Imperial Army makes its move 1

It had been a few days since Mago split up his brigade and started to move deeper into the jungle. He was now closing in on the Beast tribe's territory. So far, he and his men hadn't seen any members of the tribe. Just a few hours ago had Mago gotten word from the other regiments that they were all set.

Claude and his men had dug out a wide trench that allowed the blocked river that was about to overflow to flow in a new direction, away from the areas the different tribes lived in. They were now barricading the area around the newly built dam so that it would be easier to defend if, or rather when, attacked. It was just a matter of time before the tribes would locate the dammed-up area and launch an attack in order to allow the river to flow freely through their territories once more.

Azeth and his troops were lying in wait a few kilometers away from the dam, having set different types of traps in the river's vicinity in the path that the tribal men would most likely take in order to get to the river. They had dug out pitfalls and set up different arrays and runes that would activate the moment they infused some mana into them. The mages could activate the traps while being a few hundred meters away from them, so it helped them to avoid being detected.

After hearing that the others were ready, Mago had advanced towards the Beast tribe's territory. He hadn't wanted to alert them to their presence before in order to prevent their plans upriver from being found out by the tribe. Besides now, with the river drying up, the tribe would be too busy to figure out what was causing the "draught" to notice him and his men infiltrating their lands making it much easier for Mago.

So now Mago and his men were advancing fast towards the settlements marked on the map. The army's scouts had managed to find out a few villages and a larger settlement that was close to resembling a backward city. Scouting the city and the areas around it and finding out what moves the tribe was making was Mago's task.

Mago was at the front leading his troops. With his cyan core cultivation, his senses were much sharper than the others, so if they came across anyone, he would most likely notice the other party before they could notice him and the others.

After a few hours of swiftly moving through the dense vegetation, Mago and his men stopped at a slightly larger clearing.

"Alright, we will soon step inside the Beast tribe's lands. From now on we will try to move as carefully as possible, leaving no trace of our existence here. There will be no one here to help us if we get caught. The army is a week's march from here, so we are quite literally here on our own. So make no unnecessary noises or movements.", Mago commanded while looking at the men around him.

Everyone nodded, not daring to make a sound in front of the young but fierce Captain.

"Good. And god forbid if you get seen, kill all the witnesses. I don't care if they are a man, woman, elderly, or just a child, no one, I repeat NO ONE is allowed to live to tell the tale.", Mago continued with a stony expression.

This caused many of the men to frown and have a slightly disturbed expression, but they knew that if someone saw them, even a child, and told anyone in the nearby villages, they would be instantly hunted down. In the end, all of them nodded once more.

Mago saw their expressions and slightly sighed. While he found the thought of killing an innocent woman or child repulsive and degrading, he couldn't allow anything to endanger the lives of his men.

After making sure that everyone knew what to do, Mago and his men started to slowly move forward. The day went by uneventfully; they went unnoticed and set up camp twenty kilometers away from the first and closest village marked on the map.

The sun had already set, and the jungle was completely dark, clouds blocked out the moon and stars. Mago didn't allow anyone to start a fire or light up torches, so some of the men were fumbling and cursing while trying to set up their tents which they had kept inside some storage pouches. The storage pouches were enchanted with space magic and allowed the user to store their things inside. The regular pouches issued by the army had ten cubic meters of space inside them.

Others had decided to eat first and were quietly whispering to themselves how the cold stew tasted like dog food.

Mago sent out some of the scouts towards the nearby village to see if there was any abnormal activity. In the cover of the night, without the moon shining brightly, it was unlikely that the scouts would be noticed, so the weather was very ideal. Having finished dealing with all matters for the day, Mago started to happily eat his own portion of the stew. But very quickly his mood soured.

'This tastes like crap.' he grumbled but didn't show any dissatisfaction outside because he knew that the men would further complain if they saw him agree with them. They were just like kids in that regard. Quickly forcing down the stew, Mago finished eating and went to his tent to sleep.

The next morning the scouts returned and reported that the men in the village were sent out actively to patrol around, but otherwise there were no signs of anything unusual so Mago and his men moved out towards the next village.

In this manner, a few days went by. They would stealthily move through the jungle during the day and every time Mago sensed someone near them, they would hide or take a roundabout way to avoid running into the other party. Then they would set up camp in the evening, while the scouts would sneak to the villages during the night. Things were going smoothly and Mago was not complaining. If things kept going on like this, he could return in less than a week and none of the tribes would know that he was even there.

But sadly, all good things must come to an end.

It was the fifth day since Mago and his men had started to scout the nearby villages, and they were two days away from the city-like establishment of the Beast tribe. Things had gone smoothly until Mago sensed a group of thirty people rapidly advancing in his direction.

'Did we get spotted? But how? We made sure to not leave any obvious marks and even made fake trails in case someone found our tracks.' Mago pondered. He knew that completely erasing the presence of a two hundred strong troop was impossible, but he was confident that with all the measures he had taken they wouldn't be caught so easily, especially since they hadn't run across anyone. But even then, sending out only thirty people that weren't even trying to mask their presence was pure foolishness.

'Are we really just unlucky to come across them? Once over thirty people go suddenly missing the village, they are from will send out people to search for them and when they are found they will also see our tracks and know that there are enemies in their lands. After this, we need to speed things up.' Mago contemplated.

Pushing his thoughts aside, Mago quickly signaled his men to get into positions and be ready to attack the enemies that were quickly closing in. After a few minutes of waiting could he and his men hear the sound of bushes rustling and something running towards them while some faint shouts came from further ahead. Soon enough a wild boar stormed through the bushes and upon seeing Mago and his men, went the boar's eyes wide and it quickly pulled to a stop.

"Oink!?", let out the startled boar.

'SHUT UP YOU STUPID PIG!' screamed everyone in their minds.

Mago couldn't believe how unlucky they were. He quickly realized that the men closing in were probably a group of hunters chasing after this damn walking soon-to-be juicy plate of bacon and that the pig had been escaping in their direction. If Mago and his troops hadn't instantly hidden and the boar had realized that other humans were in the direction it was going, it would have probably ran somewhere else.

'Too late to regret it now' lamented Mago while hearing the rustling of leaves which was getting closer and closer.

Hearing the sound behind it, the boar glanced around and bolted towards nearby bushes.

Soon enough the hunters arrived, and Mago and his men instantly charged at them. What ensued was a one-sided slaughter. The hunters hadn't noticed Mago and his men and were completely unprepared. Even if they were prepared, there wasn't much a group of thirty could do against a company of two hundred.

After the small skirmish was over, Mago looked around. No one had gotten hurt, and if they had, he would have personally seen that they would be thoroughly "educated" once they got back to the army.

"Quickly hide the bodies, we need to speed up.", Mago commanded. It would take at most two days before someone would track down the hunters and see the traces of Mago and his regiment. Although Mago knew they were in a hurry, he still had half a mind to go and kill the damn boar that had already escaped.