Chapter Twenty-Eight: Fireworks

On the small island, the green fiends were still baring their fangs and claws at the helicopter above when suddenly a shadow descended from the sky.

Boom!

A terrifying explosion echoed across the heavens, flames engulfing dozens of green fiends, and the accompanying shockwave shattered the innards of those nearby.

The green fiends, once so ferocious, were momentarily stunned.

On the aircraft, Fireworks held a telescope in one hand and a radio in the other. "Deviation about three hundred meters. Mark one on the scale. Second triangulated test shot."

A few seconds later, a distant rumble could be heard, followed by another shell landing precisely among the densely clustered pits on the island's hillside.

Boom!

The violent blast collapsed dozens of cave entrances, making the entire hill tremble.

"Target hit. Full company, fire. Carpet bombing."

As the green fiends stared in bewilderment, the sky in the distance was dotted with black shadows, and the air was soon filled with deafening explosions and a rain of fire.

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Shells rained relentlessly upon the hill, tens of thousands of green fiends perished in an instant. Some were crushed by the collapsing earth, others trampled in panic by their companions, and most were blown apart by the explosions.

The thunderous blasts drowned out their wails as flames consumed their bodies. Whether the lowliest green fiend or the high priests, great green fiends, or shamans, none could escape the inferno.

Under artillery fire, all were equal.

A few minutes later, the barrage ceased, the flames no longer soared, and the roar of the cannons faded away.

Now, on the swamp-bound island, the green fiends that once crawled over every inch had vanished, leaving only scorched earth. The hill that served as their nest had long since disappeared, flattened by the relentless bombardment.

The guide party's hunter squad was left gaping, their shock mingled with a strange, inexplicable emotion.

Is this it?!

The disaster that had caused such turmoil, the green fiend plague, was resolved in less than two minutes? Are you kidding me? Wasn't this supposed to require the whole kingdom to mobilize? Wasn't it meant to threaten the world itself?

The spearhead unit's task officially began. Helicopters descended slowly onto the scorched earth as each squad set out to search and confirm the status of their targets.

After an hour of thorough searching, with no survivors found, the helicopters took off once more and departed with flair.

As the helicopter squad vanished over the horizon, on a stretch of land a few hundred meters to the right of the green fiend nest, a group of mysterious figures in black robes appeared suddenly.

"The power of that attack just now was at the level of a lesser Royal Artifact."

"From the images returned by the Eyes of Observation, it's not a Royal Artifact, just ten strange metal constructs—at most, they're Noble Artifacts."

"Those things have no flow of energy."

"Let's report to His Majesty."

The black-robed figures shimmered, their bodies turning transparent before fading away completely.

...

Far away, other shadowy figures watched the scorched earth from afar.

"Let’s withdraw for now," rasped a harsh voice from a figure towering over two meters.

"Damn it! Everything was going so well—human greed and filthy power struggles had already stalled the Dawn Kingdom! Give us another month and we would have completed the task! But why..." The short black-robed figure stomped furiously.

"Why did these meddlesome people have to appear?"

"You were too greedy. When they showed up, we should have pulled back," said another, tilting his head slightly. His crimson eyes, hidden in the shadows, saw a different scene.

"Withdraw? We worked so hard to entangle all sides and create this situation—how can we just walk away?" the short figure turned, voicing his anger.

"All because of that patch of black hair on their heads? Mere mortals!"

"Your precious green fiends lasted less than two minutes before them—before mere mortals," the tall figure bent slightly, darkness beneath his cloak.

The short figure stepped back. "They're still mortals. They can't use energy; we can kill them with curses."

"No energy means their souls haven’t awakened. We can’t kill them all—only targeted curses."

"Then let’s slay the extraordinary ones! Capture their spirits. Aren’t you curious where these people came from?"

...

At the other end of Daina Territory, Count Daina led his knights in a charge against the green fiends.

The battle unfolded as before—humans dominated, only to eventually falter and scatter. Before the endless mass of green fiends, all felt despair.

Suddenly, as the human army was on the verge of losing its advantage to fatigue, the vast ocean of green fiends began to stir.

The fiends no longer charged fearlessly; instead, they scattered in panic, attacking their own companions!

Count Daina stared in disbelief, then joy bloomed across his face. "The Green Fiend King is dead?"

He quickly regained his composure, raising his golden knight’s sword high as a surge of energy roared like a storm, forming an invisible blade dozens of meters long.

"Full army, pursue! Don’t let a single green fiend escape!"

Count Daina led the charge, his blade as supple and sharp as a whip, cleaving hundreds of fiends in an instant.

Victory was within reach; morale soared.

Now, if they didn’t slaughter as many green fiends as possible, Daina Territory would become the part of Dawn Kingdom with the most green fiend tribes.

...

Orlina Territory.

Victorious soldiers returned amidst the cheers of countless civilians. Orlina herself sat atop the tank barrel, waving endlessly, surrounded by her crew.

Though the Genlian soldiers couldn’t understand the locals’ words, it didn’t stop them from basking in the crowd’s adulation.

Inside the armored vehicle, Aimeya watched Orlina’s broad smile outside, her own face solemn and troubled.

Qin Le noticed the elf's grave expression and asked, "What’s wrong?"

"I have a bad feeling," Aimeya replied, stroking her chin. For some reason, she sensed something was about to happen.

"It's probably just your imagination," Qin Le said, lowering his head to review documents for another report.

Although the portal had been expanded enough to allow large machinery through, its consumption had also increased. The power Qin Le gained as a first-tier extraordinary was just enough to balance the cost.

Simply put, the gate was larger now, but its duration had not increased.

Currently, the portal's transport capacity was at its limit; they couldn’t expand the base further. Otherwise, just maintaining the base would consume all available transport power.

Genlian forces had firmly established themselves in the new world, and this military action had demonstrated enough deterrent force. Further expansion was meaningless—transport capacity would not support it.

"What are you writing?" Aimeya leaned in, curious about the unfamiliar script on the paper.

"A report," Qin Le replied offhandedly. "In terms you’d understand, it’s a request for recognition."

"Recognition?" Aimeya looked at Qin Le in surprise. "Tsk tsk tsk, I didn’t think you’d be the type to seek credit."

Previously, Qin Le had struck her as one of those stubborn old knights, always talking about honor and lords—now he was actively pursuing personal gain.

Aimeya gave Qin Le a look as if she was seeing him for the first time.

Qin Le flicked the elf’s forehead, making her quickly withdraw her head and retort, "What do you mean, 'someone like me'? Isn’t it normal to get rewards for contributions? I work myself half to death here. If I don’t get promoted or a raise, am I supposed to work for nothing?"

"Hmph. Yet you used to act like you’d sacrifice everything for your country," Aimeya said, rubbing her forehead, a bit aggrieved.

Qin Le replied, "What’s the conflict between serving the country and seeking personal benefit? Comrade Aimeya, you must understand—the country is a collection of interests. Everyone has the right to obtain their legitimate benefits."

"Huh? Isn’t that only for nobles..." Aimeya stopped mid-sentence, realizing Qin Le’s country had no nobility.

And the country as a collection of interests? She’d learned a new term.

Aimeya silently committed the phrase to memory, then continued to ask, "What do you want? Red gold?"

"You’ll know in time."

A dozen minutes later, Aimeya’s bad premonition seemed to come true.

In the castle, a room converted into a conference chamber, the logistics chief was pounding the table in fury.

"Are you firing shells like fireworks? In half a day, you’ve used up almost a month’s stock of ammunition!" Though he knew that with such overwhelming numbers of green fiends, even using up all their ammo wouldn’t wipe them out, managing to destroy the Fiend King was already a great achievement.

Still, he couldn’t help but curse. The ones enjoying the battle were making life miserable for logistics.

As the saying goes: fireworks on the front line, curses in logistics.

The artillery colonel looked at Qin Le with pleading eyes. Qin Le quietly turned away, pretending not to see, as did the other officers.

Orlina quietly munched her biscuits, not knowing what had happened, but judging from the expressions, someone was getting a scolding.

Aimeya continued to frown, uneasy, feeling that something ominous was brewing.