The battle that had just ended had left the Gobi Desert at the edge of the Crimson Stone Desert strewn with devastation.
The Multi-national Allied Forces, centered around the Watchers Legion, stood in perfect formation. Aldo's banners fluttered side by side with those of the recently subdued Oasis Nations, while the army of the Great Stone Duchy on the opposite side had long since been routed.
As the core fighting force of the allied army, the Watchers Legion, rebuilt during the war against the orcs, was no longer the force that had relied on cold weapons and traditional tactics. It had received systematic training in the Northwest Bay and completed its transformation into a proto-firearms force.
The soldiers obeyed orders without question and maintained orderly ranks. Even when faced with any dangerous situation, they were forbidden to leave formation without authorization. Their weapons training was meticulous. They began by learning to disassemble, load, ignite, and aim their muskets, repeatedly practicing the process of loading, raising, and firing until they could complete the entire sequence within thirty seconds.
The artillery units had to master the coordination of ranging, calibration, and loading. Each cannon was assigned five soldiers with clearly defined duties. From aiming to firing took only two minutes, and after repeated calibration, their accuracy was sufficient to effectively hit dense formations a kilometer away.
In terms of tactics, the legion was proficient in Linear Tactics and Infantry-Artillery Coordination. A basic combat unit consisted of three ranks of soldiers. After the first rank finished firing, it quickly fell back to reload, while the second rank immediately stepped forward to take its place, creating continuous fire suppression. Once battle began, the artillery units first bombarded the enemy's dense formation, while the infantry advanced toward the enemy in a broad front, gradually outflanking