System's POV
chapter-345

"Enemy at three o'clock," Thirteen said through the communicator, which was heard by everyone in his battalion.

Rumbling noises soon spread in the surroundings as the Green Lanterns and their mounts arrived at their destination.

"Target confirmed," Cristopher replied through the communicator before raising up his hand for everyone to see. "Engage!"

Countless deafening booms reverberated as the 69th Battalion unleashed a barrage of attacks with their rifles and bazookas, overwhelming and decimating their opponents.

Completely caught by surprise, the Black-Scaled Crocodiles were unable to escape to the river in time, which could've saved their lives.

The 69th Battalion was armed with customized weapons that had two types of attacks.

The first one was armor-piercing rounds, and the second was shock bullets.

There were Jinns whose skin, scales, exoskeleton, and fur were very hard, preventing ordinary bullets from piercing them, so Thirteen customized the weapons of his army for every kind of situation.

If they were fighting monsters that their armor-piercing rounds couldn't penetrate, then they would switch to shock bullets, which emitted a powerful frequency at the moment of impact, dealing internal damage to their targets.

Using shock bullets drained their Empyrium reserves much faster, which the Central Government and the Dvalinn Federation thought to be a waste of resources.

But this was not a problem for Thirteen.

He had more than enough Empyrium to last his Battalion for many years.

Because of this, he wasn't afraid to let the Wanderers under him "waste" their Empyrium Cartridge, which was the power source of their military-grade weapons.

Alexis felt complicated as he removed the empty Cartridge, which was worth over ten thousand gold coins worth of Empyrium.

Simply put, Zion would be wasting three million gold coins if all of his members emptied their cartridges at the same time.

'How wasteful,' Alexis thought. 'This Cartridge is worth half a year's salary in the military.'

It was not only Alexis who had the same thought.

Everyone in the 69th Battalion, especially those who weren't born into rich families, felt the same way.

If they didn't use the Shock Bullets and only used their Armor Piercing Rounds, the lifespan of their Empyrium Cartridge would last three times longer.

When Paul, one of Thirteen's Captains, proposed that they should just use their armor-piercing rounds instead of using the shock bullets in this operation, their Battalion Commander just laughed.

"Is that some kind of peasant joke that I'm too rich to understand?" Thirteen said in a teasing tone. "All of you line up. I'm going to give you all twenty cartridges each. That's just two hundred thousand gold coins per person.

"If I multiply it by three hundred, it will just be around sixty million gold coins. That's just pocket money for me."

Paul, who had made this proposal, felt as if his cheeks were burning due to embarrassment.

Hearing Thirteen's words, Benedict, Harvey, Troy, and Jordan were very tempted to give the teenage boy the middle finger—sixty million gold was not at all cheap.

Even their salaries within their families were only around a million gold coins every month, yet the brat had the audacity to say that this was only pocket money for him?

Preposterous!

Michael, who was also at the scene when Thirteen made this declaration, made himself scarce.

He was afraid that if he stayed for a second longer, the representatives of the Dvalinn Federation might ask him if what his nephew said was the truth.

Since the Empyrium that the 69th Battalion was from the share that Thirteen received from the mine, no one had the right to complain about it.

Arthur and Michael knew that the mining operation was only a smokescreen of the true wealth that Thirteen's family was currently amassing in their underground bunker.

In fact, Arthur visited his son's house a day ago in order to get his "share" of the true bulk of Empyrium, which Thirteen had promised him for his cooperation.

Simply put, the Empyrium that was being mined by the Leventis Family in the Rigel Continent was just for show.

Their true gains numbered several times higher. The Monarch Clans, the Prestigious Families, and the Central Government would definitely turn green from envy if they knew what was really happening behind the scenes.

Fortunately, they had not a single idea, allowing them to be very happy with the "leftovers" that Thirteen had left for them.

The Black-Scaled Crocodiles were Rank three up to Rank 5 Monsters.

Their leader was a Rank 5 Alpha Monster. Although it was strong, it wasn't really a threat for the 69th Battalion.

Why was it not a threat?

The answer was simple.

The Crocodiles could never catch up to the Night Wolves even if their lives depended on it.

Thirteen carefully chose the opponents of his subordinates so that they could familiarize themselves with their hit-and-run tactics.

They had just recently received their Night Wolves, so they were still in the process of learning how to use them in battle.

Having taken this into consideration, the teenage boy specifically chose opponents that his men could bully without a problem.

The Black-Scaled Crocodiles died with great resentment in their hearts. They didn't even have the chance to defend themselves, unable to reach their opponents who were shooting at them from a safe distance.

While their scales were really strong, allowing them to tank most damage, the Shock Bullets rendered that advantage useless.

The hit made them suffer internal bleeding from the high-

frequency vibrations that rampaged inside their bodies, targeting their internal organs.

Half an hour later, the riverside was filled with dead crocodiles, all of which were five to six meters long.

"Mission accomplished, Sir," Cristopher said through the communicator.

"Good job," Thirteen replied. "Make sure to bring those bodies back to the camp. We will make use of their monster parts to strengthen our people."

The soldiers started to wrap steel cables around the bodies of the crocodiles, which were connected to their mounts.

Once they returned to Sector 1, the staff of the Dvalinn Federation would dismantle them according to Thirteen's instructions.

While this was happening, the 69th Battalion was once again asked to mobilize to attack the remnants of the Wolf Spiders, whose two leaders were still recuperating from the injuries they received from Rocky's Magma Breath.