Lei Mo didn't have to wait long. That afternoon, the City Lord's Mansion sent word for everyone to gather at the drill ground. Lei Mo and a group of Fortress Army generals sat high on the massive command platform, waiting for Marshal Mengba's orders!
The front line lay less than a hundred miles from Brest Fortress. Brest had been built to hold the front line between the two alliances.
As the core kingdom of the Seti Alliance, the Keaton Kingdom had played a vital role in every war.
Brest Fortress was one of more than a dozen fortress cities along the border between the Seti Alliance and the Lombardy Alliance.
Elsewhere along the two alliances' border, the boundary was either formed by natural mountains and rivers or by the Gobi Desert. Every strategic pass that humans could traverse was firmly held by one of these dozen or so fortresses.
Brest's terrain was not particularly dangerous. It was all valley plains between two mountains. That was precisely why Brest Fortress was the largest of the lot.
The Keaton Kingdom bore immense military pressure. This time, it was sending seven hundred thousand fresh troops to the front, with another two hundred thousand or so reinforcements from the alliance on their way.
Adding those to the troops already facing off on the front line, the Seti Alliance and the Lombardy Alliance were now evenly matched. The outcome would depend on whether the enemy's Magic Mage Corps or their own Magic Beast Knights could turn the tide.
In terms of their impact on the war, the Magic Mage Corps had the advantage. But the Magic Beast Knights had brought seven Level Nine powerhouses this time, so they had nothing to fear in a head-on clash. With their magic beasts backing them up, their killing power was terrifying!
Lei Mo's army numbered in the hundreds of thousands. There was no way they'd reach their destination in a single day like he could. Just looking at all the rules and procedures involved in marching made his scalp prickle.
Fortunately, he didn't have to deal with any of it himself. Lei Mo couldn't help admiring Marshal Mengba. The marshal was nearly seventy, yet only at Level Eight, which gave him no boost to his lifespan.
Humans generally didn't live past a hundred. Even if Marshal Mengba stayed healthy and unharmed, he had only thirty years left.
What a shame—
"Franklin, do you have any way to get him into your Soul Space?"
Lei Mo spoke to Franklin mind-to-mind.
"Master, he needs to study the Runes on those eight pillars and develop some insight and resonance with them."
Franklin admitted that he had no good solution either, unless his own strength improved.
But there was no point rushing that kind of breakthrough.
"We'll deal with it later, then." Lei Mo was helpless. During the march, he'd been thinking about making Marshal Mengba work for him after the marshal died.
He wondered what Marshal Mengba would think if he knew. Lei Mo passed the dull hours by thinking about all sorts of nonsense!
The army advanced slowly beneath the moonlight. Riding Divine Wind Bear, Lei Mo followed the central guard, helping protect Marshal Mengba's banner.
A night breeze swept past, and the banner flapped noisily. For no reason, Lei Mo felt a pang in his chest—a deeply uncomfortable sensation.
"Don't tell me I've got heart disease. I knew it—being reborn as a Tauren but ending up this tall can't be normal!"
Lei Mo muttered to himself. Then came a thunderous CRACK! The boundless sky turned a glaring white. He couldn't tell what he was looking at!
"How can there be white clouds at night?" Lei Mo was still muttering when someone in the guard shouted, "We're under attack! It's a forbidden spell—Water Curtain Heaven! Find high ground and cover!"
Lei Mo was still dazed when Bill carried him and galloped toward a hill several miles away.
"Just as you'd expect from a magic beast! Those instincts, those reflexes!" Lei Mo finally understood what was happening and couldn't help praising him.
It wasn't that Lei Mo, despite being in the Saint Realm, had failed to sense the elemental fluctuations. The Water Curtain Heaven simply posed no threat to his life, even if it hit him directly. As for everyone else's lives, he hadn't cared as much.
That was before. Now things were different—he was counting on Marshal Mengba to work for him after he died! He still hadn't found a way to make it happen. How could Mengba die now?
Lei Mo had Franklin release a group of Saint Realm Rune Souls to scout with their mental power, while he extended his own mental power as well.
The Magic Mage Corps' strike team was stationed just behind Brest Fortress. Those mages were sneaky bastards.
Daring not to fly, Lei Mo gripped Franklin and bounded forward at top speed, quickly reaching the Magic Mage Corps' position.
The leader, carrying a magical weapon, was probably a Level 9 Great Mage. No wonder he'd managed to unleash a forbidden spell with the help of a magic array.
Fearing complications, Lei Mo communicated with Franklin mind-to-mind, then unleashed his full strength. He hammered the magic array's shield, smashing out three overlapping pillar shadows in a single second!
The first strike sent waves of green rippling across the magic array. The second split its shield with cracks. The third shattered the array, and the Great Mage collapsed, coughing up blood.
Lei Mo charged in and struck him. The man's head burst apart like a watermelon thrown off an overpass, spraying red and white in every direction.
His experience watching movies had taught Lei Mo not to let his guard down. He had to make sure the man was finished!
Then came a slaughter, as easy as chopping melons and vegetables. More than a hundred mages, all at least Level Five, were wiped out by Lei Mo the "butcher."
Yet not a single drop of blood splashed onto him.
Lei Mo quickly searched the battlefield and noticed a ring on the Level 9 Great Mage's finger, as well as a staff in his hand. He only gave the other loot a cursory look, picking through it according to the owners' levels.
Since he was alone, he couldn't carry much. He picked out a few items from the Level Eight Great Mages and the Great Mage, then left the scene as quickly as he could.
Lei Mo didn't want to reveal his strength just yet, so he found a mound of earth and blasted open a large hole. He scattered some seeds inside and forced them to grow.
Only then did he have time to check his spoils. One of the rings seemed to boost something. He dripped a drop of blood onto it, and a space appeared in his mind—about one cubic meter, though an irregular shape.
"Holy crap, what a haul! A Space Ring! I've had such a hard time all this while. If I'd known it was a Space Ring, I'd have looted the place bare!"
Lei Mo had already realized that the world he lived in was very different from Coiling Dragon. Back in the Bloodhoof Tribe, he hadn't had enough experience to judge, but after interacting with so many human powerhouses, he'd developed plenty of theories.
For instance, the current system of magic was far too incomplete. Every mage was a scientist researching magic. There was little knowledge left behind by their predecessors, so most had to figure things out for themselves.
Lei Mo's vague suspicions wavered again after he found the Space Ring. Weren't things like Space Rings inventions of the Divine Plane or the Supreme Plane?
So what was this one? Lei Mo put everything inside the Space Ring except Franklin and his own pitch-black Totem Pillar.
"So convenient! I feel so much lighter!" Lei Mo happily stretched out both arms.
Holding the Space Ring, Lei Mo examined it closely. He found a strange stone embedded in it. He couldn't say what color it was, and it had a glassy sheen, but it definitely wasn't glass.
If the Space Ring was made from this stone, then maybe my theory was still right!
"Master, I've made a huge discovery!" Franklin's voice suddenly rang out.
"I just discovered that my Soul Space suddenly has more than a hundred souls in it!"
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