400: Chapter 387 Flying Dragon

The battle continued for half a month.

The front line.

As the night deepened, a Lake Soldier stood on his tiptoes, peering out from the trench with a pair of eyes to gaze into the distance.

Thin dark clouds drifted in the night sky, and the hazy moonlight filtering through the clouds spilled across the wilderness.

"Strange, why aren't they coming today?"

In the past, the coalition forces would launch a charge every day at this time. Regardless of whether they could break through the positions or how much they achieved, they always had to have a fight.

However, tonight was oddly quiet, with no movement at all.

The Soldier pulled back his head, straightened his crooked steel helmet, and said to his comrade, "Are they scared?"

The comrade had both arms wrapped around his rifle, leaning against the earthen wall of the trench with his eyes closed to rest. Hearing the question, he replied without opening his eyes, "Scared?"

"Are you talking about those coalition Soldiers who charge straight into our bullets?"

The Soldier probably realized his question was a bit stupid. He sat cross-legged on the ground with an awkward smile and tried to justify himself, "It's hard to say. After all, so many Professionals die every day."

The comrade's eyes snapped open. "Speaking of Professionals... my grandmother would never have expected that her Farmer grandson would actually be able to fight Professionals and kill them—and more than one, at that."

When he first learned the enemies were Professionals, the fear that welled up in his heart almost consumed him entirely.

This fear came from his parents' warnings to "never provoke the Lord Professionals," as well as the great power of the Professionals.

High-tier Professionals were indeed not often seen by ordinary people, but low-tier Professionals were very active among the populace. Even Farmers who worked in the fields year-round would occasionally encounter them.

In the eyes of ordinary people who considered lifting a hundred-kilogram stone a feat of divine strength, it wasn't an exaggeration to praise a Professional who could easily do the same with one hand as having "great power."

In the past, they had to be incredibly respectful when facing a Professional, fearing that offending a lord would bring punishment. Now, they were being asked to fight these "lords," so panic was naturally inevitable.

But when he barely overcame his heart palpitations, raised his gun, and saw with his own eyes a lord's "divine body" pierced by a bullet, the corpse falling helplessly to the ground, all his fear vanished automatically.

The comrade tilted his head back, the dim moonlight falling on his face. "If I kill one more Professional, I'll be promoted to squad leader."

"Hahaha..." The Soldier laughed triumphantly, only stopping after a good while. "I've already got enough!"

The comrade was a bit surprised. "Since when?"

By all rights, this was the time to show off, but the Soldier said gloomily, "It doesn't matter anymore."

"Huh?"

Glancing left and right to make sure no one was close, he leaned into his comrade's ear and whispered, "Have you heard the recent rumors?"

The comrade thought for a moment. "That the Empire will join the war?"

"Yes."

"I thought it was just a rumor."

"I thought so too, but..." The Soldier leaned back against the earthen wall and tightened his grip on his rifle, as if this could provide a sense of security. "Thinking carefully, even if this rumor is false, it's only a matter of time before the Empire joins the war."

The comrade crouched down. "So, are you planning to run away?"

"Don't joke around. Deserters get shot." The Soldier looked nervously to both sides, only relaxing when he saw that his distant comrades weren't paying attention to them.

"Don't be afraid," the comrade comforted him with a smile, then said, "Actually, we all know that the Kingdom of Lake will eventually be destroyed."

"Yeah, after all, our opponent is the entire continent."

"I heard from my father that there are Empires above the Kingdom, and stronger Empires above those, as well as those powerful foreign races. They are all believers of the gods."

The comrade looked at him and suddenly asked, "Then why did you join the legion? Don't you want to live?"

"Why did I join the legion..." The Soldier mumbled for a moment, then looked up. "Anyway, people like us can't escape. Even if we successfully flee to another kingdom, we'll be caught by nobles and turned into slaves."

"In that case, it's better to take a gamble. Even if I eventually die in the war, at least I can eat my fill before I die."

Speaking of eating, the comrade laughed happily. "The legion's food is still great. Every meal is delivered on time, and there's meat and soup."

"Right? So while we're still alive, we have to eat a bit more."

"Are you so sure you'll die? Our weapons aren't weak."

The Soldier froze, his expression turning dejected. "Guns... are very powerful, but they can only hit for a few hundred meters... Shells can hit far, but they can't do anything about the sky. I heard the Empire has wyverns."

The comrade scratched his head. "Maybe... maybe we have a secret weapon?"

"Didn't the company commander say that Lake's strongest legion is the First Army? They must have a way to deal with the sky."

"If that's the case, then it's for the be—"

"Assemble!"

The squad leader shouted at the nearby intersection. The two Soldiers hurriedly stood up and ran over, lining up with the rest of their squad.

"Orders received! Set out immediately to attack the coalition positions!"

The order was given very suddenly. The Soldiers were all a bit dazed, but eventually, under the squad leader's urging, they collected their equipment and set out.

If their own side was caught off guard, the enemy was naturally even more so.

The coalition forward camp, which had intended to let the Soldiers rest for a day tonight, was stunned to find a large number of Lake Soldiers appearing around the camp.

The assault team moved quickly. Without waiting for the sentries to sound a warning, they had already reached the camp gates, throwing grenades over the wooden fences.

The light of fire and the sound of explosions woke the sleeping coalition Soldiers.

Perhaps they had been lulled into a sense of security by their active attacks over the past many days. They subconsciously believed the initiative of the war was in their hands—that they decided when to fight. They completely forgot that Lake could launch a proactive raid and were all sleeping soundly on the warm communal beds in their tents.

Their vigilance was completely gone. Even after being startled awake by the explosions, their minds were still in a daze, and they didn't immediately associate it with a sneak attack.

What happened? What's going on? Are the Lord Professionals sparring? Isn't the commotion a bit too loud?

It wasn't until the cries of "enemy attack" rang out that they snapped out of it, hurriedly crawling out of their bedding to find their weapons.

By the time they finished and rushed out of their tents, the outside was already a scene of chaos. Firelight was everywhere, and Soldiers were running around with weapons, unable to distinguish friend from foe.

Don't underestimate the danger of being unable to distinguish friend from foe.

On the battlefield, blunders where friendly forces are mistaken for enemies and attacked occur frequently, and it is even common for entire units to be wiped out by their own allies.

Therefore, the coalition Soldiers didn't dare to attack randomly. However, in the chaos, it was difficult to find their superiors. In desperation, they were forced to retreat toward the rear, thinking to first break away from the enemy forces.

Seeing people fleeing backward, more bewildered Soldiers assumed an officer had given the order and immediately followed suit.

As a result, a situation that had a chance of being stabilized completely collapsed. The forward camp of over a hundred thousand Soldiers was routed by an assault team of about a thousand people.

The assault team did not stop there. They continued their pursuit under the cover of night, only gathering their troops to retreat as dawn broke.

...

Coalition Command Post.

"Defeated?" Novak received the battle report and found it somewhat unbelievable. "Lake has only a few thousand people on the front line. Our forward camp has a hundred thousand Soldiers, including a large number of low-tier Professionals. How could they be defeated in one night and even lose the main camp?"

Although Novak was mentally prepared for a defeat on the front line, the incident happened too suddenly, catching him off guard.

"What exactly happened?" Novak's tone was sharp as he questioned the wretched-looking forward camp commander who had fled back.

The commander lowered his head in shame. "I was careless. Lake raided the camp in the middle of the night."

"Fool!"

Novak didn't understand why the commander he valued would make such a low-level mistake. However, since it had already happened, assigning blame was not the most urgent matter now.

He immediately called his adjutant. "Set up positions in Green Valley and ensure that Lake's next offensive is blocked."

Green Valley was the last line of defense before entering coalition territory. If the Lake legion wasn't stopped there and allowed to enter the flat plains, the coalition probably wouldn't last until the day the Ganno legion arrived.

Domit had long predicted Novak's move.

Through high-altitude reconnaissance by drones, he confirmed that the coalition was setting up defenses in Green Valley. He didn't plan to use infantry for a forced assault. Instead, he mobilized the artillery regiment to move forward, preparing to shatter the coalition's defenses with the most intense artillery fire.

"Legion Commander, sir." Just after arranging the subsequent combat plans, his adjutant walked in from outside. "The Soldiers who infiltrated the Ganno Empire have sent back news."

Domit was quite surprised. He had thought it would take a lot of effort to get results, but he hadn't expected a discovery in just half a month. "Speak."

The adjutant opened a file and began to narrate.

After the Soldiers disguised themselves as Professionals traveling the continent and entered the Ganno Empire, they immediately looked for places to gather information.

In his estimation, intelligence regarding military secrets would be difficult to obtain even with great effort. He didn't expect that as soon as he entered a tavern, he would hear patrons excitedly discussing the Ganno Empire's upcoming deployment of troops to Lake.

According to the patrons, the King of Ganno intended to send the Bauhinia Legion.

This legion was a second-line Professional legion of the Ganno Empire. It not only possessed a large number of mages but was also equipped with wyverns.

Domit interrupted the adjutant. "I've only heard of dragons. What are wyverns?"

"Um..." The adjutant flipped through a few more pages of the file and said realization, "Like Lake's Land Griffins, they are the offspring of dragons and other magical beasts."

"How is their strength?"

"They can use some magic, but the power of their magic is mostly on the low side. I feel the greatest threat from wyverns is still their ability to fly."

"What does being able to fly matter? Doesn't the First Army have anti-aircraft guns?"

Zhang Mu had equipped the First Army with anti-aircraft guns long ago, but since they had never encountered enemy aerial units, they had been gathering dust in the warehouse and had never made an appearance until now.

The adjutant closed the folder. "Wyverns can weave through the clouds, making it very difficult to lock onto targets with the naked eye. Once a wyvern is allowed to fly over our positions and launch a diving attack, I'm afraid it will cause heavy casualties."

Domit frowned; this hidden danger indeed could not be ignored.

"Do we have any other ways to search for enemy tracks?"

The adjutant thought for a while. "radar could work, but as for Soldiers who can operate radar and master radar map interpretation technology... we currently have none."

"Has training started?"

"Uh, it's very difficult."

"Reason?"

"Lack of teachers."

Domit was stunned, and after a moment, he regained his composure. "Aren't there textbooks?"

"Legion Commander, sir." The adjutant looked embarrassed. "Unlike driving a tank or using firearms, the operation of radar is simply too complex. Those textbooks... we can't understand them."

Domit was very helpless. "This... I'll ask the Marshal for a teacher. For now... let the First Army familiarize themselves with the anti-aircraft guns. It's better than watching the enemy fly over our heads and being unable to do anything."

"Yes, sir!"

The adjutant took the order and left, while Domit continued to focus on the upcoming offensive.

...

The terrain of Green Valley was as its name suggested—a mountain valley.

The valley was not very narrow, more than enough for a large army to pass through. The mountain walls on both sides, however, were extremely steep. It would be difficult for even an ordinary person to reach the top with climbing tools.

Even if a low-tier Professional wanted to go up, the process would not be easy if someone was stationed at the top to block them.

The coalition favored the geographical advantage and established Green Valley as a border defense line. Novak, for the same reason, deployed heavy troops here, intending to block the advance of the Lake legion.

The coalition Soldiers, who had not yet faced Lake's new weapons, were full of confidence.

They told themselves that if they were the ones attacking the heavily guarded Green Valley, they would never be able to take it unless top-tier Professionals tore through the defenses.

Thinking of this, the Soldiers couldn't help but wonder about the meaning of their existence.

There was a prerequisite for large-scale legion warfare to break out between kingdoms: the number and strength of top-tier Professionals had to be roughly equal.

If the strength of one side's top-tier Professionals was overwhelming, war would be impossible because sending one's own Saint-level to wreak havoc within the enemy's territory would force the enemy to surrender obediently.

This absurd phenomenon, stemming from the extreme limits of individual strength, once made the Soldiers doubt why they needed to risk their lives on the battlefield.

Since our winning or losing cannot determine the final outcome of the war, and the result ultimately depends on the competition between the Lord Top-tier Professionals, wouldn't it be better to just let them have a fight?

Clearly, no one would tell them the answer.

Fortunately, the Soldiers' morale was still quite high. After inspecting Green Valley, Novak returned to the Command Post satisfied.

But no one would have expected that this high morale would be shattered so quickly—except for Domit.

When Lake Soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms appeared in the distance in the wilderness, the coalition Soldiers on the mountain were incredibly astonished.

Especially those Professionals with keen perception; they were shocked that this group of guys didn't even wear armor. How did they manage to attack all the way to Green Valley?

Were their own Soldiers who were responsible for the previous battles all useless?

No matter what waves were stirred in their hearts, the attack in front of them still had to be dealt with.

The coalition Soldiers snapped out of it, drawing their bows and nocking arrows, preparing to welcome the "stupid" Lake legion.

Then they strangely discovered that the Lake Soldiers suddenly stopped their advance just as they were about to enter arrow range, lining up in formation and not moving, as if waiting for something.

Half an hour passed, and the situation remained in a stalemate.

The coalition Soldiers became increasingly confused. What were they waiting for?

"Boom—"

The sound of an explosion traveled through the air from an unknown distance, already somewhat faint.

The Soldiers on the mountain subconsciously looked up and saw huge streaks of fire in the sky, arcing down toward them. They were similar to the shells of a Magic Crystal Cannon, yet seemed different.

The firelight traveled extremely fast. Just as they were sorting out their thoughts, it slammed into the crowd on the mountaintop.

The Lake Soldiers, who were waiting in formation, saw a large cloud of dust rise from the mountaintop from afar. Coalition Soldiers were blown into the air and fell to the bottom of the valley.

Judging from the height of the cliff they estimated, the coalition Soldiers who disappeared into the valley were surely dead.

The commander was in no hurry. He waited for the rear to launch two more rounds of artillery fire onto the mountaintop. Only when the coalition positions were in a state of chaos did he give the order to attack.

"Assault!"