Final Preparations

The cold winter air played with Sollivan's hair as he stared into the dark forest ahead. A faint glimmer appeared in his already dark pupils, and then, calmly, he turned and took a quick glance at Devlin beside him, whose face was marked by fear and a determined look that refused to fade. Despite this, his movements remained smooth, and he didn't allow himself to stumble. Even as they ran for nearly a mile, carrying Sollivan and the heavy, filled buckets, Devlin kept his composure.

Sollivan didn't focus much on Devlin's struggles and turned again to take a quick look at Darnell on his other side. Unlike Devlin, Darnell's gaze was filled with determination and strength, his expression fierce and wild, with a mysterious enthusiasm.

'This cunning bastard seems excited. This is expected from a golden commander.'

In the Golden Lion Empire, military ranks were strictly divided. At the top of the hierarchy was the Grand Marshal, who controlled all military forces in the empire, followed by the Chief Tactician, who meticulously oversaw war affairs and the deployment of all troops.

Below them were the Four Great Generals, each responsible for protecting a specific part of the empire. Thus, they were commonly referred to as the "Generals of the Four Directions." Currently, Sollivan was in the territory protected by the Southern General, or rather, his uncle by division. Beneath the Four Great Generals were the Golden Commanders, eight of whom served under each general.

The Golden Commanders were divided into three types: Dukes of War, who were responsible for protecting highly important and strategic fortresses; Field Generals, specialists in direct warfare involving over twenty thousand soldiers; and finally, the Brigade Masters, also known as Tactical Officers, who organized brigades, distributed military weapons and essential resources, and provided advice and counsel to the Grand Marshal and other Golden Commanders.

Most importantly, the Tactical Officers worked directly under the imperial palace's banner, monitoring the generals and commanders to prevent any rebellion or disregard for orders. Below them were several lower ranks, such as the Silver Commanders, who led ten thousand soldiers, the Cavalry Leaders, the Archery Masters, the Bombardment Experts, and the Centurions.

While Sollivan mocked inwardly, he felt something strange in his mind and immediately heard Darnell's voice in his head, asking with clear confusion, "I want to know, how did you figure out my true identity when so many others failed?"

Sollivan stared at Darnell's mouth and noticed his lips moving without making any sound, realizing, 'Voice transmission technique, this annoying bastard. Doesn't he know it harms ordinary people's minds if they're exposed to it for too long?'

The voice transmission technique was a simple skill that any expert Arcane Master in the early Path Opening realm could use. In essence, it converted speech into Auraxis sound vibrations and transmitted them directly to the target's head. However, since ordinary humans couldn't withstand high Auraxis energy for long, they might experience dizziness, headaches, or even worse. But this didn't apply to Sollivan, who had once been an Arcane Master. Still, he was annoyed.

So, he shook his head in anger and said nothing.

Darnell furrowed his brows and frowned at this, saying, "Hmph, you'll tell me the truth later, or you won't like the outcome."

'Are you threatening me?!' Sollivan retorted angrily in his mind, but his thoughts couldn't and wouldn't reach Darnell due to his inability to use the voice transmission technique. Nevertheless, he pushed aside his frustration, and involuntarily, a scene from ten years ago came to mind—specifically, when he was twelve years old and had just broken through to the fifth level of Body Strengthening. He had accompanied his father, a Duke of War protecting the city of Bloody Slopes, to the imperial capital to witness the oath renewal ceremony to the emperor, which took place every four years.

Back then, he had met several prominent figures due to his father's high status, personally shaking hands with all the Golden Commanders present, including Darnell—or rather, Andrei Hawthorne, who at the time was a War General serving under the Eastern General. By a strange coincidence, he had spent some time with Darnell while his father attended to some important matters. Thus, he hadn't forgotten his face and recognized him clearly when he saw him again in this city. After careful thought and connecting the dots, he deduced his identity.

Moreover, he hadn't forgotten almost anything from that day of the ceremony, as the scene of the oath renewal and the powerful auras that had pressed down on his small body refused to leave his mind. The Great Generals, the patriarchs of noble clans, and the ruling families—not to mention the overwhelming presence of the emperor watching them from his high throne—had made the scene awe-inspiring and intense. When he recalled it, he found that the Red Horn Tribe, which had troubled him in the other world, seemed like a weak, rural village in comparison, except for their supreme leader, of course.

After running for about half an hour and covering another five miles, they officially entered the Black Death Forest and left the city behind. At that point, they stopped running. As expected, Darnell showed no signs of fatigue, while Devlin was out of breath and visibly exhausted.

After resting for five minutes, Sollivan ordered with clear sternness, "Sunrise is approaching, so we don't have much time left. Listen to me: each of you take two buckets of beast irritant and spread the cotton pieces throughout the forest."

Devlin's body froze, and his exhausted breathing stopped. He was shocked by the order and genuinely afraid of entering the forest alone.

But Sollivan noticed this and calmly reassured him, "Don't worry, you'll handle the relatively safe surrounding areas, while Darnell will take care of the central region."

"Huh, me? Why do you want me to risk going in there?" Darnell expressed his displeasure with the order.

"You're covered in beast repellent, so they won't bother you. Also, the irritant takes some time to take effect, so don't be afraid either."

When he saw they weren't convinced, he said sternly, "Take the buckets and go do it, or turn back if you're going to back out at the last moment."

His words stirred their hearts, and after a brief hesitation, they picked up the buckets and each went in a different direction, while Sollivan remained seated, contemplating the sky barely visible through the tree branches. Calmly, he said, "Appear."

Noctis emerged from his shadow and stood beside him as usual, awaiting orders.

With calmness and coldness, Sollivan said, "Take the remaining bucket of beast irritant and head deep into the forest. Throw it at any strong beast you see."

Noctis immediately picked up the bucket and ran at an insane speed, surpassing both Devlin and even Darnell, as unlike them, he didn't hesitate, fear, or care about his surroundings. Sollivan didn't transfer his vision to Noctis, instead choosing to sit quietly and think carefully.

…

Inside the forest, Devlin moved fearfully and hastily, throwing the beast irritant everywhere. Whenever he sensed movement, he changed his path and fled. Darnell, on the other hand, was more disciplined and resolute, running in a somewhat steady path. In contrast, whenever he sensed the presence of a beast, he approached it and threw the irritant.

The beasts' sense of smell far surpassed that of Arcane Masters of the same level, so they worked to spread the irritant over as wide an area as possible to reach as many beasts as they could.

As for Noctis, he was as precise as a machine. He didn't look around or change his path, running steadily while his emerald eyes shifted from place to place. After running several miles and passing the safe zone of the forest, he suddenly heard a loud grinding sound, like metal scraping, and immediately changed direction toward the source. After a few minutes, he reached his destination, where a massive beast appeared before him, with a small, oddly slanted hump on its back. The beast's body resembled a donkey but was the size of a horse, while its head was pig-like, with two sharp tusks on either side of its mouth. Its appearance wasn't strange and seemed oddly harmonious.

As soon as the beast saw Noctis, it was startled and took a step back to stand firmly, displaying its majestic beastly aura.

It opened its saliva-filled mouth and roared angrily. It didn't understand what had appeared before it, so it didn't attack immediately. But before it could comprehend what was happening, Noctis ran toward it at high speed, holding a piece of cloth soaked in beast irritant, and forcefully slapped it across the beast's surprised face. However, the beast didn't stay still and bit at the black hand coming toward it. But this was meaningless, as it only bit into black smoke that dispersed inside its mouth. The beast jumped back in fear and looked ahead, but it didn't see Noctis. Instead, its gaze fell on a piece of cloth soaked in a highly irritating smell stuck to its tusk.

The beast's eyes began to redden gradually, while it felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort. Nevertheless, it controlled itself and didn't do anything strange. But as the minutes passed, its discomfort grew, and it began to feel intense anger. It rammed into the trees around it in fury and started running aimlessly, searching for some living creatures to vent its rage on.

The quiet forest began to come alive. The sounds of roars suddenly increased, and from above, some trees could be seen falling with force.

After finishing the task of spreading the beast irritant, Devlin, trembling with terror, and Darnell, shocked, returned to where Sollivan was and stood stiffly beside him. Devlin couldn't speak, as all he could think about was the desire to return home, while Darnell swallowed the complaints he had considered earlier. After entering the forest and seeing how effective the beast repellent he had poured on himself was, he became amazed and his curiosity about Sollivan's identity grew. Beast repellent of this quality couldn't be made as simply as he had witnessed, and he suspected something was off. But he dismissed it.

'I made the beast repellent with my own hands and saw all the ingredients, but its quality surpasses similar products on the market. Even the beast repellent provided to scouts in the army is of lower quality. This rascal, what else is he hiding in his arsenal besides this?'

"Darnell, take the beast attractant and spread it near the base of the Sun Cold Empire's army," Sollivan suddenly spoke, making him stop his thoughts. He was surprised by what he heard and looked at the buckets they had left earlier, but he furrowed his brows in confusion when he noticed the count was off. Three buckets were missing—one containing irritant and the others containing the beast attractant.

He looked at Sollivan, whose expression was calm and indifferent, and doubted, 'Is he pretending to be crippled? If not, that means there's someone else accompanying us secretly.' He narrowed his eyes and increased his caution, suspecting a conspiracy against him, but he didn't let it stop him. Quickly, he picked up the beast attractant and headed toward the enemy camp, his mind swirling with thoughts.

The operation was extremely dangerous due to the presence of some scouting soldiers, but he didn't need to venture too deep, settling for spreading the attractant in areas near the camp. Once the beasts reached that area, they would sense the humans.

As for the excavation area where the ancient treasury was located, Sollivan had previously sent Noctis to spread the beast attractant. After completing the hasty preparations, the sun began to rise.