404: Chapter 391 Dragon Cavalry Regiment Commander: The round tube is quite thick.

Under the leadership of their captain, the Assault Team galloped toward the nearest allied city.

The captain ran at the very front, clutching his rifle. His pace was swift and his footsteps rhythmic and powerful, yet his eyes seemed somewhat vacant.

The allied forces that had been ordered to hunt them down had unexpectedly been wiped out, which should have been a cause for celebration.

Lake had regulations for such situations: if enemy forces died due to an accident not caused by friendly forces, the military merit could be credited to the legion currently engaged with them.

A single volley of Wyvern Fire had incinerated thousands of allied Soldiers. This was military merit the Assault Team had essentially picked up for free, and even when divided among nearly a thousand men, it was still quite substantial.

However, at this moment, not only the team members but even the captain's attention was not on their good fortune; their minds were filled with the image of the Wyvern Cavalry Regiment that had blotted out the sun.

That day, after the captain had clearly seen one Wyvern, he immediately discovered hundreds more bursting through the clouds.

They were massive in size; just a few hundred of them seemed to shroud the entire sky above. Then, after a single, unhesitating volley of bombardment, the remaining allied forces of several thousand were annihilated.

The thought that he would soon become an enemy of the Wyverns weighed heavily on the Assault Team Captain's heart.

He felt that if he were to face the Wyverns directly, death seemed to be the only outcome.

It was just as he and his team members had chatted about before. Rifles were indeed powerful, capable of killing a novice Professional from over a hundred meters away. However, the altitude of the Wyverns was far more than a hundred meters; their weapons were useless against them.

The Assault Team Captain kept moving, looking up at the sky.

They had flown out from within the clouds, which meant they flew at least higher than the clouds.

He whispered to himself, "How high are the clouds?"

"Captain, what did you say?" A team member a few steps behind heard him speaking but couldn't make out the specifics and asked curiously.

"No, nothing."

"Are you worried about those monsters from that day?"

The captain looked back at him, not surprised that the team member had guessed his thoughts, and corrected his terminology: "Those aren't monsters, they are Wyverns, the Ganno Empire's Wyvern Cavalry Regiment."

"Heh, I know. I heard you when you were talking to the rear."

"Eavesdropping on a superior's report is a violation of legion regulations."

"I promise there won't be a next time."

Zhang Mu had indeed drafted this regulation, but it only applied to special departments. Furthermore, if one were to be strict, the captain, who knew the conversation shouldn't be leaked yet contacted the rear in front of his subordinates, bore more responsibility.

Therefore, the captain was merely teasing him.

Moving past the matter, perhaps wanting to alleviate the oppression in his heart, the captain slowed his pace slightly to chat with the team member.

"Looking at your silly, happy face, aren't you afraid?"

"I'm definitely a bit afraid. Our rifle range can't reach the Wyverns, but they can drop fireballs from the sky and blow us up. If we really fight, we'll just be waiting to die. It's just... besides being afraid, I'm also somewhat envious."

"Hmm?"

"Flying in the sky, man, that's so cool!"

The captain imagined himself standing on the back of a Wyvern, soaring through the sky, and smiled: "It is pretty cool. If only I could fly one day..."

"By the way, what does 'cool' mean?"

"It's a catchphrase from the instructors of the Third Army. The specific meaning... uh, I don't really understand it either. Anyway, every time the instructors express excitement, that's what they say."

"Haha, I guess..."

"Beep beep—"

The intercom on the captain's chest sounded. He raised his hand to order the entire team to stop advancing, then picked up.

"Assault Team here."

"What?"

"Standby in place?"

"Yes!"

Hanging up the communication, the team member who had been eavesdropping nearby immediately asked, "Are we not going forward anymore, Captain?"

"Yeah, the Command Post ordered us to standby in place."

The team member was about to ask more, but the captain waved him off: "Set up camp, and make sure it's hidden."

"Yes!"

Dusk was approaching, and they were in enemy territory. The team members didn't dare waste time and moved quickly.

The Assault Team had been moving along the mountain range. Thanks to this, they saved the trouble of searching for a spot and headed straight into the mountain forest without worrying about leaving tracks.

Because they were on an assault mission where speed was paramount, the team members' limited carrying capacity was entirely used for weapons and equipment; naturally, they couldn't carry outdoor living gear like tents.

Furthermore, they were now deep in enemy territory, and enemies could appear at any time. The supply teams couldn't deliver materials as promptly as before, so the team members had to figure out their own solutions.

The captain walked through the forest for a while and then ordered the team members to spread out and find if there were any suitable caves nearby.

The Command Post hadn't specified how long they would be on standby or what they were waiting for. If it was only for a few days, sleeping in the open would be bearable, but if it was for ten days or a month, the bodies of the ordinary team members wouldn't be able to take it.

The captain gave this order just to be safe.

They had a topographic map of the area, but the map obviously wouldn't mark unnamed caves. The Assault Team could only search blindly, hoping for luck.

Perhaps because Lake had been abandoned by the gods, luck had moved away, and the Soldiers belonging to Lake were similarly affected.

A group of Soldiers searched hard for a long time. Seeing the sun setting, they still couldn't find a cave, not even a small one.

Unless absolutely necessary, resting in the open at night in the wilderness was definitely not a good idea.

The Assault Team had firearms and didn't fear ordinary wild animals or low-level magic beasts, but this was allied territory, and gunshots would surely attract enemy forces.

In desperation, the captain found a slope that looked relatively soft and ordered the team members to swing their Entrenching tools and dig a hole on the spot.

Although they were all ordinary people, they could persevere through a night. The team members divided into two groups and worked in shifts all night, digging out a cave that could hold about dozens of people.

The captain observed the exhausted expressions of the team members in the dim morning light and ordered everyone except those on guard duty to rest.

The captain took the first shift as a sentry.

After a few days like this, they finally dug out a cave large enough for all the team members to lie down and sleep, though they had to sleep side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder.

The captain ordered the Soldiers to reinforce the cave while secretly feeling glad that no orders had come from the rear, so the digging hadn't been in vain.

It was another early morning.

The captain, having come off his shift, sat on top of the cave entrance looking into the distance. The noise of wood being hammered continued to echo from the cave below him.

A team member walked over and sat down cross-legged beside him.

The captain remembered him; he was one of the two Soldiers who had made a mistake.

"Is something wrong?"

He shook his head: "My shift is over."

"Then why not go rest for a bit?"

"I'm not tired."

The captain seemed to have something on his mind and fell silent. The team member asked casually, as if asking himself or the captain, "What exactly are we waiting for?"

"The Command Post has their arrangements."

The team member rubbed the back of his head and said with a very jumpy train of thought, "Captain, did you see the firelight soaring into the sky in the distance a few nights ago?"

How could he not have seen it?

The captain's gaze became somber.

Although they hadn't gone to the scene to investigate, one could figure out even with their toes that a city had been attacked by Wyverns.

That city was originally their objective. Now that the mission was automatically completed and he didn't have to risk his life to storm the city, the captain should have been happy, but he truly couldn't find it in himself to be glad.

Through the raging flames that had lit up the sky that night, it was as if he could see his own end—being incinerated by Wyvern Fire.

The image was so realistic that his skin seemed to feel the searing pain of being burned by Wyvern Fire.

He wrapped his arms around himself and rubbed them up and down, but no matter how hard he tried, the captain's palpitations wouldn't subside.

"It's fine. It's war; people are bound to die," the team member comforted.

"I'm not afraid."

"I know," the team member said.

This sentence wasn't a hypocritical statement to save the captain's face; it was sincere. The team member knew that the captain had once had the chance to withdraw to the rear, but he had refused.

The captain opened his mouth as if to speak but hesitated, stopping for a long time before saying:

"Back during legion training, the instructors always talked about home, country, and the continent—that you need a home to have a country, and without a country, there is no home.

I didn't quite understand it then, but now... I seem to understand a little."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

"Can you tell me more?"

The captain was silent for a moment and said, "I..."

His words were interrupted by a faint rumbling sound coming from the distance.

The two were startled and exchanged a glance. The captain entered the cave to order total silence, then led a few team members toward higher ground.

Reaching the summit, the captain climbed a tree, poked his head out from the dense canopy, and looked toward the source of the sound.

The few team members on the ground could only see the captain's legs standing on a branch and were a bit anxious: "Captain, is it the enemy?"

"Probably... not."

The captain pulled his head back and looked down at the team members: "It's our people."

"Roar—"

A roar suddenly fell from the high sky, and the captain wobbled, nearly falling off the branch.

Wyverns!

He was a bit nervous, parting the leaves above his head to create a gap, carefully peering at the Wyvern Cavalry Regiment gliding through the sky with outstretched wings.

After watching for a while, cold sweat suddenly broke out on his forehead.

Not good! The Wyverns are lowering their altitude. Our troops are marching in the open; they'll be attacked!

He immediately used his intercom to contact the rear, while looking at whichever legion of Lake it was, wanting to shout to warn them to hide.

But obviously, his shout couldn't possibly carry that far, so he didn't make a futile effort and instead desperately pressed the talk button on the intercom.

However, after a moment, his frantically straining finger slowly stopped.

The captain's eyes showed confusion.

They... should have seen the Wyvern cavalry, but why do they seem... not panicked at all?

...

High in the sky.

Over 300 Wyverns were patrolling under the lead of the Alpha Wyvern.

Standing on the back of the Alpha Wyvern, the Cavalry Legion Commander looked down at the earth, his somber expression telling of his foul mood.

Damn it... where did those little mice from that day run off to?

The other day, he had casually wiped out a legion of several thousand and was about to leave when a subordinate told him there seemed to be a thousand-man squad lying in ambush around the battlefield.

The Cavalry Legion Commander felt embarrassed; he had actually been so negligent.

His subordinates tried to save face for him, saying that the squad were all ordinary people and it was normal to overlook them.

However, this excuse only made him more embarrassed.

The subordinates didn't know the King's order, but did he not know?

Eliminate every moving creature in sight.

Even though he was the slaughterer, the Cavalry Legion Commander pinned the "guilt of violating the King's order" on a group of innocent people, angrily stating he would use the most cruel methods to torture and kill that group of mice who dared to play with him.

These past few days, he had been searching back and forth in the vicinity, but by coincidence, he always missed the Assault Team.

So, a few days ago, out of a desire to vent his anger, he led the Wyvern Cavalry Regiment to wipe out the city closest to him with several volleys of Wyvern Fire.

Today, as usual, he continued searching for the "little mice" until dawn of the second day, but the result was the same as always—nothing.

Just as he thought he would have to return empty-handed again, he suddenly saw an allied force of the little mice galloping on the ground in the distance.

The reason he was so certain was that their clothing was exactly the same as the little mice.

The Cavalry Legion Commander was overjoyed. While flying toward the enemy's position, he ordered everyone to prepare to dive and release Wyvern Fire.

As they got a bit closer, he found that the magic beasts those people were riding were very unfamiliar; he had never seen them before.

What was most peculiar was that those people were actually sitting inside the magic beasts, and he could see the people inside through parts of the "skin" on the front and sides.

He scratched his helmet: "I've heard of magic beasts with transparent bodies... but those are all top-quality magic beasts. Are there some in a remote place like this?"

Forget it, whatever, capture one and take it back for study.

The Cavalry Legion Commander urged his subordinates to advance at full speed.

Once they were above the enemy, he ordered them to lower their altitude in preparation for dropping Wyvern Fire.

"Hahaha..." facing the howling wind, he laughed heartily, "I can't wait to see the ter... ror on your faces?"

In just a few more minutes, the enemy would be within the range of the Wyvern Fire. Given the enemy's numbers, just two volleys of Wyvern Fire would be enough to annihilate them all.

Victory was within reach, but the Cavalry Legion Commander's boastful words suddenly turned into confusion in the latter half.

He was a Professional with powerful eyesight. Although there was still a distance between them, he could already see the details of the enemies' faces.

"Why do they... seem... not afraid?"

A sense of dissonance rose in the Cavalry Legion Commander's heart. He scanned the enemy warily and soon discovered an anomaly.

In the past, when enemies encountered his Wyverns, they would always flee in terror in all directions. But now, the enemy was sitting calmly inside the magic beasts, their hands seemingly touching something.

Then he saw several round tubes slowly rising from the backs of the magic beasts, held at an elevated angle.

Those tubes... were quite thick.

What were they for?

The Cavalry Legion Commander asked curiously in his heart.

His subordinates behind him seemed to have the same curiosity, and one slightly slowed his diving speed: "Legion Commander, is there a problem?"

"A problem? What problem?"

"The enemy... isn't fleeing."

Logically, after sensing an anomaly, if one didn't immediately retreat, they should at least be cautious, stop their current actions, and observe the enemy before making the next plan.

But just as the Bauhinia Legion Commander's Aunt had said, "Arrogance is the prelude to destruction, and clearly the Wyvern Cavalry Regiment has already begun to play it."

The Cavalry Legion Commander, intentionally or unintentionally, ignored all anomalies and laughed contemptuously.

"Lowly Soldiers from a kingdom that's no better than a village, have they ever even seen a Wyvern?

Their calm isn't from confidence, but from ignorance.

Listen to my command: everyone accelerate, release Wyvern Fire."

Having said that, he took the lead and flew at the very front.

The subordinate left behind opened his mouth to say something, but the commander had already flown far away, so he had to close it again.

The subordinate's worried eyes looked toward the ground; the thick round tubes on the backs of the magic beasts began to rotate slowly.

If a fighter pilot from Blue Star were to see this scene, they would be scared out of their wits and would quickly pull up the aircraft to escape the range of the anti-aircraft guns.

But clearly, the Wyvern Cavalry Regiment could not possibly recognize anti-aircraft guns, let alone know their power.

The tubes spun faster and faster, and the unease in the subordinate's heart grew stronger accordingly.

He didn't understand where this feeling came from, until the moment the tubes' rotation speed reached its limit and tongues of fire erupted from the muzzles.