The group was quite satisfied with the name. From this day forward, they would support the Infected under the banner of the Reunion Movement, ensuring that its flag would fly across the battlefield.
"Old gentleman, there is another very important matter that needs to be brought to your attention. According to Kashchey, the Emperor of Ursus dispatched three Emperor's Blades to the tundra a few days ago to search for something."
Hearing this, Patriot fell silent for a moment. He did not fear those three Emperor's Blades; in his current state, it would take at least five of them working together to truly pin him down. What truly unsettled him was the fact that these agents were sent personally by the Emperor. That indicated the gravity of the situation was far from minor.
"Furthermore, Laterano has also sent people. It seems they are all coming for Jeanne. We just don't know if these two factions will be friends or foes."
"Laterano? That nation ruled by religion? Why exactly are they coming? Could it be that because we aren't Sankta, we are considered beings that need to be 'purged'?"
Frostnova was somewhat confused by the news. Logically, shouldn't Laterano be on the same side as Jeanne? In the stories Alina told the children, Laterano was always portrayed in a certain light...
"Perhaps the situation isn't as dire as you imagine. The Laterano faction might not necessarily be our enemy right now. However, we should still prepare for the worst."
Patriot recalled the fanatical appearance of the gun-lance knights from his past. If it truly concerned a Deity... it likely wouldn't reach a life-or-death stage immediately. Both sides should be able to sit down and talk.
"From today on, any team heading out to rescue our compatriots must be led by either myself or Jeanne. Aside from the two of us, it would be far too much for any of you to face three Emperor's Blades at once."
Patriot estimated the combat strength of those present. Frostnova and Talulah, leading the Yetis and Shieldguards, could likely handle one; he and Jeanne could manage three together... as for Alina, her primary responsibility would be guarding their home.
"Are they really that terrifying, Dad? Even I, with the Yeti Squad, wouldn't be a match? At the end of the day, they're still Ursans—it's not like they're like you..."
Frostnova was skeptical. It wasn't as if she hadn't seen so-called elites before. Could it be that she couldn't even deal with three soldiers?
"Do not be arrogant. These Emperor's Blades are different from any enemy you have faced before! They have modified themselves through special methods to the point of exceeding the human scope. They are not something the current you can confront."
Hearing Patriot's stern words, Frostnova nodded to show she understood. She had never heard her father speak of the horror of the Emperor's Blades; to most, they had become nothing more than legends and ghost stories.
It seemed she needed to train even harder. Otherwise, facing such enemies, she might end up being a burden. Still, the term Emperor's Blade rooted itself deeply in Frostnova's heart. She hoped that one day she could witness for herself just what kind of power these so-called blades truly possessed.
"Boss, have you heard? That bunch from the Guerrillas has been cooperating with another team lately! Should we find a group to partner up with too?"
At the very moment the Reunion Movement was being established, another guerrilla unit—located a significant distance away—had just defeated a Gendarmerie grain transport convoy. The members were excitedly counting their spoils.
"Cooperate? What kind of beautiful dream are you having! We don't even have enough food for ourselves, and you want to bring in another team to consume it? Besides, if two teams merge, who do we listen to when orders are given—me or him?"
The leader, a sturdy man known as Grizzly, looked at his subordinate with disdain, as if mocking him for being too naive.
"They can cooperate only because that Patriot is the leader! That's not a 'cooperation'; isn't that just selling your team to work oneself to death for someone else..."
In this tundra, Patriot's Infected Guerrillas were not the only ones. Over a dozen completely different teams roamed the wastes. Some fought for the Infected just like Patriot, while others were simply Infected—or even non-Infected—who survived by plundering the Gendarmerie, including some deserters from the regular army.
The only ironclad law among the guerrillas here was that robbing villagers was forbidden. Those who did so were not guerrillas, but bandits, and would be hunted down by the other units.
This team, calling themselves "Grizzly," was one of them. Their elite core consisted of men who couldn't stand the conduct of the Third Army Group and ran away, relying on their skills to scrape a living on the snowy plains.
"Wait, Boss! Those three people are really strange! They look like soldiers based on their bearing, but I can't tell where those uniforms are from!"
A Lupo on lookout duty handed the binoculars to his boss. Grizzly froze when he heard those words, a bad premonition burrowing into his heart like a small insect.
"Give me those, let me see!"
Grizzly snatched the binoculars and looked in the direction his subordinate pointed. A thousand meters away, three massive figures were walking. They wore strange devices on their heads that didn't even expose their eyes, and their black military uniforms were unlike any Army Group he knew.
He had once been a soldier himself and had even served as a ceremonial guard due to his brawny stature, so he was intimately familiar with the uniforms of the major Army Groups. But this set... he couldn't recognize it at all!
At that moment, the three figures looked up at him. Even from such a vast distance, that single glance made Grizzly feel nothing but terror and despair.
"Run... start running! Leave the supplies, everyone get in the vehicles, escape now!"
The man squeezed these words out of his throat with all his might. Having spoken, he scrambled into the driver's seat of the transport truck like he was running for his life, urged the driver to floor it, and curled himself into a ball.
Everyone was startled by this sudden turn of events, but they weren't stupid. They knew something terrible had happened for their boss to react this way.
"Run, run, run, run, run!"
The driver looked at his boss, who was currently trembling like a frightened Itra (Caster), and panic surged in his heart! Their boss had always projected a "tough guy" image, yet he was terrified from this far away. The newcomers had to be someone extraordinary.
The once-cheerful group now resembled stray dogs. As they fled madly, some even tried to sabotage the vehicles near them so they wouldn't be the ones left behind.
I don't know who they are, but I just need to run faster than you. Everyone embraced this thought in a grim race for survival.
But as they fled, black spikes erupted from the ground, piercing through all the vehicles. The strikes neutralized the transports' mobility without taking a single life.
As the guerrilla members scrambled out of the wrecks in a panic, they found the three black-clad figures—who had been so far away just moments ago—standing directly in front of them.
"Hiss—ha—hiss—ha—"
In the dead silence, even the sound of their breathing was terrifying.