Chapter 899 - 444: Approaching War

The clouds of war are gradually approaching.

With the war report issued by the City Hall, all civilians received formal notice that this time the enemy they faced was the Green Dragon Army, led by the Green Dragon Queen.

Although many people had already speculated in advance that something major might happen, the confirmation of the news still caused some commotion.

Fortunately, both the City Hall and the Adventurer’s Guild were well prepared for this, swiftly suppressing any dissent.

In the tavern, bards recounted the old tales of how a hundred years ago the Hero slayed the Demon King and forced the Demon Legion to retreat to the southern borders.

"Will we win?"

"Don’t worry. It’s said that the top brass of the Adventurer’s Guild had already scouted the movements of the Demon Legion, so the big shots have strategies in place."

"Moreover, it was only the Green Dragon Queen who initiated the war, not the Demon King. No matter how powerful she is, she cannot compare to the entire power of Carlos."

In the tavern, some civilians were worried about the development of the situation, while others were optimistic, believing that the taller individuals would bear the brunt of it, and the enemy wouldn’t concern these commoners.

However, this can’t be said to be an ostrich mentality, as even if they wanted to contribute to the City of Forests, there seemed to be nothing they could do; better to live their lives quietly than panic.

Strictly speaking, there was still some time before the official outbreak of war, and the current phase was one of mobilization.

Organizing a large-scale war is not something that can be arranged in just a few days, whether for the human side or the Demon Legion.

Gauss had returned from the headquarters of the Adventurer’s Guild this morning and had met with Guild Leader Matthias Monroe again.

But this time was different, he had received the message from the Guild Leader that he could set out.

Gauss could not wait until the official outbreak of war to set off, that would be too late.

There was still some distance from Barry to the Jade Forest, and movements within the Jade Forest needed to be even more cautious, which would take time.

He needed to head south in advance and act when the opportunity arose.

"Silent Birdcage."

He touched the silver branch-like ring on the middle finger of his right hand.

This was the tool that Guild Leader Monroe said the Adventurer’s Guild had leased to him.

Don’t be fooled by its small size and unremarkable appearance, this was an artifact Gauss had never encountered before, of golden quality.

Its effect was to create an invisible large-scale barrier, blocking and severing all forms of information transmission.

According to Guild Leader Monroe, its duration was about ten minutes.

Everything that happened within the barrier was difficult to be detected externally, and during this period, creatures inside would also find it difficult to escape unless they broke the barrier with intensity exceeding the birdcage’s limit; otherwise, they would be trapped in the area just like the artifact’s owner.

This type of artifact was a standard-issue item, only of high specification and difficult to produce.

After using it once, it needed to be submitted to the terminal for recharging.

The Adventurer’s Guild often used this series of artifacts to conduct some secret operations, significantly reducing the risk of information leaks.

Now, this artifact was temporarily leased to Gauss.

As for why not rent some other types of artifacts, for one, golden quality artifacts are not commonplace even for city-level Adventurer’s Guilds. On the other hand, to minimize exposure risk, the greatest feature of the Silent series artifacts is their sufficient secrecy, a masterpiece of the Empire’s alchemists.

Before departing formally, Monroe had already told him many things to be cautious of.

For instance, the closer he got to the Jade Forest area, the more discreet his actions had to be, minimizing exposure whenever possible.

During travel, it’s best to ride ordinary mounts or travel on foot. Like Hephaestus, using teleportation magic, though convenient, is too conspicuous and suitable only for repositioning when concealment is impossible.

Monroe also gave him a scout manual.

It summarized many lessons from scouts dispatched by the Adventurer’s Guild, which never stopped scouting the Jade Forest, hence why they captured the movements of the Green Dragon Army immediately upon their mobilization.

On his way back, Gauss had already memorized the manual with his photographic memory.

The manual indeed contained much information beneficial to Gauss, such as the distribution of medium to large Demon Tribes in the past within the Jade Forest. Although the Green Dragon Army had formally begun their march, and previous intelligence couldn’t be fully relied on, using their habitats’ locations, it was still possible to roughly deduce their routes.

Besides these, there were locations of safe houses, among others.

As scouts deep in enemy lines, their combat abilities, or even professional levels, might not be high, but their survival skills, stealth reconnaissance capability, disguise, and adaptability surpassed the majority of adventurers.

After all, there is no opportunity to correct mistakes.

Having finished reading the manual, Gauss gained more understanding of the internal situation of the Jade Forest.

Of course, even with sufficient intelligence, it ultimately required him to adapt on-the-fly once inside the forest.

Returning to his lodging.

Aaliyah and the others were already waiting for him.

"When are you setting out?"

"Probably this afternoon."

Gauss didn’t intend to delay.

His luggage and supplies had long been prepared in advance, and various spells had been practiced thoroughly, in essence, he had been waiting for Guild Leader Monroe’s notification.