt like he was seeing ghosts. He had clearly seen the three Legion Commanders flying in the sky not long ago, but in the blink of an eye, the three of them had disappeared together.

"Boom— Boom— Boom—"

Another round of bombardment fell into the mass of Soldiers. The adjutant was lucky enough not to be hit, but a clod of mud flying from the side covered his face.

"Bah—" Spitting out the mud in his mouth, he cursed loudly, "What kind of weapon is this?!

The power is much greater than a Magic Crystal Cannon, yet the attack frequency can be maintained at one round every few minutes, and the range is far beyond sight.

And we were actually completely unaware before the battle. Bastards, the intelligence personnel of the Alliance are all idi—"

A loud bird cry fell from the sky, interrupting his cursing and attracting the Soldiers' gazes.

The surviving Soldiers instinctively looked up.

From the thick clouds high above, overwhelming numbers of Griffin Cavalry charged out. They were clad in full armor, their helmets covering their entire heads, leaving only their eyes exposed.

It's over...

The adjutant's face was pale, without a trace of color.

Since the internal strife in the Lake Royal Capital, the name of the Griffin Legion was known to everyone in the surrounding neighboring countries.

Entirely composed of Professionals, with Griffins of high-level strength—with the two cooperating, not a single person from the Alliance could escape.

The adjutant smiled miserably and stopped running. He pushed out of the shoving, crowded mass and sat cross-legged on the grass by the roadside.

He was a High-level Knight with powerful vision and could clearly see that over on the low mountain, the Lake Soldiers were all sticking their heads out of the pits, looking toward him with astonished eyes.

Or rather, looking at the three legions.

"Why?" Knowing he could not escape death, the adjutant only wanted to solve the confusion in his heart. "If the real ambush was behind the mountain, what was the role of these Soldiers on the mountain?"

After being bombarded for so long, he had deduced through the trajectory of the shells that the firing point was behind the mountain.

The adjutant knew very well that their scouts would not have searched behind the mountain because no one knew that Lake possessed weapons with a range of dozens of kilometers.

Therefore, the Soldiers on the mountain did not serve to conceal the real ambush.

Then why were they sent here?

To watch the show? To see how miserably we die?

No one gave him an answer, and he had no time left to think.

A Griffin Knight dived down, a long spear piercing his heart, and the adjutant's consciousness slowly sank into darkness.