Felipe had a point. That move might decide the end of the battle, and leaving the success solely in their hands was too risky. Beatrice seemed to be around Billy's age, and while Tersaris state was peaceful, she must have some experience leading people. His terms were reasonable, but Billy could tell that most of the barbarians won't agree to be given orders by someone who isn't.one of them. Thus, they will have to decrease their forces. Still, it wasn't like they had any other option. For things to proceed and end well, all sides will have to compromise, or the battle will drag out forever and it would in a disaster.
"... I am going to select those who will cause less problems when going with us," Svan said after a long sigh.
"I will tell Beatrice to do the same, they will be ready tomorrow morning," Felipe said.
Around two thousand barbarians had come to help. In the worst-case scenario, Billy imagined that it would take one day to select at least five hundred of them. While Svan was known for his strength among them, he was a lot more methodical than he looked like, so he will analyze the possible candidates to come and the ones to take his place, leading the others in defense of the temple city that would also take some extra time.
Billy didn't know what he could do to make sure that the mission would go well. Since he wasn't going to give the calls, his actions would be limited. Perhaps making some throwing spears would help. While they recovered them after the battles, they would lose durability upon falling and getting dirty with blood and guts. It was really weird, the monsters disappeared after a while, but the weapons still could lose durability like that…
Billy decided to work on the supplies team for a while, who were carrying the throwing spears in some carts. While no one was looking, he made copies of the iron spears there. When some guys went to check the weapons, they frowned since they had the feeling that the number of weapons had increased while they weren't looking.
"This time, I will leave the crows to the barbarians," Billy thought while he was walking around and filling the carts with throwing spears. "I will use Destructive Aura to boost my speed and destroy the giant moles. Although I could also just use that boost in magic and crush them underground as well. Still, if I do that, then I will have to do it day and night… I will have only a few hours to sleep every day."
The monsters wouldn't come that often, so that was fine. What Billy was worried was about the distance between the temple city and the base of the summoner. It might take at least more than two weeks to reach it based on their speed and the number of fights along the way. Eventually, it will be impossible to keep their presence hidden from the enemy, so a fight will start… Billy wanted to start with a surprise attack, but he couldn't see how that would happen in the current scenario.
"In any case, with those guys, I won't have to worry too much about monsters, they can at least deal with a few hundreds of them," Billy thought. "I will use the opportunity that they will give me to open a path toward the enemy and deal with them once and for all."
When morning arrived, Billy found six hundred barbarians ready to depart, alongside seven hundred Galatea soldiers and three hundred others that were specialized in support magic. The numbers weren't that big, but Billy could see them achieving success since the enemy wouldn't be waiting for them.
"We are ready to set, and I would like your cooperation to lead this operation," Beatrice said. "Do you want to be my second in command?"
"I am not charismatic enough to be able to lead properly so many people," Billy said. "I would rather do my own thing while I offer my support to you and Svan."
"If you think that is for the best, then I will make Svan the second in command," Beatrice said. "I look forward to working with you."
Eventually, Svan joined them, and Beatrice made him the second in command. She also asked him what his opinion was about how they should proceed. Svan said that they would be fine with whatever as long as they make progress. He had picked the least impatient ones, but even those barbarians had limits. Still, they would be fine as long as they feel like they are making progress.
Half an hour later, the group began to move while leading those sixteen hundred men and women. The barbarians were on the front while the Galatea soldiers were close behind to help. The members of the support group were far behind because they couldn't afford to lose a single one. If they do, their potential to prevent deaths on the front line will decrease potentially.
The group began to move as soon as the first fight of the day ended, but after just three hours, they already could feel the crows in the sky approaching. The whole group prepared to fight, and the barbarians raised their guard. As expected, the moles were the first to attack. However, as soon as they exposed their heads, they got kicked so hard that they got smashed… The soldiers barely had the chance to see it, but they were almost certain that Billy was moving like a blue and killing the monsters with his inhuman speed.
Although they got surprised at first, the barbarians realized that they didn't have to worry about the moles and focused their attention on the crows and the throwing spears. Alongside Galatea soldiers, they destroyed the first group of enemies quite fast… But that only worked because they got lucky and were in a grove when they appeared.
