"What are the military details of Giant Eye City?"
Sunan shifted his gaze from the map and continued his inquiry.
Korre lowered his head respectfully and reported, "Based on the information we've gathered so far, it's estimated that Giant Eye City has no fewer than a thousand beholders, including at least five legendary beholder variants. Additionally, there are no fewer than twenty thousand slaves."
Beholders are notorious for their mental control over other creatures, turning them into slaves. For beholders, slaves are expendable, easily replaced once lost.
Thus, beholders are infamous for their cruelty towards slaves.
With over a thousand beholders controlling only twenty thousand slaves, the number seems conservative.
Sunan estimated that Giant Eye City likely had around thirty thousand slaves.
Of course, creatures controlled by beholders aren't particularly strong, typically consisting of kobolds, lizardmen, and ogres—common fodder in the underground world.
After a moment of contemplation, Sunan made a decision and spoke solemnly:
"The Red Widow will serve as the commander, with you two as deputies, leading a small golem army to attack Giant Eye City. I'll also provide an adamantine golem. Capture Giant Eye City within three months. Is there any issue with this?"
After the base's relocation to Dragon Forest, the importance of Bases 1 and 2 significantly diminished, and Sunan reduced their garrison forces by half, integrating the freed-up golems into the Star Alliance.
Following that, Sunan reorganized and restructured the golem army, primarily by establishing army formations.
The hierarchy, from lowest to highest, consists of squads, platoons, companies, battalions, and armies.
The first four formations comprise 10 to 500 golems, primarily stone golems and double-blade golems.
The difference lies in companies, which include an elite stone golem.
Battalions also include five elite stone golems and one iron golem.
At the highest level, an army consists of at least 5,000 golems, invariably including a second-circle legendary golem.
Based on golem numbers and strength, armies are classified as small, medium, or large.
A small army comprises ten battalions, totaling 5,000 golems.
In addition to the corresponding elite stone and iron golems, a small army includes two advanced stone golems and an elite double-blade spider.
Five small armies can be combined into a medium army.
Besides numerous first and second-circle legendary golems, a medium army gains an adamantine golem.
Similarly, five medium armies can form a large army.
Above the large army, Sunan envisioned a corps.
However, for now, it remained a concept, as the current Star Alliance couldn't support a corps.
In fact, not even a large or medium army existed.
Currently, the Star Alliance only had two small armies.
It wasn't that Sunan didn't want to form more armies, but he lacked the resources.
Forming a small golem army cost roughly 700,000 gold coins.
The golems forming the two small armies were amassed through Sunan's gradual accumulation over time.
In the short term, he couldn't form a third small golem army, let alone medium or large ones.
Higher-level formations were intended for future army expansion.
Xieman and Korre were already aware of the recent changes in the Star Alliance's army structure from Artyl and readily agreed.
A small golem army, plus an adamantine golem and the Red Widow, a second-circle legendary, was more than enough to capture Giant Eye City.
Sunan nodded in satisfaction.
"Good, you've worked hard these past few days. Rest for a few days and get familiar with the new base before handling the attack on Giant Eye City."
"Yes, teacher."
Seeing Sunan wave them off, Xieman and Korre respectfully withdrew.
Once they left, Sunan's gaze returned to the map.
Within a 300-kilometer radius of the Star Alliance, Giant Eye City was the only true city-state, with the rest being insignificant tribes.
Capturing Giant Eye City would allow unrestricted development within this 300-kilometer area.
With such a vast area, finding several veins should be feasible.
As for attacking Giant Eye City, as Sunan decided earlier, he planned to delegate the task rather than intervene personally.
The purpose of establishing the Star Alliance was precisely for situations like this.
Giant Eye City would be a test; if successful, future small to medium city-states could be handled by subordinates.
Sunan could focus on the bigger picture.
"Capturing Giant Eye City and acquiring its silver mine should almost provide enough mithril for crafting the secret puppet."
The thought of soon crafting a fourth-circle legendary golem ignited a spark of excitement in Sunan's heart.
Calming his mind, Sunan turned to another stack of documents.
These were reports from the six knight academies.
In the coming month of Summer Long (June), these six knight academies would welcome their first graduates.
With Dragonheart Knight Academy as precedent, the six academies' graduation assessments would also occur in the underground world, with little variation in format.
Sunan wasn't concerned about this; Karolaina would handle the arrangements.
What required his attention was equipping a total of 3,000 graduates with magical pattern constructs, including 2,970 sets of level 1 and 30 sets of level 2 constructs.
Producing such a large quantity of magical pattern constructs meant he would be exceptionally busy for the next year.
"Xieman and the others can at most manufacture enchanted weapons; they can't handle alchemical-grade magical items, let alone magical pattern constructs."
"I'll have to do it myself."
Sunan sighed, rising to head to the workshop.
Fortunately, with the elemental pool repaired and Dragon Forest's operations gradually stabilizing, he had no major tasks besides training and enhancing the Hidden Dragon's bloodline, leaving him time to manufacture magical pattern constructs.
"The spell structuring is nearly mastered; by the second half of next year, training progress should reach 100%."
On a desolate plain.
Two figures dashed swiftly, moving like streaks of light, faster than the finest warhorses.
Even so, they frequently glanced back, their pale faces filled with terror, as if pursued by a terrifying monster.
After running for two to three hundred kilometers without seeing any pursuers, they finally relaxed slightly and slowed down.
Sprinting such a distance in a short time exhausted their battle energy and elemental power, even as legendary knights, necessitating a place to recover quickly.
They soon found a hidden cave, sat cross-legged, and began to restore their battle energy and elemental power.
But as they closed their eyes, something felt amiss. Opening their eyes in shock, they found themselves back on the plain.
"What's going on?" The taller knight's face changed dramatically.
The other knight, elderly with graying temples, looked around in disbelief.
"This is where we started!"
The tall knight scanned the surroundings and found familiar battle marks nearby, remnants of their earlier skirmish.
His face went pale.
Their frantic escape had been in circles, never leaving the area.
As a member of the Holy Fist, he knew precisely why.
Illusions!
They had both fallen into the enemy's illusion!
Whoosh!
A gentle breeze blew by.
The tall knight and the elder knight turned to the left, seeing a woman appear on the previously empty plain.
She wore a gray robe, her figure slim and tall.
Her skin was fair, her hair smooth and glossy, exuding an aristocratic elegance.
Most men would find her attractive—until they saw her face.
Besides her bright blue eyes, her face lacked any other features.
Drops of water danced around her, with faint traces of a light blue wind swirling intermittently.
"Ira!"
The tall knight gritted out a name, his expression a mix of hatred and fear.
He thought they'd escaped this woman's grasp, only to realize they'd been ensnared in her illusion, their efforts futile.
"You've worked hard," Ira said, gracefully bowing slightly to them.
Her elegant gesture now seemed laden with mockery.
The two legendary knights' faces turned grim.
"Haha, how pathetic!"
Another voice rang out.
Ten meters away, a flame flickered into existence, rapidly expanding into a humanoid form, its face vaguely male.
Its mouth moved as it spoke, sending sparks flying, leaving burnt marks on the ground.
"Two foolish individuals, realizing only now that they've been ensnared in an illusion. I nearly laughed myself to tears watching."
Turning to Ira, he mocked, "I think you're too cautious. Just kill them; why bother exhausting their strength?"
Ira wasn't angered, the breeze around her swirling gently, carrying a melodious female voice.
"They are, after all, second-circle legendary knights. Killing them head-on would take considerable effort—better this way."
Seeing the two converse as if they were helpless prey, the tall knight and elder knight's faces turned livid.
But they soon despaired, realizing they truly weren't a match for the two before them.
A single third-level wizard apprentice was already a headache.
Let alone two!
Moreover, these two were among the stronger third-level wizard apprentices!
"You, Immortals, go too far! Do you think you can toy with the Holy Fist as you please?" the tall knight gritted out.
"Why not?"
The flame humanoid's mouth curled into a mocking smile.
"A mere organization of legendary knights daring to meddle in wizard affairs—it's hard to say if you're brave or foolish."
"Hand over Evans and the Starlight Tower key, and I'll grant you a swift end!"
The tall knight snorted, "Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you. Only a fool would trust the Immortals!"
The flame humanoid wasn't angered, instead laughing heartily.
"Well said, you're finally showing some smarts."
"Then there's no need for more talk. Once I kill you, I'll extract your souls and slowly interrogate them!"
As the last word fell, the flame humanoid exploded, transforming into a torrent of fire, crashing toward the knights like a flood.
The tall knight and elder knight exchanged a glance, sharing a bitter smile before their expressions turned resolute, charging fearlessly towards the flames.
They knew there was no escape today and resolved to fight to the death.
Boom!
The plain echoed with thunderous booms.
Blinding flames intertwined with radiant battle energy.
The battle lasted only a dozen breaths.
The exhausted knights were no match for the Immortals' apprentices. Ira didn't even intervene; the flame apprentice easily dispatched them.
"Foolish wretches!"
The flames receded, reforming the humanoid.
It mimicked a deep inhalation, drawing two blurry phantoms from the charred corpses into its mouth.
"They likely don't know much," Ira finally spoke.
The ember scoffed, "It doesn't matter. Kill all the Holy Fist, and Evans will have nowhere to hide. We'll find him eventually."
"But the Hunter, he's close to Evans. If he helps Evans escape, it'll cause us more trouble."
Ira remained silent, tacitly agreeing with the ember.
Any apprentice who escaped from Saulo deserved extra caution.
At this moment, the two sensed something and looked aside.
A figure slowly materialized in the void—it was Saulo.
Saulo glanced at the charred corpses, speaking solemnly, "Any findings?"
"We'll know after interrogation," the ember shrugged, "but don't expect much. These two likely don't know Evans' whereabouts."
Ira asked, "What about Stone Scorpion?"
"The same," Saulo replied flatly, "The Holy Fist's secrecy is impressive."
"What now?"
"Continue. Uproot the Holy Fist and force Evans to appear."
The ember chuckled, licking its lips, "I like this straightforward approach. I hear the Holy Fist's leader is strong. Leave him to me; I can't wait to savor a powerful soul."
"As you wish."
With that, Saulo's figure faded into the distance.
A breeze swept by, and Ira disappeared as well.
"Two dull individuals."
The ember scoffed, turning into flames and soaring into the sky.
Now was the time for soul interrogation, relishing in the exquisite agony.
-Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there
patreon.com/LegendaryTL
Thanks!