Chapter 12: Planning the Assault
“Alright!” Nuo cheered. “Everyone, say ‘Cheers’ with me!”
“Cheers!” Everyone said with a smile, standing in front of the table laden with potions, formulas, and transcendental materials.
Click! Nuo took a picture.
“Alright, alright, those who need to drink potions, go drink your potions, those who need to collect materials, go collect your materials!” Asker waved his hand.
In this transaction with the Night’s Watch, Eleanor and Miel gained the most.
The former obtained the “Resilience I” and “Will I” potions, while the latter obtained the “Vision I” and “Intuition I” potions. This meant that these two could steadily advance to level 4 and level 3, it was only a matter of time.
Next were Nuo and Medea. The former obtained three materials for “Spirit I” and was now only missing benzylamine.
As an industrial product, this had to be bought from the industrial area on the outskirts of the city, which wasn’t too difficult.
The latter’s “Conspiracy I” was still missing two materials: Architeuthis ink and serotonin.
Finally, there were Peggy and Sidlipha, who obtained the formulas for “Plague I” and “Ancient X” respectively. Although the Night’s Watch didn’t have the corresponding materials, these two potion sequences were niche, and it would take a lot of effort to buy them outside.
Therefore, this trip was also a fruitful one, the harvest comparable to the last time they looted the Grand Arena of Constantinople… if they didn’t consider the 3100 pounds they spent.
“Should I take Will I or Resilience I first?” Eleanor tried to ask for Asker’s opinion about her next potion.
“Let’s not talk about ‘should’ first.” Asker said with a smile. “Let me briefly explain the effects of the two potions.”
“The Resilience Sequence is a powerful passive bonus. It increases your resistance to damage, both physical and supernatural.”
“Your body will be less prone to injury, and your wounds will heal faster. At the same time, you will be less prone to illness, poisoning, and aging. Any negative status effects will last shorter on you, such as rigidity, flinching, dizziness, staggering, paralysis, etc.”
“Now let’s talk about the Will Sequence. This is the main sequence of your ‘War Crusader’ bloodline, and also a type of Mind Sequence.”
“A person’s mental body can be divided into the ego, id, and superego. The id in the flesh is the ‘Desire’ sequence mastered by Medea, while the superego in the mind is the ‘Will’ sequence.”
“Will I will make your mental will stronger, and your ability to focus will be greatly enhanced. When you are fully focused, you will even feel that time is slowing down.”
“Your spirituality will become stronger, and you will notice more details in battle. You will be able to perform more refined movements, which is very beneficial for learning higher-level techniques.”
“In other words,” Eleanor pondered for a long time and said, “Resilience strengthens my body, while Will strengthens my mind.”
“Pretty much.” Asker said, “From the perspective of supernatural power, Resilience does accelerate the transformation into physical strength, while Will promotes the improvement of mental strength.”
“I choose the Will Sequence.” Eleanor made her decision. “If I were fighting alone, the Resilience Sequence would indeed strengthen my survivability. But I’m in a team, and the Will Sequence will improve my abilities and help the whole team more.”
“It’s good that you’ve made up your mind.” Asker said meaningfully.
So Eleanor went to take her potion. Next came Miel, her sweet and childish face looking at him expectantly, like a kitten.
“You also want to ask about the potion order?” Asker bent down and patted her head.
“Hmm.” Miel hugged his hand that was on her head.
“The Vision Sequence will enhance your dynamic vision, allowing you to see fast-moving or distant objects more clearly.”
“The Intuition Sequence will grant you the ability to sense danger. Even if you don’t see anything, you can still ‘see’ the coming danger at the most critical moment.”
“Metaphorically speaking, Vision I enhances your physical eyes, while Intuition I gives you an extra ‘mind’s eye,’ understand?”
“I choose Intuition.” Miel said, “My eyesight is already good.”
“Then go ahead.” Asker said, “Let your Sister Nuo look after you, don’t lose control.”
“Okay.” Miel said obediently.
…
The Azure Longsword mercenary group was about to welcome two newly promoted members.
On the other side, the Night’s Watch was also studying this undead anomaly incident.
All the items that could be used as clues, brought back from the slain Black Knights, were now displayed before the high-ranking members.
“It has been confirmed that these Black Knights are all Companions, the ‘Companion Cavalry’ of Alexander the Great at the end of the Second Age.” Phoebus explained to everyone present.
“Judging from the style of the powered armor, it is indeed the military armor popular in the Siris Peninsula during the Second Age, because at that time, this kind of armor had a linen lining inside the exoskeleton for shock absorption.”
“The ancient Solomon Republic of the Third Age improved the exoskeleton structure, and mainstream powered armor after that no longer had this lining.”
“Another piece of supporting evidence is the weapons.” Phoebus picked up the weapons on the table. “Xiphos swords, 3D printed with high molecular weight carbon fiber. Only the Church still retains the production technology for this material now, and it would never be used to make weapons, it’s too extravagant.”
“Finally, multiple knight squads have claimed that the Black Knights possess a strange supernatural ability, being able to split off a phantom when wielding weapons, and the phantom has the same attack power as the main body.”
“Phantom Sword?” The other Night’s Watch members immediately guessed the answer.
They knew nothing about the Celestial Ninefold Strike from the East. But another supernatural sword technique – Phantom Sword – was very familiar to them.
“That’s right, the ancient Macedonian secret sword technique, Phantom Sword.” Phoebus said with a solemn expression. “According to historical records, the generals and Companion Cavalry under Alexander the Great were also his friends and students, so they all mastered his supernatural sword technique, Phantom Sword.”
“Using Phantom Sword requires supernatural power from the Arcane Sequence. Alexander the Great’s own bloodline was Meteor Shower, and for the Companion Cavalry to use Phantom Sword, they had to rely on external sources to supplement their arcane power.”
Phoebus picked up a broken piece of arm armor and showed the mithril pattern on the back to everyone: “The relevant evidence is the magic circuit on the armor, drawn with sintered mithril powder, the end connected to a Philosopher’s Stone containing Alexander the Great’s own blood.”
“The Philosopher’s Stone provides energy, and Alexander the Great’s blood changes the energy attribute, converting it into arcane power, is that the principle?” Cormac asked doubtfully. “But I remember that Hannibal of Carthage was also famous for Phantom Sword, but he himself was of the Undead Sequence and didn’t use any Philosopher’s Stone.”
“That’s because Hannibal’s Phantom Sword was the Undead Phantom Sword that he improved.” Phoebus said, “Alexander the Great died after conquering the East, and his Phantom Sword was taken to all parts of the world by his generals.”
“Among them, the Carthaginians in the Southern Continent learned this sword technique from the Ptolemaic dynasty. Later, Hannibal Barca improved this sword technique, integrating the nature of the undead into the phantom, making it so that it didn’t require arcane power and could split off multiple phantoms at once.”
“In comparison, the Undead Phantom Sword is more flexible, suitable for one-versus-many group battle scenarios; while the phantom split off by Phantom Sword itself, although smaller in number, has almost the same combat ability as the main body.”
“Let’s not talk about Phantom Sword for now.” The Silver Moon Knight Commander, Lady Aerowen with long golden hair, frowned and said, “I’m more concerned about why the Companion Cavalry under Alexander the Great a thousand years ago are now appearing here as undead Black Knights?”
“I’m afraid only Alexander the Great himself can answer this question.” Phoebus shrugged.
“I’m not joking, Phoebus.” Aerowen sighed. “Since the Companion Cavalry have already emerged from the earth, even if Alexander the Great himself returns from the Netherworld tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.”
“That’s impossible.” Cormac said disapprovingly. “The current magic tide level cap is only level 5. Before Alexander the Great died of poisoning, he was already a level 28 demigod. Now, even if he returns from the dead, even slightly mobilizing his spirituality would drain his power and make him die again.”
“What if he doesn’t do it himself?” Aerowen asked rhetorically. “Even if he’s just commanding from behind the scenes, with his military command ability comparable to Caesar and Hannibal, it would be enough to cause heavy casualties to our Night’s Watch.”
“However, this is just your speculation.” Cormac reminded her. “There is no evidence that Alexander the Great has returned from the Netherworld.”
“There was also no evidence before that high-level undead like Black Knights would appear in this anomaly.” Aerowen said bluntly. “If it weren’t for the headquarters’ warning, who knows how many knight squires would have been sacrificed in the first exploration. We should always prepare for the worst, shouldn’t we?”
“May I ask what the worst-case scenario plan is?” Cormac asked her rhetorically. “If Alexander the Great returns from the dead, our Eastern Legion can’t possibly resolve this anomaly. Even if the headquarters sends Resting Paladins to support us, it won’t be of any use.”
“We can request a space-based orbital cannon strike, with a small nuclear bomb.” Aerowen said. “A central bombardment, once and for all.”
“Space-based nuclear bombs are limited, the headquarters won’t waste them here just because there’s a ‘possibility’ of Alexander the Great’s undead appearing.” Cormac sighed.
“Well, it seems that the headquarters would rather let us fill this unknown pit with our lives than use the precious nuclear bombs that fly over our heads every day.” Aerowen stood up, her anger evident on her face.
“We Silver Moon knights have already lost two people, and there will be more casualties in the next few days. After this anomaly is over, I will personally deliver the metal nameplates of every fallen knight, along with the casualty list, to those gentlemen at headquarters!”
She stormed out of the command tent, leaving the remaining people looking at each other.
“We Morningstar knights have five times the casualties of the Silver Moon this time.” Phoebus sighed deeply. “What can we do? Isn’t it the Night’s Watch’s duty to eliminate the undead? If we don’t go deep into this undead anomaly, who will deal with it?”
“Indeed.” Commander Bryce, who had been silent, said, “What does the razor principle say?”
“Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.” The two Knight Commanders replied.
This razor principle originally meant “simplicity is better than complexity.” In the Night’s Watch organization, however, it was interpreted in two ways.
Ordinary knights believed that it meant focusing on combat and not overthinking. Only the high-ups knew that it meant “don’t use two pennies to do something that can be done with one penny.”
The Night’s Watch headquarters also didn’t have unlimited resources!
“By the way, we can have that Azure Longsword mercenary group scout with us!” Phoebus suddenly said, “Their kind of unorthodox combat organization must have more experience in surviving in unknown environments than us Night’s Watch knights!”
This was obviously nonsense, because even the most seasoned mercenary group couldn’t have more military experience than the formally trained Night’s Watch. After all, there was a difference between professional soldiers and amateur mercenaries.
However, Phoebus’ unspoken subtext was to let the Azure Longsword mercenary group scout and share the damage, so they didn’t have to pay the price or take the risk.
At most, they would let them take the lion’s share of the loot.
“Hmm, indeed. With that Captain Asker’s combat skills, he can easily defeat a powered armor knight, so a few more shouldn’t be a problem.” Commander Bryce understood his subtext and said thoughtfully.
“That’s right.” Cormac also immediately understood and said with a smile, “In my opinion, Captain Asker’s true strength is unfathomable. Even if Alexander the Great himself were here, his Azure Longsword mercenary group wouldn’t be without a fighting chance.”
You’re exaggerating! The other two were speechless.
If they could even fight Alexander the Great, this Azure Longsword mercenary group would have already ascended to heaven, and the Night’s Watch would have to treat them as ancestors.
“Ahem, let’s not talk about Alexander for now. I think the Azure Longsword mercenary group can still handle demigod-level undead.” Phoebus quickly smoothed things over. “Besides, we Night’s Watch won’t stand idly by, we will provide long-range support for them, of course.”
These four words, “long-range support,” hit Commander Bryce right in the heart.
Long-range meant hiding in the back and firing safely, without having to face the undead’s attacks directly.
“Then let’s do this!” Bryce made the final decision. “Commander Phoebus, go and ask Azure Longsword for their intentions, and find out their conditions.”
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