478: Chapter 459 Fire Behind Us

The ongoing fierce battle in the mountains did not disturb the peace in the rear.

Brando sat in the quiet study, sorting through the unexpected events that had occurred in succession over recent days, as well as the source of his current vexation.

This all had to be traced back to the survivors after the fall of the Ice and Snow Empire.

The remnants of the royal family arrived in a remote corner of the continent, unified the various Kingdoms to establish Lake, and launched a decisive battle against the Kingdom.

The outcome was a crushing defeat for the Kingdom, which, after a period of dormancy spent ceding territory and paying reparations to gain time for development, experienced a resurgence and began a history of entanglement with Lake that lasted for thousands of years.

In the memories of the Kingdom's upper echelons, that was a history of humiliation and extreme pain, yet the facts hidden beneath it were even more desperate than their memories.

In this war, the Kingdom was destined to fail from the very beginning.

Ice and Snow was an empire after all, and the power of an empire was something the Kingdoms could not even begin to imagine, much like a Farmer thinking an emperor must use a golden hoe to farm.

In reality, the emperor did not work at all.

At that time, the perception of the Kingdom's people was that the empire was strong because it possessed more High-tier Professionals, more Saint-level, Gods Blessing, and Epic individuals; they completely failed to understand that the true terror of the empire lay in the massive amount of secret arts accumulated by monopolizing top-tier dungeons in certain regions.

For example, soul replacement.

The King of Lagu unfortunately perished during the decisive battle between the two countries, and the prince urgently ascended to the throne.

The newly crowned prince was wise and martial; he organized the Legion Commanders to defend against Lake's invasion of their territory while personally contacting surrounding Kingdoms, exchanging territory for guarantees of non-aggression.

Under his leadership, the Kingdom quickly recovered and became even stronger than before.

The ministers and Legion Commanders were moved to tears; every night before going to bed, and even in their dreams, they would kowtow to the gods in gratitude for bestowing upon the Kingdom such a heroic king.

However, they did not know that the very next day after this peerless king put on the crown, a foreign soul had taken up residence within his body.

That was a royal descendant of Lake.

The empire's vision far exceeded that of the Kingdoms. In the eyes of Lake (Ice and Snow), if there was a way to easily occupy an enemy country, why expend the effort to send troops to attack?

The Lake descendant who occupied the body of the King of Lagu lay in wait for years, leading the Kingdom toward prosperity in the image of the king that the ministers imagined.

As for why he didn't simply lead the Kingdom to surrender to Lake, that was the result of the King of Lake's careful consideration back then.

He speculated that the true identity of Lake would eventually be exposed in the future, and surrounding Kingdoms would inevitably form an alliance to besiege them; at that time, having the Kingdom act as an undercover agent was clearly more valuable than annexing it.

Under Lake's secret manipulation, the two countries maintained a superficial state of being mortal enemies at war.

To gain the trust of surrounding Kingdoms, every time the two countries announced war losses, they claimed massive sacrifices of High-tier Professionals, even the fall of individual Saint-level beings, when in reality, the Soldiers who died on both sides were all low-tier Professionals and ordinary people.

Of course, Lake would not leave obvious flaws—how many Soldiers died, what percentage were High-tier Professionals, and whether Saint-level beings existed could all be confirmed by checking the Soldiers' corpses on the battlefield.

The King of Lake dispatched the only remaining Gods Blessing of the royal family at the time to raid and kill High-tier Professionals and Saint-level beings in distant Kingdoms, bringing their remains back to be discarded on the battlefield.

A perfect disguise.

Unfortunately, it was eventually seen through by the gods, who descended the Silent Forest to stop the drama directed by Lake; as for the specific purpose, or the intention behind reclaiming the Silent Forest not long ago, no one knew.

In the years that followed, the Lake descendant impersonating the King of Lagu passed the bloodline down, choosing the most outstanding one among the many princes and princesses to tell the truth, and the descendants followed his example, passing the mission down through the generations.

At the same time, infiltration of the Kingdom's ruling class was also underway.

Brando was one of the results.

Brando's ancestors were descendants of a certain prince of Lake, and he was the most outstanding youth of this generation, having learned everything from his father.

From that day on, he had always hoped to return to Ice and Snow; that was his true home.

When the phantom of the god appeared in the Lake Royal Capital and the true identity of Lake was revealed, Brando's hands trembled with excitement as the divine oracle rang in his ears; the opportunity to go home had finally arrived, provided he could resolve the obstacle.

The current King of Lagu.

He was not the royal descendant who was infinitely loyal to Ice and Snow like the one from back then. Thousands of years of time could wear down stone, let alone the human heart.

In the Kingdom, he was the supreme king, living in a massive palace, worshipped by all who saw him, ruling over hundreds of cities, vast territories, and millions of subjects; if he admitted he was a descendant of Ice and Snow, all of this would be lost in an instant.

If Lake were still the Ice and Snow of old, even if it were only a fragmented remnant of Ice and Snow, he would surely have docilely contributed the Kingdom.

However, Ice and Snow had been continuously declining for thousands of years, and before Zhang Mu appeared, it had already fallen behind the Kingdom, seemingly truly reduced to the "Lake Kingdom."

In such a situation, it was inevitable that the King of Lagu would feel unwilling. Everyone was a Kingdom, and I was even slightly better than you; why should I hand over my power? Why shouldn't Lake hand it over to me?

I am also a descendant of Ice and Snow.

Waking up naturally every day, going out for a few days of travel when the mood struck, no need to be anxious about the approach of a mortgage due date, no need to feel palpitations upon hearing the notification sound of messages on VX after getting off work, distressed about having to work overtime for free for the company.

Having grown accustomed to the comfort of financial freedom, who would be willing to go back to wearing an employee badge and living the life of a beast of burden, with the sense of being like an ox fitted with a wooden plow?

The King of Lagu was not stupid; he was certain he had the grasp to defeat the brand-new Lake, otherwise, when Brando first proposed returning to Ice and Snow, he would not have needed to promise it.

It was just that after thinking about it, simply handing over his throne and Kingdom, and being reduced to an ordinary noble, was probably harder to accept than death, and so this war with Lake came to be.

He intended to try to retain his power, and the price of failure was his life; the King of Lagu had already made up his mind.

Brando awoke from the black-and-white memory scene and sighed deeply.

He was not optimistic about the outcome of this war.

There were indeed unexpected factors in Lake's destruction of the coalition forces, with Saint-level beings fleeing without a fight, but the coalition forces had sacrificed a Saint-level being on the way to attack Lake; Brando had experienced it personally.

The speed at which the battle ended was not at all like two Saint-level beings clashing, but rather a Gods Blessing taking action and crushing them in an instant.

In the subsequent Lake counterattack, Lake did not know that the coalition's Saint-level beings had fled, yet they attacked the coalition's territory without sending their own few Saint-level beings, and successfully occupied all cities, eliminating all combat strength.

Clearly, Lake had the confidence to deal with the coalition's Saint-level beings without relying on their own Saint-level beings.

As for what that confidence specifically was, Brando did not know, and the current probes had yielded no results; Lake, relying on a combination of strange weapons and ordinary Soldiers, had blocked his low-tier Professionals without revealing a shred of excess information.

With the enemy situation unknown, Brando dared not rashly deploy Saint-level beings. The Kingdom had fewer than ten Saint-level beings in total, and in the foreseeable hundred years, no new Saint-level beings would be born; the ones in his hands now were one less for every one lost.

"Whew—" He leaned back against the chair, looking up at the ceiling, "I hope the Kingdoms in the east will attack soon, forcing Lake to retreat to fight...

In the precious time gained from this, the King..."

His voice grew lower and lower, and Brando closed his eyes, appearing to have fallen asleep.

It likely wasn't a good dream.

...

Lake Command Post.

Under the severe reprimand of the adjutant, the chandelier emitting an ambiguous light had been replaced, and a bright white light illuminated the dugout.

Domit flipped through the intelligence sent by Solon from the Royal Capital, which consisted of only one sentence.

【The Kingdom has continuously dispatched High-tier Professionals to the Kingdoms bordering Lake's eastern territory.】

Putting down the note, he pinched his chin and began to ponder.

Sending people to contact those Kingdoms...

They are too far from the Kingdom; assembling legions, marching, and arriving at the battlefield would take enough time for me to capture the Lake Royal Capital; Brando's intention is definitely not to seek reinforcements.

What does he want to do?

The answer was not complicated; Domit made a few simple eliminations and arrived at the correct conclusion—to incite them to attack Lake's eastern territory.

To be honest, if those Kingdoms were truly incited by Brando and joined forces to attack, with the defensive strength of Lake's eastern territory at this moment, it would be difficult to stop them outside the border.

Brando had anticipated this and formulated some insurance measures, forming five legions in the eastern territory that originally belonged to the coalition to assist the Ninth and Tenth legions in guarding the border.

Domit issued an urgent directive, and the city lords of the various cities in the eastern territory posted recruitment orders on notice boards overnight.

In any world, there is no shortage of poor families. The recruitment order clearly stated that Soldiers were guaranteed three meals a day, divided into morning, noon, and evening, with each meal consisting of at least two meat dishes, three vegetable dishes, and one soup, with daily pay.

With such generous treatment, in just three days, the establishment of the five legions was completely full.

By the time Domit traveled from the Royal Capital to Gur City, the five legions had completed their three-day recruit training and had already arrived at the eastern border to station.

There were seven legions in total, with nearly one hundred thousand Soldiers; normally, this would be enough to shoulder the heavy responsibility of defending the border, but considering Lake's current situation, it was not enough.

The Soldiers of the five new legions had never experienced the tempering of war; if they truly encountered enemy troops, let alone defeating them, being able to control their fear and not turn and flee would already be considered a success.

The power truly relied upon to resist the enemy was still Lake's Ninth and Tenth legions.

They were strong enough, but their numbers were too few. Most importantly, the Special Operations Squads capable of dealing with High-tier Professionals had all been brought to the Kingdom by Domit.

Domit pondered for a moment and called to the adjutant outside the door: "Come in."

The adjutant was always on standby at the door, and upon hearing the call, he immediately pushed the door open: "Lord Domit, what is it?"

"Contact the front line and see if the enemy's High-tier Professionals have appeared today."

The adjutant pulled the door shut, returned a few minutes later, walked to the table with several stacked sheets of white paper in his hand, and handed them over: "Lord Domit, today's battle report."

Taking it and looking it over, Domit lowered his head in thought; seeing this, the adjutant stepped backward without a sound and walked out of the room.

A few minutes later, Domit seemed to have made a decision: "Damu."

"Present."

"To snipe a lone Saint-level being, how many squads do you need at a minimum?"

The air in the dugout was silent for a short while, and Damu's voice sounded: "Three squads."

"There are seventeen in total, with five ambushed in the mountains, hmm...

Leave three squads here, including you, and send all the remaining squads to the eastern territory to assist the Ninth and Tenth legions in defending the border."

"Understood."

The dugout door opened and closed; Domit stood up and called the adjutant again: "Prepare yourself, we are going to the front line."

The adjutant's raised right foot froze in mid-air, and his mouth slowly widened: "Go, to the front line?"

"Mm."

Perhaps unwilling to believe it, he comforted himself that he must have misunderstood the meaning of Domit's words, or misheard, and said: "Lord Domit, this is the front line."

"Go to the mountains."

The three words clearly entered his ears; the adjutant was dazed for a few seconds, then suddenly blocked the door, his arms spread wide: "No!"

Domit took the casual coat hanging on the standing coat rack in the corner, put it on, turned around, and said: "That is an order."

"That still won't do!"

There was a fierce battle going on in the mountains, with bullets and fireballs flying everywhere; excluding the corpses of Soldiers from both sides, just the mangled remains of wild beasts and magical beasts that had been affected littered the hillsides, severed limbs hung from branches everywhere, and the green leaves of plants in the forest were stained red with blood.

The Soldiers on both sides, their eyes red with killing intent, would shoot or slash with a sword at anyone they saw who wasn't wearing their own uniform.

Even if the Lake Soldiers still had some rationality left and recognized his uniform, and wouldn't accidentally injure Lord Domit, the Kingdom Soldiers' knight swords and fireballs would not have the slightest hesitation.

The adjutant did not understand why the General Commander had suddenly gone crazy and wanted to go to such a dangerous battlefield, but regardless, he absolutely had to stop him!

Domit looked at him as if he had made some sort of resolution, his figure blocking the door tightly, and laughed in spite of himself: "I'm not going into the forest; I'll just take a look from afar."

"Don't even talk about taking a look from afar; I won't even allow you to leave the Command Post!"

Domit's face darkened: "What are you doing?"

The adjutant did not back down, even though he was facing the General Commander: "I should be asking you that!

Where are you going, and what for?

If you want to understand the enemy's situation, there are the latest battle reports returned every day."

"There is information that the battle reports don't explain; I need to observe the scene to understand it clearly."

"You tell me, and I'll go investigate."

The adjutant seemed worried that Domit would force his way through, stepped back vigilantly, reached behind him, and locked the door: "If you are determined to go, I definitely won't be able to stop you, but I will call the Legion Commanders here!"

"This..."

Domit scratched his head, continued to stalemate for a while, took off the coat, and hung it back on the standing coat rack: "I won't go."

The adjutant did not relax because of this, his feet nailed to the floor in front of the door: "Really?"

"Really."

"Then that..."

"Knock, knock." The door was suddenly knocked, and the adjutant hurriedly calmed his rough breathing caused by excitement, turned around, and pulled it open; the communicator was standing outside.

"What is it?"

"A telegram from the Royal Capital."

"The Royal Capital?" Domit, who had sat back behind his desk, cast his gaze over.

The two legions stationed in the eastern territory had a dedicated channel to contact him; if there was anything, they would come to him directly, and it was impossible to go through the trouble of having it relayed by the Royal Capital.

At this time, the only one contacting him from the Royal Capital was Solon.

A telegram had been sent an hour ago, and now another one came...

Domit remembered that he had emphasized to Solon to pay close attention to the various Kingdoms outside the eastern territory recently, and this telegram must be related to them, combined with the Kingdom's actions of contacting various Kingdoms...

A bad premonition surged in his heart; he couldn't wait for the adjutant to hand it over, stood up, walked over, snatched the note from the communicator's hand as if grabbing it, and lowered his head to look closely.

The text on the note matched the style of the previous one, concise to the point of having only one sentence.

【Received news that the various Kingdoms began assembling legions half an hour ago, and it is inferred that their intention is to attack our eastern territory.】