The death of Sigismund was a strange experience. It was something that I would have to get used to. The people around me will wither and die while I will remain here. Death from war was something painfully normal for me. The death of old age was something I wouldn't experience myself. At least a second time, although I suspected the last time didn't really count. People would come and go while I would remain forever as the guardian of their past and future alike. Fortunately, I wasn't going to be alone. My wives would remain by my side and only time would tell how much I was going to feel its passing. However, to remain the guardian of my people I had a war to win. So far, I had managed somehow to avoid critical and irreversible mistakes. But now, the war entered a phase where even a hesitation could turn fatal if I overlooked the opportunity to increase the pressure on my enemy.

  I was walking through the exposition part of the Palace's greenhouse, where Lavender placed many plants she found beautiful, and I was thinking. Galahad was right. Vestargo had lost more than just momentum. His attacks had become desperate, his forces more focused than ever before, and he was only defending the most important things in his forest. Although, I still didn't understand the reason why the mushroom fairy rings were worth dying for. Nonetheless, his forces tried to lure us into the forest, a tactic that was absolutely pointless against my Immortal Legions. The undead moved with a purpose and they would never give chase to a fleeing enemy unless ordered to do so. They would watch an enemy flee in silence, allowing them to feel a small dose of hope.

  A deceiving hope that fleeing was possible.

  But the Immortal Legions walked forward. Ever relentless. Always merciless.

  But, that was beyond the point. The point was Vestargo was acting way different from the predictions and his usual behaviour. That... Annoyingly complicated things. Normally, I would execute a few probing attacks and, then, depending on how they went, I would seize the opportunity to strike a major assault. That would work if I could send spy satellites into orbit and cover the entire Ancient Forest with live surveillance. An excellent idea but absolutely impossible to execute at my current technology level. Ignoring the problem of actually sending anything to orbit, I needed advanced computers for satellites and I couldn't just replace them with golems. I tried that. Without proper and safe communication, any satellite was just a piece of junk orbiting the planet. Anyway, until we figured out something, I was forced to use good, old infiltration and reconnaissance methods to learn what my enemies were doing. Of course, infiltrating Vestargo was nigh impossible which was infuriating. So it was an impasse.

  He seemed too weak to resist any serious forced incursions but I had no targets to choose from because I had no data.

  I sighed and dropped into a lounger near a small pond that doubled as a pool. White flowers of the orange trees spread their pleasant and intense scent around, allowing one to relax, creating a space to think. Something I currently needed. The best way to lose this war was to make a wrong decision at the wrong time. Being too aggressive would likely overstrain my supply chains. One of the most important rules of war was the simple fact that the side with better logistics usually wins. In a clash between powers that could largely ignore the long-term consequences of waging a war of attrition, largely because frontline soldiers would simply respawn, logistics played a crucial role. My armies were complex and well-regulated machines, relying equally on the power of Arcadian superior technology and magic. Vestargo's armies were formed around one idea: swarming his enemies and overrunning them with unbelievable numbers.

  "That would never work against my Skeletons..." I mused to myself as I watched a solitary butterfly flapping its wings and heading toward one of the orange tree flowers. "The difference in skill and equipment completely nullifies his numerical superiority..."

  I replayed one of the recorded battles of a single centuriae of the Fourth Legion. Outnumbered ten to one, my Legionnaires crushed the enemies with ease. In terms of raw strength and readiness, my soldiers were unparalleled in the entire continent. No... I needed to focus on something larger. I summoned the map of the battlefront and observed it in silence. The war theatre was a more or less, a straight line. It looked impressive until you zoomed out and saw the mind-crushing scale of Arcadia and the Ancient Forest. For all intents and purposes, the thousand kilometres long battleline was barely noticeable. However... There was one logical move I could make.

  "Hmmm..." I hummed to myself and felt a gentle pressure on my shoulder.

  Tia leaned over me with a warm smile but got serious seeing my expression.

  "What are you thinking about?" The Nekomi asked with a melodic voice.

  "About attacking Vestargo from a completely different direction," I said with a quiet voice that surprised her.

  In a flash, we were back in my office in Triskelion and I stood leaning behind the detailed holographic map of the Ancient Forest displayed on the massive table. With a few mental commands I forced the map to rotate, zoom, and display all the data I needed over the units.

  "For the past months, I had kept a fairly uniform battlefront. I tended to agree with Galahad- we had weakened Vestargo but we couldn't accurately assess how much." I said as a very dangerous plan started gaining details in my head. Tia calmly observed the map, her experienced eyes tracked the attack vectors and troop distribution across the war theatre. Her brilliant and talented mind considered what I just said.

  "We can execute a raid, but if we don't capture anything important, we might lose more irreplaceable soldiers and sailors, my Love." She said carefully, with her hand still holding my shoulder.

  I felt her nervous grip tighten.

  "This will be a raid like no other before." I nodded quietly. "Dauntless and Relentless will lead the charge."

  I raised my hand and pointed toward the Holy Grove, a place Vestargo shouldn't be able to enter. I put my hand on the table and, as I smiled, I tapped the wooden surface, drumming a rhythm with my nails.

  "If Luna can get the teleportation coordinates from memory, that's great, but even if she can't, sending a Slime won't be a problem." I slowly explained with my thoughts running rampant and unbound. "The fleet will attack across a single incursion vector and will move forward until they find a Dungeon. Once they stumble upon anything, they will deploy the Praetorians and Morrigan whose task will be to assume control."

  "What if they don't find anything?" Tia rested both hands on the table and forced the hologram to play further. "Do you expect them to just fly across the Ancient Forest?"

  "Yes." I briefly nodded, smiling the whole time. "If they don't find anything, they will just continue their flight. They won't be doing anything, just flying at full speed. I know it's dangerous, but I doubt they will be in any real danger."

  "You just assume that most, if not all, Vestargo's forces are engaged in the western front." Her eyes narrowed and she slowly shook her head. "I don't think that Aoi will be excited for this plan..."

  "She won't be thrilled, that's certain." I shrugged. "But the Navy will follow my orders. I know they will use any opportunity to inflict as much damage as possible on Vestargo. Even if they don't find anything, they can always execute a bombing run."

  "Certainly, Janet would love the idea." Tia nodded with a sigh. "Even the ground forces would be eager to do something like that, but it could be suicide."

  "That's why this is the Navy's job," I smirked.

  "Isn't that too risky?" She asked as she zoomed away towards the frontline. "The Navy is providing essential fire support and our ships are the mightiest anchors of any battle. Without them, Galahad will only have the Titans to rely on."

  She highlighted the position of Avalon's Wrath and Doom Herald.

  "And the third fleet." I highlighted the remaining ships without their flagship. "Valiant is undergoing modifications, but the rest of the fleet is very much operational."

  "That's true..." Tia hesitated. "But a dreadnought is pretty much equal in firepower to most of the fleet it leads."

  "Don't exaggerate..." I chuckled. "But certainly they are one fourth. Still, the remaining ships are capable of providing the firepower for a much wider area than a single dreadnought."

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  "Once I complete the super-heavy tanks, we can talk differently." She rolled her eyes. "So you want our fleet... to do what exactly? To run a scouting mission?"

  "You could say that..." I slowly nodded, thinking about how to better categorise the order, but she waved her hand dismissively.

  "I see what you are trying to achieve here, but I'm not sure if the risk is worth it. Wouldn't it be safer to cut into the forest anywhere from the existing frontline?"

  "Oh certainly." I shrugged. "But that would leave us where we started. I need diversion as well as information. Honestly, I would be happier if the battle group hadn't stumbled upon anything and they had just cut a straight line through the forest."

  Tia blinked at me with her ears twisting in confusion. Her tail was furiously coiling and she looked surprised.

  "But why? Such a mission has no strategic sense!"

  "I would argue with that." I shook my head. "Information and logistics win wars, Tia. We lack the first and are straining the second. This mission is aimed at sending Vestargo's forces into disarray and panic. I believe that we are close to gaining full control of the sky and, once that's done, the war will be pretty much over. To grow his Titans, Vestargo needs tremendous amounts of mana. We haven't seen any lately."

  "That's true..." She reluctantly agreed and fell silent.

  Aoi appeared a few moments later and looked at me with curiosity. I quickly described to her my idea and she nodded with a wry smile.

  "That should work as intended." Aoi enthusiastically nodded. "However, I wouldn't miss the opportunity to quite literally set Vestargo's ass on fire. During transit, the fleet should perform the indiscriminate bombing of the forest. That would force him to waste even more of his limited soldiers to put out the fires. That should provide additional help to Galahad at the front lines. I would like to find a Dungeon there and no matter what their crimes are, we need to capture it and use it as a deep outpost."

  "Well..." I hesitated but Aoi just gave me a glance that silenced me.

  "I don't suggest forgiving them for their crimes. I only want to keep them alive as long as they serve their purpose."

  "All right." I nodded and looked at Tia. "How is the work on the tanks and APCs going?"

  "Forward." She sighed. "I want the Armoured Core to be armed with smaller missiles, capable of being fired from the turrets of tanks and APCs. I also want the tank's main armament to be a good compromise between the fire rate and firepower. I think the 120mm cannon would work. As for the APCs... Well, we're somewhere torn between the 30mm cannon or ditching the cannon completely and replacing it with twin-linked CIWS. I personally favour the turret with two rotary cannons because if the infantry fighting vehicle has to use the main armament, it's going to use missiles anyway. The twin-linked CIWS would at least be useful for holding swarms at bay, not to mention any future battles against conventional infantry."

  "The twin-linked CIWS would drain the power storage in moments..." I pointed out.

  "Not necessarily..." She shrugged. "I have already talked with the engineers and they assured me that it's absolutely trivial to install a fire rate selector. We could use a much lower fire rate that would preserve the power while still making it a nightmare."

  "All right." I nodded.

  "Besides, once you revealed the new weapons for the infantry, the engineers entered a creative frenzy..."

  ???

  Rhys raised his weapon, squeezed the trigger, and sent a stream of blue Fire Lances toward the target. His team was moving through the training hall at the fastest pace he had ever recalled. He looked nervously at the sleek weapon and confirmed that he still had half of a magazine. Moments later, they finished the course and gathered in a telling silence. They looked at each other with their featureless visors, but thanks to the Living Armours, they knew exactly who was who.

  "Unbelievable..." Ren finally broke the silence and everyone nodded.

  All of them mocked the new weapon. Like, how the hell could they fight with something that had no blade? How could that silly thing called a trigger replace the good old runes’ activation process? It was a long, sleek piece made of various metals. They weren't laughing when the Emperor himself presented it. Bows? Crossbows? Laughable now. Their new weapon was a new type of magitech that changed everything.

  "I still can't believe how powerful this thing is..." Wes reloaded his weapon and stored it on his back where it was held firm by the special holster system of his Living Armour. Then he drew his sword and a pistol and tried a few stances.

  "The glaives with Magic Bullets runes were powerful, but this? Ridiculous..." Paul reloaded his weapon as well. Then he grinned. "There is something absurd in the way that reloading that bastard makes you feel."

  They all laughed at his remark.

  The assault rifle. They were, basically, miniaturised magi-cannons. It fired a supercharged Fire Lance spell and was powered by mana storage items called magazines. A single magazine was capable of firing fifty Lances before it ran out and changing them was terrifyingly fast and easy. Each one of them carried ten magazines and they could use their own mana to recharge them.

  "I personally like the assault shield and pistol." Hakkan grinned and raised his monstrous shield that could stop the Fire Lance fired by a mage or an assault rifle.

  It was so heavy that only a few people could actually use it in combat, even though their strength was significantly boosted by the Living Armour. His pistol was a smaller version of the Assault Rifle, and it fired an Arcane Bullet spell. Still effective enough to kill level one hundred training denizens if you hit them enough times. In addition, he could switch his shield to a sword and still use the ranged weapon. Or pistol to sword and do it the old-fashioned way. The new Imperial arsenal would change future battles into slaughters. Their weapons were designed especially for the mobile infantry. Actual monsters compared to old magi-cannons installed on the sail airships. They had lighter and smaller weapons for the regular Guardsmen.

  "I believe that you are happy?" posited Jasper, who was sitting on the supply crates with various types of weapons they were testing, as he laughed.

  In the open crates rested pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, designated marksman rifles, heavy machine guns, and even the rotary guns. Judging by the tests they finished, there was enough firepower to take over a decently sized country.

  "We probably will be once we calm down." Rhys sighed as his helmet folded away. "Now… we are shocked."

  "You probably should be." The Ratkin Scion agreed with a shrug. "It's not an everyday occurrence that you obtain weapons like that."

  "But how the hell were the Guardsmen going to use them? Or how can we use them? I don't remember having a skill for this!" Hakkan's shield disappeared in his storage as the massive Human pointed at the huge pistol in his hand.

  "Of course, you have a skill for that." Jasper chuckled as his tail coiled in amusement. "Projectile Weapon Mastery."

  They looked at him in stunned shock before their eyes went wide.

  "I thought that skill was for bows!" Ren almost protested.

  "How else could you use your glaives?" Jasper looked at him with a smug grin.

  "Damn it..." Rhys shook his head then gasped in shock. "Wait, wait, wait!"

  He lifted his Assault Rifle and touched a larger barrel attached to the main body that made everything look even more aggressive. He kneeled and aimed at the large Wyvern walking in the distance. He took in the air and smiled.

  "Starfire Arrow." He cast the skill and a shard of light fired from his rifle.

  The fragment of bright light hit the training denizen straight in the torso and exploded. The Wyvern died instantly in a gruesome fountain of gore that swiftly turned into ash as it returned to its spawner.

  "Yep. That would be it. Everyone else is pretty much fucked if they become our enemies." Rhys started laughing menacingly and patted his rifle with affection. "I love it."

  "Just wait for the Infantry Fighting Vehicles and Tanks." Jasper added with a smug smirk. "Magic is all great and fancy but technology gives you control you can only dream of over using magic alone. That's why the Emperor is such a great fan of magitech. Why resign from something when you can have both? Anyway, you know the orders. Find the weaknesses of those weapons. If you don't break them by the end of the week, it means you haven't tried hard enough…"

  ???

  "Clown's Diary!" A man in the darkness bellowed, causing everyone in the vicinity to almost die from a heart attack. "Infiltrating the Ibrevellian Kingdom, day... Yes. Another one. Probably."

  "HONK." An unblemished white goose waddled behind the man with clearly malicious intentions, making everyone grab their weapons.

  But it was too late. Out of nowhere, woodchopping axes started flying from impossible directions, butchering the Elves. Jester looked at the goose with concern.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Honk." The goose nodded and gracefully jumped on the handle of the axe buried deep in the back of the Elven Captain.

  "Damn..." Jester scratched the back of his head. "I know that the Empress is going to be delighted, but the Emperor will be slightly disappointed."

  "HONK!!" The goose raised her wings.

  "No, no. You’ve got me wrong!" He raised his hands and rapidly shook his head. Teaching a goose how to summon magic axes, maybe, wasn't his best idea but, by the Gods, it was so hilarious. "Peace was never an option. But the Emperor wanted to take care of the Elves after he finished with Vestargo."

  "Honk." The goose shrugged, jumped to the ground, and waddled away.

  "What do you mean that we can take care of everything?!" Jester sharply turned around and looked at the Goose with shock. "Hey! Wait for me!"

  Thank you all for reading.

  I wish you all a great day and as always I wait for your comments.

  A big thanks to who edited the chapter!

  The map of Aderon is on my Discord :)

  https://discord.gg/G6SVrBeDdG