Chapter 123: Sneaking

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Killed [Raktor Knight], +250 EXP

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Killed [Raktor Logistics Captain], +500 EXPFollow current novels at novelhall.com)

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Killed [Raktor Logistics Sergeant], +100 EXP

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Killed [Raktor Private], +50 EXP

Below Kyle, the supply logistic corps of the Raktor military was in flames. The storage area had been struck directly by Kyle’s railgun, igniting the flammable liquid that was used by the war machines. Soldiers and engineers scrambled alike to stem the flame, trying to prevent the ensuing wildfire from spreading through the camp despite the heavy rain.

“Who’s attacking us? Get our observers out there ASAP!”

“Return artillery fire!”

“Which way?!”

“Get the extinguisher here!” One of the knights bellowed, commanding his platoon to hustle while other members of the supply logistic corps scrambled to save as much as they could.

Pairs of soldiers lugged forward a large mobile wagon mounted with a cannon, which began to rattle violently as it chugged arcia fuel before blasting water in high pressure, blanketing the flames and starving it of oxygen in a single push.

One of the wagons instead started to spray out a purple mist, leading one of the knights to smack a soldier on his helmet.

“Idiot! You’re wasting our precious liquid! Swap it to water!”

“Ye-yes, sir!”

Kyle hovered only just six hundred meters over the camp, ensuring his stealth engravings remained effective while he observed the layout of the Raktor military. This should be good enough for now.

[Poair Sapling]

Kyle pondered as he examined the map, with Feldon shifting the brigades around to represent what he meant. However, he could already see inconsistencies in the ‘strategy’ that Feldon was assuming. He did not blame Feldon for it – the man had no training whatsoever in military warfare.

The objective of Count Leon is to storm the capital. This means he has to take it in less than two weeks. A siege on Ocra is very unlikely to be part of his plans... The decades of military warfare lessons and practice in his former life kicked in, allowing Kyle to glimpse at all the possible attacks.

“He’s planning to gas the entire city.”

“Gas?” Feldon was confused before his eyes widened in realisation. “You mean the same gas that the damn Nest fuckers used on us?”

“Exactly. He’s going to wipe everyone out in the city in one fell swoop.”

“That’s impossible – the Versian military must be prepared for such a chemical attack themselves. The Nest hitmen we fought all had countermeasures.”

“Not if Count Leon has developed something completely new that can circumvent that.”

“Then how the hell are we going to stop them?”

“Did you write down the reports of each sector?”

Feldon handed him a stack of paper, with Kyle flipping through them, reading the notes quickly as he recalled all of the military elements he spotted. Warmachines sheds, food supplies, makeshift mess hall, heavy construction equipment for road building, wagons for logistics, extinguishers... extinguishers?

Kyle thumbed through the notes again, checking carefully. Originally, he had not specifically noted down the number of extinguishers wagons, but now that he saw how they fought the fire, there were a bit too many of them.

The wagons seemed to work on the basis of arctech pumps, blasting out vaporised liquid at high speeds. To Kyle, this was perfectly normal – except for that one wagon that had blasted out a purple mist instead. But none of the soldiers was affected even if they breathed it in, and the knight did not seem too flustered either. Unless...

Every chemical weapon needed a countermeasure: either a filter or a neutralising agent. Kyle became confident that the wagons were meant to neutralise the chemicals after they swept the city.

If he let Count Leon gas the city, all his efforts at stalling the battle would go to waste in one fell swoop, allowing the Yual Dominion to occupy Ocra and use it as a base for logistics.

“You’re coming with me.”

“Huh...? What?!”

“I’ll explain in the air.”

“In the air?!”

Kyle grabbed Feldon and rushed back to the underground tunnel base, ordering him to gear up with weapons. While Feldon clumsily put on an ordinary set of armour, Kyle brought along a few potion flasks courtesy of Desham before removing his arctech armour. Such heavy armour would not be the right purpose. Equipping himself with the thunder sword instead and a few light pieces of non-arctech armour, Kyle attached a radio to his belt, ready to sortie.

Kyle passed Feldon an arctech radio before the two of them launched into the air on the same stealth-engraved hornet, the speed nearly causing Feldon to fall off as he grabbed on tightly.

The ant soared through the evening sky towards Ocra, the former rain clouds long gone in replacement of a pinkish hue. “No, no, no, I didn’t sign up for this! I’m not going to sneak in!”

“I’m the one doing the sneaking. You’ll stay up in the air and coordinate, got it?”

Kyle had a concrete plan – he needed to touch the neutraliser physically. He had an inkling that it was similar to a potion, and with his System title, he should be able to investigate exactly what it was made of with a simple distillation method. Or the System could tell me the ingredients directly.

If he could get in contact with the actual chemical weapon being used, it would be even better, but Kyle wasn’t counting on it. Most likely, Count Leon has stored it away somewhere well-protected or inconspicuous.

The day soon turned into night, darkness taking over the land as they soared above the forest, the arctech lights of encamped Raktor forces and Versian garrison glittering on the horizon. A few small isolated fires were still raging, fought off by the Raktor soldiers.

“Which sector were the extinguishers reported in?”

“Last report was Sector 29K, but they came in from 25G.”

“Got it.”

Kyle directed the hornet down to the ground, dropping onto the forest floor with a crunch as he stepped on leaves, his feet light without the armour. The lights of the Raktor camp flickered in the distance, with sounds of chatting and laughter as the Raktor infantry had their meal in the night.

“Entering camp now. Keep an eye out for me for any big movement.”

“Got it.”

Sneaking into the camp from tree to tree, Kyle kept himself hidden as much as possible, trying to find an entry point into the camp. Already he could see a few foot soldiers on patrol duty, their arctech spotlights casting shadows on the trees. Kyle kept his body low to the ground, avoiding their view while trying to map out their patrolling pattern.

[The patrol pattern isn’t the same as daytime.]

“Expected.” Kyle was not too fussed, having a rough idea of the night time patrol sequence, but he knew he was on a time limit. “Found an opening.”

Kyle took his chance, silently moving through the forest before aiming at the camp, leaping over the fence. He landed quietly on the other side, only to find one Raktor patrol guard skiving off behind the fence, clearly not following the patrol pattern, their eyes locked on one another.

“Shit.”