As commander-in-chief of the Southern Army, Penny had not faced a serious opponent since her last encounter with the Dark Holy Crusaders. Even so, she remained cautious. She split her vanguard among six routes, with two to three thousand troops on each. About a dozen kilometers behind each force followed a ten-thousand-strong army as backup.
Another thirty to forty kilometers behind them stood an army of thirty thousand, serving as the general reserve. No matter where trouble arose, it could reinforce the front in the shortest possible time.
The encounter took place along the Third Assault Squad's route. The unit numbered seventeen hundred troops: half were human Mecha soldiers, and the other half were highly mobile Centaur skirmishers.
The Centaurs all carried long-range Dragon-Hunting Rifles, giving the assault force a strong balance of close- and long-range firepower. The human Mecha soldiers also included a Mortar squad with ten large-caliber Mortars, capable of blanketing an area three kilometers away with a suffocating barrage in moments.
As this force advanced to scout the area, it ran headlong into the vanguard Balti had sent to establish a Portal.
Neither side knew the other was there. Both were so confident in their own strength that, when they first spotted the enemy, each dismissed the other as natives who would be easy to crush.
Under those circumstances, the Undead Empire and the Fire God Army clashed head-on for the first time...
"What did you say?" Inside the Void Warship, Balti stared in shock at the news he had just received. "We've lost contact with the entire vanguard?"
"Yes, my lord. We just lost contact with the troops we sent over. Before that, they reported encountering a powerful enemy." The Void Warship's captain, who was also the force's deputy commander, delivered his report to Balti with