Chapter 354 Operation Synchro I

On-field Command Centre

Unnamed City Outskirts

Cheverton Duchy

April 24th

Year 1052

[The time is 0540 hours in the morning with clear skies out there; the weather should not be an obstacle in the way of the operation.]

[All personnel in position for the final Briefing of Operation Synchro.]

The voices from the speakers roused Evan from his short nap as he wiped his eyes with a wet cloth and got to his feet, standing at the head of the table surrounded by multiple high-ranked military personnel, paladins, senior mages and their adventurer equivalents.

[The targets of the Operation are the undead monsters situated close to the current positions of each Brigade/Group.

Each Location is estimated to have between fifteen to twenty thousand undead monster units, with average levels ranging between 100 and 150, commanded by superior undead units at the early Grandmaster level.

Our enemies outnumber us slightly; however, this was never a battle of numbers in the first place. We are going with a battle of quality over quantity.]

The Duke's voice continued to ring out through the speakers, just like it was doing so in the other dozen other locations where the Brigades consisting of the Knights of Cheverton, Holy Knights of the Church, Soldiers of the Army, Mages of Kasteblum and Adventurers were currently lying in wait.

He quickly rounded up the operation briefing in less than five minutes, leaving them about fifteen minutes to round up their final checks.

[The Time is now 0545 hours.

We would be commencing the operation in exactly 15 minutes. All positions, confirm your targets.]

"Position A; Targets Confirmed!"

[Position B; Targets Confirmed!]

[Position C; Targets Confirmed!]

[Position D; Targets Confirmed!]

[Position E; Targets Confirmed!]

[Unexpected Report on Position F; We do not have visuals on the targets.

I SAY AGAIN, we do not have visuals on the targets!]

Hearing the unexpected message from the sixth position, Evan clicked his tongue lightly, before grabbing the microphone next to the radio receivers and speaking into it.

"Position F; Anything coming up on your sensors?"

[NEGATIVE! The sensors aren't detecting any presence of any sort within the target area.]

"Spread out your search radius by two or more kilometres and try again."

[ACKNOWLEDGED!]

After a few moments of silence, the radio went live again and a response came in through the speakers.

[Position F's commander speaking.

NEGATIVE response on the expanded search radius. We do not detect any presence within the target areas!]

Hearing the still unfavourable response, Evan sighed in exasperation before muttering softly.

"Those ones have been moved already."

Hearing his words, a few of the paladins who were present during the meeting two days ago frowned involuntarily as this situation was one of the ones that they had wanted to avoid.

"Position F; HOLD.

Other positions, report your statuses."

[Position G; Targets Confirmed!]

[Position H; Targets Confirmed!]

[Position I; No Visuals on Targets!]

[Position J; No Visuals on Targets!]

[Position K; No Visuals on Targets!]

[Position L; No Visuals on Targets!

WAIT!

DISREGARD PREVIOUS TRANSMISSION-OUT

Expanding Search Radius by 3 Kilometres.]

[Position L; Presences detected moving west of the target area!

Do we move in to engage?]

Evan moved his right hand across the map, spotting where Position L was and asking the military officers present a few questions before coming to a conclusion a few seconds later.

"Position L; You have permission.

Move in with caution. Check your flanks and keep your eyes in the air for potential aerial enemies.

Wyvern-type undead are expected in your area."

[ACKNOWLEDGED!

…

We have a visual! Three wyvern types and five gryphon types moving in the air!]

"Keep them within your sights but do not engage yet. You would move out at the exact same time as other groups!"

[ACKNOWLEDGED!]

"Position M, any unfavourable reports?"

[NEGATIVE.

Confirmed Visual on the Targets!

Search Radius Expansion reveals no more targets in the area!]

Evan let out a small sigh of relief before calling out to the groups with negative reports.

"Positions F, I, J.

Fall back to the nearest civilian settlements while maintaining vigilance. Afterwards, you would await further orders.

Position K, you are currently south of Position D.

Move North as reinforcements for Position D."

[[[[ACKNOWLEDGED!!]]]]

"All other Positions, reconfirm your targets."

After giving out those last orders, Evan returned full command back to the Duke and walked out of the tent, kicking off the ground and dashing towards the cliff edge in the distance.

Upon arriving, he greeted the A-rank adventurers and Senior Mages who were getting into position to begin the operation, before gazing down the cliff's sloped edge, down at the ruined town at the bottom of the valley.

"Oh? It's Little Eli's boyfriend."

Evan felt his brow twitch upon hearing that voice, turning around to meet eyes with a young light green-haired woman wearing black and red themed robes and having a magic catalyst floating beside her.

The golden guild card hanging from her neck with a large 'A' printed at the back showed her adventurer rank, with her being one of the major players for the day's operation.

"Morning to you too, Tisha."

He gave her a light greeting before turning his gaze back to the ruined town at the bottom of the sloping edge while activating his appraisal skill.

He could see multiple Dullahan-type undead monsters and a few lower-level death knights patrolling the area around the town, along with a few spectres on the watchtowers beside the gates.

'Everything matches up with what Faerora told me, meaning there're units of the Demonic Hand in this place.

That's Good.'

After confirming what he wanted to do, he deactivated his appraisal skill and removed his gaze from the area, lest he accidentally looked at one of the more powerful undead capable of sensing his gaze before turning back towards Tisha who was staring at him with an amused smile.

"…what?"

"Nothing much~"

'Strange woman.'

The boy just barely managed to hold himself back from saying those words out loud, waving her off with a smile and returning to the command centre just in time for the orders for all units to confirm their positions were given.

[This is the Final Phase.

Each Brigade would most likely be detected by the undead after this phase. Do we have everyone in place?]

After receiving affirmations from all the positions, the Duke began issuing out the last set of commands.

[Supports, Begin Casting Support Enhancement Army Magic.]

As the Duke's orders went down the chain of command, Evan picked up his overcoat and tossed it on, before placing the audio transmitter that he was given on his ear while sighing softly.

'So, the higher-ups use these pseudo-Bluetooth devices to relay information mid battles, huh?

And there's a spare communicator that's just like a pocket watch in case the one on the ear falls off too.'

After fixing his badges on the pocket of his overcoat, he hung his guild card on his neck and walked back out of the tent to watch the support magicians casting large-scale buff magic on the troops.

The audio coming in from the radio was routed to the transmitter in his ear as he and the other higher-ups made their way to the front line while listening to the confirmation messages of the other positions.

[The Time is 0600 hours. All units are confirmed to be in position.

Commencing Operation at the count of 5.]