Chapter 95: Chapter 94: Why Take Advantage of Me
After the battle had completely ended and it was confirmed there were no enemies left, the soldiers withdrew from the area.
As long as no one interfered anymore, the storm heresy contained in the bodies of the armed workers who had died in the rubble would gradually dissipate on its own and not last very long.
Of course, these activated storm bombs were very unstable entities. It was not ruled out that they might explode for some reason before their energy was completely dissipated.
Meanwhile, Gu Hang also had to be vigilant against the cultists returning to retrieve and make use of the bodies again.
Therefore, a company of soldiers would be stationed nearby, put up a cordon, and completely lock down the vicinity until the problem here was resolved.
Actually, the best way to deal with this was to have specialized personnel safely handle the energy contained in these bodies. Gu Hang had this capability, and so did the Sisterhood. However, there were simply too many things to handle inside Revival City now, and there was no time to waste here dealing with the bodies and aftermath.
Gu Hang himself needn’t say much, he was incredibly busy, from civil affairs to economic production to military governance, all required his attentiveness; the sisters of Sainte-Lys Nun Association still had to further trace the trails of the cult, it was certain they had done more than just the incident at the Norris Factory, and surely had plots elsewhere.
So, they could only be left here.
The factory had already been bombed to ruin by earlier artillery fire, and as long as there were no people inside, even if all those storm bombs exploded and blew the ruins to the sky again, it didn’t matter too much.
Next, Gu Hang needed to find Georgette again to have a good talk about pursuing the cultists.
However, before Gu Hang could find her, Georgette sought him out first.
“Your Excellency the Battle Nun, your timing is perfect, I… uh…”
Gu Hang’s words were choked back by a hug.
Georgette hugged him tightly and whispered in his ear, “Thank you, Mr. Gu, without your help, my sisters would have suffered great losses, and I might have been lost in self-blame and regret for a long time.”
Gu Hang didn’t know where to put his hands at that moment.
They felt uncomfortably firm everywhere.
All he could say was, “Uh… we are allies, after all, it’s what I should do. We need to continue working together to eliminate those who have betrayed the Divine Emperor.”
“Yes,” Georgette released him, “but I still need to thank you, this is a blessing from The Emperor.”
Having said that, she kissed Gu Hang on the forehead and then turned and left.
As Gu Hang watched Georgette walk away, a thought suddenly popped into his mind:
“Blessing is a blessing, but why did you have to take advantage of me?”
…
[Tremendous Victory, Earned 221 Blessing Points]
[Losses: 154, Enemies Killed: 5073, Prisoners: 9]
[Governor’s Infantry Regiment: Losses: 154, Enemies Killed: 4488]
[Sainte-Lys Nun Association (Ally): Losses: 0, Enemies Killed: 585]
After the battle had ended, as usual, Gu Hang saw the operational statistics within the system interface.
The bounty of blessing points was quite good, even more so than the rewards from resolving the battle in the outer city.
Almost capturing an entire Alliance Legion yielded only 133 blessing points. Now, by eliminating four to five thousand adversaries, the score had gone over two hundred.
The discrepancy possibly lay in the fact that the action to capture the Alliance Legion was basically picking low-hanging fruit, as the main issues had been dealt with by the allies, resulting in a lower coefficient for earning blessing points.
This current battle, though the Battle Nuns’ help was significant, the main problems were still resolved by Gu Hang’s own subordinates.
The bombardment from the heavy artillery was the most significant source of damage in this battle. Without the several hundred shells fired by those ten heavy guns, a direct attack on the factory would likely have failed, even if two entire infantry battalions were deployed.
The offensive side attacking the defensive side is inherently at a disadvantage, not to mention a troop difference of 600 vs 5000, almost tenfold.
However, the firepower gap brought by heavy artillery compensated for this issue.
Afterward, the help from the Battle Nuns was significant.
But despite that, during the attack, both the 2nd and 6th Battalions suffered considerable casualties. The companies that took the lead in the charge were essentially wiped out, and with the subsequent troop deployment, the total losses amounted to 154.
These casualties were quite disheartening.
Since Gu Hang pulled out his troops and began his campaign, this was the battle with the single largest number of casualties.
However, thinking coldly, the cost-benefit ratio was still acceptable.
After acquiring the entirety of Revival City and offering proper treatment, Gu Hang would be able to easily replenish manpower from the outskirts of the city; training more than a hundred soldiers to T5 level is merely 1 point of divine favor, effectively free; and the weapons and equipment could be completely replenished from the current military production capacities of the Abandoned Cave Society.
By now, Gu Hang’s current points of divine favors had reached 356.
Wealthy!
Satisfied, he closed the battle settlement page and turned his attention to the new changes in his personal information on the [Hero]interface.
There was an additional item:
[Blessing of Sainte-Lys (15 days): Slightly increases spiritual and physical attributes, diminishing over time.]
After receiving ‘The Emperor’s Blessing,’ Gu Hang felt a warmth in his body.
He found it peculiar, but it wasn’t uncomfortable; and now, upon checking, getting kissed actually came with such benefits?
Gu Hang was already contemplating how to get kissed every 15 days.
No other intentions, purely for the buff increase!
…
After the small interlude, everyone went back to their respective tasks.
The Sisterhood continued their pursuit of the Cult.
Old Norris was dug out, this guy actually survived.
The cultists didn’t silence him, probably because they felt it unnecessary. If the Storm Trap in the factory area had been triggered, not even the nuns in their power armor might have lived, let alone Old Norris.
He had been hiding in an underground chamber all the while, and during the final stage of the bombardment, the entrance was buried under the rubble, trapping him inside. It wasn’t until the soldiers were cleaning up the area that they heard his cries and dug him out.
However, his subsequent fate might be quite grim.
The Sisterhood would catch him and inquire about his dealings with the Cult. The interrogation process by the Sainte-Lys, though, probably wouldn’t be as gentle as the smiles on their faces. Certain special methods would ensure they got the answers they wanted, but these methods probably weren’t too kind to the interrogated’s brain.
Once the Sisterhood was done questioning him, Norris would be handed over to Lambert, the head of the ‘Alliance Rectification Committee.’ Then Lambert would get his revenge.
Beyond Norris as an important source of intelligence, the Sainte-Lys nuns also captured several living Blue-Robed Sorcerers. These individuals, likewise, were sources of intelligence, with the hope of extracting some information from them.
Furthermore, with Lambert clearing Norris, the most significant obstacle, the cleansing of other elites within the city would become easier, and it’s likely no one would be able to resist anymore.
Currently, it seems the elites of Revival City are deeply intertwined with the Primordial Wrath Owl Sect. The Sisterhood should be able to find some breakthroughs here as well.
A two-pronged approach.
The conventional path of pursuing the Cult handed to the Sisterhood, and Gu Hang started focusing on citywide screening to catch cultists.
That’s what Osenia was doing.