Castle of Black Iron

The moment the troop of the allied forces started to occupy the water sources nearby the relics, the chaos in the underground space started to spread like the ripples in pond. Whether those tens of thousands of pioneers who swarmed in like hornets or a few powerful individuals, nobody could resist the power of the allied forces which was like a bulldozer.

There were also powerhouses in the allied forces.

Given the types of organizations of most countries and armies in this age, the fighting strength of first-class military officers were generally in consistent with their positions. After two holy wars between humans and demons, for the sake of the guidance and co-ordinance in joint operations, most human countries’ military establishments appeared to be similar on type of organization and hierarchy.

In the average troop establishment of most countries in the continent, there was a similar red line, which, although being not absolute, was referential.

A LV 6 fighter could be the leader of a platoon of about 30 soldiers and be awarded with the rank of second lieutenant.

A LV 7 fighter could be the commander of a company of about 100 soldiers or 3 platoons and be awarded with the rank of first lieutenant.

A LV 8 fighter could be the commander of a battalion of about 300-500 soldiers and be awarded with the rank of captain. For example, when Zhang Tie was in the Iron-Blood Camp of the 39th Division of Iron-Horn Army of Norman Empire, although Reinhardt, the commander of Iron-Blood Camp was a LV 8 fighter, because of the special establishment of Iron-Blood Camp and the great power of iron-blood fist, he had already been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel which was rarely seen across the Blackson Humans Corridor.

A LV 9 fighter could be the colonel of 1000-2000 soldiers and be awarded with the rank of major. Concretely, although the difference of establishments between the armies of different countries and regions, any LV 9 fighter was qualified to be the middle-ranking military officer of any army in any place in this age.

A LV 10 strong fighter could be the commander of a brigade of 5000-10000 soldiers and be awarded with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

A LV 11 fighting master could be the commander of a regiment of at least 20000 soldiers and be awarded with the rank of colonel.

A LV 12 great fighting master could be the head of an army of 80,000 to 100,000 soldiers and be awarded with the rank of a brigadier general or a major general. Those at this level entered the high-ranking general officers officially.

Above the army was an army group which was composed of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. As the real terrifying organ of violence and the pillar of humans against demons, the army group was able to destroy cities and countries. Additionally, according to the regulation of the "Great Brilliance Charter" of humans, although a LV 12 great fighting master could be the head of an army, the core of an army group had to be a knight, instead of the pure accumulation of low-level soldiers in quantity.

Only knights were qualified to establish fighting units like army groups and be the leader of army groups. Although fighting spirit, fighting demon and fighting general below knight were not qualified to establish an army group but they could take important positions in the army group.

Certainly, even the army groups centered by knights were divided into different types. In different countries, the army groups were classified by different levels and ranks. However, the division standards of army groups in most countries were divided into four levels according to the division standards of Chinese army groups; common army group, class B army group, class A army group and forbidden army group. The names of the four levels might be different in other countries. In some countries, it was divided into; class C army group, class B army group, class A army group and class S army group. Some countries divided it into; black iron army group, bronze army group, silver army group and gold army group. Although being different in names, they were basically same in division standards.

A common LV 6 fighter could be a platoon leader in a common army group; however, if he was in a class B army group, he could only be a monitor. Almost all the platoon leaders in class B army group were monitored by LV 7 fighters. It would be stricter in class A army group.

It was said that in the forbidden army group, the lowest limit to be platoon leader was LV 9 fighter. Even common soldiers in forbidden army group were LV 7 fighters. Given its fighting strength, a forbidden army group could easily crack down more than three class A army groups.

Such a forbidden army group was absolutely a legendary existence. There was not even one forbidden army group in Blackson Humans Corridor at all. It was said that such army groups only existed in Eastern Continent. In Blackson Humans Corridor, a country with class B army group was already a powerful one. As to the alleged class A army groups in a couple of countries, they were just some class B army groups being mixed with some regiments at most according to the standards of class A army groups. Such troops had been brand troops across Blackson Humans Corridor and the pride of a few countries.

Zhang Tie could never touch such knowledge when he was in Blackhot City. He learned some when he was in Hidden Dragon Palace. The Iron-Horn Army Group of Norman Empire which was the most powerful force in Andaman Alliance was a black iron army group. The brilliance feathers of Sun Dynasty was also a black iron army group. Iron-Blood Camp was a special force under a division of an army group, which was actually a mixed unit.

In this age, the reason that Chinese were powerful, respectable and were called gold race was that only Chinese were able to establish the gold army groups. In the former two holy wars between humans and demons, Chinese gold army groups had made meritorious deeds to humans and became well known around the planet.

As tens of thousands of people were dispatched by the wild bear tribe, which already reached the scale of division, there must be many powerhouses like fighting masters and great fighting masters. Plus the bear-killing fighters who had unique ability to increase their fighting strength sharply, only after a few hours, the water sources nearby the relics had been taken over by the allied forces.

At the beginning, many pioneers were confused why the allied forces started to occupy the water sources nearby the relics. However, after ten more hours, they finally understood their current situation. Therefore, everybody became flurried. The turmoil broke out naturally.

After 50,000-60,000 people poured in, the water sources nearby the relics could not afford so many people at all. When the underground tunnel was smooth, this contradiction was not obvious. As long as they spent some time and walked dozens of miles, they would be able to get enough water. However, after the tunnel collapsed, the road back to the ground was blocked. What was more, the largest water source supply was cut off.

Even if they took enough dried rations but did not get enough drinking water, they could not stand too long underground, either.

In over ten hours, the allied forces intensified their camp under the order of Gangula. They built a defense line around the camp. As a result, some water sources being occupied by the allied forces became the military forbidden zones. Any outsider being less than 100 m away from the water sources without consent would be killed!

Therefore, those pioneers who dreamed to make a fortune in the super relics instantly felt a great danger.

Zhang Tie caught sight of the prospecting team of Golden Roc Bank, half of which had lost. Most of the remaining team members were injured and looked bad.

O’Laura and Nurdo also came back with only 2/3 of their guards. O’Laura also saw Zhang Tie. However, before talking to him, O’Laura had been pulled away by Gangula’s subordinate.

...

Sitting on the top of a ruined 5-storey building in the relics beside the camp, Zhang Tie was looking at the distance quietly.

At a place near a water source within Zhang Tie’s vision, over 2000 soldiers of the allied forces were intensifying the defense over there. Meanwhile, those pioneers wandering in the neighborhood were glaring at those soldiers.

At this moment, the pioneers were a bit rational. None of them would like to drink water at the risk of their own lives. However, this was just the first day since their water sources had been taken over by the allied forces. Three days later, when most of the pioneers would run out of their own drinking water, Zhang Tie didn’t know whether they would just look aside like today.

Hearing the footsteps from behind, Zhang Tie knew it was O’Laura without even turning around. Seeing Zhang Tie sitting on the ground while swinging his legs in the air, O’Laura became hesitated for a couple of seconds before sitting on Zhang Tie’s side. Like Zhang Tie, she also suspended her feet in the air.

"It looks worse than my imagination!" Zhang Tie turned around and looked at O’Laura. O’Laura picked off her mask, allowing Zhang Tie to glance at her icy and delicate side face with unscrupulous eyes.

"You’ve not attended the conference, but how do you know that?" O’Laura asked calmly.

"Hehe, it’s evident. if not going to tell me your last words, how could you just sit on the ground casually? When you walked towards here, you became a bit hesitated before sitting down. I guess that you might be thinking about your last words at that moment. Don’t cover it anymore, am I right?"

"You b*stard!" O’Laura swore in a low voice before letting out a long sigh.

"Go ahead, what’s going on there?"

"There’s no star of god, no super relics. It’s just a trap!"

"I’m afraid many people have realized it!"

"The first boom was also caused by an alchemist’s bomb. Its explosive equivalent was especially large. We’ve confirmed that all the knights who wanted to grab the pieces of the star of god have been killed. According to our earlier investigation, there were four knights being involved with this trap, one from Ice and Snow Wilderness, the other three from outside, including Samaranth, the star and moon sword sage!"

Although birds died in pursuit of food, after hearing so many god-like powerhouses were gone at the same time, Zhang Tie was also shocked. Any knight was influential enough to threaten the safety of a region. Zhang Tie had not imagined that four of them were killed at the same time. Such a great loss was barely seen in one place in one day even at the most fierce period of the former two holy wars between humans and demons.

Recalling how Samaranth, the star and moon sword sage killed the huge deep-sea monster, Zhang Tie felt very pitiful inside. Previously, Donder told Zhang Tie that no matter how high your fighting skills were, you would still be afraid of kitchen knives. At the beginning, Zhang Tie treated it as a joke; however, at this moment, he realized that it was not a joke at all. Alchemist’s bomb was like a kitchen knife. After a pile of alchemist’ bombs were detonated, even knights would be killed.

Zhang Tie thought that the first alchemist’s bomb was at least 100 times more powerful than that he met in Blapei. Facing such a terrifying power, even steel and iron would be melted down.

"Do you know who did this?"

"Gangula doubted that it was done by Three Eyes Association!"

"Three Eyes Association? Three Eyes Association again?" Zhang Tie also realized that no other organizations could do this, except for Three Eyes Association. This trap seemingly targeted at the knights in humans since the beginning. The pioneers and the allied forces being trapped here were just a "plus". No matter what, for those b*stards of the Three Eyes Association, they could do whatever they could to weaken human’s fighting strength and make human world more chaotic before the 3rd holy war.

What a shrewd trap! Nobody could imagine that there was such a trap behind the new relics. Although knights were confident that they could solve all the problems and plots; however, they had not imagined that what waited for them were not the pieces of star of god, but a death trap caused by alchemist’s bombs.

Zhang Tie remembered the animal tide above the ground, which was full of plots and artificial traces. After considering it for a white, Zhang Tie instantly realized that the function of the animal tide was to attract the attention of the public. When those tribes across the Ice and Snow Wilderness and those who were alert about the plots of Three Eyes Association transferred their eyes to the outside, few of them could imagine that the trump card of Three Eyes Association was down here.

Noticing that Zhang Tie became silent, O’Laura thought that Zhang Tie was digesting her words. Therefore, she didn’t disturb him; instead, she just looked at the fluorite lamplight in the distance as she muttered.

"In the conference, we’ve already strictly deduced the current situation. The water supply from the water sources occupied by the allied forces could only afford about 30,000 people’s daily use at most. However, our allied forces include 37000 people in total, which meant that 7000 of the the allied forces could not get enough water after 3 days, not to mention the pioneers."

"There are over 20,000 pioneers nearby the relics. Three days later, if so many pioneers don’t want to be thirsty to death, they have to fight the allied forces for the limited water sources. However, the terrain of this relics is not convenient for the allied forces to spread. Therefore, the allied forces had to fight to death so as to clean all the pioneers. Even if we’re the winner, the allied forces would also have to suffer a great loss. We will lose at least 10,000 soldiers!"

"The fierce battle will last over one week. After that, the dead bodies will cover each corner of this relics. As it’s in the underground being surrounded with stones. The environment is relatively closed. Therefore the corpses could be hardly dealt with. The allied forces could deal with a batch of corpses by burying them beneath the relics or throwing them into the caves being far away from here. However, a lot of corpses could not be cleaned. As a result, they would decay very soon and probably cause diseases and plagues over here. The survivors would also be polluted."

"Now that there is no plague or disease, the dried rations could only afford us one month at the most. Even though there are sufficient water sources, everybody would be starved to death in the end!"

"Through the confirmation of the prospecting team of Golden Roc Bank, there’s only one tunnel leading to the outside. However, it would require 40,000 people to work at least 2 months to break it through. Even though we could contact with the outside and ask for their relief, it would require 40,000 people to work in here for at least 45 days. In the current situation, this is impossible. Nobody could organize a project of 40,000 here. Even if the allied forces join hands with pioneers, we could not stand 45 days, either..." O’Laura then stopped for a second, before reaching the conclusion calmly and gloomily, "Therefore, we probably die here in 45 days!"

...