Chapter 209 - 209 Taken decisions

209 Taken decisions

“You can’t forget the territories beyond, master. The more we expand, the more neighboring territories we’ll have and we run the risk of being surrounded if we expand in just one direction.” Astrus spoke.

“Furthermore, it is inefficient for an army as large as ours to move as one. I believe that after we destroy the hydra’s territory, we should separate to move efficiently.” With those words, all eyes moved towards Astrus, but he stood firm in his decision and didn’t give in to the pressure.

“I... agree with him. There is a size limit to shared curse barriers and it’s difficult to command such a large army. The only reason we are able to organize such a large army is thanks to the mind link and the skeletons that obey our orders without hesitation.” Athos agreed with Astrus’ opinion, making the skeletons curse internally.

They all knew that they would soon have to split up, but none spoke aloud. The black currents in their minds constantly force them to worry and ensure Athos’ safety.

The black chains did not stop corrupting even after the souls were completely stained black, ensuring that all skeletons remained loyal to Athos no matter what.

“Let’s leave plans to split up for another time. For now, let’s focus on the now. Does everyone agree that our next step should be to hunt down the hydra and take its power for ourselves?” Athos asked and everyone nodded.

“Then send the hive hawks to confirm the exact position of the enemies and an estimated number of them.” Athos ordered. Unlike skeleton birds or unintelligent monsters, hive hawks had intelligence and could make a count of enemies.

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The skeletons avoided sending the hive hawks to investigate the wyverns for the risk of them being destroyed by them, but there was no danger when it came to investigating the hydra. According to descriptions of wyverns, hydras resembled lizards with short limbs, multiple heads, and a long tail.

“Master, please let me participate in the information gathering as well.” Wylder and Malic asked, knowing they wouldn’t be much use here. They had already shared everything they knew with Athos and were not good at commanding troops.

.....

The orc patriarch would have made a more suitable general than they had, but the wyverns were too proud to admit that and afraid of losing their current rank. As scouts, however, they could be useful.

“Actually, I have a job for you. While the falcons investigate the hydra, I want you to investigate the basilisk. He is our next target and we have no information about him, as you ignored him.” Athos commanded and noticed the wyverns released a little killing intent, but quickly controlled it.

“It will be done, master. We will finally be able to take revenge on that wretched snake.” Wylder spoke with a snarl, making Athos curious.

“What did that basilisk do to make you two so angry?” he asked curiously.

“Basilisks are snake monsters and although they can feed on monster flesh, they still have a preference for eggs. In the past, they invaded our territory while I was away and devoured our eggs in the nest.” Wylder growled every word.

“Malic was alone in the nest and could not defend the eggs alone and only escaped with her life because the basilisk did not bother to finish her off. When I returned and saw the nest destroyed, I was furious and went after him in search of revenge, but I was completely defeated.” Athos could clearly hear the shame and self-loathing in the wyvern’s voice.

“Is the basilisk really that powerful?” Treevor asked doubtfully.

“Our physical and magical abilities are on par, but racial abilities make them the natural predators of us wyverns.” Wylver spoke in frustration. “Basilisk have a racial ability called petrifying gaze, which releases a beam of light that petrifies anything it touches.”

“I was grazed by this ability and lost my maneuverability, the greatest weapon of a wyvern. After that, the battle was completely in favor of the basilisk who could use earth and light magic and I barely escaped with my life, unable to avenge myself.”

“Since then, we’ve cared for the eggs together and never left the nest until they hatched. The basilisk wasn’t able to attack our eggs with the two of us together protecting them and we cared for them until they were big enough to fend for themselves.

‘It’s better not to remind him that I also killed his whelps inside the eggs. He won’t be able to betray me or seek revenge, but there’s no reason to cause unnecessary pain to my servants.’ Athos thought in the corner of his mind, making sure the skeletons couldn’t hear.

“Anyway, I want you to leave immediately and start investigating. I’ll order the weapons that haven’t been enchanted yet to just be corrupted and we’ll leave in a few hours for hydra territory, so don’t come back here and meet us there. .” Athos commanded and the wyverns nodded, before taking flight and leaving.

The hive hawks left shortly thereafter and the skeletons made preparations to leave again.

The dwarves were the busiest between corrupting weapons, runesmithing and maintaining equipment, but all the essentials had already been done.

They left a few hours later, making sure they hadn’t left anything behind. Skeletons were using the same formation as before, despite increased skeleton numbers.

‘Soon, our numbers will increase too much and the shared curses won’t be able to cover the entire army.’ Athos thought, looking at the front line of soldiers carrying shared curses.

They still had a lot of mithril in storage, as they had used up just over half of the metals obtained in the platinum fist fortress. The fortresses had enough mithril to cover the entire outer wall which was miles long in length, so they had enough mithril for more than three armies.

The problem was that they needed to stop and give the dwarves time to produce more shared curses, time they didn’t have right now.

They needed to find a suitable location soon and form a base, so they could develop instead of just accumulating soldiers’ skeletons. Athos wanted to find a place with magical resources to form his base, such as a mine of magical metals or magic stones, but so far they had not found anything like that.

Athos hoped that one of the territories he planned to attack from now on would have the requirements he wanted so that they could settle in place.

**********

In the Makima empire at the same time.

Emperor Canan Makima sat on the throne as he received reports of the demi-humans’ advance. The order of magic had already evacuated all the islands between mainland Caprio and Doravon, but the buildings were still functional and they could access the recording devices, so they were tracking the demi-humans progress in real-time.

The demihumans were approximately a month away from the mainland and both the order and the church were sending forces to the human realms to help, but the process was slow because of the loss of the portals.

To make matters worse, the undead of the Sytrer continent had intensified their attacks, forcing the empires to divide their efforts between defending their own territory and preventing them from sending troops undercover.

The undead normally attack a few times a year, but since the fight between Eishin and Illum, the undead have attacked the Caria empire almost daily and with an intensity never seen before, forcing the angels to form camp in the port cities to prevent them were annihilated.

To worsen, the Fae alliance of the Setlan continent began a major attack to try to retake the lands that the Makima empire had conquered on the Setlan continent, forcing the empire to reinforce the bases to avoid losing its bases on the enemy continent.

Canan found the timing of the attack too convenient for the enemy and the fact that they only attacked the bases of the Makima empire only increased his suspicions. He suspected Illum was in a secret deal with the Fae alliance, but didn’t have enough manpower to investigate.

They were under constant attack from two continents, forcing both empires to do their best not to lose ground and soon Doravon would be starting its attacks, so everyone had their hands full in preparation.

Canan also needed to keep an eye on Eishin, to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. Eishin was strangely silent even though the church was not making any strange moves and was proactively helping in the defense of the Caprio continent.

He feared that Eishin was planning something that would break the agreement with Illum and tried to visit Eishin several times, but the latter refused all attempts to visit.

‘Eishin is definitely planning something, but I don’t have the means to investigate it and I’m already too busy with preparations to worry about him.’ Canan thought as his subordinate finished his report.

‘Don’t forget that in a few minutes I have a meeting at the order of magic, so you need to get some free time soon.’ Eirin spoke in his mind and reminded him of his appointments.

‘Damn it. Do you really need to attend this meeting? I’m sure war preparations are more important.’ Canan answered doubtfully, but Eirin mentally shook her head