Part of the reason for this was the size of the convoy. It was one thing for a nimble, flexible, and fast Martial Apprentices to travel the Serevian Plateau. It was entirely another thing for large convoys such as the Kandrian Empire's Serevian Dungeon team to travel the Serevian Plateau.
The biggest difference was the size which made them extremely loud and conspicuous. On top of their conspicuity, their inability to easily and swiftly retreat and disengage from any conflict that may arise made their position that much more vulnerable. Martial Apprentices often simply retreated or escaped in the face of grave danger.
But in this case, they couldn't.
Rui was also a bit worried. He did not think he himself was in any particular danger of dying. But he certainly did worry about the convoy. The Serevian Plateau had a large amount of Apprentice-level fauna and flora. The individual prowess of the creatures was not a problem, the problem was the sheer number of the creatures that the Serevian Plateau held. They were at a numbers disadvantage.
Of course, the Ministry of Environment and Ecology as well as the military weren't stupid. They were aware of the same problem as well. In addition to the forty-eight high-grade Martial Apprentices that were protecting the dungeon team convoy, there were the defensive carriages that were capable of pulling their own weight. The many defensive carriages that formed their own parameters protecting the core of the dungeon team inside all began buzzing and humming. From atop the large and heavy defensive armored carriages emerged large long structures that eerily resembled a railgun or a canon. Rui felt a sense of danger from the structures that were clearly weapons.
Yet he felt more confident. The sheer prowess of their convoy was quite high. Even if they were attacked, whoever attacked them would be quite sorry for ever having done so.
Even if a large wave of Apprentice-level creatures happened upon them, they would certainly be able to repel them away with ease.
Another major problem for the dungeon team convoy was traveling itself. The Serevian Plateau didn't have the wide space needed for a wide convoy of this nature to be able to travel unperturbed while still maintaining the necessary formation.
However, this had also been accounted for. The carriages at the very forefront of the convoy were equipped with path-clearing devices and technology that cleared away any trees that obstructed the path of the convoy, swiftly.
Yet, this also hindered their path considerably. They needed extra time because of all the delays that the clearing of the path was causing.
Their journey was not unhindered, either.
"Pack of eight Frost Wolves coming from nine o clock!" Rui shouted as his Seismic Mapping recognized the signature of the seismic radiation.
The Martial Artists around Rui immediately turned toward the direction that Rui had indicated their arrival to be from. The canons of the armored defense carriages turned in the direction that Rui had announced they were coming from.
Soon, they came.
Seven wolves appeared, sprinting toward them at an incredible pace.
Rui, Fiona, and several other Martial Apprentices launched long-range attacks toward the wolves as the canons fired.
BAM BAM BAM!
Multiple attacks crashed into the wolves as they whimpered in pain. The attacks of high-grade Martial Apprentices and the many canons atop the armored carriages were overwhelming.
Most of the wolves died while the remaining ran away, in fear for their life.
Rui sighed in relief as he glanced at the canons atop the defensive armored carriages with an impressed expression. This was his first time witnessing esoteric technology in combat. As expected, it was not weak. The sheer speed and power of the projectiles launched were quite impressive and dangerous even to Martial Apprentices. Only Martial Apprentices of the high grades could deal with them. Martial Apprentices of the low grades would likely be unable to dodge it due to the speed and unable to withstand it due to the power.
Rui could only think of the conflict between Martial Artists and sovereign states when he saw what the canons were capable of. He hadn't forgotten that the only way the Kandrian Royal Family was competitive with the Martial Union was through their esoteric technology. The Royal Family invested in esoteric technology to the same degree the Martial Union invested in Martial Art. Its technological capabilities were supposed to allow it to be a threat to the Martial Union, and Rui was starting to see how. If the Royal Family and the Royal army possessed weapons of such power and much greater, then that alone would be a threat to the Martial Union.
Thankfully, canons like these weren't nimble and flexible like Martial Apprentices were. They were also a permanent money drain proportional to the firepower they outputted whereas Martial Artists were not nearly as expensive to maintain.
However, the Kandrian Royal Family wasn't just limited to weapons such as these. They had various other technological solutions that allowed them to be quite competitive with Martial Artists. This included other weapon technologies outside of mere canons.
Rui recalled what Julian had told him a long time ago. One of the main ways the Kandrian Royal Army kept up with the Martial Union was through temporary augmentation potions. These were potions that could temporarily augment the consumer of the potion significantly, granting them superhuman physical and mental parameters. These potions allowed ordinary humans to fight Martial Artists on an even footing, at least until the effects of the potions wore off. This way, even though the Royal Family had far fewer Martial Artists than the Martial Union, they had ways of allowing ordinary soldiers to fight with Martial Artists.
('I wonder if we'll see any of those in this dungeon team.') Rui wondered. It was quite plausible that they would. After all, if it was one of the core ways by which the Royal Family and the Royal Army stayed relevant, then there was a pretty good chance he would see it, one way or another.
