350: Chapter 342 The Allied Forces' Restless Mobilization and Lake's Unstable Morale

Saul Continent, the Royal Capital of Kingdom.

After Brando returned from the Silent Forest, he didn't immediately report the information he gathered to his superiors. Instead, he wandered aimlessly through the streets of the Royal Capital for a few rounds.

He would either sit alone in a tavern drinking or stand by a fountain in the park, lost in his own thoughts.

No one knew what he was thinking about.

This state lasted for three days. On the morning of the fourth day, he finally ended his wandering and hurried to the palace to see the King.

The King received him in the study.

Brando bowed to the King behind the desk: "Your Majesty, I have returned."

"Mm." The King continued to lower his head to review official business. "How is the scenery in the Royal Capital?"

"Peaceful as always."

Peaceful? That wasn't exactly a word used to praise scenery.

The King looked up and put the pen in his hand back into the holder: "Has the cause of the anomaly in the Silent Forest been determined?"

"It can be confirmed as the handiwork of the gods. In about... well... a year or so, the mountains standing between Lake and Kingdom will completely disappear."

"Lake is about to be hunted. With our offensive on top of that, they are destined for defeat. It's just that you, Brando... seem a bit unhappy."

"And then?" Brando didn't answer, murmuring as if to himself, "After Lake falls, Kingdom will face the same dilemma. Can we make it through?"

In order to accumulate the power to attack Lake, Kingdom has done its fair share of plundering neighboring countries in recent years.

Although protected by the Church's prohibition, the cities of neighboring countries were not invaded, but almost all the villages and small towns suffered.

Moreover, Kingdom often sent High-tier Professionals to kidnap neighboring nobles and demand high ransoms.

Additionally, when Kingdom was defeated by Lake for the first time, its neighbors took advantage of its weakness to tear away a large piece of its territory. Thus, the relationship between Kingdom and the surrounding Kingdoms was far from harmonious, with considerable resentment on both sides.

Now that the gods have ordered the elimination of the heretic Lake, the Allied Forces formed by the neighboring countries have temporarily refrained from casting their greedy eyes toward Kingdom.

But what about afterward?

The regulation strictly forbidding the use of force in human settlements has been lifted, and there are no longer any obstacles to the fires of war. Will the Allied Forces spare Kingdom?

One must know that the human race's hunger for land has never ceased for even a single moment in ten thousand years.

The King of Kingdom sat up straight, an enigmatic smile appearing on his solemn face: "You feel that Kingdom is no match for the Allied Forces, so you plan to... join hands with the heretic?"

"And a heretic that has a thousand-year grudge against Kingdom at that?"

The words sounded like an interrogation, yet Brando was not panicked at all. He understood his King.

"Your Majesty." He bowed again, placing his right hand over his left chest in a salute. "Grudges cannot be forgotten, but they can be temporarily set aside."

"As for the issue of being a heretic... as long as Lake eliminates all his enemies, no one will dare call him a heretic anymore."

"Oh?" the King asked with interest. "You think Lake can unify the Saul Continent?"

"Well... assuming he can do it, how do you plan to resolve the gods' accountability?"

"The gods..." Brando laughed. "Don't the gods also have to rely on us to eliminate Lake?"

The King scrutinized his face. After a moment, he lowered his head to continue browsing official business and said, "We talked about nothing today. Whatever you want to do has nothing to do with me, and nothing to do with Kingdom."

Brando knew that this was consent.

"Your Majesty, then I shall take my leave."

"Mm."

Leaving the palace, Brando did not linger outside the gates and headed directly for the Allied Forces' camp.

He intended to join forces with Lake—no, with Zhang Mu—but before that, he needed to confirm whether Zhang Mu could meet the standards in his heart.

The method of confirmation was very simple.

The Allied Forces were about to engage in battle with Zhang Mu, and during that process, there would naturally be plenty of opportunities to observe.

As for whether Zhang Mu would be willing to form an alliance with him, Brando was not worried about being rejected. When the time came, he would demonstrate sufficient sincerity and offer benefits that Zhang Mu would inevitably accept.

Pondering these things, Brando made his way to the Allied Forces' main camp and was led by a Soldier into the commander's tent.

"Lord Brando, why have you come?"

The Commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces was a Magister.

Unlike the generally elegant image of mages, he had a burly build, resolute facial features, and short, neat hair. His every move was quite bold, and his usual conduct gave off a rugged impression. If he weren't holding a staff, others would surely mistake him for a Knight Professional.

Brando glanced at the sand table in the middle of the tent, then at the shifting gaze of the commander, and said, "Marshal Novak, please do not misunderstand; Kingdom has no intention of participating in this battle."

Novak didn't seem to care, his expression showing neither disappointment nor joy. "Then you..."

Brando smiled. "As you know, Kingdom prepared an attack against Lake last year, but unfortunately, it failed in the end."

"We were essentially wiped out and suffered heavy losses, so we are powerless to assist in this crusade."

"However, it is the gods' will after all. To do nothing would seem disrespectful to the gods."

"Hahaha..." Novak's laughter was heroic and powerful, making the tent shake. "With Lord Brando's help, Lake will surely be defeated in this battle!"

"No, the help Kingdom is providing is not me."

Novak's laughter choked for a moment, and then he asked curiously, "Then what is it?"

"Intelligence."

Even though his side held an absolute advantage in terms of both troop numbers and the count of High-tier Professionals, Novak did not arrogantly decline the intelligence; instead, he treated it with solemnity.

He first dismissed all the Guards and Aides, and then used magic to block any sound from leaking out. "You may speak now."

"Do you know this man, Zhang Mu?"

"Of course, the heretic personally judged by the gods."

"From another perspective, he is by no means simple."

Novak stroked his chin and pondered. "That is true. An ordinary person wouldn't have the ability to draw the gaze of the gods."

"The intelligence I want to share is related to him."

"Oh?" Novak's expression became focused.

"The person who repelled Kingdom's hundred-thousand-strong Thorn Legion last year was him."

"It's quite embarrassing to say, but his troop strength at the time was less than eight thousand..."

"Eight thousand Professionals?" Novak was a bit startled. "He's just the city lord of Gur; where did he gather so many Professionals?"

"No, they were all ordinary people."

"Uh..." Novak was speechless for a long while before asking in confusion, "Ordinary people?"

"Yes."

"Please forgive my rudeness, but... Lord Brando, unless all one hundred thousand of your Soldiers laid down their weapons and surrendered, I can't think of a reason for losing."

"Zhang Mu has a type of secret weapon obtained from the Labyrinth."

"Secret weapon? What kind?"

"Regrettably, we were repelled before we even saw it." Brando looked embarrassed.

What kind of secret weapon could it be? To actually be strong to this extent?

Novak's brow furrowed, but it soon smoothed out. "So what if he has a secret weapon?"

"So what if he repelled a hundred thousand Soldiers?"

"The Allied Forces have gathered a million Soldiers this time!"

"That's not even counting the reserve forces, and our number of Saint-levels far exceeds Lake's."

Brando didn't think Novak's statement was arrogant.

The Allied Forces could mobilize about five Saint-levels. Lake originally had five as well, but two fell in the civil war and two were heavily injured.

In all fairness, if anyone were to predict this war, they wouldn't think Lake had any chance of winning.

So, Zhang Mu.

Brando's eyes showed a hint of fanaticism as he looked at the ground. Come on, prove yourself. Prove that you have the strength to become a King.

Seeing him lower his head in silence, Novak mistakenly thought he was worried about underestimating the enemy and comforted him with a smile: "Lord Brando, please put your mind at ease. There is no possibility of failure for the Allied Forces."

"Mm... are you in a hurry to go back?"

"Not in a hurry."

"Then set out with the army and witness the destruction of Lake with your own eyes."

"Since it is your invitation, Brando has no reason to refuse."

"Tonight, I will host a banquet to celebrate our inevitable victory in advance."

"Victory belongs to the Allied Forces." Brando bowed slightly, and out of Novak's sight, the corners of his mouth slowly curled into a smirk.

"Hahaha... well said! I imagine the Lake Soldiers are trembling right now under the sheer scale of the Allied Forces!"

In a way, Novak wasn't wrong. Lake's morale was indeed unstable at this time—of course, the First Army was not included in this.

The First Army's first battle was eight thousand against a hundred thousand. Having emerged from such a dire situation, they were not at all afraid of the enemy's numbers far exceeding their own.

They firmly believed that Marshal Zhang Mu would lead them to victory.

The problem lay with the reformed Laike Legion.

Zhang Mu went through a Portal to Lake to conduct a final inspection of the legion outside the city. He then discovered that the old Lake had truly paid no attention to the ideological construction of the legion.

Although these people were lined up neatly, wore uniform clothing, and could handle their weapons decently after a year of training, Zhang Mu felt they didn't deserve to be called Soldiers at all.

Perhaps because the start of the war had been far off before, they lacked a sense of reality and could barely maintain their courage.

Now that war was imminent, these Soldiers were clearly shrouded in the fear of death. One by one, they always looked flustered and were distracted during training.

Damu complained to Zhang Mu that he had even hardened his heart to whip them, but the situation still showed no signs of improvement.

Zhang Mu didn't have any good way to turn the situation around, but deep down, he wasn't very worried either.

Once the magic-conducting weapons demonstrated their power and blasted the High-tier Professionals whom the Soldiers usually regarded as gods, they would regain their courage.

Having a general idea of what was going on with the legion, Zhang Mu didn't stay. He instructed Damu to simply fulfill his duties and then hurried to the Armored Legion, which was conducting secret training deep in the mountains.

"Officer Damu, what are you looking at?" As the morning training ended, a Soldier walked over holding a rifle.

Damu turned his head, and upon seeing the man's face, a slight smile appeared on his serious countenance. "Bal, aren't you going to eat lunch?"

Glancing at the open-air canteen that was crowded to the point of being impassable, Bal shook his head. "The food portions are very generous. I'll wait until they finish eating before I go."

"Then sit for a while." Damu sat down cross-legged on the spot.

Bal followed suit and sat beside him. "You don't seem very happy today."

"A bit."

"Why? Can you tell me about it?"

"Many reasons." Damu watched the Soldiers scrambling for food in the canteen, a scene of total chaos, and couldn't help but sigh.

Originally, they weren't like this. After a year, they had learned the basic rules, but now...

"What are they scrambling for food for? Are they afraid they won't be alive to eat tomorrow?"

"Even if Lake is defeated, the enemy won't kill all the Soldiers; at least they won't make things difficult for the low-level Soldiers," Damu said very gloomily.

"Mm..." Bal looked toward the canteen. "You probably don't quite understand them..."

"I indeed don't understand them."

"Hehehe..." Bal laughed softly and said, "They feel like they are cannon fodder, the first batch to be sent to their deaths after the war begins."

Damu's mouth hung open in shock. Only after a long while did he say, "Are they idiots?"

"The Marshal provides meals with meat every time and gives them the best weapons just to send them to their deaths?"

"Also, why don't they consider the possibility of defeating the enemy themselves?"

"The Allied Forces... their numbers are too great." Bal scratched his head. "You might not be aware, but before I was transferred to the Royal Capital, I was responsible for guarding the border."

"The Allied Forces' Soldiers... at least a million."

Damu seemed to remember something and turned his head to study him. "Speaking of which, your transfer to the Royal Capital... you came about a month ago, right?"

"Mm."

"Do you know who gave the order?"

Bal said blankly, "How would I know? Uh, Officer Damu, you don't know either?"

How strange.

Damu was even more confused deep down.

The order for Bal to train under him had been personally given by the King.

And he didn't travel from the border to the Royal Capital by carriage; rather, a Griffin Knight had gone to pick him up.

With such a grand fuss and even involving the King... could it be the Marshal?

It must be. The Marshal just reminded me that there's no need to hide the magic-conducting weapons from him.

Is there something special about him?

Damu narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing him carefully.

Bal felt a chill being stared at and instinctively shivered. "Uh, Officer Damu, you haven't mentioned the other reasons for being unhappy yet."

"Oh." Damu snapped back to his senses and said in a heavy tone, "The Marshal seems to have established a secret legion. It's said they are equipped with new weapons. I applied to join, but the Marshal directly rejected my application."

"Huh? Why?" Bal asked in surprise.

Having been trained in the Royal Capital for over a month, Bal knew very well that Damu was the strongest instructor sent from the First Army. He was proficient in all kinds of weapons, and his shooting was incredibly accurate.

If even he was disqualified, who else was qualified to be selected?

As if seeing what Bal was thinking, Damu waved his hand. "It's not what you're guessing. The Marshal said I have to be responsible for the sniper rifle formation."

"sniper rifle formation?" The term, which he had never heard before, piqued Bal's interest.

"It's complicated to explain. You'll come into contact with it in the future."

"Oh." He nodded and didn't ask further.

Damu stood up and brushed the dust off his backside, muttering to himself, "Although the rifle formation is also very powerful, I still want to see the new weapons... I heard they are heavy weapons..."

"Right, all of this must be kept secret. If it leaks out, you'll be dealt with by military law."

"Yes!" Bal, who had just stood up, quickly straightened his back.

"Alright, hurry up and eat lunch. There's still training this afternoon."

Damu was feeling quite irritable and had no appetite at all, so he prepared to go back to his tent to rest for a while.

After walking a few steps, he suddenly turned around and asked Bal, who was running toward the canteen, "Aren't you afraid?"

"Afraid of what?" Bal turned his head and asked in confusion.

"The Allied Forces, death."

Bal was stunned for a moment, then laughed. "A Soldier can be afraid of anything, except death. That wouldn't be a qualified Soldier."

Watching the figure continue running toward the canteen, Damu understood what the Marshal saw in him.

"I think he's suitable for the First Army. I'll have to bring it up the next time I see the Marshal."

He muttered to himself as he walked toward his own tent.