Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 784: Section 531: Winter Campaign (Part 2)_2

Chapter 784: Section 531: Winter Campaign (Part 2)_2

Raglov had finished speaking and opened a teleportation portal, the coordinates provided by Lord Malin. It led through a shallow channel constructed in the Subspace by the World Tree, a very safe area that would not be intercepted by Chaos.

Upon entering the new battlefield, Raglov had already seen Ails. He had switched bodies, a very standard idea for a Lich.

Raglov checked the souls he had harvested and found that the Lich had indeed not broken his oath; he had only harvested those Chaos souls that had not yet dissipated, including those of both Chaotic Believers and members of the Chaos warbands.

Chaotic Believers are not considered human, so if Lord Ails wanted to harvest their souls, Raglov wouldn’t care—and neither would anyone else.

In the end, this Lich had harvested some six hundred Soul Coins, a yield with which he seemed quite satisfied.

"I did indeed receive the souls and have confirmed that you have not deceived me. As an exchange, tomorrow I will coordinate with Lord Malin and pay him enough ore. I hear that you have a workshop cooperation with him. Congratulations on your partnership; those who work with Lord Malin never suffer losses, myself included."

After speaking, he used the teleportation portal to leave the site, not without first setting ablaze the neatly piled Chaos corpses as he went.

"Handle your own people’s bodies, I’ll just help you take care of these Chaotic corpses."

After watching him leave, Raglov chuckled, "He doesn’t quite seem like a Lich, could the Lord of Justice have influenced him?"

"Perhaps you’re not wrong, the Lord of Justice may have influenced him. His logical reasoning doesn’t resemble that of a Lich, though his actions are quite fitting," the Paladin sighed and glanced at the still-burning Chaotic corpses. "We need to keep observing, even if it’s just to justify our own stipends. Right, old friend?"

"Of course, we must earn our pay, old friend." After reading a new message, Raglov opened another portal, all while complaining to his old comrades, "Should I ask my old Tower Master for a raise? After half a day’s work, I’ll be operating at a loss with the amount of spellcasting materials I’ve used."

"Don’t worry, I can vouch for you," the Paladin followed him into the teleportation portal.

He then watched the Lich standing behind the fighting frontline, tossing Flame Burst Fireballs at the Chaos warriors who had just emerged from the rift.

"Well, old friend, looks like we’re going to be working overtime," Raglov sighed and joined in throwing Flame Bursts. Meanwhile, Mr. Paladin drew his Longsword and Revolver and charged to the frontlines, leaving behind a remark.

"Life isn’t easy, each one of us is a pitiable worm working for this great corporation called the world."

Ha, old friend, I didn’t even realize you were a Northerner.

As Raglov flung Flame Bursts, he felt this was his greatest gain of the day.

......

The next day, Malin received the various ores Ails had sent to his Semi-Plane. Malin then transferred them to the Northern workshop, providing relief to the Great Craftsman Antoine who was feeling the strain of material shortages. It was the best gift he could’ve received. He expressed his gratitude to Malin and mentioned that with these ores, both repairs and production could be sustained for some time.

Meanwhile, in the military, they profoundly praised Ails for his performance the day before. The Lich had harvested at least six thousand gold coins, personally slaughtered a champion, and thrice assisted the human army in repelling Chaos offensives. Indeed, money makes the world go round; faced with so many souls, Ails truly had been ecstatic about his earnings, which explained why he had given so many ores and metal ingots today.

Only at the Mage Tower, they said that yesterday Lord Ragloff kept his doors open all day chasing after Ails. By the end of the day, the material costs he reported amounted to an astronomical figure, which made their Tower Master furious. Ultimately, the Mage Tower and the various Churches pooled their resources together to cover the subsidy shortfall for Lord Ragloff.

Afterward, the Mage Tower and the Church decided there was no need to follow Ails anymore—because just in the morning, Ails had harvested nearly ten thousand gold coins, and accounted for two champion kills. By the end, wherever he heard battle, he’d open his doors and head straight there, even bringing his Archer unit. The six hundred Elite Skeleton Archers armed with Malin-provided breech-loading firearms and the Chaotic Archers had a passionate exchange of fire, which ended in a grand victory for the ribcage archers—facing arrows, Ails’ troops lost only about a dozen skeletons, while the enemy lost at least a thousand Archers; the entire Chaotic Archer group was wiped out.

The military side was almost going insane—they had never cooperated with the Undead before and had no idea how to deal with the Archer units in Ails’ hands. That is, until Malin vouched for him, and with Ails genuinely providing assistance, the Northern Kingdom’s military eventually acknowledged Ails’ achievements and turned a blind eye to the forces he summoned.

By the afternoon, Ails had even brought over the twenty-mortar artillery unit he bought from Malin and his own Skeleton Longspear unit. Watching Ails’ artillery fire solid shot and the ribcage Longspear unit repeatedly disintegrate the charges of the rotting Knights, the expressions of the military delegates were priceless—they couldn’t achieve such an exchange ratio.

At the end of the second day, Ails sent Malin a message, consisting of only four words.

Pleasure working together.

And why not? Malin had inquired, and found out that today, Ails had harvested almost sixteen thousand Soul Coins, slain one Rotting Knight champion and two Foot Knight champions. In his own words, had he known fighting Chaos to be such a lucrative business, why would he have bothered to match wits and strength with his own teammates and Mortal Legends?

So, on the morning of the third day, Malin dumped all the ore and Metal Ingots into Antoine’s previously claimed empty warehouse, whose doors immediately broke in two places, forcing Antoine to personally come and repair the doors after sorting the entire warehouse.

By the fourth day, Ails even took the initiative to attack; his Skeleton Cavalry, with air support from Malin, charged a Plague Messenger unit preparing to enter the battlefield. The Skeleton Cavalry’s lances were even blessed by Malin, so it was like a hot knife through butter; about two thousand Plague Messengers were routed in three charges, and the field was cleared, including a notable Nagoth champion who died in the chaos (apparently trampled to death, as Malin swears he did not throw any axes).

When Ails retreated with his cavalry back to the defensive line, he had already harvested close to seven thousand gold coins, and at least five Chaos units had suffered devastating blows from him.

"Lord Malin, should there be such opportunities in the future, please ensure I am able to sign a military cooperation contract with the Mortals."

Naturally, Malin accepted Ails’ invitation and promised to help him establish connections if the chance arose.

On the fifth day, when a heavy snowfall meant Chaos did not launch an attack and there was nothing for Ails to do, he could only run to Malin’s workshop to check out the intriguing new gadgets there.

Ails had always wanted to upgrade his army’s equipment. Malin had some reservations before, but not anymore; so, he very decisively provided Ails with almost two thousand older-type rifles, fifty breech-loading cannons, and better Longspears—all half-bought and half-given. These Longspears were taken from the Northern Kingdom’s military warehouses, Malin traded about eight thousand Longspears for new Firearms, handing all of them over to Ails.

Since Ails’ Longspear unit was essentially cannon fodder, capable of going into battle armed with just Longspears and wearing nothing at all, and since the Longspears were surplus to the Northern Kingdom’s army, both parties got what they needed, naturally leading to joy and laughter.

Ails told Malin his Longspear unit could expand to a scale of ten thousand that very day.

The military told Malin they could add about two thousand-man units of new rifles.

Malin felt his chances of winning this battle had just increased again.

As for Chaos? Those damned wretches couldn’t even pass for people, so how could Malin be expected to show them mercy?

They’d better learn how to die spectacularly first.

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