"Farking horse beard hanging upside down," Thelgrun cursed.
John and Wilted looked at the dwarf president with weird faces. John turned to Wilted and said, "I have no idea what that means. Do you know what that means?" To which Wilted responded with a shrug.
"In any case, this is very bad news," Horatio said. "I'm afraid my army will have to return to Sangrod immediately."
"If you do that, we won't be able to stop the underworld force!" Jeanny exclaimed.
"If I stay, my country will be overrun by the demonic horde even if we stop the underworld force here," Horatio returned. "I'm sorry. I have to prioritize my country and my people. That is my immediate concern. Once that is settled, then we will talk again about how to deal with the underworld force."
"I'm sorry to say this, but I have the same thoughts as him," Thelgrun said. "I don't have many troops left in this alliance, anyway. It won't make a difference even if I leave. I have to return to my country to organize my people to handle the underworld portal in my country."
"I will have to leave as well. My queen will need me," Dytess said.
Jennifer, who represented Aurebor, placed a hand on Jeanny, "Sister, I've just informed our mother about the underworld portal. She asked me to bring the remaining elven troops and return to Aurebor immediately."
Jeanny sighed. She was lamenting their situation. Here they were with an enemy seemingly much more powerful than them, and their alliance had to split at such a critical time. What hope did they have in stopping the devils and their underworld force?
Out of the seven main countries, only Themisphere and Verremor didn't have the threat of the underworld portal. This was because Jack had closed the portals in these two countries. However, Four Winds still needed to return. He needed to so he could go through the proper ritual and become Verremor's grand chief.
In the end, everyone said goodbye, and the Allied forces split.
John sent a message to the Allied Navy to not continue toward their target. The ships sailed back to the inner sea. From there, they would sail to Palgrost's navy base at the Daflue region. They would repair any damaged ships there and then prepare to make a stand. If the underworld force came to Palgrost through the sea, they would do their best to slow the enemy's advance.
After the country leaders left, John continued to discuss the situation with Jeanny and Wilted. Wilted advised them that it should probably take the underworld force around one month to completely overrun Liguritudum. That was roughly the speed for the corrupted mana to cover the entire country. After that, the corrupted mana would spread to Aurebor, Palgrost, and Hydrurond. The underworld force could advance to either of those three countries.
John asked if the underworld portals in those countries also released corrupted mana, to which Wilted confirmed they did. The amount was not as much as the main underworld portal, but they still accelerated the spread. Wilted said that her estimation of four months was if she considered the underworld portals in all the countries became active. While the six-month estimation was the case if all but the main underworld portal were closed.
Wilted also told them that once the main underworld portal was opened, the sovereign of the country could issue a nationwide evacuation command. This was done by accessing the monarch system using the throne. All the settlements of the country would become alert of the underworld force and would start moving to the destination country the sovereign had set.
Additionally, one-tenth of the evacuating population who were still civilians would convert into combatants. These newly converted combatants would only be level 30, though. This was to increase the chance of them surviving the evacuation process through the wilderness zone in between countries.
John and the others were now leading Themisphere and Liguritudum troops to head back to Dritzuut to issue this evacuation command. There was no way they could defend this country with just their force.
After one day of traveling, they received the news that Jack had woken up. Jack told them to go back directly to Themisphere. He was still in Dritzuut, so he would issue the evacuation command. Afterward, he would return toThemisphere. They could discuss their next move there.
With that arrangement, John sent the command for the army to change their course. Liguritudum's high marshall, Morphic, asked for permission to leave with the Liguritudum army. He wanted to aid with the evacuation process. With the protection from the army, the population would have a better chance of crossing through the wilderness.
John preferred losing the low-level population compared to these high-level soldiers, but he knew Jack would never agree to that. Jeanny was there so he couldn't hide this from Jack, so he let the Liguritudum troops go. Jack would be issuing the evacuation command and had Themisphere as the target country. If everything went smoothly, Morphic and the others would join them again in Themisphere.
Hence, the last two armies of the Allied forces separated and went their own way. The once great Allied force had now splintered.
*
Inside the throne room of Dritzuut palace, Jack had just issued the nationwide evacuation command. Because Liguritudum was Themisphere's vassal state, all the kingdom coffer and mana were transferred to Themisphere when the evacuation command set Themisphere as the destination. The coins and mana weren't that many but they would still help to build the army needed to face the advancing underworld force.
After issuing the evacuation command, Jack had a meeting with Liguritudum officials inside the throne room. They discussed the details of the evacuation. The meeting was kept short due to the urgency of the situation. Jack emphasized for the officials to not delay. People had to start leaving today. He wasn't there when the Allied forces engaged the devils, but he heard from John about what happened. None of the settlements would be able to survive when the underworld force came to their doorstep.
Only after making sure these officials understood the seriousness of the situation that Jack leave. He used the zone portal and teleported back to Themisphere.
