"How scary are the words of Lord Ignis, my hands and feet have started trembling!"
Even though the leader of the Companions of Fire forces made a harsh outburst, the green-haired girl didn't look that impressed. Along with her words, she also continued to mock him by imitating a physical reaction. Unlike her, Solo took a deep breath; he kept his grounded composure, but now it was time to move.
"We are not the only ones here, there are also two General Class soldiers sent by the Diamond Leaf and Turquoise Leaf Merchant Guilds. Will they leave the head of the person you want so much to you?"
The gazes of the thick-eyebrowed man, who was large both in width and height, pointed to a point in the middle of the Hell Realm Army, the seat of the man whose blood-red robe's upright collars extended to his ears.
The most valuable loot within the twenty-thousand-person army was his head. Whoever took down the Hell Realm King Jashua would take a great step towards becoming the next Spiritual Leader of the Lands of Light. There weren't many measures of success that could compete with severing the head of the eternal and everlasting enemy.
"Do you men always speak without thinking like this? Well, this grass-head next to me is like you too, but as a level-headed person, I say it would be better if you turned your target to the ones on his right instead of him!"
Nympha, lifting the skirt part of her water-blue long outfit in the air, took a step forward; she had an attitude as if she wanted to see those on the platform the enemy used as headquarters more closely. She had always been a bit cold-tempered, this was the reason she couldn't get along with the leader of the Companions of Wind forces, but traces of fear, even if slight, could be sensed in her words.
"What happened, is the mermaid of the Companions of Water scared? You do as you said; if I don't return with the head of that red-haired one, my name is not Ventus!"
They were all considered the next leaders of their own communities, or even possible people to take the head of the Lands of Light. They couldn't have come here without the things they learned both from the intelligence of their own forces and their personal researches, and Franz wouldn't hesitate to voice his thoughts on the subject.
"I respect your thoughts of taking Jashua's head; a Lands of Light priest won't hesitate to kill the most important name of the enemy the moment he finds the opportunity, but I think your information about him contains some missing parts.
It is true he has ties with the Orc Empire Dynasty Family, it is even said he was directly chosen by the Blood God Nafız. We are certain he lived in the city of Niconya on the Orc Steppes until his early teens, but the information about the rest is fragmented.
Based on this, you can guess how difficult it is to manage to stay there no matter who takes the Hell Realm throne. The massacres he committed within five years show he has no mercy even against his own people. I say let's wait for the Mercenaries to make a move first and force him to reveal his true colors."
Franz, who continued to think logically without personalizing and prolonging the incident even though he was implicitly rebuffed by the leader of the Companions of Fire forces just a moment ago, wasn't the person in the days he received the news of the death of the young man he loved like a brother years ago.
The others' dreams of the future might extend to the clouds, but he was here to mend the reputation of his master's only son. Successfully defending the Death Pass would ensure Godfrey became a war-winning commander, and the enemies of his family couldn't continue their efforts to wear him down using him.
Franz's suggestion was reasonable, and the other four force leaders continued to observe without objecting. A considerable amount of attacks coming from the energy weapons were battering the shield; since it wasn't anything coming out of their own pockets, they were carefree, but two people who weren't as relaxed as them stood side by side at the other end of the walls.
A lock of hair of the man wearing turquoise-colored heavy alloy armor from his boots to the helmet on his head reached down onto his nose between his two eyes. A machete almost as long as his height and two hands thick was next to him, leaning against the walls of the Death Pass.
"Balbazar, what do you think? The moment we've been waiting for has come!"
While two swords hanging down his thin back stretched diagonally, the man in the leather armor adorned with diamond glitters used one hand to stroke the beard hanging from his chin. His other hand was on his waist, and a pair of green eyes under his unibrow resembling a long line continuously scanned the Hell Army.
"They've become very wealthy!"
These were the first words of the thinly built man commanding the Diamond Leaf Guild army; upon all that inspection, he preferred to speak on the financial capacity of the enemy. He wasn't wrong; it was impossible for the Hell Realm forces, which they previously impoverished by entering whenever they wanted and stealing what they had, to mobilize such an army at that time.
Going to war didn't just mean gathering people whose numbers exceeded thousands, tens of thousands. One didn't go to war focusing only on numbers without arranging matters like the economy, security, and social life. If war were something done merely with numerical superiority without attaining sufficient financial power, the Orc Steppes would never have had to experience those dark days.
"You are right, the Hell Realm is no longer the place our fathers went to conquer and died. There is no puppet like Eyshan at their head. Jashua didn't hesitate to create rivers of blood in the first years of his reign to show he would rule the continent with an iron fist.
Perhaps the greenhorn brats over there might not understand, but you are aware there is more to it than financial development too, right Alaben?"
Balbazar spoke looking at the young mages who were the leaders of the support forces sent by the Lands of Light. The General on his other side turned where he was and directed his interest to the indicated place, and while doing this, the Diamond Leaf Merchant Guild General couldn't prevent him.
Alaben was two heads taller than him; Balbazar's height only reached slightly below his shoulder level. The Commander of the Turquoise Leaf Merchant Guild Army began to frown while watching the young mages arguing among themselves.
"A bunch of punks! If you asked them, how many wars have you experienced until this age, how many skirmishes have you survived, they haven't experienced anything other than the masquerade they organize among themselves and call the Wizardry Tournament.
And look at the army in front of this Death Pass; their will to fight has been strong since the old days, they were always vigorous due to their never-ending wars with the Lands of Light, but because they had been ruled by cowards for a long time, they had lost their souls.
The bloody civil war lasting five years brought back the light in their eyes, the fire in their hearts, and now their enemy is not the Lands of Light, it is us. The mages accustomed to the comfort of times passing without war, the Hell Realm army becoming savage by drinking blood, and the Death Pass not surpassed throughout history; predicting what will happen is almost impossible!"
When Alaben's words finished, the situation of the battlefield was completely revealed. Balbazar, nodding his head approvingly, indicated he agreed with the other General commanding the Mercenaries' Lodge Army.
When the sun came to its zenith, the bombardment of the Hell Realm army continued without a second's break. The visual feast created by the attack starting with the first lights of the morning, even though impressive at first, had lost its charm in the eyes of the people due to seeing the same thing every second.
The element attacks, stepping back onto the stage with the shadows joining the fray when twilight fell, greeted the new day with a never-ending shift when the hours reached midnight. The transparent shield resisted, they attacked, and it was unknown how much longer this would continue.
The first day, both forces tried to get to know their rival. They showed some of their aspects, preferred to hide some of their aspects. It became clear that unless the attacking side took the initiative, the defense would take it slow; now it was time to make plans for tomorrow.