Over the desert surrounding Kanak in Atus West.
At dawn, the sunlight was just beginning to spill over the horizon, the faint Light dyeing the eastern sky with a rosy glow, the earth was awakening from its slumber, and a new wave of intense heat sweeping across the barren land was already in preparation.
Over the vast wilderness, trenches stretched in continuous lines, and in the positions piled with sandbags, most of the Savior Sect soldiers were still asleep. At this hour of transition between night and day, even the few soldiers on night duty were yawning incessantly. They sat carelessly at their posts, completely slacking off, some had found a place to sleep first, while others gathered in groups of two or three, playing cards under the Light, these all-night card games were only now gradually coming to an end.
Although a formidable enemy was imminent, the alert level at the many forward positions surrounding Kanak was quite lax. This was naturally partly due to the slightly loose discipline of the Savior Sect soldiers, but the more significant factor was that the actual alert duties were not the responsibility of these soldiers. On their periphery, there was an ultra-long spirits alert zone stretching ten kilometers wide, and these spirits were the true sentinels.
Thousands of spirits tirelessly roamed this vast desert area day and night, in all directions. Any suspicious target would be detected by them; any creature larger than a dog would be known to these positions. Therefore, focusing on being alert was actually of little significance to the Savior Sect soldiers at the positions.
Not to mention being alert, their level of basic combat readiness was very low. The range of the spirits alert zone was too wide; even if someone attacked, they would have ample time to return to their assigned posts for combat readiness when they received the alert. The enemy's artillery could not hit the positions without reconnaissance, but the artillerymen at the positions could easily barrage the attackers from a long distance using information relayed by the spirits. Once the battle started, it would be a one-sided suppression of the enemy by their side.
In fact, the Revolutionary Army from Dosa had launched several attacks on Kanak during this period. The result was always that the attacking soldiers were still entangled with the spirits in the distance, and the positions, having received the information, launched indiscriminate shelling against the spirits and the attacking soldiers. It only took a few rounds to rout the attacking soldiers. The forward positions didn't even need to see the attackers' faces to defeat them. Under these circumstances, the Savior Sect soldiers at these positions naturally couldn't muster the enthusiasm to focus on combat readiness. Although their superiors repeatedly instructed them to be vigilant and focus on combat readiness, keeping the soldiers tense all day long under the protection of the powerful spirits alert zone was a rather difficult task.
Thus, in a rather lax state, the many forward positions of Kanak welcomed the dawn of a new day. And just then, a sharp and clear horn blast echoed throughout the entire position, causing the night duty soldiers who were originally slacking off and waiting for their shift to end to stiffen all over, and they couldn't help but put down their work.
The night duty sentries were familiar with this horn sound. This was the sound that only the so-called Extraordinary individuals at the positions who could communicate with the spirits had the authority to order to be blown. Once this sound rang out, it proved that the spirits in the forward alert zone had discovered the enemy, and the positions needed emergency combat readiness.
After hearing this horn sound, the night duty soldiers got up one after another to do what they were supposed to do: ring the alarm, wake up their comrades, and rouse the entire position from sleep, prompting it to enter a state of combat. Although the urgent alarm sound lingered over the position, the actions of these night duty personnel were not overly urgent, because they all knew that the enemy was still ten kilometers away, and they had ample time to prepare.
And just as the entire position was leisurely preparing, a whistling sound suddenly came from the sky. Just as some soldiers were wondering what this sound was, the whistling sound quickly grew louder, and then suddenly intensified at the end, turning into a violent roar.
"Boom!!"
A powerful explosion detonated on the position almost without warning. In the direction of the artillery array, a huge ball of fire erupted, the impact and flames sweeping around, dust splashing up everywhere. The soldiers and artillery nearby were instantly swallowed by the explosion, disappearing without a trace. Those a little further away were knocked to the ground, crying loudly, covered in blood. Soldiers at a greater distance were so scared they quickly lay down, the splashing dust in the air falling on them.
For a time, fire erupted everywhere on the position, and the surroundings were filled with shouts and curses. This one explosion was more effective than all the alarm bells. The soldiers throughout the position who had been asleep were suddenly startled awake. They looked around in surprise, asking about the cause of the explosion. Most people were asking if some logistics idiot had blown up the stored ammunition, but what happened next let them know what the truth really was.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
After the first explosion ended, consecutive explosions began to continuously ring out over the position. Lotus-like fireballs bloomed on the position and the surrounding desert. The intense roar and vibration instantly swept across the entire land. Countless people who hadn't had time to hide in the shelters were directly taken away by this series of explosions. These explosions were like drum mallets, hitting the hearts of the Savior Sect soldiers on the scene again and again. Only then did they realize that this was not an accidental ammunition explosion, but that they were being shelled! Shelled by the enemy!
After realizing this point, the soldiers at the positions quickly prepared to organize an artillery counterattack. However, they had already been suppressed by the enemy's initial shelling. Several of their few cannons had been destroyed, making a counterattack almost impossible. Having suffered significant casualties, the remaining soldiers could only huddle in the shelters. At this moment, the only confusion in the minds of these panicked soldiers was: How did the enemy's artillery reach here? Wasn't it impossible for even reconnaissance soldiers to sneak in between them?
...
Meanwhile, on the other side of the desert, over a dozen cannons were set up in a line, forming an array. Their dark muzzles pointed towards the sky, roaring and firing continuously under the soldiers' operation, pouring ammunition towards the distance amidst the roar.
Such scenes appeared in various corners of the desert. On the periphery of the spirits alert zone, several artillery positions were simultaneously pouring fire onto the enemy's positions in the distance, the silent dawn broken by the roar of the cannons.
These cannons came from all over Adus. Over a continuous week of transport, the artillery, ammunition, and elite troops from various battlefields and units across Adus were concentrated here to participate in the final battle of the Adus civil war. These cannons had various models; the inferior ones produced domestically in Adus were used to shell ordinary enemy positions, while the advanced and precise cannons imported from the great powers of the Main Continent were used to bombard the enemy's artillery positions and front-line command posts. Due to years of war, Adus had accumulated quite a number of cannons. The total number of cannons gathered at the Revolutionary Army's various positions was more than ten times that of the Kanak defenders.
Just as countless cannons were bombarding the positions ahead, the many spirits wandering in the alert zone gathered at this time under some kind of control. Ghosts, zombies, and skeletons were assembling together and launching an attack towards the artillery positions. They raised the firearms in their hands and charged towards the soldiers on the positions while firing. However, the bullets they fired were blocked by a wide ice wall that rapidly condensed. The solid ice, which was almost impossible to exist in the desert, blocked the incoming bullets, protecting the soldiers behind it.
Behind the ice wall, Shadi, dressed in a general's uniform, flipped out. Facing the numerous undead soldiers charging directly at him, his expression remained unchanged. He raised his hand and unleashed a wide-range Undead Expulsion. Instantly, those undead not under strong control scattered as if they had encountered something they were extremely afraid of, dropping their firearms and turning to flee. Some of the zombies and skeletons that were deeply affected were even directly expelled of the spirits attached to them, causing the entire skeleton to fall apart and the zombie to collapse to the ground. The remaining skeletons were blown apart by the various grenades thrown from behind the ice wall, completely disrupting the entire attack formation.
Seeing such a terrifying undead army collapse in front of Shadi with a single blow, the Revolutionary Army soldiers on the scene erupted in a surge of cheers. Upon seeing that these dead people could be dealt with so easily, the morale of all the soldiers greatly increased. Just then, Shadi also shouted loudly.
"Go! Warriors of Adus, this is the last battle, for Adus!"
Following Shadi's loud shout, the military horn for advancement was also blown among the soldiers. The Revolutionary Army soldiers, encouraged, advanced forward one after another. As they advanced to the front of the ice wall, the solid ice blocking their path immediately disappeared. The Revolutionary Army soldiers thus marched towards the wild spirits of the dead.
Standing still, Shadi looked at the advancing army, looking at the distant artillery fire that had not fallen. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Then he fumbled around on himself, took out a piece of paper, and unfolded it. What appeared before Shadi was a complete Kanak defense map, marking the location of every front-line position and artillery fire point. Shadi's artillery relied on the information on this map to suppress Kanak's positions with artillery fire from the start, directly destroying the enemy's artillery counterattack capability and allowing his troops to advance safely.
"No counterattack... What incredibly accurate intelligence capabilities, truly terrifying..." Looking at the map in his hand, Shadi muttered in amazement. At this moment, he was sincerely grateful that he was not standing on the opposite side of the Judge of Heaven.
With such detailed intelligence in hand, and enjoying an absolute advantage in troop strength and firepower, it would be difficult for Shadi to lose this battle.
Of course, this situation is only valid on the premise that there is no intervention of higher-level Extraordinary powers from the other side, and this possibility is not nonexistent.
...
After the first sound of artillery fire, outside the long alert zone, from several directions, several Revolutionary Army units, totaling about 70,000 troops, launched a pincer attack towards Kanak. Battles broke out simultaneously in all directions around Kanak. Countless Revolutionary Army soldiers advanced towards the undead alert zone, and led by professional Extraordinary of the "Silent," the Revolutionary Army soldiers quickly cleared the path of the undead using firearms and thrown bombs, launching an attack towards Kanak.
For a time, the vast undead alert zone was filled with fighting and enemies everywhere. Several large armies invaded the alert zone from various directions simultaneously. The intelligence detected by the undead poured into Kanak City like snowflakes, heading towards the intelligence center composed of members of the Netherworld Coffin Society.
Since these numerous Investigation undead did not have the subjective initiative to prioritize intelligence, every battle report from this large battlefield was transmitted back in full detail. 70,000 troops, over a dozen attack directions, a long front line width, a large number of fire engagements of varying scales, and artillery bombardments...
The massive amount of intelligence instantly overwhelmed Kanak's not-so-large intelligence center. The mountain-like heavy workload immediately crushed Kanak's intelligence receivers and analysts. No matter how hard they worked, they couldn't process this massive amount of intelligence. The entire Kanak intelligence center fell into chaos. Such a large amount of battlefield information had far exceeded the information processing capacity limit of this small intelligence center. This was not an amount of information that an ordinary human brain could handle. Before long, the entire intelligence center was directly paralyzed by the immense workload. Intelligence from the Ghost could not be accurately sent to the corresponding positions on the front line, which also threw the various positions into chaos.
In this chaotic intelligence center, a huge amount of intelligence feedback from the Ghost was ignored because there wasn't enough time to process it. One of these pieces of intelligence described it this way... "About twenty kilometers east of Kanak, a small flying object is moving rapidly north. It seems to be two people riding a flying carpet..."
...
On the chaotic battlefield, away from the main fighting, a swift shadow was flying at high speed. Looking closely, it was clearly a flying carpet suspended a few meters above the ground and moving rapidly. On the flying carpet, two figures were currently riding: Dorothy and Naifnis, dressed in robes and headscarves.
"Miss Dorothy... The fighting has already started over there. Are we really okay not going to help?"
Amidst the whistling wind, Naifnis looked out at the direction where the roaring artillery fire was sounding, saying with some worry in her heart. Dorothy immediately responded.
"Don't worry, just leave the front to Shadi. Our importance here is no less than theirs, or rather, they are the cover, and we are the key."
Dorothy responded this way. As she spoke, she controlled the exquisite carpet beneath her to accelerate its flight. At this moment, they looked very much like the Arabs riding magic carpets in fairy tales. Unfortunately, the carpet under Dorothy's feet was just an ordinary carpet without magic. What was truly carrying Dorothy and Naifnis was a large square steel plate covered by the flying carpet. Dorothy was using magnetic force to control the steel plate to achieve this high-speed flight off the ground.
And their destination was Dead Eagle Valley within the Long Knife Mountains ahead. The towering mountains had already appeared in Dorothy's sight. With the time and route Dorothy had specifically chosen, they were rapidly approaching the Lakheman Royal Tomb without being noticed by anyone.
...
North of Kanak, among the towering mountains not far from Kanak, there is a desolate valley devoid of life and full of strange rocks. On one side of the wall of this long valley, there is a large dark cave entrance. In front of that entrance, various supplies are piled up, and tents are set up.
Deep inside the large cave in the valley wall, a high wall carved with exquisite murals can be seen. And on this high wall, there is also a large hole. Following that wall hole deeper, there is a series of walls and seemingly blasted wall holes. And behind the last blasted wall hole, there is an extremely vast underground space.
Six tall stone pillars are neatly arranged in two rows, supporting the entire tall underground space. Between the stone pillars is a wide flat area paved with neat floor tiles. In the center of the flat area, a huge "Silent" magic array emitting a faint light is projected. In the center of the magic array, a small iron cup engraved with encircling skeletons is suspended. At the end of the stone pillar rows, there is a staircase leading upwards. At the end of the staircase is a dark, cold, nearly ten-meter-high giant door carved into the mountain wall.
Beneath that giant door, a large number of wooden boxes are currently piled up. In some of the opened wooden boxes, neatly arranged explosives can be seen. And in front of the giant door, several soldiers are currently walking towards it, carrying more explosives on their shoulders.
Moen, who had just walked into the large underground hall, saw this scene. After frowning, he shouted loudly.
"What are you doing! Put that stuff down! Now is not the time to pile up explosives!"
Listening to Moen's words, some of the soldiers stopped. They looked at Moen and then replied.
"Mr. Moen, there's an unexpected situation now. Shadi has officially launched a full-scale attack. The situation is extremely critical at the moment. Captain Shahabu ordered us to immediately blast open the ceremonial chamber! There's no time to lose!"