Chapter 979: Anti-Magic Camp

Lei En waited in place for a while, and the All-Seeing Eye swept back and forth across the sky.

He did not absorb Kurgos's soul.

Kurgos is the Lord of Darkness's Chosen Champion, and also received the Blood God's blessing; whether the Blood God is a fragment of the Lord of Darkness or not, he is a double Chosen, his status is far from ordinary, and he is likely under close attention of the Evil God.

In this situation one must still be cautious; cannot covet a few thousand units of energy and attract the Evil God.

For over a month, when eliminating Demonkin tribes, we also selectively absorbed souls. In Kurgos's domain there were over two million Demonkin; now sharply reduced to less than five hundred thousand, and of the more than one and a half million Demonkin lost, only one third of their souls were harvested.

The New Continent is still different from Demons; Netifu Demon can kill, but cannot recklessly harvest souls.

In this regard, Lei En has always been very cautious.

"Should be dead!"

Neither the Soul Eye nor the All-Seeing Eye detected any sign of Kurgos's revival; blood rebirth is indeed tricky, but as long as all the blood is destroyed it will be fine.

"Bloodthirsty King…"

"Indeed one of the few Chosen Champions just below Aiken, but so what?"

Lei En felt rather pleased; Kurgos's power is immense, a Thirty-level Chosen Champion, and on the Prime Material Plane already ranks among the pinnacle of the strongest.

Compared with Vickramatia II, who is equipped with the Nine-Ring Imperial Armament, Kurgos's attack and defense are slightly lower, but Kurgos's vitality far surpasses Vickramatia II, making his overall strength more than half a measure ahead.

A few years ago when he faced Vickramatia II, Lei En was still a Nineteen-level Wizard.

And now, he is a Twenty-two-level Holy Soul Wizard!

The power gap is astronomical.

Lei En is confident that if he faces Vickramatia II again, it certainly won't be as difficult as back then; he could kill him with ease.

Melee classes are ultimately inferior to casters.

At his current strength, Lei En feels that any melee class in the Prime Material Plane that could spar with him might not even make up a single hand.

Aiken counts as one;

King Thorgrin of Zhigao Shan counts as one;

The brother of Grand Mage Teklis, the world-famous "Long Ao Tian", and the High Elf Sword Saint Terian also count as one;

Ouroin Master counts as half, because he is a Battle Wizard, not a true melee class.

Of course, these three and a half count the Prime Material Plane's melee classes; other planes surely have many super strong beings. Just the Celestial Realm and the Abyss already hide hidden dragons; those Blazing Heaven Divine Envoys and angels, as well as the ancient Abyssal Lords, have melee fighters far stronger than himself.

If casters are included, the number becomes incalculable.

Lei En silently warned himself that in the future he will still have to face Holy Soul Wizards, Grand Mages, demigods, and Abyssal Lords; these are the most elite powerful beings of Ai Lun E Si, and he must never become arrogant or complacent.

Moreover, there are deities!

"My transcendent path is still far from the end... the revolution has not yet succeeded, comrades still need to strive!" he thought, and opened his phone screen for a glance.

The Soul Power Reservoir was already full.

When battling Kurgos, the Duke's Guard had already advanced into the Demonkin tribe; although they only selectively absorbed souls, the converted energy was still inexhaustible.

To avoid waste, Lei En could only allocate the energy to Dark Angels, and in that short time, the Dark Angels' fully evolved forms increased by four.

Strengthening one Dark Angel to a fully evolved form requires about five thousand units of energy.

The Dark Angel battalion that follows Ailotisia currently has over thirty fully evolved forms; aside from the first five that Lei En deliberately strengthened, the other fully evolved forms were unavoidable, as there was simply too much energy left unused, so it could only be allocated to them.

Some energy was also invested into "My World", and the activation progress bar has already reached 75%.

"Can't waste any more."

Lei En's spirit leapt to the ground, and among the wild grass he found Kurgos's weapon, the "Blood War Spear".

This massive spear is top-tier epic, yet its quality is not inferior to Legend Grade.

It bore the augmentation of his "God's Staff", and exploded upon striking Kurgos, the attached rune enchantment was damaged, losing those powerful damage effects. However, most of the material forged into the spear remains intact and can be reused.

Sheathing the Blood War Spear, Lei En directly teleported back to the Star Destroyer and entered the magical laboratory.

The Demonkin tribe where Roli City stands.

The north, east, and south walls have all collapsed, and the Duke's Guard employed a three‑sides‑open‑one‑closed strategy, surrounding the tribe from three directions and advancing step by step.

Gunfire and explosions never ceased for even a second.

After several rounds of bombardment by armored warships, the Demonkin army's morale had long collapsed; after Kurgos fled, the whole tribe was leaderless, over two hundred thousand Demonkin abandoned weapons, positions, and families, fleeing wildly west toward the Baleqiya Mountains.

On the other side of the mountains lies the territory of the Eternal Chosen, their only way out.

In fact, over the past month more than several hundred thousand Demonkin have abandoned everything, crossed the Baleqiya Mountains and fled to the Eternal Chosen.

But this is not easy.

Roli City is over three hundred li from the Baleqiya Mountains, and the mountains still contain many Evil Beastmen tribes.

The Duke's Guard spent two hours flattening the Demonkin tribe, and before withdrawing they set a massive fire; the towering flames could be seen dozens of li away, reddening the sky.

Then they pursued the fleeing Demonkin westward.

Only when night fell did Lei En order the Duke's Guard, which had chased over a hundred li, to withdraw; fifteen armored warships carrying three regiments returned to the Star Destroyer's hangar.

The Star Destroyer set sail immediately.

The Thundercast Celestial Soldier commander tallied the results and quickly synced them to Lei En.

In today's battle, about one hundred fifty thousand Demonkin were eliminated, completely destroying the largest Demonkin tribe on the New Continent's east coast; as for the Duke's Guard, three regiments totaling six thousand men were deployed, with over four hundred lightly wounded, thirty seriously wounded, and twelve killed.

Although clad in epic-level Storm Armor, the Duke's Guard members were only second- and third‑tier Supernaturals; the battlefield changed in an instant, and the Demonkin had many legendary strongmen, including Abyssal Knights, Demons, and Purgatory Mages, so accidents inevitably occurred.

The Thundercast Celestial Soldiers serving as officers were too late to rescue.

In fact, the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers had already rescued many; without them, the number of fallen soldiers would have exceeded a hundred.

"The dead are now double‑digit..."

Lei En frowned.

Each Duke's Guard soldier had incurred a large cost—potion soul essences, weapons and gear, and pay—averaging close to five thousand Gold Shields.

Money and equipment are minor matters; the crucial point is that the people are gone.

Training a Duke Guard is not easy; each member has been selected round after round, possesses outstanding talent, has spent more than a year training in the barracks, and is fiercely loyal. The three regiments fighting today will become the backbone of the Imperial Defense Army in the future, with bright prospects.

Even the death of one Lei En hurts, let alone twelve; among those twelve fallen could be future regiment commanders or division leaders.

"How exactly did they fall?" Lei En thought.

Several Thundercast Celestial Soldiers transmitted information.

Various images flashed in his mind; after examining them carefully, Lei En found that all twelve were killed by Purgatory mages.

"Indeed…"

Casters are always the most vexing enemy of the Supernatural Legion; often a single spell can deliver a fatal blow to the Legion. Sometimes a large‑area high‑ring spell can outright annihilate the entire Supernatural Legion!

In the world of Ai Lun E Si, the Supernatural Legion, regardless of race or plane, first considers how to deal with casters.

Only magic can defeat magic.

The most conventional method is to have one's own casters attack the enemy's casters, denying the foe the chance to cast spells against the legion.

The next is to augment spell‑based protection: various resistance fields, shields, magical gear, and so on.

However, pure defense is passive; unless, like Fu Kong Cheng's shield maintained by the Iola Core, a shield will eventually be breached. Moreover, many protections and force fields are immobile, hindering combat, and the equipment cost is extremely high.

Because casters are scarce, high‑level casters are even rarer.

Thus, the overwhelming majority of Supernatural Legions can only adopt the second method; many financially strapped legions simply forgo magical protection.

The Duke Guard currently relies mainly on Storm Armor for protection against spell attacks.

Additionally, they have protection from Thundercast Celestial Soldiers.

At present the Duke Guard has only three regiments, with Thundercast Celestial Soldiers serving as company commanders and above, sufficient for most situations. When later reorganized into the Imperial Defense Army, with a total strength of over a million, it will be impossible for all officer posts to be filled by Thundercast Celestial Soldiers, leaving gaps.

Lei En sat in the laboratory, deep in thought.

The Imperial Defense Army must remain under absolute control, so only Thundercast Celestial Soldiers can be inserted, but the method must change.

More than half of the battalion‑level officers will still be Thundercast Celestial Soldiers.

The other half of officer positions can later be filled by soldiers who have matured with command ability, granting them promotion opportunities and greater combat motivation.

Then, each division will establish an "Anti‑Magic Battalion" and an "Air‑Drop Battalion".

As the names suggest.

The Anti‑Magic Battalion specializes in countering enemy spell attacks, enhancing protection, focusing on defense; led by Thundercast Celestial Soldiers using various anti‑magic gear and spells, activating force fields or shields, augmenting spell protection, scouting enemy casting fluctuations, pre‑emptively evading, and so on.

The Air‑Drop Battalion focuses on offense, targeting enemy casters, leading elite soldiers to teleport beside them for decapitation strikes.

Both battalions will be centered on Thundercast Celestial Soldiers, who will serve as battalion commanders.

Each Thundercast Celestial Soldier is a mage at Mid-stage legend level; they can construct spell models to master the Seven‑Ring spells, which include "Anti‑Magic Field", "Spell Nullification Barrier", "Mass Teleportation", "Spatial Lockdown", and various area‑protection augment spells.

Lei En quickly envisioned multiple protection strategies, combining spells with gear to maximally mitigate large‑area spell damage.

The construction of the Anti‑Magic Battalion is somewhat more difficult.

The Air‑Drop Battalion, on the contrary, is not hard; outstanding soldiers can be selected and equipped with superior weapons, such as specially‑made Storm Armor, enhanced‑power weapons, even Bolt Guns, allowing them to teleport with Thundercast Celestial Soldiers to raid enemy casters.

"Hmm…"

Lei En, deep in thought, suddenly realized: "Isn't this just special forces?"

In his previous life, airborne troops were essentially the elite of an army; the Air‑Drop Battalion he created would inevitably be far stronger than other battalions, essentially the special forces of the Duke Guard.

The Anti‑Magic and Air‑Drop Battalions fighting together, one focusing on defense, the other on offense, are sufficient to handle the overwhelming majority of casters.

Lei En stroked his chin.

"Since we're building a modern army, the unit structure must be more complete," he opened the memo on his phone, which recorded many things—daily inspirations and thoughts, memories of his past life—and muttered: "Add a Recon Battalion and an Armored Battalion to each division?"

The Recon Battalion requires mobility, stealth, and real‑time communication, all of which can be solved with magical equipment.

Mobility…

Lei En checked Kalanos's mechanical factory and saw a Thundercast Celestial Soldier research team; for the past two years they have been developing flying motorbikes, and preliminary results have emerged.

The flying motorbike will become the primary vehicle of the Recon Battalion, though it is somewhat costly.

The Armored Battalion will also be equipped with flying motorbikes.

However, Lei En envisions the Armored Battalion's main combat forces to be tanks and armored warships; both require split‑brain crystal control, and allocating the limited split‑brain crystals to them would be wasteful with poor cost‑effectiveness.

The Imperial Defense Army supplements the Star Destroyer; wherever they are, Star Destroyers inevitably take part in the battlefield, and armored warships are more than capable, so firepower is never lacking.

And there are also Sky‑Piercing Colossi!

One Sky‑Piercing Colossus costs two million Gold Shields—expensive, but highly practical and powerful; the existence of an Armored Battalion thus seems unnecessary.

"Better to drop it."

Lei En shook his head, "Tanks are too slow, heavily dependent on ground roads, cumbersome, expensive, and a maintenance nightmare."

"I'd rather just produce several more Sky‑Piercing Colossi."

"If that still doesn't work, and we pursue cost‑effectiveness, then mass‑produce flying motorbikes and form a mechanized aerial corps!"

Lei En quickly refined the concept.

The Imperial Defense Army uses divisions as combat units; an Imperial‑class Star Destroyer carries one division, equipped with twenty to twenty‑five armored warships, commanding three infantry regiments and one motorbike regiment, as well as an Anti‑Magic Battalion, an Air‑Drop Battalion, and a Recon Battalion, with a total strength approaching ten thousand.

At the same time, each Star Destroyer is accompanied by five Sky‑Piercing Colossi and an Extreme Combat Regiment.

When fighter development succeeds later, another Imperial‑class Star Destroyer will be fitted with a fighter squadron, creating a true super‑legion!

A moment later.

Lei En piloted the Getan to ferry the three regiments back to the barracks, then returned to Gotham City, bringing back a large number of Thundercast Celestial Soldiers, dwarf artificers, and alchemical materials, and once again headed to Roli City, landing in a Demonkin tribe that had been reduced to ash, selecting the best spot.

Here a brand‑new tower will be erected, serving as the center and radiating the magical torchlight of VijesCui!

(End of Chapter)