Purr had returned. The scout squads probing the canyon's perimeter had suffered very light casualties, but of the three veteran scout squads that Purr had personally trained earlier, only sixteen returned—more than half had fallen.
Still, this mission had practically been conducted right in the enemy's face, so such a survival rate was actually quite impressive.
Without a moment's delay, Purr rode Kevin straight into the command tent. Leaping onto the map suspended in midair, she marked coordinates with her claws while swiftly recounting everything she had uncovered.
Once her report was finished, Purr looked toward Neo.
Neo nodded.
Then, just before jumping back onto the dog's back, she paused and deliberately glanced at Karen.
Karen nodded as well.
"Whew... I'm exhausted, meow. I'm taking the stupid dog to get some rest. If Philomena comes back, remember to tell me."
"All right," Karen said. "Go rest."
"Let's go, stupid dog!"
There were no excessive words and no tender greetings. This was an army camp, not home, and Purr showed not the slightest pretense—the basic discipline of a veteran adventurer was on full display.
Karen temporarily set aside his worries about Philomena and walked over to the map, watching Neo add new details to the markers Purr had left behind.
Purr had only marked the positions she had discovered, whereas Neo was "completing" the picture according to the terrain map from the opposing commander's perspective.
It was like a pattern-seeking game—extrapolating the layout of fortifications across a broader area based on known densities and positions.
Soon, a dense cluster of markings covered the terrain map before Karen. Every single mark could be understood as a trap or a bunker.
"Is it really that extreme?"
"It might not be quite so dense." Neo held a cigarette under his nose and sniffed it. "Perhaps they ran out of time to build it all out, but we can't count on that kind of wishful thinking."
"Right."
"During the standoff between Light and Order, the Church of Earth took Order's side. Back then, the general sentiment across the entire church circle was hoping Light would perish—just like how everyone wants Order to perish now.
"So, I fought the Church of Earth on a few proxy or disguised local battlefields. The lesson I drew from those clashes is that you must never let that bunch of rats find a place suitable for burrowing.
"Not that there's any point in dwelling on that now. Look at these markings. I'm certain that beneath the entire expanse of Chia Grand Canyon lies a dense network of tunnels."
"Then it will be hard for our magic crystal cannons to be of much use," Karen said.
"Indeed. They dig deep. What's more, these subterranean fortifications are interconnected. Underground, they can maneuver and redeploy rapidly, providing prompt and effective reinforcement to create local numerical superiority over us.
"Yet their strength is also their weakness. If we can pinpoint their headquarters and destroy their command system, the enemies in those tunnels will be left to fight on their own, allowing us to concentrate our forces and pick them off one by one."
At that, Neo gave Karen a pointed look. "Tell me, how should we find their headquarters?"
"Launch a feint to force a reaction," Karen answered.
Neo nodded. "True, but keep one thing in mind..."
Karen picked up the thread. "Mind that they might set up a dummy command post to deceive us—and a rat's nest can be relocated at any moment."
"Heh," Neo chuckled. "I feel like you're settling into your role more and more."
Karen shook his head. "Generals who lose battles while holding an advantage typically feel good about themselves beforehand."
"Now you're stealing my lines. You're depriving a teacher of the chance to lecture his student about staying cautious and avoiding careless mistakes on the exam."
"My apologies."
"Save your apologies until after this battle is won. Since the other side is content to dig holes and prepare for defense, it proves their forces deployed here aren't substantial. There's no risk of them sallying out to pincer our vanguard.
"Muri, pass down the order: the corps marches immediately. Advance to Chia Grand Canyon at top speed."
***
*Thwip!*
The edge of the Blade of Nightmares drove into the chest of the priest before her. Yet in the very next instant, the priest's chest split open, and three pythons lunged out with ferocity.
With a flick of her wrist, Philomena slashed upward, severing all three pythons. But their heads flew forward on momentum. A black barrier manifested before Philomena; upon contact, the Fire of Order swiftly enveloped and incinerated them.
Yet a puff of emerald-green poisonous mist seeped out from within the Fire of Order, penetrating the barrier with shocking speed and blooming eerily like a flower.
Philomena hastily retreated, but the right arm holding her weapon was still caught in the blast. Looking down, she found her arm already covered in dense blisters.
Without a shred of hesitation, Philomena switched the blade to her left hand. The edge sliced down along the festering flesh of her right arm, shearing off the infected slab of meat.
Immediately afterward, she opened her right palm. A flame of the Fire of Order sprang forth, and she pressed it against the wound to cauterize it.
The process was excruciating, yet apart from turning slightly pale and beading with cold sweat, Philomena did not show even a hint of struggle.
In this world, the only person who could truly evoke emotional fear in her was Karen—
a lingering childhood trauma born back when she had first left home to join the selection trials, when Karen had organized the others to isolate and suppress her.
Other than that, even Madame Tangli frequently beating her had never frightened her.
Now, the priest was dead, but the venom he had unleashed in an attempt to take her down with him was exceedingly vicious, boasting exceptional resistance to the Fire of Order. That meant Philomena had to keep scorching her wound for a prolonged period.
At last, judging it to be enough, Philomena withdrew the Fire of Order and downed a bottle of antidote potion.
After all that, it wasn't just the wound—her entire right arm looked like a defective brick fresh out of a kiln.
None of that mattered, though; no matter how gruesome the injury, military doctors could heal it. The trickiest part was preventing the toxin from invading her body or seeping into her soul.
She stood, picked up her blade with her right hand, and tested a few swings before switching back to her left hand.
She felt somewhat lost. Originally, she had planned to use the commotion Purr created to make a swift detour back and report military intelligence. But her detour had led her farther and farther off track. It wasn't a loss of direction; rather, there seemed to be eyes everywhere.
Even though she had been exceedingly careful to evade detection, some eye would still catch sight of her. To avoid a repeat of being trapped in a barrier, she had no choice but to keep running in circles within this area—and that circling had lasted two whole days.
As the nominal commander of the reconnaissance battalion, she had severely neglected her duty.
Now, she could only pray that Purr and Kevin had broken free from interception and delivered the intelligence back to camp.
After disposing of the priest's corpse, Philomena found a crevice in the rocks and squeezed inside. She needed rest.
Remaining on high alert, she fell asleep.
Just as dawn was breaking, a glaring light woke her. Looking up at the sky, she found it suddenly crowded with countless blazing suns.
Her pupils contracted sharply.
No.
Those weren't suns.
That was a salvo of magic crystal cannons!
***
No longer bound by the need to synchronize with the main army group, the Whip of Order Corps relied on its superior transport capacity to swiftly reach its objective: the perimeter of Chia Grand Canyon.
After rapidly establishing camp and constructing their defensive works, they launched their offensive on Chia Grand Canyon early the following morning.
If this could even be called an attack... For whether through magic-eye spyglasses or aerial reconnaissance by the falcon knights, not a single enemy could be seen across the vast expanse ahead.
Nevertheless, the corps organized its battle formation with extreme rigor, just as they had practiced in drill.
Little Kanna transformed into a bone dragon, carrying Karen and Neo into the sky. Flanking the bone dragon, over two hundred falcons carrying their riders circled aloft.
The winds were fierce up high, but Neo had long grown accustomed to it.
Perhaps the altitude stirred old memories, for his spirits began to soar.
Below, Golden-Armored Dragon Turtles dragged magic crystal cannons into position one after another. After a series of preparatory drills, at the command relayed by Muri below, five hundred magic crystal cannons opened up in a fierce bombardment against the Grand Canyon area.
One salvo, two salvos, three salvos... Even after the eighth salvo, there was no sign of stopping.
From Karen's vantage point, if the canyon terrain ahead was like the wrinkled face of an old man, then right now, the old man's face had broken out in acne.
Yet these cannon strikes were essentially meaningless—though one couldn't rule out the possibility that some unlucky fellow hiding underground might be crushed to death by a ceiling lantern dislodged by the shockwaves.
Karen asked Neo, "Are we going to keep bombarding them?"
"Why not?" Neo replied. "Remember this, Karen: in the future, whenever you face a tangled, complex battlefield, you only need to remember one rule. Right off the bat, blast them with twelve salvos first."
"Yet both you and I know full well this bombardment poses no real threat to the defenders. Besides, eight salvos have passed, and they haven't reacted in the slightest."
Neo said, "We are a newly formed army. Bombarding before battle boosts our morale and courage."
Karen had an epiphany. "So that's why."
When the twelve salvos concluded, the cannon crystals consumed by the five hundred magic crystal cannons, if converted into point coupons, amounted to a terrifying sum.
Religious warfare and secular warfare were identical on this point: once the cannons roared, expenditures became a bottomless pit.
Karen thought to himself: *If the Whip-Wielder knew we set off twelve rounds of fireworks just to boost morale... he'd probably feel the sting enough to skip a cigar.*
The falcon knights set out first, moving to cover the airspace above the canyon.
Seeing the "little birds" around her take off, Little Kanna swished her dragon body slightly; clearly, she wanted to tag along and play.
Karen could only soothe her: "Be good. We're staying right here."
At present, it remained unclear whether the enemy possessed anti-air weapons. Even though they had focused their defense underground, they ought to have the standard baseline equipment of any corps.
The enemy might let the circling falcon knights be so as to remain hidden. But if they saw a bone dragon flying directly overhead... Karen felt that were he the enemy commander, he would gladly risk exposing a few positions to take a shot at blasting it down.
With the skies secured, the ground forces below began their advance.
However, this formation was noticeably scaled back. The cavalry clad in armor and mounted on undead steeds did not deploy to screen the flanks, and the spellcasters, archers, axemen, and other units meant to pack serious offensive punch remained behind.
Those actually advancing consisted solely of a shieldbearer phalanx, an array master phalanx, a priest phalanx, and thirty giant wengs who had already grown to giant size, carrying massive bundles on their backs.
The shieldbearer phalanx assumed an ironclad defensive posture, while the array masters adjusted and layered temporary defensive arrays over them, and the priests continuously cast wide-area blessing spells to reinforce the shieldbearers.
They were probing the way—or more precisely, stepping on mines. Naturally, they had to be as sturdy as possible to keep casualties to an absolute minimum.
Ventura, now in giant form, held a massive shield in his left hand and a gigantic spiked mace in his right. Directing the shieldbearers forward, he roared:
"Watch your step! Watch your surroundings! Even if an ambush hits, hold the line!"
Daliwenluo, clad in armor and carrying a shield, followed by Ventura's side. Count Rekar had arrived earlier and was already commander of a cavalry battalion; Daliwenluo had only just arrived, so he had to start as Ventura's adjutant.
The entire formation marched in unison at a brisk pace, pressing forward all the way. Yet even as the vanguard neared the heart of the Grand Canyon, the battlefield remained dead silent, leading the corps soldiers to wonder if their enemy even existed.
Neo remarked, "Ah, looks like they have no intention of falling for it."
Karen smiled. "When you march an iron fortress right at them, they certainly aren't going to flip open the hatch to take a bite."
The enemy's tactical intent was clear: you can march back and forth overhead, but you'd better keep that formation tight at all times, or you'll give us an opening.
And for Karen and Neo, merely holding the surface was pointless. If they didn't clear out the rats below, were they supposed to live here as neighbors forever?
"Our opponent has brains after all." Neo licked his lips. "But as the attackers, we hold the initiative. If the rats won't come up, we'll force them up."
Below, Ventura raised his spiked mace. "Halt!"
*Clank! Clank!*
The shieldbearers instantly stood firm, planting their shields into the ground. At once, the colossal phantom of a black shield appeared horizontally above the formation, descending slowly until it enveloped the entire ranks, forming a protective black barrier.
Battalion Commander Aisen issued an order: "Prepare the altars!"
The array masters quickly fanned out and began assembling array altars on the spot. They had brought all the materials, and with so many hands and ample past drills, twelve array altars were swiftly erected at the center of the formation.
Such array altars served two functions: first, they allowed the array masters to pool their power and increase efficiency; second, they facilitated the deployment and operation of large-scale arrays.
Here, "large-scale" did not refer to complexity, but purely to physical magnitude—much like construction cranes on a worksite.
Aisen said to his wife and adjutant, Kaixi, "Have the giants unload."
"Yes, sir."
Kaixi immediately signaled.
Perhaps because this married couple had lived apart for so long, joining the military camp together had not led them to mix personal feelings into their duties; instead, they had quickly adapted to their superior-and-subordinate dynamic.
On the perimeter, three of the thirty giant wengs who had accompanied the formation untied the bundles on their shoulders. Instantly, an immense torrent of construction sandstone poured forth.
This sandstone had been quarried locally, but array masters had refined it and mixed in magical ingredients in measured proportions, making it far easier to manipulate with the array's layout.
The twelve array altars whirred to life. As the pouring sandstone descended, it was as if an invisible pair of hands was guiding it, coaxing it into neatly accumulating and solidifying along designated areas.
Right after, three more giant wengs opened their bundles, and even more sandstone cascaded down.
If their intention had not been obvious at first, as the volume of sandstone grew and the structure began to take shape, the objective became plain as day...
"Heheheh." Neo chuckled. "Cowering down there and refusing to come out? Fine. Then I'll build a fortress right on top of your heads!"
Clearly, the defenders below could not just sit by and watch the Order corps build a castle over their heads. Doing so would fundamentally alter the dynamics of the battlefield.
If Order built one, they could build a second, and then a third... Build enough, and the canyon's primary routes would be locked down, leaving them free to play a leisurely game of whack-a-mole.
*Hum!*
*Hum!*
*Hum!*
Arcs of light erupted all around the formation. Cannon fire, screeching ballista bolts, and magical detonations surged toward them from every direction. But the formation's defense was dense and solid; all the attacks were deflected harmlessly, like mere scratches.
The giant wengs on the perimeter crouched down, clutching their heads as a layer of white frost coated their bodies in self-defense. Above the formation, the towering phantom of a female priest bestowed a blessing upon them as well, bringing them under her protective aegis.
The enemy's sudden, lid-flipping counterattack was relentless, yet it achieved little practical effect.
"Damn it!"
Neo cursed abruptly. His smile vanished, replaced by a grim expression.
Karen asked, "What is it?"
"If I were their commander, having revealed so many positions, I'd make sure to get something out of it. Even if I couldn't breach the formation right away, I'd send suicide squads at all costs to slaughter those giant wengs.
"Yet they didn't do that. That means they have a far more effective countermeasure."
Within the ranks, the sapling in Daliwenluo's hand began to sway. Realizing something, he immediately plunged the sapling into the earth. Instantly, the sapling swayed even more violently.
Vigorous pulses of life energy were converging from all directions toward this spot!
Daliwenluo shouted to Ventura ahead of him, "Something is coming up from below!"
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Deafening rumbles shook the canyon as the ground split open. Colossal vines erupted in rapid succession, transforming the entire area into a primordial jungle within moments.
Massive vines lashed against the formation relentlessly, causing the once-impregnable defense to shudder. Breaches appeared in several places, sending shieldbearers flying and dragging them away.
Outside the formation, the giant wengs had their limbs bound one by one and were thrown to the ground, triggering a succession of violent tremors.
The soldiers swept away were quickly crushed into mists of blood by the vines, and several downed giant wengs were pierced and strangled.
Ventura bellowed, "Don't panic! Hold the line! Plug the breaches!"
The gaps were quickly sealed. Mr. Aisen also called a halt to the construction, immediately directing his subordinates to reinforce the defensive arrays.
The giant wengs outside received orders as well; except for those already impaled, the rest shrank back down to normal human size and sprinted toward the formation. The ranks opened small gaps to usher them inside.
Though they had suffered some casualties, the formation stabilized. Yet lacking effective means to strike back, they had no choice but to execute an orderly withdrawal.
Strictly speaking, this reconnaissance operation had ended in failure. The enemy had clearly held back and exercised great restraint, refusing to uncover all their hidden cards.
Neo sighed. "Ah, the Church of Life."
Karen said gravely, "The two defensive opponents you least wanted to encounter have joined forces."
"Alas, yes. It really gives one a head... Hahahahahaha!"
Neo bent double, clutching his stomach and bursting into uproarious laughter, tears streaming from his eyes.
The commotion caused the little bone dragon to turn her skull around, curious if the thrill-seeker on her back had lost his mind.
At last, Neo's laughter subsided. Wiping his eyes, he turned to Karen and said:
"There's no need to probe over and over again to locate their headquarters. The combination of these two troublesome opponents has actually made the problem simpler. A rat's nest can move at any time, but tree roots cannot.
"And the rat's nest is guaranteed to be right beside the roots.
"Finding that root system is even easier..."
Neo reached out and clapped Karen on the shoulder, remarking with feeling:
"I swear, if you're not cut out to be Corps Commander, who is? After all, you brought that lovely bald fellow along—and that sapling in his hand is a real treasure."
Chapter 781