Chapter 52 Cobble Forest
Lu Mingfei brought the other survivors back to the high ground on Wild Goose Ridge. He collapsed in the trench, gasping for breath. He didn't even have the strength to lift a finger. Sweat flowed down his forehead, blurring his vision. The dust and blood on his face made him look even more exhausted.
In order to cover the troops' retreat, he put all his physical strength into the flames that had just erupted. The rising flames seemed to burn through the entire sky, but the price he paid was also huge.
"How many people are still alive... Report your count..." Lu Mingfei panted violently, his voice as hoarse as an old bellows, and spoke to the soldier next to him.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...11." The surviving soldiers around were all exhausted, their voices weak, their faces filled with fear and despair, the shadow of battle still looming in their hearts.
When Lu Mingfei heard the count of only 11, his hands began to tremble slightly. Originally a full platoon of nearly 40 soldiers was reduced to only 11 people.
He finally understood how their company commander felt when he heard that there were only 150 people left in the company out of 32 in the Champagne area.
"Hans, what should we do?" Paul asked from the side, his voice low and fear in his eyes.
The soldiers lying in the trenches around them were the same. Their hearts were filled with deep fear. The French soldiers just now were not only extremely strong, but also not afraid of pain. They were no match for them at all. Moreover, only with Lu Mingfei's protection did 11 of them survive.
The other attacking companies suffered even more severe losses. They left at least 1000 corpses in the Kaub Forest and directly wiped out an entire battalion of troops.
"Mr. Lieutenant, are those all mixed-bloods?" Hill asked from the side. He was still trembling slightly, as if he was still immersed in the scene of being almost strangled to death just now.
"Impossible." Lu Mingfei said with certainty. His voice was firm, trying to bring a glimmer of hope to the soldiers.
If there were so many mixed-race people in the French army, they would not have been able to capture the Forest of Corre when they launched the attack, let alone continuously breaking through the French defense lines later.
“It’s very likely a Word Spirit or something…” Lu Mingfei remembered that when he was bored at the back of the camp, he asked Kaczynski how many Word Spirits there were in total. Kaczynski told him that there were many types of Word Spirits, some of which were even unimaginable.
"What kind of words can have this effect..." He carefully recalled what Kaczynski had explained to him, and suddenly the name "King's Servant" appeared in his mind.
He remembered that Kaczynski had said that this word spirit could strengthen the physical functions of creatures in the area. If it was this word spirit, then the person who released the word spirit should be among the French soldiers. As long as the hybrid who released the word spirit was killed, the French soldiers would return to their original state.
"So what should we do next? Should we continue to attack or retreat? Can we defeat those monsters if we continue to attack?" Paul continued to ask. His voice was full of doubt and fear, and he now needed a positive answer to stabilize his emotions.
“I don’t know…” Lu Mingfei really didn’t know what to do next. He was just a small platoon leader. Apart from the few soldiers around him, he couldn’t command any of the other people in the company. Now he could only wait for orders from the regiment headquarters.
At this time, a messenger came running over, panting, with an anxious look on his face.
"The command center has ordered us to rest for a day today and continue the attack tomorrow. There will be artillery fire to cover the attack. If anyone tries to escape, they will be shot on the spot!" After the messenger conveyed the order with all his strength, he ran to the direction of other companies to continue conveying orders.
Many Prussian soldiers were frightened by the French soldiers and began to run away. This time it was the Prussian army's turn to set up machine guns in the rear and aim at anyone who wanted to escape.
After hearing the messenger's order, all the soldiers around Lu Mingfei were silent. They didn't want to face those monsters again, but orders were orders and they couldn't be disobeyed. The silence in the trench was like a dead silence, and everyone was struggling deep in their hearts.
At this moment, they finally understood how desperate those French soldiers were when facing Lu Mingfei.
"Don't worry, I've found a way. I will take care of the enemy commander and everything will return to normal." Lu Mingfei comforted the demoralized soldiers around him.
After hearing Lu Mingfei's words, Paul, Hill and the others finally cheered up a little. After all, they had monsters stronger than those on the opposite side, and a glimmer of hope rekindled in their eyes.
………………
Markel has returned to his barracks. At this time, a layer of fine green scales appeared on his cheeks, and all the teeth in his mouth turned into fangs. The golden pupils in his eyes were as bright as two light bulbs, emitting a cold light.
"It seems that my qualifications are indeed not enough... I don't know how long I can last..." He muttered to himself as he looked at the unfamiliar self in the mirror.
He had begun to feel his consciousness filled with bloodthirsty desires, and that desire was like a poisonous snake twisting in his heart.
A big reason why he quit the Elders' Council was that he was not sure about his path to becoming a god. He had seen too many half-bloods who failed in their journey to becoming a god. Those half-bloods who failed would completely turn into monsters and cause serious harm to nearby residents.
The hybrids who embarked on the road to becoming gods originally had excellent bloodlines and were very powerful. In other words, only the powerful hybrids had the opportunity to be granted dragon blood and embark on the road to becoming gods. Their strength after being strengthened by dragon blood was even more terrifying.
Although the Elders will send people to kill or capture the hybrid who becomes Deadpool, the damage caused to ordinary people is still very great. Those innocent lives are like fallen leaves blown away by the wind in Deadpool's hands, with no power to resist.
The probability of successfully walking the Road to Deification is very low, but there are still a steady stream of outstanding hybrids who want to try, because only by walking the Road to Deification can one enter the core of the Elders' Council.
It is said that the half-breeds at the core of the Presbyterian Church are more like dragons than humans, and even their appearance has been completely changed.
"I don't know if the blood explosion technology that the secret party mentioned was successful..." Markel continued to mutter to himself.
Blood Explosion is a technique simplified by the Secret Party based on the Road to the Gods. It does not rely on external dragon blood to strengthen and transform itself, but relies on stimulating the dragon blood in its own body to enhance its spiritual power and physical strength.
However, these improvements are only temporary, and there is still a risk of turning into Deadpool, but as long as it is used with caution, the probability of turning into Deadpool is much lower than directly swallowing dragon blood.
"Is that guy the super hybrid that the Elder Council talked about... No wonder he is called a super hybrid..." Markel recalled the Junyan that had just erupted in the forest. The pillar of fire that shot up into the sky interrupted their offensive momentum and finally allowed the Prussian soldiers to escape. His heart was filled with mixed emotions.
It's not that he had never seen the Sovereign Flame before. DeLeon had demonstrated it to him before. Before DeLeon embarked on the path to becoming a god, he was the best among his batch of mixed-bloods at the time, but the Sovereign Flame he unleashed with all his strength was not even half as powerful as the Sovereign Flame in the Cob Forest.
At this time, Moreno's voice came from behind him, interrupting his thoughts. "Markel, did you swallow dragon blood?" Moreno's voice was filled with uncertainty and worry.
"Yeah," Markel responded softly but did not turn around to look at Moreno. He did not want Moreno to see him in his current state, fearing that his change would scare the young man.
"The people I arranged will be here soon. You just go back obediently." Markle's voice was hoarse and low, completely devoid of his former majesty, as if it had been torn apart by countless pain and despair.
"I won't go back!" Moreno's voice was still so stubborn.
"Moreno, as you said, you are already eighteen years old. You have grown up and should not be called a child anymore. You have been on the battlefield for a while and you should understand the misery on the battlefield. So you should go back and find the reason why the war broke out and then prevent it from happening again."
"I don't have much time left. I don't know what kind of person you will become in the future, but I am willing to bet my future on you. After the war, go to the United States to find a young man named Ange and give him some help. After all, the world belongs to you young people. Just sweep those old guys into the garbage dump." Markel's hoarse and low voice seemed so gentle at this moment.
Moreno stared at Markle's back blankly and couldn't say a word.
"Hohenlohe, take him away." Markel shouted to the side.
A black figure slowly emerged from the air as if walking out of nothingness.
"Let's go, young master of the Rothschild family." Hornlohe grabbed Moreno's hand and started walking out.
Moreno did not struggle, still staring blankly at Markle's back until he was pulled out of the door. His heart was filled with reluctance and helplessness, but he also understood that this was Markle's last protection for him.
…………
After Lu Mingfei rested for a whole night and replenished all his strength, he used his sickle-weasel to carefully monitor the movements of the French army in the Caub Forest.
He was looking for the half-blood who released the Word Spirit. He planned to run towards the half-blood and decapitate him the moment the bombardment ended.
Every bird song and every leaf rustling in the forest echoed in his ears, but he only paid attention to the unusual movements.
"No..." He had been detecting for nearly two hours, but there was nothing unusual. The heartbeat of the French soldiers in the forest was also very normal, completely different from what he detected yesterday. This made him a little confused and uneasy.
Suddenly, the sickle-weasel sent back a low chanting sound like some ancient and mysterious spell. As the chanting sounded, the French army in the forest began to change immediately. The originally normal and steady heartbeats began to beat rapidly, becoming rapid and powerful.
At the same time, a strong heartbeat sound entered Lu Mingfei's detection range. This heartbeat sound reminded him of the heartbeat sound in the Kaole Forest.
“That’s it…” Lu Mingfei focused all his attention on the heartbeat. Now he was just waiting for artillery support. His heartbeat quickened involuntarily and cold sweat oozed from his palms.
Not long after, artillery bombardment began. This artillery bombardment was originally used to cover the large force's attack on Dead Man's Hill. According to the plan, they should have occupied the Kaub Forest yesterday and attacked Dead Man's Hill with the large force today.
But because their attack yesterday failed, the main force could only postpone the attack and transfer the artillery support to Lu Mingfei and his team. This doubled his pressure, because the cost of failure would be unimaginable.
The bombardment was so fierce that it almost razed the entire forest to the ground. After all, it was artillery fire to cover the attack of a large force, so its power should not be underestimated.
The bombardment continued for several hours, shaking the earth, but Lu Mingfei unexpectedly discovered that the heartbeats in the forest did not decrease much, which made him even more anxious and nervous.
Finally the shelling stopped. Lu Mingfei didn't have time to think any more. The moment the shelling stopped, he ran towards the Cob Forest. He had to kill the half-blood before the main force launched an attack.
The sickle-weasel kept shuttling back and forth in the forest, transmitting all the sounds inside to Lu Mingfei's ears, but he only cared about the strong heartbeat.
Every leaf and every stone in the forest formed a detailed map in his ears. While running madly, Lu Mingfei found that many French soldiers came out of the tunnels.
They actually dug a tunnel that was strong enough to withstand the bombardment in just one night. No wonder the bombardment was not very effective. When Lu Mingfei saw this, he ran even faster.
If he couldn't kill the half-blood in the first place, the troops behind him would be vulnerable in front of these French soldiers who were blessed by the Word Spirits.
Finally, he arrived near the heartbeat sound. The heartbeat sound came from a shelter that had just been dug yesterday, and there were some French soldiers guarding the shelter.
Lu Mingfei pulled out the pistol from his waist and shot immediately before the French soldiers recovered from the previous artillery attack.
In a few seconds, the French soldiers guarding the shelter were cleared out. After using up all the ammunition drums, Lu Mingfei did not have time to replace them. Instead, he directly pulled out his engineer shovel and rushed into the shelter.
There was no light in the shelter, but that was not important to Lu Mingfei. He simply swung his engineer shovel and chopped towards the heartbeat sound.
"when!!!"
The sound of the engineer shovel cutting into flesh that Lu Mingfei expected did not occur. Instead, there was a sound of metal clashing. His arm was numb from the shock as if he had cut into steel.
Suddenly, the shelter lit up, and Lu Mingfei saw a pair of golden eyes as bright as fluorescent lights slowly opening. Those bright golden eyes were filled with cold murderous intent, as if freezing the entire space in an instant.
A terrifying force hit Lu Mingfei's abdomen, knocking him out and hitting the wall hard. Pain instantly swept through his body, as if every bone was about to break.
(End of this chapter)
