Chapter 356: What Does an Army Group Defense Line Equal?

Morin raised his eyebrows, his gaze passing over Major Nicolai’s shoulder to land on the group of white-robed people forming up on the platform.

What does "Neutral Purification Unit" mean? Can these words really be put together?

Moreover, looking at this group of people near the station, they obviously carried a murderous aura. It wouldn’t be surprising if they were existences that had suppressed some heretics.

If he had to describe it, this group gave Morin the feeling more of some kind of fanatical Inquisition army rather than a team here for a purification mission.

Morin retracted his gaze and looked at Major Nicolai with a strange expression:

"The murderous aura on these guys is about to overflow. Are you sure they’re just a ’Neutral Purification Unit’? Why do I feel like they’re ready to send everyone in this station to see God at any moment, and then call it God’s will?"

"...Just a more rigorous choice of words, Lieutenant Colonel."

Major Nicolai cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly and explained in a low voice:

"This is the official statement from the Vatican and us... After all, in name, the Papal Theocracy is currently remaining neutral in this war."

"At first, the people they sent were indeed just a group of clergy who only knew how to chant scriptures and sprinkle holy water, plus a few priests who seemed to actually know some divine arts, mainly responsible for appeasing the undead and purifying the land."

Speaking of this, Major Nicolai shrugged, his expression somewhat helpless: "At that time, the people responsible for escort duty were still from our Second Army Group."

"And then?"

"About a month ago, our patrols discovered signs of undead creature activity on the outskirts of the Paris urban area."

Major Nicolai pulled out a cigarette case from his pocket, skillfully shook one out, but after looking at the group of Holy See personnel in the distance, sheepishly put it back.

"At first we thought it was residual negative energy causing trouble, but later the Holy See priests discovered that these undead creatures were being artificially controlled."

"Someone is summoning undead creatures in Paris?" Morin frowned.

"It’s not just as simple as summoning undead creatures; for those ’hedge mages,’ it’s simply a carnival."

Major Nicolai sneered:

"This city is now filled with a high concentration of negative energy. For those mages practicing the Necromancy school, this is an inexhaustible source of mana, a natural laboratory."

In countries like Saxony and Britannia, spellcasters were strictly controlled by the authorities to serve the military or state institutions.

The Necromancy school alone was an exception; it could be said to be the school with the most "hedge mages."

Basically, every once in a while, there would be news of "wild" necromancers being beaten to death for stealing corpses...

Now that Paris had become no man’s land, and a no man’s land bursting with negative energy at that, this bunch naturally went crazy, flocking here to "join the grand event."

On the other side, Major Nicolai was still continuing: "The Second Army Group is a regular army after all; dealing with these things involving the ’spell’ domain is not professional. So after multi-party negotiations, the Holy See sent out this team composed of some forces from the ’Order of the Holy Sword’."

"Of course, in order not to cause diplomatic disputes, they didn’t send that kind of Armored Knight known as the ’Iron Maiden,’ only these... well, regular deacons."

As they spoke, that group of people seemed to notice the gaze from this side. A burly man leading them turned around and strode over.

As the distance closed, Morin finally saw clearly how exaggerated this guy’s physique was.

Even through the thick plate armor, one could feel that brown-bear-like sense of power.

He wore that iconic white dog-faced bascinet on his head, his face unseen, only cold light shining through the two dark eye slits.

"Major Nicolai, we meet again."

The voice came from inside the helmet, muffled and rough.

The burly man quickly took off his helmet, revealing a scarred, unshaven face.

In Morin’s view, rather than saying he was a priest, this appearance looked more like some gang’s top enforcer collecting protection money at the docks.

"Is this the ’Mage Killer’?" The burly man’s gaze swept past Nicolai and locked directly onto Morin, his eyes carrying a bit of scrutiny and... pickiness.

"Let me introduce you. This is Father Francisco. We have communicated previously regarding matters in Paris here, and he is also the head of this purification unit."

Major Nicolai acted as the middleman, introducing them to each other:

"This is Lieutenant Colonel Morin, who previously participated in the Battle of Paris and broke into the urban area with Archbishop Maurice of the Paris Diocese."

"Father?"

Morin raised his eyebrows, looking at the one-handed war hammer almost as thick as a child’s arm at the other party’s waist, and the rifle on his back.

"Is the scope of business for clergy so broad nowadays?"

"The Lord said, ’Let there be light’."

Father Francisco grinned after hearing Morin’s words, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, and patted the rifle on his back. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"But sometimes, in places the light cannot reach, we need to drag out those rats hiding in the gutters and give them a little warmth with fire."

"And we indeed caught quite a few rats recently..."

The priest put away his smile, then said somewhat seriously:

"Lieutenant Colonel Morin, the entrance to the catacombs that you and Archbishop Maurice blew up before has been dug open again, and the method was very crude..."

"You mean necromancers?"

"Yes, only this bunch of damn heretics would come following the smell."

Father Francisco spat on the ground, then very keenly sensed Morin’s doubt:

"But don’t worry, the Holy See is reasonable... As long as they are legally registered necromancers conducting academic research under supervision, we won’t touch them. But this bunch slipping into Paris now... hmph, most of them are listed on the official wanted lists of various countries."

Morin looked at this priest with a face full of aggressive flesh, muttering secretly in his heart: In the Holy See’s reputation system, necromancers probably start off natively with ’Hatred’...

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Morin led the troops to set up camp in an open space near the station.

Because they still had to wait for the armored airship and the search teams of the Second Army Group to determine the specific location of the underground research institute based on the intelligence provided by Major Cavendish.

When the veterans of the 1st Company discovered that the location of their mission this time was Paris, not only did they not have any fear...

On the contrary, they were all quite excited, having a strong feeling of "revisiting an old place."

However, after returning to the tent set up by his orderly, the expression on Morin’s face suddenly became heavy.

The conversation with Father Francisco just now made him realize a serious problem.

Since those wild necromancers could slip into Paris like rats, there was no reason the task force sent by the Britannians couldn’t get in.

Morin opened the system map, checked the unit cards refreshed on it, and found that the defense line of the Second Army Group here was indeed looser than imagined.

Because they needed to cover the flank of the First Army Group while also guarding against the Gallic army from the direction of Bordeaux in the south, the main defensive directions of the Second Army Group were the north and south sides of Paris.

And because Paris was bursting with negative energy, it was obviously not suitable for normal people to be stationed long-term. So except for a few rotating troops, the main force of the Second Army Group was at a certain distance from Paris.

Therefore, the blockade line on the west side of Paris, from a certain perspective, couldn’t be called a blockade line, but should be called a "sieve."

Morin only took a few quick glances and found several "gaps" that could allow battalion-level units to infiltrate.

Not to mention the team sent by the Britannians. It should be known that with the help of mages, it was obviously possible to cross the blockade line unknowingly through various means.

Furthermore, for the vast coastline in the west of the Gallic Republic, the Saxon Empire’s control was not considered tight. Small-scale Britannian teams could completely land and infiltrate from there.

But this was also the helplessness of this kind of all-out war. Because the area that needed to be controlled was simply too large, without adopting the stupid method of digging trenches, the manpower required would be an astronomical figure.

"They couldn’t have slipped in already, right?"

Early the next morning, Major Nicolai sought out Morin, laden with anxiety.

"Good news, we have completed the positioning of the entrance to the underground research institute."

"Bad news, according to the aerial observation of the target area by the armored airship, the Britannians might have already entered the interior of the underground research institute."