Using the gold dragon wings, Jack flew ahead of his retreating troops. He landed on the mountaintop where John was at.
"Too bad the enemy isn't tempted into using their guild armies," John said after Jack landed.
"They must be waiting for us to summon ours," Jack said. "They have more troops than us. No need to call reinforcements unless they need to."
"Where are you now, by the way? Have you successfully infiltrated inside?" John asked.
Jack grinned and gave him the thumbs-up sign.
"Oh, my Double Clone duration is coming to an end," Jack said. He then vanished with a poof.
John sent Jack a message then. "Where exactly are you?"
"I just entered one of the outer cave halls," Jack answered. "Almost no soldier around here. I guess they are mostly outside or deep inside where the palace is."
Master thought Jack was using Magic Clone which produced one clone, but the spell Jack used was Double Clone which produced two clones.
Jack cast Double Clone before engaging Master. He then had his two clones fight Master while his original self cast Invisibility and Soar. He then sneaked into Palgrost's east entrance while the armies were fighting.
Peniel stayed with one of his clones to give Master a convincing show. If Jack wasn't present during the battle or he fought without Peniel by his side, the enemy might become suspicious that he was up to something. In this way, the enemy thought that he was with the retreating army.
The battle just now was simply to get Jack as close as possible to Balgadur's entrance. By shifting the enemy's focus onto the battle, it is more unlikely for Jack to be caught while sneaking in.
"If you find few enemies, that means their command base is not nearby," John said to Jack. "Hurry and search for it. The gate to Palgrost Palace won't hold forever."
"Dude, do you know how big this place is? I can spend days if I search blindly," Jack complained. His radar didn't detect any concentration of red dots nearby. Even with his radar, it would still take a long time to search.
"Go look for Dogs of War," John advised. "Jeanny told me they are hiding inside the capital. I've made contact with David. He is mobilizing his people to look for the enemy's command base. Go and meet him at these coordinates. You should add him to your friend list. Once they find the command base, they can act together with you."
"All right," Jack said.
After his clone stopped using the gold dragon wings, he could use them to fly faster. He now landed inside an alley because his invisibility would end soon. He then traveled on foot from there.
Some of the enemies had the God-eye monocles. Without invisibility, he would show up on the enemy's radar, so he moved while using mana concealment. He also paid attention to his radar so he didn't come into an enemy's sight by accident.
The capital was mostly empty. Most of the civilians had been evacuated to other settlements when the Liguritudum army was on their way. The ones who stayed ran into the palace when the enemies breached the capital's entrance. The few remaining ones, who were stubborn enough to not leave, hid inside their houses. Jack used his radar and avoided contact with these civilians.
*
While Jack moved inside Balgadur, the army reorganized itself. John made a count. They lost around 50,000 troops in the brief scuffle just now. Most of the losses came from the right-wing army which endured the enemy's bulk force. The ones who were wounded were currently healing themselves using the mobile healing rune diagram that had been prepared on the field.
Linda also made a count from their side. They lost even more. Most of the casualties were from their hidden force which was ambushed back by John's hidden troops. They lost 150,000 troops, of which one-third were the zombie units.
Master used the Necronomicon and resurrected both the non-zombie Liguritudum and Themisphere's casualties. He got 150,000 new zombie units. It was as if he hadn't lost a single unit in the fight just now.
The two armies just stood on their sides and watched one another. The sun was already setting when the Themisphere army arrived. The sky was dark when the Themisphere army retreated. Master and Linda simply assumed the Themisphere army avoided fighting in the dark.
Linda continued to be vigilant, though. She was ready in case John planned a night assault. She didn't know John slept soundly throughout the night.
Early the next morning, the Themisphere army advanced again. But unlike yesterday, the three wings spread out and hit from different sides. The battle didn't last long. All three wings quickly retreated again. It was as if the Themisphere army continued to gauge its opponent.
At noon, the Themisphere army moved again. They poked at the Liguritudum army before quickly retreating.
"What are you playing at?" Linda sent John a message.
"What do you mean?" John replied.
"Don't play coy. What the hell are these jabs for?"
"Hehe, come on, mother. Do you seriously think a strategist will reveal his plan to the enemy's strategist?"
John was right. Linda never expected a real answer. She just couldn't stand the current situation. It was as if John was toying with her.
The reason John did these skirmishes was to keep the enemy's attention on their army. He knew the enemy wouldn't leave Balgadur's side. There was no point in them to go chasing the Themisphere army. They were waiting for the siege army inside Balgadur to destroy the palace's gate. Once the palace was conquered, they could go and deal with the Themisphere army.
It was a race whether the palace gate fell first or Linda's command base was discovered first.
As for the situation inside Balgadur, the Dogs of War did several more ambushes to the siege weapons that were firing at the palace gate. They picked a less guarded spot, created a distraction on the other side, and then focused their assault on one siege weapon. Using this method, they destroyed several more siege weapons, reducing the rate by which the enemy reduced the gate's HP.
But their mission got harder when Ronald arrived. Motherboard was with him. Master gave her a spare God-eye monocle and tasked her to accompany Ronald. With Ronald's tracking skills and Motherboard's God-eye monocle, they tracked and slayed the Dogs of War's members.
The Dogs of War didn't travel together, though. They split into lots of smaller cells. This way, even if one group was discovered, the others were safe. This hunt continued throughout the night and morning, as were the Dogs of War's ambushes.
