When Jeanne first broached the subject with Mudrock, she fully expected to catch the Sarkaz warrior completely off guard with a massive piece of news. To her surprise, Mudrock had caught wind of the plan even earlier than she had, though she certainly hadn't anticipated that Jeanne would be marching right alongside them.
The news brought genuine delight to the squad. They welcomed Jeanne's presence with open arms; having an older sister of her caliber on their side meant their upcoming clash would be a far lighter burden to bear, wouldn't it?
A few days later, the advance team was fully assembled. Though Mudrock's squad was among the smallest forces numerically, they were the very first to set out into the frozen wastes. After all, their primary duty was to infiltrate the moving town and engage the occupiers ahead of the main army.
"An entire moving city, simply abandoned out here in the snowfields?" Mudrock mused, sharing her thoughts with Jeanne as they pressed forward through the biting wind. "I suppose Ursus truly is a massive power. Back in my homeland, a luxury of this nature is something ordinary folk wouldn't even dare to dream about."
She couldn't help but look upon such wastefulness with a trace of envy, marveling at the sheer wealth of the northern empire.
If a moving platform ever fell into such disrepair back in the valleys of Kazdel, the people would never dream of leaving it to rot on the plains like the Ursins did. They would painstakingly strip away every salvageable plate and mechanism for continued use. Even the completely ruined sections would be melted down to forge fresh armaments. Compared to this grand empire, their homeland was simply buried in poverty.
"When a household is that massive, the folk at the top rarely care about a few stray scraps," Jeanne replied, keeping up the conversation as she watched the distant silhouette of the town slowly track across the horizon.
In truth, functional remnants scattered across the Ursus wilderness weren't as rare as one might think. Most of the abandoned districts and isolated blocks out here had simply been cast aside because their original fuel reserves had run dry.
However, restoring a sleeping city block was usually a nightmare for Talulah's movement. First, the mechanical repairs demanded an immense amount of time; second, they lacked the skilled engineers required to breathe life back into systems that had lain dormant for over half a century.
As for the prize currently moving before their eyes, the occupiers either had a remarkably gifted mechanic in their ranks, or they had simply struck absolute gold by stumbling upon a platform whose ancient furnaces were still willing to burn. That kind of luck was truly extraordinary.
The squad halted to observe the moving platform from a distance, studying the external layout to discern the safest path for an undetected entry. Jeanne, meanwhile, sat quietly to the side, taking the opportunity to rest her mind.
Relying on her miraculous senses to steer the squad clear of the enemy's scouts along the journey had been a draining task. While her body wasn't physically exhausted, the intense concentration had left her mind thoroughly fatigued, and she desperately needed a brief respite before the storm.
Once her spirit was fully restored, the remaining steps fell into place with remarkable ease. Guided by the squad's careful observations and the sharp intuition of Jeanne's inner light, the infiltrators slipped past the outer defenses and stepped onto the streets without raising a single alarm.
It was a place of utter ruin.
Looking upon the desolate lanes, Jeanne and Mudrock could only offer a grim assessment. One glance was enough to tell that this was an ancient settlement completely neglected by time. It was a true mystery how these rebels had managed to get the massive furnaces running again.
Yet, the town possessed one incredible feature: a series of dedicated plots designed for cultivating crops! Sadly, the current occupiers cared absolutely nothing for agriculture; they had left the rich soil entirely untended, allowing the fields to turn to weeds.
In the minds of such characters, why waste time and sweat tilling the earth when you could simply plunder whatever you needed from nearby travelers? This gang was so violent that even the local imperial scouts preferred to look the other way rather than tangle with a heavily armed band of deserters. They were simply too dangerous to bother.
"What is our next move?" Mudrock asked, her grip tightening on her weapon as her fighting spirit flared. She was eager to test her squad's strength against the regular soldiers of Ursus to see who would emerge victorious.
Jeanne could tell that the Sarkaz warrior was secretly itching to settle an old score. Back during their previous travels, Mudrock's group had been ruthlessly hunted by the imperial military, forced into a miserable and desperate flight just to keep their lives.
"We need to find a suitable spot to cause a massive commotion," Jeanne decided after a brief moment of thought. "If we draw the bulk of their fighters to our position, it will make things a hundred times easier for Talulah and the others to storm the gates when they arrive!"
It was a straightforward strategy, though the execution carried immense peril. A single misstep could easily leave their small squad completely surrounded and wiped out before help could reach them.
Yet, every member of the team placed their complete trust in Jeanne's judgment. After a quick whispered consultation, they settled on a daring objective: they would seize control of the main armory first!
For a rebel force of this size, while individual fighters certainly carried sidearms and basic explosives, the vast majority of their heavy weaponry and munitions would inevitably be concentrated within a single, secure warehouse, distributed only when a major battle was imminent.
After all, if a massive hoard of explosives and military gear were left in the hands of erratic individuals, the leader of the gang would have to spend every waking hour worrying whether some disgruntled underling might blow him to pieces in his sleep!
Locating such a hidden stronghold would have been an impossible task for ordinary scouts, but for Jeanne, it posed no challenge at all. In less than five minutes, her inner guidance led the squad straight to the objective.
Beholding the heavily fortified warehouse before them, the squad knew they had found the central magazine. The moment this stronghold fell under threat, every fighter in the town would lose their minds.
"Let us strike first," Mudrock whispered, turning to Jeanne. "It is best if you hold your flame in reserve until the enemy rallies in great numbers. We can use it to catch them completely off guard."
With those words, Mudrock stepped out from cover and unleashed her Arts. Within moments, a series of towering stone behemoths—each standing five meters tall—rose from the earth to spearhead the advance. With a single gesture, she had conjured a fearless vanguard that knew no dread.
In her past days as a mere mercenary, Mudrock would have hesitated to use her abilities on such a grand scale. Channeling that much power naturally caused the Oripathy infection to ravage her body at an accelerated pace, dragging her a step closer to the grave with every casting.
But things were entirely different now. Thanks to the soothing properties of Jeanne's holy water, Mudrock's infection had been significantly stabilized, granting her the freedom to wield her earth-shaping Arts without constant fear for her life.
"What under the heavens are those things?!"
The sentries guarding the warehouse spotted the lumbering stone giants immediately. They had simply never encountered such monstrous creations before, and their defensive lines fell into instant chaos.
Before the guards could master their panic, the Sarkaz casters trailing safely behind the stone behemoths launched a coordinated volley of their own Arts. A split second later, the enemy's forward trenches were completely swallowed by a cascade of roaring explosions.
The thunderous blasts echoed across the entire town, instantly catching the attention of the rebel high command. That warehouse held their most precious worldly possessions—the massive hoard of weapons and military gear they had painstakingly smuggled out when they deserted the imperial ranks!
If that magazine went up in flames, they would be reduced to nothing more than common highwaymen, stripped of the military edge that allowed them to enjoy such a comfortable existence on the plains.
Within minutes, leaving only the bare minimum of sentries to watch the perimeter, the vast majority of the rebel combatants abandoned their posts and sprinted toward the armory, desperate to see what kind of disaster had struck their stronghold.
"Move quickly! Establish a defensive perimeter before they can form a proper counter-attack!" Mudrock shouted, taking advantage of the enemy's confusion to guide her fighters inside, swiftly securing the main warehouse structures.
Her warriors moved like ghosts through the complexes, rooting out any lingering defenders to ensure their rear was completely secure. From this point forward, their task was simple: dig in, hold the line, and wait for the main army to arrive.
By the time the main body of the rebel force converged on the sector, they were met with a wall of stone giants blocking the armory gates. Showing the sharp reflexes of trained soldiers, the rebels immediately focused their fire on the towering constructs.
A torrential rain of offensive Arts battered the stone behemoths, tearing away great chunks of rock and leaving their forms heavily scarred. Yet, such damage meant very little to creatures born of the earth—they were made of solid stone!
In the very next heartbeat, under the steady guidance of Mudrock's focus, the battered giants drew upon the loose masonry and shattered cobblestones littering the street, instantly restoring their massive bodies as if the previous onslaught had been nothing more than a passing breeze.
"Keep up the pressure! The caster cannot maintain those constructs forever!" an experienced rebel sergeant roared, spotting Mudrock directing the defense from the rear. He immediately ordered his lines to concentrate their fire on her position.
But these characters were completely outmatched by the Sarkaz warrior. Even while dividing her concentration to sustain the stone giants, Mudrock shielded her position with ease—and she was hardly alone on the battlefield.
The sector fell into a fierce deadlock. The rebels utilized their superior numbers to completely encircle the magazine, while Jeanne, Mudrock, and their fighters used the captured high ground and defensive Arts to repel every frantic charge.
With Jeanne's white-hot flames keeping the vanguard at bay, the rebel soldiers were forced to keep their distance, contenting themselves with harassing fire while calling for more reinforcements to seal the perimeter, waiting for the infiltrators to exhaust their stamina and deplete their energy.
Yet, just as the trap seemed to close tightly around the armory, Talulah, Patriot, and the main vanguard of Reunion arrived at the city gates. Catching sight of the distant smoke rising from the magazine, they chose a entry point furthest from the chaos and launched a devastating assault of their own!