356: Chapter 348 Hunt Down, Magic Sniper Rifle.

When the gatling roared wildly on the hilltop, the elite squad of a hundred men below the slope suffered a devastating disaster without surprise.

The gatling's rotating barrels fired thousands of rounds per minute; before the powerful kinetic energy, the enemies' armor was as fragile as paper, shattering into pieces.

The Soldiers protected inside naturally fared no better.

This ambush ended exceptionally quickly and easily, but the victorious Third Army Soldiers did not relax. Instead, they immediately began digging trenches along the hilltop with the companions who had arrived to support them.

According to intelligence from Keton City, Coalition reinforcements were already on the way and could arrive at any moment.

The Third Army Legion Commander considered that this hundred-man squad were enemy scouts responsible for gathering intelligence, so subsequent rescue efforts wouldn't be too large, and it was impossible for the main force to come. Thus, the number of reinforcements sent was not very high.

However, they did bring quite a lot of ammunition and weapons.

He figured that after the Coalition spies hit a wall on this small path, they would have the sense to leave.

However, the result was somewhat beyond his expectations.

The Coalition reinforcements that arrived were indeed limited, only about a thousand Soldiers, with few Professionals among them and not a single High-tier Professional.

This amount of military force naturally could not break through a defensive line equipped with three gatlings.

But just as the reinforcements were about to be wiped out, thousands more Soldiers unexpectedly arrived from the distance.

Furthermore, the captain saw several figures running at extremely high speeds at the front of the enemy ranks through his binoculars—Intermediate Knights.

Was the Coalition crazy?

The captain lowered his binoculars in shock. While contacting Keton City to request support, he wondered blankly in his heart, had they lost their minds?

Putting aside the fact that there were many roads to Keton City, the road he was defending wasn't even suitable for a large army to pass through!

Was it really necessary to capture it?

Thousands of Soldiers, led by Professionals, rapidly approached. The captain snapped back to his senses and ordered the Soldiers to turn their muzzles while his expression gradually grew solemn.

It wasn't because of these reinforcements.

Although the captain's troop strength was far inferior to the opponent's, with the advantage of the terrain and sufficient ammunition, he wasn't afraid they would storm the hilltop.

What he worried about was whether the Coalition would send even more support later.

After all, the Coalition's military strength far exceeded their own; losing some people here didn't matter to them at all.

While the captain was having a headache here, Novak in the distance was also completely bewildered.

When he first received news of the ambush and learned the opponent had only a few hundred men, he planned to swallow this small squad and seize their weapons to display in the army, eliminating the Soldiers' fear of unfamiliar weapons.

But he never expected that after the scout squad was eliminated, the thousand-plus Soldiers he sent would also be wiped out.

Novak's heart hardened, and he immediately sent more troops.

It wasn't that he was impulsive or cared about saving face, feeling he had to get even after suffering a loss, but... if they couldn't even take down a squad of a few hundred Soldiers, how would they deal with the enemy's large army groups?

And how could they still dream of seizing weapons for display and research?

More troops, send more troops!

Far away in Keton City, the Third Army Legion Commander was also completely confused, muttering in his heart about what kind of illness the Coalition had caught.

Why were they so insistent on clearing a small mountain path?

Could there be some secret use for that path that he didn't know about?

Based on the principle of obstructing whatever the enemy intended to do, the Third Army Legion Commander did not order a retreat and made the same decision as Novak—sending more troops.

Just like that, both sides inexplicably launched a medium-scale offensive and defensive battle on a small path with little military utility.

At the start of the battle, the advantage was once with the Third Army.

Relying on the high ground and the advantage of firearms, they inflicted heavy casualties on the Coalition side.

Although the Coalition deployed several Intermediate Knights to lead the charge, Zhang Mu was already prepared for this.

In the Third Army's daily training, besides basic items like shooting, the most time was spent on constructing dense firepower networks, relying on continuous bullets to block physically powerful Knight Professionals.

Judging by the Intermediate Knights who were repelled in several charges, the training results were quite good.

Novak received the battle report that the offensive was stalled and hesitated whether to send High-tier Professionals.

He was worried this was an enemy bait; once his side's High-tier Professionals showed themselves, they would immediately be ambushed by Lake's High-tier Professionals.

After careful consideration, he finally decided to deploy High-tier Professionals.

The Coalition had made a grand show of wanting to wipe out Lake, but being blocked at the border and unable to advance would be too damaging to morale.

For this reason, he wouldn't hesitate even if it meant sacrificing a few High-tier Professionals.

Regarding the candidates for the high-level Professionals, Novak was cautious and selected High-tier Professionals from his own country.

At the start of the war, if High-tier Professionals from other countries always died, those countries would inevitably become suspicious of him.

Moreover, the negative impact of the three legions' destruction had not been completely eliminated; if it happened again, even if the Coalition didn't dissolve, it would be difficult to stay united.

Novak ordered the departure, and three Magisters and two Great Knights soon arrived at the front line.

The Third Army was not equipped with magic-conducting weapons, and Damu was leading three Special Squads on other missions; facing such a force, the Third Army naturally suffered a swift defeat.

The Thunderbolt Spell raged on the hilltop. The captain was lucky enough not to be hit and immediately led dozens of Soldiers as lucky as himself to retreat toward Keton City.

"Captain," a Soldier gritted his teeth, "those are Magisters. We can't escape. We might as well fight—"

"Execute the order!"

"Yes!"

The captain knew his subordinate was right; their mobility was far inferior to High-tier Professionals. Simply turning and fleeing, they wouldn't get far before being caught.

But he had no choice; it was the Legion Commander who ordered them not to fight back and to retreat at full speed.

As the captain rushed down the slope, the three headless corpses that had fallen from the sky several days ago surfaced in his mind, and he couldn't help but wonder—were they here?

The answer was no.

Until he ran out of the mountain forest, the captain didn't hear the slight sound of something cutting through the air. He turned his head and saw the enemy's five High-tier Professionals standing calmly side-by-side on the slope.

Why... weren't they pursuing?

The captain couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it and quickened his pace to escape.

...

On the hilltop.

"Arno," the man on the far right among the five Professionals standing side-by-side asked, "why let them leave?"

"The Marshal's order: occupy the slope, seize the weapons, and do not pursue the fleeing routed troops."

The person speaking in the middle looked down at the strange weapons scattered across the scorched ground: "Our mission is already complete."

"But..." the woman in the robe on the far left wanted to say something.

"This is war, not driving away bandits. Let alone us few Magisters and Great Knights, didn't you know the news of those three Legion Commanders being sacrificed a few days ago?"

"Of course we know."

"Then that's enough."

Taking one last look at the distant remnants of the enemy, the man in the middle turned and ordered the Soldiers rushing up: "Collect all the weapons left by the enemy and bring them back to the camp."

"As you command."

"Let's go back too."

The five turned and returned the way they came, while the battle report arrived at the main camp ahead of them.

Novak sat in the command tent. After hearing the adjutant's report, he looked at Brando, who was sitting opposite him, with a look of joy: "The enemy has been repelled. They lost many weapons, which are already being transported back."

"That is good news."

"Indeed." Novak nodded, then became puzzled again. "Strange, the appearance of their weapons is the same as the weapons of the Soldiers captured before. Why is the power so different?"

Brando shook his head. "When I led the raid on Lake and was ambushed, because we prioritized concealment and speed, the Soldiers weren't wearing armor when they were hit directly by those weapons. So, I'm not sure what the effect of the 'arrows' is against armor."

Novak realized, "No wonder you were defeated... Sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

"It's fine. A crushing defeat is a crushing defeat. Covering it up only makes the disgrace more apparent."

"Your character is admirable." After the compliment, Novak smiled and spread a map on the table. "Just as I speculated, the weapons that wiped out the Rose Legion and the others indeed have a very long attack range, but there is ultimately a limit. By spreading the High-tier Professionals around the main legion, we haven't suffered any attacks along the way."

Brando lowered his head, his gaze falling on the map. "However, we must be careful of Lake targeting our High-tier Professionals."

"Hahaha, don't worry. I've carefully designed their patrol ranges to ensure that if any squad is ambushed, the squads to the left and right can immediately discover it and provide support."

"Then that's for the best," Brando said with a smile.

"Heh, knowing the enemy has means to kill High-tier Professionals, I would be truly stupid if I weren't vigilant..."

"Marshal!" An adjutant pushed aside the door curtain and burst in, looking panicked. "One of our scout squads led by a Magister has been ambushed and killed!"

Brando froze, his expression becoming strange.

Novak, ignoring the fact that he had just been slapped in the face at light speed, slapped the table and jumped up. "Did you catch the enemy?!"

"Uh, they... you should go see..."

"Let's go!"

The three quickly arrived at the scene.

By the stream at the foot of the mountain, four headless corpses were scattered. Three were close to each other, and the last one was a bit further away.

It wasn't hard to deduce: the former died together, and the latter was killed after fleeing a short distance in panic.

Novak's face was dark as he looked at the eight High-tier Professionals standing to the side. "How many enemies were there?"

"Sorry, Marshal." One person stepped forward, looking a bit embarrassed. "According to the regulations, we contact each other every three minutes. They didn't respond to the last one, so we noticed something was wrong, and then..."

"When you arrived, you only saw corpses?"

"Yes."

"You didn't even hear the sounds of battle?"

"Marshal," another person stepped out, "I am certain the surroundings were very quiet."

The meaning of these words was clear: my perception is very keen; if Professionals had truly clashed, I would definitely have detected mana fluctuations.

Novak didn't blame them; he frowned and scanned the four corpses.

There was trouble, but fortunately, there were also gains.

Although they hadn't even seen the enemy's shadow, the condition and time of death of the four had already revealed a lot of information.

First, it could be confirmed that the enemy's attack could only be fired three times in a short period; otherwise, they wouldn't have let one person flee a few steps before killing them, which undoubtedly increased the risk of exposure.

And then...

Novak took a few steps forward and looked down at a shallow footprint in the sand by the stream.

They are not Professionals.

If that's the case, how did they blind the perception of Professionals?

Novak put his hands behind his back, feeling that this matter was strange in every way.

No, their background must be investigated.

Hmph, you like to ambush High-tier Professionals? I'd like to see if you can kill a Saint-level!

"Adjutant!"

"Here!"

Novak used mana to block the sound and leaned in to whisper into the adjutant's ear.

Brando and the eight High-tier Professionals looked at each other, none of them knowing what he was up to.

...

The mountain range not far from the Coalition camp.

Damu led over twenty team members to find a natural cave halfway up a mountain to stop and rest.

"Phew—" A team member sat down, not caring at all about the damp ground. "Hey, as expected of a Great Knight, he was really fast. He almost got away."

"Build a fire and cook, check the sniper rifles, we move out tonight."

"Yes!"

The team members had a clear division of labor: some went out to gather firewood, others gathered the rifles for disassembly and maintenance.

"Captain Damu."

"Hmm?"

A team member was infusing mana into the Core of a sniper rifle with a magic crystal. "The magic guidance sniper rifle is powerful, but it's really a hassle to have to recharge it after every shot. Is Mr. Geoffrey making improvements on that side? Oh my god, the Core is cracked!"

He disassembled the second rifle and was shocked to find several intersecting cracks on the surface of the faintly glowing Core.

Damu looked over; it was his rifle.

"That guy was trying to escape, so I forced a second shot."

"I know. Mr. Geoffrey warned that overloading the sniper rifle would... I just didn't expect it to be this serious. Well, luckily we brought spares."

The team member rummaged through the Storage Pouch at his waist and took out a sniper rifle of the same model. "Here, the model Captain Damu likes."

Geoffrey had developed over a dozen models of magic guidance sniper rifles. The power difference between the models wasn't large; they just had different appearances and slightly different focuses.

The one Damu favored leaned toward violent lethality, at the cost of sacrificing some endurance.

At full burst, others could fire two shots, while his could only fire one.

Forcing a second shot resulted in the Core shattering and the rifle being scrapped.

"Captain Damu," the team member continued maintaining the other sniper rifles, "I just counted; we didn't bring many of this model, so you should use it sparingly."

Damu glanced at him. "If you hadn't missed your second shot, I wouldn't have had to fire again."

"Hahaha..." The team member laughed awkwardly and scratched his head. "I was too excited, so..."},{