Chapter 49: The Hunt Plan
When the imperial agent sent by Empress Zoe arrived at the doorstep of Asker’s ancestral home, he found that it was already empty.
On the train heading west, Asker was boredly scrolling through his phone. Nuo sat in the window seat next to him, looking at the scenery of the plains outside the window with interest.
“Asker?” She turned her head and asked, “Where are we going?”
The other girls continued their daily training on Furnace Island. Only Nuo and Medea, who had nothing to do, heard that Asker was leaving Constantinople and clamored that they were bored staying in the semi-plane and wanted to come out and get some fresh air on the train.
“Our destination is Stanimaka.” Asker answered, staring at his phone. “A military town located in the south-central part of the Thrace province of the Empire.”
“Are we going on a treasure hunt?” Nuo asked curiously.
“No, we’re going to fight a world boss.” Asker replied, handing her his phone.
Nuo looked at the phone screen and saw a news article displayed in the browser:
“From the Solomon ‘Pravda’ Issue 327.”
“It has recently been confirmed by the Church that the Templar Knight Von Kesim has betrayed the Church. His true identity is a secret agent of Emperor Otto of the Holy Roman Empire, and his purpose in infiltrating the Templar Order is to spy on the Church for a long time.”
“His shameless betrayal has angered the Holy See, and Cardinal Clement has been dispatched to hunt him down.”
“According to reliable sources, Von Kesim has been wounded by His Eminence and has fled all the way to the border of the Eastern Solomon Empire.”
“Currently, the Church has issued a heretic pursuit order. Any mercenary group that kills Von Kesim and brings his intact head back to the Church will receive a bounty of 500 pounds and the qualification to apply for the Templar Order.”
“Note: Von Kesim’s cybernetic enhancements have reached 70% (extremely dangerous). His equipped weapon is the Slaughter-III rifle, which can switch between assault and sniper modes. Assault mode fires five-round bursts; sniper mode fires two-round bursts, equipped with auto-aim and laser assist modules, very powerful. Those without experience in dealing with gunmen should proceed with caution.”
“This Slaughter is a blue-named rifle from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse series, and it can basically be used until the mid-to-late game.” Asker said lightly. “Military firearms basically all come from the Solomon Church, and there is no way to obtain them through civilian channels, let alone such high-end goods with auto-aim modules… We can ignore the boss’s bounty, but we must get this rifle.”
“What is a blue-named weapon?” Nuo entered curious baby mode. “And what is an auto-aim module?”
“White, green, blue, purple, orange, equipment is graded from low to high.” Asker replied. “Generally, weapons are white. If they are made of special materials, such as the meteorite armor Eleanor is wearing, they belong to the green excellent grade.”
“On this basis, if they are equipped with supernatural runes or high-tech accessories, they are blue-named equipment; a large number of integrated accessories or runes forming a magic circle belong to purple-named equipment; orange is the highest grade of equipment, almost every piece of orange-named weapon is unique.”
“So this rifle is a blue-named weapon, which is considered a very good grade.” Nuo said thoughtfully.
“That’s right.” Asker said, “It’s possible to upgrade it to a purple-named firearm later on, and it’s also a sniper rifle. Do you know the maximum range of a sniper rifle?”
“Uh, 1000 meters?” Nuo guessed.
“2000 meters.” Asker said, “Any further than that, the trajectory will be affected by gravity and crosswinds, and whether it can hit the target completely depends on luck.”
“The auto-aim module can break through this limitation. It is a device that emits infrared lasers, hitting the enemy with invisible lasers, and then the bullet will automatically correct its trajectory in the air, accurately hitting the enemy along the infrared beam path.”
“A sniper rifle equipped with an auto-aim module has a range within sight. As long as you can aim, you can hit someone even if they are 20,000 meters away.”
“But under normal circumstances, we wouldn’t deal with the enemy at such a long distance, right?” Nuo asked in surprise, thinking to herself, would she have to run a few kilometers away to set up her gun when she encountered an enemy in the future?
“Normally not, but there is one exception, which is when facing high-level enemies.” Asker replied. “Assuming we have a level 19 enemy, whose main sequence is psychic ability and has mastered similar laws, then even if all of us together are not his opponent, we will basically be controlled the moment we get close to him.”
“However, if it’s a sniper, there is a chance to snipe him from a long distance. After all, there are very few laws or bloodlines that can sense or attack enemies more than two kilometers away. Sniper rifles have an overwhelming advantage in this regard.”
“Theoretically speaking, a good sniper only needs one bullet to kill a spirit-focused Transcendental below demigod level. If it’s a bloodline that focuses on physical strength, such as giants, dragons, or flesh, then a few more bullets will do.”
“There is a saying that ‘below demigod, all are mortal flesh,’ that’s the reason.”
The two were chatting when they saw Medea appear at the entrance of the carriage, carrying a plate of peeled hazelnuts.
“You’re so slow.” Asker joked.
“No way, I was hit on by a group of stinky men on the way.” Medea said nonchalantly. “Some of them even tried to touch me, the dirty desire in their eyes was obvious even without me using my abilities.”
“Then didn’t you…” Nuo was shocked. She also knew that Medea had androphobia. If she had really been harassed on the way… then probably the whole train would have exploded.
“Besides my stunning beauty, I’m also a psychic, okay?” Medea rolled her eyes at her. “One group mental suggestion, and they all ran to the toilet with diarrhea.”
“Okay.” Nuo breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn’t help but feel sorry for the men queuing at the toilet door. Don’t offend a psychic, no matter what, otherwise who knows what messy thoughts will be planted in your mind.
A few hours later, the train arrived at Stanimaka, a small town in the Thracian style, mainly with white-walled and red-roofed Orthodox-style buildings.
As soon as the three got off the train, they saw a dozen heavily armed mercenaries standing on the platform, all burly Franks, with yellow beards and curly hair, drinking canned beer and chatting, their voices like thunder.
They were using special-looking giant two-handed greatswords, the hilts alone as long as a person’s forearm, with double crossguards and handguards. Because of their large size, it was impossible to have scabbards, so they were just wrapped in cloth strips and carried on their backs.
“Gothic two-handed swordsmen.” Asker clicked his tongue. “The most reckless profession, see the greatswords they’re carrying? That kind of sword requires a special technique to wield, once it’s swung, there’s almost no skill involved.”
“Many people used to like this profession, and they even formed a ‘Greatsword Cult.’ Coupled with a bloodline that focuses on explosive power, they are indeed difficult to deal with in the early game.”
“Giants in the flesh are often dwarfs in the mind.” Medea commented. “Their resistance to psychic abilities must be very weak.”
“Asker.” Nuo looked over there and asked, “Look at the emblem on their back armor cloaks, a cross greatsword surrounded by thorns, is this the mark of a mercenary group?”
“The largest mercenary group in the Holy Solomon Empire, Iron Cross (Stahlkreuzung).” Asker replied. “It is said that they have over ten thousand official members.”
So they were the Iron Cross… Nuo suddenly remembered that her elder sister had mentioned that she knew the leader of the Iron Cross mercenary group and said that she could introduce her to them.
Thinking of being surrounded and flattered by these Frankish strongmen, she immediately shivered in disgust.
It was better to stay with Azure Longsword, where everyone was familiar and lovely girls.
And Mr. Asker, the only male in the group, didn’t make her feel disgusted.
Perhaps because the three of them had been staring over there for a while, a Frankish mercenary noticed their gaze, said something to his companions while pointing at them, and then turned and walked towards them.
Nuo immediately looked a little scared and hid behind Asker. Medea looked at them coldly and snapped her fingers.
“Get lost.” She said.
The Frankish mercenaries didn’t hear her voice, but they seemed to fall into hesitation and mental struggle, and finally turned around and left reluctantly.
“Trying to hit on you?” Asker asked.
“No, they were trying to provoke us. They don’t like being watched.” Medea said lightly. “Also, I read something interesting from their shallow memories.”
“I guess they are also looking for that world boss.” Asker said. “Von Kesim, right?”
“That’s right.” Medea said, “It is certain that Von Kesim, as a fugitive from the Church, has been targeted by many mercenary groups, the Iron Cross is just one of them.”
“They suspect that Von Kesim is in the mountains south of the town, the locals call it the ‘Rhodope Mountains.’ After crossing the mountains, you can reach the north coast of the Aegean Sea, and then you can basically escape by finding any ship.”
“I heard that this Von Kesim is a spy planted in the Church by Emperor Otto of the Holy Roman Empire?” Nuo said thoughtfully. “If so, why doesn’t he go back to the Holy Roman capital of Aachen for protection? Why does he go south to try to escape by sea?”
“Because those who engage in intelligence work never have a good ending.” Medea sneered. “He serves not the Holy Solomon Empire, but Emperor Otto himself. For the many Saxon lords within the Empire who believe in Catholicism, he is just a shameful Frankish traitor, a despicable person who betrayed both the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic faith.”
“Besides, his identity has been exposed, and he has lost his greatest value to Otto. Should he go back to his country and surrender, betting that Otto will protect him out of consideration for his past merits?”
“So he can only choose to flee to the East?” Nuo asked.
“Besides the Seljuk Empire in the East and the Mamluk Sultanate in the South, who else can protect a traitor declared an ‘apostate’ by the Church?” Medea asked her rhetorically.
“That’s so pitiful.” Nuo said with some compassion. “Isn’t that being an enemy of everyone?”
Medea rolled her eyes, expressing her disdain for Nuo’s sudden surge of maternal sympathy.
“Nuo.” Asker sighed. “Every NPC becomes a boss for a reason.”
“For an NPC with a Templar background like this, it’s not an exaggeration to say that he has killed countless people in his life. If we Transcendents were discovered in the West, we would either be killed on the spot by the Templar Knights, or captured and burned alive at the stake. If we had families, even our families would be slaughtered.”
“Uh.” Nuo immediately felt her sympathy disappear. “Then let’s go find this Templar Knight… uh, this boss now.”
“I have an idea.” Medea said, “Since the Iron Cross is also looking for this Templar Knight, in this unfamiliar foreign land, they will definitely hire idle mercenaries nearby to help them gather intelligence and do odd jobs. Even if they confirm that Von Kesim is in the mountains, they will still need a lot of manpower to enter the mountains and hunt him down, right?”
“You mean, we accept their employment on the surface, but in reality, we use their intelligence channels to locate and find this boss?” Asker asked.
“That’s right.” Medea sneered. “My psychic ability can read their shallow memories. Once the people of the Iron Cross find Von Kesim, their strong desire to pursue him will be like fish surfacing for air after rain, impossible to hide in the shallow layers of their mental bodies. As long as I read it, I will know where Von Kesim is.”
“The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.” Asker nodded.
“That’s roughly the meaning.” Medea pondered for a moment. “Hmm, this analogy is quite interesting.”
“Then let’s do this.” Asker finally made the decision and finalized the next course of action.
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