Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 183 - 87: New Tactical System

Chapter 183: Chapter 87: New Tactical System

"Heart Stealer," the term used in the West for Mind Ability Users.

The Western Church Court forbids its believers from consuming Magic Potion to become Transcendents. For those who are already Transcendent humans, they are treated as witches without exception, subjected to heresy trials, burning at the stake, hanging, or immediate beheading.

However, the actual implementation varies from person to person.

For example, Extraordinary Ability Users of the Physical Department, with abilities like "Sharp Weapons," "Blunt Weapon," "Strong," "Tenacity," and so on, simply enhance physical attributes and add passive buffs, no different from ordinary people who have absorbed Extraordinary Power.

For these Physical Department Transcendents, whose abilities are difficult to verify, the Church Court usually turns a blind eye; as long as you don’t go to the door of the church to report yourself, they generally won’t bother with you.

As for Spiritual Ability Users with powers like "Flames," "Frost," "Mind," "Life," and the like, if you dare to display your flashy Abilities in public, be prepared for a horde of Demon Hunters and Temple Knights to come after you.

Of course, this only applies to Transcendents without power or influence. If you have the protection of authority, that’s a different story.

Within the boundaries of the Holy Solomon Empire, due to Emperor Otto openly opposing and contradicting the Church, Transcendent forces are relatively more active. Therefore, it’s natural for the Steel Cross Mercenary Group to employ a few Arcane System Transcendent mercenaries.

But "Mind" Abilities are a bit sensitive. On one hand, they are always associated with evil acts of "Mind Reading" and "Brainwashing"; on the other, they’re the most common Sequence among Eastern heretics.

Even the Steel Cross, therefore, wouldn’t dare train Heart Stealers openly... but they certainly privately nurture them under the radar.

Who would have thought The Azure Longsword harbored a Heart Stealer witch? A thought uncontrollably surfaced in Andrea’s mind.

Report her!

Medea, who was controlling the Snow Monster, suddenly sensed something and turned her gaze towards Andrea, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Report me, oh?

The malicious thought circled through Andrea’s mind before he forcefully cast it aside.

Reporting, after all, was a self-damaging act that harmed others without benefiting oneself. Why, every Mercenary Group of any size these days tried to cultivate a few Transcendent mercenaries, didn’t they?

If A reports B, B can just report A in return, and once the Church scrutinizes both sides thoroughly, lo and behold, there’s dirt on both hands. Hence, the Night of Long Knives, with its river of blood, has happened all too frequently throughout history, leading to an unspoken agreement among Large Mercenary Groups:

Don’t be a snitch.

Once someone reports, it triggers a chain of retaliatory reports and mutual accusations, dragging everyone into the mire, thereby making the act of reporting a self-destructive gesture.

Had The Azure Longsword been some small, unknown Mercenary Group, perhaps some trouble could be stirred up through reporting.

But with the strength of Squad Leader Aske, so profound that even Herman admitted he couldn’t see through his thoughts, how could he be a minor character?

The man could simply choose to stay in the East forever, never stepping into the jurisdiction of the Church Court, and then turn around and remotely report the Steel Cross Mercenaries for having Transcendents.

By the time the headquarters investigates and captures the culprit, he would probably no longer be able to retain his position as the Eastern Branch Commander.

After contemplating the pros and cons in his mind, Andrea swiftly dismissed the idea and nonchalantly turned his head to look ahead.

But subconsciously, he overlooked one thing; Medea was not merely a pure Mind Ability User, she also possessed the abilities of the Conspiracy Sequence.

Perceiving his malicious intent and then using her Mind Power to read his thoughts was not a challenging task for her.

Medea’s eyes moved, and she silently took note of the incident.

Hmph, I hold grudges very easily... she muttered to herself inwardly in conversation with Medusa.

"So, that’s how it is," Andrea said to Herman, "They’re able to fire so efficiently because their extraordinary abilities complement each other, producing a qualitative change greater than the sum of their parts."

"Indeed," Herman also noticed the trick, "At first glance, it seems that the three girls’ focused fire is clean and efficient, capable of killing the Snow Monster in a short amount of time."

"Actually, the real key players are the redhead woman and the girl wearing the mask. One of them is responsible for controlling the Snow Monster into the encirclement, and the other uses gravity to subdue it, leaving the creature utterly powerless to resist."

"Exactly," Andrea said.

Then the two of them fell silent.

Being able to see through the tactic did not mean it could be replicated.

First of all, were there any Extraordinary Ability Users with similar sequential abilities in the Steel Cross Mercenary Group?

There were, but they were all at the headquarters of the Steel Cross Mercenaries, serving as special forces for covert operations.

At this point, when the Magic Tide had just begun to rise, the traditional military strategists of the continent had not yet realized what kind of changes the rising extraordinary power could bring to the existing military system.

The hostility and restrictions of the Western Church Court towards Extraordinary Ability Users greatly hindered the militarization process of extraordinary powers.

So far, due to concerns about the Church’s attitude, the vast majority of mercenary groups were only willing to recruit low-profile Physical Department Extraordinary Ability Users.

The approach of the Steel Cross, which especially cultivated an Arcane Sequence and aimed to build a dual-output thinking of both magic and physics, was already considered quite forward-thinking and adventurous.

Even so, it ultimately had its epochal limitations.

What Aske’s command had displayed, however, was a more advanced tactical system from several versions later.

MT compressing the front line, control to pull the enemy in, and focused fire for the kill—the whole system was as precise and efficient as a scalpel, much like the 1991 US Gulf War had shocked the world, opening a new era’s door for Andrea and Herman.

Extraordinary Ability Users could fight like this!

"What use is that!" Andrea burst out furiously, "Most of our Spiritual Materials are going to end up in the hands of The Azure Longsword!"

"Otherwise, why not propose to buy from them after the fact?" Herman pondered aloud.

"Do you think we can’t possibly beat them in efficiency when it comes to killing Snow Monsters?" Andrea glanced at him sideways.

"Yes, that’s what I think," Herman said candidly, "Or do you still want to give it another try?"

Andrea: .........

He did want to explore new tactics further, but on the one hand, the front-line mercenaries were already struggling; just the previous deliberate letting through of the enemy had caused noticeable clogging and hindrance.

On another note, the gunner mercenaries held quite a grudge against this sort of tactic. They felt that delivering monsters into the defensive line for no reason was extremely disrespectful to the gunners’ lives.

After all, even if the commander realized the inadequacies, the mercenaries below hadn’t yet changed their old way of thinking! If something really went wrong halfway and led to reduced numbers or even a crippled team, Andrea would have nowhere to cry.

Therefore, despite his reluctance, Andrea could only sigh helplessly as if he had made a difficult decision and said:

"Alright, then let’s wait until after the battle is over to buy from them!"

You’re willing to buy, but they may not be willing to sell... Herman couldn’t help but think. However, seeing Andrea’s face twisted with conflict, he tactfully refrained from bringing it up again.