Nevertheless, Chief Blackbear's concerns were unfounded. Leon did not care about the Black Warbear Tribe's past.
"What is our next course of action, my Lord?" Chief Ironshield inquired.
Leon glanced at the two craters in the distance and discovered more Whitebone Fiends were still climbing out of the further crater.
"There are still remnant forces of the Whitebone Fiends in the area. Once we secure the perimeters and eliminate all of them, we will investigate what fell into the abyss. We have to make sure the Whitebone Fiends are completely eradicated before they pose further problems."
"Understood, my Lord," Chief Blackbear responded as he wanted to quickly leave before the Lord remembered his past offenses.
"I will lead my forces back to secure the southern perimeters and check on the east while I am at it. I believe the Battle God Palace and the Holy Sunfire Tribe is still holding off the eastern side."
"Not necessarily," Leon casually uttered after spotting a large group of warriors approaching from the southern side of the western crater. "It seems like they were also attracted over by the destruction I caused here."
"Who can tell me which power they are affiliated with?" Leon asked shortly after.
Chief Ironshield and the other chiefs immediately peered into the distance with squinted eyes as they tried to make out the details of the small figures.
They strained their eyes for several breaths as the group drew closer before they eventually recognized the people approaching from afar.
"I believe they are part of the Holy Sunfire Tribe, my Lord," Chief Blackbear answered.
"There are also some subordinate tribes' forces with them. However, I don't seem to see Chief Whiteflame among them. Furthermore, they only seem to have half their forces."
"That is only half their forces? There are at least five thousand warriors in that group—about the same as each of your forces."
Leon turned to Chief Blackbear and asked, "Are you saying the Holy Sunfire Tribe's forces are as strong as your Black Warbear Tribe and Mighty Whitewolf Tribe combined?"
"Not at all, my Lord," Chief Silvertooth shook his head and said, "We've only dared to bring half our forces to investigate the impacted location."
"I don't know about the Black Warbear Tribe, but I left half my forces behind in the Mighty Whitewolf Tribe to guard against potential surprise attacks from the northern tribes."
"It's the same for us, my Lord. We also left behind half our forces to guard against… the southern tribes," Chief Blackbear added awkwardly towards the end of his sentence.
"The Holy Sunfire Tribe is quite reckless or fearless, huh?" Leon muttered.
"On the contrary, they are quite careful, my Lord," Chief Silvertooth corrected before explaining, "The Holy Sunfire Tribe needed to bring their whole force with them to deter the Battle God Palace from attacking them during their investigation."
"As for the eastern tribes, they are too busy defending against the Battle God Palace's other forces to launch an attack on the Holy Sunfire Tribe."
"I see," Leon rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"But if the Battle God Palace recalled their troops from the Eastern Region to attack the Holy Sunfire Tribe, they would be caught in a pincer attack if the Battle God Palace decided to attack the Holy Sunfire Tribe instead, no?"
"Not necessarily, my Lord," Chief Silvertooth shook his head again and said, "Every King-rank tribe in the Central Region is very well fortified."
"Although the Battle God Palace possesses the strongest military power, it could take them days to breach the Holy Sunfire Tribe's defenses. It won't be easy for the Battle God Palace to conquer the Holy Sunfire Tribe."
"Furthermore, with the Holy Sunfire Tribe's main force right behind them, they'll be drawn into an all-out war and suffer heavy casualties on both sides – something both sides don't want."
"After all, once the Battle God Palace and Holy Sunfire Tribe are severely weakened from duking it out with each other, it would be easy for either my Mighty Whitewolf Tribe or the Black Warbear Tribe to swoop in and reap the benefits of their labor.
"I see," Leon understood the situation before saying, "Well, I suppose we should go and meet them for now."
…
At that moment, Whiteash had just arrived at the edge of the western crater with his army of five thousand warriors.
They had been completely shocked by the appearance of the second crater that came into view as they were drawing closer to the western side of the big crater.
"What on Gaia happened here? The western side was supposed to be infested with the most monsters, but they have been completely eradicated," Whiteash gazed at the blackened soil within the crater with great astonishment.
"Do you think another object had fallen from the heavens, Lord Whiteash?" a warrior from the Holy Sunfire Tribe wondered.
"No, that shouldn't have been the case," Whiteash shook his head and said, "We would have seen its descent clearly if that was the case. Furthermore, the crater's formation here is different from the other one."
"This blackened soil… still has some sort of lingering power within them… How strange… What's stranger is why didn't find anyone from the Black Warbear Tribe's faction while we passed through the southern side…" Whiteash said as he studied the black soil along with the other warriors.
Just as some of the warriors had thoughts of touching the blackened soil within the western crater, a sudden voice that appeared quite close warned them, "I wouldn't touch that blackened soil if I were any of you."
"Who?!"
Whiteash and the rest of his men were immediately alerted as they raised their heads and followed the direction of the voice to locate the source.
The voice had come from Chief Silvertooth, who was riding on the back of Goldenstride along with the other chiefs in the sky.
When Whiteash saw Goldenstride's huge figure in the sky, his expression drastically changed along with the rest of his men.
They had been so preoccupied with the crater that they did not notice such a big Golden Suanni approaching them!
Nevertheless, Whiteash forcefully calmed himself before he was quickly surprised again by his new discovery.
"Chief Silvertooth, huh? Chief Blackbear and Chief Ironshield too… What are you all doing together? And what exactly happened here?"
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l