74: Chapter 74 Those who are righteous are often from humble backgrounds.

The earth-shaking artillery fire rang out once more; judging by the sound, it was large-caliber naval guns. Zhang Tianxing and his comrades buried their heads in the trenches, nearly buried by the loose soil.

As the shelling paused, the devils began to creep up onto the positions. These bloodthirsty demons in their locust-like yellowish-brown uniforms encountered the hot-blooded, half-grown boys who were defending their homes and country.

Severed limbs, skulls blown off by bullets, incomprehensible foreign tongues, and the roars of soldiers killing the enemy echoed throughout the entire day.

As dusk fell, Mia and her three companions were busy in the field hospital converted from a church, helping to treat the wounded rescued from the front lines.

"Miss Mia!" The dean's voice approached from afar.

"The church has sent the notice for our hospital to arrange your evacuation for the third time now. It is truly too dangerous here." He looked with some difficulty at the only Saint appointed by the Cleric holy land—Vatican City—to the Asian region, his mouth filled with bitterness.

Mia wiped away her sweat and looked at the stained-glass windows shattered by the artillery fire. "It's fine, Dean. I will not fall into the hands of the devils. At least, not while I am alive. Besides, you need to evacuate the wounded as soon as possible. Also, is the giant white cloth and the thick enough flagpole I asked you to find ready?"

"You girl, why are you so disobedient? I retreated all the way from the Northeast, and along the way, I don't know how many good girls the devils have harmed." The dean was anxious.

As they were speaking, another shell landed near the hospital, and the earth shook. Mia steadied the dean. "Please hand the items to my squire knight. I will find a way to stall the devils' aircraft while you evacuate the wounded."

"Sigh..." The dean couldn't persuade her. "I gave the things to that blond kid earlier. Your complexion doesn't look right; years of medical experience tell me you need to rest. Go, go to the lounge in the back, drink some sugar water, and take a nap."

Obediently, Mia walked into the lounge, locked the door, removed her white outer robe, revealing the [Blood Rose Set] and the gruesome wound on her arm.

Her face, suffering from excessive blood loss, bore a sickly pallor. "Truly pitiful to behold..." She looked at her pale complexion in the mirror and teased herself.

"Is the pattern on the flag finished?" Mia asked in the team channel.

"Almost there, let Ryan finish the rest himself." Tuaner replied.

"Prepare yourselves. We are going to raid their base after the beach landing. Let's deplete the devils' effective fighting force."

"Mhm, the vines are already lying in wait underground." Loran cast [Rejuvenation] on Mia, making her complexion look a bit better.

"Mia, can this method of yours really affect the devils' aircraft? You lost so much blood for this." Ryan was a bit uncertain.

"It can. The core power glyph for [Fear Spell] is drawn on this flag using my blood. When the dean takes the wounded and retreats, you go up to the church roof. If any Japanese planes come, wave this flag vigorously." After Mia finished assigning the task to Ryan, she slowly pulled up the stockings on her legs...

...Ichiro Yamashita was in a temporary outpost on the south bank of the Gan River, drinking a sip of his hometown's sake with a flushed face. "Those two annoying guys are finally dead." He was getting a bit carried away.

Because Chang Kaishen's army did not have many tanks or artillery, he had been assigned to the front lines to boost morale. Before crossing the river in the morning, the Colonel had given him a bottle of sake.

"Work hard again tomorrow and take that church a few kilometers away." The evil fire in Ichiro Yamashita's heart burned fiercely. Those few Chinese troops today were a bit different from the others; they fought with their lives the moment they met, as if they were protecting something. Some of them would even bite through the throats of Japanese soldiers before they died, causing him to lose a large number of Imperial soldiers. These were all his precious assets.

As he drank, he felt a bit dazed, as if the fragrance of a woman had wafted into the outpost.

That's right, it must be the fragrance of a woman! This scent was much more noble than that of the geishas in Kyoto. He vaguely felt a bit of an itch on his head; when he touched it with his hand, he discovered that a rose seemed to be blooming from the top of his head...

That night, the entire southern bank of the river became a sea of roses. Large patches of roses sprouted and bloomed from the corpses of the Japanese invaders. Later, this event spread among the soldiers and civilians who participated in the war. Everyone said that the little devils had angered the Flower Goddess and received retribution.

"Bastards! A thousand loyal and brave Imperial soldiers have become fertilizer for flowers in such an inexplicable way." The supreme commander of the Japanese invaders for this battle, Eiki Tojo, threw the battle report onto the floor of the captain's cabin.

"It must be the Chinese Otherworlders. Go and invite... the Bihe Mountain Shinobi Leader. He is the leader of the Ninja Group; they have extremely strong concealment abilities, are agile, skilled in using hidden weapons, and have outstanding reaction speeds. Have them assassinate that Cleric's team. They must all be killed. Bring their corpses back to see me." Tojo steadied his emotions and put forward his countermeasure.

"Intelligence indicates that the Chinese are going to evacuate their wounded. Notify the Air Force to attack their evacuation convoy and strike at their morale!" Commands were issued one by one from his command room.

On the other hand, Mia, Tuaner, and Loran completed this ambush against the devils. Using poison, Blood Rose parasitic pollen, and assassination methods, they wiped out an entire Japanese company. (During the war, the organization of the Japanese army was roughly: a squad had 13 men, including a squad leader, 4 machine gunners, and 8 riflemen; a platoon had 54 men, including 4 squads, one of which was a grenade launcher squad with three grenade launchers; a company had 180 men, including 3 platoons, 3 sergeants, 4 medics, orderlies, buglers, 8 communicators, as well as the company commander and executive officer; a battalion had 1100 men, including 4 infantry companies, 1 machine gun company of 174 men, 1 artillery platoon of 55 men, 1 transport company of 110 men, and a battalion headquarters of 30 men.) This dealt a heavy blow to the devils' morale, giving their own troops on the south bank of the Gan River a chance to catch their breath.

"If there are no reinforcements, NC City still won't be able to hold out." On the way back to the church, Mia said with some worry.

"Didn't Paradise Lost only ask us to hold for three days?" Tuaner's doubt was also Loran's, and they both looked at Mia.

"I'm still too greedy. I actually really want us to win this battle, even if it's just in this parallel space-time." Mia was a bit dejected. "Individual power is still too insignificant."

Returning to the base, Ryan greeted each of them. Everyone understood that each greeting might be the last. Tuaner had now killed two Adventurers from the opposing faction, but how many enemy Adventurers were lurking in other corners remained an unknown.

"Tomorrow we evacuate the wounded. The dean came to find me just now, and I told him you went to avenge the wounded soldiers, and I even got scolded by him. Heh!" Ryan recounted the general situation after the others had left.

"Tomorrow it all depends on you! A rare chance to show your face, perform well, little—Prince!" Tuaner punched Ryan on his breastplate. "Don't you go and die."

Mia's gloved hand slapped the back of Tuaner's head. "If you don't know how to speak, then don't speak."

Loran giggled on the side, her laughter blending with the laughter of the ragdoll at Tuaner's waist...