Jeanny turned to Regim. "How?" She asked.
"During our idle time here, we have scouted most of this region, including the hill we are stationed at and also the mountain range behind it. If the destination is behind that mountain range, there is a shortcut path that my guild can take. Using this path can bring us behind the dragon army before that orc's army in front of us reach there."
"Good, let's take that path," Jeanny said.
"Unfortunately, only my guild can take that path. It is not a normally traversable terrain. Inexperienced people will just slow us down. We might be able to only bring one or two people."
Jeanny knew that Jackal Crews was a group of mercenaries who used to be real soldiers. So, she wasn't offended when Regim called them inexperienced people. However, she was weary of him. Did he truly sincere about helping? Or was this a ploy to sabotage the war as Death Associates did?
"Even if you can get ahead of them, with only your guild, what can you do?" Jeanny asked.
"We have guild headquarters, we can summon our guild troops to increase our number," Regim replied. "If we bring this guy, we can increase our number even more." Regim was pointing at Manager Steelhand.
The two of them went together? Now, Jeanny was getting even wearier.
"How many guild troops can you summon? Those in front of us are four hundred thousand strong troops which mainly consisted of native soldiers. I don't think your two guilds can do much in slowing them down," Selena said.
"You are right," Regim didn't refute her words. "Which is why we hope we can get those war tools that are used to slow them down when they charged through the plains."
Jeanny frowned. Just when she thought she couldn't get warier. She did have some caltrops. John gave her some for contingency use. But did Regim truly believe that she would just give these caltrops to him?
Regim could read her silence. He said, "I understand if you don't trust us. We used to be enemies. What Death Associates did in this war didn't exactly promote confidence in us who used to be their allies. There is nothing I can say to dispel your distrust. I just offer to let you know of this possible solution. Whether you want to take it or not, it's entirely up to you. However, I must warn you that the window for doing this is not long. In a few more hours, if you ask us to take the shortcut path then, I am no longer confident that we can get ahead of the enemy army."
Silence ensued after that. Jeanny didn't say anything. Regim also didn't add anything to try to convince her. He just left Jeanny alone to think it over.
Selena wanted to say something but decided against it. Jeanny was no longer the junior in the same guild as her. She was now a leader of her own guild. She was even one of the leaders appointed to lead the army in this war. The responsibility of decision-making rested on her alone. Additionally, Selena herself was unsure what she would decide if this choice was presented to her. So, she kept her silence.
After some while, Jeanny finally spoke, "Regim, I will say this. If you betray us. My guild will hunt yours down."
"Fair enough," Regim replied.
"And I want you to take Trinity with you," Jeanny added. "You said you can bring two people, right?"
"All right. As long as she is not too lousy, we should be able to manage," Regim said.
"She is not," Jeanny said. "I will leave the war tools with her."
"Fair enough," Regim said again.
Trinity Dawn, who was riding with them, approached Jeanny. Jeanny transferred the caltrops to her inventory. Jeanny also advised her to wear the Amulet of Rebirth just in case. Trinity told her not to worry. She and Steelhand then followed Regim and rode away.
All the Jackal Crews members broke away from the army and went to the mountain range.
Jeanny watched them leave. She hoped her faith in them was not misplaced. She then returned her focus to the front, keeping an eye on the enemy army marching in the distance.
On a vast desert, a large army of humans was surrounding a small building. Not far from this army, on their East side, was an orc army twice the size of the human army. Behind this orc army was a row of large supply carts. The two were just staring at one another. From the Western side, those two armies saw a huge dust cloud in the distance.
Jack, who was with the human army, look at the dust cloud with trepidation.
"That must be one of the three armies that came to deal with us," John said to Jack. "Most likely from the third army. The first and second are too tied up to divide their troops. The good news is, that I just talked with Jeanny. She mentioned that she is currently chasing a part of the third army that intends to strike the rear of our dragon army. If Jeanny fails to stop them, the dragon army will be in trouble."
"Dude... How is that good news?" Jack asked in annoyance.
"Good news for us. If a part of the third army is there, this means the one heading here is at most only half. I was worried at first if they decide to just let go of Thesewal and come at us full force."
"If the dragon army loses, our effort here is also pointless," Jack said.
"That is not wrong. Well, we each have our tasks to do. Jeanny will deal with the problem there. Ours here is to weaken the enemy's armies that are fighting with dragon and phoenix army for as long as possible."
John then turned to his side, "Bowler! Are you sure all those caltrops have been placed properly?"
"Yeah, we placed them all around us," Bowler answered.
"The orcs didn't see you placing them?"
"We finished the task before that large army shows up earlier this morning. Before, it was just small scouting forces. I sent a legion to chase them away while having another circling around seemingly in patrol. But it was to disguise us placing those caltrops. Luckily, this place is all sand, it didn't take long to put the caltrops and covered them with sand."
"Good! You should be proud that you are useful in this way. Once the battle starts, your usefulness will be gone."
Bowler had the urge to fire Mana Bullet at the back of John's head.
"I didn't expect Verremor to still keep such a large army," Jack said as he watched the army in the East staring at them.
"Those must be all the legions protecting the supply carts grouped together, and maybe added by one of the border armies who stayed behind in case of an emergency. That border army must be sent here once they received a report of the missing supplies," John replied. "I bet they were already nearby before today. They simply stayed away and waited for this other army from the West to arrive so they have more numbers and can hit us from two sides. That's why we no longer see any supply carts approaching. Those carts must be held by that army. They will only continue the delivery after we are defeated."
"If this incoming army is half of the third army, combined with the one over there, their number will be four times ours," Jack said.
"That is a correct assessment," John replied.
"This is an open field, there is no defensive structure or beneficial landscape. The advantage we have is only those caltrops, which will only slow them down. They don't deal any damage nor weaken them. Most of Verremor's native's average level is also higher than our native soldiers. Do you think we can win?"
"Our objective here is never about winning, it is about buying our main army as much time as possible."
"Then why don't we just destroy this supply depot here and play hide and seek, hit and run to hit their remaining supplies?" Bowler asked.
"Because, my friend, this is their last supply depot in between our country and theirs," John answered. "If we destroy this depot, what keeps them from separating their supply carts and heading in different directions? We will then have a problem trying to locate and chase every single cart in this vast desert. The reason they still insist on passing through here is this supply depot. This world system makes it so the rations will deteriorate if they are not refreshed in this depot. If they still had a chance to decrease the loss of rations sent to the front line, they would try. That's why they will be trying their best to recapture this last supply depot. We might have ensured they lost military rations if we destroy this last supply depot, but we will fail to prevent them from delivering the other non-deteriorating supplies such as recovery potions, equipment, and materials."
The army that caused the dust cloud was in sight already. They first appeared as black dots along the horizon. Little by little, they became bigger. Soon, everyone saw those black dots turned into a sea of orcish soldiers.
"All right, ladies and gentlemen. This is what you all sign up for," John said. "Everyone, battle stations!!"
