Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 155 - 59: Artillery Bombardment

Chapter 155: Chapter 59: Artillery Bombardment

"Mortars?" The adjutant hesitated for a moment.

All mortar troops must continuously bombard the Olympus Tree at the mountain top, as personally commanded by His Majesty King Bernifax.

Isn’t this a misuse of public resources for personal gain? Would I be left holding the bag when the time comes...

"What? Do you have a problem?" Alfred narrowed his eyes, showing a dangerous expression.

The adjutant, well versed in office politics, immediately shook his head: "No problem! It’s just that the mortar troops are directly under His Majesty’s command, and they might not easily obey the orders of an adjutant like me. Could Lord Alfred please provide a written order?"

"Of course." Alfred spoke indifferently, waving his hand to quickly write a note, and finally signing his own name.

The adjutant took it and read that it essentially said, "The Northern Front is faced with infiltration by the enemy’s elite troops; over half of the knight team has been lost, requesting bombardment support from the mortar troops."

Yes, the elite troops are correct, and the frontline knight corps having lost over half is also correct, but these two have absolutely no direct causal relationship, right? The reason for the loss, isn’t it because of your absurd fuel-to-the-fire tactics?

The adjutant expressed his admiration for Lord Alfred’s ability to ostensibly write the truth while still conveying a meaning opposite to the facts.

Even if it was discovered later on, you couldn’t accuse him of it; after all, it was your misunderstanding, not the other party’s lying.

The adjutant shook his head with a sense of enlightenment, thinking that he was still too young and naive, not as experienced as Lord Alfred.

Well, I still have to learn from him.

With the note in hand, the adjutant found the rear mortar troop commander, a nearly forty-year-old Crusader veteran busting his head with sweat.

The reason is simply that all the artillerymen were operating independently, so the commander had no choice but to issue orders to each squad separately, directing them to maintain mobility while firing in order to dodge the flames and thunder thrown down from the mountain top.

"Commander Erich!" The adjutant immediately handed over the note, "A request from Northern Front Commander Alfred for fire support from the mortar troops!"

Erich, the commander, took the note and was instantly shocked.

Over half of the Northern Front knight team lost? I remember you have over six hundred knights at the Northern Front! Over three hundred of them have been killed? Is the enemy an elite force made up of demigods?

"I will immediately assign a mortar team to you," Commander Erich said solemnly, "The Northern defense line must be held! Otherwise, our scattered artillery boys will suffer from attacks from both the head and the surroundings!"

"Yes, sir!" The adjutant saluted.

Meanwhile, The Azure Longsword, having fought continuously for several hours, started to show signs of fatigue.

"Enemy encounters are starting to decrease." Eleanor said breathlessly, resting her long spear on the ground for a brief respite, "Is it because we are entering the enemy’s hinterland?"

"Probably because their losses are too severe," Thira said, looking around vigilantly, "Watch out for snipers and assassins."

"No, that won’t happen." Medea corrected her, "They know I possess Mind Power, they wouldn’t be foolish enough to attempt an ambush. Unless..."

Before she could finish, a sharp whistling sound came from the distance.

"Teleportation!" Aske’s shout immediately followed, and without a second thought, everyone activated their Spirituality and entered Fire Island.

And so, the scene was left with only the Divine Artifact ancient book. Amidst the continuous bombardment of mortar shells, it was blasted into the air by the shockwave, and finally landed on the rubble with a snap.

Still intact.

After a few minutes, a silhouette teleported in from Fire Island. As soon as it entered the Main Plane, it snapped open a parasol, ready to teleport into the Shadow Realm should things turn south.

This was a method Aske had taught to Mia: hold up a parasol during the day, and with the shadow cast by the parasol, teleport into the Shadow Realm at any moment to avoid attacks.

If the parasol was destroyed by an attack, causing the shadow to vanish, she had to teleport back immediately before Spirituality got injured. This would grant about a 2-3 seconds of invulnerability because her body would be transiting between the two planes, thus immune to harm from the Main Plane.

Players referred to this as the "Immortal Frame Technique."

Aske still had many such cheap tricks in his memory and planned to teach them to the girls gradually.

Hunkering down with the parasol for a while, Mia made sure that there was no follow-up mortar attack and quickly called everyone out from Fire Island.

At the Crusader frontline command post, upon learning that the mortar troops had unleashed a barrage on the latest coordinates, Alfred laughed heartily with satisfaction.

"You think you’re so capable, huh? You even killed nearly half of my knights?" he said viciously with some schadenfreude, and waving his hand, he called his aide over, "Go, send a Knight Team to bring me the bodies of that squad. I want to use their commander’s head as my chamber pot."

The aide, speechless, had to contact a team on the front line through a communicator, repeating Alfred’s order.

"What a joke!" retorted Sir Mallero furiously on the other end, "Your damn orders have already sent nearly half of my comrades to the front lines to die! Now you’re deceiving my team too!"

"No, Sir Mallero," the aide explained begrudgingly, "The mortar troops have bombarded the enemy team multiple times already, and it’s likely that only corpses are left there now."

"If we can get the body of the main culprit, it would also benefit your team’s record of military merit,"

"Really?" Sir Mallero hesitated. If it was just about collecting corpses, then there wouldn’t be any danger.

Considering that the enemy squad had killed nearly half of the frontline Knight Corps, the bounty for the involved heads should be substantial.

After inquiring with his followers and confirming that several mortars had indeed hit a distance away, Sir Mallero reluctantly agreed.

Thus, his squad set out towards the coordinates, and unfortunately, when they were still two hundred meters from the destination, they encountered the members of The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps.

Elsewhere, the aide sat exhausted beside the communicator, listening as the communicator continually complained and groaned about the situation.

Most of the frontline Crusader units now refused to follow orders from Alfred, calling him a "fool," and the direct communication officers were also affected.

Every time the communicator got in touch with a Knight Team, they would get berated with a few harsh words like "bullshit," putting a lot of pressure on the communicator himself.

I’m just the messenger, damn it, why should I bear the grudge of the low-ranking knights!

The aide felt a profound sympathy and shared the sentiment.

Just as the two were pouring their grievances out to each other, an urgent communication came in.

The communicator had just picked up when Sir Mallero’s furious and desperate shouting came through:

"Viscount Langfeilo! Fuck your mother! May your whole family go to Hell..."

Then a scream came from the other side, and the communication was cut off.

Standing up expressionlessly, the aide was none other than Viscount Langfeilo himself, the target of the curse over the communication, and inside he was already fuming.

"It’s okay," Viscount Langfeilo patted the communicator on the shoulder, then went to find Alfred immediately.