407: Chapter 394 The Second Direct Encounter with a Saint-Level Being

Damu led his team members to rest and reorganize in Keton City.

They settled in a spacious dormitory. The room was empty but fully equipped with living supplies. At the far end, there was a private balcony. Drawing the curtains allowed a clear view of the street scene and the bright sunshine. Meals were delivered by dedicated staff.

There seemed to be nothing to complain about.

In fact, that was true. After all, being able to live such a well-cared-for life on the Saul Continent was a dream that most natives could hardly achieve in their lifetimes.

However, Damu and his six team members were listless.

"Captain Damu, when is the next mission?"

Damu was wiping his already spotless firearm with a towel: "Didn't we just finish a mission?"

"Are you referring to that battle where we lurked in the woods, watched the Anti-aircraft Company happily take out the enemy, and then returned the way we came?"

"Yes."

"Please, Captain Damu, that doesn't count as a mission."

Damu said nothing and smiled.

He could understand his team members' feelings.

After undergoing rigorous training and seeing their strength soar, it was inevitable they would be eager to show it off in actual combat.

Speaking of which...

Damu thought for a moment and muttered: "It's like children showing off new toys to their companions, but you aren't children."

"What did you say?" His voice was very low. The team members basking in the sun on the balcony couldn't hear clearly and instinctively turned to ask.

"I said." Damu put away his sniper rifle, stood up, and the gentle smile on his face slowly faded, "Fall in!"

There was a hint of fury hidden in his shout. The team members shuddered. Before their consciousness could react, their legs instinctively moved, and they lined up very neatly in the middle of the dormitory.

Damu's face turned grim: "Enjoying war? Enjoying killing enemies? Enjoying the thrill of a bullet firing from the muzzle?

Did I teach you this? Or did Legion Commander Domit teach you? Or was it the Lord Marshal's teaching?"

The team members lowered their heads and remained silent.

Damu would not accept perfunctoriness and shouted angrily again: "Answer me!"

"No!" The six team members snapped their heads up.

"So that means, it's all your own ideas?"

"Yes!"

"Very well." Damu walked back and forth in front of the six men with his hands behind his back, his gaze scanning their faces. "Have you forgotten the fear of death? Do you need me to help you remember?

The journey to the Silent Forest is long, but I don't think we should skip the time spent traveling."

The team members felt somewhat ashamed, remembering their deceased comrades buried in the Silent Forest.

Zhang Mu's teachings surfaced in Damu's mind, as if reminding himself and warning the team members: "War is a disaster, it is harm; war should not be yearned for."

"Oh, did I come at a bad time?"

Damu was startled. Snapping back to his senses, he immediately turned and gave a military salute: "Lord Marshal!"

"Hmm." Zhang Mu examined Damu's upright posture and his slightly more mature face.

War was indeed a catalyst for growth. After experiencing many cruel battles, Damu was no longer the Farmer from the village two years ago, though they were both called 'Damu'.

"What mistake did they make to cause such a big temper?"

"Reporting to the Lord Marshal, they made no mistake. This is a routine lecture."

"Is that so?" Zhang Mu hooked a wooden chair with his toe and sat down leisurely. "If you say so."

Worried that the team members would leave a negative impression on the Lord Marshal, Damu hurriedly explained: "Lord Marshal, they usually train very hard and are very brave in combat. This time they just had a momentary lapse in judgment. I will..."

"Hey~ where are you going with this? I have no intention of blaming them."

After saying that, Zhang Mu felt quite emotional. Although he never put on airs, the gap caused by the difference in status could not be bridged after all.

Feeling that staying longer would only make them nervous, Zhang Mu waved his hand disinterestedly: "The Bauhinia Legion is coming soon. You will head to the front line. Same old rules: the targets are the enemy's command layer and High-tier Professionals. You decide how to execute it.

By the way, the enemy army has a Gods Blessing. Although this Gods Blessing likely won't take action, they are still a hidden threat. Remember to avoid them if you encounter them."

"Yes!"

Zhang Mu's figure flickered and disappeared. Damu let out a sigh of relief and turned to glare fiercely at the team members.

They looked at each other and scratched the backs of their heads sheepishly.

"If there's a next time, I will definitely apply to Legion Commander Domit to have you all removed from the Special Operations Team!"

Damu's tone was fierce, but the team members' gloom seemed to vanish, and they started laughing.

Living together day and night, they were already familiar with Damu's personality. Getting angry with a calm face meant he was serious; a seemingly angry scolding meant his anger had already passed.

One team member looked at the wooden chair Zhang Mu had just sat on and wondered: "Strange, why does the Lord Marshal personally come every time there's a mission? Couldn't he just have a messenger notify us?"

A nearby team member walked to his bunk and sat on the edge to organize his gear: "We report directly to the Lord Marshal. Others have no right to give us orders, not even Legion Commander Domit."

"Feels like a lot of trouble."

"Those are the rules."

Damu was also checking his sniper rifle: "Stop talking nonsense and hurry up."

The team members quickened their movements, but the idle chatter didn't end.

They were Soldiers after all. The topic naturally jumped from "Why does the Lord Marshal always go through the trouble of personally giving orders?" to the enemy they were about to face—the Bauhinia Legion.

"I heard from comrades who went to other legions as instructors that the Soldiers of the Bauhinia Legion all seem to be Professionals."

"That's right."

"Then what level is their Legion Commander?"

"At least Saint-level, right?"

"Didn't the Lord Marshal say the enemy army has a Gods Blessing?

A Legion Commander is the highest-ranking officer in a legion, and their strength must be the greatest. I think the Gods Blessing the Lord Marshal mentioned is him."

"Not necessarily." Damu interrupted the team members' speculation. "The kingdoms do choose Legion Commanders based on strength to some extent, but the most important thing is how much potential remains."

"What do you mean?"

"Only if a Professional has no chance of advancing further will they consider taking a position in a legion. Kingdoms also look for Legion Commanders from that group.

And a Gods Blessing..."

Damu's hand loading the magazine paused, as if he were remembering something: "I remember hearing someone say that every Gods Blessing has the chance to advance to Epic. So even in an empire crowded with talent, they wouldn't appoint a Gods Blessing as a Legion Commander."

"Who said that?" Coming across a blind spot in their knowledge, the team members cast curious glances.

"Let me think... oh, Grand Duke Bulova said it."

"Eh? When did Captain Damu see Grand Duke Bulova?"

"When I was recovering from injuries in Keton City."

Learning that their captain had spoken with Blova, one of the three Saint-levels of the kingdom, a team member sitting on the edge of his bed scooted toward Damu until he reached the end of the bed and hit the guardrail:

"Captain Damu, Grand Duke Bulova is a noble, right?"

The team member opposite him laughed and scolded: "Idiot, a Grand Duke is a Duke; of course he's a noble."

Damu didn't mind their fooling around and continued his story: "Grand Duke Bulova... I feel he's a very easy person to get along with."

The team members looked at each other.

One of them said hesitantly: "I thought Grand Duke Bulova would be very serious and old-fashioned, uh, and maybe a bit cold?

Back then, he intended to sacrifice all the City Lords in the Royal Capital."

Damu shook his head. He opened his mouth as if to say something but hesitated, and in the end, he said nothing. He stood up and put the sniper rifle and the magazine filled with special bullets into his Storage Pouch.

"Move out!"

"Yes!"

The Special Operations Squad informed no one and secretly left Keton City.

Once outside the city, they immediately quickened their pace, hiding their tracks across the plains and passing through Green Valley to enter enemy-occupied territory.

Later, they took a short rest in a forest and formulated a combat plan.

According to the intelligence, the Bauhinia Legion's marching speed was very slow, but no matter how slow, they had been traveling for nearly a month and had now arrived within the territory of the Allied Forces.

Strangely, after entering the territory and setting up camp near a river, the legion made no further moves.

It was as if they hadn't come to eliminate the enemy and complete a mission, but rather for a tour.

The problem was, even for a tour, they should be moving around, but they were like homebodies, huddled in the camp without stepping out.

Damu was a bit troubled.

After all members of the Special Operations Team were promoted to Magic Apprentices, their combat power had indeed risen by more than one level, but... it wasn't strong enough to storm a legion composed entirely of Professionals.

You should know that although the Soldiers of the Bauhinia Legion were overall lower in level than the Soldiers of the Elven Legion, who were also all Professionals, their combat power was still beyond what a legion of mixed commoners and Professionals could achieve.

Moreover, the Special Operations Team's advantages were mobility and high burst lethality—quickly killing a target and then immediately moving to avoid being surrounded by enemy forces. If they simply engaged in positional warfare, even a legion of commoners could wear them down.

Now all the enemy's important figures were huddled inside the protective circle of Soldiers. Not only could they not break through the perimeter to kill the targets, but even if they succeeded, they wouldn't be able to escape capture.

Their victory wasn't just about killing the enemy, but about killing the enemy and staying alive.

After thinking for a long time, Damu couldn't come up with a strategy.

Seeing his furrowed brow, a team member suggested: "Why don't we get closer and observe? We won't figure out a way just by brooding here anyway."

After weighing it for a moment, Damu slapped his thigh: "Let's do that."

The Special Operations Team set off again.

Now in the heart of enemy territory, they advanced with increasing caution to ensure their tracks weren't exposed. They didn't consider whether the route was flat or smooth, only using concealment as the standard.

With that in mind, the jungle was naturally the most suitable.

The group continued to trek through the woods for several days.

One morning.

After a night's rest, Damu led his team out, treading on thick withered leaves as they traveled, just like any other day.

Stop.

Suddenly, Damu made a gesture to stop advancing.

The team members stopped almost simultaneously, hid behind the trees nearest to them, raised their rifles, and entered a defensive stance.

A short while passed, and the surroundings remained quiet. Only a few roars from unknown magical beasts displaying their power could be heard in the distance.

A team member rhythmically and gently tapped his headset.

Damu heard it through his earpiece and instinctively translated the tapping into words.

Enemy, position.

Damu made no move to reply because he had no idea if there were enemies nearby.

He scanned left and right with a solemn gaze. Everything within his sight was calm, but the unease in his heart grew stronger, as if a hand were kneading his heart with just the right amount of force, making his breathing labored but not to the point of suffocation.

What exactly is it? Where is it?

...

Late the previous night.

Legion Commander Sadou and his Aunt cleared a space in the woods, lit a campfire, and sat around it.

A night breeze blew, and the flickering firelight reflected on Sadou's face.

He picked up a dry branch and threw it into the fire, making the flames brighter. He looked at his Aunt sitting opposite him: "Why walk on foot and rest like ordinary people?"

One was a Saint-level and the other a Gods Blessing. Forget walking for half a month; even flying for a month without stopping would be exceptionally easy for them.

However, after setting out, his Aunt first slapped Sadou down as he flew into the sky, then dragged him to travel on two legs and find a place to sleep after nightfall.

Sadou was very puzzled. He couldn't get an answer from his Aunt, so he had to remain silent and maintain the status quo.

Until today, he finally couldn't help but ask.

"It's a rare trip out. Why not enjoy the scenery of a foreign land?" His Aunt was still in that armor that wrapped her whole body, showing only her hands.

Sadou looked around at the forest shrouded in darkness with a blank expression: "Aunt, can you tell me what's different between this so-called 'scenery of a foreign land' and the mountain forests outside the Imperial Capital?"

"Call me Lord Gods Blessing."

"Lord Gods Blessing." Sadou sighed silently. Every time his Aunt brushed him off, she remembered she was a Gods Blessing.

His Aunt was wearing a helmet, so Sadou couldn't see her expression, but she was likely smiling because a faint sound of laughter came from inside the helmet.

"You're just too impatient. Otherwise, you'd certainly have hope of advancing to Gods Blessing within a hundred years."

"I'm sorry, Lord Gods Blessing, for failing to meet your expectations. If I could, I wouldn't have been appointed as the Bauhinia Legion Commander by the King."

"Call me Aunt."

"Aunt."

She nodded with satisfaction and said, "Didn't I tell you? There are no absolutes in this world."

Before Sadou could speak, she began to explain her strange behavior over the past few days: "I didn't let you fly when we set out because they won't move for another half a month. Even if we arrived early, we'd just be waiting. It's better to walk, just to clear our heads."

"I don't need to clear my head."

"I do."

"Alright, Aunt." Sadou replied, playing the role of a well-behaved nephew, then added, "So they've arrived now?"

"Soon."

Sadou's depressed mood improved.

Afterward, they ended their chat and each found a branch to sleep on.

No words were spoken throughout the night.

The next morning, Sadou raised his foot to start the journey, but his Aunt raised her hand to stop him and signaled for flight with her eyes.

Sadou was a bit confused. Why was flying allowed now?

A moment later, he realized that when his Aunt said "soon" last night, she meant early the next morning.

Sadou felt a strange sense of anticipation mixed with a bit of nervousness as he followed his Aunt into the sky.

After flying for about ten minutes, his Aunt stopped in front and looked down at the woods on the ground.

Sadou followed his Aunt's gaze.

Through the gaps in the dense foliage, a small team of seven was moving quickly through the woods.

A few seconds later, just as Sadou was about to ask his Aunt if it was them, the captain of the small team suddenly stopped and made a strange hand gesture. The six team members then hid behind the trees next to them.

His Aunt's body trembled slightly, causing the parts of her armor to clatter against each other.

Amidst the fine "clank-clank" sounds, his Aunt's excited voice came: "This is... this is... this is just wonderful!"