Chapter 305: Alchemy Secrets, Hearts Converge, Death Knell’s Surprise Attack

Chapter 305: Chapter 305: Alchemy Secrets, Hearts Converge, Death Knell’s Surprise Attack

At the mention of the surname "Flamel,"

Sensi fell silent and lowered his head.

In this world, the Flamel Clan, once acclaimed as the "Philosopher Alchemists," had enjoyed a period of great splendor.

However, ever since one of their Patriarchs deviated from their principles and chose to help the tyrannical "Mad King" establish the Mad Doctor system,

following the Mad King’s downfall, the entire Flamel Clan was immediately purged by the new regime.

Now, they didn’t even dare to study orthodox Life Alchemy, forced to become Spiritual Chefs and make a living by flipping woks and cooking meals.

"I understand, Pop."

The young man took a deep breath, tucked the parchment scroll into his clothes, and secured it close to his body.

The old Chef watched him and smiled in gratification.

As Sensi pushed open the heavy warehouse doors, ready to head to the command post and ask if Lord Lance had returned,

far in the distance, at the end of the street, he saw a familiar figure walking toward him.

It was, unmistakably, Lance.

However, Lance was currently carrying a woman on his back.

It was the Snow Lady who was always by Lance’s side.

Sensi stood by the roadside, quietly watching as Lance made his way down the street.

He saw that the Ordinary porters on both sides of the street, who were struggling to carry heavy supplies, did not show the same fearful, subservient, and evasive attitude they had toward Noble Professionals when they saw Lance pass by.

On the contrary, they seemed very enthusiastic. Some even stopped what they were doing to greet him loudly.

And Lance, showing no airs, responded to them very naturally.

He would even walk up to a porter he knew and pat him on the shoulder.

"How’s it going, Bob? Are the rations from the mess hall still enough to fill you up?"

"Yes, Lord Lance, it’s more than enough! The rice balls the Chefs make are so filling. One of them can keep you going for a whole day’s work!"

"That’s good. I just completed the Iron Guard challenge today. At this rate, everyone should be able to make it out of here alive this time."

Lance offered a few words of encouragement with a smile, then added a reminder, "When this mission is over and you’re out, take the reward you’ve earned and don’t go poking around the Underground City for no reason."

"Go find a more stable job in the city. I remember your registration files saying you have two kids waiting for you back home, right?"

The porter, moved that Lance remembered his family situation, felt his eyes well up instantly, and he nodded his head again and again in excitement.

And during this whole exchange,

the Snow Lady on Lance’s back seemed so exhausted that she was sound asleep.

Even with Lance standing on the street chatting with these people, the noise didn’t wake her.

Watching this scene unfold, Sensi stood at the warehouse entrance, carefully mulling over the quote from the *Red Dragon Manual*.

In that moment, he seemed to suddenly understand why the old man had unhesitatingly used that favor to bet on this young man.

...

As time gradually crept toward evening,

the Luminous Array began to simulate the dim yellow hues of sunset.

It was also at this time that the main forces sent to explore the three regions today had almost all withdrawn.

A vast crowd, thousands strong, surged from the tunnel entrance into the safe zone at the same time.

The scene was spectacular, but also somewhat grim.

The Leather Armor of many Ordinary Adventurers was covered in claw marks that went down to the bone and dried blood. Some supported each other, limping along with exhaustion on their faces.

Even the three main commanders leading the teams... aside from Viters, whose specific injuries couldn’t be seen under his heavy steel armor, Julius and Felix, who were in charge of the other two regions, also looked completely drained, their armor likewise covered in Demon slime.

This was a large-scale joint expedition, directly commanding thousands of people!

Even though they held the detailed strategic plans Lance had drawn up overnight, the first day of real combat and integration was still rife with unexpected situations caused by poor coordination.

However, when these thousands of people returned to camp, the logistics system Lance had established was quickly activated.

Medical teams rushed forward, carrying the seriously wounded to the treatment camp on stretchers.

The logistics personnel began methodically distributing today’s High-Energy Compressed Spiritual Cuisine and quickly recorded each person’s combat merits based on the kill data reported by the squad leaders.

The Blacksmiths, meanwhile, pushed carts and began collecting heavily damaged armor and weapons, preparing to repair them overnight.

Everything was remarkably orderly.

Felix removed his heavy Metal Hand Guards and accepted a portion of Spiritual Cuisine and a cup of clean water from a logistics staff member.

He walked over to an empty wooden crate, sat down, and immediately noticed the small newspaper placed next to his water cup.

"Is this what the propaganda department was announcing in the square today?"

Felix asked, pointing at the parchment to a nearby logistics staffer.

The support Professional nodded. "Yes, Captain Felix."

Felix picked up the paper and began to read it while chewing on a rice ball.

He deeply admired this management style of open information.

The absolute control and transparent dissemination of information played an immeasurably huge role in stabilizing morale and building fighting spirit.

Soon, his gaze was drawn to the column below: *Red Dragon’s Manual: Lance’s Sayings*.

A particular passage caught Felix’s eye immediately.

"...A Demon’s claws won’t stop just because you have noble blood..."

"...In a real battle, the ones who will unhesitatingly block blades and bullets for you aren’t your family’s honor, but the unremarkable, Ordinary teammates by your side..."

Felix, however, was lost in thought. He nodded gently.

Although they had only known each other for a short time, he had still seen a great deal in Lance’s style of doing things during the nightly coordination meetings.

Just as this quote made him feel, Lance was truly impartial when handling camp affairs.

Here, all resource allocation was based entirely on merits earned on the front lines.

He would never give you special treatment or bend the rules just because you were personally powerful or bore the surname of some great clan.

Even if you were a Noble Knight, if you violated the martial law, Lance’s enforcement team would mete out punishments and confinements without mercy.

But if you thought Lance was cold-hearted, you would be dead wrong.

On the contrary, through his interactions, Felix could feel a rare, human warmth from the young man.

He would quietly benefit those he was close to or trusted.

Take Julius of the Silver Hand, for example.

Everyone knew that while Julius was quite powerful, he wasn’t a noble like Felix, who had received a formal education in Command from childhood, nor did he come from a military background like Viters.

Making Julius command a coordinated expedition of over a thousand people was actually quite difficult for him.

And Lance... every night, he would spend a great deal of time taking out the tactical map for the region assigned to Julius, helping him break down command objectives piece by piece, deconstructing the grand strategy into simple, easy-to-understand micro-steps. He even clearly marked which terrains were prone to ambush and required special attention.

This way of protecting his own while still considering the bigger picture was perhaps an important reason why Viters was able to so quickly and willingly submit to Lance’s command.

In major matters, he could be absolutely just and fair.

And in his private handling of smaller matters, he took great care of his friends, offering them his full support.

Who wouldn’t want to work with such a charismatic and exceptionally capable leader?

’As expected of a king with the Red Dragon Bloodline flowing through his veins...’

Felix let out a deep sigh of admiration in his heart.

’I hope that after this is over, he will accept my family’s pledge of allegiance.’

Felix lowered his head and skimmed over the rest of the sayings.

Once they returned from the Underground City, he would transcribe these sayings and study them carefully in his study.

He quickly finished the compressed rice ball in his hand.

Felix stood up and adjusted his armor.

Tonight, he and the other captains were in for a busy night.

Because something major had happened during today’s push.

... 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

「Command Post.」

This was a spacious war room converted from a warehouse.

In the center of the room was a long, rectangular wooden table, on which was spread a detailed map of the Underground City’s three major regions.

The three main commanders, as well as Bazzer, were now gathered around the table.

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

"What? You were attacked by the Crimson Bell of Death during your advance today?"

A flash of surprise crossed Lance’s eyes.

He turned his head to look at Felix, who was giving the report.

"What’s the casualty count?"

Felix replied in a low voice, "Around fifty casualties..."

Hearing this number, Lance’s previously relaxed brow instantly furrowed tightly.

"They have that much team-wiping capability?!"

You have to understand, to ensure absolute safety on the front lines, the teams they were sending out to advance were all organized into 10-Professional squads, progressing in a grid-like search pattern.

And yet the enemy had managed to launch surprise attacks on one full ten-man squad after another without being detected, not even allowing those squads to send out a single distress signal in the initial moments!

It was only after they had attacked and annihilated five ten-man squads in this manner that a follow-up team discovered the field of bodies, thanks to a time gap in the patrol routes.

This stealthy and silent killing efficiency was nothing short of terrifying!

However, Lance quickly thought of that Half-Elf.

If the Crimson Bell of Death’s core team was entirely composed of individuals at that skill level, then perhaps only the Iron Throne could barely hold their own if they were ambushed.

But then he thought about the various items and fine equipment the Crimson Bell of Death likely possessed.

Lance felt that even if the Iron Throne’s elite squad ran into them, their chances of winning would still be slim.

In fact, if Lance hadn’t forced all the teams on the very first day of the meetings to shorten their distance and adopt a grid-based advancement tactic, given the assassination efficiency the Crimson Bell of Death had demonstrated today, they probably could have stealthily killed over a hundred Professionals.

The main force responsible for advancing in a single region was only about a thousand people.

If one-tenth of them were killed off, slowly being whittled down like this, if the casualties continued at this rate, it would only take a few days for fear to cause morale to collapse, and they would completely lose the ability to clear the region.