Later, that evening;
Mark finished his dinner and sit with a few of the soldiers around the campfire.
"Lt. General Hu seemed to be such a mighty figure," Mark commented casually as he was listening to the adventures of Infantry division's Lt. General, Hu Shi.
"Yup, if it not for the limited positions of Generals, he would have already become one." A soldier named Lei Jin spoke with pride.
While he wasn't an extrovert, he likes the company of others too.
And for some reason, he felt safe at this camp. Maybe, it is because he's far away from the Imperial city or maybe, it's because the soldiers were weak. The reason doesn't matter. What matters is that he was chatting with others about casual things, which he didn't get to have with other people in his neighborhood because everyone would be busy. Unlike him, they don't get to earn much.
A couple of hours passed away.
The soldiers appeared to be energetic. On the other hand, Mark was getting sleep. He wanted to leave for his tent and sleep, which only the captain and above pay grade has the privilege but Lei Jin was in the middle of storytelling about another adventurer of their mighty Lt. General. This time, it appeared to be a romantic story of Lt. General Hu Shi and retired General Yuan Chin's daughter who later became the former's wife. It is quite long and the scenes are like in a drama. He couldn't even tell whether it is real or a story.
Mark thought he would leave once it was over but for now, the story is going on for fifteen minutes.
"So, Lt. General Hu climbed the house with the help of pipes in order to not alert anyone. And without making a noise, he managed to enter the balcony of the second floor where Lady Yuan sleeps.
Lady Yuan appeared to be awake. She came to the balcony and saw him. They hugged each other. It was then, her door suddenly knocked twice. It turned out to be her father."
The other three soldiers, who seemed like they are hearing it for the first time, were engrossed in it.
"What happened, next?" A soldier named Kong Chin asked in enthusiasm.
"Did they get caught? Or did our Lt. General escaped?" Another soldier named asked in tension.
Lei Jin let out a smile and said, "It was then lady…"
Before he finished the sentence, a sound of a huge explosion suddenly occurred far away.
Everyone including Mark looked towards the source, the hill before them.
Followed by that, three loud barks were heard in the surroundings. The source was nearly five kilometers away, yet, even Mark felt like his audio was cut off for a couple of moments and can only hear the sound of buzzing in his ears.
*Woof* Woof* Woof*
Very soon, continuous explosions were seen one after another in the sky, above the hill. The exploding arrows were the signal that the dungeon was broken.
The soldiers and the volunteers, everyone stood up on their feet right away. A majority from the lower realm were panicked and the others were serious as it came earlier than they expected. Nevertheless, everyone was picking up their weapons.
The second prince and the other elites stepped outside of their tent.
"Southern Army, get ready." The second prince was the first to give an order before going on his own.
"The hell," Mark rubbed his eyes and looked at the sky again to see the back of a figure that was flying with bird-like wings. Adding on top of it, the flames were also dancing on the features.
"Hah! General Shang is really the reincarnation of a Phoenix." A soldier stared at the flying figure in admiration.
It was still dark. Wherever the prince is flying, the place was being illuminated for a moment.
In the meantime, the other elites started to pass orders.
"Division A, get ready," said a six-circle realm Elite from another camp nearby.
"Division B, get ready." "Division C, get ready." "Eastern Army, get ready" "Jin guards, get ready" "Division D, get ready" "Division E, get ready"
As the other seven groups were gathering together, the troops at the Southern Army also stood uniformly. Mark stood on the side as he doesn't belong to any group.
Meanwhile, a Captain of a unit, Wang Li took the charge in Shang Wen's absence, following his order.
She's about 5'5", slender, in her late twenties, and can be considered beautiful. The ponytail and pure white hanfu attire only increased her appearance by a few points but the weapon in her hand annuls all those things.
It was a Ji, a two-pole hand weapon, comprised of a long handle with a curved blade attached to the top and a sharp metal tip. Ji is a very diverse and useful weapon, it can be used to slash with the side blade or stab with a drip.
It is indeed a good weapon but didn't suit her stature.
Tightly gripping the handle, she spoke loudly, "Everyone, our General is risking his life by fighting the dungeon overlord, all alone. As a member of the southern troops, I will lay my life to fulfill our goal set by him at all costs. Are you with me?"
As she raised the weapon, every soldier also raised their weapons, and roared, "Yes."
She put the weapon and raised it again, "Are you with me?"
"Yes."
"Now, everyone, get ready to leave," Wang Li put down her weapon and mounted a Ferghana horse that was brought by a servant. The knights also mounted their Ferghana horses. While they were lean and looked like they will easily get injured, they were three times fast as local breeds, touching 150 km/hr despite they are only at the 2-circle realm.
And that is what knights and Archers of Southern Troops needed. The second prince specially imported five hundred of them, all the way from Leon Empire, spending nearly 200 gold coins on each.
As she mounted the horse and rode a bit forward, her eyes fell on Mark. She went towards him. Of course, his looks can't be disregarded by any lady but it isn't the reason.
Upon stopping before him, Wang Li said, "General Shang told me to inform you something."
"Hmm?" He looked at her curiously. "What is it?"
Did that prince want him to take shelter in the campground or did he need to go with the troops?
She replied, "Be a spectator or a participant as you wish. If you chose to be the latter, then, just make sure not to mess up the formations of the soldiers or unknowingly harm them, especially my soldiers or any other soldier from Eastern Army. The matter will not be forgiven if such a case arose. Consider it is my request or warning."
A frown appeared on Mark as soon as he heard the message. He knew what the second prince is hinting at.
On the other hand, Wang Li didn't understand the meaning behind it. But, still, as per orders, she delivered the message and started to leave.
Meanwhile, the second prince crossed the hill and saw the army of hounds. His eyes fell on the three-headed-hound standing the back. It was as big as thousand feet.
The second prince handed on the top of the hill where a few scouts were on duty with fire lamp posts placed around.
"Your highness."
"Don't worry, I will take care." Before they even point out the problem, the second prince assured them by waving his hands.
As they sighed in relief, the second prince raised his arms above his head while gathering the ether energy into his palms.
"Oh, the god of fire, Zhurong, I crave thou to bless me the flames of the eternal traveling lamp to produce a replica."
As soon as he finished his incantation, the fire attribute produced a ball of flames above his palms. It was only the size of the head. It was then, the ether energy gushed out of his palms and poured into the ball of flames, making it bigger.
Within ten seconds, it grew as big as twenty feet, illuminating the surroundings.
The second prince as well as the scouts clearly saw the army of hounds.
"So, there were five of them, huh." Shang Wen's face turned serious. He pushed the giant fireball upwards. It slowly flew into the sky and stopped at 1000 meters from the hill and 2000 meters from the ground level, turning the night into a day on the battlefield.
