II

Looking at the time, it should have been dusk, but the sand and dust were so thick that it obscured all the sunlight. The sandstorm was blowing wildly, and I didn't know where it started and where it would end.

Huge steel crawler convoys and camel caravans slowly moved along the ancient trade routes, and countless ancient elven place names turned into marks on the travel log behind them. "Lantasville Boulevard", which means "beautiful road". "Syranastia" means "city surrounded by mountains and rivers". "Fermynia", which means "the place where smoke and fireworks are produced".

But all this is already the dust of history. Cursed yellow sand covers millions of square kilometers east of the Rim River and west of the Roof Ridge Mountains, and the glory of the Elven Empire is gone. Everyone knows that about fifteen hundred years ago, the Elven Governor of the Eastern Province resolutely turned the entire fertile land of the East into a wasteland before the troops of the Coman Empire, and those magical beasts and undead creatures seem to prove it. Some adventurers have rumors that in the heart of the Great Wasteland, there still stands the capital of the Elven Empire - or rather, the undead ghost of the Elven Empire. Today, only the scattered oasis tribes scattered in the wasteland barely connect this "crossing road". For every three caravans that set out from Xiping, two would be lost in the Great Wilderness.

"But we are different, and it will never perish in such a place. ”

Dwarf Tug thought so as he rode on a camel. Even though he's been following Rored — or Clad López — for thirteen years, he'll still find something to admire about his superiors from time to time.

On a recent occasion, for example, this man succeeded in convincing one-third of the adult men of the Aintak tribe to join the horrific expedition with their technology, family, and possessions. In order to achieve this goal, he led the warriors of his tribe to completely wipe out the orcs and goblins in the vicinity, in order to prove that the tribe was safe even if they left.

It took only two months from the departure of the Western Don's convoy from the Aintak tribe to the organization of a huge convoy to the west. The action of the former Western Tang Dynasty generals was surprisingly strong.

And that's not all. This man is still very determined...... Along the way there were real battles, real. He never spared any oasis inhabited by monsters and undead, never. Powerful monsters and undead creatures seem to have become living targets for his training troops.

After two months of desert travel, Tug was surprised to find that the dwarven friends he had known before, those who knew nothing but machinery, smelting, farming, family, and vulgar jokes, had the temperament of a Western Tang veteran. It was a real veteran temperament, completely different from the pampered forbidden army or peasant soldiers he had seen in the Eastern Empire. The Mamluk cavalry is already a real cavalry force - not a rabble that used to be in vain.

However, the closer you get to your destination, the more serious the undead are infesting the oasis. For the first month of their journey, they had only collected a few bandits, but since the second month, one out of every third oasis marked on the map had been deserted. This kind of fighting is becoming more and more annoying, and it has also led to a considerable reduction in the number of troops - to be honest, five percent is already a miracle, but it is also five percent, twenty lives.

"It's finally time to camp in the oasis again...... Let's hope this oasis isn't overrun by the undead......" the dwarf thought uneasily.

At that moment, the scouts of the vanguard returned on camels and with smoke and dust. "There's black smoke in the oasis ahead!"

"Oh my God......" The dwarf knew that something was wrong, and hurried his camel towards the place where the general was.

The flying sand is no longer yellow, but black. Black desert, black grains of sand, near black sky. The sandstorm was so strong that it was impossible to light a torch.

"Black dust...... "Clad López's brow furrowed. "Prepare for battle!

How many times has it been? He didn't know. The Great Wasteland is indeed a place of monsters. Every time such a battle gave him "joy", he thought that many monsters had perished in the long river of history.

"People from the periphery, lead the camels to the middle of the car city!"

"Heavy smoothbore gunners reload! Light musketeers prepare to take cover, concentrate their pistols, and distribute them to the Checheng personnel for self-defense!"

The dwarves drove their chariots to the edge of the formation, stopped their fires, and faced the black sandstorm. The yellow sandstorm is the wrath of nature, while the black sandstorm is a representation of the evil undead. The black sandstorm lingered over the oasis in the distance for a long time.

"Sir......?" his faithful retinue and translator Tug approached him.

Clad López waved his hand: "You are in charge of arranging the defense and the shelling. I'm going to scout the enemy. ”

He has always been a commander of action. Before Tug could reply, General López's figure disappeared into the dust.

"Oops. "The dwarves had no choice but to prepare for artillery and volleys with peace of mind. As is customary, soon the general will return and work out foolproof tactics...... This cold-looking, meticulous General Clad López always brought strange confidence to those around him, in the Hua Dynasty, in the Western Tang Dynasty, in Aintak, and in the Great Wasteland.

The Shehriyah Oasis is named for its proximity to Shehria, which was once the capital of the Far East Road during the Elven Empire. When Clad passed through here fifteen years ago, it was a thriving desert oasis town, making a living from agriculture, animal husbandry, transiting through trade routes, and selling antiques. Fifteen years later, however, the sand is black and the sky is covered.

A light green invisible door appeared on the roof of the ruins, and Clad stepped out of it quietly, with a freshly burned spell in his hand. Of course, this Taoism is "Cao Cao's Arbitrary Gate".

"I wish I could have changed this technique to arcane art sometime......" Whispering to himself, General López found a secluded rooftop and lay down to watch the movement below.

The undead wandered below, mainly zombies with green rotting pus, and occasionally some skeletons. To his surprise, the undead here were not as unorganized as the oases of the past...... They seem to be acting in an organized and disciplined manner.

If the ones I encountered before were like "sentry posts", this one I encountered this time is like a "castle". Intuition and common sense told him that there must be high-level, intelligent undead creatures in the vicinity commanding him.

"Even if it's an undead creature, it should have leaders and superiors. He thought with a little malice, referring to the experience he had seen in the East, "I wonder if there are any incompetent central command agencies and cunning magistrates?"

Clad López took out a few more talismans from his bosom, thought twice, and took out a bird-shaped burn. An inconspicuous blackbird streaked across the sky - it was not concealed by the invisible eye magic used in arcane scouting, but it was faster, and the Orientals called Shikigami.

General López focused his attention on the Blackbird with one eye, carefully observing the deployment of the enemy within this ruin. The town looks like it's burned down in half, and it's supposed to be a remnant of when the undead attacked. The undead didn't bother to rebuild the buildings, but chose some of the remaining buildings that were still intact to be used as homes for their troops. Several rows of houses were picked up as blacksmith shops, and there was a clanging sound from inside. In the other side of town, the skeletons and zombies have also built blast furnaces, as if to make iron.

"......Iron-smelting, they won't make fire, will they?" Lopez was secretly surprised, and ordered Shikigami to fly in the other direction.

On another street, he not only found the expected fire factory, but also was surprised to find a barracks!

It was not a tomb infested by ordinary undead creatures, but a real barracks, and a large group of undead creatures formed a small phalanx on the "playground" - as a mage, Klad was fully aware of the difficulty of forming a phalanx of unintelligent undead.

Shikigami carefully studied the formation of the undead. Each team has a ghoul who looks as if he was alive, with no loss in appearance and nimble movements, and Clad knows that the conditions for the creation of this intelligent undead creature are very harsh, and it must be made by a sapient creature that has just died and retains the will to resurrect. As for the "man" who had been standing in the middle of the field, standing tall and defying all the zombies and skeletons, the general wasn't quite sure what it was: it looked like a barely humanoid form of bright red blood, dark brown carrion, and snow-white broken bones.

He wanted to see more clearly, so he let the blackbird circle a few more times. At this moment, the "mixture" suddenly raised its head and stared at his Shijin!

General López was startled and hurriedly freed the soul control. At the same moment as he was liberated, he felt a slight pain in his chest, as if fatigue had struck him. He knew that his Shikigami had come to naught.

"Impossible...... Does it have dark vision or extrasensory?" muttered the man who was proficient in Eastern Magic, and began to consider whether to change tactics. Speaking of extrasensory powers, he suddenly remembered a legendary undead creature. "It can't be a battle spirit corpse, right? a killing monster made from the flesh and soul of a death warrior is a bit similar to this 'mixture'......"

"It's a strange situation! It looks like someone is spying on us! Everyone is searching!"

With a somewhat hoarse shout, the people below—no, the undead below—began to stir. The concoction was clearly the leader, and the order was to come out of his mouth, pass it on to the ghouls, and then to the zombies and skeletons. López, who was fluent in various languages, could tell that the command seemed to be in ancient elven language.

"It seems a bit dangerous this time...... he felt some pain in his stomach, which was the after-effect of fifteen years of traveling in a foreign country. Gritting his teeth, the general pulled out a small light blue sword and clipped it in his left hand.

"Flying Sword" is regarded as the highest level of Taoism in the Eastern Empire, and to this day, there are only two or three sects that can practice flying swords in the Eastern Empire. The phrase "can control the flying sword" is used to refer to the fact that the person has already mastered the Taoist arts, and to achieve this step, it usually takes more than ten years of hard work, and it often takes decades of hard work to control the flying sword freely. It took him six years to control a flying sword, the second fastest in his division's history. The fastest record in the history of the True Cultivation Sect for cultivating a flying sword was five years, and that genius was his senior brother. After cultivating the flying sword, Luo Ruide chose to return to China to the west, while his senior brother chose to go to the East China Sea Province.

In terms of magical theory, "soul connection" magical objects are quite dangerous, with the potential to cause confusion and even death, and are often classified as "cursed instruments" in the West. When traveling in the East, Klad often heard the phrase "the sword is in the man, and the sword is dead". He knew that there was more than just a determination to say that. If you use too much of a flying sword, it's not just that you're tired. As a last resort, Clad López would never want to use such a secret weapon.

"I wonder how long it will last today?"

The undead were all mobilized, and the corpses that were supposed to rest began to search vigilantly for the caster.

That may be a bit of a misnomer. To be exact, there are only about twenty sapient undead in it that will be searched, and the rest will only stare at the target when they find it. The ghouls and war spirits separated and sent out all the skeletons and zombies under their command, while they themselves carefully searched for places where the "zombies were piled up".

Soon, however, they won't have to search anymore.

— because the target of their search appeared on their own.

"Broken dreams!" Clad whispered the name of his flying sword.

A pale blue glow swept across the ruins of Shehriyah. All the zombies slowly raised their heads and stared at the sky in "stunned".

Clad López has attached all his spirit to the flying sword, and is flying in the air with the power of "Broken Dreams". With a flick of his cloak, he removed a revolver from the left side of the belt around his waist, a silvery-white dwarven revolver with a black grip and forged from all over metal.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

He had already seen the position of all the ghouls, and the silver demon-breaking bullets slammed into these intelligent leaders from mid-air, four of them immediately turned to dust, and two barely dodged, but lost their balance and were halved by the light blue sword light that followed! After this round of raids, a third of the zombies lost their direct leadership and began to stagnate in place.

After the first round of raids, General López stopped his flying sword and rested on the roof of an Orthodox church in the center of the town. He saw that the monster below had begun to stir.

"Whew......"

There was no doubt that the War Spirit Corpse was already furious, and a low roar came out of the mixture of flesh and blood. With a flick of what resembled its right arm, two rotting intestines flew out and shot at the brown-haired middle-aged man who floated on the tip of the twelve-pointed star at the top of the church.

"What a dirty attack...... Shikigami was knocked out by this thing?" The pale blue light flickered, and the intestines all hit the twelve-pointed star symbol of the Orthodox religion.

"Ahh......h You have blasphemed the sacred covenant. With that, the Protestant Crader pulled out another revolver from his right belt, this time with an all-black brown grip.

"Dust to dust, dust to dust. ”

Six demon-breaking bullets pierced the rancid air and flew in a straight line towards the battle spirit corpse! "Left hand", "right hand", and "left leg" all pierced through the big hole in an instant, but the monster was barely standing.

"Whew......!" the battle spirit corpse let out a roar of pain and anger, and actually threw both arms out at the same time!

"Broken dreams!" Seeing that the other party wanted to burn the jade, Clad López summoned his flying sword again. The pale blue light suddenly brightened, turning into countless small swords, weaving a blue light guard ring beside Klad's body! The two "flying arms" touched this light net, and they were instantly twisted into pieces, and none of the shards could touch Klad's body.

"Damn it, you have to die. The blue light turned into a ray of light, and all the small swords flew towards the corpse, penetrating it completely, and the "mixture" finally turned into flesh and blood on the ground. After confirming that he had disposed of the enemy leader, Crader pulled out several "corpse control charms" from his bosom that he had been preparing for a long time.

"Necromancy is not taboo in the East, and in this respect they seem to be much more advanced than we are. Until now, the rebuke of the undead will still be banished as heretics by the major sects. In the East, this technique can already be done at will in the form of reels...... Should we be called rigid, or should they be said to have no moral beliefs?"

Thinking so, General López burned the corpse control talisman in his hand to ashes with the Dao method, and the undead creatures below were soon controlled by him and began to fight among themselves. Seeing that there were still a few remnants of ghouls trying to clean up the mess, Clad casually threw two fireballs in the direction of the fire vault.

A huge explosion rang out.

"As expected, the undead really don't add a fire barrier. But why do even the undead start smelting iron and making fire......"

With unanswered doubts, Clad flew back to the group with his sword. As soon as he put away his sword, he felt extremely hard, covered his chest and rested on the "Crader gun carriage".

"Sir, you look tired. Seeing him return, Tug hurriedly stepped forward and said with concern. "Uh...... What does it taste like...... So weird?"

"It's nothing, it's just a bit hard to fight. The middle-aged man glanced at him, wiped the sweat from his head, and ignored his latter question. "Now hurry up and order the whole army to advance! with incendiary bombs, take that town ...... No, the ruins are completely burned down!

The dwarf froze and hurriedly turned around and set off. After leaving his subordinates, the general reluctantly took out his flying sword "Broken Dream".

The light blue blade emitted an unbearable stench. If you cut the undead for a long time, it will indeed stink.

Early the next morning, the convoy set off from the burnt ruins.

Nothing happened on the rest of the journey, as if the terrible undead were only illusions in part of the area. After about twenty more days of walking along the traverse road, they finally saw the edge river. To the west of the marginal river is the area of human civilization with fertile water and grass and fertile land.

General López jumped off his camel, went to the river, picked up a handful of long-lost river water, and brought it to his mouth.

"O Motherland...... I am back. He looked at the wide river and muttered to himself.

The team turned south, and after walking for about two hours, they saw the place where the river was crossed. It was a small town called Gatebridge. With the might of those steel steam vehicles, López quickly "convinced" the town's guards. The carrier pigeon then took off and flew to the 4th Cavalry Division's "Glory" station in Brandy, and then transmitted the message to the center through the senior mage there.

Three hours later, the news of their team had reached Lennie's ring fort. Soon, Klad López and his dwarven gunners were given a new formation, and a new identity.

The former rebellious general of the Western Tang Dynasty became an officer directly under the headquarters of the Free Army, commanding the Third Independent Artillery Regiment (also known as the 1st Klad Artillery Regiment).

"Speaking of which, what will it be? Brigade Marshal, Division Marshal, Army Marshal, General Captured, General Zhu Guoda?" asked Tug on the way to Lenny, a little puzzled.

"So......" Brigadier General Clad López smiled slightly, "we don't have this rank here." ”

Three weeks later, in the late autumn of 1664, Lenny, the glorious capital of the United Provincial Republic, was the symbol of freedom, democracy, equality, and fraternity.

The Supreme Command of the United Defense Forces of the Free States is a three-storey circular building located in the North 2nd Quarter of Lenny, the capital of the United Provinces, and is the most striking building in the district. People in the military circles generally call this place the "Ring Fort", which corresponds to the "Fang Fort", the supreme headquarters of the Northern Empire - just as people often use "Derean" instead of the northern central government, and "Lenny" instead of the southern central government.

"Please inform that the new commander of the 3rd Independent Artillery, Clad López, will meet with Field Marshal Conty Forx, Chairman of the Free Army Staff Council. ”

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency Marshal is about to hand over power, and there is an order not to see the visitor......" Seeing that he did not have a military rank on his shoulders and collar, the secretary who received him was a little hesitant.

"Please tell him that it's Cladé López who is visiting. The middle-aged man had changed into the blue uniform of the Free Army, and he looked very heroic, "You can check the memo." ”

His deep and cold tone and time-honored expression made the secretary dare not refuse, and quickly went to inform the nearby non-commissioned officer. The sergeant thought for a moment when he heard the name, flipped through the memo and was surprised to find that the man's name was quite high in the queue, and he hurried away at a trot.

"It's been fifteen years, and the castle hasn't changed much...... Even bureaucracy. López took out his pocket watch, "From here to the chairman's room on the top floor, it should be eight minutes to walk back and forth." ”

Eight minutes and thirty seconds later, the sergeant returned on time: "Marshal Fox, please go immediately, and I will lead the way." ”

Clad wanted to say, "No need," but his lips twitched twice, but he still didn't speak. Five minutes later, the sergeant led him to the chairman's room.

"Sir, Clad López......" the sergeant glanced at the middle-aged man's shoulder, "...... Arrive. ”

"Alright, you can step down. "A kind-looking white-haired old man sat in the swivel chair, a symbol of supreme status, with his back to the visitor.

After the sergeant left, López spoke, "Teacher, you don't look any different than you did fifteen years ago." ”

"Really?" the old man turned his chair to face him. The marshal's star on the old man's shoulder shone brightly. "You've changed a lot, Klad López. ”

"I'm sorry, I was too headstrong to go to the military intelligence you arranged, and I've been gone for fifteen years......," Clad said, "I'm sorry. ”

"It's nothing, you don't have to feel guilty about yourself. Marshal Conti waved his hand, "I think you have gained more than a director of military intelligence in these fifteen years." I've read your report, and it's really valuable, and maybe we should strengthen our communication with distant countries. That 'Crad' is also valuable, which is why I plan to reuse you...... Unfortunately, you came back a little late. ”

"A little late?" Clad raised an eyebrow.

"I am scheduled to retire next month. "I'm afraid I won't have a chance to lift you again." ”

"To whom? Radertz Govar, or Wiener Betsy?" Clad asked.

"Govar, he's more energetic. Betsy is too conservative, and I fear he won't be able to cope with Gustav, and I'll now have him guard the Northeast Military District. By the way, Govar is scheduled to be promoted to marshal at the end of this month. ”

Hearing the word marshal, López's heart also trembled slightly. If he hadn't left fifteen years ago and stayed in the Military Intelligence Bureau, he might have been one of the candidates for this rank by now. ...... Maybe.

He tried to act like he didn't care: "Gustav, Emperor, isn't he still a little ghost?"

"That was fifteen years ago. The old marshal corrected him, "Now that you are middle-aged, Gustavus Hugh Kerman is no longer a ghost. If you want to re-enter the MIA, you'll need to brush up on the situation in the world. ”

"MIA? I don't think I'm interested now. Clad smiled, and changed his words, "Actually, I'm here today to ask for an official." I wanted an identity that would support my development of the Klad Cannon. ”

"'Klad'? your armored artillery vehicle? that thing is going to be very budget-friendly, isn't it?" the old marshal pondered, "what identity do you want?"

"Major General, the commander of the special forces is ready. Anyway, there are hundreds of major generals in our free army, and there are not many of me. ”

"After so many years, you are still such a lion...... In this way, even the 'vampire of the state budget' Govar will not be able to bear it. ”

"An Eastern proverb says that when a general moves outside, he can not even obey the emperor's orders. Seeing that Old Marshal Fox was relieved, Clad López hurried to follow.

"Uh...... Well, I promise you. The old marshal smiled bitterly, "After all, I owe you a lot." ”

"Where does this begin?" said Clad, surprised this time, "it's too late for you to award me a major general." ”

The old marshal leaned forward sharply: "You...... Aren't you here today when you get to Lenny? You haven't been home yet, have you?"

"Yes, my team is still in Brandy...... What's wrong?" Major-General López's heart pounded violently.

"Well, I have to apologize to you. The old marshal's gaze looked away, "I failed to pay attention to your wife. By the time I think about it, we have lost her whereabouts, and she has moved out of your former officer's house and into the civilian population. Later we learned that she died. ”

Clad López's heart almost stopped beating at that moment, and he felt bitter all in his mouth. He was prepared to remarry his wife, but he was not prepared for her to die. "Denya...... What about me, my daughter, and Dioa?"

"This ...... I don't know, our military intelligence is as incompetent as you left, they are always one step behind – sometimes more than one step later. I didn't know you had a daughter until much later. The old marshal's words were full of sincerity and apology, "I'm sorry. ”

"I should be eighteen years old now. Clad looked up, "I think I might need to calm down." ”

"Before I left my job, I would have instructed the Military Intelligence to investigate. I'll let them know you as soon as they have the results. ”

The new Major General Klad López thanked him expressionlessly and walked out of the ring fort. This is Lennie, the city of freedom, but he feels extremely depressed.

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