Chapter 317: Campaigning North

"Alright! I'll toast everyone!"

Looking at this elite unit before him, Sinuoli was very satisfied. With a wave of his hand, several barrels of Bergman beer were brought over. The Southlands had just achieved food self-sufficiency, and beer, especially high-quality beer, was still quite scarce.

The Dwarf King checked the unit card of this "Slayer Brotherhood" in the system; according to the game's conversion method, they possessed psychological immunity and the ability to perform magical attacks.

"Logically, my level is high enough to unlock the vast majority of elite units, so why is there only one now?"

Sinuoli stroked his beard and pondered. What he did not know was that to outsiders, the true elites under his command were his Anvil Guard; these warriors who had followed him from the very beginning were respectfully called the "Ancestor Chosen Guard" by their kin.

They were long past being the mixed, half-and-half makeshift team they were at their inception. These warriors carried Sinuoli's Doom Anvil through battles across the north and south, following him as he defeated one powerful enemy of a different race after another.

After the wedding, the guard engraved the rune of the Ancestor Goddess Valaya onto the crests of their helmets as a symbol of the unit's identity, but it turned out they had acted too soon.

To make up for the oversight, during the two years Sinuoli was in seclusion, they engraved the legendary gates of the Ancestor Pantheon onto their Meteorite Shields to display the supreme glory of fighting under the watchful eyes of the Ancestor Gods.

While sipping fine wine and listening to these veterans who had fought side-by-side with his father share stories of the Great Holy War, Sinuoli secretly gauged the strength of the enemies in the northern Chaos Wastes.

He knew that whether by taking the initiative or being forced to face them, he, and indeed the entire world, had to defeat those terrifying Chaos forces. Before that, he needed to strengthen himself and weaken the enemy as much as possible.

"Report! The Gaoyuanbao troops have finished assembling at the station!" The messenger's voice interrupted the pre-expedition drink.

"Mm, board the train according to the assigned seating, we depart!" Sinuoli waved his hand and walked into the front carriage with several guards; this would be the first time the Southern Lands Great Railway was used for war.

"Heh, this feeling, this taste, it's worth a poem!" As their interactions deepened, Sinuoli knew that the Zhendan Empire of this world also possessed poetry; perhaps some of the lines remaining in his mind could still be of use.

Watching the scenery flash by the window and listening to the exclamations of the warriors in the carriages behind, which drowned out the "clack-clack" sound, Sinuoli was very satisfied with his achievements.

The speed of this Warpstone Train was already faster than the best four-horse elven-hybrid carriage in Bretonnia, and what was even more marvelous was that the locomotive neither needed to rest at night nor stop to graze.

The current speed was the result of Sinuoli deliberately keeping it significantly lower, a fact Buluokesen had complained about countless times. If the energy within the Warpstone were fully released, it would be more than enough to bring the train's speed on par with the green-skinned vehicles of Sinuoli's past life.

But the classic shows of his past life told him that ever since the advent of railway tracks, countless bad things had happened on them. If nothing else, once a derailment occurred, the consequences would be immeasurable.

In this world with extraordinary powers, it was unrealistic to protect the long railway inch by inch; all Sinuoli could do was ensure the train's braking performance to minimize losses in special circumstances.

"Woo!"

Before the sun had set, the silhouette of Tumobao appeared in Sinuoli's eyes. A new team of Dwarf warriors boarded the train; these fellows were conscripted standing army members who intended to rely on axes and Warhammers for a living from now on.

After taking in a new batch of recruits at Zhuwangshan, the train rushed out of the mountains and into the canyon. To lay tracks on the soft sandy ground, Senior Brother Nathan and all the Rune Users of the Southlands had engraved runes onto the key components.

"You've come just in time, my dear junior brother."

It was evident that Master Nathan had not been resting well lately; besides his daily administrative and logistical duties, he occasionally had to step onto the battlefield to use Rune Power to turn the tide of unfavorable situations.

"You've worked hard during this time." Sinuoli did not stand on ceremony; he directly summoned the various leaders currently at Red Cloud Mountain and announced that he was temporarily taking over the military and political power of the fortress.

"Tell me, Greenskins, rats, Undead—what is the situation with them?"

The Dwarf King looked at the familiar faces around the long table; Andemuge was also present. Red Cloud Mountain was now the front line for intelligence work and counter-espionage, and without him presiding, the newly established Western Depot could not adapt to the struggle.

"I am mainly responsible for Nehekhara; you know, they are all Undead, they cannot be bribed, and it is very difficult for us to infiltrate them." Andemuge broke the silence in the conference room.

"I understand, but there must be some results."

"The Tomb Kings who have awakened in the east are few, and they have been repeatedly conquered by Settra, so their strength is limited. But from the intelligence we have intercepted, these fellows want to contact that Arkhan the Black whom you asked me to focus on."

The young man weighed his words; he clearly remembered the solemnity with which Sinuoli told him the Lich King's name, and his work over the years had made him understand just how powerful that Grand Vizier was.

"Let the Tomb Kings solve the Tomb King matters; the Immortal Emperor should be more anxious than us. When the time comes, we will just hand over the main defense of the eastern front to him and focus our energy to the north."

After Sinuoli arranged some tasks for internal purging of Vampire corruption, he turned his gaze to the soldiers on the other side. Qiangsen-Jian Dun and Gotrek had vastly different styles, so they were responsible for different areas.

"Ahem, the sources of those rats are very mixed; there are no fewer than ten different clan emblems appearing on the spoils we captured, though we cannot rule out that those were their spoils as well."

Captain Qiangsen cleared his throat; in recent years, the number of times he had roared while commanding battles was more than all the times he had worked for Tiezhuoshugong combined.

"The rat-folk we've engaged are mostly a rabble, but from some details, I judge that there is a powerful force organizing them behind the scenes. Those small clans should logically have collapsed after suffering a little loss, but they have united instead."

"Clan Mors?"

Sinuoli said this casually upon hearing this.

"Mo... Mors? Yes, you are truly wise!" Qiangsen was clearly unsure, but he followed Sinuoli's lead.

"Have you discovered elite Stormvermin?" Sinuoli was concerned with the most prominent feature of that warrior clan.

"It's hard to say; when the quantity isn't very large, it's hard for me to judge whether those black rats are any different." Qiangsen scratched his head; it seemed that having a high-quality unit could also bring a small problem.