Chapter 474: Chapter 204: Change Every member of this squad was a Fighter. Aside from the Iron Demon and his two deputies, who were Duty Samurai, the rest were all Cavalry Warriors—in other words, Second Limit Fighters.
Each of them wore three layers of protection. The innermost layer was Protective Clothing, followed by Protective Armor, and then an outer, body-hugging, cyan Anti-stabbing Robe. Conventional gunfire and stabs were nearly useless against them.
Each man carried five roped Long Spears on his back, which could be used for attacking enemies or for climbing over obstacles.
One by one, they crossed the sparse barbed wire and trenches in the rear. As for the wider ditches, they crossed them easily with the help of their javelin ropes.
Upon reaching the fortress walls, they only needed to hurl their Long Spears into the wall to climb right up. The entire process didn’t take long.
They had thoroughly scouted the fortress’s interior long ago. They knew its structure, the distribution of personnel, and every man knew exactly where to enter and what to do once inside.
Chen Chuan was sitting in his room, cultivating his Essence Blood and Divine Constant. Suddenly, he seemed to sense something and his eyes snapped open. He glanced at his watch: 4:30 a.m.
He then picked up his Snow Monarch Blade and walked out of the room.
Looking out from an observation port, the night sky was still as black as ink. Searchlights swept back and forth across the ground and walls of the perimeter, but farther out, everything was shrouded in pitch-black darkness, and nothing was visible.
He continued forward, pushed open a corridor door, and stepped onto a narrow platform, where he stood silently.
About half an hour passed, and the sky gradually began to lighten. But below, there was still no movement; everything seemed normal.
Just then, an alarm from a patrol team suddenly came through his Realm Token, seemingly reporting a situation.
He immediately moved, following the internal corridors to that location. When he arrived, he saw that Hai Cheng was already there, speaking with two guards. One of the soldiers was pointing at something as he made his report.
Chen Chuan followed his gaze and saw Long Spears embedded in the wall, with a few reaching the very top. A Fighter would only need to vault over to get inside the fortress.
Just then, the sound of footsteps approached as others who had received the message arrived. Advisor Rao looked at the scene, his voice a mix of trepidation and excitement. "They’re here, just as I predicted!"
Chen Chuan asked, "Is it them?"
Hai Cheng affirmed from the side, "It’s them. I recognize those spears. But it wouldn’t have been easy for them to get through the forward defenses. They definitely would have made some noise. They must have come from the rear."
"From the rear..."
Hearing this, Advisor Rao immediately pieced everything together. He understood the enemy’s deployment, which proved his battle plan had been correct—they really were targeting Fortress No. 73 this time.
But then he frowned, looking at the spearheads. "But why? They obviously made it this far..."
Meanwhile, in the distance, the Cavalry Warriors had already retreated to their original positions.
A tall, well-built Samurai approached the Knight in the iron mask and asked, puzzled, "Captain, why did you order us to fall back? The men were already at the walls. If they had just climbed over, we could have taken the fortress instantly!"
The iron-masked Knight didn’t speak, merely gazing toward the top of the fortress as if waiting for something.
In that time, the sky grew brighter, and the scenery in the distance gradually came into focus.
As if sensing something, Chen Chuan glanced outside. He left the group, walked to the edge of the corridor, and looked down.
In the distance, about two kilometers away, a Knight in a crimson iron mask sat on horseback. A Long Spear with a white tassel lay across his saddle.
He was completely alone, just one man and one horse standing there.
"That must be the Iron Demon, right?"
Yuan Qiuyuan had also spotted the figure. He moved closer for a better look. "At this distance... a machine gun probably can’t reach..." He turned to Hai Cheng. "Sea Guard, can we fire a shell at him?"
Hai Cheng stood there with his arms crossed and shook his head. "Don’t waste the effort. We’ve tried before, but the Iron Demon seems to have a unique ability. Every time, just before we fire, he moves to evade."
"It’s like he has some kind of special warning system for danger."
"That’s why he’s so hard to deal with. We’ve never been able to catch him. Of all the Imperial Family Samurai who have invaded this area, none have been as troublesome as him."
Yuan Qiuyuan sighed. "What a shame."
Just then, the Iron Demon suddenly tilted his head, and a moment later, a loud gunshot rang out from nearby.
He looked over and saw Qin Qingque holding a harpoon rifle. She seemed perplexed as to how her target had dodged ahead of time.
Chen Chuan stood with his blade in hand, his gaze fixed on the man. The Iron Demon shot him a final glance, then pulled on his reins, turned his horse, and galloped away, disappearing into the dense forest in the distance a moment later.
Advisor Rao walked over, his brow deeply furrowed. "The Iron Demon was probably planning to take this place last night. But I don’t understand why he didn’t attack. Did he sense our presence here?"
Chen Chuan pondered for a moment. "Did the war room have any intelligence on his precognitive abilities?"
Advisor Rao replied, "We did, but we have no accurate assessment of the full extent of this ability. We couldn’t just scrap all our plans because of it."
He said with a grave expression, "However, based on this incident, his precognitive sense is stronger than I had estimated, and he acts with even greater caution."
He sighed. "The ambush failed this time. Given his caution, I’m afraid he won’t be coming back so easily."
Chen Chuan shook his head. "Not necessarily. I’ve read the files Advisor Rao gave me. He often takes pleasure in attacking difficult targets and even actively seeks out potentially dangerous places. He can come and go as he pleases precisely because he relies on this ability to sense danger in advance. I don’t think he’ll give up this easily."
During their brief eye contact, he had read something in the other man’s gaze—a mixture of defiance and obsession. This attack was probably far from over.
Advisor Rao said cautiously, "Even so, it’ll be difficult to deal with him. As long as he doesn’t come up to the fortress, we’re helpless against him in the wild."
"Not necessarily," Chen Chuan said. "Right now, he probably can’t gauge our true strength. If he finds out that only our small squad is stationed here, he’ll likely try every trick in the book to lure us out."
If that was the case... Advisor Rao, having regained his composure, quickly followed this line of thought.
"The simplest way would be to attack the patrols of other nearby garrisons, or even attack the garrisons themselves. He’ll use constant slaughter and destruction to increase the pressure on us, forcing us to leave the fortress to hunt them down."
"Once we’re out in the open, if he successfully eliminates us in the wild, he’ll come back to attack Fortress No. 73."
"Yes, that’s highly likely. Route 104 should be sealed off again by now, which means he’s trapped here. To get back, he has to find a breakthrough point."
"And the longer he’s delayed, the greater the risk. That’s why he’s targeting us. Breaking through here is his best option!"
He looked up abruptly at Chen Chuan. "Two days. He has two days at most to confirm the situation, because if reinforcements were coming from the rear, they would have reacted within two days."
Chen Chuan considered this. "Since he wants us to come out, we’ll play along."
"Captain Chen, what are you planning to do?"
Chen Chuan looked at him. "I’ll lead a team to hunt him down. Give him the opportunity he’s looking for."
Advisor Rao was taken aback. He quickly tried to dissuade him, "Captain Chen, I advise against this. Here in the fortress, we have fortifications and the support of personnel and heavy weapons. But out there, you’ll have no support besides yourselves."
Hai Cheng walked over at this moment, his voice grave. "Captain Chen, I admire your courage, but it’s not like we haven’t tried to hunt this man down in the wild before. The result was several squads being wiped out. We couldn’t even recover their bodies." His voice grew heavy by the end.
Chen Chuan said sincerely, "Thank you for the warning, Sea Guard. But if we don’t do this, he won’t attack the fortress directly. He’ll just keep harassing the surrounding area, and we’ll be forced to stand by and do nothing."
He then turned to Advisor Rao. "Choosing to defend our position was the right tactical choice before, but holding our ground is useless now. We have to take the initiative. As for support..."
He said slowly, "As Fighters, we are all the support we need."
"The captain’s right! As Fighters, we are enough! Captain, I’ll go with you," Yuan Qiuyuan declared loudly from the side.
Qin Qingque stepped forward, her back straight. "Captain, I’ll go too."
Seeing he couldn’t stop them, Advisor Rao sighed inwardly. He thought for a moment, then gave a solemn reminder, "In that case, I won’t stand in your way. But the three of you shouldn’t go too far. It would be best if you could make it back by nightfall."
After half an hour of preparation, Chen Chuan gathered the necessary supplies. The three of them drove out of the fortress in an off-road vehicle under the complex and worried gazes of the others, heading in the direction the Iron Demon had disappeared.
This time, he didn’t bring any other team members. Once a fight broke out, it would be difficult to look out for the regular members. Qin Qingque, however, knew how to drive, perform maintenance, and operate the radio, so her presence was more than enough.
Yuan Qiuyuan was thrilled. If nothing else, Chen Chuan’s decision was exactly to his liking. Huddling in a fortress waiting for the enemy to come to them was far too passive. It made him uncomfortable all over. Taking the initiative was the only right way to do things.
Qin Qingque drove, handling the vehicle with speed and stability. She asked, "Captain, the road ends here. Which way do we go?"
Chen Chuan, sitting in the back seat, glanced outside. "Just follow the tracks their main force left behind. Even if we can’t catch up to them, as long as we get far enough from the fortress, they’ll come looking for us."
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