I only wanted to retire, but I ended up becoming an extremely popular character.

It was Damian, a Holy Kingdom officer with the rank of lieutenant, holding a terrifying flail. The barbed iron ball spun at the end of the chain, making a low, whistling sound.

Just as he was about to reach Zod, he leaped into the air, swung the flail high above his head, and used the momentum of his fall to smash it down hard on Zod's head!

"Finally, you've shown yourself." Zod's lips curled into a cryptic smile.

He remained vigilant, wary of the commander of this Holy Kingdom force.

He was hesitant and restrained during the chaotic fight because he didn't know when the officer hiding in the shadows would make his move.

When alone in enemy territory, the worst thing is to be ambushed from behind.

Now that the lieutenant has finally shown up, the weight that had been hanging over his heart has finally been lifted.

It was thanks to Cassius's early breakthrough of the Holy Kingdom's defenses that the Holy Kingdom's lieutenant had no choice but to act hastily.

Otherwise, based on Zod's judgment, the opponent would probably wait until Zod was exhausted or had an obvious weakness before making a move.

Zod did not choose to take the oncoming flail head-on.

He shifted to the side, his steps light and agile, letting the spiked iron ball whistle past his ear.

In the instant he turned to the side, his left hand rose smoothly, his thumb and middle finger lightly rubbing together: "Flying Tooth!"

The 'potential' gathered at his fingertips transformed into a 'bullet' that was difficult to see with the naked eye, heading straight for Damian's brow.

"What? A mere Imperial lieutenant..." Lieutenant Damian, despite having just met Zod, was already able to use the basic techniques of the 'Hakuja'.

But seeing Zod so skillfully dodge his attacks, and then use the "Hakuja" technique to launch a sneak attack on Damian.

Damian was somewhat surprised that an Imperial lieutenant could achieve this level of skill.

The flail had already fallen, and it was too late to defend.

Damian could only strain to tilt his head back to avoid the sudden and deadly "bullet" in front of him.

However, in the instant he leaned back, this undoubtedly left Zod with a huge opening.

Zod wouldn't let such a golden opportunity slip by; in fact, the moment he spun "Flying Tooth," his right-hand longsword was already poised to strike.

The moment Damian dodged the "flying tooth" bullet, he realized that Zod's "potential" bullet was just a feint, and that the Imperial lieutenant would have more than just that one trick up his sleeve.

Someone who can use the "Hakuja" so skillfully must have a hidden trick up their sleeve.

as predicted.

Almost as he leaned back to dodge, Zod's sword slashed horizontally towards him.

That horizontal cut seemed simple and unadorned, but the angle was so tricky it was chilling.

It took advantage of the blind spot created when Damian tilted his head back, allowing the blade to strike silently from that unseen blind spot.

"A trivial skill!"

Lieutenant Damian had climbed his way up from the bottom ranks, and the experience of fighting on the battlefield had given him plenty of instinctive reactions.

While his body was still leaning back, he had already begun to pull back his flail, preparing to block the sword.

He has confidence in himself.

"We should be able to make it in time and hold them off!"

The instant the thought flashed through his mind, he had already mentally predicted where the blade would land.

However, the next second, his pupils suddenly contracted.

Zod's sword suddenly accelerated!

That speed far exceeded Damian's expectations.

No, it far exceeded his understanding of what a "second lieutenant" should be.

Before he could even retract the flail even half an inch, the sword had already swept past his sight like a silver streak.

The sword flashed and disappeared in an instant.

Damian's movements suddenly froze in mid-air, as if time had been ripped from his body.

He stood frozen in place, still in the posture of swinging his arm to block, but he could no longer complete the movement.

Zod's blade had already appeared behind him.

Damian lowered his head, looking at the rapidly expanding bloodstain on his chest, then raised his head again, staring intently at Zod's face.

He felt he had seen that face somewhere before.

It felt both strange and inexplicably familiar, yet I couldn't recall it at all.

"So...fast...sword..." His voice was broken, filled with disbelief and gasps: "It was just...a lieutenant..."

Before he could finish speaking, his body collapsed to the ground with a thud.

He then collapsed heavily to the ground, blood gushing out from behind him, staining the ground beneath Lieutenant Damian red.

Zod walked to Damian's body and looked down at the face that still bore resentment and confusion even in death.

He said softly, "Sorry, I'm in a hurry."

He was telling the truth.

War is so absurd: a group of strangers leave their homes and risk their lives to fight another group of strangers.

Therefore, Zod did not want to get involved in other people's wars, because it was pointless.

The reason this battle ended so quickly was not because Damian was too weak.

It was because Lieutenant Damian's speed and swordsmanship were inferior to Lieutenant Eric of Tonomura.

Having already become accustomed to and surpassed Lieutenant Eric's speed, Zod felt that the difficulty of fighting Lieutenant Damian had dropped a level.

To be honest, if Lieutenant Damian wanted to increase his chances of winning, the smartest thing to do would be to continue hiding in the shadows.

Wait until Zod is exhausted or reveals a large enough opening before making a move.

Of course, Cassius's charge of the Imperial army up the hill also somewhat disrupted Lieutenant Damian's plans.

If Lieutenant Damian doesn't take action soon, the Holy Kingdom's lines will definitely be completely disrupted, and then it won't be so easy to reverse the decline.

Zod glanced one last time at the corpse on the ground, then turned and strode toward Cassius and Hitis.

With Lieutenant Damian's death, Cassius led the Imperial army to break through the high ground, and subsequent Imperial troops began to surge up the high ground in an endless stream. As for the Holy Kingdom's army, both morale and troop strength advantages were no longer there.

The army was defeated like a mountain.

Under Zod's leadership, the Imperial army swiftly and decisively defeated the Holy Kingdom's army that had come to the aid of Sarlom.

The remaining remnants of the army no longer dared to send reinforcements towards the city of Sarlom, but instead fled in the opposite direction, deep into the Holy Kingdom.

The Empire's army fought with increasing ferocity, relentlessly pursuing the fleeing soldiers of the Holy Kingdom.

Until Zod gave the order to all his soldiers: "Stop chasing! We have a more urgent mission now!"

Hitis and Cassius approached Zod.

Seeing Zod again filled Hitis with joy. She had so much to say, but in the end, all her words were condensed into a military salute.

She gave Zod a standard military salute.

If Zod hadn't appeared in time, she honestly wouldn't have known what to do in such a sudden situation.

No words can compare to seeing Zod right in front of you.

Only with this man around does the team truly have a soul.

Of course, this wasn't just Hitis's opinion; all the soldiers thought the same way.

From Bell Tower Town and Tono Village to this attack, Zod has always been at the forefront, leading the charge and winning victory after victory.

In the military, simply having a rank does not guarantee the recognition of all soldiers; such a team naturally possesses combat effectiveness.

Rather, the rank on one's shoulder is only useful if it is recognized by all soldiers, and only then can the unit exert its true combat power.

Without a doubt, Zod proved himself to all the soldiers, even though he never intended to prove himself to anyone.

In the military, there is a strange thing called "prestige," which is invisible and intangible.

Every victory, every drop of blood, every act of leading from the front, every time you fight alongside your soldiers, accumulates something called "prestige."

Although it is not as visible or tangible as military rank.

However, in the military, "prestige" is sometimes even more useful than rank.

Zod probably doesn't even realize that his "prestige" within the army is rapidly accumulating, and that this "prestige" will sooner or later extend to the entire "Imperial Blade" legion!

……

Cassius noticed the unusual expression on Zod's face.

They had just won a major victory; Zod had personally killed a lieutenant and led his entire army to defeat the enemy, in addition to the victory at Tonomura.

Zod's expression shouldn't be so serious; he should at least appear happy.

But Zod's expression did not show any relaxation; in fact, it was even more serious than when he was in Tono Village.

What does this mean?

Cassius's mind raced, and he came to two relatively subjective conjectures:

First, Lieutenant Zod didn't care about one or two small victories at all; defeating a lieutenant-level officer of the Holy Kingdom was no longer enough to satisfy him.

After all, the man in front of them had already defeated Lieutenant Barnes in Clock Tower.

The merits he had just achieved, which would make any second lieutenant envious, were no longer worth mentioning to Lieutenant Zod.

He wanted to pursue a greater goal.

This is Cassius's second conjecture.

After parting ways with them, Lieutenant Zod must have been on a secret mission, or it was a decision he made based on his own considerations.

He may have discovered some intelligence that could influence the entire course of the war.

This explains why Zod remained gloomy despite winning one "minor" victory after another.

Because from the beginning, Lieutenant Zod was not focused on winning local battles; he was focused on a much larger goal.

Cassius was almost certain that Lieutenant Zod had made a more significant discovery after their separation, a discovery that could potentially influence the course of the entire war.

Cassius looked up at Zod with a serious expression: "Lieutenant Zod, you must have made some new discoveries since we parted ways..."

Zod glanced at Cassius, and sure enough, even Cassius noticed that he was preoccupied!

He didn't intend to hide it from Cassius and Hitis.

Next, the two of them will risk their lives to fight alongside Zod, and sooner or later they will find out everything.

"That's right!" Zod called Cassius and Hitis aside, took out a map from his pocket and unfolded it: "According to my reconnaissance just now, the Holy Kingdom is gathering an entire division of troops from this military stronghold, preparing to reinforce the direction of Salrom City."

"In addition, the Holy Kingdom has increased its troop strength to varying degrees at various military outposts surrounding the city of Sallom."

As Zod spoke, he moved his finger to the corresponding point on the map: "This is only the situation on the southwestern flank of the Holy Kingdom. In the best-case scenario, the Holy Kingdom has only sent one division of troops to reinforce the city of Salrom."

But this best-case scenario is overly optimistic.

He was so optimistic that even Zod himself couldn't convince himself.

Zod paused for a moment, then took a deep breath: "If we consider the worst-case scenario, then a massive encirclement, large enough to swallow three Imperial legions, is quietly unfolding around the city of Sarlöm."

Zod alone could not possibly ascertain the full deployment of the Holy Kingdom's garrison outside the city of Sarlom.

Moreover, he was completely unaware of the situation on the northwest flank.

But even with just the limited information he had, considering the worst-case scenario was enough to send chills down his spine.

Zod was not an optimistic person.

In other words, Zod couldn't be an optimistic person if he wanted to survive in this war-torn era.

The situation on the battlefield can change in an instant, and no one can guarantee what will happen next.

In order to survive, all Zod could do was prepare for the worst and develop contingency plans based on those worst-case scenarios.

"Preparation is the key to success, and lack of preparation leads to failure." This is the lesson Zod learned on Earth.

Upon hearing Zod's account, Hitis's expression darkened, and her voice betrayed a hint of anxiety: "Lieutenant, we must immediately report this intelligence to Captain Spent so that Colonel Xavier can prepare accordingly!"

Zod shook his head and took out the Winged Wave Messenger "Crow" from his pocket: "I tried to contact him immediately, but I couldn't get through."

"Is no one answering, or..." Cassius pinched his chin, his face tense.

He didn't say the second half of his sentence. If the worst-case scenario were considered, Captain Spent might have already died in the fierce battle of Sallom.

Although he hadn't considered things as deeply as Zod, he was aware of the seriousness of the situation.

"I don't know." Zod didn't want to think in that direction.

If he could, he wouldn't want his superior, Captain Spent, to have died in battle.

He put away the Wingwave Messenger, his tone heavy and urgent: "But we don't have time. We must get this intelligence to Colonel Xavier as soon as possible, no matter what."

Given Xavier's capabilities, once he grasps these circumstances, he should be able to make the appropriate deployment.

Zod dared not place his hopes on himself, much less on his force of less than two hundred men.

They were simply unable to escape the quagmire of war centered on the city of Sarlöm on their own.

In a campaign at the corps level, a force of less than two hundred men wouldn't even qualify to serve as cannon fodder.

To survive, the only way Zod could think of was to board the "Imperial Blade" ship.

Cassius looked firmly into Zod's eyes: "Lieutenant, give the order! We swear to follow you to the death!"

As Cassius had predicted, Zod parted ways with them to attend to important matters.

Thinking back to the time when all the officers and soldiers were writing their wills before the war, only Zod was studying military maps.

As long as you follow this man, you can't go wrong!

Based on the information above, Cassius can draw a rough conclusion: indeed, Lieutenant Zod was not just concerned with the success or failure of one or two small battles from the very beginning.

Lieutenant Zod's focus remained on the overall battle situation in the "Salorm" battlefield.

In other words, Lieutenant Zod's goal from the beginning was not to be a junior officer, but to become a corps commander, or even an Imperial General, at least on par with Colonel Xavier.

Zod's ambition and long-term vision truly alarmed Cassius!

Cassius swallowed hard, trying to calm his shock and not let his emotions show on his face.

Sure enough, Cassius hadn't followed the wrong person!