The War Room Part 2

The room was silent no one spoke unnecessarily for they all knew it was time to get serious. Nisus Bel sat at the head of the table, Velar Kadyn sat in a seat to his right, while Emma Von Cooler didn't bother sitting at all she stood on Nisus's left hand side. Nisus did a quick once over everyone at the table and saw a few branch managers missing. Nisus wasn't bothered by that fact because it didn't matter if they were their or not. As per the agreement they just need to provide the minimum number of manpower needed along with the necessary funding, and resources needed in defense of the city along with a few other things.

After Nisus looked around he finally spoke to everyone at the table, "Greetings everyone, while it is nice seeing all your faces gathered in one place the gravity of this matter requires me to skip all pleasantries and get down to business".

No one at the table had a problem with that meetings have a tendency to be overly long and boring anyway even if its one about their battle tactics on how to defend the city. Everyone at the table has gone through the same thing, so many times their fed up with it and welcome anything that would cut the time down even if it's by a second.

Since everyone had a mutual understanding Nisus continued, "As you, all know this war that decides the fate of Delmar City isn't a normal one. For us, it is a battle of attribution while for the enemy every second matters. Since we illegally claimed it while within the Solaris Kingdom we are subject to many restraints. Some of which as you know entails that we can not claim territory outside of the borders of Delmar City along with not being able to attack any clan that is associated with the Solaris Kingdom or land governed by a noble, ... Ect.

The restraints also include that we also can not call for aid from the Starling Empire (Magi Empire). Though it's not like they would have given it for a small clan war it limits us nonetheless in the face of an enemy that isn't subject to any of that. While many of the restraints are lifted during wartime it doesn't change the fact that we are at a disadvantage.

The only way for us to overcome that disadvantage is to use the loopholes in the deal we brokered with the Solaris Kingdom. Since our city not only has to defend against the might of not only every clan that those dark elves have been able to gather but along with whatever aid the Solaris Kingdom is willing to send we have a time restraint of 3 years before the war is contracted to end.

That allows us to technically ignore every battle and wait for the time to be up but as you all know 3 years is simply too long, so we have to aim to end the war sooner by crippling them financially making it to expensive for them to continued the war. General Emma Von Cooler will explain how we will go about crippling Solaris Kingdoms forces but before that Velar will provide us all a brief report on a few important topics.

With that said, Nisus stopped speaking to allow Velar Kadyn to have a few words. Velar spoke eloquently as he addressed a few important subjects.

"After the sudden attack from the rogue blood mage known as Minerva The Crimson Cloud our forces took a bit of a hit. Her attack killed 4 rank 3 combatants, 50 people at rank 2, over 300 soldiers at the realm of rank 1, and is estimated to have killed over 10,000 citizens. We are still calculating the actual amount. Memorial Wall of which sustained no damage was able to significantly reduce the range of her attack if it didn't the death toll would be much higher.

While the losses aren't that high when compared to the force of 500,000 soldiers that we have active her excluding the reserve unit of course. The loss of those rank 3 combatants is a devastating blow to us. Our army is mostly comprised of over 450,000 rank 1 soldiers the rest of which is mostly just rank 2 soldiers. Through the combination of all our clan's aid, we could only scrounge up a total of 50 rank 3 combatants a number which has now become 46. But through my efforts, we were able to procure a few wondering magi and cultivators willing to lend us a hand bringing the combined total of rank 3 combatants up to 76.

Because of our world's continued war against that universal level civilization, our clans are extremely limited in what kind of aid they can send and that stands true for the Solaris Kingdom as well".

Universal level civilizations are peak level civilization's they have full control over thousand of galaxies, can cross vast distances near instantly, and can harness power from stars, black holes, even from other dimensions. Theotera has encountered 2 such civilizations in its existence. They completely obliterated one of them and are in the process of destroying the second one they happened to encounter. The war has been a long and bloody one. During the war, legendary people have continuously been born and fallen. Even demigods have fallen fighting in the war which speaks volumes about the might of the civilization its self.

"Apart from that, there has been an increase in suspicious activity inside the city. Ever since the refugee we brought in the amount of graffiti inside the city has significantly risen. After a thorough inspection, it was discovered that the graffiti was harmless nor did any of it have any religious meaning or resemblance. But because I could not rule out spies from the Solaris Kingdom amongst the refugee I had all of them continuously monitored. The monitoring has brought to light a few suspicious people, but one of which stood out from all the other. That Person's name is Eliot Row.

He is a nobleman with no cultivation of any kind and is currently a refugee in the city. Ever since he arrived here he hasn't done much besides getting into a heated conflict with a reserve unit member by the name of Desmond Gillies. But ever since then that man has been nearly untrackable. He pops around the city and leaves just as quickly as he arrived. During our monitoring of him, we found him conversing friendly with a suspected high ranking purifier member. This leads us to assume that he is one himself or is merely acting as a middle man".

Mason was listening to Velar's report and was already getting bored of it. He was fully focused when Velar spoke about the general makeup of the army but quickly lost interest the moment Velar went on about a potential nobody.

"Sorry for interrupting you Velar, but what has this Eliot person done to warrant this much attention? I can think of dozens of ways that a mortal with enough knowledge in magic can escape your detection methods even if they have no cultivation. But I still would make them enemy number one just for that".

Velar didn't hold anything against Mason for his questions he simply answered to the best of his ability.

"The reason this man is the most suspicious to me is because of the say he disappears is strangely similar to that of a known member of Secret Visage. We have absolutely no proof that even remotely says that their connected in any way but I can not dismiss such a thing either"

Mason didn't bother asking another question after that. Anything even remotely connected to Secret Visage should be given top priority. No one ever knows what their planning and whatever they have planned has never been good. Every member of Secret Visage are nothing but agents of chaos. An order comprised of the worst kind of filth one can currently find in the world.

After settling Mason's question Velar continued on about a few other general topics about ammunition, food supplies, daily yield, weapon production, medical aid, reimbursement for loss of life, damage to property, ... ect. Once he finished he handed things over to Emma Von Cooler.

Emma's cute appearance and adorable voice was overshadowed by the strong aura she emitted. With a wave of her hand, a large hologram appeared in front of everyone. It showed the outline of Delmar City, its defense, along with the current position of every ally moving in real time. The green dots indicating allies were like a million marching ants. A number that was currently overshadowed by the overwhelming number of red dots in the forest.

"As everyone can see her outside of the city a horde of magical beasts. While we are unsure of the exact number it is currently estimated to be 10 million and that number is projected to steadily increase as time goes by. Solaris is attempting to use those wild beasts as cannon fodder in controlled waves to control the flow of the war. Which is fine but the current tactic their using is strange, but simplistic which makes me worrisome".

"And why is that General Emma?" Allegra uttered while softly cackling.

"That's because the way their going about attacking is completely different than usual. This is is the first time that they have been, so direct when sieging the city, but that's not what's weird. What's strange is that their only attacking the south side of the city while completely ignoring everything else. They're not even trying to spread out our manpower as thin as possible".

"The war has just started we can't be too sure about any of their plans as is, so this could also just be a clear display of their lack of control in coordinating that many beasts all at once". Uttered Delphin as she gave her own take on the situation.

Emma gave a light nod in agreement with Delphin, "while that may be true it might not while forcing a monster tide at this scale isn't easy with their resource they should be able to do more than force them to attack in a straight line, so I can not be truly certain about that.

Either way that massive number of creatures is a problem that needs to be taken care of quickly. The tide won't be able to break down our defense, but because of them I also can't send out any large teams to attack the enemies lurking nearby. A small group might be able to sneak past all those creatures and provide us with a much needed update on our enemy's position. But that team might also get killed by the swarm of magical beasts before they could accomplish anything. We tried sending out drones, but every drone that we've sent out was destroyed before it could transmit back anything substantial. Allowing us no choice but to send out people.

We need an exact confirmation on our enemy's position before we can enact the first stage of our plan which is the release of the dark matter particles. Once the dark matter is released it will create a dense cloud that will obscure everyone's vision who enters it and it will sever all enemy communication within a 1000 mile area around the city. The dark matter will also interfere with the space around it making things like teleportation impossible.

This will not only help with cutting off enemy supply lines, but it will also reduce the threat of Nester Vargas personally interfering, provide cover for when we assault the enemy units, and make a quick retreat much more difficult. The dark matter cloud will only last about 6 months before it dissipates, but our goal is mostly to buy time as we whittle down the enemy, so that's fine. As long as we can stretch the battle out long enough or cause enough financial damage we win.

I will organize a team that has good scouting abilities and will send them out in a few days. While there gathering intelligence I need as many people as possible to clear out those magical beasts. The grade 4 guardian statues can make short work of those beasts, but they can't be used infinitely and should be saved for when a real threat arrives. Once the magical beasts are dealt with I will release the dark matter.

As for the ones who launch the first assault I believe that honor should go to The Order Of Peth since they have, so many highly skilled and powerful members at their disposal. Everyone in the room glanced over at Revon who was quite pleased with being the first group sent out into battle.

"I'm sure everyone in my clan will be thrilled with the news. If we're lucky then maybe we all may be able to experience a new sensation of pain".

The Order Of Peth is largely comprised of people who enjoy pain their tolerance for it is shockingly high. While pain weakens others it gives their members strength in an actual sense. The Order Of Peth found a way to harness pain and turn it into power a power that is displayed through their tattoos that cover their bodies. Only full fledge members possess those tattoos which are not easily obtained for most. A trial of pain is required to obtain those tattoo a trial that not many survive. The trial becomes significantly harder to pass the higher rank someone is that's why most people who tend to join The Order Of Peth as apprentices or when there rank 1.

Everyone in the room had a knowing look on there face because the members from The Order Of Peth love for punishment was so world renown.

"I'm sure your clan won't let us down". Uttered General Emma who didn't give further thought to Revon's love for pain.

"Let's move on then shall we. For the person who will lead the combat medics I see no better person then Allegra".

Allegra thought about her assigned position for a moment before she asked, "am I allowed to experiment on those that I treat".

Emma gave a tired sigh before she replied, "only if that person gives their consent of which you haven't forced out of them".

Allegra thought for a moment before she replied back, "That's doable I accept".

"Hay, since we can make requests can I have authority over one of the guardians". The sudden requests came from Mason who received a unanimous answer from both Emma and Nisus.

"NO!".

"I have the highest authority in the city and while I could technically give you control over 1 of the guardian statues I won't. I already know what you want to do with it and I won't have something that expensive destroyed just because you want a power boost. Use that special ability of yours on something else".

Nisus wasn't annoyed by Mason's requests, but it did sound like it because of how blunt he was when he spoke.

"Come on have a heart Nisus you don't need that kind of power boost because you can practically wipe out their entire army by yourself. Look at me and my flimsy mechanical arms I'm a weak broken man can't you see that I need all the help that I can get".

"I seem to remember you being able to endure the combined might of hundreds of opponents all at once what weak about that".

"Ya, but what that compared to you, you swat people at the same level as you like flies. We could win this war within a month if we just send you at all of them".

While a lot of people don't want to believe it, it was true Nisus Bel was too strong. Even people at the same level had trouble with him because Nisus's abilities have forced a standard on everyone. A standard of which that someone doesn't meet means instant death.

"While you words flatter me I'm not all powerful besides I have to stay here. The moment I step out to fight Nester Vargas will come to intercept me and the same applies to him if he suddenly pops up on the battlefield. If you feeling light on weaponry go raid the armory we can easily rebuild what you take anyway".

Mason was happy that his amazing conversational skills got him exactly what he wanted with little effort. Since Mason was a mechanical adept his combat abilities were primarily related to his equipment. This understandably can become very expensive to manage especially at his level, so he has to always find ways to stick other people with the bill whenever he can.

The war meeting continued onwards after that much needed to be discussed and even more needed to get done. For the welfare of the city and their own interests, everyone endured the long process ahead.