"What is it to you?" Morius said grudgingly.
"Her guild has joined two wars in Themisphere and won both," Megan said. "One of the wars was also an invasion war similar to what we are experiencing now. I say her input will be valuable."
"The deciding factor is the native army. We players are just a small portion of the fighting force. Their country winning the previous wars had nothing to do with her guild," Morius uttered.
"Is that the excuse you've prepared if your country loses this war?" Jeanny asked.
"I will not stand this mocking!" Morius exclaimed. His staff was again in a battle-ready position, but he made sure he was outside of Jeanny's spear range this time.
He didn't attack, though, but he had sent messages for all his members to converge to this meeting spot. "Don't forget this is our turf, woman!"
Sand Family's almost four thousand members showed themselves aggressively.
But while they made themselves known, a group of players twice their sizes appeared and surrounded them. When people used their Inspect, they saw that this new group was all the members of Everlasting Heavenly Legends. Just as Morius called for his members to come, so did Jeanny.
"How… How did they have so many members…?" A guild member from the Sand family uttered.
Morius looked at the larger group with a solemn face. There was only one reason for these many players to have the same guild tag. The guild they were in was already level 5, giving them a maximum of 10,000 members.
The members of Everlasting Heavenly Legends here could easily number 8,000 players.
Herald also looked at the situation pensively. As the number one guild in Hydrurond, his guild was still at level 4, in which the maximum number of members was 5,000 players. Although they were close to level up, the fact that Everlasting Heavenly Legends was already level 5 meant that the guild was ahead of them. Not to mention, Jeanny had managed to fill up those new member spots to 8,000.
The fact was Everlasting Heavenly Legends had already almost filled up all their 10,000-member slots. Jeanny simply didn't bring all their members here since some were not combat oriented or had other important tasks that needed attending.
All the Hydrurond players looked at each other. None of them now looked down upon Jeanny and his guild anymore.
"So… So what? Do you think you can scare us with more people?" Morius said. He was still unwilling to yield. "Don't forget you are in Hydrurond, not Themisphere. I have ten allies here right beside me."
"Speak for yourself. My guild is a friend to the Everlasting Heavenly Legends. I say she has the right to join our meeting," Megan uttered.
"You…," Morius looked at Megan with a bitter expression. He couldn't believe Megan opposed him for the sake of an outsider. But then again, the relationship between the eleven guilds with headquarters in Hydrurond was not exactly peaceful. They were all competitors. His guild and Megan's guild had even clashed on many occasions.
'Their number is not the only thing that you need to watch out for,' Herald sent a silent message to Morius.
'What do you mean?' He asked, but he then noticed it himself. A large number of players that stood at the forefront of the Everlasting Heavenly Legends group all had special classes.
Nowadays, everyone had a good understanding of special classes. But understanding and having one were two different things. Even the top guild in Hydrurond, Inquisition, only had three players with special classes. One of them was the leader, Herald. His class was Witch Hunter, a normal special class from the Inquisitor class.
"Let's stop fighting among ourselves," Herald said. He didn't wish to go into a confrontation with a guild that could amass so many players with special classes. "We will have plenty of enemies once the battle begins. If the leader of Everlasting Heavenly Legends wants to join the discussion, then so be it."
"Come," Herald gave Jeanny some space to join their council. He then signaled everyone to resume their interrupted discussion.
The discussion between the guild leaders was already at the end when Jeanny joined. But with Megan's help, Jeanny could roughly understand their plan.
Their intel told them that aside from World Maker, which was Liguritudum's national guild since its leader was also the country's sovereign, six guilds with headquarters had joined this war. The other four chose to abstain. While for Hydrurond, all eleven guilds with headquarters joined the war. This meant in terms of the number of players, Hydrurond held the advantage.
Hence, they planned to focus the offensive on Liguritudum players, while leaving the natives to fight the natives. After they were done dealing with Liguritudum players here, they would head to the place where the Hydrurond force was fighting the Aurebor army and repeated the same strategy.
Jeanny looked at the Liguritudum force in the distance. The players on that side were similarly positioned separately from the native soldiers. Jeanny found that to be odd. Liguritudum should have experienced a long civil war where players fought together with natives. It didn't make sense that the players there still couldn't work together with the native soldiers.
"Does everyone clear about the plan?" Herald asked.
"I suggest we proceed differently," Jeanny said.
"We are already generous to let you hear our plan. You are not included in the deciding part," Morius uttered.
"We should hear her reasons, at least," Megan said.
Herald was frowning. He didn't appreciate people challenging his decision. This plan was his proposal. So, he saw it as Jeanny challenging his authority. Even so, he couldn't openly dismiss her as Morius did. The fact that Jeanny's guild was level 5 was not something he could just brush off. Not to mention Megan seemed to be supportive of her. He didn't want to get into Megan's bad side because although Megan's guild, Evil Breakers, was one rank below his, the difference in power between their two guilds wasn't that large. Additionally, he had some feelings for Megan, even when he knew it was one-sided.
"What is your suggestion, sister Jeanny?" Herald asked Jeanny.
"Thank you, brother Herald," Jeanny replied. "I think we should work together with the native soldiers. We should serve as support while they take the brunt of the conflict. They have more HP than us and thus can survive better, but we have more flexibility due to having more skills and spells. Some of us also have martial expertise that most natives don't. With our support, they will last longer, giving the army the time it needs until reinforcement arrives."
Almost every guild leader chuckled. Herald said, "I don't blame you because you are not active in this country. But at this moment, it is almost impossible to work together with the natives."
Jeanny was confused by the statement. When she wanted to ask further, Megan asked her, "What reinforcement?"
"Themisphere army," Jeanny answered.
Moriud laughed upon hearing it. "Themisphere army is the very reason we have fewer native soldiers here than we should have. The Hydrurond army won't let them enter this country, much less let them assist us."
"The Themisphere king is working on it. He will deliver," Jeanny said with confidence.
"That's absurd!" Morius exclaimed. He then turned to Herald, "Don't say you are considering her suggestion."
Everyone turned to Herald, who was silent for a while, before saying to Jeanny, "Sister Jeanny, while I value your input, I can't follow it. From the difference in force, it is highly unlikely Hydrurond win this war. Our purpose here is simply to score as many war contribution points from this battle, not trying to do the impossible. Killing the players from the other side is the easiest way to get those points. So, I'm sorry. We are going to continue with our original plan."
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om