"Hah! That spoiled buffoon got himself captured and his troops decimated?" General Revon laughed after receiving the report of his Vice General, who had interviewed the thousands of Ammarian Soldiers who had fled to their Domain due to their defeat in the hands of General Fahad and the Yelan Army.
"General, this is no laughing matter," General Revon's Aide, Ronan, said with a frown. "Our defeat in the Marshlands meant that we have lost one of the battlefields crucial for regaining the territories we have lost."
General Revon snorted before opening a bottle of rum, and drinking it without a care in the world.
Half a minute later, he gave a loud burp before shifting his attention to his Vice General who had a fed up expression on his face.
"Our losses in the Eastern Territories isn't that big of a deal," General Revon replied. "As long as we win our campaign, we can easily attack General Fahad's camp from behind, leaving them no place to escape.
"Although they won their campaign, I doubt they have many soldiers left in their ranks. At the very least, they can simply hold their territory. They don't have the ability to reinforce the other battlefields."
General Revon took another chug of his rum until the bottle was empty. He then placed the bottle on top of the table and gave another loud burp before picking up a roasted chicken leg and eating it with gusto.
Ronan frowned, but he no longer said anything. Just as General Revon said, all they needed to do was win their own campaign. When that was over, they could deal with General Fahad as much as they wanted.
But, this would only become a reality if they won their campaign.
'We have had several clashes with General Carran, and he is just as formidable as his reputation,' Vice General Ronan thought. 'When General Revon and him fought a one-on-one battle, their duel ended in a draw with neither side going all out.
'Still, the added manpower that came from the remnants of General Phobus' army is a welcome addition to our own troops. This might just help us tilt the battle in our favor in our next clash against the part of the Yelan Army guarding the Glouswell Forest.'
Three days later, over twenty thousand troops from General Phobus' army joined with General Revon's sixty-thousand soldiers, forcing the Yelan Army—belonging to General Carran—to take defensive formations everytime they clashed.
Among the soldiers that joined with General Revon's Army were the survivors of the Storm Dragon's Guild, Skystead Alliance, Xynnar War Pact, and Six Kingdoms.
Only five members from the Storm Dragon's Guild survived, and they had no idea what happened to their Guildmaster, Nero, because he suddenly disappeared during the battle.
The Skystead Alliance only had one member remaining, while the Xynnar War Pact had two, including Jasper, who served as their leader.
As for the Six Kingdoms, only the Elven Prince, Enlil managed to escape unscathed because he could fly, which allowed him to avoid Lux's deadly traps in the woodlands with ease.
All in all, nine people from the different factions remained, not including Nero, whose whereabouts were unknown.
All of these survivors decided to stick together and chose a temporary leader to lead them for the time being. They knew that there was no point in fighting against each other because all of them were on the same boat.
After taking a vote, Jasper, the leader of the Xynnar War Pact became the Temporary Leader of their Alliance.
The blonde-haired teenage boy was a very popular prodigy within the Xynnar War Pact. Since the Six Kingdoms, and the Storm Dragon Guild's main area of operation was within the Xynnar War Pact's territory, they had heard and seen Jasper several times in the past, and had worked with him in handling high-leveled Dungeons in the past.
"First of all, let's talk about what happened a few days ago," Jasper said after he and his comrades finished eating their lunch. "All of us thought that General Phobus had a very high chance of winning the campaign because of what happened during the previous battle between the Ammarian Army and the Yelan Army.
"However, that all changed overnight when we marched to the place where they were making their last stand. I can be wrong, but I strongly believe that the skill used against us that day was the Necromancer Skill, Corpse Explosion. Now, we need to look at the details we received about the identity of that Necromancer.
"Based on what you guys are telling me, there is a high chance that it was the Half-Elf, whom Vice General Second killed several days ago, who was the culprit for the sudden change in the battlefield, correct?"
The five members of the Storm Dragon Guild nodded their heads in affirmation.
"Aside from him, I know no other Necromancers who could have used such a skill," Enlil replied. "I thought that they were already out of the competition, but here we are, facing off against each other and all of us got the short end of the stick."
One of the Storm Dragon Guild voiced his opinion for everyone to hear.
"I saw the Boar that always hangs around Lux a few days ago in the Woodlands," the teenage boy said. "Although it is the only one I saw, there is a high possibility that everyone that Vice General Second killed several days ago has returned to fight for the Yelan Army."
An annoyed expression appeared on Enlil's face after hearing the words of his teammate. Lux was bad enough, but if Cai, Keane, Einar, Val, Xander, Henrietta, and Malcolm were still alive as well then it could spell a big deal of trouble for them.
"Okay, I got a plan," Jasper said after a few minutes of silence. "There is a high chance that he managed to complete the mission of killing General Phobus. If we follow this train of thought then he will definitely appear in the battle of Glouswell Forest.
"He could also use the same strategy again, so it is best if we stay at the rear of the formation and always keep a lookout in our surroundings. The moment something unexpected happens, all of us will retreat.
"Our numbers are already few to begin with, and we needed to complete this mission for our respective Factions. Failure is not an option."
The remaining member of Skyteam Alliance, which was once led by Malcolm, raised his head to look at their blond-haired leader with a solemn expression.
"What will we do if we meet the Half-Elf on the battlefield?" the teenage boy asked.
Jasper didn't answer right away, because he was weighing the pros and cons of engaging Lux in battle.
"If there is a chance to kill him then we will go for the kill," Jasper replied after he finished organizing his thoughts. "If we take him out then we don't have to worry about corpses blowing up in our faces. Once is enough. Twice, no thank you."
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement to their temporary leader's orders.
If they could really kill Lux then all was good. If not, then they would just prioritize their retreat in order to keep themselves alive.
All of them had been briefed by their superiors about how important this mission was. They were even told that they were free to take whatever actions they deemed necessary, and no one would find fault in it.
"By the way, have any of you seen Nero?" Jasper asked. "If he is still alive, he will be a good asset to our cause."
Among the members of the young Generation, Jasper recognized Nero's strength. If he were able to rope in the brown-haired teenager into being his underling, he would have a higher chance of clearing the mission entrusted to him.
"No," one of the members of the Storm Dragon Guild replied. "We haven't seen Guildmaster because the battlefield became too chaotic to stick together."
When the explosions started, everyone was forced to scatter because the closer they were to each other, the higher the chances were of all of them dying together.
This was why they weren't able to say whether Nero had died or not. They simply believed that someone as strong as their Guildmaster wouldn't succumb to Lux's underhanded move, and was still somewhere out there, planning his next move.
What they didn't know was that Nero was indeed still alive.
However, as for whether he was in a good condition or not, this was something that they would only know when the War between the Ammarian Army as well as the Yelan Army, had reached its climax.
