Chapter 208: Setting Off for Campaign!

Chapter 208: Marching Forth!

"What do you mean?"

Old Saman glared at Neo.

"I just don't want you to ruin the funeral you so meticulously prepared for yourself, so I came especially to give you a warning."

"Do you honestly think I would believe you?"

"What do you think?"

"Yes, of course I would." Old Saman took half a step back, his imposing aura completely receding as he transformed once more into that ordinary, frail old man who managed the cemetery. "I believe what you say."

Then, Old Saman sat down in his chair and gestured toward Alfred, saying, "Come, let us continue playing. Remember to play this piece at my funeral."

"I will record your performance and play it at your funeral."

"Pah, absolutely not! Even though I will be dead by then, I still care about my reputation!"

Neo walked out of the cabin. Kaelen gave Alfred a slight nod, and Alfred bowed his head in return. Promptly, Kaelen followed Neo out of the small house.

Old Saman asked Alfred, "Do you know why I believed him just like that?"

"I do not know."

"Because I could feel that his hands were truly itching, as if he were dying to find someone to fight."

"I think he might not necessarily be able to defeat you."

"See, even you say he might not necessarily be able to defeat me."

"That is only natural," Alfred immediately chimed in.

"But logically speaking, how could an ordinary captain of the Whip of Order squad possibly defeat me?"

"Uh..."

"Yet you, including myself, both feel that there might be variables in this. That is the greatest problem of all."

"Your consideration is very reasonable."

"I am also doing this for Mistress Lake's sake, to save her the trouble of cursing this mischievous old coot for increasing her workload while she prepares my corpse."

"Then shall we continue playing? No recording, purely for the art of music?"

Old Saman waved his hand and said, "Let us rest first."

"Very well, let us rest first."

"Tell me a few more lines of those slangs so I can commit them to memory and slowly savor and contemplate them after I am lying in my coffin."

"Understood."

Alfred pulled out a yellow notebook, which was filled with transcriptions of the contents from the black notebook at home, even keeping the altered parts exactly identical.

Seeing Alfred's solemn demeanor, Old Saman could not help but laugh.

"I truly cannot comprehend this enthusiasm of yours. What is the point of proselytizing to a dying man? Do you actually expect me to crawl out of my coffin to become a believer?"

"If your loyalty touches the God, perhaps the God will grant you this honor."

"But my entire life has already been dedicated to the God of Pamires, and I have no desire to change it now."

"That does not matter, we still have the next life."

"What did you say?"

"Next, I shall explain to you what is meant by the breath from the earth."

...

When Kaelen stepped outside, he saw that the captain was already sitting in the driver's seat of the VIP car. Kaelen opened the passenger door and climbed inside, a seat that was rarely ever occupied.

Neo turned his head to look at Kaelen and said, "You can go home now."

"Then why is the captain still waiting here?"

"Because the car keys are on you. Do you actually worry about a church vehicle being stolen, to the point of pulling out the keys?"

Kaelen took out the car keys and handed them to the captain, but he did not get out of the car.

"You are really not getting out?"

"I am quite curious to know where the captain is heading right now."

"I intend to go to a bar for a drink. I recall you do not care for drinking."

"Driving is inappropriate after drinking."

The captain remained noncommittal, started the car, and drove out of the cemetery.

Once they were on the highway, Kaelen spoke up and asked, "Captain, is Saman very powerful?"

"You have already accepted the man's gift, yet you are still asking me if he is powerful?"

"I merely accepted his old refrigerator."

"I will give you one more chance to rephrase your sentence."

The captain lifted his right hand from the steering wheel, his fingertips flicking up and down.

"I merely accepted a spatial sacred artifact from him."

"It is an upgradable spatial sacred artifact."

"Oh, yes."

"It seems you have someone around you who knows their stuff," Neo smiled. "Whether it can be upgraded determines a tenfold increase in value, if it were to be sold on the black market."

There was no one at home who knew their stuff, but there were a cat and a dog who did.

"He felt that his days were numbered, which is why he gave those things to me, in exchange for me making him dinner every night a while back."

"Mm, mastering one more skill indeed provides a great advantage at crucial moments."

"Indeed, Captain. After all, no matter how many skills one has, it will not weigh down the body."

"Haha, but it makes it easy to become distracted."

"Yes, that is true."

Kaelen felt that the captain's words carried a hidden meaning; they could truly refer to culinary skills, or to his own magical arts, or more likely, to his own identity. Because he possessed too many attributes, Kaelen could not immediately pinpoint the exact reference.

Just then, a flock of crows appeared in the sky ahead.

Neo stopped the car, watching the direction in which the crows were flying, then turned the steering wheel to reverse direction, driving toward the path of the crows' flight.

After driving for some distance, Kaelen felt that the captain had likely confirmed the destination of the flock, so he no longer waited for the crows, increasing his speed to overtake them.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Kaelen looked out the window from time to time, watching the captain drive the car to the north of the city, then into the suburbs, and finally continuing north along a railway line before veering away from the tracks downward, toward the northeast.

If they continued driving in this direction, Kaelen felt they would soon reach the seaside.

The quality of the VIP car was indeed excellent; despite there being no road here and rocks scattered everywhere, the car, though bumpy, showed no signs of falling apart, and the engine maintained a powerful output.

Then again, for other cars, cutting corners would at most result in a fine, but if a VIP car dedicated to the church dared to manifest quality issues, the responsible parties could be sent straight to meet God.

After traveling for another period of time, a highway appeared ahead. This highway was very peculiar; it was a dead end, and at this particular terminus, it did not connect to any road whatsoever.

Yet, once the vehicle climbed onto the passage, it did feel considerably smoother.

But ahead a sentry post emerged, flanked by a good number of priests clad in divine robes.

"Sit with more dignity," Nio said.

Kallen leaned his body back, deliberately eschewing a completely rigid posture, while resting his hands in front of him, his gaze slightly narrowing.

From outside the mask, the eyes were all that could be discerned.

Nio, meanwhile, began blaring the horn in rapid successions, and masked as he was, he poked his head out the window, gesturing incessantly for them to make way.

Seeing this, the priests at the sentry post assumed the exclusive carriage of some grand dignitary had arrived; not only did none dare signal for the car to stop and submit to inspection, they actively backed away and raised the barrier.

Thus, this VIP vehicle drove directly past the sentry post.

"Captain, where are we going for a drink?"

"We aren't going for a drink, that will come later, first I will show you what goes with the wine."

"Oh? Ah, alright."

Continuing forward for a stretch, the highway led toward a precipice.

Kallen subconsciously reached out to grip the safety handle above his head, sensing what Nio was about to do.

Nio’s hands released a black luster, and immediately following, the steering wheel also emanated a glow, whereupon a radiance began to ripple across the entire chassis of the car, indicating that the formation within the vehicle had been activated.

Then, Nio slammed the accelerator to the floor, the car surged forward, and hurtled off the cliff.

"Vroom!"

The expected sight of the vehicle soaring through the air did not manifest; upon plunging from the cliff, Kallen perceived a rapid shift of light and shadow outside, only to find their car driving upon a highway once more.

To the right lay the vast sea, ahead stretched the endless highway, and to the left ran several other roads, where various vehicles and carriages were passing by, and the horses drawing those carriages actually ran no slower than the automobiles, their eyes burning with a crimson glare, proving they were no ordinary steeds.

In short, the place exuded a busy and grim atmosphere, resembling a military base.

Nio turned the car to the right, veering off the highway, and after driving a while longer upon the sandy beach, finally came to a halt before a cluster of towering reefs.

"Get out."

Kallen followed Nio out of the vehicle and watched him scale the rocks, so Kallen climbed up right behind him.

At last, the two reached the very summit of the reef, and when Kallen poked his head out, a colossal cavern mouth appeared along the distant shore, its height rivaling that of the Saint Thor Tower, the landmark building of Vienna’s city center.

At this moment, a low vibration echoed from within the dark cavern, a tremor Kallen could feel despite the great distance between them.

Before long, from within the cavern, an army emerged marching in precise, uniform steps, each foot soldier clad in black armor, holding a massive black shield, with a blade girded at his waist.

The sunlight caught their forms, reflecting an intimidating, cold brilliance.

Behind them marched a contingent armed with crossbows, each man carrying a black longbow and bearing three quivers of arrows on his back; though their armor was also black, it was noticeably lighter and thinner.

Further behind came rows of apparatuses resembling catapults.

Closely following them was a square formation of carriages, their design much like war chariots, yet they were not, for each carriage was loaded with black coffins stacked one upon another.

Kallen watched, spellbound, and turning his head, discovered the captain holding a pair of binoculars crafted from crystal.

Seemingly sensing Kallen's gaze, the captain reached out and with a sharp snap broke them in half, handing one of the pieces to Kallen.

"Thank you, Captain."

"It's nothing, crystal is cheap, it's the lenses that are expensive, just channel a bit of spirituality into it."

Kallen pressed one eye to the lens and channeled his spiritual power within; in an instant, an immersive sensation washed over him, for it possessed not only the capacity for magnification but also seemed to gather light and shadow, allowing one to take in the desired area to the absolute maximum degree.

Shields, blades, armor, longbows, arrows...

Kallen tallied their equipment one by one against the prices in the point-ticket shop, unable to help but marvel that this was an army built entirely upon a mountain of point-tickets.

Of course, considering these were forged in the internal workshops of the Church of Order, the actual manufacturing cost would certainly be far lower than what they sold for externally.

Although the armies of all nations had now entered the era of hot weapons, and Kallen had seen the ironclads of the Viennese Imperial Navy more than once at the port of York City, this army marching out of the cavern was enough to drive the military of any country to despair.

Though they still employed cold weapons, the gear in their hands could hardly be categorized by the simple distinction of "hot or cold."

The intermediate shield of order held by the shield-bearers was inscribed with internal formations; even if artillery fired directly upon it, the shells would merely bounce away, unable to inflict any damage on the shield, while the longbows and arrows held by those archers could fire across distances untold times further than bullets, capable of delivering precise, localized strikes.

Those catapults were even more terrifying, able to hurl "Plague," "Disaster," "Bloodlust," and "Cruelty," for if a single shot struck an enemy position and the opposing force was merely an ordinary army, a multitude would rapidly turn into frenzied entities, slaughtering their own comrades, and these negative attributes could even spread by contagion.

However, Kallen noticed the insignia on the armor of these soldiers, recognizing it as the Third Knights.

This was a standing regiment of knights; the garrison reserves were composed of retirees from various legions, so they retained their armor upon reassignment, resulting in situations where different knight regiments appeared within a single reserve garrison camp, whereas a standing regiment would not present such a sight.

"Why are there coffins as well?" Kallen could not help but ask.

In the records he had previously read, only the First Knights were formed from the "resurrected dead," lauded as the indisputably strongest regiment of knights.

"Every regiment has a certain quota used to execute missions with extremely high mortality rates, such as scouting, vanguard charges, and rearguard defense."

"A suicide squad?"

"Heh, a certain-death squad."

"Yes, the captain is right."

"Do you see that flagpole on the carriage? That is a holy artifact of our Church. These corpses have all been treated, the spiritual power within their bodies properly aligned, so when the commander orders the 'Awakening,' the flagpole will burn, helping the caster transfer the price of the 'Awakening.'"

"Oh, so that is how it works."

"But the cost of awakening is still immense; the higher the realm and the stronger they were in life, the greater the price of awakening. It is said that within the First Knights, the remains of quite a few temple elders are still preserved."

"That is terrifying just to think about."

"Heh, if even our own people find it frightening, let alone the other churches. The power of the Church of Order lies precisely in its fist; those who have already died can become combat forces, and those currently living, once they fall in battle, can also swiftly become combat forces.

Even by employing certain special means, the enemies who are slain can be used as combat forces.

Who would be willing to face such an opponent, and who would dare face such an opponent?"

"If it hadn't managed to develop, that would be one thing, but since it has already grown to this scale, it truly is too terrifying."

"Do you know what our Church relied upon to develop?" Nio asked.

"It relied upon... Light."

In the era when Order arose, the Church of Order was virtually a blade in the hands of the Church of Light; whenever Light wished to chastise someone, the Church of Order was always the first to respond and immediately launch a war of conquest, not merely shouting to gather momentum, but actually marching out.

In the previous era, the God of Order had slaughtered and suppressed many deities, among whom were quite a few "evil gods" certified by the God of Light.

In short, that was the period when the relationship between Light and Order was closest.

Yet, once the Church of Light declined, it was no longer able to hold onto this increasingly sharp blade, and might even have been harmed by it.

Many records had been altered or deleted, but the traces of deletion were themselves a form of evidence; if Order had done nothing when Light perished, why did it later deliberately erase the relationship between Order and Light?

There must surely be reasons beyond the mere fact that Light's decline made it unworthy of Order, for Order could perfectly well have inherited the "orthodoxy of Light" to rule the church world with greater legitimacy, yet the Church of Order chose not to do so.

Nio smiled and said, "Order requires the guidance of Light, but once Order grows up, any existence that dares to place itself above Order is a target to be shattered."

"This is the first time I've ever seen a regiment of knights on such a grand scale," Kallen remarked with emotion.

"The knights haven't even come out yet."

"Woooo... Woooo..."

A low, oppressive neighing sound echoed, and from both sides of the cavern mouth, the cavalry surged forth.

These knights, clutching heavy lances with war blades slung at their waists, cut imposing and majestic figures, while the mounts beneath them were clad in armor. Yet the nature of these steeds varied wildly; many bore little resemblance to ordinary horses, appearing instead like some manner of deliberately bred demonic beasts. Over half of the mounts possessed eyes gleaming with a strange, unnatural hue, indicating they were either carcasses brought back to life or creatures heavily modified.

They had not been awoken from slumber, but rather reconstructed through the manipulation of their skeletal remains.

Among them were numerous lizard-dragons, the very source of the roasted meat their captain so loved to feast upon; rumor had it that these creatures carried the bloodline of ancient dragons.

As this cavalry materialised, it seemed to Cullen that nothing in this world could possibly stand in their way.

"Unexpected, isn't it, that the Order possesses such a side?"

"Yes, Captain. I had only read of them in records before, a mere conceptual awareness, but this is the first time I have seen them with my own eyes."

"Just as our Whip of Order squad maintains a twelve-man roster, the Twelve Knights Templar of Order also trace their lineage back to the original Twelve Knights of Order. Legend says that each of those primal twelve personally commanded one of the grand legions.

The Twelve Knights Templar and their subordinate garrisons share no intersection with us; even a regional Archbishop could not mobilize a single soul among them without an explicit decree from the Senate.

Strictly speaking, the establishment and evolution of the Whip of Order was based on this very reality. The church's daily affairs require violent enforcement to be sustained, yet the church's true military legions cannot be easily moved. Thus, the church could only continuously enrich and fortify its own available forces under the guise of the Whip of Order."

"Do the other orthodox churches possess similar legions?"

"Certainly they do. In this current era where the gods remain hidden and no divine wars erupt, the military legions of the churches are bound to shrink and decay. A divine war, after all, is never fought by the gods alone."

"So, Captain, what exactly are we doing here?"

Cullen looked at himself, then glanced back at his captain.

The captain was a traitor; coincidentally, it seemed he was a traitor as well.

Two traitors crouching in this position, holding specialized binoculars to spy on the army—no matter how one looked at it, this was precisely the conduct of spies.

Had the captain intentionally brought him along to play the spy?

And yet... Cullen suddenly remembered that the captain had previously told him to get out of the carriage, and it was he who had actively requested to remain inside.

"Don't you find it curious?" Neo asked.

"Curious?"

"Curious as to why that caged dimension collapsed? You must have entered the communication room alongside that Son of God; you witnessed his entire reporting process, did you not?"

"Yes, I saw it. I watched him report to the Pontiff of the Pamirese Church that there was a mole within the array maintenance squad."

"Indeed. And yet, despite that, the caged dimension still collapsed."

"Which leads me to believe there is an insider involved..."

"Then, who do you think that insider might be?"

Neo suddenly reached out, pulling Cullen into his embrace, and spoke in a low, resonant voice:

"Black Mist of Order!"

In the next instant, both Cullen and Neo were enveloped in a shroud of black mist, which rapidly assimilated into the surrounding environment, utterly concealing their figures.

Simultaneously, a pterodactyl materialized in the sky, carrying a middle-aged man. The creature spiraled downward, landing directly at the vanguard of the legion.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

The soldiers of the entire legion offered their salutes to the newcomer:

"Greetings, Commander!"

"Greetings, Commander!"

The middle-aged man placed both hands over his chest and intoned with earnest devotion:

"Praise be to Order!"

Once the pterodactyl departed, Neo withdrew his arm from Cullen.

"Are they about to launch an expedition against the Pamirese Church?" Cullen inquired.

"Among the Twelve Knights Templar of Order, the First Legion cannot be deployed. Of the remaining eleven legions, one is always stationed at the worldly entrance of the Temple of Order, while another guards the Holy See itself.

Three legions are reserved for mobile deployment, and the remaining six are garrisoned within the six top-tier districts. Guarding the Vienne District is the Third Legion.

The Seventh Legion should be one of the mobile legions for this term, but even if something went wrong with the Seventh Legion, the Senate still has two other mobile legions to deploy at any moment. There would be absolutely no need to mobilize the Third Legion of the Vienne District.

You must realize that the Pamirese Church is merely a mid-sized denomination, renowned for forging spatial artifacts rather than for combat prowess. Therefore, a single legion would actually suffice to wipe them out twice over."

At that moment, violent energy fluctuations erupted across the sea before the cave entrance, and a colossal platform slowly emerged from beneath the waves.

"Hum!"

A terrifying vortex of air rippled outward in all directions, followed by the appearance of a massive, blue portal of light upon the platform.

The Commander walked onto the platform, standing before the blue portal.

Then, a woman stepped out from the light.

Cullen raised his binoculars to look closer; she wore a long blue gown, and before her, two large blue gemstones rotated smoothly, radiating a holy and gentle aura.

"It's her?"

Cullen