Chapter 56: Sortie
“We can only rely on you.” These words felt heavy with the tragic grandeur of a final battle.
In a typical shonen anime, the protagonist would confidently pat his chest and say, “Leave it to us!”
In a darker, more cynical story, the protagonist would reminisce with a sigh, and then raise a classic death flag: “After this war is over, I plan to go back home and get married.”
However, Asker wasn’t a brainless shonen protagonist, nor a tortured protagonist from a cynical author.
Therefore, after Officer Quintus said these words, he simply replied with an “Oh.”
Oh.
His heart remained unmoved.
To be honest, for a professional player, PvP was more challenging than PvE.
It wasn’t that PvE wasn’t difficult, but because the AI of most NPCs was too low. Often, as soon as the opponent raised their arm, Asker already knew how they were going to attack.
Of course, this was also related to the current early stage of the main storyline.
Since the great barbarian invasion at the end of the Fourth Age and the fall of the Western Solomon Empire, the world had been relatively peaceful for many years.
Although small-scale conflicts were everywhere, the overall strength of the countries hadn’t changed much.
Even the division of the Frankish Empire into three was because Louis I, Charlemagne’s son, foolishly divided the empire among his three sons, leading to the subsequent division of the empire.
Then the Solomon Church rose and began to rule the continent through faith, making it even more difficult to launch a full-scale war. Everyone was a brother in the Church, who would you fight? The Pope mediated, and you dared to refuse?
Therefore, until Emperor Otto stepped forward to confront the Church, the nearly hundred years of peace had resulted in the generally low strength of humans at this point in time, which was consistent with both common sense and the logic of the game world.
Moreover, this wasn’t a chaotic battle of hundreds of people, but a battle between dozens of elite squads. Asker was very confident in his Azure Longsword team.
After all, it was a team he had personally trained.
“Thermal Blade output is okay.” Hood began to check the girls’ equipment. “The Magic Copper Armor and Meteorite Armor have been repaired, and an anti-piercing coating has been added to the surface, there shouldn’t be any problems.”
“Asker, are you really going to send everyone into battle?” He asked with some worry.
After all, after spending several days together, Hood had developed a friendship with Asker and the girls. If someone died in battle…
Honestly, he didn’t know if he would cry.
“Of course.” Asker picked up his sword. “We are professional mercenaries.”
“Don’t worry, Hood.” Sidlipha said nonchalantly. “After this battle is over, I’ll bring you back a head to play with.”
“Who wants that kind of thing!” Hood exclaimed.
“Girls, let’s go.” Asker pushed open the door. “Hood, you stay in the city, don’t die.”
“I’ll definitely live longer than you, okay!” Hood retorted subconsciously. “Wait, aren’t you going to take my wheeled machine gun?”
“When you develop a hover engine and turn this machine gun into a lightweight backpack, we’ll consider taking it.” Asker replied.
The group took the military’s special elevator down.
“How are you all feeling now, nervous?” Asker asked casually.
The girls looked at each other. Saying they were nervous would be embarrassing; saying they weren’t nervous would also be embarrassing.
“What’s there to be nervous about?” Mia replied. “It’s not the first time.”
“That’s true.” Asker smiled. “The last time we participated in a large-scale war was when we fought the Frankish knights in Constantinople. I still remember that we absorbed so much transcendental power that our spirituality overflowed.”
“How about this time? Those of you who just took potions, have you digested your Transcendental power?”
“Yes.” The newly promoted girls replied sparsely.
“Good.” Asker said, “Then Azure Longsword, prepare for battle.”
“Azure Longsword, charge!” Sidlipha shouted, startling the other girls.
The elevator doors opened. They had arrived at the military fortress entrance to the city. Outside was the dark tunnel. Military personnel and mages were setting up defenses, and groups of mercenaries were heading out one after another.
As they left the elevator, Peggy rubbed her ears and complained:
“Sidlipha, you shouted so loud that my ears are deaf, they’re still buzzing.”
“Ehehe, sorry, I just wanted to encourage everyone.” Sidlipha put her arm around her shoulder.
Walking along the tunnel, the ground under their feet trembled from time to time, accompanied by the rumbling sound of explosions transmitted through the rock layers. Obviously, the Crusaders’ mortar bombardment hadn’t stopped.
Besides the girls of Azure Longsword, there were also several mercenary teams under the Spartans, nervously continuing forward.
Light gradually appeared ahead, they must be nearing the exit.
Just as they were about to leave the tunnel, Asker suddenly raised his hand and said, “Back!”
The girls immediately turned and ran without hesitation.
The mercenaries next to them were stunned, and someone sneered:
“Heh, deserters before even going out…”
Before he could finish speaking, a mortar shell landed at the tunnel entrance, the exploding shrapnel tearing the mercenaries apart. The top of the tunnel also collapsed, and a large amount of rubble buried the exit.
The girls looked back, their hearts pounding. If it weren’t for the captain’s timely warning and their quick actions, they would have either been blown to pieces by the mortar shell or buried under the collapsed tunnel.
“What do we do?” Eleanor raised her spear and pointed at the rubble ahead.
Now they couldn’t get out.
“Thira, use gravity to clear the rocks.” Asker said.
Thira let out an “oh” and activated her “Meteor I” ability, twisting gravity to point straight ahead.
The rubble blocking the road rumbled and trembled, and soon fell outwards under the pull of gravity.
After staring outside for a while, Asker raised his arm and waved forward:
“Let’s go!”
Leaving the tunnel, their vision suddenly opened up.
The once beautiful plains and town below the mountain were now ruins and a battlefield filled with smoke.
Shells, trailing white smoke and whistling sounds, flew towards the Olympus Tree on the mountaintop.
Thunder and flames continuously descended from the mountaintop, like a scene of divine punishment from a doomsday disaster.
The broken corpses of mercenaries were scattered around, staining the soil a wet, crimson red – these were the tragic and beautiful, yet sinful, flowers that could only bloom on the battlefield.
Medea felt Medusa stirring within her, begging to borrow her body. She hurriedly activated her psychic ability and forcibly calmed down this perverted personality.
“This is a serious battle, don’t disrupt the team’s original plan!” She said in her mind.
“Asker’s plan, right?” Medusa said unhappily. “For the sake of your lover, you don’t even care about your sister in your own body! Blinded by love!”
“I’ll kill a few more people and sacrifice them to you later.” Medea said.
“If I can’t torture them, then it has to be at least a few thousand.” Medusa said.
“A few thousand, do you think the Crusaders are chickens waiting to be slaughtered!” Medea said, both amused and annoyed.
“With Asker’s ability, I think breaking through a thousand is quite simple.” Medusa said, “After all, he’s the man I’ve set my sights on.”
“Alright, alright, stop talking, he’s noticed something and is looking over here.” Medea forcibly calmed her inner fluctuations, looked up to meet Asker’s gaze, and gave him a charming smile.
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