After a month's fierce battle, the United Army began to show signs of exhaustion. After all, they were
still human, and their enemy was the spiritual race beings. The war imposed heavy burdens that were
becoming too heavy for their human bodies to bear. Their dwindling strength contrasted and
emphasized the difference between the human army and the spiritual race army. Soon, the spiritual
race army began to gain ground.
But the most terrible thing was that a month ago, the spiritual race army had suddenly changed their
fighting strategy. They stopped fighting with the United Army directly, but adopted assassination, sneak
attack, ambush, and other guerrilla tactics. With the use of these back-alley strategies, coupled with the
strength of the spiritual race, the United Army lost tens of thousands of soldiers in a month.
For this reason, Marcia was about to call Bryant and Lance to discuss countermeasures, but she didn't
expect the unfortunate news that came subsequently.
"What? General Lance was ambushed and seriously injured?" Marcia was caught off-guard by the
news, but she knew that she had to pull herself together. She assumed that Lance was in the West
United Army's base, so she hurriedly packed up and left.
When she arrived at the base, she was met with the huge military camp's somber atmosphere. All the
soldiers looked down in the dumps, which was understandable, as Lance's injury must have negatively
affected the soldiers' morale.
A commander led Marcia to where Lance was resting. She had not even entered yet, but she could
already hear sobs coming from inside. The first thing she saw was Isis, who was crouching on the edge
of the bed and looking worse-for-wear. Lance, who was in a coma, lay on the bed, pale as death, while
several grief-stricken commanders were standing beside him quietly.
Marcia walked straight to the grieving Isis, patted her comfortingly on the shoulder, and asked, "Isis, is
General Lance..."
She didn't finish her words because as soon as Isis saw her, Isis asked hurriedly, "General Marcia, do
you know where Basil is? In his current state, only Basil can save my father."
"I'm sorry. I don't know where he is." Hearing this, Marcia knew that Lance must be seriously injured.
Normally, only Rocky contacted them, but it was not easy for them to find Rocky.
"Can you think of a way to contact Basil and ask him to come here right away? Otherwise, my father
might die." Isis couldn't help but burst into tears as she spoke.
"I'll try," responded Marcia hesitantly. After comforting Isis for a while, she walked out of the camp and
then used her Carrier Beast to contact Rocky. All they could do next was to wait.
Three days later, Lance's injury took a turn for the worse, and it seemed that he was having a hard time
breathing. His pulse, too, was gradually slowing down. Still, Rocky did not show up.
Isis cried all day long, and Marcia could do nothing to console her. She was beginning to think that
Rocky might not come.
Finally, on the fifth day, Rocky arrived.
"Why are you so late?" Marcia couldn't help complaining as soon as she saw him.
Rocky didn't respond. Instead, he immediately hastened to where Lance was, with Marcia following
behind. And when Isis laid eyes on Rocky, her countenance lit up as if she had seen her savior. She
hurried forward and pulled him toward her father.
"Basil, please save Father. Please!" "I'll try my best. You both can leave now," Rocky simply responded
and then asked them to leave him and Lance alone.
After that, Marcia took Isis out of the camp, leaving Rocky to focus on Lance's still unconscious body.
He immediately walked closer to Lance's side and examined his injuries, but the results were not
satisfactory. Lance's injuries were too serious, and all the meridians in his body, including his heart,
were broken. Even if Rocky operated on him, there was no way to help him back to life. It was a
miracle that Lance could hold on until now.
However, Rocky still decided to try. As he was about to perform the operation, Lance suddenly woke
up. He grabbed Rocky's hand desperately, as his mouth opened and closed a few times as if he
wanted to say something.
Seeing this, Rocky immediately took Lance's hand in his and bent down, so he was close enough to
hear Lance whispering in his ear, "Ta—take care of... Isis and Nigel." A short coughing fit cut in his
words, but Rocky dared not to stop him from talking. "I... I leave them... to you." Lance could hardly
speak, but he tried his best to express himself. In the end, when he had said his final words, a relieved
smile flashed across his face. Slowly, like leaves floating with the gentle wind, Lance closed his eyes
for the final time. This man, who had once been able to rally multitudes at his call in the Holy Dragon
Empire and made countless achievements in war, died like this.
A complicated look appeared on Rocky's cold face. A touch of sadness flashed through his eyes, but
he walked out of the camp with his back straight and his shoulders tight and strong.
"Basil, how is Father? Can he be cured?" Isis asked as soon as she saw Rocky.
"He has passed away," Rocky announced calmly.
As soon as the words fell from his mouth, a heavy blanket of grief settled over the entire camp. All the
soldiers around him looked distressed, and some could not control their emotions and burst into tears.
"No! You're lying, right? Tell me you're lying!" Isis refused to accept that her father was gone. Her body
trembled like a leaf, and she shook her head in denial and rushed back into the camp.
Marcia glanced at Rocky but found no words to say. She followed Isis into the tent, and a few moments
later, a burst of crying and shouting erupted from the camp.
Rocky stayed outside the camp, standing quietly, rigid, and in control. If the soldier were honest, they
would have said that he looked more like a robot than a human at that moment.
After a long time, Rocky returned to the camp. Isis's beautiful eyes were red and swollen, and although
she stopped crying, she was still sniffling quietly, while Marcia was comforting her.
As soon as Isis saw Rocky, she stood up and rushed to him. She immediately pounded on Rocky's
chest with her fists and shouted with resentment, "Why didn't you come earlier? If you had come
earlier, Father wouldn't have died."
No matter how she beat him, Rocky didn't say a word.
"Why won't you say anything? Why did you become like this?" Isis seemed to have a lot of resentment
in her heart, which was released at that moment.
Seeing this, Marcia hurried forward and comforted, "Isis, it's not Basil's fault. General Lance was
seriously injured. Even if Basil came earlier, it's impossible..."
However, Rocky gave Marcia a meaningful look and shook his head.
Marcia could do nothing but watch Isis treat Rocky unreasonably. Isis didn't stop until she was tired,
and even then, she still had the energy to glare at him darkly. "I hate you," she yelled at his face. Then,
she left the camp without looking back.
"Why didn't you explain?" Marcia couldn't help but ask Rocky. In fact, she knew that he must be as
miserable as them, but he didn't show it.
"Let her be. But why was Father ambushed? Have you found out the reason?" Rocky asked with a
frown.
"The spiritual race army that fought with General Lance seems to be very familiar with his military
tactics. I'm also curious about this. Logically speaking, they have only fought for a few months, and it is
impossible for the other side to know his background military tactics so soon. On top of that, his military
tactics are not regular and hard to predict. I suspect that the Commander in Chief of the spiritual race
army must know General Lance very well before," Marcia said suspiciously.
Rocky's eyes narrowed as he heard her words. He had a bad feeling about this.
"General Lance's death would certainly lower the West United Army's morale. Should we ask them to
withdraw and reorganize first? Besides, we also need to assign a new Commander in Chief for the
West United Army," Marcia suggested after she thought for a while.
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