Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 587 - 580: New Legion

Chapter 587: Chapter 580: New Legion

The arduous journey lasted for about ten days. The carriages of the Church Court, although not the best at shock absorption, travelled at a considerable speed. About ten days after they departed, the Advance Team members reached the outskirts of the epidemic area. The Church Court army had set up a camp in the plains, next to an endless forest.

This was a new type of army, different from other Church Court forces. They wore identical uniforms and were divided into several square formations. Some were lining up, while others jogged. They copied the modern earth army training model entirely.

By this time, the steamships had already reached the closest ferries, and several carriages were bringing a significant amount of supplies into the camp. Luo’er noticed, since this was a newly formed force, it hadn’t developed battle capabilities yet. Therefore, the Church Court had assigned a group of more than 300 Temple Knights to protect the camp.

The group alighted from the carriages. The continuous jolting made their bodies weak. When Hu Daoke disembarked, he almost fell, luckily Cheng Ziang caught him.

At this point, an Aud officer who seemed to be in his twenties and had been awaiting them for some time approached them with his soldiers after spotting them. Luo’er was taken aback when he saw this man, he felt as though he had seen him somewhere before.

"What’s wrong?" Cheng Ziang noticed his discomfort and whispered to him.

"Nothing, he just looks a little familiar!" Luo’er said, without turning his head.

"Familiar?" Hearing Luo’er’s comment, Cheng Ziang took a closer look at the approaching man. This was a twenty-something-year-old young officer, who looked handsome and energetic. Still, with sharp eyes, Cheng Ziang noticed that he had traits resembling a Marsyan rather than a Western Odelanqi.

"You’re not going to think every Marsyan looks like Princess Melia, are you?" Cheng Ziang said, ridiculing him.

"What are you talking about," Luo’er frowned slightly, suddenly realising, "I remember why he seemed familiar now. He is Feliz’s brother; I saw him on the day Fu’en entered the city!"

"Feliz, that girl isn’t a Marsyan, is she?" Cheng Ziang couldn’t help but ask.

"She could be his half-sister or something. Anyway, I remember Feliz does call him brother." Luo’er replied.

"So you’re saying, he belongs to the Uzistas family?" Cheng Ziang asked.

"Hmm," Luo’er nodded with a touch of suspicion, "Wasn’t he an officer of Holy Heart City, why would he join the new army of the Church Court?"

"People always aspire to climb higher, and water always flows downwards!" Cheng Ziang slapped him on the shoulder, with a smile, as they headed towards the officer.

"You must be the instructors sent by your esteemed division, correct?" The young officer approached them and asked respectfully.

"Yes!" Luo’er nodded, noticing that the young officer did not have any intentions of discrimination, his eyes full of seriousness.

It was an interesting phenomenon as it was a standard norm for half-elves to be discriminated against in the northern regions. Not being discriminated against felt strange. Before getting off, Luo’er had even prepared methods to counter discrimination and rehearsed dialogues in his head multiple times.

"How should I address you?" The young officer asked.

"My name is Luo’er. I’m the captain of the Advance Team. These are Cheng Ziang, Hu Daoke, Tangmo, and Baiyue. They are all members of my team,"

"Greeting Captain Luo’er, and all members!" The officer saluted them with standard military respect.

"That’s very kind of you..." Seeing his meticulous manners, Luo’er couldn’t help but return a military salute.

"How should we address you?" Luo’er asked him.

"My name is Carter Uzstas, and I am the commander of the New Army." the young officer replied.

"Uzstas!" Upon hearing his name, Hu Daoke couldn’t help but exclaim, but was quickly silenced with a punch from Cheng Ziang.

"What’s the matter? Have you heard of the Uzistas surname?" Carter asked curiously, looking at them.

"Ah," Tangmo exclaimed in a similar surprised tone, pointed at Carter and said, "I thought the name sounded familiar, Feliz is also an Uzistas!"

"You know my younger sister?" Carter frowned upon hearing the name Feliz.

"Oh, so Feliz is your sister!" Tangmo exclaimed, suddenly realising.

"Um, well, Feliz is currently studying on Earth..." Luo’er scratched his head and replied, naturally unwilling to admit that he had sneaked Feliz away.

"I appreciate everyone’s care for my sister. I thank you all in advance," Carter said respectfully, bowing slightly.

"You don’t blame us for taking her away?" Cheng Ziang asked.

"Of course not, it was my sister’s choice and I respect her decision," Carter replied.

Cheng Ziang couldn’t help but exchange glances with Luo’er, then couldn’t help but remark in Chinese: "Indeed, the upbringing of a nobleman is truly different."

"Uh..." Carter didn’t quite understand their conversation and stood awkwardly on the spot.

"Let’s go, Captain Carter, walk us around the camp and talk as we go!" Luo’er stepped forward and said.

"I am just an ordinary Church Court officer," Carter said.

Accompanied by Carter, the group started strolling around the camp, listening to Carter explaining the current situation.

"Currently, we are concentrating on training five hundred soldiers, all of whom have been selected from among civilians. They will receive Earth’s military training and will ultimately use weapons and armor provided by Earth to fight the exotic beasts and corpse demons," Carter explained.

Hearing his words, Luo’er slightly furrowed his brows and then asked, "How extensive is the area controlled by the exotic beasts?"

"Taking the Otherworld Gate as the center, an area of nearly a hundred kilometers has fallen..." Carter answered after a pause.

"Five hundred men, and a radius of a hundred kilometers?" Hearing these two figures, Luo’er furrowed his brows even more.

"Uh, well, the main combat target of the new army is the corpse demons, not the exotic beasts. The beasts are still being tackled by the various armies of the Church Court. After they repel the beasts, the new army will take over the occupied areas and disperse the remaining corpse demons," Carter explained.

"Don’t the armies of the Church Court worry about the risk of infection when fighting the exotic beasts?" Luo’er curiously asked.

"As long as they have proper protection, theoretically they can keep the risk of infection to a minimum. Most of the armies have already adopted the protective measures provided by Earth and partially equipped Earth’s weapons. However, they won’t fully adopt Earth’s weapons like the new army," Carter explained.

"In the end, they just don’t trust Earth’s firearms," Cheng Ziang commented from the side, "That can be understood. After all, Earth’s firearms don’t hold much advantage over the magical weapons of the Otherworld. Why engage in a standoff and a shootout if they can rush in and resolve the issue?"

"Reforms always come gradually, right?" Luo’er shrugged and replied.

The two were conversing in Chinese, so Carter, who didn’t understand, could only awkwardly close his mouth.

"Ah, sorry. We were being rude. Let’s continue," seeing Carter’s awkward demeanour, Luo’er quickly apologized, "So, Captain, how far along is your army’s training?"

"We have undergone two months of basic training and are currently waiting for the arrival of the weapons and instructors for training in the use of Earth weapons," Carter replied.

"You have been training for two months already?" Luo’er asked, somewhat surprised.

If his memory served him correctly, the Door of Annihilation should have opened not long after they headed south, which means that the Church Court started organizing the new army shortly after the Door of Annihilation opened. This foresight seemed quite different from the Church Court he knew before.

"Yes, after the Door of Annihilation opened, the plague spread accordingly, and corpse demons began to roam the areas occupied by the exotic beasts. The Knights are at a high risk of infection when fighting these corpse demons. Therefore, the Pope considered forming the new army to combat the corpse demons," Carter replied.

"What exactly are these corpse demons?" Cheng Ziang couldn’t help but asked.

"They are the resurrected bodies of the dead. They have no emotions, no intelligence, and move slowly but will only follow their instincts. They kill anyone they see and turn them into one of their own. The Knights are most easily infected when fighting them, and once infected, there is almost no cure," Carter explained.

"Well, it looks like you are all prepared. Captain Carter, we will start weapons training tomorrow!" Luo’er turned to him and said.

"Of course, we have been anticipating this for a long time," Carter said excitedly.