716 Bruno
"You didn't have to go all the way after them like that," when I returned, Angelica mistook my actions as me losing control over myself during the fight.
She didn't know the real reason behind me doing this.
"I did it on purpose," I said while looking at the grand army outside, "like this we have an army ready to take over your spot."
"Take over mine?!!" she was taken aback, "what for? I didn't do anything wrong! I didn't commit any grave mistake! Don't punish me like these two idiots!"
I realised that what I did to Alex and Leo got spread already between my generals. I inwardly laughed at her scared face. "It's not like what you thought. I just need your help."
"Help? For what?"
"To do what you were doing before," I shrugged, "receiving new races and humans, divide them according to their talents, and let them start working.".
"Ah, that old boring task," she rolled her eyes, "can't you leave me here instead? I can recommend lots of good people from my army."
"Then they will rise up in ranks and be a real power in the future," I shrugged, "and you will only be a normal general, even though you might get demoted at one time and…"
"No, no I'll take the task," she hurriedly jumped and grabbed my arm, "if that's what you want."
"It's your decision to make," I shrugged my arm free from hers. This girl… She never dropped trying to seduce me with her fiery assets.
"It's also your decision to make," she said as if she was referring to something else. I got what she wanted to say, and just rolled my eyes.
"You know I have two girls already."
"One is missing, and the other is very cold to you… Ain't I the first girl out of these two to meet you? Doesn't that count?"
She said it in such a low tone and a look from her eyes, enough to melt down any block of ice.
I gulped, while forcibly looking away from her sexy look.
"Go and prepare your people," I said, "just select those who will help you. As for the army, I'll find someone to lead it."
I thought of the five elites under Lucias' lead. If each was given an army, then I'd have five more armies ready.
Of course that would require more work from me. I already had one warrior army ready, and now a new Hector army ready. I needed to control three more armies, build them from scratch.
This wouldn't be enough to sustain the fight here for one week. But at least it would be a good start. The Hectors I fought here were three armies, stationed ten miles apart.
That meant the Hectors were already turning this land into a tight fort. If I asked my forces to stay silent and remain seated in their posts, the Hectors would amass large armies before landing heavily over them.
It wouldn't be a good thing. Giving your enemy time to breathe was a big mistake without doubt.
"Ok," she nodded, and went down below to select her people.
Last time I saw her, she had almost tens of thousands of people to help her. But this time, she only selected no more than five thousand.
It seemed during this war, lots of good talents were lost. I looked at this and despite feeling bitter, I saw the bright side of this issue.
All my forces, and talents started from ground zero, with almost nothing at all. As they once managed to rebuild their forces, they could do it again for sure.
Even if they lost many of their people who they trained for a long time already, they still were left with many to help. And they could train more using the time difference in my second Earth.
As she was ready, I opened a portal and sent her towards the second Earth world. I briefed her about the current situation there, and told her about what she needed to do.
She had to lead forces there to clear the forests around the mountains, expand the building of cities and towns there towards the central region.
She also had to start screening the people there, and find different talents other than fighters. I didn't forget to ask her to start a separate group to start searching for those who fought in the betting world.
That world was once offered to me by the Bringold impact people. But it didn't mean I lost my ticket to it. I could always ask Silverlining for help.
But I needed to gather information first. I was sure that lots of my people there came from this world, or had experienced it once.
As she went over there with her small group of people, I waited for Lucias to send his five elites over.
They came in less than one hour. Comparing Lucias with them, they were much smaller and less terrifying. Comparing the normal soulers with them, they looked like real beasts.
The fog they emitted was silver blue in colour, dancing wildly as if they got a fire burning in their bodies or something.
"Lord," the five knelt on one knee while saluting me. They didn't come on board the same way Lucias used, but floated fast through the stairs as if they were flying.
"I'm going to let you lead armies from now on," I wasn't that much interested in knowing them better. If they were like Lucias, then I'd get to know them the moment I got them.
"One of you will lead this army here," I pointed at the army down below, "who will it be?"
"I will do it, my lord," one stepped forward faster than the others. "I'm Bruno, lord."
"Good, you will lead this army from now on," I waved at him to go down, "they will follow your lead. I hope you won't disappoint me."
"I won't, lord."
717 Getting Busy With The Eastern Battlefield
He moved down below and I gave the order to all the forces here using my horn. I didn't forget to give lots of signed contracts for Bruno to use when the families of the Hector's would arrive.
I also asked him to send them back to the capitol direction once they finished signing the contracts.
Then I started a spree of attacking many Hector armies, forming my own, and giving them for my other four souler elites to lead.
As for the million warrior army, I decided to leave them for Lucias to use. Lucias already lost more than one million soulers before. And now he got deprived of his elites.
So giving him these warriors would help him a lot.
"Follow me!"
As I finished doing all this, I gathered up one huge army of Hectors and led them deeper into my lands.
[Come to me] I sent this to the spearhead and Sara. The two were already free from any fights during the time being..
More than two days passed when the two generals came on board my chariot.
They led their armies here, but theirs paled in front of my new army here.
"Boss, are these for us?" the spearhead jumped to the edge of my chariot, seeing the grand army waiting down below. "Damn! They are all Hectors!"
"Do you have any objections to that?" I rolled my eyes when I heard what he said.
"No, not at all boss, they are all fierce fighters," he hurriedly shouted, "can I have some of them?"
"You are going to have one third of them," I said about my planning for this force, "as for the rest, Sara will get them."
"Thanks, boss," Sara copied the way the spearhead addressed me. She felt really touched by my arrangement, knowing that I did that on purpose to help her out.
"You two will handle the support role from now on," I said, "keep in touch with the frontline forces. Anyone under great pressure will need your help."
"Will we move out in two armies or one?" the spearhead asked.
"Sara will lead, and you will help her if needed," I said while giving Sara a meaningful look, "don't worry about anything. Just move forward the same way you always did."
"I see," she nodded, seemingly feeling a little embarrassed from her need for the spearhead to help.
She needed to improve in that regard. But this would be left for later times. Right now we had to adapt and deal with whatever we got.
"Don't overthink about it," I said to reassure her troubled heart and mind, "there will be a time when you'll handle everything on your own. But right now, it's safer to use the help of the spearhead."
"Don't worry, Sara, I'm not the weak useless dude from before," the spearhead used this moment to show off, as he started to narrate stories about how valiant he fought in recent battles.
I let him have his moment. In fact, even though he acted a little arrogant, he deserved such a moment.
He did great in the last fights. If not for him, many battles would have been won with terrible losses. Or even few might have been lost.
His ability was growing fierce, especially when he started to learn how to control it to cover up large areas or even specific regions.
"He is capable," after he finished telling his tales, I added, "despite his look, he is quite trustable."
"What about my looks?!!" He gave me a surprised gaze, one that made me laugh.
"It's nothing," Sara waved at him while laughing as well. She got what I meant, despite him being all in the dark.
"Boss, can I stay beside my girl?" As we agreed on the general plan, he dared to ask me this.
"If you want to end up like these two, then do it," I said in such a cold attitude while referring to Alex and Leo.
And as I expected, he got all the ins and outs of what happened to these two. Once he heard my threatening words, his eyes went all wide and he even retreated a step back.
"N… No boss, I don't want to end up like that stupid fellow," he hurriedly said, seemingly on the verge of crying, "forget what I said, boss. It was a misstep for me."
"I believe it won't be repeated," I slowly said, while giving him a serious gaze, "or else you won't see my punishment coming."
"Don't worry boss, I won't dare to disobey your orders," he got what made these two lose their ranks, "if I did, damn! Isabella won't forgive me for eternity!"
He was crying! That dude… He looked arrogant and mighty from the surface. But when dealing with his girl, he had such soft bones.
"Ok, go down there and start arranging your forces," I waved at them, "it's not time to chit chat like this. Go, and I'll keep helping for the time being."
"Ok, boss," the spearhead literally ran down the stairs as if his life depended on it.
"Will it be safe to have him with me?" as he went down, Sara got the chance to ask, "he seems quite fixed on himself and his girl."
"He won't disobey me or you," I got what she was fearing about, "or else he will be punished. He fears his girl more than fearing me."
"Hahaha! That Isabella… She did a great job taming such a wild fellow," Sara laughed then left after getting enough signed contracts for her and the spearhead.
As the two went down below and started working, I led my chariot back to the frontline.
I had to keep amassing Hectors from different battlefields. I arranged my time to stay in each place for five hours, working my magic and leaving the forces I gained for the general there to lead.
Hilary was still mad at me, so she asked for double the time. I couldn't say no to my girl, especially when she was still made from what I did with that relic site.
Sigh! I still couldn't get what was special about that site to be honest.
718 The Jumper's Brilliant Idea
Fang was mad at me as well. He said I lured him here and dropped all the promises I gave to him before.
I didn't defend myself much, and just worked there for ten hours and gave him lots of forces to lead.
Like this he settled down and didn't bring the topic up again.
He wanted to ask for a leave, but he had nothing else to do back home anyway. Besides, getting to rule over Hectors was a chance he wouldn't get this easily.
Besides he asked to get his army back with him when the war would be done. He even asked for his trusted subordinates to lead armies like these.
Of course I was in desperate need for more generals, but depending on his forces didn't seem quite right.
So I just agreed to let him take back his army with him after the end of this war, and didn't give a firm answer about the second request.
I simply said I'd think about it. If time came and I needed more generals, I'd seek for him..
I didn't directly refuse. Who knows what the future might possibly bring.
As I got done from the first round, the armies all got their supporting forces. The new blood would sustain them for a couple of days.
So I started another round which didn't take half the time I took at the first. I just kept jumping from one battlefront to another, adding a few troops to help before returning to the place of Sara and spearhead.
Both kept working on many battlefields. The Hectors didn't even give up with my interference. They kept sending out armies upon armies without pause.
I knew from Lily that this was their land, their home. So it felt like I was invading their world, not the opposite.
The armies they sent were mostly mediocre, with little experience in fighting. This was the only reason behind the consequent victories of my forces till now.
I got this feeling when they committed silly decisions, especially when fighting fierce tactic generals like the jumper and Hilary. Both were cunning, had vast experience in the apocalypse already, and fought many battles before.
In one instance, Hilary troops feigned retreat, creating a gap in her centre. The enemy didn't doubt this and started pushing at the weak point.
This allowed her forces to circle and entrap the enemies, ending up with such a smooth and sweet victory.
If they got experience, even for a little bit, they would have suspected the presence of a trap here.
That made me realise something. What the Hectors were aiming to do here was to exhaust my forces even further.
Their tactic of sending out forces like that, armies upon armies, not worrying even for a second about their losses, seemed a bit logical if one thought of this as a war to defend their homes.
But when I got the feeling that they were sending fodder, it hit me! They were trying their best to make my forces wary and tired. Then they'd come with the real army, using the real experts to crush my forces in one full swoop.
A word once said by Lily rang in my mind at this point. She once said that her race loved to fight fast and decisive battles.
When putting all the dots and linking them together, I got this hunch that this was just a setting for what was yet to come.
"Hmm… It's really hard dealing with such a mighty race," I felt how short I could do in front of such a mighty race.
Even in the case of such a hard fight, while I was invading their lands, they made sure to stay patient and even pull such a tactic on me.
And as I read through it, I had to change my tactic.
[Listen, find a group of towns and cities. Control them, and make sure to form a strong defensive line between the other armies as well]
[Aren't we going to keep pressing forward?]
[They are many but they aren't that strong. Even with the stat punishment and debuffs, they fare nothing to our forces!]
[What news did you get?]
All argued with me on such a weird and sudden decision, all but the jumper. That dude knew me quite well, or it was just his personality.
I didn't know, but each time I gave a decision out of an intel or a guess, he already saw through it and questioned me back.
[Just do as I say. Give your forces time to rest and recuperate. Keep defending while amass a large number of these weak forces around your places]
Even if I intended to just sit back and do nothing but defend, bidding time for my forces to rest, I planned to keep increasing the size of my forces with fresh blood.
The only thing that would stop these Hectors from coming at my armies would be the large disparity in numbers.
Or they might not get fazed with this. I frankly didn't know. But it felt nice to face them with much more forces than what we currently had.
If they did just as Lily said, then they were preparing an army that I had no power to resist.
[Won't you tell me what happened?] The jumper kept bothering me with such messages while I finally decided to tell him.
He was really annoying when it came to asking for answers. As I told him, he said it was really bad to let them have it their way.
[Why not form an elite force, go deep inside their territory and create chaos?]
[This is a nice idea, but as you can see we have everything but elites!]
[I'm not speaking about our armies]
[What do you mean then?]
[I mean you, me, and that arrogant kid with a scar over his face!]
[Only the three of us?!!] This time, his idea was so damn crazy that it even shocked me.
719 A Meeting
[Just listen, you alone are enough to amass a mighty army, right? You can turn any enemy into our forces]
[Then I should go alone!]
[Idiot! Who will lead that army then? You need capable generals, crazy folks who keep coming at their enemies with no regard for anything. I can do it. While the spearhead will negate that damn fierce curse we had]
[Hmm… In terms of fierceness, Sara wins]
[Sara isn't as crazy as me! Dude, I ruined two armies already! Did you forget?]
[Don't tell me you plan to ruin another army!]
[They aren't our boys, so don't get such empathetic towards them]
This dude… He planned to go all out and kill to his heart content. Don't tell me he was planning to repeat the same tragedy that happened to him once again.
Sigh! But when I thought about his plan, it felt nice. Especially if it was followed by a direct assault from our forces here..
[I will bring Sara as well]
[Do as you wish. But too many and we will get detected early on]
[How do you plan to let us sneak behind then?] I knew he wasn't crazy enough to suggest doing this on foot!
Just the size of this continent reminded me of the huge continent I crossed on my second Earth.
[I have a treasure that can help us sneak undetected even if we were directly watched by gods themselves!]
[And you kept such a beauty off me? How cold of you!]
[It's just a one time usage treasure]
[I don't buy it!]
[You will see its description when we meet. Now, we shall start]
[Not too soon. There are many things we need to handle first]
[What things?]
[It's your role to think of a plan to solve a problem, but my role is to think about the entire picture before making a single move]
[Ok wise man, let me know when and where are we going to meet]
I closed the chat with him and started to consider the general line up. I, Sara, the spearhead, and that jumper were going to be absent.
Out of the four of us, the jumper had an army at the frontline. So I had to find someone to take over his post.
Aside from the risk of this plan, the next step needed from the armies here must be handled by someone with vast experience in fighting.
We would cause a big stir and trouble at the Hector's backline. This was enough to divert the attention of the elite forces towards our direction. It was a golden chance for a full out attack from the forces here.
I thought of Hilary. She was good and had vast experience indeed, but she lacked that decisiveness and aggressiveness I needed in a fight.
[Come to me] as I decided, I sent this message out for the selected four, and one more.
I waited for a couple hours before everyone was here. The jumper, the spearhead, Hilary, Sara, and Isabella stood in front of me.
I decided to not let the armies led by Hilary alone. Isabella was a fierce girl as well. If not for her love of tacticians, she might be a tigress fierce enough to rival Sara.
"Do you have a sealing treasure?" I looked at the jumper before saying anything about this plan.
I knew we were closely watched by the angels. If this wasn't a plan depending upon the surprise element, I wouldn't have asked for such a thing.
If he didn't have one, I'd go and buy one bubble out of the market. But I was too lazy to do it myself.
"I have this," Hillary was the one to act. She took out a small bead as she added, "just throw it over the chariot and it will expand into a mighty tree, enveloping everything here and shielding us from any spying eyes."
"Nice treasure," the eyes of the jumper gleamed when he saw this finger size blue bead, "these are the treasures you should seek, not the poor things I have."
"Don't start this topic, or else you'll end up losing all of your good stuff," I rolled my eyes from this dude's shamelessness before taking the bead and placing it on the chariot's surface.
"You should be the one to do it as you own this chariot," the jumper said in explanation, telling me he knew exactly what this bead was.
*Rumble!*
Just by placing it over my chariot's surface, the bead shook and with it my chariot shook as well.
It happened just as Hilary described it. The bead grew a few roots first before rising up a small trunk.
Then in the time of a few breaths, a mighty tree with lavish blue leaves appeared all around us. Inside, I could see and move freely. But I got the feeling anyone from the outside would only see a big blue and towering tree.
"Now, why are we here?" Hilary asked, as if she gained such authority from her contribution just not.
"That dude will tell you his idea," I handed the stage for the jumper to speak while I silently watched from the side everyone's faces and reactions.
And they all showed the expected reactions I guessed before.
"Damn! I thought this girl here was crazy, but you ended up being much crazier than her!" The spearhead was the first to comment, attracting everyone's attention.
"What? Weren't you the one going around blabbering about how mighty and special you are?" The jumper rolled his eyes and gave the poor spearhead such a harsh comment.
"What about me?" Hilary pointed at herself, stopping the spearhead before exploding in the face of the jumper, "you four will go. That thing I can understand. What about me and Isabella?"
"Yes, what about the two of us?" Isabella realised what was missing here and pointed at herself and Hilary.
"This part is related to him," the jumper handed the stage back to me, and I started explaining my plan to all.
720 We Need To Lure Them
"Well… If it happened this way then it can deal a big blow to them," Isabella nodded as she said in admiration.
"But… We have to clear the forces around us first before moving out," Hilary started to narrate the difficulties in this plan, "not to mention we have to move out as a single force, crushing everything and not stopping at anything!"
"That's up to you two to handle," I nodded in agreement to what my chick just stated, "for me, you two will act as the supreme generals of the entire forces we currently have."
"I get all of this, but what about that elite army stationed back?" Sara asked, "What if we didn't manage to spot it? What if it was deep inside their lands?"
"We won't start before we find them," I firmly said, "even if they stationed it back at the rear of this damn continent, we will wait until they start moving and hit them."
"This…" the jumper didn't expect me to decide that.
"We can't just attack them at the rear end of their lands. We have to select our moment, or else all this would end without gaining what we wanted."
"So it means you might take days to start?!" Hilary asked, and I nodded..
"We will scout the area behind our eyes first. If we found the armies, then we would attack. If not, we will wait until they start deploying them."
"If they are like what you said, waiting for a chance to attack us fiercely, then why not feign it then?" Isabella suddenly asked.
"Like retreating?" the spearhead asked.
"Retreat won't do us any good," the jumper said in a refusal tone.
"We don't need to retreat, we can lower the number of our forces on purpose, and send a great deal of our armies back to an area far behind our spots."
"This… But they got eyes everywhere, right?" Hilary looked at me, as she seemed to know about the role of those dirty angels in this entire war.
And I nodded.
"If we are going to do so, we need to send them all the way back to the capital."
"This…"
"I can use my staff to teleport back and forth," I paused as I thought about this, "I can open a portal that can last for an entire day."
"But you will be all the way out, far away from here," Isabella said what others had in mind.
"I can jump back anytime I want," I shrugged.
"This is dangerous," but everyone said in the same breath, making me inwardly laugh.
"We can time it," I said, "but we can leave such an arrangement as our last option," I added to reassure everyone.
"I hope they'll leave their armies nearby," the jumper was worried about my leave, "if not, then your use of space magic will alarm them about our presence."
"Then I can do it when we are already exposed," I shrugged.
"Meaning?"
"I'll wait until we start our attack. By then, we will have already been exposed."
"But…" Sara looked at me in doubt.
"I won't move until it's already time to do so," I said to reassure the worried gazes from everyone, "then I'll jump back to the capital, open a portal for the armies to move out. I might even open more than one portal, leading part to your location and part midway to create more trouble."
"Do what you wish," the jumper sighed, "but don't risk our deaths, ok?"
"Since when I was eager to get rid of you, my dear jumper?"
"Since the first moment we met! Damn! I didn't know how my luck this time was so bad to end up with some lunatic like you!"
I laughed while the others didn't comment. They seemed to agree partially on what the jumper said.
Lunatic? I never considered myself as such! If I'd describe myself then it would be crazily courageous and ambitious!
Besides, by the time I'd move out, the forces training right now at my second Earth would be ready to move out as well.
A single day passing here was equal to twenty days back there. This meant by the time of my move, in a few days, up to five from now, at least one hundred days would pass.
That was enough time to train mighty elites , not only a small group of normal soldiers.
The only drawback here was the time passing to get more races and humans. The time would be related to the world I was in.
So in these five days, I'd get five more batches of these races and humans. I just hoped this would be enough for Lily and her boys to train enough armies to cause a difference here.
Depending only on the few armies we had to crush and corner the Hectors? This would be a joke! I depended on my forces on the second Earth for real.
As we spoke a bit more about the details of this plan, three hours passed already. I sent them back while letting the three who would come with me here.
"Are you sure it's good to let one of Fang's boys lead my army?" from the side, the jumper asked for the tenth time already.
I had no more boys to use here. This time I had to ask for Fang's help to fill the vacancy created by the jumper's leave.
"We have no other option but to use his boys for now," I knew this would be temporary. But it was also a chance to see how good Fang's trusted and capable men were.
If they turned out to be as fierce as Lily, then they'd be a new addition to my forces.
After all, and with the binding contracts with the Selvator race higher ups, they were just a mere follower to me.
So it was natural to use their unique talents for my benefit. Besides, I lacked other options here.
721 A Very Peaceful City Worthy Of My Envy
"I'm saying it's not right to give him my boys. They already got used to my way of leadership. Making such a change will have a negative impact."
"Such a kind and wise general you are," I snorted, mocking what he just said.
"You…"
"Why not speak the truth then? Why not say that you are afraid the one handling your army will perform better than you? And I might grant your army to him instead?"
"Do it and I'll kill both of you!"
"Touch a single hair of me and you'll die!"
"Then I'll kill him!"
"Stop spouting such nonsense! Who are you to judge my people?"
"Who is he to take over my men?".
"It's you who abandoned them, remember? This is your plan after all!"
"Screw you!"
"Boys, why do you argue and fight every time you are together?" from the side, Sara had to say this while laughing, "if not for knowing you two are men, I'd say you are lovers!"
"Nonsense!" we both said in the same breath, making her laugh even more.
Damn! What if they learnt about this dude's little secret? Would they link him to me then? Damn!
"Why not fight while we are on the road then?" the spearhead asked, trying to amend between the two of us, "we have a long way to travel."
"Take out your treasure," I extended my hand and demanded the treasure this dude promised.
"It won't get away from my side for even a single second! Who knows what you have in your little dirty brain of yours?"
"Didn't you say it's a one time usage?" I rolled my eyes and he scoffed, taking out a sim long black rod that reminded me of the rod Anubis statues once held.
"It will stay with me, after all it only protects an area of five hundred metres around the holder."
"Are you afraid I'd run away and leave you behind?" I laughed, in such an evil way that made him hold his rod closer to his chest.
"It won't leave my side!"
"Ok, stingy masked guy, start using it then. Let's start this operation."
"One second," he started to touch the rod at different places, turning them faintly shining in silver light before he raised his head, "it's working."
I looked at the rod, then at the world around. "Why isn't there any change at all?"
"Boss, this dude is sneaky and cunning," the spearhead shared my doubts as well, "you should take it from him to be sure it's working."
"Stupid ones! If it leaves behind any mark, then it will be spotted by our enemies! It caused invisible changes. And how come you not trust me when I'm with you in all this?"
"He has a point," even Sara stood by the spearhead side, "you aren't trustworthy at all."
"You have no confidence in me and trust that sneaky bastard calling himself your lord?"
"He is our boss," the spearhead argued back, "and he is more trustworthy than you."
"Pathetic," the jumper rolled his eyes, turned his back to the other two as he asked me directly, "are we going to do it or what?"
"Ok, let's give him a chance," I said as if I was doing him a big favour.
I saw him tightening his fists around the rod he held closer to his chest. He got annoyed, and I prevented myself from laughing at him.
As we were ready, I controlled my chariot and started flying away. I used my chariot's highest speed from the start. If we got detected for any reason, like that jerk overestimated his rod, then with such speed we could easily evade any incoming attack.
The first test we got was just half an hour later. We passed directly beside a big army of Hectors that was heading towards one of the hot battlefields.
Just as we passed next to them, even the jumper felt a little tense. But when we passed over their heads without getting detected, they all heaved a sigh of relief.
The remarkable thing was that bead. When my chariot flew, the tree moved as well. It seemed like the tree was rooted in my chariot, using it as its ground.
"You didn't have to fly directly over their heads like that!" as we passed them, the jumper couldn't control himself from saying this.
Of course I did this on purpose, or else how would I be sure this thing of his was working?
"What? Don't you trust your rod?"
"I trust it indeed," he hurriedly said, but the other two couldn't help but laugh at his words.
"Shut up!" he fiercely shouted at them, and that made them laugh even louder.
Then during the next day, we kept passing over lots of Hector armies, cities and towns.
The moment we got near a big city, the jumper tried to make me drop the idea of direct passing above it.
"We don't know if these cities are equipped with shields or anything that can detect us," he said, but I didn't listen to his words.
I had to be sure that there wasn't a single way to detect us. If there was such a thing, then the Hectors would equip their cities and towns with it.
But there was no such a thing. We passed over this big city undetected. I lowered the speed of our travel to see how the lives of such a big race was.
Well… The city wasn't that much different from the cities my people were building so far. It was a bit bigger and bustler with activities, having densely packed markets.
Just seeing the lives of these Hectors with scales over their bodies, walking in such peace and comfort, free from any pressure or threat.
I liked how they were living here. Just seeing the calm look on their faces, even when there was such a big war nearby, made me feel little envy towards them.
Why didn't my race have such a way of life in this damn apocalypse? Why was my race chosen to be the weak chain in the apocalypse?
I never saw such an atmosphere even when I lived many decades after the apocalypse started.
722 The Weird Holes!
I only saw such a thing just before the war started, back at my second Earth. I got that this world was special, void of any fight and struggle.
But these Hectors were enjoying such a life in the middle of the apocalypse. Why did they feel like this? Was it because they trusted their leaders and armies? Or because their race was mighty and strong to make them feel secure and safe?
I didn't know the answer, but I craved to see such life in my kingdom. Such security and confidence in their race was something I wanted my people to feel towards my kingdom.
I would build such a kingdom, where my humans would feel secured even if there was such a war drawing closer to them.
"They look happy," the first to speak was Sara, and her tone didn't carry any of her aggressiveness or brutality.
"Yes… I have never seen such happy faces since that damn thing happened!" The spearhead seemed to be taken also by the atmosphere here.
"Our lives as humans are cursed," the jumper briefed it in such a bitter and honest way, "we are seen as the losers in this apocalypse. It's not our fault, but it's our duty to change it."
"Finally you said something worthy," I patted him on the shoulder, making him stagger for a few steps before glaring back at me..
"You are getting stronger! Damn!"
"It's you who is lacking and neglecting your cultivation."
"It's you who is pressuring me to have no time to do that!"
"Who wants to be better will find a way to do it!"
"Boss!" Just before the two of us would continue fighting again, the spearhead suddenly shouted.
"What?" the two of us shouted back at him, and he pointed at certain direction as he added:
"There is something out there! Perhaps the grand army of the Hectors."
I looked at the direction he pointed at. What I saw was a weird depression in the ground, seemingly like a grand pit or hole or something.
"What is that?" Sara asked as I slowly drew the chariot closer. As we got near this place, it appeared in its huge size.
We were flying fast, and still we managed to see a big portion of it. So when we drew closer, we saw a large extended hole, spreading all over the world up front, with such a deep bottom that appeared pitch black from our spot.
"I… Frankly dunno," I honestly said, while trying to get any clues about what it was.
The hole looked all deep and unfathomed in my eyes. "Look at the edges," the jumper pointed at the seemingly endless circular edge of this hole, "it gushes out from the inside out."
"What does this mean?" Sara asked, and I got to answer her.
"It means something created this hold from deep within the ground," I paused… "Do you recall the tunnels we had all over our kingdom?"
"The ones that brought us monsters and mercenaries? The ones that caused us lots of trouble?" the jumper asked, in such an aggressive tone as he was the one to suffer a lot from these tunnels back then.
"But this doesn't look like any tunnel," the spearhead moved his eyes around, and I started to lead my chariot higher in the air to get a better look over this hole.
For tens of miles it stretched around. When we rose higher than a couple thousand metres in the air, we finally got to see the final shape of this hole.
"It isn't just a hole, it extends towards that direction," Sara pointed at the direction where a long and narrow groove was there, extending from this hole over to the horizon.
"Hye, I don't like this," the jumper said in such a deep and serious tone.
"Neither do I," having such a weird thing here, and without any clue about its nature, made me also wary of it.
"Should we go down there and explore it?" the spearhead proposed, but I shook my head in refusal.
"It's more risky to go down there," the jumper had the same thought as me, "and we can't send anything to scout this area right now."
"Will we just leave it like this?" The spearhead looked at me asking for help.
"He is right," but I already had the same mind as the jumper, "but that doesn't mean we will leave this thing untouched."
"We should also look around," Sara added, "who knows, we might spot other things like this."
"Good point," I nodded, and this time I didn't risk flying on top of this big hole. I surrounded it, and the more I looked at it, the more ugly I felt.
"Do you think both are connected?" After flying around for half a day, we found the second hole.
Weirdly enough, the two looked similar in size and shape. I looked at the long groove that extended from this hole and thought about the one that extended from the other one.
"I believe they are connected, perhaps through underground tunnels or something."
"Don't we have a Hector girl on our side?" the spearhead asked, "why not send her a message?"
"She… Isn't here," I said, while knowing that these three weren't aware of the second Earth, or perhaps the news spread and they wouldn't get how unique that world was.
"She is in your second world?" the jumper asked, telling me the news already spread over.
"She is training our forces there," I nodded.
"I want to visit that world one day," he said, "I heard time runs differently there."
"It does," I acknowledged this point, "but now let's focus on what we have here. These holes must be some sort of a weapon, directed at our forces if they ever reached this deep."
"I agree with that," the jumper nodded, "I believe it aims at annihilating most of our forces in a single attack."
"Or perhaps it's used to create a shield to separate that part of their continent from us," Sara added what she thought, and I couldn't tell which one was right.
723 Spotting A Large Army
"We will continue east then," I decided, "when we start our move, let's send a party here and down there."
"That's if there aren't any more of these holes," the spearhead sighed, "I just can't get it out of my mind. How come they make such deep and vast holes without having an army of workers around or even dirt left after digging it?!"
Well, he had a point here. If such holes were dug recently, then where are the signs of the ones who did it? If it was created from something deep inside the ground, then how big would this thing be?
I hoped it wouldn't be the latter. Or else that would mean there were deadly monsters hiding underneath this damn continent.
"It might be a supreme weapon," the jumper said, "like that of the angels."
"Or it might have been here since the early formation of the continent," Sara added, and I stood in the middle steering my chariot to fly while watching these three exchanging theories about the origins of these holes.
"Or they might have dug it a long time ago, in preparation for the apocalypse. I heard that these races got their people to train to survive the apocalypse from a young age," the spearhead said in his piece, and the other two kept talking and proposing theories..
I remained all silent, hearing what they had to say without feeling they were close to the truth.
A mighty weapon like that of the angels? If so then why didn't they use such weapons to stop me and my forces?
The theory that these holes were here all along was interesting. But something told me it was manmade, not something created by nature.
Nature was fierce and marvellous, but it would never create something with such similarity and with the same layout.
Something looked weird here. These holes had a value in the defensive plan of this continent.
I didn't get any word back from Wryly. If he came, then he would be my friend and ally. Then I should take his opinion about these holes.
If they were defensive plans of the Hectors, then they would have used it in other continents as well.
[Have you ever heard about deep and large looking holes in the continents of the Hectors before?]
[No!]
I thought about asking Fang, yet his answer came swiftly and short, seemingly mad from me to go on such an expedition without considering him.
Well, he was a fierce general of mine, but not the type needed in this small elite force of ours.
Instead he would shine brighter when the armies would push forward and come towards here.
The end result I got was nothing useful. No one had a clear clue about what caused these holes, and the only person with such info was way in my other world.
So I had to wait until we'd start, and go back there to ask her about this.
"Look, boss, there are lots of forces there!"
We kept flying over many towns and cities for another day. The land was filled with tons of cities and towns, an endless number of Hector's living in such peace and prosperity.
I even found a city built entirely out of golden and silver ores. It looked fascinating from far away, especially with all the statues and decorations covering all over the place.
It had a much bigger wall than all the cities and towns we saw so far. Strong towers scattered across the high walls, with a central big citadel residing over an elevated piece of land in the centre of this city.
Just seeing such a beauty made me crave to get my hands on it. But according to the jumper's worries, there must be some sort of a defensive shield that could be triggered if an attack happened.
He said he fought over a few towns and small cities before on this continent, and all had the same thing. Not to mention a big portal at the centre of the city or town, serving to flood lots of forces directly towards any area of war.
I got his words for granted, especially when the other two nodded their heads in response. I looked at this marvellous city with desire while we were getting away from it.
Just before I'd awakened from its beauty, the spearhead shouted and broke me free from its spell. He pointed at a direction a couple of tens of miles away from this city.
There I spotted a large group of mountains, spreading right and left, forming something like a natural high wall. In the middle, there was a wide opening, seemingly a vast basin.
And there I saw tons of forces lining up, standing in regular lines, while they had endless lines of golden tents, seemingly for their sleep.
Using my Hawk Eye skill, I managed to see them in the middle of violent training. I saw the hellish training of Lily for my forces before more than once, and this one wasn't any different.
"Is this the army we are looking for?" Sara asked, and I couldn't give an affirmative answer.
"From its size and the way they are training, I bet it's the one we are looking for," the spearhead said.
"No," but the jumper shook his head, "this army no matter how big it was isn't enough."
"Then…?" Sara looked at the jumper who shrugged and said:
"My best guess is that it's part of the large army. If we keep moving along this rocky wall, we will find more places like this one here."
"Let's scout then," I got a bad feeling about going directly over such a large force even if I was covered and protected from their senses.
We were four after all, and these should be the elite forces of the Hectors.
As we started exploring this towering rocky wall, we found more places like the first one we spotted as the jumper said.
724 A Scary Beast!
"Damn! I counted twenty so far! How many more do they have?" the spearhead couldn't control himself anymore, "with such an army, what are they waiting for?"
We tried to observe a few armies training here, and all I could see was hundreds of thousands of forces training in the same way as Lily used.
The basins weren't all flat lands. They had large surfaces of water with many aquatic monsters there for the troops to train upon.
I saw many big pools where lots of monsters gathered to fight against groups of Hectors. It was the second phase training that Lily used before.
And seeing such a grand number of forces training in such an advanced way of training that not many of my forces reached before made me feel envious.
"Can't you work over them?" the jumper asked, and I had to refuse.
"My threads are eye-catching. They can be spotted and linked to the chariot."
"Then we can use another treasure to hide these threads from their sights, right?" Sara looked at the jumper who rolled his eyes.
"What girl? Do you think treasures like these grow over trees perhaps? There is no such a treasure in my possession. If you got one, then bring it out.".
"And you just bragged about how big your own collection of treasures was," she whispered in such a way, to make all of us hear her voice including the jumper.
"Do you want to die?"
"Stop fooling around," I had to intervene, glaring fiercely at the jumper, "this isn't the time to have such useless chat."
"She started it!" The jumper pointed in Sara's direction.
"Speaking like a little kid, are you a kid?"
"Do you want to die?"
"Don't you have another line but this antique one?"
"Screw you!"
"That's a lot better," I chuckled, and he just snorted back.
"Sigh, big boys act always like kids when together," the jumper shook his head helplessly, attracting me and the jumper's glaring eyes.
"Shut up!" and we both said in the same breath, making the spearhead look at Sara and both shook their heads in such helpless ways.
I turned my eyes away, looking at the horizon. "Let's try to circle around these mountains. If possible, we can infiltrate from any place with thick mountains," I decided to go and explore this place even further.
It was much better anyway than just staying in this place and listening to useless theories.
The others went on in their silence, staying on alert as if we were going to fight anytime soon. I led my chariot to move towards a thick interval between two basins, and then rose high up.
"What the hell is… That?!!!" Just when we arrived higher than the mountain tops, luckily not stopped by any bolts of lightning, we were met with a scene that I never expected to see.
A colossal monster was lying so damn far away, tens of miles far from my current spot. It looked like a python, with smooth scales covering all of his body, giving me the feeling of similarity with the scales of the Hectors.
"Is that… A snake?!!" Sara mumbled in deep fear, one that I was truly feeling.
"They are… Fighting it?" The jumper was the first to pick up such an important note, as I also realised the same thing.
Using my Hawk Eye skill, and from this far away spot, I couldn't see everything clearly. All I could see were a large number of armies moving all out towards that snake, while that dude was acting a little slow and weird.
"Is he… Poisoned?" Sara asked, and I couldn't help but slowly nod.
"It seems this way," I said, "but they are trying to kill it, or what?"
"Isn't it like the two holes we spotted before?" The spearhead linked the two together, solving the mystery with the answer he proposed before.
"So all these forces here are for that big dude?" The jumper proposed his own theory, "but how come they bring such a behemoth here and try to kill it before fighting with us?"
"Something isn't right," I got the feeling that I was missing something.
I thought about contacting Fang again, but just before I could do anything, the jumper hit me on the back.
"We got company!"
He motioned his head towards a direction. There I spotted flying forts, ones that I desperately wanted to obtain and use.
There was a group of ten flying forts, all built over an area that spanned for half a mile radius. They got walls, many war machines, and densely packed towers.
"Their versions of these forts are different from ours," this was the first impression I got.
My forts weren't just bigger, they got a castle in the middle. These ones here had towers instead. That might be thanks to the limited space they got.
"But they got theirs, and we got none," the jumper used this chance to pick up at me. And I decided to ignore him.
"They are surveilling the space in between the basins," the spearhead noticed this, "if they are trying to kill this monster, why are they acting like they were guarding it then?"
"Perhaps they are afraid of us getting here and helping this monster break free," Sara proposed, but I got the feeling that she didn't even buy what she said herself.
This didn't add up. Something was amiss. What was it? I lacked information.
[Have you ever heard of a big snake-like monster, covered with scales like the ones covering up the bodies of the Hectors?]
[No!]
Damn this jerk! This wasn't the time to act like an envious lover!
"He didn't respond?" The jumper gave me such a look as if he knew whom I was speaking to.
"As if you know who!"
"Fang, who else," he raised both hands in the air as if this was something obvious, "you don't have anyone else to ask. I didn't see the other warmonger dude around lately, is he out of service or dead?"
725 The Legendary Guardian Offsprings
"Neither," I felt really agitated by what he said, opened a chat with Wryly and sent the same message to him. "See? I just sent him a message."
"He should respond first before you brag about it."
[Bro, this is the legendary guardian offspring of the Hector race! You should find Hector and force him to tell you everything! All I know is that this is the real reason behind the weird actions of my paragon]
"See? He just responded!" I pointed to the middle of the air while my mind was wreaking havoc about what that dude just sent.
"As if we will buy you pointing to the middle of the air and believe your words!"
"Shut up!" I didn't have the mind or power to speak with this jerk. I instantly asked Wryly about what he just said.
[Like I said, I didn't get all the information about it. But after you sent the words from before, I went on a rampage with my paragon. He acted against all the ancient beliefs of our race. So he had to tell me such a scary story].
So that dude had a story to tell! How come he said he knew nothing about this? Damn this stupid Berserker with nothing in mind but fighting and battling.
[What story?]
"What story?" the jumper from the side asked the same, making me glare at him in a warning way.
"Not now!" I said this to him while the answer came from Wryly at the same moment, attracting my attention back to the chat with him.
[He said something about the power of the Hectors coming from such a legendary guardian beast. It looks like a colossal snake, with a size enough to cover an entire world of ours with it]
[I can see the similarity here] I looked at that big snake at the distance, [But this dude is a bit smaller and looking drowsy or weakened by some stuff]
[I dunno about that. All I know is that this guardian gives birth to eggs each decade. From these, smaller versions of it will come out. According to my paragon, if Hectors brought such behemoths here, this meant they are damn serious about taking control of this world. And we should just retreat and avoid their wrath!]
[As if I will let them have their own way! Do you know anything else?]
[No, but I'll tell you the advice of my paragon; Run! Run as far away as you can. This world is for Hectors, that's given]
[This is my world, and I won't leave it for anyone, not even for your race]
[Just think about it, please]
I closed the chat with Wryly, ignoring this pathetic and defeated tone of his. I didn't like his attitude. Did he turn into a weak race like those illusionists or what?
But he enlightened me about what was going on here at least. So it was as the spearhead thought, they were protecting and defending this place.
And this wasn't out of their fear of us interrupting their killing of this monster to release it. They feared for us to take this beast away or something.
I looked in a serious way towards that beast out there. So they brought such a monster here, and were trying to kill it to get something in return.
According to Wryly's paragon, this beast came from an egg laid by the legendary guardian monster of the Hector race. This wasn't something trivial.
The scales on the Hectors' bodies and this monster told me they came from the same origin. Also we saw two holes, did they belong to the same beast or what?
Just thinking about all this, the egg hatching into such mighty beasts, and these two holes that looked like they got dug by something from deep within, all were linked together for a single scenario.
The Hectors buried these eggs deep inside their lands. The eggs hatched and brought out such mighty beasts. The beasts came out from the ground, leaving behind such deep and scary booking holes.
That meant one thing, there were at least two of such monsters here in this continent.
Or were there many more holes I didn't spot? Lying in the areas we didn't cover or visit yet?
My best guess was that there were more than one monster here. If so, then this fight turned all of sudden into such a desperate situation.
Just watching this beast out there fighting in such a weak way against the hordes of fighters here made me feel real fear.
Just the idea of releasing such a beast over my forces was enough to make the hair on my back stand up like spikes!
Would my technique be useful against such a colossal monster? I did the same before against a colossal dark world beast. But would it work this time while there were such tons of Hectors standing on watch all over the place?
If it worked once, would it work again on other monsters? I couldn't give myself any answer at all.
It was risky to just go out there and try out my technique in front of such a scary army. Even starting to target these Hectors here wouldn't bode well either.
Such patrolling forts were annoying! I felt like they prepared just these solely for me!
And if this was the place to handle this beast, where was the second spot to handle the second beast? And if there were more, where would they be?
"I have to leave," This was out of the question. I needed answers! And the one with such answers would be the one residing at the second Earth world training my troops out there.
"What about us?" the spearhead asked in such a fright.
"I told you, he will go and leave us behind," the jumper acted as the jerk he always was.
"I have to go and ask someone who knows what's going on here."
726 Going To Second Earth World
"First tell us what that warmonger told you," the jumper stopped me while I was leading the chariot away from the mountainous region.
And as I went towards a far and secured place to let them down, I narrated what Wryly told me.
"Damn! So these holes… They are the paths these beasts took to get out from the eggs?!!!" The spearhead was the most scared one here, "can you take me with you? Please, boss! I beg you!"
"Yes, you should take us with you," the jumper suddenly said, "like this we won't get separated or be disposed to get caught when you come back."
"This…"
"Let's go together, boss," Sara said, "I want to see that new world I heard lots of stories from Angelica about."
"Sigh! Ok, let's go together then," I knew this was the best solution to avoid getting caught or being separated.
We were so damn deep into enemy lines. Aside from me, no one here would have any trick enough to stand against such mighty armies, or even take everyone and run away fast enough.
"Come with me then," I had to go further away, far from the reach of any skill like the Hawk Eye..
The portal I'd use would be big and eye catchy. So I had to fly for almost half an hour before opening the portal to the second Earth.
"Welcome to the new world," I said while the chariot passed through the portal and arrived at the new world.
"This…"
"Damn Hye! You are so damn lucky! You dare to hide this world from me?!!!"
"Boss, is this for real?!"
Just when we arrived there, the world I left before had changed greatly. Large sized camp stretched from north to south, on the side of this shore.
Large sized tents were there, with lots of forces standing on the shore line, seemingly fighting large groups of monsters.
As for the distance, different sized islands were there, with lots of people standing on them. They were fighting in groups of a hundred, killing monsters at a faster pace than the ones on the shore despite facing them directly on.
"All of these are ours?!!" Sara looked at me in doubt, and I just had to nod to let them know about the real identity of this force.
"They are the ones I was preparing to move to the frontline when needed," I didn't hide this fact from them.
"Damn! So that time manipulation thing is real!!!" the jumper looked at me with such wide open eyes, "do you know this is a rare, very rare thing in the universe?"
"I heard so," I nodded.
"Damn boss! There are tons of cities and towns over there! How long did they take to build these?!!" The spearhead jumped from the side while my chariot was moving around, looking for Lily.
We got near a path, one of the many I asked Lily to build cities and towns there. In fact the spearhead had all the reasons in the world to jump in such fright.
I left this part of the world with emptiness all around, with lots of people working to dig the earth.
But now? Large and towering cities and towns stood in front of my eyes, expanding all the way till the end of my eyesight, deep inside the two sides of the rocky mountains here.
"This… Are you planning to build another Earth here?!!" The jumper got what I wanted from just this sight.
This jerk… If he just worked on his attitude to be a little better, he would be a great ally and friend!
"This is nothing," as Lily did such a marvellous job here with the help of Angelica's and Isac's men, I decided to brag a little. "There are lots of such paths, with lots of towns and cities built there."
"Damn! This is much better than our capital!" the spearhead looked at me, "boss, can you give me an area here for me to rule? I swear I won't disappoint you!"
"Moron," the jumper hit him on the back of his head, "if he is going to give anyone such a thing, then he should select me first!"
"And me, boss, don't forget about me," Sara jumped, raising her hand high in the air like a little girl in a classroom.
I felt they were enjoying this atmosphere, and they got the right to feel so. But in fact their casual request made me think seriously about that.
Why wouldn't I arrange different zones for each general? It would work as a reward, a motivation for doing better, and also would relieve lots of pressure over my girls and their men working here.
Besides, each one had a different personality and preference. I had the feeling that Sara would turn her citizens into fierce fighters, while the jumper would teach them the traits of being jerks and bastards!
"I'll think about it," I promised, "just now we have to find Lily."
"Are they training over the islands there?" The jumper asked and I started to briefly explain things here while sending a message for Lily.
[I'll come over to you in a few minutes] she sent back while the jumper and others were awed by this place.
"Can you take us for a ride, boss? Please?" the spearhead pleaded, and I rolled my eyes in return.
"Don't act like you don't have your own chariots! Go, take a full tour here, see how good Lily did in this place. This will be the least standard I'll expect from all of you if you ever gained territory here."
"Thanks boss!" The spearhead jumped in such delight while Sara went ahead and acted first by taking out her chariot.
"Won't you go?" I looked at the jumper who stood all silent and collected next to me.
"I'm not like those kids, I've seen lots of the world already."
"Aren't you tired from all this showing off?"
"Showing off? Humph! I'm not a kid like that dude with a scar like a spear!"
"You are worse!"
"Learn this from the best!"
"Arrogant jerk!"
"Annoying bastard!"
"…"
"…"
727 A Shocking Discovery!!!
We ended up glaring at each other for a few minutes until Lily arrived.
"Why each time I see the two of you I get the feeling you are going for each other's throats?" she jumped off her chariot over mine before adding, "nice tree you got there, but I got a skill to see through any hidden objects."
"What?!!!" the two of us looked at her at the same time as we said in the same breath. And it just hit me!
She didn't stop there and looked around for us. She came directly for me, and even saw what the two of us were doing.
"Did you say you have a skill to see through our disguise?!!" the jumper couldn't control himself, "but… I'm using a treasure, one that can't be seen through!"
"Then how come I saw you two fighting miles away?" Lily rolled her eyes as if this was something rude to suspect her, "all the paragons of my race are equipped with such a gift. It's a high end skill, one that can see through anything, even the work of gods!"
"Damn!" what she said was huge, "do you mean that all paragons have such skill?"
"Yes, all of us… Why?" She was oblivious to what was going on here. I silently exchanged looks of worry with the jumper..
This… I knew that Hectors got tons of paragons. It was out of question that we crossed all this distance without getting spotted with a paragon or something.
If that was true, and with what Lily just proved without knowing it just now, then it meant only one thing; we were watched and followed!
The Hectors… They knew all about our little adventure in their lands!
Damn! This… Sigh! Dealing with a mighty race was really troublesome!
But when I thought about my ambitious plan to go and invade other worlds of Hescos, I knew this experience was worthy of each failure.
At least I'd spot and learn about my shortcomings, including my underestimation of others.
"Can anyone tell me what's going on here?" As the two of us stood in such silence while exchanging such worried and serious looks, Lily got impatient and asked while crossing her arms.
"I'll tell you…" the jumper took the trouble of telling her about what we were doing so far.
"Damn! I know you are bold and daring, but not like this!" she glared at me with wide opened eyes, "did you think we lack ways to monitor our lands? If a fly dared to invade our home, we would know about it at once!"
"Thanks, I knew this fact in such a bitter way," I said, "but that means they are aware of our presence there. Why didn't they come and attack us then?"
"Psychological warfare," she gave me such an unexpected answer, "they wanted you to go deep into our lands and see that legendary guardians baby beasts with your eyes to feel despair. This is the best way to crush anyone, scaring them with our might and letting them lose hope before even trying."
"That… Is a sick way of doing wars!" I said my opinion out of the blue in front of her like this.
"But it works," the jumper sighed, "we felt such despair and fear."
"Speak about yourself dude!"
"Humph! Don't try to show off in front of me. You can fool anyone, but me!"
"Boys, it's not time to argue like kids!" Lily shouted from the side, stopping the two of us to go into a second round of the same bullshit, "let's think. They know you are there and let you go deep enough to see the beasts. That means they will try to hit you once you return."
"Didn't you say they won't?!" I asked in doubt, and the jumper nodded in agreement from the side.
"They got what they wanted already. Now will be the time for the real show," she said, and when I gave her such questionable look, she sighed as she added further:
"They will scare you away, so you won't get any time to absorb your shock. In fact they should have moved the flying forts stationed to protect our big capital in the opposite direction of the continent."
"We saw them," the jumper said, "but… What about this capital?"
"This continent belongs to one of the fiercest paragons of our race, Tomy. He is a bloodthirsty bastard, who finds a great amusement at toying with his enemies using psychological warfare like what you are experiencing right now."
"Hmm… So he is quite famous then," I muttered while thinking about something, "you said that these flying forts are the things that protect the capital?"
"Not only it, but the entire army you saw right there also defends the capital."
"This…" the jumper exchanged silent glances with me. We might get on the wrong page most of the time thanks to his bad temper and attitude, but he was smart enough to read through my mind on many occasions.
And right now he got the same thought that popped into my mind.
"You two… Why are you giving me such a dangerous vibe?" Lily could only sigh while watching the two of us acting in such a way.
"It's just alluring," I muttered and the jumper slowly nodded.
"I can't say no to such a good meal."
"What are you two talking about?" Lily stumped her feet on the ground, making her look more alluring and a little amusing.
"That Tomy dude loves psychological warfare, so it's time for him to get taught a good lesson," I slowly said.
"What lesson?"
"Tactic and might always prevail over anything cheap and dirty like what he got in his mind," the jumper added while he was speaking on the same line with me.
"Sigh! I heard how crazy you two are, but first time seeing it first hand!"
The two of us laughed on her words, while I asked later:
"Tell me, what's all about this beast? And how many are there?"
728 Putting The Big Plan
"I dunno the number for sure," she paused for a second, "but as far as I know, that crazy dude asked for five eggs before the apocalypse started."
"Five… That's a lot!" The jumper gave me a look of doubt.
"Tell me more about these beasts," I didn't jump towards fear like the jumper and demanded further explanation from her.
And as I asked, she started to give me detailed answers about that scary breed of such scary legendary beast.
"They are the babies of that colossal beast of ours. That beast is a legendary thing, I even didn't see it even once," Lily started her explanation with this, before adding:
"The beast shares with us the same bloodline. Some legends in our race speak about how we came from a mightier beast that gave birth to us and left this guardian to help secure our race. If not for it, we wouldn't have reached this stage we currently have."
"So you and him share the same abilities?" I asked and she nodded.
"It's not only sharing the same ability, but also sharing the same energy. See, you must have watched my people fighting this baby and trying to kill it, right?"
"Don't just say baby on such a thing! It's a calamity!" the jumper harrumphed, and I couldn't help but inwardly nod in agreement..
"I know it might look huge, but it's nothing compared to the real thing," Lily rolled her eyes before adding, "they are trying to kill it, letting everyone have a few hits, then they'd be bathed in its blood."
"Bathed in its blood?!!" I asked in doubt and she nodded.
"There is a big lake, big lakes actually in the place they are trying to kill it, right?" she asked and both of us nodded.
I thought they were trying to use these lakes to train and kill monsters. But it looked like these lakes had another usage then.
"They will kill it, and a flood of blood will erupt. It will be like a fountain, and it will mix with the water, allowing for the entire armies there to bathe in that blood."
"What for?" the jumper asked.
"To get an entire big cultivation base upgrade," she said with such shocking news, "like this, our people with just a few minor cultivation bases will go all the way up to the next big cultivation base. In brief, they will turn mightier and become much stronger."
"That…" I was even shocked when I heard that. I knew that making a single raise in cultivation was a long and tiring process. Even with my potion trick, the best I hoped was to get my boys to rise up small steps in cultivation.
"So we need to stop them," the jumper looked at me and I slowly nodded.
"I believe the number of forces there is large, right?" Lily seemed to not see how we could do it.
"We are already exposed," the jumper stressed over his idea, "and we got such large forces here. It's not useful anymore to act low. We need to start with a big bang!"
"These forces aren't ready yet!" Lily defended her men, and I could only agree on what she said.
"Tell me, only Hectors can benefit from such a way?" I looked Lily directly in the eye.
"Well… It's never tried before," she got what I meant, and the jumper as well.
"That's my man," he patted me on the shoulder, seemingly happy about my decision.
"We will try it then," I firmly said, "we will pave the path for your boys to come and get bathed in that blood."
"But… They have to first inflict damage upon that monster," she argued, and I paused for a second, exchanging gases with the jumper before shrugging and saying:
"Then let them prepare for battle. We will clear this damn monster and others as well."
"But…"
"Easy, we got them and trained them for all this time. I get you feeling they aren't ready, but they are! You took more days to train them, much more than what you took for my past army. So they are ready, more than the others at least. And they got such a rare chance to open their cultivation bases and get to such high bases. We can't let them drop this chance, or let the enemy have it."
"O… Ok…" after hesitating for a long minute, she decided to follow my instructions and slowly nodded.
"You need to get them ready then," the jumper was anxious to move out.
"Don't rush it," but I didn't hurry her, "we have time difference to our side here."
"Cool," she said, and I turned to the jumper.
"We will have to wait here for a couple of days," I said such shocking news and he couldn't help but glare at me in such a fierce way.
"What for?"
"For reinforcements to arrive."
If I was going all out, I had to go with everything I got. Spending two or three days here would mean only three hours up to four passed on the outside world.
But during these days, I could get fresh forces to help me in such a brutal fight.
[Bro, I need all the help you can provide]
[What do you need?]
[Warriors, all the warriors you can get during the next three days]
[Going to a big war then? Ok, I got the direct order from many sovereigns to support you with my full capacity]
I listened to what he said, and I could only think about one thing.
[The meeting, is it done already?]
[Not yet, they are waiting for me to arrive. But many sovereigns got the news and showed their support to your crazy idea. They even took the trouble to contact me and order me this]
[Thanks. I truly appreciate it]
[What race are you going against this time?]
[Hectors]
[Why are you selecting the big names? Don't tell me you plan to fight us next time!]
[Hahaha, bro we are friends and allies]
729 A Hellish Way Of Training
[I know, I'm just joking]
[Just get me whatever you can provide. I'm going against the guardian of the Hector race]
[Damn! The guardian herself?!!! No f*cking way! You can't win!]
[It's not her] this dude seems terrified from that being. It seemed what Lily said was true then. If not for such a scary guardian, Hectors wouldn't have survived as one of the big three in the universe so far.
[I'm going against her babies]
[That… It's also insane! If they brought these cursed eggs, you should run, not fight!]
[I'm not a runner, I'm a fighter!]
[You are crazy!]
[Thanks]
[Sigh! I can't even imagine the response from the sovereigns when they'd hear about this. Ok dude, I'll see what I can do for you].
I closed the chat and returned to look at the world here.
With the new batch of the warriors coming, this fight would hold much hope for us.
"What are we going to do here then?" the jumper watched Lily moving away using her chariot, "we won't sit here and watch!"
"If you want, you can go around and kill a few beasts."
"I don't need training, I'm in top shape all the time!"
"Cool, then you can start roaming the world and see the new toy pappa brought over to you."
"Screw you," despite saying such a rude comment, he summoned his chariot and went far to scout the world.
As for me, I decided to take a long nap.
Cultivating here would take a long time to be done. I wouldn't risk such a thing, not when a big and stressful fight was waiting for us next.
So I took a long nap, one that lasted for over a day.
When I got up, ate a little and drank enough water, I found the world outside had a remarkable change.
I gave Lily three days to get her boys ready for the fight. But from what I saw now, it seemed she was trying to push them harder through training.
The forces stationed on the shore were all moved to the islands, fighting the big monsters there directly and without any pause.
"She is trying to make them better," the jumper's voice came at this moment from my side, attracting my attention towards his chariot.
"Where did you go?"
"Got a tour here," he jumped over my chariot, "it's really amazing. I tried to get to the end of this continent but couldn't."
"Not with your snail-like chariot," I rolled my eyes and he coughed twice.
"Anyway, this lady seems to be really afraid of the next fight. She is pushing her boys, even killing a few in the process."
"Killing?! Damn!" I turned to look around and what I saw made me realise what he said wasn't a fantasy.
She was really pushing her forces to fight such unfavourable battles against brutal monsters without much preparation.
She allowed them to use their gears, work with anyone to kill monsters. But not all of them were good enough to even escape with their lives.
"Sigh! She is overdoing it, but I feel it's necessary," even if I didn't like the way things were going here, in less than two days these soldiers would face real threats just like now.
"Are you going to let her continue this madness? We need as many as we can, not to kill them before the fight even starts."
"She is trying to get them to feel the intense moments they will be facing," I said in her defence, "and besides, we won't depend on them to win the war. We need them to deal damage to that behemoth out there and then bathe in the lakes of blood."
"Then… Who is going to fight these armies out there? The four of us?!"
"We will," I nodded, knowing this might seem crazy, "plus many warriors."
"Warriors? They might help if we can get millions or even tens of millions of them."
"We will," I had such faith in Silverlining, "but now we have to consider two more problems."
"One is the other monster, right?" he already thought about it, "you can lend me your chariot, and I'll scan the continent for the other four monsters."
"Not a chance," this dude sat his gaze again over my girl, "you got yours. Why do you need mine?"
"Mine is a snail."
"That's not an excuse!"
"Yours got that tree shielding us from all the dangers!"
"They can see us, so it's useless," I rolled my eyes, "you won't get a chance to get my baby."
"One day I will," he said with such confidence as if he knew what was going to happen in the future.
And I just smiled a sly one in return.
"So are you going to let me go and scout them?"
"Sara and the spearhead are needed in this fight," I said in a serious way, "so only you are remaining."
"Why not you?"
"Can you take over the Hectors and turn them into our force dummy?"
"Stop bragging!"
"It's just facts," I shrugged, "so you will roam and scan the world beyond our reach. See where they kept the other four monsters and let me know."
"But…"
"We can do it," I knew he was worried about the size of our forces, "we have to. I'll do my best to control most of them in that fight, so I can lead an army towards your location."
"We have five, don't forget that."
I knew he was referring to the capital of this continent. Without aiming at her, this fight would end up bad."
"You will be the one attacking that capital with me," I slowly said, "when time comes, let's go there together."
"I hope it won't end up with just the two of us," he sighed, and something told me the end of the battle would reach such a point.
In such a fight, I'd have to take the lead with this jerk here. With the two of us, we could start a fire back at their backyard, letting them panic.
730 The War Starts Hot!
I didn't just have forces here, I still have large armies waiting for my signal back at Earth. I'd have to wait until fighting their capital, to let them lose their focus and then would call off for my cavalry.
During the next two days, I did nothing but rest and watch my forces getting crucified by the brutal way of Lily's training.
The jumper and the other two kept roaming the world. That jerk even asked to get a zone next to here, claiming that this place suited him best.
But I told him that this region was for the training camps led by Lily. he argued that he could do better, and I greatly doubted it.
This time, Silverlining kept his silence. I didn't ask him for anything as I trusted this dude.
He would get me what I wanted.
[I'm ready] and that was my man! I stood on top of the big shore that changed to become such a massive training ground.
It was now filled with densely packed soldiers, ready for battle.
[How many?].
[I could secure thirty million so far, but not all strong warriors]
[They are enough] what he prepared was much more than I thought, [Send them over!] I turned to the four next to me, "Are you ready?"
"Let's do it!" Sara was the most eager to go back there.
"I'll help and come with you," Lily said but I shook my head.
"You have to wait here and train the new boys," I decisively said, "during the time we will spend there, a day there means twenty here. So you can train another batch and get them ready."
I was referring to the batches of races and humans delivered each day by the Silverlining as agreed.
"But…"
"The next batch will be led by you," I paused, "it will be our weapon to attack that damn capital."
"Ok."
She had to accept such a role. After all, her part was very important.
By the time I'd arrive at the big walls of that capital, my forces would be busy fighting everywhere. I doubted even having warriors to help. Even my Lucias would be busy fighting and pushing against all the enemies.
So I had to secure an army here, one with the ability to turn the tide of this battle. I just hoped we'd kill these monsters fast, ending up going to the capital in one day or two.
As for the monsters, if we couldn't kill them then I'd suck them into my shadow world.
But this would deprive my boys of such a rare chance. I wanted them to gain more cultivation bases. And this way seemed like a fast way to do it, much faster and more effective than my potion way.
I never doubted my boys' ability to get baptised by the monsters' blood. If there was no such a thing, then why would the Hectors' higher ups focus this much on defending the monster's region?
"What are we waiting for?" The jumper was cladded in full body armour, "let's do it!"
"Wait for the first portals to send out the armies here," I didn't hurry into the portal I just opened, started to sign the contracts of the warriors I just got, "the second batch of portals will be for the new army to go towards the capital."
"Got it!" Lily said while we went through the portal.
"Attack!"
Just as we did, and as I was busy signing the contracts in batches, this loud shout came while the world we arrived at looked much different.
"They are waiting for us," the jumper laughed, "let me down, give me an army and leave them to me!"
"Give me an army too!" Sara demanded, while the spearhead remained all silent.
"Nor right now," I didn't answer their requests with a yes. We were all surrounded, even those flying forts were blocking the sky off us.
They could see us! Not only the paragons, but literally everyone!
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*
The ground was filled with forces and mighty looking weapons that started raining all their fire over my chariot.
I was almost done signing the contracts, but that didn't mean I'd let these things hit us. I moved my chariot around, evading most of the incoming projectiles, while those who hit the shield exploded in a rose shaped fire that engulfed my entire chariot.
Their weapons were deadly, but against my chariot's shield they were nothing!
"Keep firing!"
"Their shield can't take lots of our hits!"
"Aim better, hit it with everything you got!"
Many shouts came from the ground, seemingly igniting the fire of fight inside the forces down below. They looked in high shape and good morale, making me realise that fighting them right now would be a mistake.
We waited for three days inside the second Earth world, and yet they waited in such high spirits for us.
"Spearhead, use your ability freely on them," I first decided to use this card.
"But… We got no forces down below to help."
"Who said that? Come out now!" Who said I didn't have my own deadly forces?
The next moment, the fallen gods of mine filled the entire chariot.
"Attack when I give you the signal," I said while signing the last batch of contracts. I looked at the spearhead who had no other choice but to do what I said.
He really got stronger! Before this, his energy would just gush out in such an invisible way. It might be considered a good point, as it would attack the enemy in stealth fashion.
But right now, it gushed out like torrents, formed from green coloured energy that started to invade everyone down below at a fast pace.
He attacked fast, and in such a decisive manner that didn't give any of his enemies a chance to evade or do anything to avoid this attack.
"Attack!" and once this dude used his ability freely, I gave the order for my gods to act.
*Rumble!*