The First Magic World War

Charles returned to the military carriage and touched the cat mask in his arms, muttering to himself, "So this thing is standard issue for the Orc Assassin Alliance."

The mask used by Philedrica was clearly another such extraordinary object.

Even while marching, Charles did not slack on his training, he still practiced the Spirit Spider Technique for an hour and a half as usual, before sequentially training in four other Bloody Runes. After completing his training, he took a short nap.

Waking up the next morning, Charles discovered that more than ten people had fled.

In the armies of the Old Continent, the level of training and the elite nature could not be compared at all with the modern armies of Earth. Even for the most basic of long marches, countless individuals would desert, and it was even possible for entire units to collapse. Especially since his Westwind Knights was a makeshift force, consisting only of a few regular Patrolling Army members, with the rest being adventurers, prisoners, and gang members. That just over ten people had fled was already a tremendous success from his expectations set the day before.

Charles first took some time to regather the knighthood, rallied this motley crew with a spirited speech, and then announced it was time to eat breakfast before they resumed marching.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The next day's march saw over thirty more people desert; Charles helplessly adjusted their direction slightly.

By the fifth day, nearly three hundred people had escaped. Initially, after absorbing the Black Scorpion Gang, the Westwind Knights had alarmingly exceeded three thousand members, but now it had dropped below three thousand again. Still, he had finally managed to bring this group of the Free Knights to Machu Picchu.

The Westwind Knights entered the maze-ified fortress of Machu Picchu, where all members completed their transformation into NPCs.

A consciousness suddenly transmitted from the diary hidden inside Charles's robes: "Charles Meklen's Machu Picchu Labyrinth has obtained a large number of NPCs, fulfilling the conditions for promotion, and may now arrange a second labyrinth."

Charles hadn't expected that the ruins of the Machu Picchu fortress could still accommodate a second labyrinth?

With both surprise and joy, he opened the second page of "Agmillar's Labyrinth" on the ground, and immediately felt the diary under his palm lose another page. An intangible force expanded outward, and once again, evil energies corroded the ancient ruins of the Orc Kingdom's fortress.

That consciousness surged once more: "Machu Picchu requires eighteen days to complete the double-layer labyrinth, during which time you must not leave this place."

Charles also learned that once the second labyrinth was arranged, Machu Picchu would form a double-labyrinth world, and his control over NPCs would increase by another level, tasks issued would multiply, and the tasks available on NPCs would also increase.

Of course, for Charles, what was more important was that he could vaguely understand the movements of his subordinates. If they were in Machu Picchu, they absolutely could not escape; outside Machu Picchu, those soldiers within a certain range of Charles would provide positional indicators. Each fleeing soldier would essentially be "reporting" their movements to Charles.

Charles arranged for the Knighthood to settle down, and he mulled over the newly gained information while holding the diary, gradually assimilating it, and his mastery over the Maze Art deepened yet another layer.

The orders Charles had received were to proceed to the Behemoth Duchy as soon as possible, but they did not specify "how soon is as soon as possible"?

Charles, of course, did not hesitate to stay, as the war between the Behemoth Duchy and the South Serif Territory was none of his business. Moreover, with such a disorganized group, entering the battlefield would likely see them disperse within minutes, which would help nothing. Going there would be worse than not; it was better to avoid bothering the Behemoth people.

Part of the Westwind Knights, those adventurers who had been enticed by Charles to join the Patrolling Army and to this day had only received "small, long-term payments" without seeing a second installment of money, were quite familiar with Machu Picchu. With this group of "experienced guides," the new members of the Knighthood quickly adapted to the "environment."

No country on the Old Continent had the capability to support long-distance hit-and-run tactics, and naturally, neither could the Westwind Knights. They had not brought enough supplies, which were supposed to be provided by the towns or cities along the way, and even that meant enduring hunger all the way to Behemoth Duchy.

Since Charles had stopped, he naturally could not obtain supplies along the way, so he chose to send combat squads out in batches to "forage."

He had also privately complained that the war potential of the Fars Empire was not even comparable to that of ancient China, but in a world with Transcendents, the outcome of war was often decided by powerful Transcendents, and armies composed of regular people were just cannon fodder, so an appropriate military system had never been developed.

The foraging combat squads, under Charles's strict instructions, also brought back a batch of seeds. Although Charles knew that it wouldn't be possible to grow food within a fortnight, he always felt he might eventually make a base out of Machu Picchu, so he took precautions and led the Knighthood to clear some of the wilderness nearby.

Days quickly went by, and although Charles was extremely busy, he miraculously managed to prevent any desertions from the Knighthood, which astonished both Taoles and Philedrica. Your adventure continues at empire

Yellow Bear, along with Dobin, had become Charles's right and left-hand men. Despite his gang-related background, he had not indulged in the gang members' vices, had been entirely fair in emergency situations, was a Transcendent, and quickly gained a considerable amount of admiration.

One day, Charles broke away from everyone and went to the place where Hannah was buried.

Though he and this female adventurer had had no special connection and he had not originally intended to get involved emotionally, as the first person to die after he had formed his team, Charles still felt some concern.

In front of him, there was a swirl of black fog that drifted but was not confined by the Labyrinth Power, and it could never escape.

Charles performed an Empire salute and said softly, "I promised you I would help you take revenge, though it has been delayed, I hope you don't mind."

He flipped his hand and lightly pressed, and the Labyrinth Power converged. The monster immediately burst apart, turning into a puff of blue smoke.

Though this matter was not significant, Charles had always kept it in mind. Now that he had avenged Hannah, he felt somewhat relieved.

Now, most creatures in the Labyrinth, including the monsters, strange beings, and evil spirits, had been transformed into NPCs by the Labyrinth, although this Labyrinth was only a manifestation of Charles's thoughts and not true gamification; his control over these extraordinary beings was limited.

Charles stood silently for a while, then revealed the Blood Rose. Lord Leo had escaped, leaving his two servants behind, and Charles prepared to eliminate these two servants to boost his own strength to the next level.

Lord Leo was a High-Level Transcendent, and his two servants were also strong, selected from hundreds of Blood Servants, and were of Intermediate rank.

Charles believed that killing these two servants of Lord Leo would save him at least a few dozen days of training.

He silently sensed the feedback from the Labyrinth and quickly found the two servants of Lord Leo, who were eating a ground rat, and with a flicker, he disappeared from the spot.