Chapter 1011 - 487: Soldiers Against Soldiers, Generals Against Generals

The pitch-black city walls were quickly illuminated by freshly lit torches. To prevent the monsters from sneaking close under the cover of darkness, brilliant flares occasionally streaked across the sky, illuminating the vast expanse of land in front of the walls.

The Adventurers and soldiers stood ready in tight formation. It was clear that the number of troops stationed on and around the walls tonight was noticeably smaller than usual.

High above, a bright moon hung in the sky, casting down a silvery glow. This was perhaps one of the few pieces of good news tonight—with a bright moon and sparse stars, the moonlight was exceptionally radiant.

"Help me check my Armor."

"Alright."

"I’ve tied it tight for you."

On the city wall, David, Isha, and their companions were chatting with a mix of nervousness and excitement. They hadn’t expected to be thrust into a war on their very first day at the front lines. They had only just registered their Adventurer information that morning, and now, they were fighting in the evening. Moreover, judging from the rumors among other Adventurers and the public speech delivered by the president of the Adventurer’s Guild just moments ago, this battle was no small matter. It was entirely different from any previous conflict that had broken out here.

The relatively young David peered through the crenellation in front of him, gazing out at the battlefield plains ahead. Right at that moment, another flare streaked across the sky. By its intense illumination, he was able to fully take in the scene of the battlefield before him once more. The cratered and scarred terrain seemed to recount the sheer brutality of the battles that had ravaged this land in recent times.

He wondered if this was truly the battlefield. As an Adventurer who had rushed over from the inland provinces, both he and his companions were already Professionals. However, the most intense combat they usually faced involved monster subjugation commissions around local towns, with the occasional high-difficulty hunt for Elite Demons. This was his first time participating in a large-scale war of this magnitude.

Turning to look at the girl from his village standing beside him, he suddenly felt a pang of regret. He wondered if he shouldn’t have convinced his teammates to come here. But it was too late for regrets now. They were already thrust into the jaws of war. The only thing left to consider was how to kill the enemy and survive.

"Don’t worry, I will protect you," David swore in his heart as he tightened his grip on his steel sword.

High above the heavily fortified human defense forces, Monroe and several other generals hovered in the air, their gazes fixed straight ahead. At the very edge of their line of sight, a dense, blackened tide was already surging toward them. Leading the charge was the Green Dragon Army’s land cavalry unit. Judging by their ferocious speed, the human forces would be clashing with the first wave of enemies in less than twenty minutes.

"Where is the famous Gauss?"

The speaker was Kevin Brennan, commander of the Barry Green Grass Defense Team. If there was any military general whose attitude toward Gauss was the coldest, it was none other than this local commander.

For one, he had heard the rumors about Farlim’s Xavier family failing to recruit Gauss. Naturally, he didn’t believe that his own Brenan Clan—a mere Viscount family—stood any chance of recruiting a Talent that a border Earl family couldn’t secure. Secondly, he harbored a secret animosity toward Wenster Xavier, the commander of the Iron Guard Knight Order.

Even though he and Wenster were both Level 15 Professionals and stood on equal footing in terms of strength, Wenster constantly used his status as the Earl’s younger brother to suppress him. Wenster’s blatant arrogance, both in his words and actions, deeply infuriated Kevin. This was especially true during recent meetings, where Wenster frequently used Gauss’s battle achievements to belittle Kevin’s authority as a local commanding officer.

Although he knew Wenster was deliberately trying to pit him against Gauss in the court of public opinion, Kevin still subconsciously held little goodwill toward Gauss.

"Gauss is still cultivating. He already sent someone from the Red Dragon Team over to report the situation."

"Could it be that he saw the tide turning against us and is preparing to flee before the battle?" Kevin Brennan remarked flatly.

Kevin was highly skeptical of this excuse. The reason he brought up Gauss wasn’t solely out of some unspeakable jealousy in his heart, but rather because Gauss’s strength was undeniably crucial to the frontal battlefield. Seriously, who in their right mind would bury their head in cultivation in the precious few moments before a massive war broke out? Even if the man was a genius, such a minuscule amount of time wouldn’t be enough to achieve any qualitative breakthrough, right?

Standing off to the side, Wenster Xavier said nothing. He merely cast a sidelong glance at Kevin. The reason Wenster had always looked down on this military representative from a Viscount family was precisely because of this petty personality. If Kevin had the spine to show this jealousy to Gauss’s face, Wenster might have actually respected him a bit more.

Even though Monroe had no idea what Gauss was busy with, he had complete trust in the young man. In fact, he trusted Gauss even more than the two noble-born colleagues hovering beside him.

The influential families backing those two would never allow them to easily sacrifice their lives here. If the situation turned dire, they would absolutely issue retreat orders to preserve their own lives and their core forces. This was true even for the Brenan Clan, a Viscount family deeply rooted in the forest capital with vast real estate within and around the city. For aristocratic families, their most precious assets were always their Talents and their high-tier inheritances. When necessary, they were more than willing to abandon all other material wealth.

That being said, Monroe still desperately hoped that Gauss wouldn’t encounter any accidents. Unlike a useless old man like himself, a remarkably gifted individual like Gauss surviving would be the most beneficial outcome for all of humanity.

"If the situation truly deteriorates to the worst-case scenario, I will just have to..." Monroe mused to himself. He kept these thoughts strictly private, refusing to share them with anyone else.

Meanwhile, back at the Red Dragon Team’s base, only a sparse handful of people remained in the massive camp.