The son of the God-Emperor in Warhammer Fantasy

"Whether it is your appearance or your demeanor, you can't possibly be of common birth, and the golden double-headed eagle... it's a symbol and emblem of the empire, you must be a descendant of some imperial nobility, right?" Pirazzo asked cautiously, "Of course... it's alright if you don't wish to disclose, we all understand."

"Me? I guess I am a descendant of the imperial nobility." Fugen thought it over, deciding to reveal only half the truth: "Do you know Ryan? Count Ryan Markado?"

"Ah! I know, the one who banished the great demon 'Pus Master' and killed the Red Duke who plagued the Knight Kingdom for centuries, a hero of mankind." Pirazzo acknowledged.

"I am his brother, his own brother." Fugen said, shaking his head slightly, "That's all I can say."

"Understood." Pirazzo was certain now.

So that's how it is.

Count Ryan Markado's reputation in the Old World was undoubtedly prominent, and although Fugen's words revealed nothing about his father, Pirazzo felt reassured knowing this legion had support in the Old World!

This was crucial; whether the expeditionary army had secured a foothold or not, they still needed support from the Old World.

After dinner, Pirazzo excused himself, leaving Fugen alone who picked up a book titled "Geography of the Old World Nations" and continued reading.

The candle, made of animal fat, flickered continuously.

"Rulers reside high in their temples, common folk labor diligently to support the military that protects them—such is life, unchanged for thousands of years." The handsome man sighed gently as he read "Geography of the Old World Nations," "Everything must start anew, father, my legion, my children have fallen into the abyss, ten thousand years have passed, son of the emperor, besides me, have you saved anything else?"

The golden double-headed eagle reflected in the candlelight, leaving Fugen with no response.

…

A week later, the entire expeditionary army was ready to depart.

This five-thousand-strong army was organized by Fugen into twelve companies.

The first company was led personally by him, consisting entirely of veterans, including great swordsmen and a few foot knights.

The second and third companies were composed of pikemen.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth companies mixed spearmen and sword-and-shield men.

The seventh, eighth, and ninth companies were made up of crossbowmen and archers.

The tenth company consisted of musketeers.

The eleventh company was the artillery, carrying five mortars and three cannons.

The twelfth company was the reserve.

Fugen left three companies to guard their base, leading the remaining over three thousand men into the tropical rainforest.

…

Lucia's tropical rainforest was completely different from the Old World's Black Forest, which was difficult to navigate, unlike the floral and less threatened forests of Tillyria.

Lucia's jungle brought a pure sense of lushness to the expeditionary army.

Humid and sweltering, the ground was covered with moss and algae, with grass, ferns, and shrubs growing before the towering ancient trees, allowing the army to pass through but not in tight formation.

After months of training, the Ash Legion moved in well-disciplined ranks, marching cautiously through the forest, observing every little movement around them.

Pushing through the underbrush, Pirazzo struggled to swipe the long leaves off his face. Despite it being December and relatively cooler at twenty-six or twenty-seven degrees Celsius, the mercenary leader's face and body were drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked: "Damn, it's still December and relatively cool. I can't imagine what we'd face in the height of summer."

Fugen carried the purple-gold "Glory" sword, the legion commander in purple plate armor, his silver hair dancing in the forest breeze as he walked rhythmically forward: "Order everyone, not to wear wet clothes for long, not to eat any wild fruits or vegetables, not to drink untreated water, avoid or cut through any thorns, maintain formation, and proceed slowly!"

"Yes!" a great swordsman immediately responded.

Under Fugen's precise command, the army maintained high morale. They cautiously explored the rainforest, relying on his strict orders; even when they encountered treasures, they first carefully checked for ambushes before collecting anything.

Lucia, famously rich in gold, lived up to its reputation. Just three days into their march, the Ash Legion had already collected a considerable amount of gems and gold.

Three days later, the expeditionary army arrived at a lizardfolk ruin.

This was a long-abandoned city of the lizardfolk, many of its great pyramids had collapsed and were overgrown with branches, vines, and stout trees. Giant stone slabs paved the paths within the ruins, which also contained many ponds filled with pir

anhas.

They knew these were piranha ponds because some soldiers had already paid with their lives.

The sturdy stone pavements contrasted sharply with the soft, moist soil. The once towering city walls had collapsed, and almost no intact buildings remained in the entire ruin. The brightly colored patterns once carved on the stones had faded over endless years.

"It's gold! Such huge gold!"

"My God! Such a large piece of silver!"

"Enamel!"

"This is jade!"

"We are rich!!!"

"Lady of Wealth above!"

The soldiers of the expeditionary army could hardly believe their eyes, finding the ruins a veritable paradise! Gold and silver treasures were piled everywhere, many soldiers excitedly slapped their faces, exclaiming in disbelief.

Thanks to months of training and preparation by Fugen, these soldiers were extremely disciplined. Upon seeing the wealth, they did not rush to loot impulsively. The military formation and lines largely remained intact, the soldiers simply reporting to Fugen: "Legion Commander! We have discovered a great deal of gold and silver treasures! May the soldiers collect them on their own?"

"Divide into three groups! The third, fifth, and ninth companies are allowed to act on their own, each person may collect no more than fifteen pounds of treasure, the rest remain on guard, closely monitor the surroundings!" Fugen cautiously watched around: "Perhaps, something is watching us."

"Yes!" Trained by the emperor's son genetic template, the army obeyed the orders precisely, three companies of soldiers began using prepared bags to scoop up treasures, while the remaining troops maintained a vigilant guard, prepared for any eventuality.

"Focus on collecting books, crafts, and artworks, don't just focus on gold and jewelry." Fugen continued to command.

"Yes!" The soldiers revered and admired their legion commander deeply, diligently following Fugen's orders.

The human army began to carefully bag various gold and silver treasures, while also following Fugen's commands, maintaining alertness, the human troops carefully sensing every movement around them, giving no opportunity to any enemy.

Unbeknownst to them, chameleons were perched in the branches deep in the rainforest, observing every move of the expeditionary army.

This ruin was a trap, several human groups had fallen here before, ending up as meals in the bellies of lizardfolk or live sacrifices to the snake god Sotigo.

Humans are always greedy; faced with so much wealth, they could barely move. Explorers often crazily stuffed various gems, gold, and jade into their bags, and when the ambushing lizardfolk swarmed them, many greedy ones even refused to abandon their wealth to escape.

But this group was different; they were vigilant.

"Attack now?" a chameleon whispered.

The ambush was led by a lizardfolk legion, led by an ancient-blood warrior.

Ancient-blood warriors were leaders among the lizardfolk, obeying the orders of spirit lizard priests, who in turn were under the slumbering witch toads for most of the time.

"Wait." The ancient-blood warrior shook his head: "Come out, then attack."

Inside the ruin, Fugen examined a large stone slab, his hand brushing over the surface, revealing its true form amidst the surrounding ponds and grass.

"The invasion of chaos, it was foretold." The stone slab depicted four images; the first showed the ancient saints' portal breaking, chaos descending, countless demons coming from the subspace to the main material world.

"The loyal servants of the ancient saints then rose up to resist." The second image depicted hordes of lizardfolk armies battling the chaos demons.

"The Great Maelstrom was not an elven invention, the elves merely activated an ancient saint device left in Osuan." Fugen continued to the third image, the first Phoenix King "Defender" Elarario battling four great chaos demons at once, nearby, the dragon tamer Kaledo constructed the Great Maelstrom.

Fugen wanted to continue to the fourth image, but found it damaged and unclear.

Is the future like this picture, everything devoured by chaos?

"There is still hope." The emperor's son genetic template murmured: "There has always been hope."

"Enemy attack!!!" At that moment, Pirazzo suddenly shouted: "Enemy incoming! Soldiers! Prepare for battle!"

"Fight, or die!" Fugen shouted loudly: "Soldiers, the enemy is here!"

"Understood!" The expeditionary army's soldiers, after a few seconds of stupefaction, immediately reacted, they stopped their actions, dropped the gold and silver treasures, and prepared for battle.

Groups of spirit lizards appeared in the forest, the ambushing lizardfolk legion.

"Form ranks!!!" Fugen stood in front of the military formation, raising his power sword "Glory" high.

The training of the soldiers was ingrained in their souls and their instincts; as large groups of spirit lizard troops and scattered soldiers gradually approached, the human army had already made their combat preparations relying on the terrain

.

The front lines were topped by long spearmen and pikemen, who thrust their shields into the ground, the dense spear formations directly facing the charging spirit lizard legion. Large groups of spirit lizards kept pouring out from the forest, most human soldiers had never seen such bizarre creatures before; they had cute faces, round eyes, fins on their heads, wearing simple leather armor, wielding sticks and shields, charging at the forest-like spear formations of the human army.

"Fire!!!" Pirazzo's shout dispelled the soldiers' inner hesitations, hearing the deputy commander's order behind them, large groups of crossbowmen, archers, and musketeers raised their ranged weapons and launched an attack on the spirit lizard legion.

Almost simultaneously, all crossbowmen, archers, and musketeers fired together, hundreds of arrows, crossbow bolts, and musket bullets causing massive casualties among the lizardfolk soldiers, who fell one after another, shot and wounded.

Many human soldiers breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that these ancient creatures were not invincible after all.

The expeditionary army began to gain confidence, even as large groups of spirit lizard troops continued to join the battlefield from the distant forest.

Dozens of corpses were left behind as the spirit lizard skirmishers approached the spear formation.

"Javelins! Watch out! Testudo formation!" Fugen sharply noticed something unusual among the spirit lizard troops, groups of them raised their hands holding poisoned wooden javelins and threw them towards the human positions.

"Testudo formation!" Hearing Fugen's command, the human army moved.

The ranged troops orderly retreated into the formation, the long spearmen and pikemen drew closer to the front line again, pulling up their shields, raising them into the air, behind them, sword-and-shield men carefully arranged in several rows, also raised their shields towards the sky together.

The human positions were instantly covered by large and kite shields, the dense javelin barrage mostly hitting the shields.

"Ding ding ding~" The sound of weapons striking shields, but no casualties occurred.

The spirit lizard skirmishers had very few javelins, firing three rounds before running out.

By then, large groups of spirit lizard infantry had approached the human army lines.

"Form long spear square formations!" Fugen continued to order.

The soldiers immediately obeyed, the first batch of long spearmen and pikemen crouched down, the second batch stood, forming a tight long spear square, facing the charging spirit lizard infantry directly.

Large groups of spirit lizard infantry found themselves caught in a barrage of spear tips; their short sticks unable to break through such a solid long spear square, the front spirit lizards charged forward, the rear ones pushing from behind, under Fugen's command, crossbowmen and archers took the opportunity to shoot distant spirit lizards, while musketeers arranged in three ranks, took turns shooting nearby spirit lizards from the gaps in the spear formation.

"Die, bastards!" Long spearmen and pikemen rhythmically stabbed back and forth, sharp spear tips piercing the bodies of spirit lizard soldiers, spraying red blood.

Strong discipline and solid formations were the human's winning magic, as great swordsmen leading sword-and-shield men joined the battlefield from the side, the outcome gradually became clear, after more than ten minutes of fierce battle, the spirit lizard legion left behind hundreds of corpses, the heavily lost lizardfolk ambush troops were forced to retreat.

The expeditionary army's losses were small, only a dozen or so unfortunate deaths, the remaining humans loudly cheered their victory.

"Don't get too excited, my soldiers, this was just the enemy's probing attack." Fugen warned his soldiers: "Never be blinded by victory, if these ancient forest races only had this much strength, how did those human expeditionary forces disappear? Why don't those chaos-worshipping barbarians enter the forest to loot?"

"I understand, Legion Commander, we will not take it lightly!" The soldiers, heartily obedient to Commander Fugen, responded in unison.

"Hurry and pack up, we will camp here tonight." Fugen then ordered: "Send scouts to the distance, be prepared, there's another tough battle ahead."

"Yes!" The entire army operated like a finely tuned machine, each performing their duties.

Not far in the rainforest, the lizardfolk ancient-blood warrior was discussing with his subordinates.

"These humans are very strong, the weak spirit lizard legion cannot defeat them."

"Immediately report to Warlord Kuga! Request reinforcements!"

"We need Lord Kuga's Sacred Legion support!"

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