Huo Yuhao began to laugh as he listened to her. The Extreme North’s environment was a lot more brutal than this place, but several of its most powerful soul beasts ultimately became his Spirits. He was only able to achieve his current strength because of his Ultimate Ice.
Huo Yuhao was like a fish in water in this extremely chilly northern region. He had absolute faith that he could rely on his own strength to fight at a Titled Douluo’s level; the environment’s impact on his strength was very evident.
“When everything settles down, I will take you to every corner of the Douluo Continent. Haih, speaking of that, I feel really dejected. I’m supposed to meet your father when I return, but I don’t know how long this delay is going to take.”
Tang Wutong giggled and said, “Are you worried? Do you think we still have time to get married with the current situation in the continent?”
Huo Yuhao chuckled and said, “Even if we don’t get married, I will ask your father after consulting him to remove that seal from your body. At the very least, I don’t have to be so agonizingly stifled!”
Tang Wutong blushed. “Just control yourself and stop being so talkative. When do we start? The temperature here is too low, and not conducive for a prolonged battle. We should end it as quickly as possible.”
“Haven’t we just scouted? Oak City almost has no ability to resist at all, so we’re just going to pillage it. We will leave immediately after the mission. Second senior brother should be prepared.”
“Then let’s begin,” Tang Wutong nodded as she spoke.
“Alright.” Huo Yuhao’s expression grew solemn as deep incantations rang out on the mountaintop. There were no aerial surveillance soul tools in a place like this.
Large black doors opened, and enormous metal spheres strode out from those doors as they formed up neatly beneath the little mountain.
Every metal sphere was like a porcupine, and all sorts of offensive soul tools shaped like spikes long and short protruded from their surface.
He Caitou was sitting in the largest all-terrain self-driving fort, and he was the first to walk out. Only he and Xiao Xiao were sitting inside.
He Caitou came beside Huo Yuhao, and the self-driving fort paused as He Caitou’s voice echoed from within. “Yuhao, Wutong, do you guys want to come in and sit down?”
“Alright,” Huo Yuhao acknowledged. Attacking Oak City wouldn’t be very difficult, so they had only mobilized the Fort Soul Engineer Legion. Huo Yuhao didn’t have to be too involved, he only had to control the situation with his Spiritual Detection, and that was sufficient.
Huo Yuhao’s reputation among the three soul engineer legions became greatly elevated after their battle the other day. Anyone who experienced how magical his Spiritual Detection was would be shaken by that formidable ability of his, whether they were soul masters or soul engineers.
He Caitou had crafted this Class 8 all-terrain self-driving fort himself. It was bright silver in color, but five meters in diameter. He enjoyed all kinds of high-powered soul tools, so he had installed many different kinds of frighteningly destructive soul tools into his soul tool fort. This soul tool fort rivaled the strength of a Class 9 soul tool if He Caitou used his full strength to attack. The reason why it was a Class 8 soul tool was because the fort didn’t contain a single soul tool installed that could reach the attacking force of a Class 9 soul tool.
There were six seats installed inside. Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong entered from the metal door at the back, but the fort still felt very spacious and comfortable.
Huo Yuhao glanced He Caitou and Xiao Xiao, who were sitting on enormous chairs in the front, and he laughed as he said, “You know how to take care of yourself, second senior brother!”
He Caitou turned around and laughed. “It’s always better to be a little more comfortable. How are we doing this?”
Huo Yuhao’s eyes sparkled. “Oak City almost doesn’t have any kind of defensive capabilities at all, so we can just force our way forward. I’ve already scouted around. They mainly store food in their granaries and resource storage units, so we should target those places. There’s a treasury among their resource warehouses, so we’ll retreat after cleaning out their granaries and that treasury. We will try to avoid hurting civilians as much as possible, we’re not here to kill.”
“Alright, don’t worry.”
“Let’s move out, boys. Our target is the city fifty kilometers in front of us, and we are to do as much damage as we wish to its structures. But we have to minimize hurting people as much as possible.” He Caitou used his group communicator to give an order to every one of this soul engineer legion’s members.
His soul engineer legion was the largest one, with a thousand five hundred members. There were five people in each all-terrain self-driving fort, and each individual controlled different functions within them.
Someone would be responsible for movement, while other people would be responsible for offense and defense, and two others were responsible for infusing soul power into the fort. All five individuals had to be adept at all their tasks so that they could switch around at any moment. That way, their all-terrain self-driving fort’s functions could be realized as much as possible while maintaining continuous endurance and usage.
He Caitou controlled his all-terrain self-driving fort and strode at lightning speed toward Oak City. The others got into formation and followed behind him as they charged straight forward.
They tried to keep some space between each other in their formation as they pushed forward so that their firepower wouldn’t overlap. They moved forward in an orderly fashion, and even though their formation wasn’t considered entirely strict and flawless, it was absolutely reasonable.
They had been training for more than two years, and their standards from their training were adequately displayed. Fifty kilometers was barely an hour’s journey for all-terrain self-driving forts.
The reason why Huo Yuhao didn’t choose to use his necromancy nearer to Oak City because there were still aerial surveillance soul tools in the sky. What he wanted to achieve was for the Sun Moon Empire to be confused about where this army had come from. They would be warned if Huo Yuhao destroyed their aerial surveillance soul tools beforehand. Oak City’s defenses were lax, but if they were given warning early enough, cities which were relatively close by could still send reinforcements. Furthermore, the Sun Moon Empire could use backup aerial surveillance soul tools when Huo Yuhao was using necromancy, and they would then discover where this mysterious army had come from. This was what Huo Yuhao wanted least, so he had to be careful in dealing with their defenses.
Huo Yuhao wanted to use these battles to boost their soul engineer legions’ adaptability at the same time, so he didn’t have to go through so much trouble. It was time for them to exercise and move around after being stuck in his spectral demiplane for a day.
The patrolling soldiers on Oak City’s wall were wrapped in thick blankets because the weather was too cold. They would circle for a round or two before hiding from the wind behind the battlements. The patrolling teams switched every hour, and every team only had ten people. Patrols would sometimes even be cancelled during the coldest days of winter.
At this moment, ten soldiers from the City Defense Army’s first large team’s third small team were patrolling on the city wall. Ten soldiers strolled around lackadaisically on top of the city wall under their vice-captain’s leadership.
“Why don’t we talk to boss about this damned weather, captain. We don’t have to patrol anymore. There’s nothing to see!” An old soldier complained to his vice-captain.
The vice-captain snapped, “If you have the guts to do it yourself, then do it. The captain’s mood hasn’t been so good these few days.”
“Heh, I’ve heard that the team captain has gone out in search of new experiences, but he was discovered by his wife? Is that true?”
“You shouldn’t ask if you don’t wish to be burned alive by the captain’s wrath.”
Everyone guffawed along with tacit mutual understanding.
“Captain, we want to pool our money to buy a drink of wine for you after our patrol is finished. What do you think?”
“A drink? I’m on duty today, so…”
“Captain, the weather is so cold. Drinking some wine will help you execute your duties better.”
“Yes, alright. At least you fellows are filial. Eh, what’s that sound?”
“Tch tch tch, tch tch tch…” Strange sounds travelled from the distance as the patrol gazed out from the city. It was but a glance before all ten pairs of pupils contracted at the same time.
There were enormous metal spheres in the distance wherever their eyes could see. They didn’t have enough sunlight, but these metal spheres were still reflecting icy brilliance as they charged towards Oak City at lightning speed.
The vice-captain froze for a few moments before he yelled hysterically, “Ambush—!”
“Close the city gates, quick.”
These soldiers were a little idle and slack, but seeing an attack of such scale sent chills straight into their hearts.
They were in the Sun Moon Empire’s territory after all. Even though they were far in the north, these soldiers still had some understanding of soul tools. These soldiers knew that they couldn’t defend themselves against an attack from an enormous soul engineer legion of such a scale. What they could do now was to call the soldiers below to close the city gates before they would… run!
The spherical all-terrain self-driving fort at the forefront suddenly flipped as it turned its belly forward and revealed an enormous cannon barrel that was one-and-a-half meters in diameter.
The barrel itself wasn’t long, but when it flipped around, the opening flashed with freakish red light.
This all-terrain self-driving fort was still roughly two kilometers from Oak City, but in the next moment, a radiant beam of red light blasted from that frightening muzzle as it cut across two kilometers in an instant and smashed heavily against the closed city gates.
“Boom, boom, boom!” Deafening booming sounds resonated across Oak City as the city’s gates were blown to dust. Countless pieces and fragments were blown in all directions as several tens of meters of the city wall on both sides of the city gates collapsed. An enormous hole was blown right through the city gates.
Self-driving forts moving at full speed could cover two kilometers in the blink of an eye. The Fort Soul Engineer Legion that was spread out horizontally charged into the city gates.
