HUMAN TRIBULATION

Three months, that was the time needed for an envoy from the Human Empire, Romana, to arrive in Acadria where the border between the human continent and the Demon Empire was located. The imperial envoy was called Dmitri Dimitrios, from the noble lineage of Partos, one of the great human warriors from the racial war in that era. As an envoy duly appointed by the Imperial Majesty, the Sun of the Romana, god's avatar, he was naturally proud and highly enthused.

This opportunity was given to him by their elders sitting in the position close to his imperial majesty. As such, even though he was a fat-ass, incorrigible, and insufferable, sorry excuse for a human, he was respected, and no one voiced out their concern regarding his extracurricular activities. That was, until he arrived in Acadria.

SLAP!

"Gasp!"

The audience, the commoners, the nobles, and officials of Acadria were all in shock as they traced the hand that was slightly lifted after the crisp sound of a face being slapped reverberated in the square where the guests were received publicly. At the base of that arm, was the curvaceous body of a pink-haired royal who finally had nothing to hide after the favor of the Hero fell on her. It was Giselle vi Acadria.

The timid and mostly silent princess within the palace known by the nobility as such, suddenly slapped the envoy from Romana, this was scandalous to the highest degree! However, to the commoners, Giselle's image was impeccable. So, they gasped, but they almost instantly assumed that it was the fat man's fault that he got hit!

"W-W-W-What madness is this?! This witc--!"

"I advise you to keep your mouth shut, envoy, else, whether you be the envoy of god himself, no one will be able to save you from my wrath."

"Tch! How dare you make threats to this imperial envoy! Guards! Arrest this bitch and whip her 100 times for me!"

"Hah!"

The guards that followed the imperial envoy were obviously strong and stout. They were imposing in their stature and their armor and weaponry were top-notch just from the design and the symmetry of it. And their confidence was through the roof as imperial soldiers. When facing these backwards kingdom's soldiers, they were obviously not going to be outdone.

At least, that was what they originally thought when suddenly, they couldn't move an inch.

"What's going… on?!"

The imperial guards realized that it wasn't because they themselves couldn't move but that their bodies, forged in battle, life, and death, felt that if they dared to take a single step further, they would cease to have the life they treasure so much!

"How could this be?!" they silently protested in their hearts.

Noticing this sudden halt in their movements, Dmitri Dmitrios roared in anger at the embarrassment he was further being given. It was a slap to his face that his guards did not even try to fight for the honor that had just been tarnished, his honor!

"What are you imperial guards doing?! Are you in cahoots with these backwater savages?! Are you? Answer me!"

He was almost hysterical. However, the imperial guards still refused to take one step closer to Giselle. Instead, they even slowly slid back to their initial positions behind the envoy whose life they had to protect.

"No thanks, man. I still want to return to the Empire to enjoy the suckling on the breasts of my lover. I can't die for something so easily lost and impossibly gained as honor." They all thought. And then, they started to survey their surroundings, only to find that there were no other soldiers but a group of elderlies and men and women in commoner clothes that looked at them as if they were meals on a silver platter.

"How could civilians have such intense, and bloodlust-filled gazes?!" the imperial guards reeled back in shock.

In fact, they were the veterans that Caltec had just reported to Clay as successful recipients of the latest pills that Clay developed to restore those who were previously incapacitated in battle and had to retire early. Through Clay's contributions, the capital city, Acadrisis, became a hiding place for reserved forces that simply would dominate in any battlefield.

That was because Clay's pills not only restored use of their limbs and healed hidden injuries, but also forcefully unclogged their meridians and unlocked their potentials. As an extra effect, some who were already greying started to regress to their youthful peak while those who truly should be bedridden were returned to their middle-aged selves. This was miraculous as far as they were concerned. Almost godlike. With Clay's contributions for the past three months, even the aftercare expenses for the soldiers that were sacrificed previously should have been recouped and more!

Dmitri was furious, he started hitting the guards' armor and kicked them while yelling at them. He could do this because his attacks were like the weak pecking of birds or insect bites to these strong imperial soldiers.

"Now then. If you would please, imperial envoy, Dmitri Dmitrios, welcome to Acadria. I am Princess Giselle vi Acadria, and I welcome you to our kingdom. His majesty will be with you shortly. In the meantime, we shall present you with a royal welcome befitting the envoy's great status."

Giselle said in monotone. She really couldn't be bothered with this envoy. She couldn't help but remember the reason why she slapped him silly. When they arrived, Giselle was already there waiting for them. However, not long after the envoy, Dmitri's eyes landed on her, he immediately used Analyze on her, which she instantly found out about. As the distance between them was a bit far, Giselle was not able to stop the other from executing his whim. And he was able to see Giselle's hidden sub-profession, Spatial Witch. Although his Analyze skill's level was high enough to see her sub-profession, but it couldn't peer through the level. However, Giselle did not know this. Out of fear of being exposed, she slapped him hard after she came close enough. And the rest was history.

"Just remembering it infuriates me. Should I ask Lord Clay for a favor later, maybe there's medicine to make him forget about me entirely." She thought sinisterly.

Seeing as no one gave him heed, Dmitri Dmitrios stopped throwing a tantrum and conducted himself like nothing happened after entering the palace. That was etiquette at a high-level acquired by nobles who grow up in well-sheltered environments. In fact, Giselle also had this skill. To be able to compose oneself in the midst of emotional upheaval. Such was the elegance and beauty of Etiquette.

Soon after Giselle left the envoy party, Dmitri Dmitrios started harassing the entertainers that were prepared for him. In the end, the scene turned chaotic enough for soldiers to intervene. There was no blood fortunately, so they were let off with a warning. After all, even if they were imperial envoys, if they crossed the kingdom's rules, they would still be under the mercy of the king.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! That witch! How dare she slap me in public! If I don't get my vengeance, I won't be Dmitri!"

The imperial guards clicked their tongues in their hearts as they heard the fat-ass swear to exact vengeance.

"Vengeance, we can't even face the commoners outside the palace, what do you think there are in the palace? Straw dolls?"

The imperial guards couldn't help but scold the envoy in their hearts like this.

Meanwhile, in different parts of Alleucanth, different squads of 'Horses' were deployed. In the air above their location, was an invisible aircraft jointly designed to mimic a stealth fighter's features through magic engineering and alchemy. Through Clay's cooperation with the kingdom's magic engineers, they were able to construct and produce stealth crafts that could ferry troops in and out of enemy territories as quickly as possible without being detected.

"This is Alpha Team, commencing hunting operation, do you copy, over."

"Alpha Team, this is Griffin Base, proceed as planned. Keep communications open for the mission's duration. Over."

"Copy that, Griffin Base."

Sunshine who led a squad of elite shadow guards fully prepared before commencing their operation. The name of the operation was Human Tribulation. The general objective of this operation is to assassinate important figures from the 5 other races that conspired against the human race previously. With technological effects, through the utilization of alchemy and magic engineering, their stealth capabilities were significantly enhanced to the point of even deceiving Clay's senses for a few instances.

This elite company of shadow guards were personally trained by Sunshine in cooperation with Clay as the target. They needed to practice with someone whose senses were so acute that any slight scent, sound, vibration in the air and on the ground, even breathing, could be perceived. They trained in the evenings when Clay would go to rest from a day's hard work of research and personal training.

It was Gracius who came up with this idea after refining Clay's idea of taking over the Empire previously. This time however, it was a long-term plan. First phase of the plan was to destabilize the ruling of the target race's governance by eliminating key figures silently. Although most of them would be replaced, at least, their replacement would still take some time to adjust. This should give the humans enough time to develop further with Clay at the helm.

To achieve this, they needed this operation to work.

"Check your gears. We're going in in five. Remember men either don't get caught or don't leave any evidence that could be traced back to us, understood?"

"Hah!"

"Let's go!"

Soon, in different parts of Alleucanth, multiple squads executed their plans and brilliantly succeeded for the first time. Half a month after, they succeeded again on their second operation with some hiccups. However, as if the race's governments were already wary of their sneak attacks, they already adapted and prepared to intercept the squad of 'horses' however, they waited and waited for their arrival only to find out that the attacks had already stopped. This frustrated them greatly, the other races. And through the Human Tribulation operation, Clay and humanity bought more time for their development. Even though the pressure against humans was great, it was actually the Human Empire, Romana, that felt the brunt of the pressure, not Acadria.

In fact, that was the reason why they sent an envoy to Acadria at that time. They wanted to have an explanation and to transfer the culprit for this over to them for interrogation.

Of course, Gracius vi Acadria would never allow that to happen. If they allowed Aron von Dyruth to be taken into Imperial custody, that would certainly solidify the other party's next move of cutting off their tail and abandoning Acadria as a traitorous kingdom of the human side.

And with the Human Tribulation operation's overreaching effect, the other races were wary of the or neighbors. After all, they knew that the humans couldn't do something like this without help, if indeed it was them. However, the probability of that was close to nil in their hearts. The hero had recently been summoned. They would believe that if it were already years after the hero established himself on Alleucanth.

Like this, after periods of lull, a few weeks or even months in between each assassination attempt and their successes, the coalition only further solidified their suspicions against each other.

Meanwhile, Clay was without doubt solidifying, enhancing, and innovating on the technologies, techniques, and military advancements of Acadria making it a kingdom that could not easily be toppled over. However, this was still yet to come.

Currently, Clay was still perfecting his techniques and skills using his talents and hidden powers.

[Clay]

[Profession: Hero Lv.1 > Lv.999]

[Sub-Profession: Alchemy Master Lv.1 > Lv.999]

[Class: Dimensional Traveler]

[Title: Hero | Summoned One | Natural Enemy – Ferocious Beastsnew | Slaughterernew | Blood-soaked Onenew]

[Attributes – STR: 999 | DEX: 999 | INT: 999]

[Blessing(s) – Status Lv.MAX]

[Condition: Optimal]

After a brief look at his Status Window, Clay breathed a sigh. Some skills and techniques couldn't be translated as skills in this world even with the blessing of a god.

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