Chapter 470: 435 Strategy-Oriented Meeting
Any ancient magic civilization’s ruins that have survived to the present day are likely to contain some things that even today’s powerful beings would find extremely troublesome.
They may be deadly traps or strong defense mechanisms. Many ancient ruins possess such powers, akin to tombs, usually anticipating countermeasures against intruders.
Therefore, when ancient ruins are discovered, it is often necessary to carefully arrange exploration plans, or else even if there are many treasures inside, they are of no use if they cannot be brought out.
For this reason, pre-exploration strategy meetings are essential.
This is the same principle as exploring the underground city. Before embarking on an expedition, the Loki family would discuss strategies and action plans time and time again, especially after reaching the 50th floor. As the team leader, Finn wished he could impart all his thoughts to his clan members and come up with multiple action plans, famously stating, "In the underground city, one cannot be too cautious."
Thanks to this, when Revin, Nipede, and Kazi started discussing on-site and holding a strategy meeting, Reiger, who was somewhat inattentive at first, began to feel nostalgic as he listened.
"...Why do I keep thinking about family matters lately?"
By the time he realized it, Reiger had been smiling wryly for a while.
It seemed he needed to find time for a return visit. Otherwise, this yearning would continue, which wouldn’t be ideal.
With this in mind, Reiger began to listen in on the meeting by Revin and the others.
Naturally, the first thing they mentioned was those giant guardians.
Nipede and the others had seen the two giant guardians standing at the city gates but always thought they were two exceptionally realistic statues until Revin brought up the matter. Only then did they realize that they could move.
"Guardians of the ancient city, huh?" Nipede showed a bit of interest and asked, "Are they alchemical golems? Or large golems?"
"I’m not sure, but they’re certainly not normal creatures," Revin shook his head and said, "The giant we encountered was smaller than the two at the gates, but they’re likely to be of the same nature. They might attack us... No, since they’re guardians, we’ll inevitably have to get past them if we want to enter, right?"
Reiger agreed with this point.
He had already tried flying over the city gate using Magic and entering the city directly, and both giant guardians had shown a fierce reaction.
They couldn’t fly, but they were capable of throwing their stone spears and even hurling huge boulders; anyone who thought they could avoid attack by not passing through the city gate was being naïve.
Their sensory systems were also different from living creatures. Regardless of whether Reiger used "Complete Unknowable" to sneak past or "Advanced Teleportation" to enter the city, the two giants would immediately charge at him.
Thus, to enter the Ancient City, defeating those two giant guardians became a necessity.
Understanding this, everyone started asking questions.
"How strong are those two giant guardians?"
Nipede asked this question.
"I’m not sure," Revin still shook his head and said, "But the giant we encountered was very strong. Even when Thunder Light and I acted together, it still took us some time to deal with it."
"Both of you acting together and it still took some time?" Axel muttered, "Then it really is strong."
The others also looked serious.
Reiger also recognized the strength of the giant guardians.
Take, for instance, the giant that he and Revin encountered—discussing its ’Power’ and ’Endurance’, it might even surpass the current Reiger.
In other words, the giant’s ’Power’ and ’Endurance’ were of Level 7, and even within Level 7, they were exceptionally strong.
However, the giant’s ’Agility’ and ’Speed’ were quite low. It wasn’t just below Level 6; even reaching Level 5 was a stretch.
That’s why Reiger could easily kite the giant; it was just too cumbersome.
When facing such a bulky enemy, as long as one isn’t approached or hit, even a Level 6 could gradually whittle down its health.
But this Level 6 would need to be fully stocked with medicines. It’s not just high-level Spiritual Medicine, depending on circumstances Magic Medicines might be required, and perhaps even the most potent panaceas, so there is a possibility of defeating the giant after a fierce half-day battle.
Additionally, to face this Lv.6, one must use at least a first-level special weapon; otherwise, cutting down that giant would be impossible.
Reiger found his thoughts unwittingly drifting towards strategizing for the underground city of Earth Mistake World.
The basis for Reiger’s contemplation was not the two guardian giants he had previously encountered but another giant.
Those two giants were evidently stronger than the first; their nearly ten-meter-tall stature was truly imposing. If that size wasn’t just for show, one could imagine a mere Lv.6 would definitely not be able to handle those two.
Not to mention, this ancient ruin harbored more than just two giant guardians.
"The knight who was responsible for scouting has just returned," Diego spoke from aside, "According to their report, using magic for reconnaissance revealed more giant guards within the ancient ruins, and some areas emitted vague fluctuations of magic power, suggesting that magical traps might be operating within the city."
"What’s the number?" Revin asked calmly, "How many giant guardians are there?"
"The estimate is not less than sixty," Diego reported, "That’s the number we’ve been able to scout, but there are some areas in the city that magic can’t penetrate, especially a temple in the central area. Not only did it repel the scouting magic, but it also seems to have a high-level Magic Barrier."
"A temple?" Axel was immediately surprised, "So, instead of some administrative body, there’s actually a temple in the center of the city?"
"That’s right," Diego affirmed with certainty, "The scouting knight said they didn’t see anything resembling administrative buildings or noble houses. The only outstanding structure was the temple; the rest were mostly residential houses."
"Is that so?" Nipede said thoughtfully, "It appears that this city may have once belonged to a country with an exceptionally deep-rooted religious faith."
"A city left by a nation where theocratic power supersedes the royal authority?" Revin nodded, "Indeed, I’ve heard that some ancient ruins belong to that category."
"In that case, the most worthwhile place to explore in this city would be the temple," Kazi finally spoke up, "Considering the rest are residential houses, it’s unlikely there’s much value in exploring them."
"Yes, let’s set our primary target on the temple in the city center," Revin agreed and then added, "However, at least sixty giants wandering within the city- that’s indeed a bit tough to handle."
The Meipros family, as a Border Marquis, naturally had no shortage of combat power.
Not to mention the kingdom’s knights and troops sent here under Revin’s command, just the private knight force of the Meipros family itself was of significant size.
According to kingdom regulations, a Marquis could establish a private knight force of seven hundred as a means of maintaining their territory’s power. Since the Meipros family was a Border Marquis with the significant responsibility of guarding the borders, they were granted an exception like the Franzel family, which had a strategic level Mage amongst their ranks, to incorporate an additional one hundred knights, forming a force of eight hundred.
The additional one hundred weren’t common Swordsmen but Magicians.
Due to the significant role magic can play on the battlefield, serving as an important military force, magicians aren’t allowed to be extensively enlisted by nobles in any country.
Magicians are generally only recruited in large numbers by state entities, whether to serve as court Magicians in the palace, join the Magic-guided Corps, or work in important national sectors such as magic research institutes, the weapon department for magical equipment development, or magical academies like the Spreller Academy. They are not permitted to work in the private sector.
As such, whether the highest-ranking Duke or the lowest-ranking Baron, the knight troops under their command do not include Magicians.
Of course, this refers to large-scale enlistment. If it’s just hiring two or three Magicians as retainers for a household, or a business enterprise coaxing a few limited-number Construction Mages to help produce magical tools as merchandise, that would be acceptable.
However, if one wishes to recruit, incorporate, or buy the loyalty of Magicians on a large scale like forming a knight troop, that would be an outright prohibited action, and the state would not allow it.
Yet families like the Meipros family, which need to station themselves at the borders and engage in warfare, are specially permitted a certain right to enlist Magicians.
Given the above, within the Meipros family’s eight hundred knight force, one hundred were Magicians.
This time, from the surface world, a hundred and twenty knights from the Meipros family had converged with Revin, inside the body of the underground beast Yarakulon.
Among them, one hundred were Swordsmen and twenty were Magicians; in terms of numbers, they outweighed the Ancient City’s giant guardians, but there was no doubt the latter had the advantage in combat power.
Reiger took a casual glance at these knights and roughly judged their strength.
These knights were likely the elite of the Meipros family’s forces, each radiating a strong presence - if calculated by level, they were probably all Lv.4.
"A hundred and twenty Lv.4 knights?"
This force, it would indeed be a bit of a struggle to deal with around sixty giant guardians.