Chapter 288

What the hell is he talking about?

Upon hearing Nathan's declaration, the real Nathan, who had already left the moment the airship ignited, couldn't help but grunt in frustration, regretting he hadn't followed the "future" more strictly.

In the future he had seen, this had never happened.

The Gate to the Other World doesn't forcibly replicate a specific future—it merely offers a brief glimpse of it. So, just as the same person singing the same song twice won't produce identical notes, it can only guarantee the information from the future remains the same, not that the future itself will unfold exactly that way; even a slight deviation in action may lead to a different outcome.

Whatever. A little difference is fine.

After glancing at the soldiers completely surrounding the boarding tower, then at the powered armor squad approaching from afar, the middle-aged Joshua nodded in satisfaction.

His true identity had long been exposed anyway; he no longer intended to use the name "Nathan." As long as the final outcome matched the future he had seen, that was enough.

"Duuu!!!"

A piercing, shrill whistle rang out, signaling the full commencement of the assault.

"Enemy numbers unknown, weapon types unknown. Ambush team move first! Slow, steady advance!"

Under the middle-aged Joshua's expectant gaze, the first wave of troops to reach the base of the boarding tower, under the command of their captain, swiftly and skillfully split into four groups according to the new soldier manual promoted by the Minister of Defense.

The ambush team split into three: two units took cover on either side of the main road away from the tower, while the third began constructing temporary fortifications farther out, ensuring that even if enemies broke out of the encirclement, they couldn't escape quickly.

Next came the fire support team: four squads equipped with heavy weapons rapidly dispersed and began setting up rapid-fire nail guns at optimal positions, preparing to suppress any potential fire support from within the boarding tower.

Finally, the breach team and reserve force: roughly fifty elite soldiers divided into two groups. Three assault squads armed with pneumatic shields entered the boarding tower under cross-cover from two support squads, beginning to break down, clear, and sweep rooms while slowly advancing.

Meanwhile, the command team, stationed with the fire support unit, shifted positions to cover the setup of their weapons, temporarily assuming their role by initiating preemptive suppressive fire toward likely ambush points.

…

Holy shit, are these the same old generals the military got crushed by six years ago?

From seventy or eighty meters away, Leon glanced down and couldn't help but whistle inwardly at how the troops had sealed off the entire area and begun methodical floor-by-floor advancement in under two minutes.

When he trained in hand-to-hand combat with the female cop Isah, she had once told him about her father, saying that six years ago, the Minister of Defense and the Princess had already begun reforming the military with the King and Royal Family's backing.

After six years of effort, though budget shortfalls remained unaddressed, the soldiers' combat effectiveness was now incomparably superior—and as a perennial schemer and "rebel," he had to be sharp during undercover ops, never daring to charge head-on against the military's regular forces.

Also, when he first obtained the Holy Spirit Pendant, the Director had once remarked that with this anomalous item—combining offense and defense—he could barely defeat a fifty-man elite squad in complex urban combat.

If not surrounded or pinned down, and if he avoided haste and played the long game, he could even slowly wear down a two- to three-hundred-man company using his two-kilometer-long soul vision.

Back then, he'd thought the Director's assessment was overly conservative, given his soul vision, which revealed terrain like a map, and his lethal power that could instantly kill within fifty meters. But now, seeing the elite soldiers' performance, the Director's evaluation was spot-on.

With the limited resources he had then, and his painfully short stamina endurance, if his position had been discovered and these troops advanced layer by layer, even with his tricks and terrain advantage, he wouldn't have lasted long.

As for now…

"Wahahaha! Finally! Finally, it's my turn to shine!"

Amid wild, unrestrained laughter, two black, spiral-patterned diagonal shadows slowly emerged from above Leon's head, drifting like smoke and mist, occasionally shedding faint crimson sparks.

Immediately, an acrid stench of sulfur spread rapidly from the two "ram-horn smokes," and as Leon took a single breath, his lungs burned with a fine, searing pain, and the distant, hellish clamor of battle echoed unnaturally in his ears.

【Name: War Angles (Fallen, Wrath, War)】

【Appearance: …】

【Ability: Demon Horns, Amplify Malice, Bloodlust Unceasing】

【Cost: …】

【File: …】

【Evaluation: Thanks to your careful cultivation, after repairing its shattered authority, this anomalous item has once again become a fearsome battlefield weapon.】

【If you bring it into a large-scale war, you will gain temporary immortality and inexhaustible stamina until one side collapses entirely, ending the war.】

【Corruption Level: 8 (5. )】

"Kid, don't worry!"

As Leon frowned at the 【War Angles】 interface, the Black Goat, finally able to "show his stuff," grinned smugly:

"Once the war starts, I'm invincible! Go ahead and kill freely!

I guarantee you won't lose a single hair before we wipe everyone out—whether it's three hundred, three thousand, or thirty thousand. Just follow my lead… Ouch!"

"Shut the hell up!"

Slapping the Black Goat hard on the head, Leon—whose lungs burned as if he'd inhaled a massive dose of cheap "Gao Te" smoke—snarled through clenched teeth:

"No wonder you love Gao Te so much—this smell is identical… Get rid of this smoke right now! It's choking me!"

"But… you can't actually get rid of it…"

Hearing Leon's "unreasonable" demand, the Black Goat's spirits instantly deflated, his face twisted in distress as he pleaded:

"This stench is the trigger of Bloodlust Unceasing—it won't stop until the war ends. Even if you're blown to pieces on the battlefield, as long as the smell lingers, you'll reassemble exactly as you were.

Plus, it's great for restoring stamina. Even if you've run a hundred kilometers and are about to collapse, one whiff of this and you'll spring back up ready to run another hundred. If I disperse it, we lose all these effects."

"Fine…"

Suppressing his disgust, Leon sniffed the sulfur scent again and confirmed his stamina had indeed recovered; he gave up trying to make the Black Goat contain the "ram stink," gripped the Holy Spirit Pendant at his chest, and crushed the nearest flame in his soul vision with his fingers.