Who are you calling a stable boy?!

However, the recent unexplained losses suffered by the army in the east began to make him suspect that the people in the kingdom were trying to shift the problem between the kingdom and the Bahars Empire onto the expeditionary force.

YOYO pondered, her eyes fixed on a point on the sand table.

It is the border between the kingdom and the empire, with mountains and dense forests, and is close to the Kazpin Plains where the kingdom and the empire often clash.

In this very area, the expeditionary force lost two scout squads in just two weeks.

Those weren't ordinary teams composed of locals recruited by the expeditionary force in this material plane, but rather two elite squads entirely composed of players!

Chapter 296: Show Your True Skills Now That You've Arrived in Another World!

Based on sunrise and sunset, 16 days have passed since I arrived in this strange world.

Having mastered the remote exploration magic mirror, Momoga is now independently inspecting the defenses surrounding the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

Although he was really panicked at first, he has now come to accept that he has been transported to another world.

This seems to be the typical fantasy world themed around swords and magic.

Logically speaking, being able to escape the dreadful reality of life and be transported to such an alternate world like the protagonists of light novels should be a good thing.

But Momoga simply couldn't cheer for it.

This isn't just because he's now a true immortal, and any intense emotions seem to be suppressed by a strange power...

On his second day in this world, as he first attempted to use the Remote Observation Mirror to set up a perimeter around the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Momoga witnessed a murder.

Oh, no, that's not quite right. The term "murder case" isn't accurate enough.

It was a battle between two fully armed teams.

In the smaller branch, besides humans, there were also some humanoid creatures such as elves and dwarves.

The branch with the most members is incredibly diverse.

Succubi, nightmares, dark elves, and even some alien creatures that are completely inhuman.

The individual strength of the members of the two teams seems to be similar, so the situation can basically be described as the side with more members besieging the side with fewer members.

Momoga chose to remain on the sidelines.

Unsure whether his combat abilities against the Great Tomb of Nazarick were strong or weak in this world, he only decided to set off after witnessing the smaller group being completely wiped out.

Judging from the footage, he found that the members of both teams were quite strong, and according to YGGREASIL's logic, they were generally between level 50 and 60.

Among them, the captain of the smaller team, a male human wielding dual swords, displayed outstanding abilities in the final desperate struggle, likely reaching level 70.

It was precisely because of his dying outburst that the other team suffered heavy losses, leaving only three members still standing, and they all appeared to be seriously injured.

In this situation, he should have been fully capable of devouring these survivors on his own to extract information about the world.

However, considering that judging strength solely by images is too hasty, Momoga, to be on the safe side, still had the fully armed Albedo accompany him and prepared backup troops in case of unforeseen circumstances.

As a result, when he arrived at the scene through the portal, the first words spoken by one of the three survivors, a beautiful woman who was presumably a succubus, became the reason why Momoga still harbors unease about this world.

"Huh? An undead lich? When did we get a lich player on our side? And he looks pretty high level."

"That's what the succubus said."

Players.

Upon hearing this term, after a brief moment of surprise, Momoga immediately used [Heart Grab] to kill the best-looking survivor among the remaining individuals, who resembled a butterfly.

Subsequently, Momoga extracted a considerable amount of information from the succubi and dream demons, who were already terrified.

However, he couldn't quite understand more than half of this information.

He had assumed that the players these guys were talking about were probably like him, players who came from YGGDRASIL.

But the result—

Courtyard, multiverse, holy war between gods and demons...

The more he listened, the more he realized that this other world might be more complex than he had imagined. Momoga's first thought was to take the two prisoners of war back to the Great Tomb for interrogation, in order to squeeze every last bit of information out of their minds.

But to his surprise, the two prisoners of war possessed an extremely secretive spatial teleportation ability, which caused them to vanish without a trace right under his and Albedo's noses.

This made Momoga extremely wary of these so-called courtyard players.

Because he was unsure of the upper limit of this spatial teleportation capability.

Momoga's only consolation at the time was that he didn't immediately take the other person back to the Great Tomb, but instead interrogated him on the spot.

Therefore, at least the exact location of the large tomb will not be revealed.

However, about seven days later, Momoga discovered that another small team had appeared in the area.

Judging from the racial composition of the opposing team, they may belong to the same faction known as the Holy Expeditionary Force as the smaller team from before.

He carefully searched the scene for every trace, so the team spent about three days, seemingly without finding anything.

But soon, Momoga realized that trying to erase the traces was like shooting himself in the foot.

Despite having gained nothing, on the fourth day the team seemed to suddenly realize something and began to advance towards the perimeter security perimeter set up by the Great Tomb.

This set off alarm bells in his mind.

Ultimately, after this team seemingly charged straight into the warning net area with a clear objective, Momoga, still unsure of the abilities of these courtyard players, decided to eliminate the team.

This time, in order to prevent anyone on the other side from using that powerful spatial teleportation ability again, he not only took action himself, but also deployed Sebastian, Albedo, and Cocytus.

Needless to say, apart from the female elf who led the team and fought the well-armed Cocytus for a few seconds, almost all the other members of the team were instantly killed.

The annihilation of the squad ensured once again that the location of the Great Tomb was not leaked, but Momoga was still filled with worries.

If the other side can send a second team, they might send a third or fourth one in the future—he can't keep dealing with this every time. If this continues, it will eventually attract the main force of the Holy Church's expeditionary force.

......good.

Having confirmed that the surrounding defense zones were safe and sound, and having made up his mind, Momoga muttered to himself and stood up.

Instead of continuing to respond passively, it's better to take the initiative.

He wanted to personally go deep into both ends and see for himself just how troublesome this other world really was!

-

"Ugh......"

Komilia, who was organizing documents, sighed.

The expeditionary force had gained both a powerful combat ally and a skilled medical assistant, so why, why did things turn out this way...?

Yesterday, it took her a long time to believe that the powerful figure who had once beaten the three of them to a pulp with a stick on the arena was actually a courtyard player with an overall level of only 7.

Komilia had heard that the power of some chosen ones could not be judged solely by their overall level, a point she agreed with. After all, she and YOYO were both examples that proved this statement to be true.

However, she had never seen anything as exaggerated as Zheng Jing's before...

However, what really troubled Comilla was Coach Michael's stubbornness.

Even though she repeatedly assured that Zheng Jing was strong enough to stand on the front line, and that even if she and YOYO were to fight alone, they would not be a match for Zheng Jing, Instructor Michael still insisted that Zheng Jing should stay in the medical unit.

Komilia cannot say that Chief Michael's insistence is wrong, because the battlefield is not a fighting ring. Those cultists and demons are extremely adept at using conspiracies and tricks to carry out decapitation operations against the strong members of the expeditionary force.

In fact, a little over a month ago, a superhuman warrior with a combined level of 14 died under the devil's poisonous scheme at the Church of Desna.

Michael, with his extensive experience in fighting evil, naturally had his reasons for every word and action.

However, Komilia knew that Zheng Jing, like many of Desna's followers, had a free and unrestrained personality.

He decided to go to the front lines, and that military order probably couldn't stop him.

Therefore, Komilia could only pass this problem on to the commander.

To her utter surprise, after listening to the whole story, the commander first smiled and said that he would respect Zheng Jing's personal wishes. Then, he said with difficulty that the battle reports from various units at the front were being compiled, and he hoped that a powerful force like Zheng Jing could accommodate the pace of the expeditionary force and wait until the part that needed him the most was identified before taking action.

As the saying goes, one doesn't hit a smiling face. The commander was fawning over him without any grudge, so Zheng Jing naturally couldn't refuse this kind old man's request.

As for when we can expect to receive news?

Come on! Xiao Ke, you're acquainted with the Traveler, so this is in your hands now. Do a good job!

Even now, when Komilia recalls the commander's smiling face as he spoke, she can't help but sigh.

"Ugh......"

With another sigh, Komilia picked up a new document, glanced at it, and her expression suddenly changed.

"A powerful undead of unknown origin?"

Komilia frowned as he looked at the urgent letter from the front lines requesting assistance.

Has the time finally come for her to go to the front lines?

"Oh? An undead creature?"

—The voice that suddenly came from beside his ear made Komilia instinctively raise his elbow and strike the source of the sound!

"That's why we're short-staffed."

With a flick of his finger, Zheng Jing stopped Komilia's powerful elbow strike. Amidst the shockwave that could overturn all the furniture in the office, Zheng Jing grinned at Komilia, who was looking over.

"I'm going! I'm going, Old Zheng!"

Chapter 297: What a coincidence!

"So...you just...uh...sneaked in here by yourself?"

After hesitating for a moment, YOYO finally tried to imitate Zheng Jing's way of speaking and started to speak.

"Hey! I just saw that you checkpoints at the city gates were all incredibly busy, so I thought I'd lighten your load a bit!"

Zheng Jing, with his legs crossed, waved his hand.

YOYO looked at his smiling face and rubbed her temples in exasperation.

When he returned to the office, he was genuinely startled by Zheng Jing's sudden appearance and nearly pulled his sword out of his backpack.

Once he saw who it was and learned the whole story from Zheng Jing, YOYO felt a mix of joy and worry.

Fortunately, this holy war gained a powerful ally that was completely unexpected.

What's worrying is that Yepespel Fortress, a key location on the border, was so easily infiltrated by Zheng Jing.

For a moment, he didn't know whether the fortress's defenses were too weak or Zheng Jing's skills were too great.

YOYO could only make a mental note of it and decide to reorganize the defenses. Then she changed the subject: "I didn't expect it would be you... no, I should say I never thought I would have the opportunity to fight alongside you on the battlefield of the Holy War, Mr. Zheng Jing. Oh, now I should call you Lord Xingzhe."

"Hehe, as long as you do honest and upright things, your day will come eventually. It's not surprising, it's not surprising!"

Zheng Jing sat up a little straighter: "Hey, let's get back to the main topic. What's the deal with the powerful undead you mentioned in that letter?"

When the conversation turned to serious matters, YOYO's expression tightened.

"Please come with me..."

YOYO led Zheng Jing to the command room. When they arrived at the sand table, YOYO took a long pole and drew a circle on it.

"We lost two scout teams in this area, both composed of players around level 12, and were elite teams that were well-known in the Extraordinary Zone. The first team, Silver Kite, was killed here."

He pointed to a spot in the circle: "We're facing Sweet Dreams, an evil team led by the 'Empty Luxury Demon' Pserairi. This mind-manipulating demon and her accomplices have caused us a lot of trouble; they're one of the enemy's elite squads."

"Silver Kite was ambushed here, and all of them perished... Before dying in battle, Silver Kite transmitted the news of the ambush back through the panel. Captain Yug, who fought bravely to the last moment, even handed me the crucial information that Sweet Dream had suffered heavy damage."

"After discussion, we dispatched a second scout team, Bai Ling whispered."

"When Bai Lingqing arrived here, she found that the scene had obviously been swept clean, and all traces had been erased. Captain Linna believed that this was probably not done by Sweet Dream, because if those demons were really so badly injured that only three seriously injured members were still able to move, they would never have had the time to clean up all the traces."

"In other words, there is a high possibility that there is a third party besides Silver Kite and Sweet Dream."

“The other party did a thorough job, leaving no trace that could be used for tracking, but there is a Rock Fist of an Earth Elemental in White Feather Whispers.”

Among the monks, there are many sects and schools that cultivate how to master elemental energy. Among them, the Stone Fist Sect can be considered a major sect.

"Rock Fist" is the unified name given within the Stone Fist Sect to the masters who have mastered the sect's profound secret, the Soul of Stone.

It is said that masters who have mastered the Soul of Stone can not only hear the voice of the earth, but also possess almost limitless power as long as they stand on the earth.

And the Rock Fist in White Feather Whispers is also an Earth Elemental.

These descendants of humans, whose ancestors had close contact with the earth spirits, are naturally connected to the earth and often achieve twice the results with half the effort when cultivating the power related to the earth element.

"Master Erta discovered the anomaly in the ley lines, and Captain Linna immediately decided to investigate along this lead... I should stop them..."

At this point, YOYO's expression turned sad.

"Everything happened too fast. Before Captain Linna died, she only had time to send one message, which read: 'The succubus is an undead being and cannot be defeated by force.'"