Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 592 - 585: Exotic Beasts Attack

Chapter 592: Chapter 585: Exotic Beasts Attack

When the advance team arrived, they specifically brought along gas masks. Luo’er estimated that if things went well, roughly eighty percent of the equipment for the new legions outside would also be issued with gas masks. This piece of military equipment that originated from World War One remains an essential item for armies around the world. However, the headquarters assisting in establishing the new legions for the Church Court this time must likely be using specially customized masks, not the ones from storage.

In order to secure Lipei’s Otherworld Gate, headquarters can be said to have pulled out all the stops this time. They’ve setup a special production line to provide corresponding equipment for the Church Court armies, which includes anti-chemical suits and newly designed armor.

After being reminded by Luo’er, each member of the advance team now carries a cylindrical case containing a gas mask with them. Although it felt somewhat awkward, given the current threat they were facing, nobody found it inconvenient.

In the subsequent days, the advance team devoted itself to training these soldiers in the adaptability of their weapons. Even though most of these individuals were illiterate, the weapons selected by headquarters were all simple. They were easy to maintain and simple to use. To put it bluntly, after half a month’s training, even a monkey could carry a gun onto the battlefield. Hence, after training for just around ten days, these soldiers began to adapt to Earth’s weapons.

The daily physical training and related disciplinary training of these new recruits didn’t need to be provided by the advance team – this was mainly handled by instructors that headquarters had previously trained. This allowed people like Luo’er to breathe a great sigh of relief.

Two weeks into the training, everyone began to feel the impending threat. One day, while the advance team was training the soldiers to use their weapons in preparation for live-fire exercises, their training was interrupted.

Suddenly, Luo’er noticed that the Temple knights responsible for guarding the camp had started to stir. A knight resembling a commander was busily dispatching his subordinates back and forth. The knights began pulling horses out of the stables, retrieving cavalry lances from storehouses, and arming the horse-mounted knights. These signs were all vivid indications that they had encountered some kind of trouble.

Although the Temple knights had accepted some of Earth’s equipment aid, they hadn’t taken all of it. They were still wearing full body armor and using traditional knightly swords and lances in combat. The only noticeable change was likely the gas masks emerging from beneath their removed face-shields.

"Fulajie’er, notify everyone to check their weapons and gear and prepare for combat at any moment!" Luo’er quietly instructed Fulajie’er.

Since they were on the training field, he didn’t dare to call out loudly to Fulajie’er, and Fulajie’er couldn’t appear in front of everyone, lest it cause panic.

"Alright, I’ll go right away!" Fulajie’er gave a nod of understanding, her voice disappearing quickly.

Luo’er pulled the grip of the buttstock-less rifle in his hands, briefly checking to see if a bullet was in the chamber.

Because there was a tube connecting the bullet ejection port and the shell-deflector window in this Type 47 rifle, he couldn’t observe the bullet-loading state through the ejection port. So the designer put in some effort on the charging handle, which doesn’t move with the bolt carrier. But once the rounds in the magazine have all been fired, the bolt carrier will be held back by the bolt catch. At this time, the charging handle will move backwards as well, alerting the shooter that there are no bullets in the chamber.

Besides this, the designer also attached a small mechanical device at the bolt catch release button position, behind the safety device on the left side of the gun body. Once the shooter removes the magazine and releases the bolt carrier, this mechanical device will display a white dot, meaning there are no bullets loaded. Once the shooter inserts a new magazine and releases the bolt carrier, this mechanical device will display a red dot, meaning a bullet has been chambered.

After Luo’er pulled the charging handle, the mechanical device moved to the red dot position, alerting him that a bullet was already chambered. Only then did Luo’er breathe a small sigh of relief, but he remained vigilant.

As soon as he noticed the Temple knights’ restlessness, Carter immediately ran over and started discussing something with the officer of the knightly order. Afterwards Carter came back to Luo’er and said apologetically, "I’m sorry, Captain Luo’er, I’m afraid your training will have to be put on hold for the moment. The Temple knights discovered traces of exotic beasts in the nearby forest. These monsters are likely to attack the camp, so we have to evacuate the soldiers."

"Then let’s inform them to leave right away. These soldiers don’t have fighting capabilities yet, confronting the beasts would be sending them to their deaths." Luo’er nodded, expressing understanding. After all, these new recruits, who hadn’t completed their training, would be no different from walking into the jaws of death if they were forced into combat.

"Thank you for your understanding." Carter nodded, then promptly turned around and began loudly instructing the new legion’s officers to escort the soldiers away from the training grounds in an orderly manner.

The soldiers scattered in an orderly manner with weapons on their backs, and Carter breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he turned around, he saw Luo’er putting on a gas mask. Luo’er’s mask was not the traditional pig nose and two eyes design, but a combination of half face-cover and a full-face hardened glass piece. The mask only covered up to the nose part, while the large area of the hardened glass ensured ample visibility.

The mask was integrated with the hood of his clothes. After putting on the mask, Luo’er immediately combined the mask with the hood, wrapping his entire head.

"Captain Luo’er, this..." Carter stared wide-eyed at him.

"Lord Carter, I presume you haven’t issued gas masks yet, it’s best to distribute them as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary losses." Luo’er spoke earnestly.

"I understand, I’ll make sure they’re issued as soon as possible," Carter nodded in response.

By this time, the rest of the advance team had arrived. Seeing that they were all sensibly wearing gas masks, Luo’er finally exhaled in relief.

"What’s the situation?" Cheng Ziang looked at Carter on the side and then immediately at Luo’er, his voice somewhat muffled perhaps due to the mask.

"The Templar Knights say that there seem to be traces of exotic beasts nearby, so we’d better prepare for battle," Luo’er replied.

"Eh, we have so many people and advanced weapons and equipment, are we afraid of some measly exotic beasts?" Hu Daoke spoke in a relaxed tone.

"We can’t say that," Luo’er impassively retorted, "We are all rookies, and we have not been issued ammunition, so we have no combat capability. Moreover, the primary target of the new army corps is the highly infectious corpse demons. Against the exotic beasts, which are extremely lethal monsters, it is better to let the Templar Knights handle them."

"If I were answering your question, I would have outright cursed at you," Cheng Ziang glanced at him and replied with a roll of his eyes.

"So should we hide? After all, we’re only mortals, we don’t have the knight’s coat, and it’s disadvantageous to go against the exotic beasts," Hu Daoke ignored Cheng Ziang’s mockery and continued to look at Luo’er.

"Hmm, you’re right, we have no need to participate in the battle, we should let the Church Court handle it. If we are forced to retaliate, we should keep our distance. We’re equipped with firearms, short-range combat is not our specialty, long-range shooting is our advantage."

"If I remember correctly, there seems to be some hand-to-hand combat experts here, disciples of Sword Saints," Hu Daoke, looking at Cheng Ziang, spoke in a sarcastic tone.

Before he finished speaking, he was abruptly shut up by a sharp look from Tangmo. Realizing that he had made an inappropriate joke, he quickly closed his mouth.

"Even if we had such experts they couldn’t join in," Luo’er spoke lightly, "I’m the captain of the advance team, without my command, no one is allowed to engage the exotic beasts."

Cheng Ziang smiled lightly but didn’t laugh out loud. He would never be so easily provoked by Hu Daoke. Despite being a melee expert, he never engages in meaningless fights. However, seeing Hu Daoke’s awkwardness did give him a sense of satisfaction.

Just as they were about to retreat, a terrifying howl came from within the forest. The sound was beyond any creature they had known, making the experienced advance team members shudder on hearing it. Accompanying this eerie howling, a large flock of birds sprang up from the depths of the forest.