Chapter 596: Hot Autumn (IV)

The carriage stopped in front of the trenches on the front line. The dark gray reinforced soil formed a trench wall in front of the defense node. Every breath in the world covered by shadows seemed to be chilly.

The Vatican troops wearing gray and somewhat tattered clothes were waiting for the arrival of a new batch of redemption troops. They used rifles to command the redemption troops to gather, and a centurion led these redemption troops to where they should go.

The Crusader Centurions on the front line were significantly different from the Centurions in the rear. Their clothes had indelible blood stains, and they only had protective armor on key parts.

They abandoned the full-coverage armor of ordinary centurions and only kept the armor on key parts to make it more convenient to move on the battlefield.

What was more noticeable was the long-barreled rifle carried by each centurion. It was the first time Luke saw centurions using long-range weapons on a large scale.

‘It’s not a flintlock rifle. 'Luke looked at the weapon in his hand and compared it with the centurion's weapon, but found that their rifles were more sophisticated and did not have the complicated parts of his weapon.

Luke looked around. There were only continuous dark gray mounds and connected deep trenches, which did not match the characteristics of the camp in his impression.

There were no houses, no facilities, and not many people on the ground. There were only ditches, hillsides and iron thorns... and tattered red and white cross flags scattered on the battlefield. It seemed that no one had managed it for a long time.

The iron thorns hung with the corpses of beast-like monsters as high as a person. The blackened trench sandbags exuded an unpleasant smell of rust. The dark soil was mixed with wood spikes and steel. A pile of cross tombstones made of temporary wood were inserted in the distance.

"That's the cemetery for you." The Crusader Centurion who led them sneered: "It's also for us."

The 97th team followed the Centurion tremblingly through the trench area, until the Centurion stopped behind a trench with a wooden pole, and they found a wooden door half covered by mud.

"They didn't come back, this trench is yours."

The Crusader Centurion on the front line kicked open the trench, revealing the underground living room dug by the previous team of the Redemption Army, allowing the dirty air in the trench to escape naturally.

This trench, which had been abandoned for an unknown period of time, was mixed with the stagnant smell produced by life, and formed a strong smell in the fermentation of time. The Centurion who led them kicked open the tattered closed wooden door completely.

The passage leading to the underground defense line of the trench looked more like a deep pit leading to hell after the wooden door was opened.

The expiration soldiers all frowned involuntarily. Some of them had already grabbed their clothes to cover their mouths and noses. The excitement of the expiration soldiers for gaining freedom was suddenly hit by the tragic reality.

"Okay, you have ten minutes to ask questions."

The centurion ignored the physical disgust shown by the expiration soldiers, as if he had gotten used to the state of the new expiration soldiers.

"Are we going to live underground?"

A expiration soldier asked.

"Yes, this is your future residence." The front-line centurion sneered and replied: "Don't think about running out. Those immortal things will not regard you as their own kind. They are ten times more dangerous than the demons you have seen. They can mobilize all the monsters you have seen."

"Clean up your trenches, don't lose people because of plague and disease... and..." The centurion's eyes under the steel helmet fell on several alchemists in the expiration army: "Take your alchemical poison and stay away from the trenches."

The Holy See is only responsible for grouping the expiration army and sending it to the front line, but not for their management, which has led to a mixed bag of people in the expiration army.

There are ordinary thieves, spellcasters who study spells, and alchemists who use alchemical poisons and alchemical puppets. A group of such people mixed together for a long time will inevitably cause casualties, but this is not something that the front-line troops of the Church need to consider. Many redemption soldiers will not live to see the outbreak of conflicts.

"Are there any rules?"

Another redemption soldier asked.

"No, there are only two rules here, complete the task, and do not kill each other... You can do anything you want here, including experiments, or other things you want to do, but don't make problems for me."

The centurion folded his hands:

"Don't think about running away, this is a warning, your trench is the safest place in this area, as for the guy who kills each other, I will personally chop off his head and hang it in front."

"Our enemy... is a beast?"

A redemption soldier obviously saw the large beast skeletons deeply embedded in the iron and wooden chevaux de frise outside. The large number of temporary chevaux de frise in front of the trench was obviously to block the assault of these monster infantry and monster cavalry.

But this cannot explain why there are underground fortifications behind the defense line.

"I hope so." There was a hint of chill and trembling in the centurion's voice: "They are human like us, but they control a group of monsters. I remember I killed a man once, his body disappeared, but the next day I could see him riding a horse to attack."

"They ordered the monsters to attack the defense line, and the deep pits and chevaux de frise were built to curb the monsters' attacks. Oh, you may have to check and repair the front-line fortifications soon."

"Their physical fitness is similar to that of ordinary people, no, they are completely ordinary people. You have an advantage in close combat... Use your poisons, spells, and bows and arrows well and you can still cause them considerable casualties."

So they used a large number of trenches to force the lords to come in and fight hand-to-hand.

"I will give you another piece of advice. There are two elite enemy troops on the front line... One is composed of a large number of large iron cans, and the other is composed of a large number of monster infantry and cavalry."

The centurion looked at the relaxed expression of the Redemption Army and sneered.

"If you see a large number of beast monsters gathered in one place, run as far as you can. The big iron cans will smash you like garbage from a few hundred meters away after discovering you. Previously, a group of redemption troops wanted to grab something from them, but they turned into rotten meat in two minutes."

But fortunately, these two elite troops rarely participate in attacks. They will only garrison at resource nodes. Our main enemies are still light mobile cavalry and enemy monster infantry and light artillery... You should be able to handle it.

"They won't leave corpses, but they will leave equipment... Ha, you will definitely not hand it in. You can keep the equipment for yourself or hand it in to the quartermaster in exchange for items."

The centurion pointed to several tattered military flags planted in the camp.

"If you need any supplies, go to the quartermaster. Yes, the quartermaster's station is under those tattered flags."