Alien world

Chapter 1882, Section 515: Baguette
"No findings found in the fifth group on the west side. Over."

"Nothing was found in the seventh group on the west side..."

"The twelfth group on the west side has discovered a small group of rats. Prepare for firefight. Over."

"Third group not found in the north, over..."

Hellfire advanced along the winding valley. In the center of the group, commanders Fermi, Jack, Berserker, and others walked together, holding leaves from the Otherworldly Tree, listening to the reports constantly coming from within.

The reconnaissance airships located targets in the air, and the Ranger Legion split into twenty groups, forming tentacles to reach the Gray Mountain Range, contacting and eliminating small groups of rats, or leading large groups of rats towards the main force.

Using this tactic, the rats hidden deep in the mountains were lured out, and the Hellfire Legion was prevented from running around.

"This thing is really useful!" The berserker looked at it with envy. He had only heard that some mages in elite mercenary groups could establish telepathic communication, and that was only within a hundred meters. This thing could hear messages from a thousand or two thousand yards away from just a leaf!
"Selling? I'll buy!"

He had no use for the magic cannon, and the magic musket was just for playing around with, but the Leaf Berserker really wanted it.

“This is not for sale. His Majesty Annam only gave it to us for testing.”

"Can it be used in a magic-suppressing area?" Jack asked as well, this thing was a perfect match for the Rangers.

With the leaves, there was no longer a need to transmit information through flag signals from reconnaissance airships; the entire Ranger Legion could be commanded with perfect ease.

"I don't know, we'll have to try to find out, but it's likely to work," Frank said.

"I never imagined our technology had developed to this level!" Jack exclaimed. "It's just that we're using it too fast. In just three days, the range has shrunk to only half its original size."

Fermi knew about the Otherworld Tree and that the Treasury consumed Otherworld Leaves, which were always in short supply.

After all, every leaf of the Otherworld Tree needs to be nourished by humanity, and there are too many soldiers. Even if they are only equipped to centurions, they will still consume nearly a hundred leaves of the Otherworld Tree every week.

If the Winter Legion hadn't brought back a lot of supplies from their trading partners, and if Annam hadn't hoped to improve information gathering efficiency and reduce soldier casualties in the upcoming war, he might not have been willing to use them.

Sharpshooter Parker is using the still-fresh, improved second-generation magic musket: the Mushroom House has officially named it the Rapid Fire Musket.

Moreover, two models were launched at once. The first model simply has a small self-cleaning rune added compared to the previous one. It can automatically clean up the waste residue left after firing and also has an automatic recovery function. As long as the trigger is not pulled for several tens of minutes, it can automatically clean up.

The second model is almost entirely new. Compared to the previous version, it is three pounds lighter, which corresponds to a shorter barrel and a smaller caliber. It also uses smaller bullets instead of the ones that were first designed in Xingyue Bay. The magazine capacity has increased from 5 rounds to 10 rounds. Furthermore, it uses a new process—micro-rune activation—which means there will be no gunpowder residue when firing, completely eliminating the possibility of jamming.

The trade-off is a significant reduction in power. While a shot to the head or chest can be fatal, a shot to the limbs is no longer as penetrating or tearing as before. It is almost only useful for clearing out slave rat hordes. The damage is greatly reduced when there are mixed rat hordes of elite rats and brute rats.

The warriors wanted the magic musket to be as big as possible, because men should fire big guns, preferably the kind that could kill a whole platoon with one shot and make them tumble five or six times from the recoil. But Pike was particularly fond of the new musket and called it a repeating pistol—its short stock design made it almost easy to hold with one hand.

The rats roaming in the wild are mostly slave rats. The rapid-fire pistol can increase the efficiency of clearing out the rats by more than 30%. Even if you encounter elite rats, you are not afraid, because Pike will also carry a magic rapid-fire musket.

The only minor annoyance is that the two types of guns use different types of ammunition, so ammunition management is necessary to prevent one type of ammunition from running out before the other type has been used up.

However, as the reconnaissance airships were also improved—with the addition of logistical functions—they began to hover over the soldiers, dropping supplies and receiving the wounded, and this little trouble disappeared.

The Rangers, practically carrying an ammunition depot, could unleash a barrage of fire on the rat swarms at any time, then signal for resupply with flags. The Hellfire, too, received their long-desired "hand-thrown shells"—experimental grenades.

Weighing approximately two pounds, this grenade requires no ignition; simply pull the pin and throw. It kills enemies with shrapnel from the explosion, with a range of about five meters. The denser the swarm of rats, the greater the damage. However, to prevent accidental discharge, the grenade's detonation threshold is set very high.

To put it simply, it's very easy for it to misfire.

After all, it's not easy to explode if the fuse is pulled, so it's even more stable if it's not pulled.

There's no way around it. On the front lines, trading one soldier for ten thousand ratmen is a losing proposition. Sometimes, even if the ratmen attack for three days and three nights, it's not as effective as a fool's quick thinking.

Hellfires find rapid-fire muskets too weak, Rangers find grenades too cumbersome, but they're just right for Hellfires.

Carrying five of them weighs only ten pounds, which is nothing compared to wearing a full set of plate armor that weighs around 50 pounds.

Relying on the Free City development system, both the Hellfire Legion and the Ranger Legion grew rapidly in this war, making other legions envious but helpless.

Orcs are fine; they're satisfied as long as they can charge around yelling "Waaaaaah!"

Even when the resistance fighters were in a difficult situation, they could only take turns attacking each other.

The Punishment Legion was in a very difficult position, watching as the Musketeers gradually took over the damage-dealing roles, while they themselves could only retreat to support roles.

Thankfully, the Winter Legion, who were in the worst situation, didn't come; otherwise, their visit would have been pointless.

A swarm of over ten thousand rats appeared ahead, overwhelming the Rangers, who led them back to the main force. Before the Retribution Legion could even make a move, the Hellfire had already wiped out the entire enemy force from three hundred yards away.

Black Widow gripped her staff, feeling for the first time that it was less useful than a self-comforting stick.

"Damn it, who says mages can't shoot guns!"

After failing to capture a single ratman for several days, the mages of the Retribution Legion could no longer bear it and picked up their magic muskets.

Once you decide to seek refuge with someone, the world opens up before you.

Arcane Missiles have a range of 30 to 70 yards. Only elites can shoot them more than 100 yards with additional mana output. But since they have increased mana, is Fireball not powerful enough, or does it just look weak?

In short, most mages' spells have a range of around 100 yards; anything further away is too far to even see clearly, let alone hit.

The magic musket is different; its maximum range of 500 meters means you can hit it as soon as you see it.

If you manage to hit it, great; if you miss, there's no loss—it's like having unlimited magic. Besides, ratmen always come in groups, so you might aim at the one on the left and pull the trigger only to have the one on the right fall to the ground.

Mages call this thing a baguette—to distinguish it from a staff. Some become so addicted to it that they even go to learn from Hellfire Soldiers how to cultivate a gun spirit.

(End of this chapter)