Chapter 392
In his many decades of service, Gannett had to admit that this was definitely the situation in which he felt the most helpless .
Currently, he was in a large underground cavern that had hundreds of soldiers all huddled together, trying to make as little sound as possible .
These were the elite of the elite, with Axelor pumping each and every resource available into them to make them the best in their field .
They had set out months ago on a covert operation to infiltrate the Hidden Kill Sect and give them no choice but to surrender .
The problem was that in any operation which concerned the takeover of a major force, there were many, many problems .
For one thing, direct teleportation was out of the question as there were teleportation detection formations and scouts for tens of kilometers around each force's area .
In fact, the area of the Hidden Kill Sect was the strangest, as they kept track of everything around the mountain that was their base .
For over 100 km in every direction, no one could even hope to step foot inside with a large force without being attacked repeatedly day and night and have no choice but to give up due to mounting casualties .
It wasn't even possible to make a surprise attack, as any such act would alert all the remaining kingdoms and let them know that a force was trying to take over another to become stronger .
Although these were precarious times, this was a big no-no, as the entry of unpredictable variables in a delicate situation was something that had to be avoided at all costs .
So, they had chosen a very unconventional method that allowed them to steadily make their way towards the Hidden Kill Sect in a manner that made them almost unstoppable .
They were using the earth .
The strategy was simple and brilliant: a team of borrowed mages would split into parts and investigate the area in front of them which they had to pass .
After finding a suitable location, the mages would gather and create a cavern which would fit all the soldiers .
As this was a free location that someone could teleport to using the mages already present there as an anchor, the soldiers would simply move to this location and wait for the next cavern to be excavated .
After they were done, each cavern would be completely covered with earth again and brought back to normal so that they would not leave traces of their passing .
Because they moved erratically to evade detection, it was very difficult to locate them and try to stop their actions .
It was already hard enough to keep track of their general location, so mounting a crippling attack was almost impossible .
Still, the Hidden Kill Sect had succeeded a few times by sheer luck, but each time, because the soldiers were heavily equipped and also trained specially to deal with assassins, they got away while also inflicting casualties on the enemy force .
Basically, it was like a game of whack-a-mole, but the one who was whacking was at risk of being heavily injured .
This was why the Hidden Kill Sect had gotten desperate . The strikeforce of Axelor was very strong, and they were being extra careful not to leave any patterns during their movements .
Some days, randomly, they would decide to rest and wait while the mages recharged energy .
Some days, they might move back .
Some days, they would move forward, and then shuffle back, before taking a detour .
Many times, they had even successfully completely evaded the detection of the Hidden Kill Sect and advanced for quite a long while before coming under their eye again .
Whatever the case, the strike force was slowly and surely moving towards the mountain while evading attacks .
This was a war strategy which had already been promoted to being core among their army, and all of the Axelorians were very proud that it working so well .
After all, mages couldn't randomly teleport underground wherever they wanted to check, because teleportation could not be done safely to an unknown, occupied space .
However, when the command came to retreat, no one had been able to believe it .
To be extra cautious, the strikeforce had started out small and then slowly expanded over months while making sure that there was nothing untoward happening .
So much time, energy and resources had been put into this, and they were now supposed to retreat?
Gannett hadn't believed it, but after understanding that they now had two armies on two sides of them ready to close in and launch a pincer attack, he understood that they had no choice .
How the [email protected]@k had they even fallen into such a desperate situation?
He had known about these two armies, but he would never have expected that they would turn on Axelor . Instead, he had even been confident that he could sneak past them and get to the sect . After all, the Hidden Kill Sect had had no motive to share information about them, and even if they did, there was nothing to say that they would be believed .
The problem was, no one trusted Axelor right now due to what had happened during the Olympics with the outsiders . So, the two Kingdoms hadn't struggled to reach their decision .
The drawback of the Hidden Kill Sect was that they were low on general manpower, because they focused on grooming individual assassins . Hence, there was no way for them to cover all the ground and ensure that the Army of Axelor would remain trapped or be driven to desperate measures .
Even if they tried, they would fail miserably, because undisciplined forces would just be susceptible to surprise attacks by the highly skilled soldiers .
The armies, however, were different .
They were capable of fanning out as a team and quickly responding in case there was any trouble . At least, that was the case with the Black Raven Kingdom, but Eldinor had also sent a comprehensive army which consisted of their best fighters and mages who were capable of working together, more or less .
So, the soldiers of both armies quickly tried to close off all routes of escape for the army of Axelor, so they could both have their revenge and make sure that Axelor didn't get away scot-free .
However, so far, they had been unsuccessful, but it was only a matter of time .
For the past few hours, Axelor had been successful in quickly finding places and caverns to teleport to to get back to their Kingdom as quickly as possible .
It would be fine even if they could get close to their own border, as they could then rely on their army to cover their retreat .
Even now, many troops had been mobilized towards the location to help out in case things got dire, and they were even supposed to be close .
Slowly, events progressed in a way that indicated that a sudden war might soon occur if Axelor was intercepted by the forces of Eldinor and the Black Raven Kingdom . Or… If a variable entered into play .
Right now, Gannett and the soldiers were waiting for the mage to give the go-ahead for their next teleportation location .
They were currently all having breakfast, which comprised of meat that was cooked in the air using conjured fire .
He was sitting at the head of the troops while facing them, so when he looked up casually from the piece of meat he was eating to see that the soldiers sitting in front of him were gawking at something behind, his heart skipped a beat in fear as he wondered why the heck he was feeling as though death itself was standing behind him .
Before any of them could react, he felt a slight tap on his shoulder while the words "Ooh, smells nice . Can I have a bite?" Were whispered near his ear .
The words were so out of place that Gannett didn't know how to respond, but he didn't have a chance to as he lost consciousness the next second .
He was a damn Peak Exalted Fighter, just one step away from being a Warrior, and he had been taken out with a single attack?! Who the heck was this guy?
Alas, he didn't find out the answer, but the last thing he heard was all hell breaking loose in the cavern .
He was unconscious to see it, but over 300 soldiers from both armies had suddenly teleported to the cavern and begun to rain attacks on the Axelorian soldiers .
Although it was a fact that all those who had been killed were scum, they were still the citizens of that Kingdom .
So, the soldiers attacked without impunity, killing as many as they could .
The problem was that this was a small space, so because there were already around 1000 soldiers occupying it, only a small force could enter to attack .
Surprise played a key role, as there had been no warning whatsoever .
Even though the soldiers were highly disciplined, chaos broke loose in the beginning, but apparently, there was another force waiting in the shadows for just this to happen .
20 assassins immediately teleported into the room and attacked all the high-value targets at once .
These were the sub-commanders of the army, who also happened to be the strongest members .
However, in front of the overwhelming power of these assassins who took advantage of the sudden confusion, they had no choice but to be knocked out and then abducted .
By the time order was restored in the army of Axelor and attacks started to be shot towards the invaders, the damage was already done, and the 300 soldiers teleported away .
In just a span of a minute, the elite force of Axelor had been both mauled and had its head cut off, because of the fact that almost all commanding officers were missing or dead .
The one left in command was actually just a 30-year-old talented lieutenant, who shakily held the communication trinket and said, "Report . Location compromised . We have been attacked, and all the officers above me have been abducted or killed . What are our orders?"
After a few moments of silence, a voice replied, "Standby for emergency evacuation to a location which has been established safely where you will be backed up by Axelorian soldiers . [email protected]@k their timing . How did they even find you? Anyway, after that, just head back . We have orders to retreat, no matter what . "
In reply, the lieutenant could only nod and say, "Acknowledged . I don't know . We were eating, and then one guy just came and asked if he could join in . "