Upon the signing of the treaty the announcement of the fortress went around the major armies of the empire.
Since the first phase of the war is yet to finish, only those who have already done their part in the first battles were mobilized to be sent to the desolate wastelands for building the fortress.
One of the people sent was Randel who led another troop separately with Grandmaster Andi. He was also the perfect person for the job as he was the closest to an architect because he was trained by Granpa Andi in engineering and craftsmanship.
Moreover, he also obtained so much knowledge from being with Eli and reading the books she consistently gifted to him.
In the gorge region, Mishael, Kazimir, and Antoine also received the instructions and were tasked to prepare a massive teleportation array so that the mobilization of the construction troops will be easy.
At first, the trio was quite worried because they knew that even if they were able to set up the teleportation array, when the crimson blades suggested that they ask permission to use the loot from the defeated enemies, they immediately agreed.
With that, Kazimir and Antoine moved to take an honest account of all the loot they managed to get, from Crown Prince Ranon to the others. Of course, they also made the headquarters aware of how many curse items were confiscated in the process.
The leaders discussed and unanimously agreed that a certain portion of the mana stones would be used to power the teleportation arrays. Apart from that all the usable goods and perishable items needed for all the people who would stay in the gorge is also permitted to be consumed.
Everything was going well on the side of the Unified forces but not that much on Eli and Kayden's side.
One day was already spent in vain however, they still could not find any opportunity to prepare for the possible face-off on the third day.
With only essentially one day to set everything up, Eli and Kayden were getting a little bit impatient.
"What shall we do?" Eli communicated once again with Kayden under the disguise of the latter teaching her how to draw.
"We have no choice… we can only give up trying to get something inside. Tomorrow, I have made an excuse to go out back to our work area and to the herb supplier… Let's use that time to contact our friends from the Green Wave continent and tell them the entire situation."
"Alright, I'll get ready…" Eli agreed.
Since they were stuck inside the first three levels of the underground place, they could only give up trying to scout the restricted areas.
What is more important was that the people outside had knowledge of the entire situation.
That also includes the news that the main temple's side is now fully preparing for retaliation with all the potions, beast puppets, and magical curse tools they have in their arsenal.
That night was destined to have become sleepless for Eli and Kayden, even so, they tried to close their eyes and get a wink of sleep so that they could have the presence of mind and alertness they very much needed tomorrow.
In a blink of an eye, the dawn arrived. Eli and Kayden woke up, along with the rest of the group assigned to meet with the suppliers before the daylight came in.
Kayden's last instruction was for Eli to sneak out of his queue and he would do everything to keep the entire party busy.
It takes an hour to travel from the underground laboratory to the outer temple without the use of the privileged access only available for the select officials.
Then upon stepping into the outer temple, they still have to trek for another thirty minutes to the shore to meet the suppliers.
Eli must use that thirty-minute window to contact the standby troops with an earth fairy and for them to send a representative to meet her and hand over the information they managed to record.
As for the information, it was impossible for her to just deliver it through the earth fairy because that would establish a stable linkage of mana which might be detected by the enemies. At this moment, it was much more dangerous to contact via mediums than meeting up face to face.
All in all, Eli only had less than an hour to sneak out, meet the standby troops led by Prince Nalu then join the scouting party again.
Eli gave Kayden an assuring nod.
They must tell the troops about the situation at all costs. They must also find a way for the information to be disseminated on Emperor Valentin's side.
With that, Eli and Kayden's party quickly moved. The sky is still dark and it was very favorable for Eli to sneak in.
The moment they stepped out of the boundaries of the inner temple, Eli immediately established a mind link to an earth fairy and ordered it to ask a representative of the standby troops to meet them and receive the information.
Walking toward the exit to the temple grounds, they were halted by a group of sturdy-looking temple knights who were assigned to escort them to the supplies area.
The Line Leader, whom they have not seen in a while since Eli and Kayden was tasked to make the gloves and masks met them as well as he would be the ones meeting the suppliers for today,
"I see, you guys are on time." The line leader indifferently said.
"Today, the supplies were quite important for us because these would be precious metals and materials to be used for the upcoming war. So I have asked two of the ordained captains of our very own temple knights to escort us.
This is the 3rd Captain Gabriel and the 9th Captain Abaddon. Pay your respects to the distinguished Vice Captains." The Line Leader explained and demanded.
Gabriel and Abaddon stood there in a stoic manner. One thing that has made them exceptional was their strikingly similar features.
They have gray orbs and ash-gray hair. Their build was far more bulkier and taller than Mishael who was also an ordained captain of the temple knights. Eli deduced that they might me siblings or a close relative at least.
The only difference between the two is that Abaddon was looking more ferocious and ruthless than Gabriel who still managed to nod and acknowledge the greetings of Eli and the rest of the party.
"Let's go…" Abaddon announced indifferently, but he did not miss to cast a short glance in Eli and Kayden's direction.
Eli and Kayden's hearts almost stopped but they tried to hide it with their innocent faces.
To add to the anxiousness they already have, Gabriel also frowned in their way, especially when he glanced Eli's way.
But then his expression turned after a split second as he ordered his men to move and gestured to the line leader and the rest to follow Abaddon's lead.
As they trekked the way, Eli could not help but stare a curious glance at the two captains. If she remembered correctly, Mishael was ranked seventh.
She heard that there were ten captains all in all and that their ranks do not represent their strengths but the names that were given to them.
Similarly, although Mishael was of higher rank than Abaddon, Eli could feel that Abaddon was a few times stronger than Mishael.
As for Gabriel, he was quite mysterious and his powers were not even seeping the slightest. That is why Eli was not able to gauge how strong he is. Probably if she used her spiritual powers originating from her Paladin rank, she could do so.
However, now is not the time to reveal it.
Both of their hearts sank when they saw that Abaddon led the trail while Gabriel and his troops followed in the rear. They were completely surrounded!
Kayden knew that Eli could not sneak out throughout the entire trip to the bay and could only patiently wait for an opportunity.
The journey to the bay was quite fast as Eli and their party could only keep up with the pace set by the two captains.
They arrived ten minutes ahead of time, and immediately dived into action.
Eli and Kayden blended into the crowd and pretended to intently work on the assignment they have at hand.
After some time, Gabriel and Abaddon became busier as they had to carefully inspect each item and supervise the entire checking and loading of the items in the cart.
The rest of the team remained occupied as well.
A perfect chance!
Eli received Kayden's glance and knew that it was time for her to sneak out.
Slowly but surely, Eli decreased her presence and retreated to the forest. When she had already completely entered the forest, she immediately turned around and rushed to the rendezvous point.
There he saw Prince Nalu along with another high-ranking warrior from the dragon clan, Frizyl. They were anxiously waiting in the edge of the forest and was only relieved to see Eli finally appearing.
"Lady!" Prince Nalu and Frizyl greeted in a low tone.
