Chapter 174: The Mobile Field Army’s Counterattack (2)
Chapter 174: The Mobile Field Army’s Counterattack (2)
Even though he was still far away, he could still see that there had been a lot of changes.
“They’ve worked hard.”
Iron looked around as he said so and saw a drake knight flying back to Command. He mischievously hid his breath and approached the knight from behind before tapping his shoulders.
As if on instinct, the drake knight unsheathed his sword as he looked behind and tried to slash the opponent. Iron couldn’t help but smile at the drake knight’s response. Since there were a lot of strange mutants in this place, pulling out the sword quickly was a very good response.
“Heok! Co… Commander!”
“Nice to see you?”
Iron smiled happily as he jumped from his divine beast to the back of the drake. Then, the gigantic Owl immediately shrunk in size before going back to his space.
“Let’s go together. Is that fine?”
“Yes, sir!”
The drake knight immediately straightened his posture as he answered Iron loudly before taking out the communication crystal.
“Reporting to Command…”
“Wait. Report a bit later.”
Iron stopped the drake knight who was trying to report the situation right away. The drake knight bowed his head in embarrassment as he drove the drake straight to Command.
“You look like you’re curious?”
The drake knight kept on glancing at him while they were on their way so Iron just gestured with his chin and asked him bluntly.
“Are all of the giant worms dead?”
“No. We have drawn a tie.”
“You… mean a tie?”
The drake knight tilted his head in confusion. His eyes were clearly asking Iron… ‘Can someone really draw a tie with a monster?’
“We have agreed on a truce.”
“They… Can they understand us?”
“The giant armored worm has gained spirituality.”
Iron smiled bitterly at the thought of the giant armored worm. He couldn’t help but grind his teeth thinking about the bastard that could almost be called an imoogi right now.
Whenever the giant armored worm felt like it was possible, it would escape from his grasp and eat like crazy to gain weight and make its outer shell thicker.
Just like how Iron’s swordsmanship and divine power grew, the bastard ate and absorbed external mana and grew too.
Grind!
The drake knight looked at Iron blankly as he watched him grind his teeth.
“Ah…”
Iron smiled wryly after seeing the drake knight’s scared expression before explaining about the giant armored worm.
The drake knight nodded blankly when he heard Iron say that the bastard had turned into a monster reminiscent of the imoogis from the Eastern Continent during their fight.
“If it continues to grow at this rate, then there’s a chance that it will become one of the dragons of the legends.”
“That… much?”
The dragons of the Eastern Continent were God-level existences that were said to be so strong that not even a grandmaster could compare.
“I’m kidding.”
Iron smiled and told the drake knight that he was kidding but with the giant armored worm’s extremely strong physical prowess comparable to an imoogi, he thought that there was really a possibility that it could grow into a dragon.
‘Dragon…’
Iron shook his head at the terrible thought of the giant armored worm evolving into a dragon.
While Iron was busy thinking about the giant armored worm, the drake almost reached Command.
Looking down from above the Command, he could now clearly see the many things that have changed in his absence.
Not only were there more airships coming in and out of Command, there were also plenty of Sky Towers built all over the place. He could also see the core building of Command gathered together in the center of the area and built like fortresses. The buildings were also standing tall and firm despite the broken walls here and there. And on one side, the carcasses of the mutants were piled up like mountains.
“Come, come! Everything’s cheap! We’re giving you special 30% discounts so don’t miss this great opportunity!”
One of the officers shouted loudly as if he was a salesclerk in a wholesale store.
Just like in the Northeast where they gathered countless merchants and started a monster business, they also sold the mutants’ bodies in large quantities. But what was interesting was that the role of the seller was being done by someone wearing a military uniform. Of course, plenty of merchants also came to the point that Command had specifically built a merchant’s street with countless accommodations for them to stay in.
But the changes did not stop here.
On one side, he could see a large number of soldiers flocking together. At first, he thought that they were new recruits who came to the Mobile Field Army but looking closely, he realized that this was not the case.
“That… is the mark of the Central Army’s, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
The drake knight nodded as he answered Iron’s question.
“I believe that’s the Southern Army’s mark, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then, they…”
They seemed to be the troops sent by the other armies to train in their own army just like what he heard from their reports.
In order for them to brew public opinion and receive support, they created and sent video clips that proved that they were now the most dangerous area in the Empire, just like the Northeast of the past, before informing the people.
However, there were no normal places among all of the current Imperial Armies. All of them would definitely turn a blind eye to the Southeast’s request for more support since they were all in a difficult situation.
So, the Mobile Field Army had no choice but to move their hands. But the current them did not have anything. They might have a lot of mutants but those were only useful to merchants. They did not have anything that would prove to be beneficial to the Imperial Armies and the government. The only thing that they had was the ability to grow stronger through numerous battles. So, the Mobile Field Army decided to sell their skills.
Not only was Iron’s army well-known for fighting well, there were rumors that Iron could teach well. They took advantage of this and acted as the Imperial Training Center. Each of the armies would gather their elites and entrust their training to the Mobile Field Army.
Of course, everything was difficult at the beginning.
[ Iron’s Mobile Field Army. In a crisis! ]
[ Iron, struggling in the Southeast. Why not just join Southern Command? ]
[ Perhaps it’s too much to appoint a Commander with such a young age! ]
[ Why didn’t he just gain experience as the Capital Defense Corps’ Commander? ]
The Central Government greatly used politics and moved to try and disband Iron’s Mobile Field Army and make him the Commander of the Capital Defense Corps. They deliberately let newspapers write provocative articles to undermine Iron’s Mobile Field Army and deem them useless.
Expecting this kind of dirty move, the Mobile Field Army used the Information Guild’s help and informed everyone of the exact situation of the Southeastern region of the Empire.
[ The Second Northeast. ]
To create this title, they brewed public opinion for months behind the scenes. And finally, the Central Government’s tasteless jokes ended the moment the dangerous situation in the Southeast was fully revealed. Of course, as payment for their ugly joke, the Central Government had no choice but to spit out the most compensation.
And the result of that was the current Command.
“Pretty good.”
Iron smiled as he looked around Command.
The soldiers from the other armies looked like they were envious of the Southeastern Army. And it wasn’t just the soldiers. The officers and non-commissioned officers also acknowledged the Southeastern Army’s abilities as they followed the training diligently.
“It strangely feels like the Northeastern Army of the past.”
The drake knight smiled and nodded his head after hearing Iron’s words.
They might be the most dangerous place in the Empire but the support that they received and the welfare and treatment of their people were the best. That was the reason why more people wanted to come here under the pretext of support.
For them, this was the land of opportunity. It was extremely possible for them to receive promotions as long as they were active enough. After all, this land was a place where even the corps commanders and commanding officers were still not properly appointed.
Iron slowly stepped down on the Sky Tower after looking at the Command in satisfaction.
“We… We greet the Commander!”
All of the people present in the Sky Tower recognized Iron’s face as they gave him a salute. Iron smiled and accepted their salutes before coming down from the tower. By the time he had arrived on the lowest level of the tower, all of the commanding officers of the Field Army had already rushed and lined up to greet him.
The wizards, merchants and officials looked at the officers curiously when they saw them urgently running across Command. Then, their eyes widened.
“Welcome back, Commander!”
All of the commanding officers shouted loudly as they welcomed the returning Iron.
Iron smiled at them as he accepted their salutes.
“It’s been a while, everyone.”
Iron walked to them as he greeted them happily.
“You’ve worked hard.”
His words weren’t anything special but all of the commanding officers choked up. With the Commander’s absence, all of them tried their hardest to seek his recognition. His ‘You’ve worked hard.’ was as good as their efforts being recognized. That was why all of them bowed their heads.
“I’ve looked at everything while I was on my way. You did much better than what I expected. This is enough to carry out the next step in my plan.”
All of them smiled brightly after hearing Iron’s straightforward praise. They knew that his words were not just for formality’s sake. His compliments erased their anxiety and brought them endless delight.
Seeing them react like that, Iron continued to speak.
“But I still have to check things out, don’t you think so?”
Even after hearing his words, everyone looked confident.
Iron smiled and walked to Command after seeing the confident look in their faces. The main building, where the Commander’s office sat on top of, was covered with fortress artillery and surrounded by all kinds of defense facilities.
Even though they were busy fighting they were still able to build this many facilities. And, perhaps it was because of the support that they had received, there were a lot more wizard towers, magic workshops and factories built next to these facilities. They were also able to establish a system for the airship’s maintenance.
At the very least, the support system had reached the minimum conditions that Iron had set. If that was the case, then the only thing that was left to check was the level of the soldiers and the officers.
Iron cleaned himself up after a long time and changed into his neat uniform before going outside.
The first place that he headed to was the storm troops.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The lions all gnawed on Iron as they rushed at him from all sides. Iron smirked after seeing them use the Lion Swordsmanship Technique on him. Some of the storm troopers were not from Leonhardt but it seemed like Saeriden still taught them Leonhardt’s secret battle technique.
“Heok… heok…”
Iron checked everyone’s level until they were about to collapse from exhaustion before turning towards Saeriden and asking him.
“Did you get permission?”
“…Yes.”
“Even from the elders?”
“Yes.”
“What’s with those nobles?”
Iron looked at Saeriden strangely after hearing his confirmation. But he soon realized why they agreed.
The next place he went to was the knight order.
The knights were, in fact, using a fairly unique swordsmanship.
“Meteor Sword?”
Iron looked at them incredulously. He hurriedly turned towards Ariel after seeing the knights use the Godly Sword Family’s swordsmanship.
“Is this really alright?”
“I have received permission.”
Ariel replied as if there was nothing to worry about but it was still bound to fluster Iron.
The problem persisted even on his next destination.
Cardro also used the Leopold Family’s sword technique to teach the aerial assault unit.
The rangers used the secret techniques passed down by the Northeastern Rangers. The magic unit used the magic techniques of the Southern Wizard Tower. The spiritists unit used a mixture of techniques from the Central Wizard Tower and the Spirit Guild.
It was as if each region was competing on which unit would become the core unit of the Mobile Field Army. It seemed like all of the officers had used their personal connections to grow their powers. They had all achieved exceptional growth especially the commanding officers that lead their unit.
“It seems like I’m not the only one who grew, huh?”
Iron mumbled to himself in satisfaction.
After inspecting all of the units in Command in a single day, Iron immediately locked himself up in his Commander’s office. Everyone looked at Iron in anxiety after seeing him lock himself up in the Commander’s office the moment he came back. However, they were all left in shock when they saw him come out of the office.
“From this point on, the Mobile Field Army will undergo a major reorganization.”
***
Notes
[Imoogi] – 이무기, lesser dragons that resembles snakes and hopes to become a real dragon. The dragons that we are talking about are the Korean dragons (imagine the dragon ball dragon and disney mulan’s mushu.)