Mr. Helian’s smile faltered for a moment before he composed himself and said, "The Rui Song Federation practices a system of compulsory military service. Men and women who reach the age of sixteen must serve in the military for one year. I participated in the military in my earlier years, which is probably why the Lord has misunderstood."
Although Mr. Helian appeared undisturbed on the surface, his heart was already churning with turbulent waves. He had just listened to the young Lord talking big, originally thinking that the other party was just a youth skilled at beguiling people. But now, it seems he was the one who was mistaken.
"It doesn’t matter if you don’t admit it, I’m not interested in knowing what a Federation soldier is doing at the border of the Empire. But since you’re here, and you’ve encountered the beast tide, don’t stand idly by. Head outside and join in repelling the beast tide," Yue Jinghua used to be a female spy; back then, she had been on a mission in the East Caucasus area with several ex-soldiers.
According to them, some habits of soldiers seep into their bones, and Mr. Helian was the same. Even though he tried his best to disguise the way he spoke, when he walked, his eyes were sharp as eagles, his hands naturally hung at his sides, and every step he took formed a straight line, as if measured with a ruler.
Such habits would never be found in a recruit who only enlisted for a year.
The Rui Song Federation and the Dragon War Empire may seem to coexist peacefully on the surface, but the overt and covert struggles between the two powerful nations over the past few centuries are no secret.
Although Yue Jinghua is a Lord of the Dragon War Empire, she does not have much affection for the Empire. For her, one more person now means an extra hand.
Even someone as calm and composed as Mr. Helian had never imagined that he would one day help the Dragon War Empire defend its territory. If that got back to the Federation, wouldn’t he be the laughingstock? He had never seen anyone as thick-skinned as this young Lord, actually making such a request of a passing traveler.
After thinking it over, Mr. Helian decided to politely decline Yue Jinghua’s request.
"Lord, I am a civil servant in the military, not skilled in charging into battle," Mr. Helian said, reverting to his amiable smile.
"Here you go again, not being sincere. With your tall stature and strong arms, especially the right arm, which is exceptionally strong, you are definitely an expert with long-range weapons," the young Lord scrutinized Mr. Helian’s physique critically, his expression seemed to say, "Just confess."
"..." Mr. Helian found it difficult to speak, and unfortunately, Yue Jinghua had guessed right again—he was indeed skilled at ranged attacks.
"Don’t just stand there; you are responsible for teaming up with Hongling as an assault unit. Do your job well, and after it’s done, we’ll discuss business," Yue Jinghua said earnestly while patting Mr. Helian’s shoulder, then casually tossed him a shoddy Low-level Earth Bow as if she were the head of the Federation Army.
A mix of green and red flashed across Mr. Helian’s face, and he felt like vomiting blood. He was a civil officer, a civil officer, damn it. Was that young man deaf? To hell with doing a good job.
Outside the village, the growling of the Dark Beasts grew closer. Thinking of the cluster of Ice Bamboo outside, Mr. Helian touched the Earth Bow in his hand and headed out of the village with a stiff resolve.
"Awoo, awoo, awooo----"
A large number of Stone-eating Fragrant Pigs came tumbling down like a landslide of falling rocks, and as Hongling and others stepped out of the village, they found that what Yue Jinghua said was true.
This beast tide was larger than any before, with a rough estimate of a few thousand Stone-eating Fragrant Pigs, among which were mixed about a dozen Two-headed Ice and Fire Wolves.
The Two-headed Ice and Fire Wolf was a Middle-level Mountain Beast with innate Water and Fire attributes. Its two heads, one on the left and one on the right, with the Fire Wolf Head on the left capable of spewing out a wall of fire over a yard high, and the right head shooting out Ice Arrows thick as an arm.
Compared to the Fragrant Pigs, the Two-headed Wolves also possessed lower intelligence but were more troublesome. They charged forth, bounding into a field sowed with winter wheat, with one head spewing out a fiery wall.
With a whoosh, the fire wall immediately scorched the entire field of crops red, and the nearby cotton trees suffered collateral damage.
Although Helian Sheng was forced to come out to meet the enemy, his military instincts were fully displayed once he stepped onto the battlefield.
Seeing the situation at hand, he said in a deep voice, "Shoot the Two-headed Wolves, let the villagers with shields go first."
These dozen or so selected shield-maidens, each with broad waists and strong builds from farm work, held human-sized shields sourced from the storehouse. Each shield was taller than a person and much wider than two put together.
Upon hearing Helian Sheng’s command, the shield-maidens raised their shields, clang clang clang, the dozens of shields simultaneously blocked off the wall of fire.
Hongling performed a hawk dive to soar into the sky, jumping onto a nearby tree with her Jade Bi Bow in hand, she aimed at the leading Two-headed Wolf. Her eyes narrowed and "thwang", an incredibly powerful Dark Energy Arrow shot out.
The arrow was beautifully shot, bursting the right head of the Two-headed Wolf with a single hit.
The injured Two-headed Wolf let out a relentless fury, as Ice Arrows rained down like swift showers. Hongling’s Jade Bi Bow occasionally released Mystic Arrows, but she alone ultimately couldn’t withstand the attacks from several Two-headed Wolves.
What’s worse, among the dozen or so Two-headed Wolves, several had already split into different directions to form assault forces, charging towards the crop fields, the village, and Ice Lake.
With only Hongling and a dozen villagers, they could only hold one front at most.
Leave this side to you, I’ll go support the village," Helian Sheng could see Hongling was proficient in archery, and understood she alone could hold the crop fields.
His military instincts forced him not to let the village be attacked by Dark Beasts. Helian Sheng suddenly leaped high, breaking into the Stone-eating Fragrant Pig herd.
"This is bad, Mr. Helian, you mustn’t act recklessly," if surrounded by the pig herd, there would only be one way out: death. Especially since he only had an ordinary Low-level Earth Bow, Hongling was extremely anxious.
Helian Sheng, however, didn’t care, he discarded the Earth Bow. He was good at long-range attacks, but not with bows and arrows, rather...
From Helian Sheng’s right wide sleeve, something slipped out, a black, conspicuous object against the snowy ground.
As he was falling, the object in his hand made a "clack" sound, aimed at the pig herd.
"Boom," a two-foot-wide snow hole suddenly appeared in the snowy ground, several Xiang Pigs were directly blown away.
"Tsk tsk, Dark Crystal Bombs, each costing a hundred Third-level Dark Pills. This civil servant from the Federation really is rich," at the entrance of the village, Yue Jinghua shrugged her shoulders upon hearing the familiar yet strange sound of the explosion.
Even so, facing thousands of Xiang Pigs, unless it was the Federation Artillery Camp, it was still hard for a single bomb to contend with so many pigs.
"It’s time for the finale to take the stage," Yue Jinghua watched the increasingly dense swarm of Dark Beasts, muttering under her breath. A Six-star Array appeared, followed immediately by the illumination of a House Star Array.
In the midst of the Star Light, Yue Jinghua smiled slyly and said: "Xuan Beast Ridge, tremble."