Chapter 207: Chapter 186: The Human Alliance Is Attacking

...

The wind of the battlefield blew on and on... It was like a young woman in a thin silk veil, dancing gracefully—mysterious, yet infinitely intoxicating.

The sun was just beginning to rise.

A light mist filled the battlefield.

A contingent of about fifteen hundred men was advancing at high speed. Beasts along the way scattered and fled, but some bloodstains were still left behind.

Time passed quickly.

By the time the sun had fully risen, the contingent had arrived at the foot of a highland. On the high ground, a raised flag could be faintly seen.

It was a black flag, embroidered with a silver leaf.

The Dark Night Elf Clan’s first line of defense, unlike the Eastern District Fortress, naturally wasn’t a high wall. It consisted mostly of military outposts established according to the terrain.

And on this highland, there were a total of two thousand Dark Night Elf defenders.

Fifteen hundred against two thousand.

Plus, the two thousand defenders held the high ground.

Under normal circumstances, fifteen hundred men would have absolutely no chance of victory.

But if among those fifteen hundred, nine hundred were elite troops of the fourth tier or higher, with another two hundred at the fifth and sixth tiers and fifty at even higher tiers, then this battle would hold little suspense.

"The Human Alliance is attacking! They’ve launched a surprise attack on Longgu Heights!"

"Quick... Quickly, report to Her Majesty the Queen!"

"Longgu Heights has fallen!"

The surprise attack didn’t last very long...

Less than an hour.

The highlands fell.

The black flag was torn to shreds, and the vibrant red flag of the Alliance fluttered in the sky above the highlands.

This was the speed of the Military Department.

The students of the four major military academies stood on Longgu Heights, their gazes directed downward. At their feet, corpses were laid out in rows.

"Isn’t this a bit too cruel?"

"Cruel?! When we of the Human Alliance were being hunted down by the other races, were they not cruel? Don’t you know they once slaughtered billions of humans?!"

"A population of nearly seven billion was slaughtered until only five hundred million remained. When have they ever shown mercy?"

"..."

Sighs, then silence.

For this military academy reform, students from all four major academies were present to observe the battle. With about eighty spots per academy, there were over three hundred students from the four academies combined.

Among them, even the weakest was at the third tier or above.

But after this surprise attack, they discovered that their strength, compared to the true elites of the Military Department, was truly far, far too weak.

The students from the four major military academies had attacked the eastern face of the highlands together.

As it turned out, while the other three faces had been completely taken, they had only managed to fight their way to the mountainside...

How humiliating!

They were all "celebrities" on their academies’ combat rankings. In terms of sheer strength, they even had fourth-tier students among them, yet their combat effectiveness was several times weaker.

"I don’t get it. How can they fight so fast?"

"Because their coordination is better than ours."

"It’s not just coordination, is it? When they charge... they’re truly fearless. That ferocity... we really can’t compare... The gap is just too wide."

"Let’s not get discouraged. One day, we’ll mature. These people from the Military Department were all forged on the battlefield. Their talent might not be better than ours, but their practical combat experience is far greater. Once we’ve had more practice, we won’t necessarily be any worse than them!"

As the students talked, they began to clean up the battlefield.

But just then, one of the other races, who had been lying on the ground drenched in blood, suddenly lunged up. The sharp blade in its hand plunged unhesitatingly into the chest of the student who had just spoken.

"More practice? HA HA HA... You’d need the chance for that!" A cold glint flashed in the creature’s eyes. Without waiting for the student to speak, it self-detonated.

BOOM!

Several students who had rushed to help were injured in the blast.

A few more pools of blood appeared on the ground.

The student who had last spoken moved his mouth, wanting to say something, but no words came out. He could only close his eyes in bitter resignation.

"The battlefield is a cruel place, even when you’re just cleaning it up." An elite from the Military Department walked over and casually thrust the Alloy Gun in his hand into the throat of another creature on the ground.

The creature struggled twice before dying, filled with hatred.

"Teacher, Wang Yu is dead! He was killed by a Dark Night Elf that wasn’t completely dead!" a female student sobbed, her face a mask of tears. That was her boyfriend.

’Dead, just like that?’

’And not even in battle, but while cleaning the battlefield.’

"Yes... I saw." A teacher’s eyes grew moist. A genius from the military academy, gone just like that. He wasn’t so cold-blooded and heartless.

He had personally mentored this student.

Not even twenty years old, and his strength was about to break through to the fourth tier.

In the future, he might have had a chance to reach the fifth or even sixth tier and become a true elite on the battlefield. To die just like this... it truly pained his heart.

"Be careful when you clean the battlefield! If you don’t want to die, you’ll stab every single one of these creatures at your feet! Stain your sleeves red with their blood!" a voice rang out.

"Yes, sir!"

Even more blood flowed on the highlands.

But at least no more academy students were stabbed to death.

This was war.

The war between humans and the other races had begun a century ago. It had spanned generations, yet there had never been a single, true "peace negotiation."

Because this was a war of survival between races.

...

Gao Neng had never imagined he would one day get lost. Ever since he was a child, his sense of direction had been excellent. No matter where he went, he could always find the most suitable landmark.

But after tunneling underground for a full eight or nine hours, he really couldn’t find any landmarks. After all, he was surrounded by nothing but dirt.

Moreover, and most importantly, he had discovered another problem.

It seemed he had a hard time hearing whether any large-scale battles or skirmishes were breaking out above, so it seemed his hearing was also slightly affected.

’Sight, hearing... basically useless.’

’Smell?’

’All I can smell is the faint fragrance from Fang Tangtang...’

’As for taste, that’s even more ridiculous.’

’Does anyone use their sense of taste to navigate?’

He had considered keeping his Spiritual Power constantly extended, but controlling the Earth Dragon already consumed Spiritual Power. If he also used it to probe the situation on the surface, he probably wouldn’t last even half an hour.

"We’ve been tunneling for eight or nine hours now. I wonder if we’ve reached the first line of defense?" Gao Neng had actually stopped to check several times during this period.

But the surroundings were nothing but weeds and rocks.

Everything looked basically the same, so he could only continue to travel covertly, on and on...

But he had been tunneling for eight or nine hours now. Under normal circumstances, they should have arrived long ago. Thinking of this, he decided to stop and take another look.

After stopping, he didn’t immediately break through the surface.

Instead, he chose to first recover some stamina. He popped a few Energy Pills, doing his best to restore his condition to a decent level.

He waited for about ten minutes.

He broke through the surface.

This time, the scenery above had finally changed.

It was no longer weeds and rocks.

It was a forest.

It was a real forest, with no weeds, only dense greenery and the occasional faint, fresh scent drifting over. It looked completely different from the withered grass and rocks of the battlefield.

"Huh? We’re out again? Did we make it this time?" Fang Tangtang opened her eyes again. Her gaze also swept around the area, and she soon let out a surprised cry, "Where is this? Why isn’t this Longgu Heights?"

"Ahem, I guess we’re not there yet! Let’s see if there’s a forest before Longgu Heights..." Gao Neng said as he pulled out a map. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

He looked it up.

And sure enough, there was a forest.

It didn’t look very large on the map.

It was located just past the midway point between his previous location, Wild Battle Mountain, and Longgu Heights.

"We should be here, which means we still have a bit less than half the journey to Longgu Heights. It seems... my calculations had a minor error. Our tunneling speed is slower than I thought, so it’ll take a bit longer to get there." Gao Neng quickly came up with an answer; they should be getting close.

’As for the direction...’

’It’s correct!’

’This is the right direction!’

"Okay, so we’re in this forest now, right? We’re a bit behind schedule. By the time we get there, the Military Department will have probably already taken Longgu Heights. Doesn’t that mean we’ll miss the chance to join the first wave attacking the second line of defense?" Fang Tangtang nodded, sounding a little regretful.

"What’s the rush to fight? Once we find the main force, the first thing we’ll do is report the intel we gathered on the way. Who knows... maybe the Military Department will even decide to retreat." Although Gao Neng felt the chance of the Military Department retreating was slim, it wasn’t entirely impossible.

"The Military Department wouldn’t retreat, would they? This is the first battle of their reform. If they mobilize such a large force and come away with nothing, there will probably be dissenting voices within the Alliance." Fang Tangtang seemed to know a thing or two about this.

"Whether they retreat or not is the Military Department’s decision. We just need to deliver the information. And taking a step back, we’re only a little late. Once we get to Longgu Heights, find the main force, and hurry a bit, we might still have a chance to catch up as the Military Department breaks through the second line of defense."

"Okay, then let’s speed up!" Fang Tangtang was full of energy.

"Alright. But let’s eat something first. We’ll get back on the road after we’ve eaten." Gao Neng nodded.

"Compressed biscuits again? I was hoping we could get some hot pot from Bald Shark once we reach Longgu Heights!" Fang Tangtang sounded a little dissatisfied.

"Hot pot? In your dreams!" Gao Neng ignored her and started eating a biscuit.

Having confirmed that the direction was correct and only the tunneling speed was a bit slow, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed he hadn’t gotten lost after all.

’As expected, I’m a genius.’

’I can’t get lost even when I can’t see a thing.’

’Time to pick up the pace.’

’Let’s keep moving.’

Judging by their previous speed, it would take at least another two hours to reach Longgu Heights.

’But that’s not a big problem...’

’As long as the direction is right, there won’t be any issues.’

After eating a few biscuits, Gao Neng began to control the Earth Dragon to continue tunneling underground. But because the tree roots in the forest ran too deep, he had the Earth Dragon dive a little deeper.

’Two hours to Longgu Heights!’