Exploring Technology in a Wizard World-Chapter 1287 - 1285: Where Is the Tunnel?

"Clatter, clatter, clatter..."

A large group of cavalry clad in profound black iron armor sped to the foot of Blue Water Mountain, numbering in the hundreds. The air was thick with killing intent; they were imposing without even trying. One glance was enough to tell they were no ordinary second-line troops.

Such a soldier might not defeat ten soldiers from a second-line troop, but a unit composed of these soldiers could rout ten second-line troops with just a few charges.

This was an elite frontline cavalry squad! 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Reaching the foot of Blue Water Mountain, the leading cavalry captain pulled the reins, halting the horse, and swept a light glance at the second-line soldiers who’d begun a secondary search on the mountain, paying them little heed. With a wave, he commanded his men to spread out and search a vast area to the north of Blue Water Mountain.

The ordinary soldiers on the mountain looked on with some confusion and turned to their captain, asking, "Hey, Captain, who are those people?"

"Who else could they be? If they’re not charging over to kill us on sight, they’re definitely not the enemy. Since they’re not the enemy, they must be allies!" the soldier captain retorted.

"What are they doing?"

"Are you blind? Can’t you see they’re doing the same thing we are?"

"But...but Captain, didn’t you say that the search at Blue Water Mountain would be the end, that the range was up to here?"

"Nonsense! Which ear of yours heard me say that? I think not only are you blind, but deaf too." The soldier captain kicked out in annoyance, "What I actually said was, ’We’re to search the entire Blue Water Mountain, nothing beyond it is our concern.’

’Not our concern,’ understand? Not our concern, but it’s someone else’s business. Orders came from higher up, reportedly from a very senior officer, to focus on a radius of five miles north of Blue Water Mountain. There’s a high possibility of an underground passage entrance there.

If an underground passage entrance is discovered, it’s highly likely there’ll be remaining Sika Kingdom soldiers, and a battle might erupt. If that happens, our fighting might look laughably weak, so they directly deployed a frontline cavalry squad. I’ve heard this squad is the elite of the elite, with a captain who’s won some medals."

The soldier captain furrowed his brow, trying to recall forgotten things.

The soldier next to him brightened up and prompted, "Captain, could it be the Silver Knight Medal? I know it! They must be from the Red Maple Cavalry Group. My brother was once stationed near them and said they were really impressive... Ouch!"

Before the soldier could finish, the soldier captain kicked out, cutting him off—his previous kick had missed, but this time he succeeded.

Giving the soldier a sidelong glance, the soldier captain slowly retracted his foot and said, "So, you think you know a lot, huh?"

"No, Captain, I just..."

"Just what? Shut your mouth!" the soldier captain ordered. "No matter how impressive the Red Maple Cavalry Group is, that has nothing to do with you, an ordinary soldier. You just keep quietly searching, or I’ll make sure you skip breakfast tomorrow."

"I..." The soldier dared not speak, opened his mouth, then resignedly lowered his head and went to search the hillside with his companions.

The soldier captain stood still for a moment, watched the cavalry search the mountain below, and then turned to search himself with a snort.

Only then did Richard, hovering in the air, understand: it seemed he had underestimated the Alliance Emperor and Commander Soron. They hadn’t simply treated him as a puppet to fool around with. The suggestions he made were really being carried out by the grassroots troops; not only carried out, but executed with extra effort.

Initially, he casually added a five-kilometer scope, and as it filtered down to the grassroots, it was magnified layer by layer, becoming a must-search area, leading to the deployment of an elite frontline cavalry group.

This seemed a bit like overkill, but it proved his words held weight.

If these Red Maple Cavalry Group men happened to find the so-called underground passage entrance, it would indeed boost his prestige, making his words more influential.

Richard thought, moving his consciousness towards the Red Maple Cavalry Group for a closer observation.

Then one hour, two hours, three hours...

The entire Red Maple Cavalry Group meticulously searched for half the night, but found nothing.

After watching for half the night, Richard began to ponder: what was he expecting? Honestly, it would be strange if the Red Maple Cavalry Group found an underground passage entrance in this area.

After all, the scope he added was minimal, and the probability of the underground passage being here was very low.

Moreover, this location was outside the logical suspicious area.

Originally, Soron’s designated search area wasn’t made on a whim; there were various reasons: the first being that the passage entrance wouldn’t be too far from the Bloodstone Mountain defense line. Otherwise, it would make no sense for the Sika Kingdom army to trek a great distance to attack the Bloodstone Mountain.

The second was that it couldn’t be too far from the border, as the Sika Kingdom’s people were, after all, people and not subterranean creatures, incapable of digging a tunnel hundreds or thousands of miles long. If they had that capability, they could directly tunnel into Shaya to surprise the Emperor’s Palace; there’d be no need for such trouble.

The third, and most crucial, point was that the passage entrance needed to be in a sparsely populated area, at least not near any residential areas. After all, the appearance of thousands of Sika Kingdom soldiers couldn’t go unnoticed by local residents. Once spotted, the surprise nature of the Sika Kingdom army’s attack would be lost, and the passage entrance wouldn’t be a secret by now.

Under these three limitations, a zone near the border and the Bloodstone Mountain defense line could be delineated. The closer to the center, the higher the probability of an entrance, and the further to the periphery, the lower the probability.

Therefore, the Red Maple Cavalry Group not finding a passage entrance was highly probable.

This made Richard curious: where exactly was the real passage entrance?

If the Red Maple Cavalry Group couldn’t find it, perhaps he might lend a hand.

After all, in his current state of consciousness, he was well-suited to penetrating layers of obstacles and searching for things underground.

Why not give it a try?

Richard thought, and immediately acted. After one glance at the Red Maple Cavalry Group soldiers, he swiftly flew south, plunged into the underground, and began searching in all directions beneath the soil.

One hour, two hours, three hours...

Richard searched for a good three hours and found, rather disappointedly, that he’d also come up empty-handed.

Given the vast distribution of entrance locations, even if he searched from the most likely and suspicious spots, it was still just a game of chance in the short term, unless given ten days to half a month to inspect every corner—it might then be possible to truly find the entrance.

Forget it; let the soldiers keep working hard. He’d not interfere further.

Richard thought to himself as he traveled underground from the Bloodstone Mountain defense line towards the north, intending to check on the Red Maple Cavalry Group soldiers one last time before returning to the Reef Rock Castle.

Unexpectedly, just as he was nearing them, he sensed a sudden decrease in resistance felt by his consciousness and bumped into a sudden void in the ground.

What?