Northern Territory, within the dwarven ruins.
Today, this place had taken on a new appearance. It was clean and tidy, the former sense of dilapidation swept completely away. Apart from being somewhat deserted, it was no problem for people to live in.
And right now, there was a resident here.
Inanna, who had been pulled over by Lin Jun, was holding a bowl of Mushroom Wine.
And the Frost Elemental Lord, wearing an ice crystal dress, floated lightly around her.
The elemental power on its body continuously dissipated into the surrounding space, dragging the Northern Territory bit by bit toward an extremely cold ice abyss.
Before Inanna could take two sips of the Mushroom Wine in her hand, it quickly turned cold and then froze.
She asked with some worry in the mycelial network: "Boss, those rescued people won't freeze to death, will they?"
Inanna was referring to those slaves, especially the ones who were formerly soldiers of the Kingdom.
"Don't worry, as long as they are rescued, they will survive."
Lin Jun didn't lie to the Pink Puchi. To ensure the survival rate, he even specially prepared some diluted Water of Life.
Added to the recovery ability after being parasitized by mycelium, as long as their heads were still on their necks and they could breathe, they could be saved.
Moreover, Lin Jun wouldn't treat them differently just because they were missing arms or legs. There was even a pilot like that in Norris's Ji-da squad.
Hearing Lin Jun's words, Inanna finally felt relieved.
She was still quite concerned about those soldiers she had fought alongside.
"By the way, where did No. 4 go?"
...
The Luo River, the only seasonal river in the Northern Territory. Right now, although the temperature was dropping under the effect of the Frost Elemental Lord, the river water hadn't completely frozen over.
The two armies confronted each other across the river. Facing the resting and reorganizing Empire army, the Mushroom Fortress and the dwarves didn't take the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, seemingly having made up their minds to resist the Empire along the river.
Duke Eugene sat on his battle beast at the riverbank, looking down at the river below with some incomprehension.
"Do they actually think a single river can stop us?"
This was a world with magic. He could completely have the mages under his command freeze the river's surface, and the grand army would walk on it as if walking on flat ground.
If it were in the warm south, it would be one thing. He could freeze it, and the opponent could melt it; back and forth, there would be some misgivings.
But this was the Northern Territory. It was originally cold; once slightly frozen, that ice surface definitely wouldn't melt in a short period.
Therefore, in Eugene's view, this river was completely unviable as a factor to consider for setting up defenses.
And this was exactly what he found strange.
If the enemy truly were a group of tribesmen who had never seen the world, that would be one thing. But according to intelligence, the one responsible for commanding was highly likely the traitor Louisa.
Based on their previous clashes, the opponent obviously had a certain level of experience and was unlikely to make this kind of mistake.
Taking a step back, even if the Mushroom Fortress didn't understand, could the dwarves also not understand?
Therefore, he was waiting.
Sure enough, not long after, Yvette arrived before Eugene holding a Puchi. That Puchi was covered in freshly formed ice slag; one glance told it had just been fished out of the water.
"Lord Duke, your guess was correct. There is indeed an ambush in the water."
Eugene saw the Puchi's spiral-shaped tentacles at a glance. The power of these ejecting tentacles, in Eugene's impression, was sufficient to pierce through ice that wasn't thick enough.
Once the ambush was discovered, it naturally ceased to be a threat.
Going into the water to clear these Puchis was the worst plan. Not only would it waste time, but they might also suffer interference from the enemy camp.
Eugene had a simpler method. As long as the ice was thick enough not to be pierced through, it was fine. It was nothing more than having the mages consume a couple more bottles of mana potion.
Having made arrangements to counter it, Eugene still couldn't bring himself to be happy.
It wasn't just worry about the war before him, but more of a wariness toward the Puchis themselves.
Along the way, he had witnessed the diversity of Puchis, and now there were even Puchis in the water.
Where else could they not survive?
After this battle, he had to remind His Majesty and his other colleagues to put more focus on Puchis, rather than staring at dwarves, humans, or exterminating some slimes within the Empire...
Of course, that was a matter for later.
He looked at Yvette beside him and confirmed: "Are you confident in dealing with that traitor?"
Facing Eugene's questioning, Yvette smiled confidently: "Please rest assured, Lord Duke. If I didn't have the capability to deal with her, the one coming here wouldn't be me."
"You know, Louisa is only a Viscount. Without Lady Elinore's blood bestowal, she could only be stuck at LV50 for her whole life. The reason she could become a commander is nothing more than that, compared to those foolish tribesmen, she has seen more having stayed in the Empire, and her mind is a bit more flexible."
"However, Lord Duke, the journey was long, and I only brought two elite squads over this time. In a head-on battle..."
"Don't worry, I will create a decapitation opportunity for you," Eugene promised.
"Then I shall rely on Your Lordship's command."
After saying that, Yvette looked up across the river at the crude defensive positions built entirely of rough giant stones, seemingly wanting to catch a glimpse of Louisa's figure.
Unfortunately, she only saw soldiers and Puchis.
...
On the other side, in the frontline camp, the commander, Little Pig, was checking the deployment for the last time. Countless images continuously transmitted into Little Pig's consciousness through the mycelial network.
To be honest, this was an extremely mentally taxing task. Only on the day before a battle would Little Pig check every single link like she was doing now.
Normally, she only maintained the images of a few key locations.
As a receiver, Little Pig was already doing her best. She couldn't imagine how the Boss, who controlled the entire fungal mat, processed so much information every day.
Maybe the Boss truly is a god, just as the newly established Ministry of Truth in the Mushroom Garden propagates?
It's probably true.
After all, there were already more than enough things above the fungal mat that could be called "divine miracles."
Just like now, through the divine miracle of "Fungal Mat Vision," Louisa had been monitoring Yvette the entire way.
Even during the most mentally taxing phase, she still reserved a small screen for Yvette, as if deeply afraid she would suddenly run away.
This kind of special attention naturally caught Lin Jun's notice.
Facing the Boss's inquiry, Louisa naturally didn't hide it.
After listening to Louisa's account, Lin Jun briefly summarized: "So you mean, you used to mentor her, but she ultimately set you up, which ultimately led to you having to take that mission to find A'Huang?"
"Speaking of which, I truly must properly thank my good sister. Without her, there wouldn't be the me today!" The way Little Pig licked her fangs at the corner of her mouth didn't look like she wanted to thank the other party at all.
Just as Little Pig expected, the Boss didn't blame her for bringing personal grudges into the battlefield; or rather, the Boss's focus wasn't on this at all.
Lin Jun felt somewhat regretful. This was just a rather clichéd backstabbing story.
But fortunately, he also loved watching women fight.
"By the way, since it's such a matter, then memorize these words..."
...
The next day, under the combined efforts of the Empire mages, the Luo River froze bit by bit from south to north.
With the buff of several types of spellcasting potions, the ice surface was a full seven or eight meters thick and hard as iron, leaving no opportunity for those Puchis underwater.
When the river surface was completely frozen, Eugene personally sounded the horn for the attack.
(End of Chapter)
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