Category: The Azure Longsword

Chapter 63: Negotiations

No one had ever reached the top of the Olympus Tree.

The highest point accessible to the citizens within the city was the Grand Arena at the top of the trunk. Above that were the sprawling branches, all of which were military restricted zones.

Because the branches grew in irregular patterns, there were no characteristic “subway elevators” of Olympia. Instead, special staircases were built along the branches.

The three of them climbed the stairs along the thickest branch, finally arriving at a rooftop platform.

This should be the very top of the Olympus Tree, as the branches and leaves in all directions were below their feet. Their current altitude was close to 5,000 meters, in the thin air of the “oxygen-deficient layer.”

Asker and Peggy were fine, but Thira, lacking physical strength, was already panting, experiencing mild altitude sickness.

A man, who looked to be in his forties or fifties, stood on the rooftop platform with his hands behind his back, at the edge of the roof without railings, silently overlooking the distant skyline.

Since the other party didn’t speak, Asker didn’t greet him either, just helped Peggy support Thira as she sat down to rest.

“You are more patient than I expected, Mr. Asker.” After about twenty minutes, the man finally turned around and said.

Appius, the City Lord of Olympia.

“Lord Appius.” Asker silently complained about how difficult the name was to pronounce, then said with a smile, “I thought you were deep in thought.”

“Relations with the West have indeed taken up a lot of my energy.” Appius said lightly. “That’s why I’ve delayed meeting you until today, members of Azure Longsword.”

“Thank you for your contributions to Olympia and the Empire in the fight against the Crusader invasion. I have authorized Quintus to grant you access to level II Arcane Sequence resources. Some are finished potions, but most are formulas. You can exchange them freely with your military merits.”

“Thank you,” Asker said.

“You’re welcome.” Appius waved his hand and turned around again.

Asker naturally wasn’t foolish enough to leave just like that. As the city lord, how could he call him to such a place just to inform him about such a small matter as merit redemption?

Seeing that Appius still didn’t speak, Asker understood his intention.

This was a negotiation.

“I have one more thing I’d like to trade with you, City Lord.” Asker said.

Appius tilted his head slightly and glanced at him indifferently.

“Undead Phantom Sword.” Asker said clearly. “We’ll trade Undead Phantom Sword.”

Peggy was startled. She didn’t expect Asker to suddenly reveal this secret, especially to the City Lord of Olympia.

However, out of trust in Asker, she didn’t interrupt, just stared intently at the City Lord’s expression.

Appius remained expressionless, as if none of this was unexpected.

“What do you want?” He asked indifferently.

“Help her master Undead Phantom Sword.” Asker placed his hand on Peggy’s shoulder, signaling her to calm down. “And, the original text of ‘The Song of Roland,’ which records Charlemagne’s Holy Sword.”

“That’s not an equivalent exchange.” Appius said.

“It is equivalent.” Asker said. “The text of Undead Phantom Sword in exchange for the text of Charlemagne’s Holy Sword; you help her master Undead Phantom Sword, in exchange for us helping you defend Olympia.”

“You must be mistaken.” Appius said indifferently. “Although Olympia is under siege, it won’t fall to the Latin Crusaders just because it lacks the help of a single mercenary group.”

“Of course, Olympia won’t fall to the Crusaders.” Asker replied calmly. “The Eden Tree, as a Transcendental being, possesses powerful defensive and offensive capabilities. The Life Cage and the Branch Barrage can protect the city while instantly annihilating the siege forces at the foot of the mountain. Even if the Crusaders’ numbers were doubled, it would be useless.”

“What you’re truly guarding against is the coming magic tide! And the awakening and riots of supernatural creatures that will inevitably occur after the magic tide! That’s the real threat to Olympia!”

“That’s why you triggered the undead anomaly, trying to obtain Alexander’s corpse and explore the secrets of ‘Undead Phantom Sword,’ isn’t it? Even if the magic tide level cap is raised to 10, as a demigod, you still won’t be able to exert your full strength. You can only rely on a transcendental sword technique like Undead Phantom Sword, which can transcend levels, to try and defend Olympia during the supernatural creature riots!”

“Now that we have obtained the seed of consciousness of Undead Phantom Sword, even if you eventually obtain the corresponding written text, the learning time will be extended to at least 10 years due to the distortion of the text.”

“It would be better for you to help Peggy master Undead Phantom Sword. In return, her Undead Phantom Sword will provide you with powerful assistance in defending the city. As for the exchange of the two transcendental sword technique texts, it’s just an addition to this deal.”

Appius looked at him coldly.

After a long time, a faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

“So, Rasul told you?” He asked casually.

“He gave me a hint.” Asker said. “Of course, it wasn’t hard to guess.”

“Indeed.” Appius’ gaze fell on the masked Thira. “With my little princess by your side, how could you not guess?”

“Grandfather…” Thira took off her mask in disbelief. “You recognized me?”

“Otherwise? Did you think that with your ‘Storm I,’ you could resist the high-sequence Fire ability controlled by a demigod?” Appius shook his head.

Thira froze, then rushed over and hugged Appius, burying her head and sobbing.

“Why did you become a mercenary?” Appius sighed, gently stroking her dark hair, the coldness on his face finally softening into an expression of pity. “Wouldn’t it be better to go to Athens with your sister?”

“She’s not my sister.” Thira said with a wronged expression. Only in front of her dear grandfather did she show the emotions of a girl her age. “She bullied me! She even locked me up!”

“If she wasn’t your sister, how could she just lock you up? Don’t you know the cruelty of imperial political purges?” Appius sighed, clearly also dissatisfied with Zoe’s actions.

“Zoe is short-sighted and not fit to be a ruler. It’s good that she lost Constantinople, at least in the Achaea region, I, Olympia, can still ensure her safety.”

“As for you, little Theodora, if you don’t want to go to Athens, you can also stay in Olympia and live with your grandfather and uncle.”

Thira hesitated, looking at Asker.

Asker waved his hand, indicating that she should choose for herself.

After all, in front of a demigod, he couldn’t just try to take away his granddaughter.

“Grandfather.” Thira pondered for a long time before seemingly making up her mind.

Chapter 62: Overblown Publicity

The intensity of the official publicity campaign quickly exceeded Asker’s expectations.

The next morning, as Asker emerged from Furnace Island, he heard a commotion outside.

Although the barracks were theoretically allocated to Azure Longsword, the city guards, and the Spartans, the city guards were stationed on the top floor 24/7, and the Spartans seemed to have their own accommodations, so the large common sleeping area outside was always empty, with only Hood residing there.

And this kid, he didn’t know where he had gone early in the morning.

Today, Eleanor was in charge of guarding the book in the room. She was sleeping soundly, hugging the book, her golden hair spread out on the pillow, mumbling something about “protecting everyone” in her sleep.

Asker looked at her beautiful sleeping face. Hmm, better not disturb her.

He left the barracks room and went to the common sleeping area, where he realized the noise was coming from further outside the door.

Leaving the barracks again and following the sound to the stairwell, he saw a large crowd of unfamiliar citizens gathered at the bottom of the stairs leading to the barracks floor. Hood was trying to maintain order.

Seeing Asker appear at the top of the stairs, an excited shout erupted from the crowd:

“Holy Swordsman of Azure!”

Asker: ???

Huh?

Then, the citizens below began to frantically take pictures with their phones, the clicking sounds merging into a cacophony.

“What’s going on?” Asker looked at Hood with a bewildered expression.

As a professional player in his previous life, he occasionally encountered situations where he was recognized and surrounded by fans when he went out, so Asker was quite calm in the face of this small scene.

In the eyes of the onlookers, this seemed to be some kind of “master demeanor.”

After Hood’s explanation, Asker finally understood.

You’re famous!

Starting from 11 o’clock last night, the Crusaders at the foot of the mountain had started continuous shelling, making the citizens panic-stricken, unable to sleep due to the tremors and loud noises in the middle of the night.

(Most of the girls were resting on Furnace Island, so they weren’t affected.)

What to do with insomnia? Get up, watch TV, play with your phone, browse CM.

Coincidentally, a late-night variety show in Olympia, cooperating with the official publicity campaign, produced a program about (praising) the Azure Longsword mercenary group, successfully capturing this wave of traffic and greatly spreading Azure Longsword’s fame within the city.

To what extent did this variety show hype up Azure Longsword? It could be seen from the nicknames they gave to each member.

Giving nicknames, a traditional pastime of the lower-class Siris people, could be traced back to the ancient Siris mythical heroes of the First Age, such as “Filial Son” Oedipus (who killed his father and married his mother), “Loyal One” Jason (who abandoned his wife), “Honest Man” Odysseus (the proposer of the Trojan Horse, known for his cunning), and so on.

In addition to satirizing mythical heroes, emperors of all dynasties were also added to the list of those nicknamed.

For example, John II, who was short and ugly, was nicknamed “The Handsome”; and Leo VI, who lost the battle, was nicknamed “The Wise,” and so on.

Because of this, Asker politely declined the nicknames given by the Siris people. If these guys, like Hood, gave him a nickname like “President” or “Producer” (satirizing that his team was full of beautiful girls), he wouldn’t be able to clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

What the hell was this “Holy Swordsman of Azure”?

“It’s probably praising your superb martial arts skills.” Hood replied.

Asker was highly skeptical. A nickname like “Holy Swordsman,” it sounded like satire, okay?!

“Well, there must be some haters, after all, they hyped you up too much on TV last night.” Hood spread his hands helplessly. “But there seem to be many people who believe it, and they seem to take the nickname seriously.”

So, the haters used it as satire, while the fans used it as a badge of honor?

Asker was speechless. Even as a professional player, he had never encountered such a complex fan culture in his previous life, so he could only adopt his usual attitude:

Ignore it.

“I’ll leave it to you.” Asker patted Hood’s shoulder.

“Huh?” Hood looked confused.

Seeing Asker turn to leave, the crowd blocking the stairwell became anxious. Several young girls even squeezed to the front and shouted at the top of the stairs:

“Give me your autograph! Please, I’ve been waiting here since 5 am!”

“Holy Swordsman of Azure! Holy Swordsman of Azure! Aaaah, Holy Swordsman of Azure!!!”

“Are you still recruiting? I’m young and beautiful, I like singing, dancing, and rapping, Brother Asker, consider me!”

“Ahhh!!! Ohhh!!!” (Screaming)

What the hell are these… Asker was speechless and continued walking upstairs without looking back, only to see Eleanor open the door of the stairwell ahead.

“What’s going on, so noisy early in the morning.” Her golden hair was messy, her face haggard, as if she was still sleepy. She held a water cup in her left hand and a toothbrush in her mouth.

The crowd below became excited again:

“It’s the Knight of Dawn!”

“She’s even more radiant in person than on TV!”

“Look, the Knight of Dawn is brushing her teeth!”

“She looks so good even with toothpaste foam in her mouth!”

Eleanor: ???

“Let’s go back first.” Seeing that several fan uncles below were about to break through Hood’s defenses, Asker hurriedly pushed and pulled the bewildered Eleanor back inside.

…

A rerun of last night’s program was playing on TV. The girls of Azure Longsword stared at the screen, dumbfounded.

“Knight of Dawn, Eleanor.” Nuo recited Eleanor’s new nickname seriously. “Eleanor, the brave and fearless, Eleanor, the guardian of justice.”

“Stop it.” Eleanor raised her hand weakly. “I’m so embarrassed. Don’t you also have a nickname? Angel of Light?”

“This nickname isn’t that bad.” Nuo said, resting her chin on her hand. “Holy Swordsman of Azure, Angel of Light…”

“What the hell is ‘God of War of the North’!” Sidlipha complained excitedly. “At least give me Valkyrie or something!”

“It’s better than the cheesy nickname ‘Assassin of the Night’.” Mia covered her face and said.

“I think ‘Assassin of the Night’ is quite good.” Miel said, “I’m the ‘Elf Gunslinger,’ we can be partners.”

“That’s not the point.” Mia said, “A nickname like Shadow Assassin is clearly not well thought out. It’s just putting together the associative words of ‘assassin’ like ‘shadow’ and ‘night’.”

“Look at the scheming bitch’s nickname, ‘Rose Sorceress’! The quality is completely different from our nicknames! Why! Just because she has big boobs?”

“Do you have any opinions about your sister’s figure?” Medea smiled and touched her head. Mia angrily tried to bite her, but she quickly withdrew her hand and dodged.

“Comrades, is the problem now whether the nicknames sound good or not?” Asker stood up speechlessly. “The problem is that we’re in the media now!”

“I don’t care about myself, but some of our team members have sensitive identities and it’s not convenient for them to be publicly exposed, right?”

As soon as he said this, Eleanor looked up at the sky guiltily, Nuo looked down at the floor silently, and Medea facepalmed.

Thira secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, she had been wearing a mask all along.

“Ah, whose identity is not convenient to be exposed?” Sidlipha, still not understanding, tilted her head and asked.

“Ask them yourself, I’m going to answer a call.” Asker said as he picked up the vibrating phone on the table.

“Hey, do any of you have a secret identity?” Sidlipha asked casually, while Asker had already answered the phone. After speaking for a few words, his brows gradually furrowed.

“Thira, Peggy, you two come with me.”

Chapter 61: Publicity

Sending heads wasn’t a gaming term, but literal human heads preserved in lime.

The meaning was self-evident:

If you don’t surrender, we will massacre the city after capturing Olympia.

These heads are your fate.

Although the Olympia authorities implemented media control, various rumors still spread, casting a pall of grief and indignation over the entire city.

After all, Thessaloniki wasn’t far from Olympia, and many citizens had relatives and friends there, now separated by the Crusader occupation.

Along with the heads came even worse news.

Boniface, King of Thessaloniki, led the remaining 10,000 troops to the vicinity of Olympia town, joining the vanguard at the edge of the ruins.

Thus, the number of attacking Crusaders surged again. Military actions like today’s infiltration and sabotage behind enemy lines would be too risky to continue in the future.

Arriving at the arena on the top floor, pyres had been built with wooden planks, and corpses wrapped in red cloaks were placed on top, being consumed by the flames.

These corpses were both Spartans and ordinary mercenaries.

Rudashius and the Spartans stood solemnly below the pyres.

Seeing the arrival of Azure Longsword, Rudashius turned around, his gaze fixed on Asker:

“You fought well this time.” His voice was hoarse, seemingly having also suffered considerable injuries in the battle.

“Likewise.” Asker replied politely.

“No, the Spartans are not as good as you.” Rudashius smiled wryly. “At least I’m not confident in going out with nine people and bringing them all back safe and sound.”

Asker smiled but didn’t answer.

Rudashius picked up the sword placed next to the pyre, walked to Eleanor, and handed it to her.

“This is?” Eleanor asked, puzzled.

“Tullius’ sword.” Rudashius smiled, and Eleanor noticed a new scar on his lip, seemingly freshly healed. “Do you remember the Spartan warrior who competed with you at the Olympia town station?”

“Him.” Eleanor immediately recalled. “You mean…”

“Since being defeated by you, he has been thinking about avenging his shame.” Rudashius said seriously. “In today’s battle, to cover the retreat of the mercenaries, he fought to the death against three powered armor knights and ultimately died after being shot multiple times.”

“This is his family’s ancestral sword, said to be mixed with a small amount of Purgatory Bloodstreak Steel, sharper than any other sword in this world.”

“According to his last wishes, I am now giving it to you. You are the one who defeated Tullius, please carry his sword and will and pursue even greater glory on the battlefield.”

“This…” Eleanor hurriedly waved her hand. “I can’t accept this.”

However, Rudashius quickly and resolutely pressed the sword into Eleanor’s hand, then hurriedly left with his men.

“Asker…” Eleanor said hesitantly.

“If someone insists on giving it to you, just accept it.” Asker said. “By the way, have you considered learning swordsmanship?”

“Swordsmanship?” Eleanor paused. “I actually learned a little swordsmanship before.”

“Let’s not talk about the past, if you learn swordsmanship from me, you have to start from scratch.” Asker said, “In the upcoming city defense, we probably won’t have much to do for a while.”

“You’ve absorbed a lot of Transcendental power on the battlefield, and everyone must be eager to digest it as soon as possible, right?” Asker clapped his hands and said, “Everyone, get ready for a new special training!”

“Eh!” The girls immediately cried out. Why did they have to be beaten up again just after coming back from the battlefield?!

…

Siege training.

Simply put, it was one against four, training reaction speed and tactical awareness under the extreme pressure of a siege.

There were five physical melee DPS in Azure Longsword: Asker, Mia, Peggy, Eleanor, and Sidlipha. Therefore, the five of them took turns being the besieged trainee and the four sparring partners.

So this training became two modes.

Mode one: Asker led the other three sparring partners to beat up the trainee.

Mode two: Asker single-handedly beat up the four pitiful sparring partners.

To be fair, everyone preferred Mode one. Because when they were sparring partners, Asker would deliberately control his strength, maintaining the same attack level as the other three girls.

And in Mode two, Asker would transform into a demon king, mercilessly beating up the four girls.

Although this training could indeed help transform Transcendental power, it was still painful to be constantly beaten, especially when your opponent was someone who didn’t show any mercy. Even having weapons swung at their faces was commonplace.

Therefore, under the collective protest of the girls, Asker was kicked out with the excuse that “You are already very strong, you don’t need to train anymore.”

Boredly leaving Furnace Island and returning to the barracks in the real world, Asker saw Hood watching TV outside.

“Look.” Seeing Asker coming out of the room, Hood pointed at the screen and said, “Azure Longsword, you’re on TV.”

On the TV screen, the host was excitedly introducing their spoils of war: a large number of mortars and mortar shells.

To use the host’s exaggerated words, these shells were enough to kill more than half of the Crusaders.

This was obviously bragging. If they could really kill that many enemies, why didn’t the military immediately use them to fire? Why put them here for display?

Facing the audience’s questions, the host cleverly dodged the question and then shifted the topic to the heroes who captured the spoils – the Azure Longsword mercenary group.

“Hey,” Hood said, looking at the TV screen, “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be on TV?”

“Because there’s no need.” Asker replied. “I run a mercenary group, not an idol group, why would I be on TV?”

“That’s true.” Hood nodded thoughtfully. “After all, a man who’s going to be a harem king wouldn’t tolerate his women showing their faces on TV and being ogled by other men, right?”

“That’s too much.” Asker warned. “If you provoke your boss again, I’ll deduct your salary.”

“Sigh.” Hood shook his head sadly. “The happiness of rich people, a poor guy like me really can’t imagine it.”

The host on TV began to exaggerate wildly, portraying the Azure Longsword mercenary group as heroic role models who “seek not fame or fortune, but only glory,” using this to explain why they didn’t appear on TV.

And some Siris people with a hero complex actually bought it, so much so that the host’s phone lines were quickly flooded with calls, and the scrolling comments below the screen were moving rapidly, many viewers calling and leaving messages asking:

For such a mercenary group, how can we get their autographs and photos? Are they still recruiting?

“Hehe, look, you’re really famous now.” Hood said cheerfully. “Maybe someone will come knocking on your door later.”

“Well, if crazy fans really come to our door, you can represent Azure Longsword and deal with them.” Asker said thoughtfully.

“Wait, why should I represent you?!” Hood protested. “I’m not an official member of your team! I’m just a temporary worker!”

“Huh, aren’t temporary workers used for this kind of miscellaneous work?” Asker asked, puzzled.

Chapter 60: Triumphant Return

“The knight squad was wiped out?” Alfred sat in his chair, devastated. “And those people aren’t dead?”

“Not only that, we just received new intel a few minutes ago. A mortar unit in the north of the central defense zone has gone silent.” Adjutant Longfellow said with a blank expression. “It seems this squad has broken through the northern defense line and infiltrated the mortar unit’s position.”

“What about Erich?” Alfred asked hurriedly. “Has Commander Erich contacted us?”

Longfellow paused.

There had been contact, of course. Mortar Commander Erich had cursed Alfred out over the comms, demanding to know why, after providing fire support, he had still allowed the enemy squad to break through the front lines and infiltrate, causing casualties among his precious artillerymen.

If, in tomorrow’s battle, captured mortar shells rained down from above Olympia, Erich swore he would chew Alfred out in front of Boniface, cursing his ancestors for eighteen generations.

Of course, there was no need to repeat these curses to Alfred.

Adjutant Longfellow thought for a moment and replied:

“Commander Erich replied: Don’t be nervous, you’re doing fine, good job.”

Alfred: …

“Don’t lie to me.” He forced a laugh. “That old man must have given me a thorough dressing-down.”

“The key now is that this squad that has broken into the mortar position must be dealt with, otherwise, the mortar units will suffer even greater casualties.” Adjutant Longfellow changed the subject, getting down to business.

“However, the remaining manpower on the northern defense line is already stretched thin just maintaining the line itself and preventing further infiltration.” Alfred said calmly. “Report to the higher-ups.”

“It seems we can’t solve the trouble we’ve caused on our own.”

Soon, an order came from King Boniface, ordering the immediate dismissal of Northern Front Commander Alfred, and appointing Viscount Joel Crawford, the King’s sword-bearer, to take over.

“It’s actually that Joel.” Alfred lay dejectedly in his command chair, his expression somewhat gloomy. “What a pity, he’s the last person I want to see.”

“But even if Joel takes over my position, I doubt he can handle that troublesome elite squad, right?” He said self-deprecatingly, trying to find some amusement in his misery. “I’ll just wait and see the frustrated and annoyed look on Joel’s face.”

Just as he finished speaking, new news came from the communicator:

The small squad that infiltrated the mortar position had retreated and left the battlefield via the same route.

Alfred: …

“Damn it!” He furiously overturned the entire command table.

…

The members of Azure Longsword returned, laden with captured mortars and ammunition boxes.

Although they were laden with spoils, they weren’t carrying anything physically—everything was stored in Furnace Island.

The reason for their temporary retreat was that Asker didn’t want to continue causing trouble and become the target of the entire Crusader army.

Although they had already become the target of the Crusader Northern Front… On their way back, whenever other knight squads saw the members of Azure Longsword, they basically pretended not to see them, just avoiding these killing gods from afar.

Therefore, everyone was happy to return to the city safely, their harvest already plentiful.

Arriving at the tunnel entrance, Asker had the girls bring the things out from Furnace Island, then sent Medea into the tunnel to notify the city guards to come and carry the things.

“Everyone, act tired!” Asker encouraged them. “Pretend that we personally carried all these military supplies back!”

Everyone was speechless. With such a huge pile of boxes here, who would believe that? They weren’t Hercules!

Nevertheless, the girls still obeyed Asker’s instructions, casually sitting on the ground or on the boxes, putting on “I’m so tired, I’m under so much pressure” expressions.

When the city guards in the tunnel rushed out, they saw the mortars and ammunition boxes neatly piled up on the ground, their eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

So much!

Did you rob the Crusaders’ logistics unit or something? How many artillery units did you have to take out for this?!

Without delay, the guards quickly reported upwards, and soon Quintus, the chief of security, was also alerted.

Looking at the military supplies piled up in the fortress, Quintus couldn’t help but change his expression.

In the past, the Imperial Orthodox Church had always strictly controlled the industrial development and arms trade of Olympia, so the current stockpile in Olympia’s warehouse only consisted of quite old mortars and rocket launchers, and they had basically all been used for counterattacks.

With the replenishment of this batch of ammunition, it meant that even the ordinary city defense troops could join the war, and the mages, who had been fighting continuously for more than ten hours, could finally have a good rest.

“By God, you are the saviors of Olympia!” Even though he was usually reserved, he couldn’t help but grab Asker’s hand, shaking it vigorously with emotion.

“It’s nothing, we’re just doing our job as mercenaries.” Asker withdrew his hand from his grasp. “After all, we are professionals.”

Thira, watching her uncle lose his composure, couldn’t help but feel both amused and touched.

“You were the last group to return. Of course, also the group with the most outstanding achievements.” In the elevator going up, Quintus showered them with praise, even making the girls a little embarrassed.

“How did the other teams do?” Asker asked.

“Not very well.” Quintus shook his head. “The Crusaders are clearly already wary of our attacks outside the city. They have set up heavy defenses in the north, northeast, and northwest. In the end, we only managed to break through the northern defense line.”

“In terms of timing, it should be because you greatly depleted the enemy forces on the northern defense line that allowed the subsequent mercenaries to infiltrate. Even so, you were still the mercenary unit that stayed in the Crusader artillery position the longest and caused the most damage to their siege camp.”

“Other teams either suffered too many casualties, or, after realizing they couldn’t advance any further, chose to withdraw from the battlefield early.” Quintus sighed. “Only the Spartans, led by Rudashius, after breaking through the northern defense line and moving to the northwest region, also eliminated some enemy artillery.”

“But they didn’t bring anything back.”

“I understand.” Asker nodded. “It’s the Spartans’ custom to prioritize bringing back the bodies of their fallen comrades.”

“Yes.” Quintus said, “They are holding a funeral at the Grand Arena on the top floor. Also, the Crusaders sent some ‘things’ over at noon, which has caused the citizens to be very emotionally unstable.”

“After the funeral, my father hopes to hold a celebratory procession to commemorate your achievements, and also to give the indignant citizens an outlet for their emotions.”

“You said the Crusaders sent something over?” Asker asked. “What is it?”

Quintus hesitated, a shadow of gloom crossing his face.

“Heads.” He finally replied. “A thousand heads, all citizens of Thessaloniki.”

Chapter 59: Artillery Barrage

“Mortars?” The adjutant was taken aback.

All mortar units were to continuously bombard the Olympus Tree on the mountaintop. This was a direct order from King Boniface himself.

Using public resources for private purposes like this wasn’t right, was it? Would he be the scapegoat later…

“What? Do you have a problem?” Alfred narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint in them.

The adjutant, well-versed in the ways of the workplace, immediately shook his head: “No problem! It’s just that the mortar units are directly under His Majesty’s command, I’m afraid they won’t easily obey the commands of a mere adjutant. Could Commander Alfred please provide a written order?”

“Naturally.” Alfred said calmly, waving his hand and writing a note, then signing his name.

The adjutant took it and saw that it roughly said, “The Northern Front has encountered infiltration by enemy elite troops, and the front-line knight squads have suffered more than half their casualties. Requesting fire support from the mortar units.”

This… elite troops, yes, and the front-line knight squads suffering more than half their casualties, also yes, but there was no direct causal relationship between the two, okay! Wasn’t the reason for the heavy losses because of your bizarre tactic of sending in reinforcements piecemeal?

The adjutant admired Alfred’s subtle wording. Every sentence seemed to be true, but it could be interpreted in a way that was completely opposite to the facts.

Even if it was discovered later, you couldn’t accuse him, because it was you who misunderstood, not him who lied.

The adjutant shook his head with a sigh, thinking that he was still too young and naive, not as experienced as Commander Alfred.

Well, he still had to learn.

With the note, the adjutant found the commander of the mortar units in the rear. This veteran Crusader, nearly forty years old, was sweating profusely.

The reason was simple: all the artillery was dispersed and operating independently, so the commander had to give orders to each small squad separately, commanding them to maintain mobility while firing, and try to avoid the flames and thunderbolts projected from the mountaintop.

“Commander Erich!” The adjutant immediately handed over the note. “A request from Commander Alfred of the Northern Front, requesting fire support from the mortar units!”

Commander Erich’s eyes widened in surprise upon reading the note.

The Northern Front knight squads had suffered more than half their casualties? I remember that your Northern Front has more than six hundred knights! More than three hundred have already been killed? Is the opponent an elite force composed of demigods?

“I’ll send a mortar unit to you immediately.” Commander Erich said seriously. “The northern defense line must hold! Otherwise, our scattered artillery lads will be attacked from both above and the surrounding area!”

“Yes, sir!” The adjutant saluted.

On the other side, after several hours of continuous fighting, the members of Azure Longsword were gradually becoming exhausted.

“The enemy encounter rate is starting to decrease.” Eleanor said breathlessly, leaning her spear on the ground for a short rest. “Is it because we’re starting to enter the enemy’s rear?”

“It’s probably because they’ve suffered too many losses.” Thira looked around vigilantly. “Watch out for snipers and assassins.”

“They won’t.” Medea corrected her. “They know I have psychic abilities, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to send someone to sneak attack us. Unless…”

Before she could finish speaking, a sharp whistling sound came from afar.

“Teleport!” Asker shouted immediately. Everyone, without thinking, activated their spirituality and entered Furnace Island.

Only the artifact book was left on the spot. Under the continuous bombardment of several mortar shells, it was blown away by the shockwave and finally landed on the ruins with a thud.

Still intact.

A few minutes later, a figure teleported from Furnace Island. As soon as she entered the main plane, she opened an umbrella, intending to teleport into the Shadow Realm if the situation turned bad.

This was the method Asker taught Mia: during the day, hold up an umbrella, and with the shadow cast by the umbrella, you can enter the Shadow Realm anytime and anywhere to avoid attacks.

If the umbrella was destroyed by an attack and the shadow disappeared, immediately teleport back before taking spiritual damage. This would give you about 2-3 seconds of invincibility, because your body was traveling between two planes and wouldn’t be harmed by attacks from the main plane.

Players called this the “Invincibility Frame” trick.

Asker had many more of these cheap tricks in his memory, and he planned to teach them to the girls later.

After crouching under the umbrella for a while, Mia confirmed that there were no more mortar bombardments and hurriedly returned to Furnace Island to call everyone out.

At the Crusader front line command post, after learning that the mortar units had fired a large number of shells at the latest coordinates, Alfred laughed heartily.

“Aren’t you very capable? Huh? Killed almost half of my knights?” He said vindictively and waved to his adjutant. “Go, send a knight squad over there and bring the bodies of that squad here. I want to use their commander’s skull as a chamber pot.”

The adjutant was speechless and could only have the communicator contact a squad on the front line, relaying Alfred’s order.

“Are you kidding me!” Sir Marlero on the other side said angrily. “Nearly half of my comrades have been sent to their deaths by your stupid orders! Now you’re trying to trick my squad too!”

“No, Sir Marlero.” The adjutant explained, bracing himself. “The mortar units have bombarded the enemy squad several times, there are probably only corpses left there now.”

“If you can retrieve the bodies of the culprits, it will be beneficial to your squad’s merit calculation.”

“Really?” Sir Marlero hesitated. If it was just retrieving corpses, there shouldn’t be any danger.

Considering that this enemy squad had killed nearly half of the front-line knights, the bounty on their heads should be very high.

After asking the squires around him and confirming that several mortar shells had indeed landed in the distance just now, Sir Marlero hesitantly agreed.

So the squad set off towards the coordinates. When they were still two hundred meters away from their destination, they unfortunately encountered the members of the Azure Longsword mercenary group.

On the other side, the exhausted adjutant sat next to the communicator, listening to the communicator’s constant complaints.

Most of the Crusader squads on the front line now refused to obey Alfred’s orders, calling him an “idiot,” and even his direct communicator was affected.

Every time the communicator contacted a knight squad, he would be scolded by the other party, which put a lot of pressure on him.

I’m just a messenger, why should I bear the brunt of the lower-ranking knights’ resentment?!

The adjutant deeply sympathized with the communicator, sharing his pain.

Just as the two were complaining to each other, an emergency communication suddenly came in.

The communicator had just answered when he heard Sir Marlero’s furious and desperate shouts from inside:

“Viscount Longfellow! I’ll fucking kill you! Your whole family can go to hell…”

Then a scream came from the other side, and the communication was cut off.

The adjutant stood up with a straight face. He was Viscount Longfellow, who had just been cursed at in the communication. His heart was in turmoil.

“It’s okay.” Adjutant Longfellow patted the communicator’s shoulder and then went to find Alfred.

Chapter 58: Bring Forth the Italian Cannon!

Mia, dagger in hand, emerged from the Shadow Realm and lunged at the nearest squire, her Weakness ability guiding her dagger past the ribs and directly into his heart.

Another figure jumped out from behind her, Peggy emerging from Furnace Island.

Before even gaining her footing in the main plane, she drew her Thermal Blade and swung it forcefully at the two remaining squires.

Drawing Slash!

The two squires instinctively raised their rifles to block, but suddenly their noses itched, and they couldn’t help but sneeze violently.

The supernatural ability “Plague” triggered pathogens within nearby enemies, causing allergic reactions.

Since Peggy currently only had “Plague I,” it initially only triggered symptoms like sneezing and coughing, but in a life-or-death battle, this was fatal.

The two sneezes distorted their attempts to block with their rifles. Peggy’s Thermal Blade, with a Drawing Slash, cleanly melted through the rifles and sliced the two squires in half.

The four Crusader knights on the perimeter watched with wide eyes, unable to understand how one warrior jumping into the center had suddenly become three enemies. However, the complete annihilation of their squires was an undeniable fact.

Since you’re here, don’t even think about leaving!

The powered armor knights turned simultaneously, raising their shields and charging forward, intending to crush the three girls in the center.

They would rather endure Eleanor’s attacks from the outside and impale them with their spears.

Mia shouted and, along with Peggy, dropped to the ground.

They dropped…

Before the knights could react, they saw Sidlipha, the only one left standing in the center, swinging her two axes with all her might, spinning rapidly.

“Whirlwind Slash!!!”

The Crusader knights hurriedly raised their shields to block. The battle axes scraped fiercely against the shields, sending out sparks and a grating sound. To their horror, the arms of their powered armor, holding the shields, began to tremble under the force of the attack.

“This girl is really reckless.” Asker, observing from afar, commented and ordered through the communication channel, “Ranged, focus fire, burst damage! Mia, prepare to disengage!”

The back of the powered armor was much thinner than the front. Seeing the powered armor knights turn around, the three ranged attackers in the distance immediately launched their attacks from behind.

Thira was the first to act. She scattered a handful of pebbles from her bag, skillfully compressing them into a “projectile” and then launching it with air pressure and amplified gravity.

Seeing the projectile shooting towards them from afar, Sidlipha and Peggy, prepared in advance, quickly teleported into Furnace Island.

Mia, carrying the artifact book, instantly vanished into the shadows, then emerged from another shadow outside the encirclement. With a Flash Step in the opposite direction, she dashed more than ten meters away.

The angle of sunlight, the height of the powered armor, and the area of the projected shadows were all within Asker’s calculations, enough for Mia to instantly escape the encirclement using her shadow abilities.

In the eyes of the Crusader knights, this was a terrifying sight, as if a cooked duck in a pot suddenly sprouted wings and flew into the sky. This inconceivable phenomenon was completely beyond their comprehension.

They were about to step forward to pursue when the stone projectile slammed into them from behind, the immense force denting their powered armor.

Intuition flared! Miel quickly aimed at one of them and pulled the trigger.

Unlike Mia’s “Weakness I,” the ability of “Intuition I” didn’t reveal the enemy’s weaknesses to her. It only gave her a flash of inspiration, a sudden feeling, reminding her that she should attack at this moment, or that danger was imminent, reminding her to dodge in time.

The sniper bullet hit the back of one of the knights’ armor, where the heat-insulating and shockproof cover of the single-phase nuclear fusion battery was located, already cracked by the previous stone projectile. The bullet hit the most vulnerable part of the crack, instantly shattering the battery cover.

Hearing the gunshot behind her, Mia used another Flash Step, once again widening the distance between her and the pursuing knights.

Medea pulled out a huge fireball and threw it at the knights’ backs.

Although she only used the power of Fire I, this small fireball still hit the knights. The high temperature seeped through the cracks in the battery cover and into the battery inside, immediately triggering a violent explosion.

The nearest Crusader knight was instantly blown away, the shockwave knocking the knights to the ground, tumbling away, their weapons and shields scattered.

Eleanor charged with her spear. Mia, who had dodged the explosion in the distance, quickly returned, and Miel slightly raised her sniper rifle, aiming at the fallen knights.

Peggy was still the fastest. She raised her Thermal Blade high in a reverse grip and stabbed it downwards into a knight’s helmet. The high temperature of the blade quickly melted through the metal surface, the red-hot blade piercing directly into the knight’s head.

The ensuing focused fire and finishing blows effortlessly killed the downed knights one by one.

…

“Sir Bronk’s squad is silent.” The communicator reported.

“Send in Levin and Miranda’s squads!” Alfred gritted his teeth.

A moment later.

“Sir Levin and Sir Miranda’s squads’ signals are also silent!”

“Damn it! Damn it!” Alfred slammed the table in anger. “You’re powered armor knights! The other side only has nine people, and you still haven’t taken them down yet?”

“All nearby knight squads, attack together! Kill this damn team!”

“Commander Alfred, if all the surrounding squads charge together, we won’t be able to maintain the encirclement.” The adjutant hurriedly reminded him. “Then the enemy can just avoid the fight and easily escape from the encirclement.”

“That’s right.” Alfred immediately calmed down upon hearing this and revealed a contemptuous smile. “The enemy commander must be planning this, trying to exploit my impatience and anger, and lure me into making the wrong judgment of committing all my forces, so he can escape with his team.”

“Hahaha! It’s a pity, I saw through it.”

The adjutant listening next to him was speechless. It was clearly he who had reminded him, okay?

“Maintain this posture, keep the pressure on them!” Alfred continued to give orders. “They can’t hold on for much longer!”

A few hours later.

“Sir Guderian’s squad is silent.” The communicator said anxiously. “Nearly half of the Northern Front No. 1 has been wiped out! The remaining knight squads demand an explanation from you, otherwise they refuse to accept any more orders from you!”

Alfred: …

Adjutant: …

This wasn’t how the script was supposed to go, right? What happened to the immense pressure? What the hell was “nearly half of the knight squads have been wiped out”?

Looking at the silent signal dots on the electronic command console, Alfred even had a terrifying illusion, as if he was the commander of a huge ant colony, confidently commanding thousands of soldier ants to charge outwards, only to find a pangolin lying outside the cave, its long tongue flicking out and taking out a string of ants at a time…

Did I fall for their scheme again? It wasn’t me strategically applying pressure on them step by step, but them confidently luring me to send in reinforcements one after another, and then calmly devouring these squads one by one?

Alfred wasn’t stupid and quickly figured it out.

Not launching a large-scale attack was definitely the right decision. After all, the mages’ skyfire and thunder were still bombarding overhead. If he really gathered forty or fifty knight squads, before they even reached the enemy, the skyfire from the mountaintop would wipe them out first.

The real problem was their misjudgment of the enemy’s strength! If the opponent wasn’t strong, then sending in reinforcements in waves could slowly deplete their stamina and eventually achieve the goal of complete annihilation.

However, if the opponent was exceptionally strong, wouldn’t sending in reinforcements in waves be like sending them to their deaths?!

Alfred finally confirmed this and deeply regretted not confirming it earlier.

Since the opponent was very strong, using small squads to probe and attack was courting death. However, due to the issue of air superiority, he couldn’t use a large force either. It seemed that he could only…

Alfred pondered for a moment and waved to his adjutant:

“Bring a mortar squad here.”

Chapter 57: Exchange of Fire

As the Azure Longsword mercenary group entered the battlefield, Crusader scouts also spotted them.

“Located them?” In the command center, Alfred slammed his fist on the table. “Found that red-haired mage assassin and those two female knights?”

“This time, I will have my revenge!” Alfred recalled the compensation he had paid and the assets he was forced to sell at a low price. His heart ached with regret. “Connect me to the front line command system! I will command personally!”

“But…” The adjutant hesitated. This commander clearly wanted to settle a personal grudge.

“But what? Am I not one of the front line commanders personally appointed by His Majesty?” Alfred said with displeasure.

The adjutant was speechless. Although his motives were clearly questionable, as the Northern Front commander, Alfred’s request to take over command within his authority wasn’t procedurally wrong.

If he refused and disobeyed orders, it would mean he didn’t want to work anymore.

“Yes! Commander Alfred!” The adjutant hurriedly replied.

At the electronic sand table, the distribution of all Crusader squads on the front line was displayed. This was the latest technology provided by the Church: a digital command system that allowed the commander to easily deploy troops and grasp the overall battlefield situation.

According to the last report from the Crusader scouts, the small red dots representing Azure Longsword were located not far north of the Olympia ruins.

However, the scout’s signal had gone silent after the report, obviously having met with misfortune. The Crusaders needed to quickly reconfirm their location.

“Like this! Like this!” Alfred quickly drew routes on the sand table. “And then like this! The twenty front line squads I designated will all advance according to the routes I’ve drawn!”

“Yes!” The adjutant immediately issued the order.

In the distance, Azure Longsword, fighting on the battlefield, quickly sensed something was wrong.

“The enemy encounter rate is rapidly increasing, Captain!” Eleanor pulled her spear from the body of a knight squire and turned around. “We’ve definitely been spotted by scouts!”

“The spirits around me tell me there’s no one watching us nearby.” Nuo beckoned, and transparent spirits floated towards her. “But there are several enemy squads approaching us from afar.”

“My mental vision hasn’t detected any mental bodies nearby either.” Medea said, folding her arms. “But I think I know what’s going on.”

She explained the spiderweb command system she encountered last time, and the girls were shocked.

“What! You’re saying they are mobilizing a large number of enemies to encircle and annihilate us?!” Sidlipha said excitedly. “Are the Crusaders so afraid of our Azure Longsword’s strength?”

This girl’s way of thinking was always so unique… Everyone tacitly ignored her words. Eleanor said worriedly:

“If what Medea said is true, then every time we encounter an enemy, regardless of whether we eliminate them or not, we are actually exposing our location.”

“Hiding nearby won’t work either.” Mia added. “Since they can determine our approximate location, they will definitely search the area. Do we have to split up?”

Splitting up meant dividing the team into multiple smaller groups, hoping to infiltrate the enemy’s encirclement.

“Will splitting up really work?” Eleanor questioned. “You know, the enemy far outnumbers us. Even if we split up as much as possible, for the enemy commander, it’s just changing from one location to confirm to nine.”

“Moreover, a single person’s combat strength is far weaker than a team’s. Unless you avoid all contact with the enemy, the risk of death in battle will greatly increase once you encounter them.”

“Perhaps we can use Furnace Island.” Thira said thoughtfully. “Everyone hides in Furnace Island, leaving only the person with the strongest stealth ability outside, carrying the book and sneaking away.”

“I should have the strongest stealth ability among us.” Mia said, objecting. “However, it’s daytime now, and my Shadow ability can’t be fully utilized. Even I have the risk of being discovered.”

“Then we’re back to the original problem.” Thira sighed. “Fighting alone, once exposed on this kind of battlefield, the risk will greatly increase. It’s better to act as a group, at least we can cover each other.”

“That’s right, if stealth doesn’t work, we’ll just charge through head-on.” Asker said. “There’s no need to worry about being discovered or anything, we just need to maintain a guerrilla state and keep eliminating the small enemy squads we encounter.”

“What if the commander mobilizes a large force…”

“Then he won’t be able to maintain such a dispersed and wide-ranging search net.” Asker said calmly. “Wouldn’t that be the perfect opportunity for us to break out of the encirclement?”

Eleanor paused and pondered.

In other words, fight if they can win, run if they can’t? This tactic seemed fine, but why did it feel so cowardly?

Seeing that she didn’t speak, Asker made the final decision: “Then let’s do that!”

…

A knight squad was approaching the designated location.

Four knights with spears and shields and eight knight squires with rifles cautiously moved through the nearby collapsed ruins, arriving at the coordinates given by their superiors.

“No enemies found.” The knight said into the communicator.

“Search the vicinity.” Another knight gave the order, and the knight squires began to spread out and search.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and a knight squire fell to the ground.

“Sniper!” The knights shouted. All the squires hurriedly hid behind the powered armor knights, and two more squires fell during this process.

Then they saw a knight with a spear and shield slowly walking out from the road ahead, followed by a warrior wielding two battle axes.

“Prepare to charge, I’ll cover you.” Eleanor said to Sidlipha.

“Okay.” Sidlipha nodded.

The knights raised their large shields and defended in place, trying to intercept bullets that might come from any direction. The squires carefully leaned out from behind the large shields and fired frantically at Eleanor.

Bullets clattered against the shield. Eleanor, who was already level 3, could barely hold the shield, blocking the bullets for Sidlipha behind her.

Another long, low whistling sound was particularly distinct amidst the rat-a-tat-tat of the assault rifles. A sniper rifle bullet passed through the gap between two large shields and pierced a knight squire’s neck.

“Hide better!” A knight, splashed with blood, shouted.

Although they were using explosion-proof and bulletproof shields provided by the Church, at least when they fired, they should hide properly behind the shields, right? What’s the point of exposing themselves to the enemy sniper?!

The knight squires were also speechless. They were all hiding properly, it was clearly the enemy sniper’s marksmanship that was too accurate, okay?

But arguing was useless now. The squires could only risk leaning out and firing again, trying to stop Eleanor’s charge. Another sniper bullet hit, exploding the head of a knight squire who had just poked his head out.

Eleanor had already charged to the front. A Crusader knight thrust his spear, which she deflected with her shield.

Sidlipha behind her took the opportunity to jump. The other three Crusader knights thrust their spears upwards, trying to kill the female warrior in mid-air.

Sidlipha swung her axes in mid-air, using Asker’s Shadow Hawk’s Prey, deflecting all the incoming spear points, and then landed among the three knight squires.

The squires had already raised their guns, about to shoot the female warrior at point-blank range, when suddenly a figure rushed out from her shadow.

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.

Chapter 55: A City Under Siege

The siege training lasted for three full days.

“That should be enough.” Rasul sheathed his sword. “If we continue, this child’s spirituality won’t be able to handle it.”

“Then let’s stop here for now.” Asker nodded, and Nuo immediately stepped forward, holding the battered Peggy in her arms to heal her.

“Say, why are the members of your team all like monsters?” Rasul slung his sheathed sword over his shoulder. “All of them have strong wills, are unyielding, never back down no matter how much pain they endure, and they’re all beautiful girls…”

“Women being too beautiful is not a good thing either. They are like exquisite porcelain, always making people worry that they will be broken accidentally. It’s better to be more robust…” He stuck out his tongue and licked his upper lip. “I’m done playing, I have to go.”

“Thank you then.” Asker nodded. “Your guidance these past three days has been hard work.”

“You’re welcome. I initially just wanted to see how long she could last, I didn’t expect her to actually persevere until now.” Rasul waved his hand dismissively. “Anyway, let her rest well.”

“After all, there’s not much time for peace left.” He put his hands in his pockets, his left arm crookedly holding his sword. “A more brutal war is coming soon. If she can’t learn that sword technique quickly…”

That sword technique? Asker stared at his back. What was this guy hinting at?

“Your people should also work hard. If they die in this war, then my sparring these past few days would have been wasted.” Rasul’s figure disappeared around the corner.

“How is Peggy?” Asker pondered for a moment, then turned to ask Nuo.

“Her spirituality is severely depleted, nothing serious, but she might need to rest for a while.” Nuo replied, her voice hesitant. “Asker, the war that person mentioned…”

“Yes, it’s coming soon.” Asker stood up. “All of you, be prepared.”

Back at the barracks, all the girls were assembled, even Hood, who had been in the workshop, was called out.

“Just received a notification.” Asker hung up his phone and said solemnly, “The Latin Crusaders are coming again.”

“This time it’s a full-scale attack, a total of about twenty thousand men.”

“The vanguard has already reached the ruins of Olympia town, equipped with a large number of powered armors, firearms, and…”

“…mortars.”

A thunderous boom exploded from outside, and the floor beneath their feet seemed to tilt instantly, with a terrifying aftershock and shockwave.

Hood lost his balance and fell to the ground. Eleanor quickly pulled him up and asked everyone:

“Is everyone alright?!”

Asker rushed to the window and pulled open the curtains.

He saw black smoke rising from below. It seemed that mortar shells had hit the Olympus Tree, causing a slight earthquake throughout the city inside the tree.

“Everyone, follow me.” Asker said quickly. “Hood, you’re non-combat personnel, immediately go to the training ground on this floor to take cover. That’s the closest location to the trunk, less likely to be hit directly.”

“Oh, okay!” Hood also knew that this wasn’t the time to hesitate and nodded quickly in agreement.

The members of Azure Longsword hurriedly went to the emergency elevator and quickly reached the top floor.

On the top floor of the Olympus Tree, in the center was the Grand Arena at the top of the trunk, surrounded by huge branches extending in all directions.

Because they provided easy access to the areas below, all the branch areas were military restricted zones, now occupied by the Mages Union and the Olympia City Guard, continuously projecting firepower downwards.

“Things are serious.” Seeing Azure Longsword arrive, Rudashius and Quintus, who had been waiting, quickly walked over.

“As you can see, Mr. Asker, the Crusaders have somehow imported a large number of 150mm mortars from the Holy Solomon Empire.”

“Although the accuracy of these mortars is not good, the Olympus Tree itself is too large, so it’s not difficult to hit.”

“Considering that the Olympus Tree itself houses a city, every hit on the trunk is equivalent to an earthquake in the city.”

“A few more earthquakes like this, and Olympia will be in ruins.”

Quintus briefly explained the severity of the current situation, then said seriously:

“Our mages have already set up defenses in the branch areas, most of our forces are maintaining the scale-shaped magic circle, trying to intercept the enemy’s mortar fire.”

(Scale-shaped magic circle: countless small defensive magic circles joined together, forming a huge shield like scales, generally used to protect large castles.)

“And a small number of Arcane Mages are responsible for targeting and bombing the enemy artillery.”

“However, the enemy’s command strategy is very cunning. There are almost no established artillery positions, all the artillery is scattered at the foot of the mountain in all directions.”

Asker nodded to show his understanding and said, “So, we need melee personnel to go out of the city and eliminate these artillery, right?”

“That’s right, otherwise, the Olympus Tree can’t withstand such a long-term bombardment, because the cost of consumption for both sides is simply disproportionate.” Rudashius added. “For them, it’s just an endless supply of shells. For the mages of Olympia, it’s a real loss of spirituality.”

“So we must find a way to eliminate as many artillery units as possible before the balance of war tips. Of course, the Latin Crusaders will definitely arrange for knights to intercept our troops who go out to fight.”

“The intercepting forces won’t have too many people.” Quintus added. “Because our Arcane Mages will be targeting and killing a large number of troops, so they can only choose to disperse their forces as well, using a spearhead against a spearhead.”

“Even so, it’s still very dangerous.” Rudashius said seriously. “Considering that the enemy’s forces are far greater than ours, even if we disperse to fight, it will still be a bloody battle for us.”

“But there is still a chance of victory.” Quintus said lightly. “According to the Lancaster combat equation, the personnel losses of both sides only depend on the forces invested in direct combat. No matter how many troops are not engaged in direct combat, they are just numbers.”

“Heh, Mr. Quintus, war cannot be calculated with mathematics.” Rudashius shook his head and turned to Asker. “How about it?”

“Mr. Asker, are you ready for a war destined to have heavy casualties?”

“Of course, do we have any other choice?” Asker said with a smile.

“I knew you would say that.” Rudashius smiled and patted him on the shoulder, tossing him a pair of glasses. “Here, this is something the Mages Union made, called tactical glasses.”

“Simply put, it’s a small communicator with an electronic map attached.” Quintus explained. “We have specialized radar mages who are responsible for monitoring the distribution of enemy artillery at the foot of the mountain. They are modeled as light dots on the electronic map displayed on the glasses screen through the command system.”

“For every enemy light dot you eliminate, Olympia will record points for you as military merit. After the war, potions, formulas, and transcendental materials, including Sequence II, will be added to the merit redemption list as a reward for defending the city.”

“Of course, the premise is that we win the war.” Quintus said solemnly. “If we lose, Olympia itself will be in danger, and all the wealth prepared for you will naturally fall into the hands of the Crusaders.”

“For the city of Olympia, for the people in the city, and for honor, commitment, and our own interests.” He slowly turned around, looking at the battlefield below filled with gunfire, his voice gradually lowering.

“We can only rely on you.”

Chapter 54: Siege Training

“How did you know it was me?” Rasul asked curiously.

“Mia wouldn’t come up with this kind of prank on her own because she’s afraid of being beaten up by me.” Asker chuckled. “You must have taught her this trick and then instigated her to ambush me at the door, saying something like ‘You can scare your captain and make him look at you differently,’ right?”

“No, no, no!” Mia hurriedly jumped out and said, “It has nothing to do with Master, I wanted to try this new move myself!”

“Master?” Asker asked.

“This little girl has a natural talent for understanding Flash Step.” Rasul said with a smile. “I’ve already accepted her as an official Ilanian assassin and my personal disciple. Under my careful guidance, she will become the second most powerful White-Clad Assassin in history – second only to me, of course.”

“Thank you, Master Rasul, for your recognition of her.” Asker said, “But she signed a labor contract with our Azure Longsword first. Becoming an assassin can wait.”

“Haha, with the opportunity to become a White-Clad Assassin, who would choose to be an ordinary mercenary?” Rasul said proudly. “Besides, even according to the Eastern Solomon Empire’s laws, labor contracts signed with minors are invalid.”

“Then let the person involved choose.” Asker said lightly. “Mia, do you want to stay with our Azure Longsword mercenary group, or do you want to follow this guy back to the Iranian Plateau?”

“Of course I’ll stay!” Mia said without hesitation.

“Wait a minute, Mia, that’s not what you said just now!” Rasul’s expression changed, and he immediately exclaimed.

“You just asked if I wanted to become an assassin.” Mia turned to look at him helplessly. “You didn’t say you were going to take me away from everyone!”

“But if you become an assassin, you have to go to our assassin base.” Rasul still wanted to try to persuade her. “Our training conditions there are excellent, we have abundant transcendental materials, and all kinds of supernatural items and equipment. As my personal disciple, you can have any of these precious resources you want.”

“Look at you, you’re still using an ordinary iron sword, it’s easy to break when you encounter an enemy with heavy weapons, right? Do you want to try our assassin’s hidden blades and wrist crossbows? We also have very cool assassin uniforms.”

Mia hesitated upon hearing this. Asker immediately added:

“He’s a pervert, he likes burly older women. His house is full of older women.”

So a strange image immediately appeared in Mia’s mind: A group of burly older women hugging her and rubbing her head, saying affectionately:

“Come on, little Mia, call us Mistress.”

Shivering violently, Mia turned her head stiffly, forcing an awkward but polite smile:

“Master, I still want to be a mercenary…”

Rasul was speechless. What does this have to do with my sexual orientation?! Wait, how did he know about my preferences…

So Rasul fell into deep thought, while Asker patted Mia’s head and said:

“There are still many problems with your fighting style, I’ll teach you one by one when we get back.”

“Okay.” Mia replied obediently.

“Let’s go find Peggy.” Asker said.

Leaving Rasul’s training ground, the group came to the door of a meditation room.

Peggy was meditating on a cushion. Hearing the sound of the door opening behind her, she turned around.

“Asker!” Peggy rushed to him with a tearful expression. “I’ve tried all kinds of methods, but I still can’t multitask!”

“It’s okay, I didn’t expect you to learn it in a few days.” Asker comforted her. “Take your time.”

“Multitasking? I have an idea.” Rasul’s voice came from behind.

Why is this guy following us again… Asker paused and said, “Are you talking about that?”

“Exactly.” Rasul said, “Siege training.”

Siege training was the final trial for assassins to advance from the Black-Clad rank to the White-Clad rank, which meant facing the siege of eight enemies simultaneously without faltering.

What was the concept of facing eight enemies? Imagine enemies standing in front of you, front left, front right, left, right, rear left, rear right, and directly behind you, all swinging their swords at you at the same time.

Of course, if you were really surrounded, you would lose for sure. Even if you kept moving, you would inevitably encounter situations where you were attacked by two or three enemies at the same time, so quick reactions and multitasking skills were very important.

Considering that Peggy could steal thoughts, this siege training could undoubtedly cultivate her ability to divide her attention and do other things while activating her stealing ability.

Hmm, it seemed worth a try? Asker pondered.

…

Hippocrates University, training ground.

“Can this really work?” Peggy said, on the verge of tears.

“Don’t worry, we won’t start with the highest difficulty.” Asker comforted her. “Let’s start by fighting two people at the same time.”

Peggy was speechless. Easy difficulty is facing you and this guy at the same time? And according to Mia, this guy’s strength is no less than yours?

What kind of hell mode easy difficulty was this!

“Come on, first try if you can activate your thought stealing normally.” Asker said.

Peggy activated her ability and said, “You’re thinking of using Dragon Cut as your opening move.”

“That’s right, what about him?” Asker continued to ask.

“He wants to test my strength.” Peggy said.

“Is this the ability of the ‘Steal’ Sequence?” Rasul looked quite interested. “Its versatility in the early stages is quite good. But I remember that this sequence undergoes a significant qualitative change after reaching the Law Rank, right?”

“Things after level 10 are still far off for her.” Asker drew his sword. “Let’s begin.”

Peggy held her breath slightly, picking up two short swords.

Asker would attack first…

She quickly raised her left short sword, parrying Asker’s downward Lion’s Fang.

Then the right side!

Peggy was about to react when Rasul’s sword spine hit her shoulder first, making her bones ache.

“Too slow.” Rasul said with a smile. “Since you have the recovery ability of the Flesh Sequence, I won’t hold back next time.”

“Again!” Peggy gritted her teeth.

“Watch our attack intentions!” Asker shouted sternly, his sword thrusting towards her lower body.

Peggy jumped back to dodge, her gaze quickly shifting to Rasul. The latter’s sword was about to slash at her head. She quickly ducked her head in mid-air, dodging his horizontal swing.

“Not bad, learned to think outside the box?” Rasul said with a smile. “Then, how about increasing the difficulty?”

He flicked his arm, and his sword suddenly multiplied, flashing in the air, making Peggy’s pupils constrict.

Phantom Sword? No! It wasn’t Phantom Sword, but a series of intentional pauses during his high-speed sword swings, too fast for the naked eye to see, using visual persistence to create deceptive afterimages!

“Did you notice?” Rasul swung his sword rapidly, creating several afterimages around him, as if he suddenly had three heads and six arms.

“In Ilanian, this is called ‘Haba Hong,’ which translates to ‘Sword of Illusion,’ ‘Sword of Phantoms.’ If you only rely on your vision to judge, it’s very easy to be deceived!”

“Don’t be fooled by your eyes! Use your stealing ability! Steal our thoughts!” Asker said quickly, attacking from behind her at the same time.

“Easy for you to say!” Peggy shouted, jumping back repeatedly to dodge his slashes. “I have to activate my ability, think about how to respond, and my body has to keep up with my mind! And I have to deal with two people at the same time! How can a normal person do so many things at once?!”

“If you can’t do it now, then practice hard!” Asker responded, his sword swiftly performing three consecutive thrusts. “You still have time to complain, it seems the pressure isn’t enough for you!”

“In our place, talkative assassins get stabbed!” Rasul said, also attacking fiercely.

Peggy struggled with her two swords, quickly unable to cope. Wounds appeared on her left arm and right leg.

“Give her some time to recover.” Asker said, signaling Rasul to stop attacking.

“It’s definitely too late to think about every move.” Rasul instructed her. “All you have to do is steal thoughts. After perceiving the enemy’s intentions, your body must quickly follow your subconscious to counterattack. Your mind shouldn’t be distracted by directing your body, but should continue to activate your ability, to steal the enemy’s next intention, understand?”

Peggy was panting slightly, leaning on the ground. The flesh around her wounds began to wriggle, repairing the damaged areas.

“Using my subconscious to respond?” Peggy smiled wryly. “I’ll try my best, let’s do it again.”

So the three of them clashed weapons again.

A moment later, Peggy, covered in wounds and bathed in blood, was teetering on the verge of collapse.

“Again!” She struggled to heal her wounds with her ability and straightened her chest again.

Such tenacious and unyielding spirit moved even Rasul.

“Can your spirituality still hold on?” Asker asked gravely.

“No problem.” Peggy said with difficulty, blood and sweat mixing on her face.

She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and forced a smile:

“After all, this kind of training is not new to me.”

Asker paused and immediately understood that she was referring to the time when she was trained by him in the underground training ground of the Constantinople hotel for revenge.

As a frail girl who had never received military training, she sparred with him in the underground training ground for four whole days, relying on countless pains and injuries to force herself to remember how to swing a sword, how to dodge, and… how to fight.

But Peggy, at that time, you were learning to fight with the attitude of risking your life for the blood feud of your parents’ murder.

Now, what are you fighting for?

Asker pondered for a moment and nodded gravely.

“Alright.” He decided to respect Peggy’s choice. “I’m coming.”

“Watch closely.”