NEC Chapter 125: The Enemy Will Neither Arrive Early nor Late

Chen Mo's idea was excellent, and he was even deeply moved by his own cleverness.

Being able to solve problems with wisdom rather than bullets was a big step toward maturity for a lord.

Although the permanent magnet he envisioned would still need to be provided by home, at least Lord Chen had used his brain for once.

His family would surely be gratified!

Calculating the time, he still needed to wait here for a week before the next altar cooldown period would end.

During this time, he decided not to let himself idle.

Nor would he let his subordinates idle either.

Watching the young lord beckoning to him once again, Doyle, a fourth-tier Eternal Night necromancer, felt mixed emotions, a hundred feelings stirring in his heart.

He dared not claim to be the lord's teacher, only accepting the role of the lord's magical advisor, having to spend time each day providing guidance on related summoning magic techniques for the lord.

To be fair, he had never seen such an approachable lord.

Of course, he hadn't actually seen many lords up close either.

The scenes in his memory were basically of watching those noble lords from afar, waving their hands and saying a few ceremonial phrases like "Gentlemen, work hard, pillars of the nation," before swaying away leisurely.

Leaving him and his mercenary group to risk their lives for a few jingling gold coins.

Yet this lord before him, though his necromantic knowledge, skills, and realm were utterly chaotic in an expert's eyes, was unexpectedly kind in his treatment of people.

So kind that he didn't seem like a lord at all.

In Starry Continent terms, warmth easily breeds contempt.

Of course, those minotaur and centaur soldiers behind him were enough to strangle any contemptuous feelings.

During the time the Night’s Edge team had been following along, whether working or not, expenses were settled daily, and meals were provided in unlimited quantities by the other side. Such generous conditions had never been experienced before.

The old comrades in the team had visibly grown a size rounder.

This filled Doyle with anxious unease.

After all, there was a saying in mercenary circles: if gold coins could be earned without effort, then blood would probably be required.

With Blood Fortress clearly unwinnable, this lord's insistence on staying here and not leaving made Doyle's uneasy feelings deepen day by day.

So far, this lord's actions all indicated that he still hadn't given up the idea of exploring Blood Fortress. Daily, Vast Sea Territory's troops would take turns entering the outskirts of Blood Fortress, clearing the ruins section by section back and forth.

After disposing of ruin guards, those territorial soldiers would repeatedly search and remove all metal debris, even specially arranging transport personnel to carry out wall fragments and building rubble entirely, assigning cleaning personnel to sweep the ground sand inch by inch like combing hair.

When the cleanup team came out, the treated ground was as clean as if it had been licked, cleaner than the plaza of the Emerald Court.

His robe wouldn't even pick up a few dust particles after dragging across it once.

But this couldn't continue forever! At this efficiency, Doyle felt he wouldn't see Blood Fortress's inner city before dying of old age. And this lord couldn't possibly squander life like this, could he?

What were they preparing? Summoning evil gods? New blood sacrifice?

With each passing day, Doyle felt he had lived one more day, anxiously awaiting the bolt from the blue that could come at any moment.

Until this day at month's end.

The centaur captain most trusted by the lord rushed in like a gust of wind, chattering away in a language Doyle couldn't understand at all.

The young lord's expression suddenly darkened, as if a dark cloud had suddenly covered the sky overhead.

Doyle's heart sank.

When Lord Chen Mo turned to inform him that orcs had arrived, Doyle's ominous premonition finally heard the other shoe drop.

Better than blood sacrifice to evil gods, but finally, the time to shed blood had come.

Chen Mo was extremely, extremely displeased.

From the beginning, based on his deep understanding of the surrounding situation, Chen Mo had been mentally prepared for orc interference.

After all, those guys were all bloodhounds, wherever there was meat, they'd come sniffing around.

More importantly, Blood Fortress held a special position. Over hundreds of years, orcs had repeatedly battered themselves bloody beneath this city. If not for human infighting, Blood Fortress might still be an unconquered city.

How could orcs forget the mountain of ancestral orc bones piled beneath this city.

For a long time past, the main reason Blood Fortress received little attention from major powers was precisely because orcs wouldn't allow another fortified city, another strong fortress to appear here.

Any force lingering in the Blood Fortress area would immediately trigger orc vigilance, without exception.

So Chen Mo had made many preparatory arrangements.

Before formally setting out for Blood Fortress, he had posted a "Blood Fortress Exploration" mission at nearby mercenary guilds, indirectly revealing his intentions.

At the same time, timing it carefully, he had sent letters via swift owl to Seven-Radiance Garland Trading Company, expressing his intention to practice first with Blood Fortress.

He asked this trading company, which had long-term dealings with orcs, to report his side's actions to the orcs and convey Vast Sea Territory's "respect" for orcs, avoiding unnecessary misunderstandings.

According to estimates by experienced old sand people in the territory, when orc scouts discovered their group's movements and reported to the orc great tent, the orcs would have already received Seven-Radiance Garland's information, perfectly completing an orderly coordination.

Seven-Radiance Garland soon replied confidently that they had thoroughly communicated with orc tribes and gained full understanding.

"That damned dwarf trading company, not one true word from their mouths!"

Regardless, the orc tribe had ultimately come, and what came was a formidable elite force, a heavy wolf cavalry brigade.

According to front-line sand people reports, their numbers wouldn't be fewer than three hundred.

Just as Chen Mo's side finished assembling and troops entered positions, the orc army had already climbed to the top of that gentle slope to the northwest, sending out two cavalry riders whose mount wolves strode directly toward the human battle lines.

These were envoys, coming to deliver a message.

From one perspective, Seven-Radiance Garland really had delivered the message, so the orc scouts' message wasn't about fighting, but since someone was active at Blood Fortress, they had to come "supervise" the situation.

They demanded humans lower their defenses and accept orc inspection.

Orcs were just that direct.

Chen Mo nearly laughed in anger.

Letting orc cavalry enter his own battle lines for inspection, what kind of enormous heart would it take to do such a thing?

"Negotiate once more. This is an uncontrolled zone at the desert's edge. Currently, my army has formed battle lines, which by convention should be considered temporary territory. Any enemy daring to cross my army's positions will be regarded as an act of war against my territory!"

Vast Sea Territory's troops quickly assembled, entering positions in sequence. Doyle also dragged out the trembling Night’s Edge mercenary group members, gathering them at the front.

They were already familiar with this lord's style.

Gentle and refined, extremely opinionated, since he had arranged this stance, a fierce battle was surely unavoidable.

However, Doyle still offered Chen Mo a suggestion: "Orc wolves can't run fast in the desert. If... if the situation goes wrong, we'll try to hold back the orcs while you find a fast camel beast and head deep into the desert, you might be able to escape."

Chen Mo nodded, "Much appreciated!"

"It just so happens that during this idle time, these beasts are willing to come practice with me, that's also a good thing!"

Orc scouts drove their mounts back and forth, finally proposing conditions one last time.

Allow orc cavalry inspection, or provide sufficient military funds, orc cavalry had come from afar and couldn't come for nothing, as there were costs involved.

Chen Mo ignored Doyle's earnest, hopeful gaze that practically begged to contribute some money himself, and coldly spat out his refusal.

Negotiations completely broke down!

Woooo, !

A deep horn sound rang out on the hillside.

In the orc wolf cavalry formation, a fierce blood-colored wolf fang battle flag suddenly rose, fluttering fiercely in the dry wind, that was the symbol of the "Fang Tribe"!

This powerful tribe occupied the most fertile grasslands in the north, famous for its massive wolf cavalry.

In raids and plundering of human territories, "Fang" had always been the vanguard and absolute main force of the beast clan. It was precisely their habitual contempt for human pioneers that filled them with inevitable arrogance for this "disciplinary" expedition.

Having rushed across hundreds of miles, they would either extort sufficient wealth or plunder enough slaves back, how could the orc wolf pack return empty-handed after mobilizing?

The blood-colored wolf fang banner pointed downward at an angle, and orc cavalry began their charge.

On Vast Sea Territory's side, Liu Zaiyue had somehow brought out the lord's exclusive chair, placing it steadily on high ground with a good view, allowing Chen Mo to observe the entire battlefield relatively comfortably.

At this moment, orcs occupied the high ground to the northwest, racing down the gentle slope while continuously accelerating.

They left sixty-odd cavalry holding the line while the other two hundred-plus heavily armored, massive wolves carried equally imposing orc warriors, like a bursting flood pouring down from the dune's peak.

The dust kicked up resembled a yellow dragon racing along the ground, charging furiously toward human positions!

The charging momentum shook the earth and mountains.

The human position was on small high ground to the southeast. Near the top of this slope, Vast Sea Territory's guards had dug two curved, winding trenches running front to back, with multiple longitudinal communication trenches between them.

In front of the trenches were properly stacked sandbag emplacements.

A hundred meters behind the human position, on another small hill, the Night’s Edge mercenary group had arranged a standard heavy infantry anti-cavalry charge formation.

Front-row soldiers had driven massive tower shields deep into the sand, with three-meter-plus rejection spears protruding from slots atop the shields.

The spear shafts were braced against the ground, with second-row spearmen using their feet to firmly pin down the spear butts while pushing down on the spear bodies with both hands.

Behind them were reserve spearmen and crossbow troops.

Their faces were pale as they murmured prayers.

As mercenary group commander, Geddy nervously adjusted the formation back and forth, trying to make the formation even more compact.

This experienced veteran had already written off the Vast Sea Territory guards in front as dead men.

He didn't know why those lord's warriors in front dug such narrow horse traps, so narrow that enemy wolf cavalry could leap across with one bound, nor why soldiers would still hide in those tunnels, waiting for enemy heavy weapons to pour down on their heads.

He could only pin all hopes on his own people's resistance, hoping that lord behind them would collapse early and flee early.

That way his Night’s Edge could also scatter into the desert early, perhaps saving a few more lives.

In any case, among the three warring factions, orcs didn't take this battle seriously at all, over three hundred wolf cavalry with six squad leaders could easily crush the opposition.

Vast Sea Territory's troops also didn't take this battle seriously, with two machine guns, more than ten assault rifles, ten grenade launchers, hundreds of hand grenades on position, plus the dual-purpose machine guns from the last shipment all mounted here, if the enemy managed to charge through, Kaga felt he could commit suicide directly.

The lord took it even less seriously, skeleton troops were defending the second trench line, ready for collective self-destruction to blast the enemy to bits.

Only the Night’s Edge mercenary group caught in the middle trembled with fear, faces bloodless!

Then, at a certain instant, orcs crossed that line drawn on the ground that Vast Sea warriors had repeatedly emphasized as the "forbidden line."

It was also the optimal range line for the position's main firepower.

"Open fire!!!" Kaga's roar transmitted through communicators across the position.

Boom! Rat-a-tat-tat-tat, !

The violent metal storm erupted for the first time on this barren land with dense roaring.

The fire suppression came from those two heavy machine guns! Since exploration began, they had been mounted on shooting positions in the outer trenches, covered with thick dust cloths, not firing a single bullet, lying dormant and waiting to explode.

Their crisp shooting sounds filled the battlefield, thick tongues of flame like two furious poisonous dragons spewing from dark gun barrels!

Previously forced to conserve ammunition with only burst fire, gunners finally had the chance to squeeze triggers to their heart's content. Cold ammunition belts were devoured by steel monsters, rattling as they fed into gun breeches, while hot shell casings shot out from ejection ports like sudden rain, clattering and bouncing across the sandy ground!

The crisp, dense bursts of assault rifles, the dull "thump! thump!" of grenade launchers, the continuous thunderous explosions of hand grenades... merged into a symphony of destruction!

Heavy armor was fragile as paper before specially-made armor-piercing rounds! The dull sounds of bullets tearing through armor, penetrating flesh, and shattering bone instantly drowned out the violent war cries of the orc clan!

The massive bodies of wolves and their riders were like being struck hard by invisible giant hammers, stopped headlong during high-speed charges, then tumbling into sand and dust! Scalding blood and shattered internal organs mixed with metal fragments, splashing open patches of red mist in the scorching air!

In their first engagement, Vast Sea Territory used full force.

This was a confrontation between organized Blue Star hot weapon clusters and Starry Continent large-scale heavy cavalry.

The outcome of this confrontation was predetermined from the start.

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