354: Chapter 346, Page 351: The Military Merit System

Five thousand Griffin Knights dived down, using their spears to harvest the Soldiers who had collapsed into a disorganized mess.

Wails accompanied miserable screams, as severed limbs and sprayed blood collided in mid-air.

This scene was witnessed firsthand by the Soldiers on the low hill in the distance.

Undoubtedly, the scene of the "Air Force" massacring the "Army" was extremely shocking, and the Soldiers of the Third Army were indeed dazed.

However, their daze was not because of this, but because of the multiple consecutive rounds of shelling earlier, and the three Magisters who had abruptly fallen.

Professionals on the Saul Continent make up a very small percentage of the total population, but that doesn't mean ordinary people are unfamiliar with them.

On the contrary, due to the noble status of Professionals, every person on the Saul Continent longs to become one, so they pay constant attention to relevant information in their daily lives, not missing a single detail.

Particularly the Soldiers of the Third Army, who had opportunities to come into contact with Professionals in their previous legions, knew more than ordinary civilians.

They knew that flying into the sky without relying on external objects meant the person was a High-tier Professional. The three people suspended in the air were clearly the leaders of the enemy Army.

Combining both circumstances, the rank of the three was still clear—Magisters.

Although there are several levels above Magister, a Magister is truly not weak; they are the ultimate dream that the vast majority of Professionals cannot reach in their entire lives.

Yet this very "ultimate dream" was killed instantly in broad daylight before everyone's eyes.

The Third Army Soldiers hiding in the pits saw this and even forgot their military orders, pushing aside the camouflage cloth over their heads to stick their heads out, staring blankly at the three headless corpses that fell to the ground one after another.

They knew very well that the attack that blew off the three people's heads was not magic or Knight Techniques, but "bullets," the same method of attack as the weapons in their own hands.

It's just...

The Soldiers were at a loss.

For nearly a year, they had used firearms for training every day and understood their power perfectly—they were strong, but their lethality against Professionals above the intermediate level was limited, let alone against Magisters and Sky Knights.

"legion, Legion Commander, what was that?" a Soldier reacted first, turning his head to ask the Legion Commander standing in the adjacent pit.

Coming from the First Army, he actually hadn't seen a weapon with such terrifying power either.

However, he had heard something about Zhang Mu selecting elites to form a special squad last year.

"It should be... a sniper rifle," the Legion Commander said after a moment of hesitation.

sniper rifle?

The Soldiers scratched their heads.

The name of the weapon they used was "automatic rifle." Both names ended in "rifle," so it could be inferred they were similar things.

The Soldiers all looked down at the automatic rifles cradled in their arms, question marks involuntarily popping up over their heads.

Clearly both were rifles, but wasn't the difference in power a bit too much?

Or was "sniper rifle" just a name with "rifle" in it, while actually being a completely different type of weapon?

"Legion Commander, what is a sniper rifle?" a Soldier asked.

He scanned the surroundings, seeing the Soldiers all staring at him with expectant eyes. He didn't rush to announce the punishment for everyone violating military orders and explained:

"A sniper rifle is also a rifle, essentially the same type of weapon as the automatic rifles in your hands, but a sniper rifle is more powerful and has greater precision."

"Can we be equipped with them?" A Soldier guessed that the person who used a sniper rifle to headshot the Magisters must be a Soldier from the First Army and asked enviously.

"The threshold for mastering a sniper rifle is quite high and requires a certain amount of talent. Moreover, the sniper rifle that just fired and an ordinary... well, you'll find out later."

The Legion Commander changed the subject halfway through, seemingly not intending to reveal too much.

The existence of magic-conducting weapons was currently only known to the First Army. The loyalty of the reorganized legion still needed to be observed, so naturally, they couldn't be told.

Seeing his subordinates looking at him pitifully, the Legion Commander shook his head helplessly: "Don't even dream about that in the short term. The conditions for use are extremely harsh; even I was disqualified."

Hearing this, the brightness in the Soldiers' eyes slowly dimmed.

That was a weapon capable of taking down a Magister. Learning they had no hope of touching it, a sense of loss welled up in their hearts.

The Legion Commander smiled and comforted them: "However, there's still hope for ordinary sniper rifles."

"Really?!" They snapped their heads up, becoming excited.

Although the word "ordinary" already indicated it wasn't as good as "that one," since they were both sniper rifles, they had to be more powerful than automatic rifles, right?

The Legion Commander saw through their thoughts and reminded them: "A sniper rifle isn't necessarily stronger than an automatic rifle; it mainly depends on the environment and the actual scen—forget it, you wouldn't understand now. I'll explain slowly after we go back."

"Legion Commander, when are we going back?" They were impatient, not even bothering to watch the enemy Army being slaughtered in the distance anymore.

Facing their excitement, the Legion Commander's warm smile vanished, and he snorted coldly: "Before that, prepare to accept punishment for violating military orders."

The cheering Soldiers froze, only then remembering they had subconsciously lifted the camouflage cloth without receiving an order earlier.

Their expressions turned a bit bitter.

The military regulations of the Third Army followed those of the First Army. The punishment for violating military orders was not something easily endured.

However, their bitterness lasted only a few seconds before being replaced by laughter.

Compared to learning to use a sniper rifle, the punishment wasn't much of a burden at all.

They even began to urge him: "Legion Commander, when are we going back? I can't wait to receive my punishment!"

"Not so fast," the Legion Commander waved his hand and said to his adjutant, "Since the squad is here, Marshal Zhang Mu should also be nearby. I'm going to meet the Marshal. You lead the Soldiers to stand by on the spot."

"We might need to clean up the battlefield in a while."

"Yes!" The adjutant straightened his back.

The Legion Commander said no more, climbed out of the pit, and ran toward the battlefield where the massacre was already nearing its end.

...

Zhang Mu was suspended high in the sky, looking down as the three legions of the coalition were being slaughtered to the last man.

Ensuring no one would escape, he landed on the grass to the left and said to the air in front of him, "Deactivate it."

As the words fell, the air rippled and distorted, and then numerous figures slowly emerged. Scanning the group roughly, there were about twenty people.

Standing at the very front was Damu. He walked up to Zhang Mu holding a magic guidance sniper rifle that was almost as tall as himself: "Marshal, the mission is complete."

Zhang Mu nodded in praise: "Well done."

By the way, how does the equipped stealth Core feel to use?"

Their magic guidance sniper rifles had undergone one last modification by Geoffrey before leaving the factory.

The cause was with Zhang Mu.

At that time, he had deactivated his Shadow Technique and abruptly appeared before Geoffrey.

The man stared blankly at Zhang Mu for a long time, then suddenly slapped his forehead and said, "If only the magic guidance sniper rifle could help the user turn invisible..."

After pondering for a bit, Zhang Mu thought it might be difficult.

Probably because it originated from the hands of a god, the quality of the Shadow Technique was very high. It was almost impossible to turn it into a Magic Array while retaining its full effect.

Fortunately, Zhang Mu had used the Shadow Technique for a long time, and with the magic information poured into his mind by the system panel, his understanding of the Shadow Technique was very thorough and profound.

After a little thought, he found a solution.

In Zhang Mu's hands, the Shadow Technique could be called a divine skill. After mastering it, it had only failed before two successive Popes of the Legendary rank.

For the special squad, it didn't need to reach that level; for now, it just needed to be able to deceive the perception of a Saint rank.

This was quite easy.

After tinkering for a day, Zhang Mu designed a Shadow Magic Array, carved it onto the Core, and installed it into the magic guidance sniper rifle.

The reason the three Magisters couldn't find them for so long earlier was precisely due to this.

Damu tightened his arms around the magic guidance sniper rifle: "It's fantastic, Marshal. The targets couldn't even roughly lock onto our position."

It's just... after firing a shot with full power, the barrel overheats. It's estimated to take half an hour to cool down completely."

"Hahaha..." Zhang Mu was amused. "You just blew the heads off three Magisters, and you're still not satisfied?"

"Uh, I think it can be even stronger."

As Damu spoke, he raised his hand and patted the gun's body, while for some reason, the image of the Great Knight who had kicked him away outside the Silent Forest a year ago surfaced in his mind.

At that time, the scene was chaotic, and with the Griffin Legion blocking his view, he didn't see if that Great Knight was killed or if he luckily escaped into the forest.

If he escaped, then that would be... truly great.

Killing intent emerged in Damu's eyes.

Zhang Mu liked this look. The youth who was still an honest Farmer a year ago had already become a qualified warrior a year later.

"No need to rush. Geoffrey has been working on improving the magic guidance sniper rifle."

The speed is a bit slow, but there's no helping it. Be understanding of Geoffrey; after all, he's only one person."

"I didn't..."

"I'm just giving you a reminder, not blaming you." Damu snapped out of it and was about to explain when Zhang Mu interrupted him.

"Then Marshal, where are we going next?" Learning that the performance improvement was temporarily hopeless, he asked about the subsequent mission.

Zhang Mu turned around, looking into the distance at the Griffin cavalry who were patrolling the battlefield and checking if any enemy Soldiers were playing dead: "Losing nearly one-third of their troops at once, and elites at that, the coalition commander will definitely go crazy."

A tough battle is coming; you'll have plenty to do."

As for now, head to Keton City immediately."

"Understood!"

Damu led his team members, ran to the battlefield to find their cavalry partners, and flew away on the griffins.

Zhang Mu stood with his hands behind his back, his expression turning solemn.

The first battle was a complete victory, a true complete victory with zero casualties on their side. They had wiped out three hundred thousand enemy troops using only some shells, which would be considered a crushing victory even on Earth.

However, the overall situation remained not optimistic.

Although Zhang Mu was careful to hide information about the weapons, even going as far as not leaving a single prisoner, the coalition wasn't composed of idiots after all.

With three hundred thousand elite Soldiers wiped out, even if they didn't know the cause of the tragedy, they would certainly become extremely vigilant.

In the subsequent battles, the coalition would likely send out Magisters or even Saint-ranks as scouts to eliminate all safety hazards around the main Army.

By then, the existence of ordinary firearms probably wouldn't be hidden anymore.

The coalition splitting their forces would then become an inevitability.

"Tsk—" Zhang Mu clicked his tongue. "The coalition is bound to lose; the only difference is how soon."

The trouble is the Kingdom... that guy says nice things, but he might be trying to mislead me while planning another sneak attack."

And then there's the Elf Army arriving after traveling day and night. To welcome them with nuclear weapons, it must be outside the borders. Otherwise, even if one nuclear weapon kills them all, Lake's land would be ruined by radiation."

A lot of difficult problems.

Zhang Mu shook his head. He would take them one by one, starting with setting up defenses in Keton City.

"Marshal!" Just as he was about to leave, a shout suddenly came from behind.

Turning to look, it was the Legion Commander of the Third Army.

"What is it?"

"Marshal." Running up to him, the Legion Commander first bent over, resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath. Only when his breathing stabilized did he say, "I wanted to ask... can the Third Army be equipped with sniper rifles?"

"Hmm?" Zhang Mu raised an eyebrow. "Your idea, or..."

"The Soldiers are very enthusiastic."

"Oh, strange. I thought you'd be clamoring for an artillery regiment."

"Uh, hahaha..." The Legion Commander laughed awkwardly. "An artillery regiment... when it's needed, the Marshal will surely set one up in the Third Army."

"Quite clever," Zhang Mu muttered, lowering his head in thought.

Equipping the Third Army with ordinary sniper rifles wasn't a problem.

Those things were indeed more powerful than automatic rifles, especially anti-materiel heavy sniper rifles similar to the barrett. An Intermediate Knight wouldn't feel good after taking a hit from one.

If there were a certain scale of snipers, they could pose a significant threat to the coalition's Professionals. However, during the year of training, Zhang Mu had never considered training snipers in the reorganized legions.

He had thought at the time that after the war started, half of the reorganized legions would probably become deserters, so training snipers would be a pure waste of resources.

Now that their confidence was built and there was no need to worry about deserters appearing at any moment, it was indeed time to equip them with sniper rifles.

"The coalition will soon launch an all-out offensive. If you can hold through this wave, I'll give each of your legions a hundred sniper rifles."

"Understood!" The Legion Commander was overjoyed. He grinned as he saluted, then turned and ran back toward the low hill, seemingly to deliver the good news to his subordinates.

"In the subsequent operations, I need to find a way to motivate the Soldiers... the military merit peerage system... hmm... let's go scout for some information first." Zhang Mu muttered as he flew into the air.

...

Coalition Main Camp.

Novak paced back and forth inside the tent, a hint of unease on his face, while Brando sat calmly to one side.

"Marshal Novak." Brando was getting dizzy from his pacing and comforted him helplessly, "It's just a temporary interruption in communication."

With three hundred thousand Soldiers, even if a Saint-rank were deployed, it would be impossible to wipe them all out. Someone would always escape; it's impossible that not even a single message could be sent back."

"But I always feel... could something have interfered with their sound transmission crystals?"

"There are many things that can do that. Maybe they just happened to encounter one."

Brando's comfort didn't work. Novak continued to walk back and forth: "It's been a whole day since we lost contact. They..."

Those three idiots! Why did they force the march?"

Moving so fast, even the logistics couldn't keep up with them!"

According to the reply from the logistics team two days ago, they had been chasing all the way, but when they reached the temporary camp, it was already deserted.

Novak felt suspicious. After all, the three legions seemed to have achieved brilliant results, occupying six cities in a row. However, Lake's legions had never shown their faces, which meant they hadn't suffered any losses at all.

So he had ordered his subordinates to contact the three men, telling them to slow down and watch for traps.

But strangely, no matter how they called, there was no response from the three men's sound transmission crystals.

Only after Novak asked the logistics team did he learn that the three had been on a forced march.

Were they blinded by victory?

His expression turned grave. He couldn't wait any longer; he had to send a Saint...

"Marshal!" An adjutant burst in through the curtain, his tone filled with panic, "They, they..."

"Who?"

"The vanguard army, there's, there's news."

"Is that so? Speak quickly!"

"They... have been wiped out to the last man."

The joy on Novak's face suddenly froze.