409: Chapter 396 The Lake Legion, Forward!

Zhang Mu led the Dam Squad down the road.

The team members' faces still held a hint of daze, as if they didn't understand why the Lord Marshal had suddenly appeared on the battlefield and seemed so familiar with the enemy.

Damu recalled Sadou's fireball veering away from him and managed to deduce the reason.

Shouldering his sniper rifle, Damu took a few quick steps to reach Zhang Mu's side. "Lord Marshal..."

Zhang Mu smiled and looked back as he walked. "Do you know why I didn't use 'World Return' or just fly you back?"

"Uh, I don't know."

"It was to leave enough time for you to ask your questions."

Damu realized and then quickly asked, "Did you make a bet with the other side?"

"A bet?" Zhang Mu rubbed his chin in thought. "Not exactly, since we didn't actually set any stakes."

After saying that, Zhang Mu asked with a smile, "Are you wondering how I know the Legion Commander of the Bauhinia Legion?"

"A little."

"That woman from a few days ago... well, she and Teacher Potter seem to have had a past romance. Using that connection, she found me last month, hoping her nephew could have a fight with you all."

Damu was stunned. "With us? What's the reason?"

"It's not that complicated.

Her nephew, the Legion Commander of the Bauhinia Legion, was curious about how you all could compete with a Saint-level."

Damu tilted his head to look at the magic guidance sniper rifle on his shoulder, feeling even more confused. "How did he know about our sniping Magic Array?"

"His Aunt probably found out. Haven't you all been training near Keton City lately?

Well, I can evade her perception, and she can evade mine, so I couldn't stop her reconnaissance activities."

Damu's expression turned serious. "I see. It seems we can't train outside anymore, otherwise we might expose secrets, and we need to be more careful about hiding our identities."

Lake's enemy was the entire continent. Even a bottom-tier empire like Ganno had more than one Gods Blessing, let alone other stronger empires.

If they weren't careful and a Gods Blessing lurked nearby, a direct sneak attack could potentially wipe out the squad.

Zhang Mu said cheerfully, "Don't worry about being ambushed by top-tier Professionals.

I indeed cannot perceive Gods Blessing and Epic levels, but unless it's a desperate situation, they won't actively target you. As for the Saint-level...

I've already instructed Geoffrey to improve the sniper rifle's reconnaissance Core. Once that's done, locking onto a Saint-level won't be an issue."

"That's fantastic!"

The Special Operations Squad's biggest current weakness was enemy detection. The thick Mental Energy of a High-tier Professional could block the perception of lower-level Professionals. As mere Magic Apprentices, Damu and the others couldn't hope to track an enemy's movements with their own weak Mental Energy.

This was undoubtedly a huge drawback in battle. How could they defeat an enemy they couldn't even see?

Now knowing this weakness was being addressed, Damu couldn't help but feel excited.

"Of course, it's not that easy." Zhang Mu rubbed his temples with a bit of a headache. "They are Saint-level after all; the depth of their Mental Energy is terrifying. As for suppressing it... we'll have to see about Geoffrey."

Despite Zhang Mu clearly explaining the difficulties, Damu wasn't disappointed.

If a Saint-level's Mental Energy could be easily broken, they wouldn't be worthy of the title. As long as there was hope of success, it was enough.

The group stopped chatting and focused on their journey.

After walking for a while, Damu noticed that the direction ahead was not towards Keton City.

"Lord Marshal, are we not returning to Keton City?"

"Hmm?" Zhang Mu stopped and looked back in confusion. "Didn't I say your mission is to eliminate the high-ranking officers of the Bauhinia Legion?

Why, is it finished?"

"Uh, I thought that was just a casual excuse... Lord Marshal, since the mission is continuing, why are you following us?"

Zhang Mu looked up at the horizon. "Hmph, who knows if that woman will double back?"

...

The clouds in the sky were still, and Aunt and Sadou were hidden side-by-side within them.

Sadou looked around at the white expanse. "Aunt, why did we stop?"

"It seems... we've been discovered."

"Is someone following us?" Sadou was startled. Who would be so arrogant as to spy on a Gods Blessing!

Aunt looked a bit embarrassed. "No, I mean, we were the ones discovered."

"Ah?" His vision blocked by the clouds, Sadou couldn't see if anyone was nearby, so he spread his Mental Energy and soon caught sight of the group on the ground.

His expression turned blank. "Lord Gods Blessing, the one who was discovered was you, not us."

A Saint-level had their pride. To clearly state they were leaving and then turn around to tail someone—Sadou couldn't bear that embarrassment.

"Hahaha..." Aunt gave a few fake laughs and smacked him on the head. "Call me Aunt!"

"Aunt."

The woman folded her arms across her chest. "It's just a guess. Theoretically, it's impossible for him to discover me."

"Isn't he a Gods Blessing? Even if his strength isn't as great as yours, you shouldn't be able to completely block his Mental Energy, right?"

"Who said he's a Gods Blessing?"

"You did, Aunt."

"I did?"

"Then you didn't, I must have remembered wrong."

Sadou restrained the urge to retort and brought the topic back on track. "They've gone far. Should we still follow?"

"Since he's on guard, no."

"On guard?"

Sadou became alert. "Are you planning to..."

Aunt shrugged. "As a citizen of the Empire, if there's a chance to eliminate a powerful enemy for the Empire, why not do it?"

After thinking for a moment, Sadou said, "If you were to move to kill them, Zhang Mu probably couldn't stop you."

"When did I say I was going to do it?"

"Then who? Me?"

"Yes."

Sadou looked at Aunt's faceplate, remaining silent for a long time.

"You really don't act like a knight."

"Whatever, let's head back."

This time, the woman did not use teleportation magic and flew back toward the camp with Sadou.

After flying in silence for a while, she suddenly asked, "Nothing to say?"

"What kind of magic items are those weapons they use?"

Speaking of this, Aunt's expression became somewhat puzzled. "magic items?

They certainly seem like it—they have mana fluctuations and establish a spiritual connection with the user, but... why do I feel like they aren't magic items?"

Sadou almost instinctively stopped flying, his eyes staring fixedly at the faceplate in disbelief. "Do you realize what you're saying?"

The information revealed in the woman's casual tone made Sadou's whole body tense up, his mind feeling as if an area-of-effect spell had exploded inside it.

If they weren't magic items, it meant those strange weapons were man-made, and man-made meant—mass production.

Even if the production volume was pitifully low, it was still a stable output, unless the raw materials were rare.

Cold sweat broke out on Sadou's forehead. "I didn't pay attention at the time. Aunt, that weapon... its materials... are they rare?"

"Materials?" Aunt's index finger tapped the part of the faceplate covering her chin. "One material was very unfamiliar, I've never even heard of it. The others... they all seemed like very common things."

"I see..." Sadou's eyes as he gazed into the void ahead were somewhat vacant.

"No wonder, no wonder he was branded a heretic by the gods...

A heretic, he is a heretic!"

Sadou's voice suddenly became shrill, his clenched fists trembling uncontrollably, his face contorted like a demon from the eighteenth level of hell.

"Where did he come from? What exactly does he want to do? Destroy the Saul Continent?

Kill him... I'm going to kill him... crush him... grind him into powder! And then scatter it in the Endless Sea!"

"Oh, right now?" Aunt's helmeted head leaned slightly toward him.

"Now! Instantly! Immediately!"

"Then I have to remind you, with that irritating squad plus Zhang Mu, you probably aren't their match.

Besides, Lake has Saint-levels too."

Sadou suddenly turned his head. "Are you going to just watch? Let that heretic destroy us, destroy the Saul Continent?!"

"Well, Aunt actually doesn't really care."

Astonishment climbed onto Sadou's face, as if he couldn't believe Aunt would say such a thing.

"Aunt has grown tired of thousands of years of dull times. Now that things are getting a bit turbulent, Aunt is actually quite happy."

"This—there is nothing to be happy about." Sadou gritted his teeth, every word seeming to be squeezed out from between them.

"Little guy." Aunt raised her hand and tapped his head. "The gods aren't in a hurry, so why are you?"

After saying that, she didn't wait for Sadou to respond and flew straight toward the horizon.

...

"They should be gone now." Having escorted the Dam Squad to the combat zone between Lake and the Allied Forces, Zhang Mu used the Shadow Technique to scout the sky before returning to the ground to speak to Damu.

"Is that so?"

"If she didn't leave, I'd be out of options." Zhang Mu scratched his hair and said somewhat helplessly, "Actually, if she really wanted to move against you, I couldn't stop her.

Following you was less about protection and more about forcing her to hesitate about acting in front of me, hoping she'd use that time to realize that even killing you wouldn't change the status quo."

Damu only half-understood.

Zhang Mu didn't mind and explained, "Once she realizes the magic guidance sniper rifles are mass-produced weapons, she probably won't kill you, because she can't kill them all."

"Then, what if she chooses to solve the problem at its root, like destroying Lake or attacking the Lord Marshal?"

"Although the reason isn't clear, I suspect she knows she can't kill me."

"Alright." Having said all there was to say, Zhang Mu turned to leave. "Carry out your mission."

"Yes!"

After dealing with the Special Operations Team, Zhang Mu returned to the Command Post to learn about the recent battle situation from Domit.

Under the Lake high-level's advocacy for advancing the front lines, Lake's offensive was fierce.

The Assault Team went ahead, ambushing small-scale units they encountered and gathering intelligence on cities they passed through to send back, providing convenience for the main legions following closely behind.

Domit had already committed all legions except the First Army to the battlefield. As soon as city intelligence came in, a legion with sufficient Soldiers was immediately sent to capture it.

Furthermore, with the Armory producing various vehicles and heavy weapons to equip the legions, the defenders were powerless to resist, retreating steadily as cities fell one after another.

Lake's Soldier losses were also not small.

It wasn't that they were sacrificed during the city sieges; the enemy forces defending the city walls basically collapsed after the first round of Artillery Regiment bombardment.

They were heavily wounded by the Professionals inside the cities.

After Domit finished his report, he brought up the plans that should be launched next.

With the increase in occupied cities, Lake was severely lacking in candidates suitable for the position of City Lord. Currently, more than half of the occupied cities' City Lord positions were vacant. This might be fine for a short time, but over time, order within the cities would inevitably become chaotic.

And the expansion of territory was even more terrifying than the increase in cities; Lake's area had multiplied several times, and the front lines continued to lengthen accordingly.

Even though the Armory was producing fuel-powered vehicles at full capacity, because the road conditions to the front lines were mostly poor and vehicle production was limited, supplying the front-line legions was becoming increasingly difficult.

Of these two troubles, the former could not be effectively solved for the time being, so the latter had to be considered first.

The construction of highways had to be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

Zhang Mu nodded, indicating he understood. "Building highways... isn't that hard. There are many construction teams within Lake; with a bit of training, they can be sent to build roads. If that's not enough, recruit workers in the occupied cities.

In any case, this isn't a secret, so we don't need to look too closely into the workers' backgrounds.

As for the urgent shortage of City Lords..."

After a long silence, Zhang Mu said, "What are the requirements for a City Lord in Lake?"

"The Professional level must be at least High-tier, and they must have basic city governance experience. The King will only look for City Lords among people who possess both of these criteria."

Zhang Mu asked in confusion, "Isn't that a circular problem?

You need experience to be a City Lord, but how can you get experience without being a City Lord?"

"Lake has books for learning knowledge in this area; passing the assessment counts as meeting the standard."

"Tsk, I didn't expect Professionals to also suffer under the claws of examinations. How tragic." Zhang Mu shook his head with a sigh, then continued, "The problem now is that there are very few people who meet both criteria, right?"

"Yes."

"Among those who meet only one of the criteria, which group is larger?"

Domit thought for a while. "It feels like about half and half."

Zhang Mu showed a smile. "Then let's be flexible.

How about this: don't require a Professional level; anyone who passes the exam can serve as a City Lord."

"But if the City Lord's strength is insufficient, it will be hard for subordinates to respect them and follow orders."

"That's why I said be flexible." Sitting on the wooden chair, Zhang Mu crossed his legs. "Can't we just provide the City Lord with a High-tier Professional guard?"

"Uh, that's probably even more difficult. High-tier Professionals are mostly arrogant and wouldn't be willing."

"I'll handle that.

As for the specific plans, I'll discuss them with Princess Avril later.

Now..."

Zhang Mu stood up and walked to the battle map hanging on the wall. His finger pressed against it, moving along the black line representing a road, soon stopping at a certain spot.

Domit looked; it was a range of mountains by a river.

"I've estimated the marching speed of the Bauhinia Legion. They should reach this river area in about a month, and they will certainly set up camp to rest then."

"The Lord Marshal means..."

"Send the First Army to lie in ambush in the mountains."

"And the timing for the attack?"

"The night the Bauhinia Legion's camp is completed."

Domit looked at the map. "Lord Marshal, I suggest deploying the Third Army to assist."

"I think the First Army eliminating the Bauhinia Legion shouldn't be too much of a problem. Tell me your reasoning."

"After my long-term observation, the Third Army is suitable for absorption into the First Army."

"Suitable..."

Zhang Mu fell into thought.

If they had another legion equipped with magic-conducting weapons, Lake's military capabilities would indeed improve significantly. Moreover, as the war progressed, the First Army would have to expand sooner or later to cope with the increasingly intense conflict.

"Fine, but magic-conducting weapons are a serious matter; the vetting process must be meticulous."

"Yes!"