The next morning, everyone gathered outside the town gate. Guss was outside as well sending the Duke and the others off. Jack and the others were in position already at the head of the army formation as vanguard troops. The rest of the army was also in formation, ready to depart.
Before long, Commander Quintus gave the order for the army to move. The vanguard troops broke into three and moved out in advance. Everyone got back to their previous routine where the vanguard troops cleared out the monsters to provide a smooth way for the main troop. Jack's Warrior class reached level 26 shortly.
After one day of travel, they reached the border of Themisphere kingdom and entered the Fulgur region. The fertile land filled with grasses and trees soon gave way to a vast and arid desert filled with sand.
No wonder the army needed to resupply at Thesewal. It would be difficult to get any water or food in this desert.
The monsters that populated this desert were Wind Elemental and Giant Scorpion. They had fought the Giant Scorpion before, so they were familiar with their attack patterns. The difference was the Giant Scorpion here had higher levels, around level 35 to level 40, with many elite grades.
The Wind Elemental was more troublesome to deal with. They had natural resistance against physical attack, although not as absurd as their cousin, the small rock golem which Jack fought long ago. Even damage of magical attack was hampered by a portion. But such all-rounded damage resistance was offset by their low HP, so they were still manageable.
The thing to watch out for was that they could release air energy as sharp as a steel blade that whirled all around them. Anyone who came into melee range with this creature would have to suffer getting cut by the air blades. Hence only soldiers geared with full heavy armor were sent to face these monsters supported by range attacks.
Apart from the monsters, the elements were also against the army. The heat and low humidity were constantly causing discomfort to the soldiers and players alike. The wind was also always blowing as they carried the sand and hurt the eyes.
Another day passed as they delved deeper into the desert. They met another new monster, Flame Tiger. Unlike other monsters which were usually met in a pack. This Flame Tiger led a solitary life, so when they encountered this monster, it was always only one.
Despite had to deal with only one Flame Tiger at a time, the vanguard troops instead had a more difficult time. There were even some instances where some of the soldiers almost lost their lives. If the healers were a bit slow, or their comrades did not provide assistance fast enough, they would have been a goner.
Each of the Flame Tiger's attacks dealt massive damage, so the soldiers could only withstand a few hits before they were in critical health. The tiger also could unleash a fiery breath that hit a lot of opponents at once. The players made sure to move further back after seeing one of these breath attacks.
Its back was also constantly being coated by a layer of fiery energy, making it look as if it had a long fire mane on its back. This fire energy gave off an aura that dealt continuous small damage to anybody that came too close to the Flame Tiger.
None of the Flame Tigers they met was of basic monster. They were at least Elite grade. There was even one instance when they met a special elite Flame Tiger. At that time, the three vanguard troops came to encircle the single monster as they slowly wore it down to death.
All the players could see the difficulty of the monsters in this desert was higher. The vanguard troops' advance was getting slower that the main troop almost caught up to them a few times. Seeing this, Commander Quintus was tempted to just disband the vanguard troops and went back to having a large troop formation to scare away the monsters.
After half a day had passed, Jack noticed a large sand storm in the distance. Jack observed it as the sand storm appeared to be getting closer. It would be a problem if they were caught in the sandstorm. But upon closer inspection, it was not a sandstorm, it was a cloud of dust similar to the one he had seen before. Such cloud was not formed by natural wind but was caused by many feet traversing through the sandy terrain beneath it.
As if to prove his point, he started to see a large number of white dots appearing at the edge of his radar in the direction of that dustcloud.
White? Neutral NPCs? Not monsters?
Still, Jack did not dare to be careless. He commanded the other two vanguard troops to combine as they formed a defensive formation facing the incoming dust cloud. The dust cloud was very easy for everyone to see, so they did not find the command to be strange. However, in everyone's mind other than Jack, the incoming dust cloud was caused by a monster swarm. Everyone braced for the unavoidable conflict.
To everyone's consternation, when the dust cloud approached, large numbers of figures could be seen as they moved rapidly in front of the dust cloud. As they were getting closer, everyone could then see that these figures were riding mounts. Their mounts looked like large jackals the size of a horse, the jackal's skin was of dark brown color and was heavily covered by sharp hairs.
However, the riders were not any less striking than the monstrous jackals. Each of the riders sported a large and muscled physique with dark green skin. Their heads were large and ugly with two tusks jutting out from their mouth.
Every veteran RPG gamer would recognize such creatures anywhere.
"Orcs! Prepare for battle! Let's vanquish these monsters!" The Man screamed when he saw the incoming riders. The other players ready themselves in agreement.
Although Captain Salem was also ready himself for a clash, he looked at The Man with a weird face. "Monsters?" He asked.
Oh, right. I haven't told them, Jack thought in his mind.
"They are not monsters," Jack told the excited players.
"They aren't?"
As if to prove Jack's statement, the horde of orcs slowed their advance and stopped a few distances away from the human troop. They looked at each other with wariness. One rider came out from among the orcs' troops.
This orc had a larger stature compared to his compatriots. He had long hair that was tied into two ponytails that came down both his shoulders. He wore loose armor that displayed his muscular physique. A large hammer was slung on his back. His action indicated that he was a leader of this troop.
Jack used his God-eye monocle to inspect this orc leader.
Hubesi Loudroar (Elite Orc, Chieftain), level 50
HP: 115,000
Captain Salem took the initiative to come out and greet the orc representative, "greeting, honored chieftain. To what purpose do you bring your troops so close to ours?"
The orc chieftain huffed, when he did, a visible cloud of smoke was seen coming out of his nostrils, despite the hot air. "You still dare to ask, human?!" Hubesi roared. "Your army has trespassed into the territory of our mighty Verremor. We demand the price of blood for this transgression!"
Captain Salem frowned upon hearing it, he said, "what do you mean by this? Fulgur region is no man's land. Neither of our countries holds the right to it."
"Hmph, who said that? We of the Verremor always considered the Fulgur region as part of our territory. We don't place a station here doesn't mean that we do not consider it ours."
"Don't be ridiculous. If you can lay claim to the right of this territory, then we of the Themisphere can do so as well! Do not think that we are pushovers!"
"Har har, then a fight it shall be! I represent our Warlord, Abasi Raretooth, to announce a declaration of war against the Themisphere troops that had trespassed into this region. We will begin our battle the next time the sun rises. May it be a glorious battle!"
He then went back to his horde and led them away.
Huh? What's this? Jack was at a loss. He thought they were about to have a battle right then and there. Why the hell those orcs came all the way here just to make a declaration to fight the next day?
"What's that all about?" Jeanny asked. The players had gathered together when the three units of vanguard troops combined.
Answering her question, Jack explained to everyone about the seven largest countries in this world and the different races ruling them. He pointed out that not all the countries had a harmonious relationship with each other. One such country that had an enmity with theirs was the orc's nation of Veremmor, whose troops they had just encountered.
While Jack was explaining to the others. Captain Salem called for one of his aides and instructed him to carry an urgent message regarding the orcs to the commander and the duke in the main army.
Captain Salem then came to Jack and said, "we need to regroup with the main army."
"Are we going to war?" Jack asked.
"We are," he answered with a solemn expression.
