364: Chapter 355 Novak: The Rhinoceros-Bearing Divine Might, Invincible.

A brilliant small-scale skirmish was unfolding on the open plains.

Three sniper teams lay in ambush within the lush grass, their respective observers peeking through the gaps in the blades to spy on a patrol squad slowly approaching in the distance.

"Total of fifteen people, standard configuration: ten knights with shields and five magicians."

"Levels?" the sniper asked.

"I'm looking." The observer's binoculars moved toward the right shoulder of a Professional. After staring at the badge for a moment, he said, "Elementary Knights, Apprentice Magicians."

"It's a fat sheep!"

"Ten Elementary Knights... if we convert them to Trainees... we can't let a single one get away!"

Because the strength difference between Professionals of different levels was obvious and the difficulty of combat varied greatly, Domit had established a conversion mechanism—the decimal system.

That is, one Trainee was equivalent to ten Apprentices, and so on. Of course, High-tier Professionals were not included; the jump from low-tier to high-tier was a qualitative change, so a simple numerical conversion did not apply.

Since both sides had reached a tacit agreement to use each other for training troops, the sniper teams were free from the threat of High-tier Professionals and could focus on the enemy.

However, fortune and misfortune go hand in hand. Not only did the Allied Forces stop sending high, mid, or high-level Professionals, they rarely even deployed Elementary ones. Most squads were now a mix of Trainees with a few Elementary individuals.

Killing one Elementary was worth ten Trainees. The team before them had ten Elementarys; their value was self-evident. It was no wonder the three sniper teams were getting excited.

The patrol squad was still far away. Taking advantage of the gap as the enemy walked toward them, they formulated tactics through their wireless headsets.

"After two months of fighting, they've gotten smarter. If they're ambushed and can't find our position immediately, they'll flee right away. Hmm... I suggest letting them get closer before we fire."

"Objected. Elementary Knights have already begun to master dash-type Knight Techniques. Being too close puts us at risk of being counter-killed."

Of the three teams, two held opposing views. The deciding vote fell to the last team.

He also seemed to be hesitating; the other two teams heard no sound from their headsets for a long time.

A few minutes later, the two members of the last team finally spoke: "Objected. If we are closed in on, we will certainly die. We won't even be able to escape. We can't take the risk."

"But..." the team that made the first proposal couldn't help but urge, "Our kill count is lagging far behind the other teams. If we don't catch up..."

"If you lose your life, no matter how powerful a high-level sniper rifle is, it's meaningless."

"I understand. Sorry." The two seemed to realize they had been too reckless and had nearly dragged their teammates into danger.

With the three teams in agreement, the snipers chambered their rounds while the observers reported wind coordinates.

As time passed, the enemy stepped into effective sniper range. The snipers held their breath and pulled the triggers.

...

"I think we should leave this place," said one of the knights in the Allied patrol squad, his eyes warily scanning the waist-high grass around them.

"What's wrong?" the magician serving as the captain asked in confusion.

"It's your first day on patrol, so you don't know... it's complicated to explain. In short, those guys from Lake love environments where visibility is obstructed like this."

The magician captain looked around. "Obstructed visibility?

What does that have to do with our patrol?"

"They will lie in wait in the thick grass to ambush us."

"Hahaha..." The magician captain laughed. "Sir... you are not a magician, so you don't know that our Mental Energy can cover a radius of about a hundred meters.

Even if an Intermediate Knight uses a Charge, it takes several seconds to cover a hundred meters. That's enough for us to detect them and counter-attack."

The knight's gaze was somewhat shocked. "Did... did you not read the manual before coming here?"

"What manual?"

The ten knights, who had clashed with snipers many times, looked at each other, their eyes filled with blankness.

Which family's young master was this guy? His common sense of combat was so lacking... Wait, if he had connections, why would he be sent on a patrol mission where he could lose his life at any moment?

The knight couldn't figure it out. Afraid to offend the man, he could only step forward and tactfully advise, "Let's turn back first. Once we get back—"

*Swoosh—*

A faint sound of breaking air interrupted him. The knight's expression changed as he moved to shove down the five magicians on their first mission, but just as he lifted his foot, the magician captain's head exploded into a cloud of blood mist right before everyone.

"Get down!" the knight shouted to warn the four magicians who were frozen in place by the horrific sight, while simultaneously taking command. "Raise shields!"

The knights in the squad were experienced. Before he finished speaking, they had already coordinated with him—the front five kneeling and the back five standing—raising their shields together to form a shield wall.

"Damn it!" Temporarily safe, the knight captain took a moment to look back. Beside the corpse, the four magicians were still in a daze.

Which idiot assigned them to patrol?!

Having faced snipers several times, the knight captain knew very well that to take them out, they had to rely on magicians for long-range attacks.

If they lost the magicians in the squad, even escaping would be a pipe dream.

As for charging and fighting to the death, the knight captain knew that was pure delusion.

Those bastards' archery was extremely skilled and precise. Never mind a Charge full of openings; if he even dared to lower his reinforced shield, an arrow would blow his head off in the next second.

The surroundings were very quiet now, with only the rustle of the breeze through the grass. It seemed as though the enemy had left, but the knight captain didn't dare be careless.

Based on his experience, besides the archers restricting their movement from the front, other teams were certainly moving toward the sides where there was no shield defense.

They couldn't delay!

The knight captain turned and shouted, "Prepare to return fire!"

The four magicians were finally startled awake and hurriedly hid behind the shield wall. "H-How do we return fire?"

They were also very confused at this moment, thinking that this was different from their usual battles. I can't even see the people; where am I supposed to throw my magic?

If they had known, they wouldn't have looked down on the manual and left it in the barracks without a single glance.

The knight captain didn't know the four were regretting it. Based on the previous trajectory, he extended his finger past the shield wall to point toward the front right. "Cover that—"

*Swoosh—*

An arrow grazed his fingertip. The knight captain hurriedly pulled his hand back, breaking into a cold sweat. "These guys... their archery has gotten even sharper...

Don't just stand there! Throw your magic exactly where I just pointed!

Do you know fire magic? Throw a lot of it and set the grass on fire!"

"Okay... okay!" the magicians responded, quickly raising their staffs to prepare their magic.

Due to extreme nervousness and the shock of the head exploding just now, the Mental Energy of all four was fluctuating wildly. It took them a while to each condense a fireball and throw it out.

Watching the five fireballs arc over their heads and disappear behind the shields, the knight captain felt very frustrated.

In a field battle not long ago, his squad had lost its magician and was forced to abort the mission.

The knight captain had been very anxious back then.

To motivate the Soldiers, Novak had offered substantial rewards, and captured bows and other equipment could be used to exchange for potions and cultivation resources.

No one could predict how long the duel with Lake's archers would last. He had to earn as much as possible while it wasn't over yet.

Finally, his superiors sent five Apprentice Magicians to the knight captain.

He was originally very happy, but who would have thought that as soon as the five arrived, they were very dissatisfied with being led by a knight. He chose to back down and give the captaincy to a magician just so they could resume the mission sooner.

In any case, he didn't care about the captain's class as long as he could earn cultivation resources.

Who would have thought these five had not only never been to the front lines, but they hadn't even looked at the manual summarizing the key points of fighting the archers.

"When we get back, I'm definitely driving these fi—four idiots away!" the knight captain cursed under his breath.

A knight squad member heard him and added, "Provided we can make it back alive."

"I will lead you home alive unless I die first," the knight captain repeated the promise he made before setting out.

"Of course, you've done it every time," the kneeling member said, tilting his head back with a smile.

The knight captain returned the smile, then looked up at the fire spreading around them.

Fortunately, it wasn't a forest.

He felt lucky in his heart. Once the fire reached the archers' hiding spots, they would naturally retreat.

*Swoosh—*

*Thud—*

An arrow struck the shield wall head-on. The knight holding the shield was pushed back slightly but immediately stepped forward to regain his position.

The reinforced shield was exceptionally durable. The knight was unharmed but looked grim. "The enemy team should have circled to the sides by now."

They had become much more familiar with the snipers' tactics, knowing that seemingly useless attacks were actually meant to draw their attention and cover for teammates flanking them.

"Change formation."

The knights moved upon hearing the order, quickly spreading out and huddling close together facing outward in a circle, while raising their shields.

In the grass, a sniper who had just reached an attack position looked at the circle of shields in the middle of the road, his face darkening.

"What should we do?" he contacted his teammates through the headset.

"Concentrate fire on a single point on the shield. Try to penetrate it."

"Objected. The fire is spreading fast. We don't have time to waste with them."

"Let's retreat. This squad is experienced; they must be old opponents.

Look, he knows the surrounding terrain is flat with no high ground, so they aren't even holding shields over their heads."

"If there were high ground, I would have blown his head off long ago."

"If there were high ground, he would definitely be able to guess our position and throw magic directly at us instead of using this stupid method of throwing fireballs to burn the grass."

"I heard that high-level sniper rifles can block magic. Is that true?"

"There's a rumor like tha... stop chatting. The fire is almost here. We'll talk when we get back. Retreat."

Sensing the temperature around them rising sharply and feeling the heat on their skin, the sniper team didn't dare delay any longer and began crawling backward.

"Hmm?" One of the crawling snipers suddenly stopped and said in confusion, "Do you guys feel... the ground... vibrating?"

Meanwhile, the patrol squad watched as the blackened area burned by the fire grew wider and wider, and they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Wait a bit longer," the knight captain warned his relaxed teammates. "Their maximum attack range is a thousand meters. Wait... hmm?"

A slight vibration came from beneath his feet, and his teammates felt it too.

"Captain, did you feel..."

"Yes."

"What is it?"

The knight captain, tucked inside the iron barrel formation, couldn't see outside, but a confident curve appeared at the corners of his mouth. "Our cavalry is here."

"Cavalry?" The squad members were stunned for a moment, then reacted with looks of pleasant surprise. "Rhinoceros Cavalry?

I thought the orders prohibited Intermediate and above Professionals from performing patrol duties?

The strength of the Rhinoceros Cavalry is..."

"The Rhinoceros Cavalry is indeed very strong. Once they form a scale and launch a Charge, even a Great Knight can only get out of the way. But... the level of a Pack Rhino is Primary!"

Accompanied by his hearty laughter, a small squad of over ten Rhinoceros Cavalry slowly appeared from behind the horizon.

...

Allied Forces Main Camp.

Novak, the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces, had shown none of the air of a superior in recent days. He seemed more like a mother worrying about children returning late, standing at the gate of the Allied camp all day long, looking forward with anticipation for the patrol squads returning from their shifts.

Brando walked up from behind him, saying, "Is the Marshal looking forward to today's spoils again?"

"Ah, it's Brando." Novak turned to see him and smiled. "It doesn't have much to do with spoils.

Before, I received news of our personnel losses every day. Now we both have casualties. Unfortunately, we lose more Soldiers than Lake. I hope that one day the casualty figures will be lower than Lake's.

So I stand at the gate waiting for the returning patrol squads, counting their numbers, hoping that the number of people returning safely grows every day."

"Then... they're back." Brando stopped halfway through and pointed outside the gate.

Novak quickly looked.

Outside the main camp, a patrol squad slowly approached and soon crossed the gate.

"Lord Marshal!"

"Yes." Giving a response, Novak looked over the six "bows" hanging on them. "How many did you lose?"

"One Apprentice Magician."

"Good!" Novak praised loudly, asked for details of the battle, then stepped forward to pat each of them on the shoulder. "Go and rest!"

"As you command!"

The patrol squad, having gained much, walked toward the barracks. Brando's gaze followed their backs. "I guessed correctly; they lack speed."

Novak affectionately put his arm around his shoulder. "Thanks to you for discovering their weakness.

It's just... I wonder if deploying the Rhinoceros Cavalry will attract that mysterious squad that ambushes the Allied Forces' High-tier Professionals."

"Lake's commander and we have a tacit understanding. As long as the overall strength of the cavalry squad does not exceed a High-level Knight, they will follow the current rules of the game." Brando didn't quite like intimate physical contact and stepped aside inconspicuously.

Novak noticed and withdrew his arm. "Sir Brando, it's good that you're here. There are some things I'd like to ask your opinion on."

"Please speak."

"Do you have any intention..."

Brando's calm gaze stopped the words that followed. Novak realized he had been seen through.

"Never mind, let's talk about it later." After muttering to himself, he continued, "The Rhinoceros Cavalry will sweep away those rats that only know how to hide in the shadows and ambush. Once the plains are cleared and completely in our hands, and we become more familiar with their weapons, we can launch a general offensive.

What worries me is... the weapons that wiped out three legions have never appeared again. Oh, and that mysterious squad that can hunt High-tier Professionals—we haven't even figured out their numbers yet."

"You worry too much." Brando looked into the distance. The sky was azure and the land was flat, the two meeting at the furthest point with a clear boundary. "The nations of the Allied Forces... plan to send more Saint-level reinforcements, right?"

"I never mentioned that." Novak's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Once this war begins, it is a matter of life and death; no other possibility exists.

I think... the nations would not want to see the Allied Forces defeated and then be counter-attacked by Lake."

Novak was silent for a long time. "What I least want to see is us becoming enemies one day."

"Heh." Brando laughed. "That won't happen."