The morning after Leon and his troops defeated the 3rd ambush army, they quickly moved to account for the spoils left by the armies and evenly distributed it to each member.
This is to ensure that even if something happened that made them separated from the group, they could survive for several days even without access to their original supplies.
As for the mini bird cages, it was quite convenient that all those inside Leon's bird cage spell would enter a state of animated suspension, where they would simply stop all their bodily functions until they were woken up. It is the same array spell mechanism embedded in Carolina and the other main criminals in the Court of Sinners.
As such, until the Emperor decides what to do with them, they will remain asleep only to be awakened at specific times to barely replenish fluids and nutrients in their body.
"Now we know that the movement of the first and second army is slightly towards our direction, we have to figure out what was the movement of the rear." Leon gathered the men once again and started to plan their next move.
"Based on the information we have gathered from the soldiers, the rear army will also advance while the Vanderford Emperor will also send more troops to reinforce their side with his sons," Blaze reported what his fellows were able to gather upon interrogating the remaining soldiers.
"But how far the two large armies are from us is the issue… no matter how we are able…we cannot take on an army of more than a thousand." One of the knights commented.
Rest nodded, while they were sure that they were able to completely eliminate the rear, they weren't sure if they could successfully take out the army of more than a thousand.
Whether it was the rear of the vanguard forces, a mere twenty or so men would die of exhaustion and fatigue first before they are able to completely take down the combined armies.
"It is not necessary for us to take the entire army down… Men, aren't we most adept in assassinating?" Leon reminded them.
While he knew at the onset that taking on a single battalion stationed on the ambush points, they can always assassinate their officers. It seems like the men with him have not gotten over yet the victory they had last night they completely forgot to reason with themselves.
"Oh.." The men coughed and scratched their heads. Pardon them for being muscle heads, all they think about is battle and bloodbath, they could not help but stick to one pattern after achieving such an overwhelming victory.
"Yes, so do not worry about having to wipe out a thousand men. You have to remember that our mission's main objective is to destroy the ambush points.
Now that we have caused such a great change in their ambush points, we have already completed our first objective.
The next objective that we have is to minimize the effects of the ambush encounters on the main army… We can achieve that by performing two crucial tasks…" Leon patiently explained to them his plans.
"You may already know one of the missions, which is to assassinate the officers of the front ambush troops and cause confusion among their ranks.
But the other mission is more urgent and as important as the first one.
That is to spread across these central regions and plant our arrays!" Leon's crystal blue eyes swept a glance through the men and met their fiery gazes.
"All of your group into the order Olivier will announce." He commanded as he allowed Olivier to announce the teams.
Seven teams of four were created, and at least one of them had a summoner with a flying beast contracted.
"Blaze will hand you two types of documents, one is the map where the array should be planted, and the others are the blueprints of the arrays you are to set up. The necessary materials were also distributed." Leon explained.
After Blaze handed the materials to all 7 teams, he then stood beside Leon and explained the rest of the task.
"You will know if the assigned arrays were properly set up when you look at your map again, the corresponding portion of your map will light up as they were already pre-connected to the array runes embedded on the blueprint you have.
If your runes were written wrongly, it won't appear on the map, and so it means that you have to redo the array." Blaze explained.
"The arrays were set up on different strategic locations in the central region, these arrays will greatly help us in our tactical operations, some of them are traps laid out for the enemy, and others are teleportation arrays we can use to summon the rest of the troops," Leon added.
"We shall do this for the next five days. On the sixth day, we will meet in the area of the outer region, where our hideout under the baobab tree is located. This will be so whether you completed all the given arrays or not.
We could no longer extend for a few days as there might be a risk of you encountering the advancing rear troops, as well as us failing to infiltrate the camps of the front ambush troops before the main convoy reached the area… we have to get things done fast!"
Leon announced, his voice tinged with a compelling sense of justice that ignited the passion of the men around him.
"We hear your orders, Your Highness!" The troops answered in unison and immediately moved on their way.
There is no time to waste, they have to plant as many arrays as possible. They will be turning the entire central region of the desolate wasteland into a landmine!!
And so the next five days of the blades and the knights were spent in the wilderness, they planted as many arrays as they could, hostile or not, and they did their best to increase their chances of weakening the army and lessening the burden of facing too many at once when the time came.
Leon and his troops ignored the scorching heat during day time, the harsh wind, and the unpredictable sandstorms and continued their journey.
They hoped that the organized troops scattered in and outside the Seirende region would get ready soon so that they could finally summon them for reinforcements.
–
Beyond the region of the scorching wastelands, far from the brewing tensions between the convoy and the ambush parties, the representative of the allied forces rallied their troops.
They counted the days until the great clash will come. The Grandmasters and even all the distinguished envoys sent by the Emperor to each of the allied kingdoms were now on the stage of finalizing their camps.
The nearby territories were also sent enough goods and weapons to fortify their territories, the military budget of the Seirende Empire poured out relentlessly, not holding back as it may entail the failure of good against evil.
The elderly, women, and children were also brought into a safe place, while it was not possible for them to retreat all the way to the borders of Seirende, the envoys made sure that their place was safe and far enough from the possible clashing grounds.
They were made to retreat in the mountains, where water and food sources are secured and the terrain was troublesome enough for passing armies to take note of.
The next great continent, the Green Wave also prepared with their respective troops to assist in the war.
Their armies were stationed on the coastland in the northwest and in the south with the intention of pushing towards the northeast and the far east, up until they reach the coast across the Holy Island and the Vanderford.
The beastmen clan, werewolves, elves, dwarves, the dryads, the trent monsters, the merfolk, the dragons, and many more… their respective troops grouped together as they approached their station points to advance as soon as the war commenced.
All that they needed to do was to wait for the signal of war, the impending ambush of the convoy of the curse prisoners!
On the other side of the force, all the forces of the Vanderford, and their allied Kingdoms were on standby. The Main Temple troops were gathered in the Melenberg territory on the midcoast area of the easternmost area of the Seirende continent.
The Vanderford Princes were also at their assigned stations except for those who were called to participate in the rear ambush at the last minute.
Everything was already set and the waiting game had started, the next days were a race against time for Leon and his men in order to turn the almost certain momentum of the Vanderfords to favor the Seirende's side.
They had to work nonstop for five days, then regroup on the sixth day, because they have another mission at hand before the convoy troops meet the 1st and 2nd ambush groups:
To infiltrate the ambushing army and kill their officers!