Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 188: Unique Ball Games

The sun sets in the west, and the hot temperature of the day begins to gradually subside. Although the summer in the northern wilderness is short, the sun is still somewhat scorching.

Vaughn finished today's military training. After disbanding the soldiers, he slowly went to the public bathroom in the camp to take a shower. The light training uniform made of cotton and linen was already soaked with sweat. However, he never liked to wash clothes frequently. He threw the wet clothes on the bed frame in the barracks to dry overnight. He could still wear them the next day. He didn't mind the smell at all. After all, it was others who were sickened.

"Boss! Boss! Why are you still dawdling? Are you going out with us tonight?"

Vaughn paused, turned around, and saw Tommy poking his head out of the officers' barracks. He grinned and said, "Are you going to the officers' club to play cards? If you're in a hurry, I can skip the shower and we can leave right away."

"Hmm... not that urgent." Tommy chuckled and winked. "Why? You're more addicted to playing cards than we are now. Who was it that acted so arrogant and didn't want to participate before?"

Vaughn was so angry that he threw his sweaty training clothes on Tommy's face and walked towards the bathroom with his muscular upper body bare.

After a quick shower, he returned to the barracks and was about to change his clothes and invite Daf Wayne and others to go to the club to spend a pleasant night together, but he found that Commander Pierce appeared outside the barracks for the first time.

"Captain Pierce!" Vaughn quickly stood at attention and saluted, but Pierce pulled him over and urged him, "Quick! Pick me a few guys who are agile, have good endurance and are good runners. Including you, make eleven of us. Meet in the playground in a quarter of an hour!"

Vaughn shuddered, and without asking what had happened, he rushed into the barracks with his trousers in his hands, calling out to Tommy and the others who had been waiting impatiently. "We're not going to the club tonight. Commander Pierce asked me to pick ten people to gather in the playground. We might have a mission!"

As he spoke, he called out names directly. First he picked out the "clever" Tommy with long arms and legs, and then he successively selected several non-commissioned officers of the Northern Army who had awakened their bloodline talents, naturally including Duff, Wayne and others.

The group put on their combat uniforms and hurried to the playground, where they found that next to Commander Pierce was a group of defense officers and soldiers of the same number as their own.

"Sir, this is going to..."

Pierce, rarely without a stern expression, spoke in a relaxed tone, "The Lord has ordered that you learn a... uh, competitive sport, similar to a target shooting competition. The Northern Army and the Defense Army will each form a team, competing against each other."

When Vaughn heard that there was another competition, and it was a direct confrontation with the Defense Force, he was delighted and secretly thanked God that when he was selecting the team members, almost all of them were bloodline warriors. You know, the number of talented people participating in bloodline transformation in the Defense Force is not as large as that of the Northern Army. In this confrontation, he could definitely beat them and vent his anger.

After all, he was playing cards in the officers' club, but he was subjected to all kinds of ridicule from this group of defense forces and lost completely in card skills.

"Fight against each other? Do you want us to fight with bare hands? Sir, can we use our bloodline talents? That would be unfair to Captain Vaughn." Tommy asked quickly, wanting to find out the rules of the game in advance.

Pierce immediately shook his head, signaling them to stop shouting.

The soldier in charge of logistics slowly pushed a small cart to the playground. Everyone then discovered that the cart contained a pile of leather armor and protective gear, including leather helmets, as well as two round leather balls the size of heads, and no one knew what they were used for.

"Everyone, line up!" Pierce took out a small metal whistle from somewhere and blew it. Everyone gathered together reflexively and lined up, quietly waiting for his next instruction.

"Everyone line up to receive protective gear, then dress properly, and put on your helmets!"

He then raised his hand, took a ball, weighed it in his hand, and said loudly, "Now listen carefully to me as I explain the rules, and then watch me demonstrate it to you..."

"No one is allowed to use their bloodline talents during the competition. If anyone loses control, I'll strip him of his pants and parade him naked through the camp!"

...Trainee Inspector Yurio and newly promoted First Class Police Constable Max were walking and chatting along the wooden lattice wall of the military camp. Tonight they were responsible for the night patrol of this area.

"Ever since the Lord opened that... public chess and card room, everyone's been rushing off to play those fun cards after work. These past few nights, there haven't been any drunks wandering around the streets making noise..."

Max's tone was slightly complaining, as if he felt that since no one had caused trouble at night recently, he had lost his place.

Yurio smiled slightly and continued, "Rather than being caught drunk and then being dragged around the streets with a sign hanging on your head, isn't playing cards in a card room a better option?"

Even he himself couldn't help but go to the chess and card room yesterday at the invitation of his colleagues from the police department to play a few rounds of "Dragon Quest" card games.

The two were walking and chatting when they suddenly heard a sharp whistle across the camp fence. They were immediately attracted by the sound. They went to the fence grating and looked inside. They happened to see a lively scene on the military camp playground.

There are often emergency trainings at night in the military drill grounds, so tall wooden poles are erected around them, with bright lighting magic stones hung on them, which can clearly illuminate the entire drill ground at night.

Yurio and Max immediately discovered that two teams of soldiers wearing leather armor and helmets were engaged in a fierce battle over a round leather ball on the playground.

Commander Pierce stood at the edge of the playground and blew his whistle. Vaughn took a deep breath, took a few steps back, then suddenly pushed off the ground to run up, and kicked the ball towards the opposite side.

The ball flew across half the playground, passed over a group of defense soldiers who were also wearing leather armor but had different colored ribbons tied on their left arms, and finally landed in front of the team member at the back.

The tall Duff had been staring at the landing point of the ball. At this moment, he jumped up and intercepted the ball in mid-air. He grabbed it in his arms and hugged it tightly. After landing, he immediately strode forward and ran wildly, like a ferocious northern bull.

But just as he rushed to the black line in the middle of the playground, he was rushed by three defense soldiers who had been waiting for him and knocked to the ground.

But Dave had awakened his bloodline talent, and his physical strength far exceeded that of an ordinary person. He continued to struggle hard under the attack of the three men, knocking them to the ground. He then forced himself to move forward a few steps, and was finally pulled down heavily by a defense officer who had also awakened his bloodline. However, before he fell to the ground, he swung his arm and threw the ball in his arms out, which was caught by Tommy who had secretly circled to the wing.

Although Tommy was not as strong as Duff, he was tall and had long legs. He ran as nimbly and quickly as a cheetah, dodging several defensive soldiers who came to block him. Battalion Commander Vaughn, who came up from behind, was covering him. Any defensive soldier who approached him was knocked away by his shoulder and made dizzy.

Finally, Tommy successfully ran to the baseline at the other end of the playground with the ball and slammed the ball into the wooden basket there.

Pierce blew the whistle again, and the Northern Army soldiers standing on the field immediately burst into deafening cheers. Tommy also waved his arms and ran around the field proudly like a hero to show off.

Yurio and Max saw this scene through the fence. Although they didn't quite understand it, they were infected by the lively atmosphere and started discussing it in a low voice.

"Is this a combat training program in the military? Why does it look so interesting? So exciting and thrilling!"

The game on the playground continued. A group of soldiers, clad in thick leather armor, engaged in close combat, like on the battlefield. Some violently collided with their opponents, while others ran for their lives clutching the ball. From time to time, someone shouted orders, ordering the soldiers to block the opponent or use pre-prepared tactics to find an opening to break through the defense...

The violent collision of bodies and the crazy splashing of sweat stirred up clouds of mud and dust on the playground, making the two police officers who were peeping outside the wall also excited.

Max couldn't help but say, "Sir, we can also form two teams in the police department and play this interesting confrontation game!"

(End of this chapter)