Chapter 696: Forming an Army II

Kingdom Suven was a small country with a population of a hundred thousand people. Bordered between a calm ocean to the North, a calm sea to the South, huge, open plains to the East and a tropical forest to the West, the kingdom of Suven mainly lived off armorsmithing, cooking, and carpeting.

Suven itself was mainly covered in uninhabitable mountains and had a rainy climate, which led to a packed population.

The country's landscape was sublime; soft, foggy fields, gentle hills, and never-ending fields of green were just a sliver of the hidden treasures Suven had to offer, which was why the kingdom was cherished among foreigners. The people of Suven were charitable towards foreigners and tended to welcome them with fresh food. They felt foreigners could help the country's well-being until Thusia waged war against them.

It wouldn't be an overstatement to say Kingdom Suven provided food for the entire Ozer continent. The kingdom was blessed with fertile lands left and right. In the spring, the entire kingdom would look covered by a golden blanket. The rivers running through Suven were littered with fish and aquatic life. Many wealthy organizations like Ruby Cuisine bought fish, crab, prawns, and everything that could be eaten from Suven on a regular basis.

Like Maxim Barnes desired Zulon for its mines and ores, he coveted Suven to make Thusia a self-sustaining kingdom. He wanted to monopolize all the food produced by Suven. Once Thusia conquers Suven, all the nearby kingdoms would be forced to accept whatever price King Maxim asks for the food. Starvation would be their only option if they rejected Maxim's offer. However, unlike Zulon, Suven had a powerful army. Their naval forces sank hundreds of Thusian ships and held off the invasion for months. Nonetheless, Thusia overwhelmed them with their superior numbers. Until recently, Thusia and Suven were in a stalemate. Thusia broke this stalemate by burning down farmlands and villages. Although it was a ruthless tactic, it worked in Thusia's favor. Furthermore, Thusians blockaded the paths leading from major food-producing farmlands to the cities. By doing this, Thusia cut the food supply to the Suven army. Without food, the army grew weaker. After all, not everyone in the army could sustain themselves with energy only. They needed food.

At that moment, General Bryce of the Suven army sat inside a tent that erupted on the battlefield. Due to the heavy snowfall in the night, the two sides halted their fight. Still, Thusians used attack and retreat tactics at night to prevent Suven's army from getting a good night's sleep. Once a golden wheat field mesmerized the foreigners were littered with gore, bodies, and broken armor. Red, blue and gray were the new colors of what was once a vast, luscious field, which had now become the stage of a bloody war. The air, which would normally carry the sounds of birds, rivers, and wildlife, was heavy and thick with the scent of smoke and blood. The mere sense of it would make anyone want to run.

The dead of the Suven army lay in heaps across the field, and the faces of the remaining soldiers were grim with sorrow and despair, but they refused to give up fighting. But in the Thusian camp, singing and laughing reverberated throughout the area. They gained a morale boost after reducing the last of Suven's army to a quarter of their number. Nevertheless, the toll on both nature and humanity was heavy. It was likely to take a lifetime before this field recovered to its former glory. Its clear rubble, explosion holes, and broken siege engines had taken the place of flowers, trees, and golden wheat fields.

"General Bryce,"

General Bryce was a red-haired man with a long red beard. His body was riddled with cuts and bruises. Several bandages covered the wounds suffered in the battle. Despite the wounds, his eyes were filled with vigor. General Bryce was accompanied by several advisors of King Gunner Lamme, General Bryce's brother-in-law.

General Bryce looked up at the man who had just entered the tent. He was one of his knights. The knight carried a parchment.

"We received this from General Barnett,"

General Bryce and the advisors creased their brows. General Barnett was the man who was leading the invasion on behalf of Thusia. The man used every single dirty tactic there was to win the war. So it was safe to say no one in Suven liked to hear the name, Barnett.

"What does that son of a bitch want?" General Bryce snatched the scroll from the knight's hand. The advisors of General Bryce noticed the general's eyes turning bloodshot red. His hands shivered as he tore the scroll into pieces.

"General Bryce. What did he say?" asked one of the advisors.

"He wanted us to drop our weapons and surrender. Or," General Bryce clenched his fist.

"Or his men will feast on the women they captured from all those farmlands,"

Not a single one in the tenet remained calm and composed after hearing General Bryce. They all wanted to rip General Barnett to pieces. Unfortunately, they were powerless to do so. After their recent clash, the Thusian army outnumbered them four to one. It would be a miracle if they held this position for another day or two.

"I'd be damned if I listen to that moron. We will attack their camp tonight or die trying. His Majesty Gunner will avenge us. What say you?"

His advisors saw no other way. Their battle was long lost. At this moment, they could only go into blazing glory by trying to rescue the villagers from the Thusian army.

"Get ready. Tonight, we will attack those bastards for a change," General Bryce roared. But before they could move an inch, a bolt of lightning struck the tent out of the blue. The advisors and the knights guarding the tent jumped back in shock.

"INTRUDER!" The advisors shouted as they saw a black-clothed youngster standing in the tent where the lightning bolt had just struck.

"Protect the general!"

The knight who brought Barneet's scroll didn't even bother to check Michael's cultivation level before lunging at him with his sword raised. A tiny bolt of lightning shot out of Michael's finger, penetrating the knight's shoulder. The knight screamed as he dropped the sword. His armor made a thud when he collapsed down.

"Stand down," Michael's domineering voice ran inside their heads.

To their shock, they were able to see Michael's cultivation stage. Although the hydra's shout still affected Elon and Ozer, its effects were slowly diminishing. So unless the hydra used its scream again, the cultivators would soon regain their ability to see through others' cultivation stage. Moreover, Half Immortal was an exception. Until now, they had never seen a Half Immortal. Hence, the cultivators thought they couldn't see others' cultivation stages. However, when Michael attacked Maddox and his men in Zulon, they all sensed his cultivation stage. It was because the Hydra's shout did not affect cultivators beyond the Fusion stage.

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They took a step back when they realized Michael was a Half Immortal. Fear glistened in their eyes. Even General Bryce looked a bit terrified.

"I brought you a gift," Michael flicked his wrist. The soldiers almost jumped before General Bryce to shield him with their bodies. But contrary to their expectation, a head materialized in Michael's hand. Blood trickled down from the head. General Bryce was the first man to recognize the head despite the lack of a body.

"General Barnett," General Bryce mumbled. His words stunned the advisors. Soon, they themselves gawked at the head only to get startled. Everyone in the tent looked between Michael and the head. Silence fell over them. Finally, after a few moments of gawking, General Bryce's words cut through the silence.

"Who are you?" asked General Bryce.

"Have you heard of the saying, enemy of my enemy is my friend?" asked Michael.

"I am building an army to destroy Thusia. Consider this as my gift to sway Suven to my side," Michael threw the bloody head of Barnett to Bryce.

"What about the villagers in his camp?" General Bryce asked after catching Barnett's head.

"If you accept my offer, the villagers will become my allies. Otherwise, saving them and retaking your kingdom from Thusia is up to you,"

General Bryce and the advisors looked at each other.

"And for your question, who am I? It's Ghost," Michael introduced himself. As Michael expected, they immediately recognized him. The name Ghost was famous through Ozer and Elon. Even some of the noble families in Awor had heard of his name because of his feat in the alchemy competition. Soon, one of the advisors who researched Thusia recalled Ghost being the guild leader of the Thusian Alchemy Guild. Regardless, the advisor was reluctant to question a Half Immortal.

"Look, Lord Ghost,"

"Master, Master Ghost would do," Michael interjected Bryce's words.

"Master Ghost. As much as I appreciate you taking the life of this son of a bitch, the decision of becoming your ally is up to his majesty, Gunner. But if you help us rescue our villagers and clean the maggots off of my land, you will have my support," General Bryce said.

Michael smiled.

"I like you,"

His smile lightened the mood inside the tent. General Bryce's thought was simple. If Ghost was Maxim's man and this was an elaborate plan, Suven had no way of fighting a Half Immortal. But his instinct told him otherwise. Bryce wanted to use Ghost to eradicate Barnett's men. It could buy Suven a week of time to reconsider their battle plans. Furthermore, with a Half Immortal by their side, they actually had a chance to retake the farmlands and the villagers taken over by the Thusian army.

"Five minutes," Michael raised five fingers.

"For what?" asked Bryce.

"To rescue your people," Michael shot out from the hole in the tent.

"What are you people waiting for? Put your damn armor on and follow me," Bryce barked at the soldiers and advisors before following behind Michael.

By the time Bryce reached the dark sky, he had noticed a streak of golden lightning heading toward the Thusian camp. It was surprising to him that there was no commotion inside the Thusian camp.

"Those idiots don't know," Bryce looked at the bloody head of Barnett in his hand.

Suddenly, Bryce heard an ear-splitting thunderclap resonating in the sky. He looked in the direction of the Thusian camps. To his shock, the sky above them swirled as streaks of lightning flashed across the sky. Finally, Bryce saw the Thusian soldiers rushing out of their tents. The sky above them terrified them. They had never seen such a lightning storm before. Bryce heard the eerie howling wind as he stared at the whirling clouds without batting an eye.

Every time a streak of lightning flashed across the dark sky, it illuminated Ghost and formed a giant shadow of him in the clouds above.

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