The morning of the next day, Jack had another discussion with Thaergood about the arrangement of the army. He also called Tetsuo and instructed him on where to go. John was still on his way with the others to the palace but Jack had discussed some plans with him via messages.
The 1,000,000 troops that retreated from Liguritudum would be stationed in Hydrurond to help Aldryth defend the country. Emris and the mobile fortress stayed with this army.
The 648,000 recruits they left to defend Themisphere had now become a viable fighting force after more than one month of training. A majority of these recruits were now above level 50. Jack sent these troops to Palgrost to help Thelgrun protect his country. Arther would be heading to Palgrost to take command of this army.
The newly recruited 996,000 troops remained in Themisphere and underwent extensive training. They would serve as reinforcement when needed.
Out of the three countries directly bordering Liguritudum, Jack didn't send any troops to Aurebor. Aurebor had an outworlder sovereign. Adding the coins Jack had sent, Nova should be able to build a sufficient fighting force.
According to Wilted, it would take around a month for the corrupted mana to reach beyond Liguritudum. That would be the speed of the underworld forces' advance, so they had one month to prepare.
John and the others arrived sometime before noon. Following him were Wilted Tree, Jeanny, Paytowin, Jet, Bowler, The Man, Serpent Boss, David, Spring Crown, Wong, and Leavemealone. Domon and Grace had come earlier.
"So, strategist. Any brilliant plan to get us out of this mess?" Jack asked John.
"Well. I can tell you that whatever plan we make, we have a 90% chance of losing," John answered.
"Way to go to bring up the morale, genius," Jack said sarcastically.
"I'm simply stating the truth based on the facts," John replied.
"Yes, we choose truth over facts," Bowler remarked.
"The f*ck are you on about?" The Man scolded.
John ignored the two. He said, "The most crucial factor is the God-level beings. We can battle the underworld forces but once Lucifer takes action, it won't matter how many troops we have. Currently, he stays on the sideline due to the interference of the upperworld Gods. However, he most likely stays idle because he doesn't know about Hope being no more."
"Won't Master tell him this fact? That guy surely knows about this truth," Jack said.
"We choose truth over…"
"I will smack you if you say that again!" The Man stopped Bowler before he completed his sentence.
"Can you two go out? You are disturbing!" John chided. He then resumed, "I doubt bringing the underworld forces into this world is Master's first choice. He only did that because he had been backed into a corner. I'm sure he plans to betray the underworld forces once he gets the chance. Otherwise, what's the point of ruling over a scorched world? He is only using the underworld forces to buy time, so he will keep this secret to prolong our conflict with the underworld forces."
"That makes sense," Jack remarked.
"This brings us to the next point. Once he finished fusing with all the divine power, we will have two God-level beings on the enemy side. Even with all the remaining upper-world Gods working together, I doubt we can win."
"So, we have to stop that from happening!" Jack exclaimed.
"That will be the best outcome, but I don't see any way for us to realize that," John said. "He has placed himself right in the middle of the underworld forces. We have to get through them to get to him. No way we can do that with a large army."
"What about a small infiltration force?" David asked. "My guild is an expert in this. We should be able to find our way to slip through the underworld forces."
"That might be doable, but do you think you can win against Master with a small force?" John asked back.
David couldn't answer that question.
"Jack can!" Paytowin exclaimed. "Just sneak him in. Once he meets Master, he can go and become super saiy*n like when he fought Azzarilth. Even Master won't win against someone who can fight toe-to-toe against a level 98 eternal dragon."
"That plan is actually 5% out of my 10% chance of winning. If he can fight Azzarilth, he should be able to fight Satan too once he levels up a few more times. So…?" John turned to Jack.
Jack gave them a wry smile. "I'm sorry to disappoint you all, but I can't do that again. And it's not super saiy*n, for goodness sake. It's called mana awakening!"
"You can't?" All of them asked with disappointed expressions.
"I've tried ever since I woke up from my long slumber, but I can't repeat it," Jack said. "I can't get into the complete emptiness like when I was hit by Azzarilth's mind-dooming gaze. Without that state of emptiness, I can't fuse with mana."
"Perhaps your mind is not clear enough?" Leavemealone asked. "We practitioners of martial arts have meditation techniques to clear and empty our minds. Perhaps you should train more to achieve that condition."
"Trust me. I've tried that," Jack said.
"It's true," Domon added. "Afei came to me after he woke up and asked for the training to further clear his mind. I've observed his meditation. I must say his meditation rivaled even me, if not better. I can't teach him a way to further empty his mind."
"Well, that's a downer," John said. "I guess it has to come down to the remaining 5% of the 10% winning chance we have."
"Which is?" Jack asked.
"I have talked with Wilted, I know about that conversation with the person who is the creator of the Second World game, or his ghost for that matter."
"His name is Chris," Wilted said.
"Okay, Chris said if our conflict with Master has not yet ended, we should go to his secret location bringing twenty-four players of different elite classes. I said he has something up his sleeves that can help us win this war. Since we have no better option, I say we bet on this."
