Although they had successfully repelled an independent regiment of the Army Group.
After the members of the Reunion Movement celebrated for a whole night, everyone gradually recovered from their excitement and had to reconsider a pressing question: what to do next...
One regiment only had about two thousand men.
An Army Group, however, contained nearly thirty regiments.
And Ursus didn't just have one Army Group. According to the Shieldguards' speculation, this independent regiment likely belonged to the Third Army Group, and Ursus officially had five Army Groups...
To be honest, if Ursus really wanted to get serious about encircling and suppressing the Reunion Movement, they could simply dispatch a brigade. Even with Patriot and Lucas Reeve, it would be as easy as crushing an ant. After all, the firepower of a brigade was incomparable to that of a regiment. Even Patriot's vast reserves of Originium energy couldn't withstand that kind of bombardment for long.
The ordinary Infected couldn't be bothered to think about these things anymore.
Having experienced so much together, and after the recent round of 'purification', the current Reunion Movement had been almost completely transformed. In the past, these Infected joined Reunion simply because they had nowhere else to go and wanted to secure a meal. If a better offer came along elsewhere, they would leave in a heartbeat without looking back.
But it was different now.
They were completely loyal to the current Reunion Movement. Only after experiencing so much did they realize that today's Reunion Movement was the last line of defense for the Infected. What good would leaving do? Instead of hiding in every corner, unable to eat their fill or dress warmly, constantly worried about being found by the Infected Pickets, it was better to be in the Reunion Movement and fight against these damned noble-led Army Groups together.
And the allegiance of these Infected naturally brought Lucas Reeve a considerable amount of Prayer Power.
Even though using the teleportation array had consumed ten thousand Prayer Power.
Lucas Reeve's total Prayer Power had still reached one hundred thousand.
It had been a long time since Patriot had felt so exhausted.
For years, he had been like a machine that never needed to sleep. His robust pure-blood Wendigo constitution allowed him to function with very little rest; a short nap of half an hour a day was usually enough to restore his daily stamina. But this time, fighting an entire independent regiment alone had completely drained him.
Patriot slept for a whole day before slowly waking up. The Shieldguards once again swarmed him, praising the valor of Patriot fighting alongside Lucas Reeve.
Lucas Reeve also took the opportunity while Patriot was eating to briefly tell him about his experiences in Chernobog, including about Azazel and other matters.
"A soldier?"
Patriot was taken aback, frowning slightly when he heard Lucas Reeve mention the director of Azazel.
"I'm not sure if you know him, Mr. Patriot. The director of Azazel is named Hellagur. He's incredibly strong, so his rank in the army must have been quite high."
"Hellagur..."
Patriot was surprised.
And from the sound of Patriot's voice, it was clear that he knew Hellagur, and their relationship seemed to be more than casual.
"So it was him... With his resources, it's indeed not much of a problem to forcibly protect a group of Infected in Chernobog...."
"Dad, you know Mr. Hellagur?"
FrostNova, who was standing nearby, was also surprised that they knew each other.
"You could say we're acquainted... We fought side-by-side once..."
After Patriot finished his simple meal, the several high-ranking members of the Reunion Movement gathered in the tent to discuss their next steps.
Clearly.
They could no longer stay in this place. Setting aside the freezing, snowy environment, they had killed so many soldiers from an independent regiment and even slaughtered the foppish son of a Lieutenant General. Ursus would absolutely not let this go.
This gave Lucas Reeve a bit of a headache.
It had the flavor of a cultivation novel.
Beat the young one, and the old one might show up. Beat the old one, and the even older one might show up...
And...
Lucas Reeve didn't necessarily find the Army Group to be the most troublesome part. The main issue was that Black Serpent.
The Black Serpent's own strength was utterly pathetic. Aside from its ability to possess others and its immortality, the Black Serpent had shown no particularly formidable power. This was why it desperately needed Talulah's body. After all, the talent inherent in Talulah's body surpassed even the current Patriot. With normal development, a place for Talulah among the peak powerhouses of Terra in the future was guaranteed. So, the Black Serpent coveted it. As for why it didn't covet Patriot...
It didn't have the ability to beguile him, and it couldn't beat him...
Although the Black Serpent's abilities were mediocre, its network of connections was its greatest strength.
This was evident from its ability to mobilize the Emperor's Blade.
A good number of the Black Serpent's Scales had likely already infiltrated the absolute highest echelons of Ursus. However, their positions probably weren't that high. After all, if the Emperor himself were the Black Serpent, why bother with all the nonsense? He could just send a few dozen Emperor's Blades to crush Lucas Reeve. Or if a Grand Duke with military authority were a Serpent's Scale, and an entire Army Group came charging, there would be nothing Lucas Reeve could do, no matter how skilled he was.
Patriot guessed.
Although the Black Serpent had many Scales, there were likely none among the absolute top brass of Ursus.
Otherwise.
It wouldn't have been just one regiment that came yesterday, but a division...
After all, given the Black Serpent's hatred for Lucas Reeve and its cautious nature, it would want nothing more than to grind him to dust. Even though Lucas Reeve had no bones... how could it possibly hold back intentionally? There was only one possibility: a regiment or a brigade was the highest level of military force the Black Serpent could mobilize. And... according to Patriot, the Undying were merely legendary figures in all of Ursus. To many in Ursus, they were actually a sign of misfortune.
Many of the absolute top leaders would never allow an old geezer more mysterious than themselves to prance around them, let alone dictate the direction of Ursus.
And although Koschei was a Grand Duke, in Ursus, a title didn't necessarily equate to military power. For example, the commander of the Third Army Group was not only Grand Duke Baikal, but also a Viscount Dunkel. A viscount's rank is not high, only above a baron, but he was a corps commander.
For now, the Reunion Movement could only find a way to keep migrating. They couldn't go to the cities. Right now, eight or nine out of ten major cities were probably filled with the Black Serpent's Scales. Lucas Reeve himself had been discovered when he infiltrated with just a few people, let alone trying to bring the entire Reunion Movement in.
After discussions between Talulah and Patriot.
They finally settled on a plan.
They would head south along the Army Group's defense line. Although it was dangerous, there was no other way. The most important thing for the Reunion Movement right now was to find a way to hide their tracks.
After finalizing their future course of action.
Lucas Reeve used his abilities to find the hidden drones, completely eliminating the Black Serpent's eyes and ears. The Reunion Movement then set off on their journey south. The two Yeti Squadron members and Misha who remained in Chernobog were entrusted to Hellagur's care through a letter sent from Columbia. After confirming the relationship between Hellagur and Patriot, Lucas Reeve even added a note in the letter, mentioning that his old friend was in the Reunion Movement, making them practically family.
——————
For a long time to come, the Reunion Movement would likely be on the move, and Lucas Reeve didn't have much to do over there. Besides his daily routine of cultivating crops and chatting with Alina, Lucas Reeve spent most of his time here in Columbia.
Actually.
There wasn't much going on in Columbia either.
These past few days.
Through the joint efforts of Jessica, Franka, and Liskarm.
[Raythean Medica] was officially established. All the necessary custom-made precision equipment had arrived and been transported to the newly built company factory. Silence's lab had also been moved from Jessica's villa to the company. There hadn't been much progress on the improved version of the drug in the short term, which was normal for the development of a new medicine. The 1.0 inhibitor was less a new drug and more a special method of loading the power provided by Lucas Reeve into syringes. The subsequent 2.0 version would require improvement and optimization.
The difficulty had increased, making breakthroughs harder to come by. However, this didn't matter to a research fanatic like Silence. She wasn't afraid of difficulty, only of being idle.
A few days later.
The trio of [Followers] who had left Ursus for Columbia also arrived at the location Lucas Reeve had initially told them.
As soon as they arrived in the mobile city that was the capital of Columbia, they were warmly received by Lucas Reeve and Jessica.
Just as expected...
The remnant of Lucas Reeve's soul inside Jessica confirmed Shining and Liz's guess. The Lucas Reeve in Ursus was indeed just a fragment of his soul. And looking at the situation, he seemed to have quite a few fragments, possibly scattered all over the world.
Jessica had already learned from Lucas Reeve that two of these three were Sarkaz doctors from Kazdel. Although they weren't skilled in modern medicine, they were highly accomplished in the field of traditional Sarkaz medicine. If these two joined Raythean Medica, they would certainly be a great help for future research.
Lucas Reeve's life was a bit uneventful now.
Jessica no longer needed his help; she could now stand on her own two feet.
Moreover, although Jessica hadn't left Blacksteel Worldwide, she was no longer going on missions. She spent most of her days tinkering with company matters.
Her parents were very pleased with this. They even offered to send a batch of top researchers to their precious daughter, but Jessica refused. This independence moved her parents deeply once again.
And during this time, Jessica was also trying to find ways to indirectly let her parents know about the existence of souls, to get the old couple to accept the fact that she had a 'soul son-in-law'.
Ifrit's only wish had also been fulfilled.
She spent every day with Silence. Although Saria wasn't around, the once slightly tense relationship between Silence and Saria had quietly eased after Saria helped Silence resign smoothly. Occasionally, Silence would take Ifrit to see Saria.
There wasn't much activity from the Reunion Movement either. They marched every day and provided Prayer Power to Lucas Reeve. The amount wasn't large, now having decayed to one thousand five hundred per week. Azazel would also provide Lucas Reeve with a batch of Prayer Power after he delivered a batch of medicine, about five thousand per week. Similar to the Reunion Movement's situation, it was gradually decaying. Although the level of gratitude and faith hadn't changed at all, it was a bit like being an old customer; the amount of Prayer Power they could provide gradually decreased.
It probably wouldn't be long before Azazel also decayed to one thousand per week.
It seems I need to constantly find "new users".
A whole Pinduoduo system.
Lucas Reeve now needed to wait for new soul fragments to awaken. However... an accident occurred a few days ago. A soul that was about to awaken seemed to have lost contact with him. The soul fragment had not perished, because if it had, he would have definitely suffered some degree of backlash. This loss of contact was more like a kind of seal...
Based on the location transmitted by the soul fragment before it was sealed.
Lucas Reeve had basically pinpointed a place.
[Yan]
This was the first time Lucas Reeve's soul had faced such a direct threat.
It seemed... the land of Yan was very unusual, possessing methods to directly seal souls. Moreover, his soul was almost undetectably latent before it fully awakened. To be discovered at this stage meant that the sealer was extremely powerful, at least on the soul level, far surpassing any powerhouse Lucas Reeve had seen to date.
Lucas Reeve silently marked Yan with a big star in his heart.
This place is dangerous.
I'll explore it later when my power has increased. Yan is a high-level map.
However, although the soul in Yan was sealed, a soul fragment in another region was about to awaken. And, the location of this soul fragment seemed to be a little close to Lucas Reeve's main body.