Overworld.
Central Administrative Plaza.
A large army had already assembled completely.
Row upon row of Silvermane Guards stood full of spirit and high morale, lined up neatly in solemn formation, awaiting orders.
A certain someone named Zeig stood at the front of the army, looking to both sides.
A large group of Automatons stood on either side, serving as auxiliary combat forces.
The cable cars between the upper and lower districts were still not running; all previous travel up and down had relied on Zeig's light curtains. So these Automatons were the batch the Guards had prepared for auxiliary combat support.
As for Svarog.
The Mechanical Settlement had already been cleared out, and his legions were still stationed in the Underworld.
"Executor, when do we set out?" Bronya asked.
Standing beside her were Seele and Gepard.
As the Captain of the Silvermane Guards, Gepard naturally had to accompany them to ease the burden on Bronya.
And as the leading figure of the Underworld, Seele had volunteered to join the team.
In addition, Dan Heng and March 7th had also hurried over.
"Uncle Welt has already gone back. He said he'd observe the changes in the ice layer from outer space," March 7th said.
Her fair, slender fingers reached into her bosom, pulled out a tablet, and her cherry lips parted lightly:
"The current situation is that the Stellaron has abandoned all the lost territory, vigorously consolidating the existing ice layers. It's even proactively releasing some Antimatter Legion forces to prepare for our fierce assault."
A certain someone named Zeig furrowed his brows and gave a big thumbs-up: "Damn impressive. It even knows exactly what we're going to do—this thing's practically become a spirit!"
March 7th pursed her lips, brushed the hair by her ear back, and continued:
"Uncle Welt has divided the remaining glaciers into three major zones. The nearest glacier, if we use mobile transport, can be reached in about two hours."
After most of the glaciers were destroyed, Jarilo-VI had finally restored external contact.
Over the past few days, the Astral Express had contacted the Interastral Peace Corporation. Specialists from the company had been arriving on Jarilo-VI one after another to conduct inspections and negotiate follow-up trade matters with Cocolia.
The greatest value of this planet still lay in the undeveloped mineral resources, so the remaining glaciers, along with the Fragmentum creatures and Antimatter Legion forces, remained obstacles that had to be cleared.
A certain someone named Zeig pondered:
"Let the Pathstriders in the army go ahead with us first. We'll clear out the wandering monsters along the way and open up a path. Once we reach the glacier, I'll leave a coordinate there, and then we can use the Cosmic Juggernaut to teleport the rest of the people over—how about that?"
He looked at the rows of Silvermane Guards and grinned ferociously: "As for the rest, figure out a way to get the cable cars running again! Your Supreme Guardian is still down in the Underworld feasting— just thinking about her having to come back up through the filthy core furnace makes me feel secondhand embarrassment for her, hahahaha—!!"
All the Silvermane Guards: "…"
They had heard about Cocolia going down to chase after the supplies—some of them had even participated in transporting the goods.
But now, she had been dragged off by Serval to attend a banquet. After the banquet, she would have to come back up eventually, right?
As a highly respected Supreme Guardian, of course she should take the cable car. Getting the cable cars connecting the upper and lower districts running again would also answer the long-standing calls from the Underworld residents and greatly boost Cocolia's prestige.
But if she still had to come up through the core furnace…
The Underworld residents who were eagerly awaiting the cable cars' restoration would probably be disappointed again.
"Understood, Lord Executor!"
Immediately, the Pathstriders among the Silvermane Guards stepped forward one after another.
What shocked Zeig was that a full 90% of the Silvermane Guards were Pathstriders.
"?????"
He said in astonishment:
"Huh? Is the Preservation Path really that easy to enter?"
These people didn't even look that impressive.
March 7th waved her hand:
"What's so surprising about it? Don't make a fuss. The spirit of Preservation in Belobog has long been like a guiding principle here—it's perfectly normal."
Bronya looked toward Zeig:
"Executor, are you thinking that this many people traveling ahead might be a bit too much?"
A certain someone named Zeig nodded.
He had thought there would only be a few, but there were so many—it was practically wholesale.
"In that case, let's just take the strongest batch among them to move through the snowfields. The rest can stay in the city," Bronya suggested.
"Fine, let's do that!"
Under Bronya and Gepard's arrangements, a small group quickly stepped out—undoubtedly the elites among elites.
They were basically all officers, with only a small portion being slightly lower-ranked Guards.
This surprised a certain someone named Zeig. It really was true that the stronger you were, the higher your position—no one got there through bribes?
He looked at the other officers still waiting in formation among the Guards and couldn't help asking Gepard:
"So, uh, do officers generally have very high combat power? Then why not just take all the officers!"
Hearing this, Gepard was first taken aback, then smiled and explained to Zeig:
"You're right—generally speaking, the stronger the individual, the greater the merits they achieve, and the easier it is to be promoted to officer. But there are always exceptions."
He pointed to those officers in the ranks who hadn't stepped forward:
"For example, them—their individual strength isn't particularly outstanding, but some are very skilled at command. Look, take that one closest to us—sometimes even my command skills aren't as good as his."
Gepard pointed to another:
"And that one—his combat ability isn't standout, and his command isn't particularly brilliant either, but he's served for a very long time, he's seasoned, and he's repeatedly achieved remarkable feats."
A certain someone named Zeig nodded:
"So no one does bribery?"
"Bribery?"
Gepard was momentarily stunned.
Then he gave a wry smile:
"That kind of thing might happen frequently among the nobility or administrative staff. But this is the military. If they had that kind of mindset, why would they come here to risk their lives fighting monsters? Anyone without the spirit of Preservation would have long since found excuses to desert."
"There are deserters?"
"Yes, there are," Gepard confirmed.
"As you said, those people value their lives highly. Joining the Silvermane Guards was just a moment of hot-blooded impulse. Once they truly understood the cruelty of combat, they found excuses and slipped away."
"What happened to them in the end?"
Gepard shook his head and sighed:
"They're sitting in prison. After they get out, they can only do some menial work to get by. After all, anything related to the military is taken very seriously here—there's no room for such childish antics."
Zeig nodded. The system here wasn't much different from most armies.
Especially before the Express crew arrived, Belobog's situation could be described as extremely dire. Strict rules were only to be expected.
"By the way, Executor, my sister…" Gepard took the chance to inquire.
He had only heard rumors about Serval and Zeig messing around on Cocolia's approval slips. Now that he had run into the person involved, he might as well ask about the situation.
"Oh, her."
A certain someone named Zeig said nonchalantly: "Abusing power for personal gain—she got caught by the Supreme Guardian. She might end up in the big house."
"Uh…" Gepard's smile froze.
"I respect her as a true man. She even dared to touch Cocolia's scepter and stockings—no one could stop her!"
"This…"
"What's wrong? Your face doesn't look too good."
"N-No, it's nothing…"
…