Chapter 2468: Blade in the Darkness

It’s precisely for this reason that most of the time the Fourteen Combined Legion mixes in together with those big shots.

However, relatively speaking, the Fourteen Combined Legion’s own hard qualities are on the weaker side, which shows up as a momentum that’s inferior to the other Super Elite Legions. Yet this time Palmyro suddenly realized that the Fourteenth Legion’s aura was actually no weaker than theirs.

“There’s even a Talent like this, one that counts as more than two?” Palmyro looked at the other side in confusion.

“Oh, the Decathlon Talent.” Benito scratched his head. “I feel this Talent really suits us. Just adding one is equivalent to Dual Talent combat power. Honestly, we originally wanted to use the Eagle Banner to stack two Decathlon Talents and see if we could get even stronger, but in the end we couldn’t stack them.”

“There’s actually such a strange Talent?” Palmyro was shocked.

“Still, it’s fine. After adding the Decathlon Talent, then stacking another Talent, I feel I can have a proper fight with Camillo’s legion.” Benito said with a smile.

“Three Talents?” Palmyro looked at Benito in surprise.

“I’m joking. This Decathlon Talent itself seems to have some issues. Once you use it, most other Talents can’t be used anymore. The few that can still be used after blessing it also can’t possibly reach the level of Three Talents.” Benito said somewhat regretfully.

Palmyro nodded to show he understood. If the Fourteen Combined Legion could really become Three Talents, that would truly be a nightmare legion. Can you imagine what it would feel like if all three Talents were Infinite Change? That would truly drive people to despair.

As for this current ‘strongest among Dual Talents’ sort of thing, it actually doesn’t matter. The Fourteen Combined Legion itself can restrain all Dual Talent legions. Even if you make it stronger within the Dual Talent tier, it’s irrelevant, basically with no practical impact.

“Have you noticed that Tacitus looks especially excited this time?” Palmyro suddenly twisted his body and said to Benito.

“Very normal. That guy is basically a war criminal. He’s here to kill people this time. But speaking of which, are we really going to go all out against the Han Empire?” Benito asked, headache written on his face. No matter how he looked at it, this didn’t seem like a good plan.

“Of course we’re going all out.” Caracalla passed by the two of them. “We’ve already given the Han Empire a chance, and were willing to share Parthia with them, but they still chose to be our enemy. People have to pay the price for their own choices.”

“That’s true, but it’s still quite a pity. To be honest, I find the Han Army rather pleasant to the eye, much more so than the Parthians—their hair color, their eyes, all quite pleasing.” Camillo also rode over and said, “Palmyro, you and Benito should be more careful this time.”

Benito and Palmyro nodded at these words, while Caracalla merely laughed and said, “Relax, I’m behind them. I’ve brought a fifteen-thousand-man mixed infantry legion. Whether archers or Heavy Infantry, my legion’s got them. If things don’t work out, then we’ll pull back. I’m your solid backing.”

“How about we two go first?” After exchanging a glance with Benito, Palmyro spoke with a smile.

“If you two are going to go first, at least take the current situation into account.” Fabio said irritably. “The Fourteenth Legion’s Eagle Banner isn’t even in the legion right now. If you run off, run, run, run—without the Eagle Banner, the Fourteenth Legion’s combat power will drop by at least half. What’s more, the Han Army has decisive-techniques to seal Eagle Banners. Benito Legion Commander, what will you do then?”

Benito let out a dry laugh at these words. The biggest difference between their legion and the others is that half of their combat power resides in the Eagle Banner. If the Eagle Banner gets sealed, then the Fourteenth Legion in its current Decathlon state is already the Fourteenth Legion’s strongest mode.

Still, how should one put it—Decathlon is strong, very strong, but precisely because this Talent has no weaknesses, everything ends up being a weakness. Against opponents weaker than themselves, it’s like chopping vegetables. Against opponents roughly equal to themselves, spend a bit of time feeling out the enemy’s weak point and you can quickly crush them.

But if they run into an opponent stronger than themselves, then there’s really no way to fight.

“I’m heading out first, Benito.” Palmyro waved his hand, drew his Sword and flicked out a blossom of sword-flower, then greeted the three of them before preparing to return to his legion and lead his own troops to advance first.

“Victory in Battle.” Camillo bumped fists with him and said no more.

“We’ll be watching your performance.” Caracalla said with a smile, utterly devoid of any fear of war. The Fifth Lark Legion, after all—a legion that basically has no natural enemy.

“I’ll be right behind you. We’ll be your cover.” Benito turned his head to look at Palmyro and said with a smile.

Palmyro merely waved his hand, indicating there was no need to worry. When the Fifth Lark sets out, nobody ever needs to concern themselves. In this world, the only legion that can be considered to somewhat restrain them is right at their side, their allied force.

Given that, they simply don’t need to care about any opponent in this world.

Palmyro led the Fifth Lark to directly merge into the mist, then cut off all sound and presence. Although once they activate their Talent all the Soldiers can’t see their own comrades, they can distinctly feel everyone’s position. That is their bond.

Or rather, this is a coordination ability close to that of a Military Spirit Legion. Unfortunately, ever since Caesar died, the Fifth Lark has had no chance to go further. The Great Emperor left too deep an imprint on this legion—they are Emperor Caesar’s darkness.

As Palmyro went deeper into the darkness, he slipped through the defensive line with ease, not discovered by any patrolling Soldiers or hidden sentries, then headed straight toward the Han Camp.

Unlike Benito, though Palmyro also found the Han Army much more pleasing than Parthian Soldiers, since they’d chosen to be enemies, they had to pay the price for the path they’d chosen.

“Clang, clang.” Once Palmyro had completely broken free of the night sentries’ patrol range, orderly yet dull footsteps came from the swamp in timely fashion, sounding neat but still somewhat distant. This was a show deliberately staged by Fabio and the others after estimating the timing.

The patrol soldiers of Parthia and the Han Army stationed on the East Side of the wetlands couldn’t help freezing for a moment. They’d heard this kind of sound far too often—this was the marching footsteps of a large army. But it was coming from the marsh. Did this mean the Romans were crossing the swamp?

At once the Parthian and Han patrols were shocked. No matter what method the Romans were using to cross the river, they had to get this information sent back immediately. Otherwise, a great disaster was coming!

“What, the Romans are advancing across the marsh?” Because they already knew the Romans definitely wouldn’t be quiet tonight, even though they didn’t yet know in what way, the Han Army had made arrangements early. So the Han had started resting in batches that afternoon, while Zhuge Liang and the Generals hadn’t slept at all this night.

“Whether it works or not, let’s launch a wave of Spiritual Talent first.” Upon receiving the news, Sima Yi activated his Spiritual Talent at once, then turned it off about five minutes later.

As for the Romans’ side, when Sima Yi activated his Spiritual Talent, the members of the Staff Group almost died of fright. Sima Yi’s Spiritual Talent was sealing the Floating Step effect of the Fourteen Combined Unit’s Eagle Banner, and its powerful sealing capacity almost wiped out the Eagle Banner effect that was being protected by the Spiritual Will of several dozen Staff Group members.

These are over a hundred thousand men on the swamp—if the Eagle Banner effect were erased, that hundred thousand would likely have only a tiny fraction able to escape disaster. Three Talents or whatever, if swallowed by the swamp they’d be finished too, at best lasting a bit longer. Still, fortunately, they held.

[Lord Pipunsanannus, I suggest in future we refrain from using the Eagle Banner’s special effect for this sort of special matter. The enemy’s decisive ability has extremely destructive impact on the Eagle Banner’s special effect. Just now, if we hadn’t managed to hold…] Barulo, thoroughly alarmed after Sima Yi’s Talent passed, offered his advice to Pipunsanannus.

Pipunsanannus didn’t answer. Can’t hold? Even if we can’t, we have to hold. Since the Han Empire can unleash a decisive ability, we Rome must be able to withstand that decisive ability!

With the cancellation of Sima Yi’s Talent, the Han Army moved quickly. Various defensive works had likewise been set up around their camp. Though they were basically useless in a real fight, it was still good to disgust the enemy a bit.

“Get ready according to the previous plan.” Zhuge Liang took a deep breath.

[I wonder if General Guann can pull it off. Though in normal people’s eyes the Romans’ target should be Parthia, barring accidents, Rome’s investment in the Parthian front in this war won’t be too great. Their primary target is likely the Han Dynasty. But why should things go your way, Ruyi!] Zhuge Liang thought with a cold sneer.

Outside the Han Camp, while the other legions were drawing attention to the marsh, Palmyro had already arrived here. Next, he didn’t need to do anything—he just had to wait for the Han Army to sortie, then deliver a heavy blow.

But before that, some other work needed to be done, to make the coming battle easier and prepare the way for those who followed. This is what the Fifth Lark Legion has always done.

“The defensive works are indeed complex, but just this alone absolutely can’t stop us.” Palmyro, crouching outside the Han Camp with his legion, casually filled in a path through the Han’s defenses, then used Light and Shadow Operation to leave behind a False Image exactly like before. In reality, that defensive ring there had already been completely destroyed.

After a long period of observation, Palmyro had already pinpointed the exact positions of the Han’s camp patrols, sentries, and gate escorts. Compared to Parthia’s former deployments, the Han’s layout on this side was extremely delicate. At the very least, the Fifth Lark couldn’t infiltrate quickly enough to take all these men down at once.

But this wasn’t important. Upon discovering this situation, Palmyro had already given up on conventional sneak-attack plans. What’s more, he now had a better option—the Fifth Lark, Caesar’s shadow, the blade in the darkness.