The Card Apprentice

A few captains of the Cang Jiang Military Force had gathered together. Their faces showed traces of fear and despair.

The campsite was a mess. The Cang Jiang Military Force had suffered heavy casualties in the ambush the night before. Excluding the card artisans who had died at the hands of the enemy, there were many card artisans who had frozen to death and suffered from frostbite. The card artisans were extremely weak without their power shields in such weather. Not many card artisans had frozen to death, but majority of the card artisans had suffered from frostbite. Many card artisans were mourning, and morale had dropped to a low point.

A few captains remained silent, as they had no idea what to say.

After a long while, an older card artisan spoke up. “Let’s figure it out. What shall we do now?”

The other captains looked at each other, but all they could see was the fear in everyone’s eyes. Yan Yu had died, and the military force was left leaderless.

“Lord Yan Yu died, while the soldiers suffered heavy casualties. Let’s go back and let Lord Lan decide,” stammered one of the captains.

“Do you want all of us to die?” chided another captain. “Lord Yan Yu had his head cut off. Lord Lan won’t have mercy on us if we return.”

This statement made everyone’s blood run cold in terror. Cang Lan had strict control, and the Cang Jiang Military Force, being the first established military force, was definitely be familiar with his behavior. If they were to return right then, nothing would happen to the card artisans in the lower levels. However, the few of them definitely wouldn’t escape a punishment.

“Then what should we do? Look at the soldiers. Can they still fight?!” The card artisan who gave the suggestion had his face flushed red while he raised his voice.

The morale of the soldiers had fallen to its lowest point. Countless had suffered from frostbite the night before, so the number of soldiers had been reduced. They were definitely not suitable for battle.

Suddenly, another captain spoke up. “We need to fight, even if we can’t.” His voice was low, but there was no doubt about what he had said. “This is our biggest shame since the Cang Jiang Military Force was established. If we can’t move past this, we’ll die even if we go back.” He looked around and continued, “If we had died fighting on the battlefield, our families would get a raise and our children could have better lives. If we go back defeated, but Lord Lan won’t let us off. Then, when we die, not only our families will feel ashamed, but the rights they enjoy will be taken away, too. Did you guys think about that?”

Everyone’s hearts were conflicted after listening to what he said. The soldiers who had families went silent. However, they didn’t realise that a few plate-shaped card appliances floated silently somewhere above their heads.

“Target found! Location has been relocated again. The enemy is at the A6 area. Each unit, pay attention!” In the shuttle car, the atmosphere was tense as the captains were listening to the parameters reported by one of the card artisans.

Chen Mu came up with a strategy immediately. He indiscriminately took up the responsibility when Bogner and Jiang Liang weren’t there.

“Report! Each unit, stay in your position!” the correspondent reported.

There were six screens in front of Chen Mu, all showing different images. He had released six compasses, so that he could keep an eye on every movement the opponent made. It showed clearly that the card artisans were mourning on the ground. Each of them were gathered in groups of ten under a power shield supported by a card artisan who was in good condition. There, warmth and protection from the wind were provided.

Some of the card artisans were gathered together, they seemed to be arguing about something. However, the compass could only capture images, not sound.

“Attack according to the original plan!” Chen Mu ordered calmly. He was no longer new to the battlefield and commanding battles. He was steadier than before.

“Yes!”

About six miles away from the Cang Jiang Military Force, Xiaobo stood tall. His long silver hair whipped around in the snow. The daisy mask was shining brightly under the sun.

“All right, enough talk. Do the same as we practiced! Let’s make this clear; whoever falters at the critical moment, heh heh!” The young card artisans shivered when they heard Xiaobo’s sneer.

“Damn it! I only brought a group of child soldiers. This is very unlucky,” Xiaobo mumbled. He was envious of Sang Hanshui, as he was the Chief Military Instructor in the camp, while Xiaobo himself was only responsible for leading these children, making him unable to fight directly. These youth had an average ages of only 14 years old, so they were just half grown boys from Xiaobo’s perspective. Their basics were poor, and he needed to act like their babysitter in order to fix lots of their fundamental issues.

He had no choice, as this was an order from the boss. He had an unforgettable memory about how cunning his boss was. He would still tremble when he thought about the beating that he had suffered.

The youth card artisan didn’t hear Xiaobo grumble. They were following the training requirements like usual, while being hung in mid-air at the same time. They formed a fan-shaped formation in the air.

A young card artisan kept a straight face, and commanded with a strict expression, “Everyone pay attention! Target A6! Standby the One Wave Bomb!” His immature voice sounded a little funny.

Xiaobo didn’t do anything. He had his arms crossed and watched the children that he had trained with his eyes squinted. These youths were young, but they looked serious when they fought. This made him quite proud. All of them were well chosen talents from their generation. Their strength was weak now, but they had boundless prospects.

Humph! Birdeyes, later on this campsite would be full of aces.

The youth who took the lead was nervous, but he tried to force himself to calm down.

“Ready in five!” he shouted out loud. All the meters on the card artisans lit up on the fan-shaped attack line.

“Five!

“Four!

“Three!

“Two!

“Fire!”

Once he had shouted, “Fire,” all the young card artisans fired their power bombs at the same time. Their target was the Cang Jiang Military Force campsite that was 30 feet away. One hundred power bombs attacked the enemies quietly, like a group of deadly sharks.

Xiaobo couldn’t repress his sigh of admiration. His boss was a genius! One Wave Bomb seemed like nothing to other people, but it was able to release a horrible power when utilized by his boss. Using the strong scanning ability of the Spinulosa Disk, they could locate their targets from a long distance. Then, they used the One Wave Bomb card as a powerful single shot to attack the target from long range.

One Wave Bomb was just a three-star card, its power fluctuation minimal. It was difficult to detect from a distance of over six miles, not to mention that the forest could interfere with the power fluctuation. The speed of One Wave Bomb wasn’t fast, but it only needed two seconds to attack at a range of six miles.

Cang Jiang Military Force Camp.

“What’s wrong with dying on the battlefield?! Being a card artisan, there’s no turning back.” One captain tore off his shirt, his eyes red and his face grim. They were desperate. When provoked, they weren’t afraid of dying. There was no turning back, plus they still had their families to consider.

“Heh heh! Exactly! We’ve gone through so much. Even if we die, it’s a trivial matter!” Another captain smiled broadly.

The tension in the atmosphere had been diluted as everyone smiled ar each other. They had sworn to live or die together, so they weren’t afraid.

“We’ll definitely fight for our lives, but we still have to regroup. Our attackers last night were probably a small elite force. The perimeter nearby is desolated, so the possibility of other military forces being around is small. I suspect that the army who attacked us last night was the Wood Word Camp!”

“Yeah! It has to be them. This also proves that they’re nearby!”

“It’s a nice day today. As revenge for Lord Yan Yu, we need to gather our able soldiers and get rid of the Wood Ward Camp once and for all.”

“Yes!”

As they started to chat and discuss, they become more excited. Suddenly, a card artisan who had unintentionally looked up froze. What is that?

He looked up at the sky blankly and shuddered violently. He shouted from the bottom of his lungs, “Enemy—” Before he could manage to shout out the word “attack,” something like shooting stars from the sky smashed into them, hard!

Boom, boom, boom!

The explosive power of a hundred One Wave Bombs was extremely terrifying. The bright shine of the explosion made them feel like they were in a white world. The explosion made their ears ring, while some card artisans’ ears were even bleeding! The explosion caused high temperatures that swept through the whole campsite. The surrounding snow was evaporated within seconds. The coniferous forest was also turned into ashes as a result.

The power shield that was used to protect the injured soldiers seemed to be weakened due to the explosion.

Sang Hanshui looked at the mushroom cloud. He squinted his eyes and scolded, “Hmph, well played, son of a b*tch!”

One hundred One Wave Bombs hit in the A6 area, none of them missing. He had broken into a cold sweat when his boss had suggested this strategic plan earlier.

Realising that the enemy didn’t have a hidden guard, his boss moved their hidden spot to a distance of fifteen feet away from the enemy’s campsite. Xiaobo launched the attack from just fifteen feet behind them. In the unfortunate chance that the young soldiers failed to target well, a One Wave Bomb might have smashed on them, too. Fortunately, this situation didn’t become a reality.

Sang Hanshui’s eyes flashed with a cruel gaze. His battle mask seemed to emit homicidal intent, then he shouted, “Attack!”

As soon as he gave the order, the card artisans of Wood Word Camp who were already eager to fight began to attack.

The campsite of the Cang Jiang Military Force was violently plowed. However, many of the power shields still held on stubbornly. One Wave Bomb was a three-star card, after all. Although Chen Mu had tried his best to enhance its power, there was still a limit. These dimly light power shields were the works of card artisans who had barely pulled through. The dense power shields were magnificent. It could have been said that the card artisans of the Cang Jiang Military Force were of high quality.

However, this sudden explosion had caught them by surprise. Even the powerful card artisans went blank for a moment. On the battlefield, sometimes all that was needed was a single moment!