476: Chapter 457 Bloody Battle

Domit hoped to breach the capital of the Kingdom of Lagu as quickly as possible, yet he knew full well that achieving such a goal in the short term was a mere delusion.

Lagu was, after all, a Kingdom at the peak of its national power. The King held absolute centralized authority, the legions were brimming with combat strength, High-tier Professionals were loyal to the royal family, and even their Saint-levels did not flee upon encountering the enemy like those of the Allied Forces.

Domit was not so blindly confident as to believe he could destroy a united Lagu with just a few simple blows.

Admittedly, the low-level Farmers certainly wouldn't be of one mind with the royal family that exploited them; thus, the judgment of being 'united from top to bottom' seemed debatable. In reality, however, it held true, because the 'bottom' in that context never included the Farmer class to begin with.

Therefore, a steady and methodical approach was necessary.

After the Lake Vanguard arrived at the edge of the mountain forest, they constructed a camp on the spot. Once the main legions arrived one after another, Domit moved the Command Post into a tunnel. The entire Dam Squad was sent to the front lines to lie in wait near the military camp, patiently setting an ambush for the Lagu Saint-levels.

Sniper Squads drawn from each legion set out that night, venturing into the mountain forest to begin their contest against the Lagu Soldiers.

Brando received the report that the main Lake legions had stationed themselves outside the forest area, and a smile couldn't help but appear on his face.

He knew that Lake's enemies weren't limited to Lagu; its eastern border faced the constant threat of surprise attacks from rival nations. Those Kingdoms hadn't attacked Lake yet not because they lacked the will, but because they feared defeat.

Brando had already sent word to the royal families of various Kingdoms that Lake's main legions had marched into Lagu territory. Surely, the kings were currently verifying the truth of this news.

Once verified, the kings would inevitably mobilize large armies to attack Lake's weakly defended eastern border. They wouldn't seek to occupy cities, but merely to plunder the population and the treasuries of various cities.

At that time, Lake would have no choice but to withdraw its troops from Lagu and rush to the eastern border to expel the foreign invaders.

Until that day came, Brando didn't need to engage in a bloody struggle with Lake that would deplete his national strength. He only needed to delay their advance and patiently wait for that moment to arrive.

This goal was not difficult to achieve.

There was only a single path through the mountain forest, barely a man's shoulder-width across. If Lake wanted to bring tanks through, they would first have to widen the road, and the Lagu Soldiers deployed in the forest would obviously do their utmost to obstruct them.

If your Soldiers work on the road, I'll send troops to harass them; if a section is widened, I'll destroy it with magic. In this cycle, by the time Lake finished the road, the Soldiers of the various Kingdoms would already be reveling freely in the eastern border.

However, to Brando's surprise, Lake showed no sign of road construction at all. They simply dispatched several hundred two-man teams into the forest—all of whom were ordinary people, without a single Professional among them.

He was somewhat baffled. These Soldiers numbered fewer than a thousand, and their individual strength was far weaker than that of Professionals. Did they expect to clear out the ten-thousand-strong First-Tier Legion that Lagu had deployed in the forest?

Brando highly doubted whether the Lake commander had been blinded by the joy of defeating the Allied Forces, becoming arrogant to such a degree. Then again, he felt Lake shouldn't be this foolish; perhaps there was a hidden conspiracy afoot.

After much agonizing thought, he decided to act with caution. He ordered the frontline Soldiers to first engage in small-scale skirmishes with the Lake teams, strictly forbidding a full-scale deployment until the enemy's objective was clear.

Meanwhile, Domit reminded the Sniper Squads to be wary of Lagu's High-tier Professionals and to pay attention to concealing their movements while executing missions.

Soldiers from both sides followed their orders, searching for enemy traces in the forest with extreme caution. On the evening three days later, they unexpectedly encountered each other on an unnamed hilltop.

Two Sniper Squads spotted a ten-man Lagu scouting party first. Four of them fired a round, blowing apart the heads of four Soldiers. The remaining six Soldiers fled in panic, and the subsequent pursuit killed three more. The three surviving Soldiers escaped back to the Lagu camp.

This encounter in the wild meant that the horn for a violent clash had been sounded.

From then on, the former silence of the mountain forest was gone, and bloody battles broke out at any time and place.

A Sniper Squad on a hilltop successfully headshot several Lagu Soldiers. Before their smiles of harvesting military merit could fully bloom, a Lagu Professional hidden in the canopy descended from the sky and severed their necks.

In close-quarters combat, the Lake snipers were helpless against the Lagu Professionals, and the remaining team members turned to flee.

The Sniper Squads were masters of environmental camouflage, using tools to blend in with the trees and bushes. Moreover, they always sniped from a distance and relocated immediately after a shot. As a result, when Lagu Professionals heard the gunshots and rushed to the scene, they usually only saw the messy corpses of their allies lying on the ground.

The frustration of having strength but nowhere to use it had tormented the Lagu Professionals for days. Now that they had finally spotted the enemy, they brandished their longswords and gave chase.

Chasing halfway down the mountain, the snipers' backs were right before them. The Lagu Professional raised his arm with a cruel expression, gripping his sword, but before he could swing it down, his head was blown apart by a bullet from a supporting Sniper Squad in the distance.

The rescued squad had no time to celebrate their escape. The crisp sound of Lagu reinforcements stepping on dry branches in the surrounding woods amplified in their ears at an alarming speed.

Run!

The pursuit continued as Soldiers from both sides arrived to reinforce. The roles of hunter and prey shifted constantly. Both sides were entangled from the mountaintop to the foot of the hill. The sound of gunshots and blades cutting through the air echoed in the forest. Every few meters along the way, a corpse lay—some from Lake, some from Lagu.

By nightfall.

The fierce battle ended with the Soldiers on both sides in the vicinity nearly wiped out. The last surviving Lagu Professional's blade pierced the heart of the final sniper, but before the sniper died, he shoved his gun barrel into the Professional's mouth and pulled the trigger.

What ended was this battle, not the war.

The next morning, both sides committed fresh troops again. A new round of slaughter began with a single gunshot in the forest.

Lake Command Post.

The tunnel had no skylight, and its only wooden door was tightly shut. Only the crystal on the magic chandelier emitted a dim, hazy yellow light.

Domit put down the battle report, looked at the chandelier with a frown, and asked his adjutant, "Who set up this lamp?"

"Uh, the Logistics Department."

"Tell them the Command Post is not a place for noble ladies to flirt with their husbands. If there's a next time, they will be dealt with by military law."

"Yes!" The adjutant responded with a puffed-out chest, then lowered his voice to explain, "The Kingdom's construction focus is in the east. Gur City hasn't been electrified yet. Generators are on the way, so electric lights can't be installed. I suppose the Logistics Department could only find this."

As he spoke, he pointed his index finger at the chandelier.

Domit picked up the battle report. "That's why I said 'if there's a next time'."

"Understood."

"Strange." Domit stared at the enemy strength column on the report. "Why are they all low-tier Professionals? Is there not a single High-tier Professional?"

"According to frontline reports, among the enemy Soldiers currently engaged, no High-tier Professionals have been discovered yet."

"What is Brando planning..."

After thinking for a moment, Domit waved the adjutant away and took out a sound transmission crystal to contact Damu, who was lurking on the battlefield.

The light projected from the crystal fell on Domit's face. After a moment, Damu's voice sounded in his ear.

"Any instructions?"

"No, I wanted to ask if you have any search results yet?"

"Not just High-tier Professionals, even Saint-levels haven't joined the fight. The area around the camp is very quiet. By the way, have the drones been attacked?"

"No."

"Do you need me to..."

"Your mission is to ensure the safety of the main legion."

"Yes."

Hanging up the communication and putting away the crystal, Domit looked up at the chandelier. His right index finger, resting on the desk, rose and fell.

Brando, what exactly are you trying to do?