Anubi wasn’t just speaking empty words.
He really felt like he could capture his opponents in a net all at once - after Su Chen had managed to help him analyze the Scarlet Heart’s attitude, of course.
As such, once the troops arrived, Anubi made a decision.
“What? Form an encirclement? Your Majesty, there’s no need for this in the slightest! Let me take command of the armies and we can just charge in immediately!”
Within the Ravagers’ main tent, Likarlon was yelling in his uniquely raspy voice. This bald-headed Ravager, whose brain was even made of muscle, was Anubi’s most trusted general, and the Inferno Tribe’s top warrior.
The way he did things was very similar to how he looked - simple, direct, and crude. His reason for contradicting Anubi was simply because he felt like it was too much of a hassle. In that sense, Anubi could best accept this kind of reasoning, because this would also make him seem more wise.
However, the reactions of the other Ravagers made him unhappy.
“The Three Mountain Castle is not a place that can be easily surrounded. It is hemmed in on all sides by complicated, mountainous terrain. The soldiers will have a hard time spreading out, and the effect of setting up an encirclement will be minimal anyways,” Shinback said.
Shinback was Anubi’s transport official, primarily responsible for managing the army’s logistics. Even though the Ravagers were known for their disastrous logistics and organizational skills, Shinback was at least decent at his job - at least, he was not the worst. For him to have reached this rank implied that he was also quite intelligent, which was also why he served as Anubi’s think tank.
Actually, because of his status, Anubi most often encountered the smarter Ravagers. After all, anyone who didn’t have their wits about them wouldn’t last long as Anubi’s subordinate at all. Anyone who could climb up the social ladder to this point could not possibly be just an average individual.
Shinback was two hundred years old already. He was not young, which also meant that he was very prudent.
Shinback’s words had only made Anubi unhappy. In comparison, the next person to speak caused him to fly into a rage.
“This is a disastrous, terrible idea. It will take at least a day to set up an encirclement given the terrain we are on, and in this one day the Beasts can attack at any point in time, exploiting the holes in our defenses. And even if we manage to stop their attacks, it won’t be of any use. The terrain is very isolated, so our troops will be split up into isolated groups. The Beasts could just rely on this fact to attack a different area. The encirclement will turn into each area being attacked separately.”
As the commander-in-chief of the two hundred thousand man army, Gucha had the authority to speak in this manner.
However, this didn’t mean that his opposition would have any effect.
“This is my plan. I’m going to capture that bastard alive!” Anubi said.
The hidden meaning behind his words was that if Gucha called this plan stupid one more time, Anubi would skin him alive.
Gucha began to demonstrate the characteristics most Ravagers had.
Stubborn, unyielding, and inflexible.
He said, “This plan will not allow you to capture him alive. You will only become an idiot loser.”
“Shut your mouth, you damned bastard!” Anubi howled as he charged. “I’ll kill you!”
He unleashed a punch as he charged forwards.
Unfortunately, Gucha was not Alicia. His punch did not kill the other party; all it did was create gigantic waves of energy that spread in all directions.
“Even if you are the emperor, don’t think that you can do as you please!” Gucha howled as he counterattacked.
He actually fought back!
This was the first time Su Chen had ever seen anything like this. Even though he had made some preparations for the Ravagers being brainless, he was still a bit unused to this kind of occurrence.
Rather, this was the true nature of the Ravagers. Everything he had seen before was a representation of everything that RAvagers were not.
The battle between an emperor and his commander-in-chief unfolded at this moment. The Ravager soldiers were neither surprised nor disturbed. Actually, they even began to circle around the fighters as they cheered and called out.
In terms of strength, Gucha had reached the peak of Totemic Inscriptions, had undergone six baptisms already, and had countless years of actual battle experience, putting him above Anubi. However, Anubi was the emperor, and he was more than prepared to show off his powerful side.
As he attacked, he howled, “This is not a Takushi. I, the great Anubi Inferno, am punishing this bastard. You cannot fight back against me. If you hurt me, then your actions will be considered as treason.”
“Don’t even think about trying to pin that crime on me,” Gucha howled powerfully. However, his attacks were still somewhat unrestrained.
They fought like this for some time. In the end, Gucha was kicked back a few times by Anubi, and Anubi was punched by Gucha.
In the face.
As they placed their hands on the palm prints and footprints on their bodies, the conference resumed.
Anubi pouted with dissatisfaction. “Sachar is dead, but I still don’t have freedom.”
“Your recklessness will bring about the destruction of the Ravager race. You’d best learn how to control yourself a bit better,” an ancient-sounding voice spoke from off in the corner.
The speaker was a white-haired, ancient man leaning on a cane.
Even though he was already extremely old, no Ravager dared to look down on him.
Because he was the Ravagers’ central Divine Shrine’s Head Ancestor, Goncourt. He was the religious representative for the entire Iron and Blood Country, the one who wielded the power of the hearts of the citizens.
It could be said that Goncourt was the uncrowned emperor of the Ravagers. Without his support, any battles that the Ravagers fought would be considered unjust and even cursed.
If Gucha’s opposition to the emperor was one-third because of his own strength and two-thirds because of his temperament, then Goncourt’s instruction of Anubi was proper and right, a matter of principle. It was like Sachar, an elder instructing his own junior.
When faced with Goncourt’s rebuke, even someone as cruel, savage, barbaric, and crude as Anubi could only lower his head obediently.
“Fine. Then what do you think we should do? Attack the city directly?” Anubi asked, somewhat stifled.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Likarlon interjected with an honest smile.
“Idiot, the Beasts number in the hundreds of thousands as well, thirty of them at least at the Demonic Lord realm. Do you think that we can swallow them up without paying a price?” oncourt said. “We need to find a way to deal with our opponents.”
“The Beasts aren’t good at thinking up plans,” Likarlon muttered.
“What if we get them to run into an encirclement on their own?” Su Chen suddenly interjected.
As the head of internal servants, his rank was the lowest, and as a mid-tier cavalry officer, his rank was the lowest. But as the emperor’s close, favored subject, Su Chen did have some authority to speak.
“Shut your mouth, you bastard. You bewitch the emperor with your words,” Gucha harrumphed.
If Su Chen wasn’t a male, he might have cursed him for being a fox demonness.
“Let him speak, Gucha. Wise people don’t stop others from speaking,” Goncourt said slowly, deep meaning behind his words.
He had spoken this for Gucha to hear, but also for Anubi to hear.
Su Chen shrugged. “It’s quite simple. We know the reason why the Scarlet Heart refuses to retreat - he is going for the Origin Bone Scepter. So if we give him an opportunity, it’s obvious that he will charge over...... He will bring his troops along with him right into our encirclement.
Gucha was stunned. “You’re saying that His Majesty should......”
“Become bait? Yes, that is what I mean,” Su Chen said with conviction. “If we put His Majesty’s carriage at the very front, the Scarlet Heart will feel like he has an opportunity.”
“That’s putting His Majesty in danger!” Shinback cried out, not wasting the opportunity to demonstrate his loyalty to Anubi.
“There won’t be any danger,” Su Chen replied. “We can use a substitute, but we must give that substitute the real Origin Bone Scepter and the Vitality Totem.”
Using a substitute to cheat the Scarlet Heart?
Everyone glanced at each other.
“Are you sure that the Scarlet Heart would charge in even if he knows there is an ambush?” Shinback asked.
“He will. As long as there are treasures, he doesn’t care how many soldiers you have. His earlier actions are proof of this,” Su Chen said confidently.
“But the Scarlet Heart is not easy to lie to. It’s impossible to trick him with ordinary camouflage techniques” Gucha said.
“Humans have a special kind of technique that allows them to change appearances. You all should know about it, right?” Su Chen asked.
“Of course, but very few people can actually use this technique,” Gucha said. In his heart, however, he felt that this would not pose a problem for Su Chen. In other words, Su Chen was already prepared to deal with this when he made his suggestion.
Indeed, Su Chen said with a slight smile, “You forget that I have seventy-three human soldiers at my disposal. Coincidentally, one of them just so happens to possess this ability.”
The group of high-status Ravagers were all stunned.
This was indeed quite the coincidence.
Of course, in reality this was not a coincidence at all. Su Chen had created a camouflage technique of his own, so it was no surprise that he could teach it to other people.
Goncourt asked, “Then why didn’t that human immediately use his camouflage abilities to escape?”
Su Chen replied, “He couldn’t escape the eyes of the Clairvoyants. This kind of technique is only useful against someone who isn’t prepared.”
Goncourt said, “That’s the problem. If he can’t trick a Clarivoyant, it’s impossible for him to trick the Scarlet Heart either.”
“But that might not be the case if he has your help, right?” Su Chen countered. “You don’t need him to completely trick the Scarlet Heart; you just need to make it so that the Scarlet Heart has no way of figuring it out from a distance.”
“So we’re going to hand over the Origin Bone Scepter and Vitality Totem to a human?” Gucha pointed out the most glaring problem.
“Two hundred thousand Ravagers surrounding a single human?” Su Chen replied calmly. “I was just posing a suggestion anyways. If you have a better plan, please, feel free to propose it.”
At the Three Mountain Castle.
The Scarlet Heart sat upon his massive throne constructed from a skull inside of the floating bloody palace, which was being pulled along by eight Armored Crocodiles.
The throne had been constructed from 999 skulls taken from Ravagers, Harpies, Oceanids, etc., including two Emperor-level existences and twenty-four King-level existences. These skulls were not dead, however; their eyes glowed with a mystical fire, and from time to time they would try to crash against an invisible barrier, howling and shrieking unhappily.
The Scarlet Heart sat on this throne. He looked like an elegant, graceful, middle-aged human, but a black fog emanated from his body, giving him a strange, enigmatic aura.
His eyes were closed and his head tilted, as if he were asleep. In his hand was a scepter, which had three gems inlaid onto the wooden body of the scepter in a row. These three gems were red, blue, and black.
He rubbed his fingers gently over the gems on the scepter, tapping them rhythmically against the scepter, indicating that he was not actually asleep. The smaller Demonic Beasts kneeling below him couldn’t help but tremble in fear.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes.
In that instant, the entire void seemed to suddenly light up.
His gaze penetrated the walls of the castle as it spread.
He said, “I can sense it...... my treasure!”
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢