415: Chapter 402 Combination Punches

A round of bombardment exploded within the Bauhinia Legion's main camp, its power significant.

Some shells hit the tents; adjutants who were slow to react, failing to come out and investigate the strange noise while napping inside, departed for another world without any pain. Others smashed into the crowds gathered in the open spaces, as screams of agony rose and fell amidst the thick, drifting smoke and dust.

The two Vice Legion Commanders, who were on guard, remained unscathed. They immediately surged their magic to blast away the dust clouds and surveyed the surrounding situation.

Severed limbs and broken arms lay scattered on the grass, belonging to the Soldiers near the impact points. As for those directly hit by the shells, they were reduced to a sticky mess clinging to the weeds.

"Set up defenses!" one Vice Legion Commander snapped back to his senses, roaring at the High-tier Professionals.

They likely hadn't expected the camp to come under artillery fire and were standing there dazed; they only scrambled into action upon hearing the order.

Sadou had never neglected their training. Even under a sudden attack, their reaction showed no signs of chaos.

The captain of the High-tier Professionals judged from the current situation that a large-scale defensive spell was needed to withstand the enemy's saturation attack. At his command, the mages quickly used magic to clear the severed hands and feet from the ground, pulling out crystals to establish the magic nodes for a Magic Array.

Knights formed a protective circle on the perimeter, guarding against any potential invisible assassins.

As the magic nodes increased, the two Vice Legion Commanders breathed a sigh of relief and surveyed the surroundings.

To be honest, although this round of bombardment was sudden and powerful, the results were quite limited. The knights in the High-tier Professional squad could partially withstand the shockwaves of the explosions with their physical bodies alone, and with the shields raised by the mages, there were essentially zero casualties among them.

As for the low-tier Professionals, some of the clever ones noticed something was wrong and decisively dodged the shells. Those who were hit didn't necessarily die; most were heavily injured. Once the Divine Officials arrived and they received the nourishment of light-attribute magic, their injuries would heal instantly, restoring their combat effectiveness.

Overall, the Bauhinia Legion's losses were not heavy.

The grim expressions of the two Vice Legion Commanders softened slightly as they turned some attention to the weapons used in the attack.

"Magic Crystal Cannons?" one of them asked tentatively.

The other Vice Legion Commander shook his head. "How could a Magic Crystal Cannon fire this far? This distance... it's already beyond the limit of the naked eye."

"Then it must be the howitzers the Legion Commander mentioned?"

"There's no other possibility."

"The cannons must be positioned in the forest."

The two stood on the grass riddled with charred craters, gazing toward the forest.

After a moment of silence, one said, "Should we..."

"We must seek the Legion Commander's permission."

As Vice Legion Commanders, they could exercise full command over the legion in Sadou's absence. However, Sadou had specifically emphasized this point—without his order, no one was allowed to pursue the enemy into the forest on their own initiative.

The Vice Legion Commander was somewhat unwilling. "Are we just going to take a hit without fighting back? We are the Bauhinia Legion of the Gangnuo Empire; the glory we carry does not allow me—"

"This is war, not a duel," Sadou said, walking over unhurriedly from a distance.

"Legion Commander!" The two turned and bowed.

Sadou walked closer, first looking up at the massive light canopy that had already emerged overhead, before saying, "The enemy has been avoiding a direct confrontation with us. Why?"

"Because they can't?"

"Exactly. They can't, so they can only try various means to provoke us into rushing into the forest to engage in skirmishes with them."

Saying this, Sadou looked up at the increasingly solid magical canopy in the sky. "If they have the ability, let them blast it to pieces."

As if in response to him, a second round of shells came whistling in, smashing one after another onto the translucent, membrane-like shield, creating ripples.

At the same time, the light emitted by the magic crystals serving as nodes on the grass suddenly dimmed.

Sadou observed, "It can probably fully withstand two more attacks..."

"At this rate of consumption, how long can the magic crystals we brought last?"

A Vice Legion Commander replied, "At least three months."

"That is enough." Sadou turned to walk toward his tent. "Maintain the status quo; do not charge out blindly."

"Understood!"

...

The Bauhinia Legion's camp on the riverside grass was protected by a hemispherical magical light shield.

Separated by a dense forest, the First Army's Artillery Regiment dozens of kilometers away was unaware of this. They simply followed superior orders, launching round after round of continuous bombardment.

Two Special Operations Squads, prepared to resist an assault from the enemy's High-tier Professionals, lay in ambush on the outskirts of the artillery positions. After waiting a long time without seeing the enemy, they were all a bit bewildered.

The situation was quickly reported to the Command Post. After a brief thought, Domit understood that the enemy commander was wary of the Special Operations Squads hidden in the forest.

"Inform the Marshal of the situation. Request a swift resolution; do not give the enemy time to react."

"Yes!"

The First Army's Special Operations Team had been fully deployed this time, but there were only two Special Operations Squads in the forest. Where were the others?

Naturally, they had gone to intercept the Bauhinia Legion's reinforcements.

Domit had used the enemy's negligence to successfully take out their Medical Squad. As long as the status quo was maintained, the next step would be the total annihilation of the Bauhinia Legion. Naturally, he could not allow their Divine Official reinforcements to arrive.

To this end, he even risked the Artillery Regiment suffering heavy losses by dispatching five Special Operations Squads to carry out the mission, leaving only two to protect the artillery positions.

Although Domit speculated that the enemy likely wouldn't dare to leave their camp—after all, the Special Operations Squads had the ability to snipe High-tier Professionals—speculation was ultimately just speculation and could not be certain.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly in the end.

Domit walked out of the room and looked toward the battlefield in the distance.

Marshal, now, it's up to you.

...

The Dam Squad was moving quickly through a reed marsh when suddenly, a faint ripple of Mental Energy was transmitted to Damu's mind from his sniper rifle.

He raised his hand, and the team members behind him stopped in unison, activating their sniper rifle Cores and scanning the surroundings alertly.

"Clear," a team member reported.

Hearing this, Damu connected the communication.

"Orders from Legion Commander Domit: tell the Marshal to settle this quickly."

As the words fell, the light from the crystal on the side of the sniper rifle's body dimmed, and Zhang Mu's figure slowly emerged beside Damu. "No movement from the Bauhinia Legion?"

"It seems so," Damu said, looking back.

"That guy..." Halfway through, Zhang Mu smiled. "He's quite cautious."

"Fine then. It's best if they don't move; otherwise, the Artillery Regiment really would be in some danger."

Damu stood up and brushed aside the reeds near his face. "Marshal, according to the situation from the rear, the Bauhinia Legion's reinforcements consist of over three hundred people, all dressed in ordinary Soldier uniforms. However, I suspect there are at least twenty High-tier Professionals among them."

"If we want to take out all the Divine Officials, we must first distinguish their identities and find all the High-tier Professionals."

Zhang Mu stood with his hands behind his back, pondering something, as he said, "What is their current position?"

"They have already left the teleportation array and are heading toward the Bauhinia Legion's camp. Based on their speed, they are estimated to arrive in three days."

"Why are they running so fast?"

It wasn't that Zhang Mu had no way to deal with these reinforcements.

The more troublesome way would be for the Dam Squad to attack repeatedly, chipping away at them step by step, while Zhang Mu blocked the enemy's counter-AOE magic, ensuring the enemy was wiped out without any casualties on their side. The downside was that the operation would take a bit longer. The simple and crude way would be to just drop a 'mushroom'; he had dozens of nuclear bombs stored in his inventory.

However, unless it was a last resort, Zhang Mu was not very willing to use nuclear weapons lightly.

The reason was simple: Lake's pace of expansion would not stop and would sooner or later step into the Ganno Empire. By then, all the surrounding land would belong to Lake, and dropping nukes on it would just mean he'd have to bother with the cleanup himself.

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Mu waved his hand. "Let's find them first."

No matter what method he used, Zhang Mu could never allow these reinforcements to reach the Bauhinia Legion's camp.

The group set off again, trekking all the way, and discovered the enemy's party the next morning.

The sun rose in the east, its morning light piercing through the clouds to spill across the land.

One couldn't see directly inside the clouds, but Zhang Mu had already sensed three hundred people flying within them at high speed.

On the ground, the Dam Squad had long since activated their sniper rifles and engaged the Shadow Technique Cores, lying in ambush behind a rising mound.

Zhang Mu squinted up at the clouds. They were on guard.

His Mental Energy fed back information about the enemy. They seemed to be using some kind of magic item to scramble their magic fluctuations, resulting in Zhang Mu only being able to sense the number of people but not determine individual strength.

Even at the Ganno Empire's request, the Church couldn't possibly send a Cardinal—that is, a Magister. If he could sense the specific level of individuals, he could distinguish who the Divine Officials were based on that.

Standing on the hilltop, Zhang Mu turned and ordered, "Fire a shot."

Since identities couldn't be distinguished through Mental Energy, he could only use a shot to test them.

Receiving the order, Damu randomly picked someone in the flying formation to aim at and then pulled the trigger.

The sound of breaking air whistled past his ear, vanishing in an instant.

"Who goes there?! How dare you offend the Ganno Empire!" an angry shout rang out from the clouds.

Zhang Mu had no intention of responding. He closed his eyes and pushed his Mental Energy to the limit, sensing the enemy's reaction.

A moment later, he opened his eyes in surprise. "This alert?"

After the attack, a Sky Knight in the group reacted quickly, swinging his sword to block the bullet, while the others closed in toward the center without making a single move to attack.

Clearly, they had learned of the Special Operations Team's existence from Sadou and had anticipated their tactics in advance, formulating a countermeasure.

You want to use attacks to test our identities, but I won't let you have your way. If one High-tier Professional can solve it, I won't expose a second. If you're not satisfied, then attack with all your might and see if my area-of-effect magic can't crush you to death.

Zhang Mu also figured it out. The enemy had guessed that he intended to avoid entangling with the guards and instead kill the Divine Officials and retreat. Thus, they only used one Sky Knight to handle all the probing attacks, preventing him from testing the identities of the rest.

"Hmm... I'll do it then." After some thought, Zhang Mu flew into the sky.

Damu and the others immediately linked their Mental Energy with their companions. Magic flowed through the air along specific paths, connecting head to tail to form a cycle, creating an amplification Magic Array.

Not long after Zhang Mu flew into the clouds, successive explosions from magical clashes were heard. The clouds were also dispersed, and the three hundred people suspended high in the air appeared before their eyes.

Damu couldn't help but smile when he saw the terror revealed on their faces.

The Marshal's Shadow Technique can't even be seen through by Saints; you only have the fate of being toyed with.

And that was exactly the case.

The squad couldn't sense the enemy's tracks at all; they only saw one spell after another suddenly explode in front of them. In their panic, some Divine Officials were hit and fell screaming to the ground. The High-tier Professionals could no longer bother hiding their identities and exposed their strength one after another, pouring out area-of-effect magic and combat techniques into the surroundings.

Damu observed for more than ten seconds, his gaze hardening as he communicated with his team members through Mental Energy.

Targets locked, operation start!

The magic within the five arrays surged toward the captains serving as their respective Cores. The crystals on the sides of the sniper rifles radiated light, and the dark muzzles simultaneously brewed increasingly dazzling crimson light orbs. When they reached their limit, a bullet shot out, striking toward the Divine Officials high in the sky.

"Three times." Zhang Mu returned to the hilltop, his face full of bad luck. "Damn it, they're like lunatics."

In the sky, the High-tier Professionals formed a spherical perimeter with the Divine Officials hiding inside. They tried their best to intercept the bullets fired at the Divine Officials, but their numbers were limited, and the protective circle had many holes. The bullets could always precisely pass through, blowing the heads of the Divine Officials apart.

As the number of Divine Officials rapidly dwindled, cold sweat broke out on their captain's forehead. "Quick! Contact Legion Commander Sadou!"

...

Bauhinia Legion Main Camp.

Sadou had ordered his adjutant to bring a lounge chair and a tea table. He brewed a cup of black tea and then lay back in the chair, savoring the sweet tea while leisurely watching the ripples constantly spreading across the surface of the light shield.

Lake's bombardment had lasted for two days. Logically, it should have been extremely frustrating to be hammered without being able to fight back, but Sadou wasn't annoyed at all.

Because these two days could be said to be the most peaceful days in recent months.

Before, he had to worry about being ambushed and deal with Lake's harassment. Now it was comfortable; he didn't have to care about anything and could just lie back and drink tea.

"You seem very relaxed." His Aunt walked up from behind and stood by the lounge chair.

Sadou smiled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Look, the enemy can only vent their anger on the Magic Shield. How delightful."

His Aunt looked down at him. "Aren't you worried about the Divine Officials being attacked on the road? You have no trace of that squad's whereabouts; aren't you curious where they went?"

Sadou placed the porcelain cup on the tea table and sat up straight. "Having had some rare free time these past two days, I've calmed down and thought about it carefully. Actually, that squad isn't that terrifying."

"For example... they fear large groups of High-tier Professionals, and the difficulty of training them shouldn't be too low. Otherwise, how could Zhang Mu only have formed seven squads?"

His Aunt tilted her head. "That sounds somewhat reasonable, but... well, as long as you're confident."

"Actually, I don't have much confidence." The smile on Sadou's face slowly faded, and he continued after a short silence. "I have already reported the detailed intelligence on Lake to the King, emphasizing where the danger lies and the methods to deal with it. If Lake still succeeds despite this..."

"What else can I do?"

His Aunt crossed her armor-clad arms. "That really is..."

"Hmm?"

Sadou gazed at his Aunt in confusion, but she suddenly stopped speaking, turned, and walked away, quickly disappearing behind a tent.

"What's going on..." Sadou was puzzled. He lay back on the lounge chair and reached for the porcelain cup on the tea table.

"Report!" a Soldier came running from a distance. "The reinforcing Divine Officials have been attacked in the field!"

Clatter— Sadou's hand trembled, and his stiff fingers knocked over the porcelain cup. The dark red tea flowed along the tabletop toward the edge, dripping onto the ground.