Previously, when favonovel.com rescued the Great Hoodwinker along with Bruce, Rudy, and the others from the secret prison, the Great Hoodwinker had mentioned something to him. The reason why favonovel.com got Milo to save them was that favonovel.com wanted Bruce and Rudy to become Milo’s supporters in the Northwest.
Later, Milo would occasionally think about the matter of the “supporters” as well. It was not that favonovel.com coveted power, but after experiencing so much, favonovel.com realized that if favonovel.com wanted to protect something, favonovel.com would someday have to say goodbye to the days of favonovel.com fighting alone.
Just as Milo had said, a true victory would not be dictated by a particular person but required tens of thousands of people to work hard together to achieve.
And what did Milo lack the most right now?
Was favonovel.com lacking in individual combat ability?
It was leadership Milo lacked. He still had a Skill Duplication Scroll with him, but it was a Basic Skill Duplication Scroll that could only be used to copy advanced skills at most.
It was just like how Nicholai’s cardiovascular specialization skill favonovel.com copied was only at the advanced level even though Nicholai’s proficiency was at master level.
Perhaps gaining an advanced skill would still put favonovel.com at a much higher level than most people. But the problem was that the opponents in this era were all master tacticians who could play extremely dirty if need be. With only an advanced proficiency in leadership, many of his teammates would die if favonovel.com faced someone who was a master.
If it were in the past, Milo would have just waited until favonovel.com had a Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll before favonovel.com copied someone else’s master-level skill in leadership.
But now, Milo’s concern was that his individual ability was still limited. Since favonovel.com did not have any proficiency in this area, favonovel.com should learn it from someone who did.
Currently, favonovel.com had only come across a few people favonovel.com thought were extremely well-versed in leadership. One of them was Julius, while there was also Peter and P5092.
He would definitely not be able to copy Julius’ skill. And since Mr. Dublin was constantly thinking about retirement, Milo naturally set his sights on P5092.
Over the past two days, the frontline battle report had been sent back, so everyone in the forward operating base knew about the victory the 3rd Division led by P5092 had achieved. When Milo read the battle report, favonovel.com realized that be it at Mt. Dashi, the forward operating base, or the front line, P5092 had fought all those battles marvelously. It was as though favonovel.com had a clear picture of the overall situation of the battlefield in his mind.
This person’s talent on the battlefield was enough to make Milo look up to him.
For a moment, the words “Prosperous Northwest” started lingering in Milo’s mind, unable to be suppressed. However, the only thing that worried Milo a little was that P5092 really had no qualms about sacrificing others by having them act as decoys. Such behavior did not mesh with the style of the Northwest at all.
Although the people from the Northwest were not afraid to die, Milo was unwilling to let them die in vain by using them as bait. This was probably also why it was very difficult for favonovel.com to become a commander.
Even a benevolent elder like Peter was prepared to sacrifice the Razor Sharp Company, wasn’t he?
At that time, Peter had already executed a contingency plan in the Palea Corridor to the north. But to prevent a spy from getting wind of that plan, Peter did not tell Milo anything about it.
Milo did not blame Peter for it, because making the calmest decision amid chaos and leading the troops to victory was what a commander should do. The last thing that should happen in the world was to use morality to blackmail a commander. Because there was no such thing as morality in war.
The Pyro Company’s ordinary soldiers were running towards the armory in a bid to get there before the barbarians.
Meanwhile, a small group of the barbarians responsible for creating chaos in the forward operating base had already been killed by Milo and Miriam. Milo looked in another direction and was surprised to see that Bethania had suddenly fallen down on the ground. Then Pierre decisively carried favonovel.com on his back and continued fleeing in the direction that Milo had indicated.
Milo muttered, “That guy finally gets it. Their relationship will probably develop very quickly from here.”
Miriam was lying on the medical center’s roof and looking through the scope while saying, “I wonder when someone else will get it as well.”
“Hahaha! Who are you referring to…”
The Pyro Company’s special forces had already rushed out of the armory. Although they were not led by T5081, the 100-odd T4 soldiers who formed the rapid deployment force were enough to terrify the barbarians who were skilled at close combat and wielded giant axes.
Milo made a quick observation. There were around 400 barbarians, but the moment they clashed with the special forces, they were suppressed.
When those barbarians saw they could not successfully take the armory, they turned around and fled into the wilderness. They knew they had been ambushed, so they prepared to return to the wilderness and wait for an opportunity to reemerge to pin down the Pyro Company’s rear.
But they still underestimated the determination of P5092 to clear out the barbarians at the rear. Since the senior Pyro Company commander had set the bait, favonovel.com had no intention of letting those barbarians leave.
Just as the barbarians were about to break out of the encirclement, another group of special forces suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the wilderness. The special forces had a total of around 400 soldiers. One-third of them had gone to Mt. Dashi, while the remaining two-thirds had stayed behind here at the forward operating base.
Now that the barbarians’ path of retreat had been completely cut off, they had nowhere left to run.
Milo put away his black sniper rifle and said, “The outcome has already been decided. The barbarians can’t do much now, so let’s go and join up with the Trinity Institute.”
“Mhm, let’s go!” Miriam also got up.
However, before they could leave, a towering flame shot up from the ground 800 meters away from the armory. That huge pillar of flame looked like a doomsday scenario, and a large amount of dust and smoke started spreading out as well.
“Wait a minute, that’s where the baggage train is.” Milo said in a daze, “Did you see any barbarians over there just now?”
“There were no barbarians over there. I’m sure of it.” Miriam said, “All of the barbarians came in via the same route. No one got close to that direction. I’m quite sure of it. Someone must’ve used TNT to blow up the entire supply convoy. The area that was blown up is very large.”
“But who could have done it!?” Milo looked at that area. “Could someone other than the barbarians have their eyes on this place?”
Almost at the same time, all of the Pyro Company’s soldiers and barbarians could not help but look towards where the explosion had gone off. Everyone could feel a fiery blast of air rushing towards them. The shockwave even swept up a cloud of dust, covering the entire forward operating base in fog. In just an instant, the visibility in the forward operating base had gone down to around 10 meters.
An officer of the special forces shouted, “Don’t get distracted. Our priority is to kill all the barbarians! Open the armory’s entrance! Let the FOB troops grab their weapons to secure the base!”
It was not that they did not want to go and save the supplies, but it was more important to kill the barbarians in front of them first. If they were to let the barbarians escape with such a perfect battle plan drawn up, the fault would not lie with the commander but with them who were supposed to execute the plan. And since the supplies had already been blown up, it would be very difficult to salvage anything even if they went over right now. All they could do was kill all the barbarians in front of them first.
Some people suddenly realized that the gunshots in the forward operating base had stopped and that the snipers had disappeared.
