Chapter 975: Duke Guard

Boom—

Lei En piloted the Getan Star Destroyer, using the astral realm as a springboard, and after two jumps returned to the Prime Material Plane, arriving at the New Continent.

Ahead lay a seemingly endless mountain range running northeast–southwest; its peaks were not very high, mostly only a few hundred meters above sea level, together with numerous low hills forming a chain stretching over a hundred miles wide, like a massive natural barrier on the plain.

This was the Baleqiya Mountains on the east coast of the New Continent.

Lei En identified the location, about 230 li west of Gotham City, within the illumination range of the God of Magic statue.

The Star Destroyer possessed the teleportation clearance of the magical torchlight, allowing it to bypass the spatial blockade.

Flying west for several dozen li, the land along the way had been reclaimed into fertile fields; although it was some distance from Gotham City, after a few years of development several village towns had been established, and broad roads were built, allowing cars and wagons to travel side by side.

It was the spring planting season, and farmers were working the fields with agricultural machinery, a scene of thriving prosperity.

Who could have imagined that just six or seven years ago, countless undead still roamed here.

Soon, a military camp built at the foot of the Baleqiya Mountains came into view; it was the Hamiltton Training Base, completed last year, one of the three camps owned by the Duke Guard.

The camp spanned a vast area; from above, the most striking feature was the massive central arena, its floor poured with cement, each side over two thousand meters, large enough to accommodate three Star Destroyers landing simultaneously.

In fact, the arena was the Star Destroyer's takeoff and landing pad.

Dozens of buildings were scattered around the arena—command center, barracks, mess hall, firing range, training ground, library, leisure center, armory, mechanical workshop, prayer hall and meditation chamber, among others. Outside the camp stood a closed high wall, fitted with bastions and gun emplacements equipped with Electric Light Cannons.

The Hamiltton camp was only half finished, yet it could train fifty thousand troops, though less than one third of its facilities were currently in use.

Lei En was visiting the camp for the first time.

However, through the eyes of a Thundercast Celestial Soldier, he knew everything here like the back of his hand.

At this moment, rows of soldiers stood on the arena, all clad in identical silver‑white armor and sealed helmets, looking exactly alike like clones, arranged in neat formations as if awaiting inspection.

The Star Destroyer's roar did not disrupt their ranks; not even a glance upward.

Lei En ordered the Star Destroyer to descend and deactivated the Invisibility Field.

The sky darkened instantly.

The six‑hundred‑meter‑long warship loomed like a mountain peak descending from above; the vibration from its massive size and weight made the entire camp tremble as if an earthquake had struck.

The soldiers finally could not help but look up, and a stir rippled through the ranks.

All wore helmets whose fronts featured a black, T‑shaped mirror that concealed their faces; yet their motions revealed that each was in intense shock, and even the instructors' loud reprimands could not calm them.

The Star Destroyer lowered slowly, hovering about ten meters above the ground, then with a boom it opened the hangar doors on its armored side.

In everyone's view, Lei En appeared.

At the front of the formation stood the Extreme Warrior Corps 1st Battalion, sixty Extreme Warriors in powered armor, led by battalion commander Xika Liusi, who shouted loudly, "Greetings, Duke!"

The Extreme Warriors saluted in response.

Behind them, all the soldiers on the arena, guided by the instructors, half‑kneeled toward Lei En and shouted in unison, "Greetings, Duke!"

"Rise."

Lei En stood at the hangar entrance, looking down on the troops, his voice both authoritative and calm reaching every ear.

The Hamiltton camp, after two recruitment drives, now trains ten thousand soldiers.

Just enough to form a division.

Lei En copied the organization of his former life's army, structuring the Duke Guard's soldiers into squads of ten, three squads per platoon, three platoons per company, four companies per battalion, five battalions per regiment, five regiments per division, and appointing squad leaders, platoon leaders, company commanders, battalion commanders, regiment commanders and division commanders; a fully staffed division numbered about ten thousand.

However, at present, all officers above company commander are served by Thundercast Celestial Soldiers, with only a few possessing command ability appointed as deputies.

The Hamiltton camp trains the Duke Guard's First Division.

The other two camps, located in the Augustus Principality and Kalanos, form the Duke Guard's Second and Third Divisions.

In Lei En's plan, before his term as Consul ends, the Duke Guard must build ten divisions, fully staffed to one hundred thousand, creating the Imperial Defense Army's First Group Army.

Every member of the Duke Guard is cultivated with black soul elixir.

Even as ordinary people they take the black soul elixir to enlarge the soul, undergo the initial Soul Transformation ceremony, then merge with a magic soul to become a transcendent, and after the three‑month effect ends they immediately drink a magic pill, continuously maintaining the black soul elixir's effect to boost power as fast as possible.

Just the black soul elixir plus magic soul has already cost Lei En tens of millions of Gold Shields.

Including weapons, armor, daily training expenses and pay, the average investment per person approaches two thousand Gold Shields!

Pouring in so much money and resources finally began to show results.

The Duke Guard's First Division is entirely composed of transcedents; among the initial five thousand, over two thousand advanced to second‑level transcendent. Thundercast Celestial Soldiers serve as instructors, training in a modern army style for a full year, already forging combat capability.

However, training alone, without combat experience, cannot make a truly iron‑blooded army.

Today is the day for live‑fire drills.

Lei En's gaze fell on the backs of the Extreme Warriors: five formation units, each of four hundred, the elite of the Duke Guard, all second‑level transcendent, with over a hundred exceptionally gifted who had risen to third‑level in just a year!

"First Division, First Regiment, board the ship."

Lei En issued the order directly.

He did not utter a pre‑battle mobilization speech; during ordinary training and camp life, the instructors and mentors had already said so much, instilling loyalty to the Duke into every soldier's mind, making them firmly remember that everything they possessed was the Duke's gift.

From now on, they must obey orders unconditionally and fight for the Duke's glory!

"Board the ship!"

At the command, officers of all ranks led their troops forward, stepping in unison, the formation moving as a single entity.

Bang bang bang…

Two thousand soldiers of the First Regiment stepped onto the alloy‑cast sloped deck and entered the Star Destroyer's hangar.

"Continue training."

Lei En's voice echoed across the arena, "When you reach second‑level, you'll soon have the chance to fight; strive forward!"

"Yes, sir, Duke!" the remaining eight thousand plus soldiers responded in unison.

When the Extreme Warrior Corps 1st Battalion also entered the hangar, the doors closed, the Star Destroyer lifted off immediately and vanished into the sky.

On the bridge, Xika Liusi removed his helmet and leaned toward Lei En, "Boss, are the brothers really not needed to act today?"

"What do you think?" Lei En retorted.

Xika Liusi chuckled wryly, helplessly saying, "Fine…".

Today's objective is to let the Duke's Guard develop in combat, applying the tactics trained in peacetime, fixing any flaws on the spot, training while fighting, until a modern army completely different from the Supernatural Legion is formed.

If an Extreme Warrior strikes, then what's the point of fighting?

Not only can the Extreme Warrior only stand by, the Star Destroyer also will not enter the battlefield, serving merely as a transport.

After a single teleport, the Star Destroyer crossed a thousand li and appeared in the high skies south of Aixingge, flying out of the range of the magical torchlight, and continued south at high speed. In the hangar, two thousand soldiers boarded five armored battlecraft, performing a final check of their weapons and armor before battle.

The armored battlecraft is the latest combat vehicle developed by Lei En.

Its prototype was a magical airship, but it no longer has a ship's shape; its size is halved, the hull reshaped into a rectangular prism about sixty meters long, ten meters wide, and roughly four meters high, resembling a magnified armored tank, except it can float and fly.

The armored battlecraft uses a Mid-stage Titan Furnace as its power source and is equipped with six small drive engines.

On its top are two Electric Light Cannons, twelve blast‑energy machine guns encircle the sides, the hull armor is thick and heavy, and it incorporates a Resistance Force Field that can withstand three attacks of spells below the ninth ring, with fierce firepower and strong defense—a true mobile fortress.

But the armored battlecraft's most important function is still troop deployment.

One armored battlecraft can carry up to four hundred forty people, just enough to transport a battalion's soldiers, with some surplus.

With twenty‑five armored battlecraft, an entire division can be deployed onto the battlefield.

The four hangars of the Empire‑class Star Destroyer can hold about thirty‑six armored battlecraft, more than enough to transport a division.

A moment later.

The Star Destroyer has already penetrated Kurgos's territory, reaching the designated position.

Lei En selected as the Duke's Guard's attack target a Netifu Demon tribe; the tribe lies about a hundred li from Luoli City, with over twenty‑thousand members. Its chieftain is a Legendary High‑rank Demonkin, and the tribe possesses over a thousand Abyss Knights, relatively well preserved.

The combat objective is to annihilate the entire Demonkin tribe!

Our numbers differ by a factor of ten, and aside from the Thundercast Celestial Soldier officers, the rest are all second‑ and third‑tier Supernaturals, the strength gap as vast as heaven and earth.

The Star Destroyer hovered in the high skies a dozen or so li from the tribe, maintaining invisibility, and Lei En entered the hangar to personally issue the attack order.

"Advance!"

The hangar doors opened, five armored battlecraft lifted and flew out, diving toward the distant ground‑based Demonkin tribe.

Before exiting the hangar, the armored battlecraft activated an Invisibility Field; its flight speed is very fast, exceeding two hundred li per hour, three times that of a magical airship, and because its size is far smaller than the Star Destroyer, it can deploy a Soundproof Force Field to mask the noise of its flight.

In the silent, soundless flight, the armored battlecraft approached the Demonkin tribe.

The Demonkin did not notice any danger at all.

The five armored battlecraft slowed, aligning in a single file a thousand meters from the tribe, spaced a few hundred meters apart, flying laterally while opening their bottom armor.

At the same time, the soldiers in the cabins sequentially released their back buckles and fell directly from the opened deck.

Fully armed squads of soldiers descended from the sky.

The armored battlecraft hovered about a hundred meters above ground; the soldiers quickly approached the surface, the levitation technique attached to their mid‑air armor automatically activating, allowing them to land smoothly, swiftly regroup with their teammates, forming formations as squad‑level combat units.

In less than half a minute, the entire regiment was deployed.

Although they had trained countless times before today, the first real combat still produced some chaos; fortunately the officers corrected it in time, and the two thousand soldiers formed an attack formation on the ground, facing the Demonkin tribe.

Wooo…

A low horn sounded in the tribe, and the Demonkin finally noticed the enemy.

The whole tribe boiled with activity; the Demonkin reacted swiftly, and soon Legendary‑rank Demonkin appeared outside the tribe, charging this way.

"Attack!"

The Thundercast Celestial Soldier commander shouted the order.

Two thousand soldiers advanced immediately, maintaining formation yet more dispersed, entirely unlike the mass‑wave tactics of ordinary Supernatural Legions; each had ample combat space and firing angles, stretching a kilometer‑long front and forming three clearly tiered attack echelons.

Just after advancing a little over two hundred meters, a large number of Demonkin surged from the tribe ahead, roaring and charging.

"Rocket Launcher, ready!"

The platoon leader ordered.

The Duke's Guard's smallest tactical unit is a "team"; a ten‑person team is equipped with one Rocket Launcher, one sniper rifle, two revolver‑type grenade launchers, two Lambo rifles, and four blast‑energy guns, fully ensuring the army's firepower, capable of covering more than ten times the enemy.

Each weapon's effective range differs; the Rocket Launcher reaches up to a kilometer, and a single rocket's power equals a six‑ring flame explosion, with a lethal radius of nearly a hundred meters.

In an instant, one Rocket Launcher after another was raised.

The next second.

Dozens of rockets whooshed out, their long tails drawing low‑arc trajectories, falling into the Demonkin forces.

Boom—boom—boom…

The explosion roared into the sky, the flame shockwave spreading across the ground, blasting the frontmost Demonkin into fragments.

Then came the second wave of rockets, delivering the second round of strikes.

Then the third wave of rockets swept the ground.

After three rounds of rocket bombardment, the first batch of Demonkin that surged out of the tribe was almost entirely annihilated; only a few Legendary Demonkin survived, though heavily wounded, their eyes filled with terror, and despite their severe injuries they turned and fled back into the tribe.

"Continue forward!"

The Duke's Guard's full regiment of two thousand moved like a cold machine; when they advanced to just over five hundred meters from the tribe, each squad had two soldiers raising grenade launchers.

Bang bang bang bang bang…

Thick grenades were fired, soaring into the sky in parabolic arcs, landing in the Demonkin tribe and exploding.

The grenade launchers they used are Lei En's imitation of the former‑world U. S. "M32 grenade launcher", capable of loading six grenades, with an effective range of six hundred meters; a single grenade's power is roughly equivalent to a four‑ring fireball spell, the ammunition contains no propellant, so even ordinary people can use it, and it costs far less than a Rocket Launcher.

One regiment of the Duke's Guard is equipped with four hundred grenade launchers, four hundred grenadiers advancing while firing all six grenades.

Two thousand four hundred fireball spells bombarded, the continuous explosions making the ground tremble.

The Demonkin tribe instantly turned into a sea of fire.

At this point, the Duke's Guard had advanced to within four hundred meters of the tribe, and a group of Abyss Knights riding hellish warhorses, maintaining a demonic energy shield, surged out of the fire.

They broke through the tribe's outer wooden fence, roaring as they charged the enemy.

Although there were only a little over two hundred riders, each was a Mid‑stage or higher Abyss Knight, their momentum like ten thousand troops, a black torrent crushing forward. Their leader was the tribe's chieftain, a Legendary High‑rank Abyss Divine Chosen.

Facing such a terrifying enemy, the Duke's Guard's attack formation couldn't help but stall.

Although their helmets were enchanted with "Mind Protection", able to resist attacks on their Willpower, some still feared the enemy's might and halted.

"Rocket Launcher!"

"All fire, blast open their shields!"

"Machine gunners, prepare!"

The commander of the first regiment, a Thundercast Celestial Soldier, calmly ordered; over eighty percent of the Rocket Launcher operators overcame their fear, raised their weapons, aimed at the enemy, and pulled the triggers.

More than eighty rockets roared out, bombarding the Abyss Knight's evil energy shield.

The Rocket Launchers used by the Duke's Guard differ from those of the Holy Spear Knight Corps; the ammunition contains no fuel, requiring no soul power to fire, and its power matches the original Rocket Launcher, which was originally an anti‑tank weapon with great penetration.

The evil energy shield collapsed instantly.

The Abyss Knight was backfired, spitting blood, and the hell warhorse beneath him was also affected, its charge abruptly halted.

But before they could adjust, a barrage of gunfire erupted.

Rat-a-tat-tat…

The machine gunners fired recklessly, streams of flame spewing countless bullet storms, pouring onto the Abyss Knights, piercing their armor, tearing their flesh, and amid the screams they were instantly thrown about, falling in swaths.

Immediately after, the dozen or so slower‑reacting Rocket Launcher operators also opened fire.

Dozens of rockets fell into the corps and exploded.

At this moment, the grenade launchers also reloaded six new grenades, raised their firing angle, and laid fire onto the Abyss Knights' rear.

And at the front, the riflemen also opened fire.

A squad of four riflemen was equipped with the "Blast Gun", a new weapon developed by Lei En whose power is comparable to the "Avenger 47"; a single bullet equals a second‑circle spell, but the Blast Gun fires a high‑temperature flame beam, similar to the scorching ray of a second‑circle spell.

Because the energy beam dissipates easily, the Blast Gun's range is shorter than the Avenger 47, under four hundred meters, and its fire rate is slightly lower, only three beams per second.

Even so, the Blast Gun is a massive killing weapon!

Because it requires no soul power, a single energy magazine can fire 300 times, and when the magazine is taken onto a Star Destroyer, it can be recharged with an Iola Core for repeated use.

At this moment, the Abyss Knights entered half the rifle's range, countless crimson beams fired, focusing on the Abyss Knight leader, who couldn't dodge and was engulfed by the energy beams. Seconds later, the Demonkin chieftain turned to ash.

The Abyss Knights were all annihilated!

"Advance!"

"For the Title: Duke's honor, eliminate them!"

(End of Chapter)