Using the zone portal of Vacharest, Jack teleported to Thereath. He went directly to the palace. Entering the throne room, he called for Thaergood.
He used the monarch system and saw that there was indeed an alliance proposal from the Sangrod Empire. He accepted the alliance. At the same time, he spent coins to build an embassy in Sangrod.
When Thaergood arrived, Jack informed him about the alliance. Thaergood called his team and they spent a few hours discussing this new alliance with Jack. The general rules of an alliance in the monarch system were non-aggression between the two countries, open borders, sending reinforcement when one was invaded, and sending reinforcement when one was on a campaign.
There were, of course, more terms and details that were not outlined in the monarch system, such as information sharing, tax reduction on traded goods, protection for traders and dignitaries, and so on. Jack had Thaergood and the team wrote them up. He gave Thaergood the authority to discuss these details with Sangrod.
Thaergood understood Jack couldn't stay long, so he kept the meeting concise. Jack left soon after the meeting. He first went to pick up Tip. Jack brought Tip because Tip could summon their guild army if he used the guild army summoning crystal near the Themisphere army. Tip had been staying behind in the headquarters to continue developing the guild. He only followed once the Themisphere army had crossed into Palgrost.
The two of them teleported to Sangrod's border city. Palgrost was in a state of war, no one could teleport directly into the country from abroad. Jack and Tip could use the train that existed at the border between Sangrod and Palgrost, but Pandora was still faster. He would check out the train some other time when the situation was not so urgent.
Jack summoned Pandora right from the city's zone portal. He let Tip sit behind him and they flew out of the town. This drew curses from the guards at the zone portal.
Jack sent a message to John asking for his location. After getting the coordinates, he directed Pandora. Pandora streaked across the sky, leaving a bright trail of fire.
*
Balgadur was a capital built inside the mountain Sedgebare. It didn't need protection walls. The mountain itself was its wall. Of course, if it was just a normal mountain, it would still not resist the onslaught of siege weapons. Like a defensive wall of a city, the mountain surface was covered by rune diagrams. They increased the sturdiness of the mountain and also had self-recovering property. Unlike a wall, a mountain was covered even on its top, so flying units were useless when sieging this place.
Three days after John led the Themisphere army into Palgrost, Master's huge army gathered near the mountain.
Slightly to their East was another army. That was Boron's army. Boron's original 1,200,000 army had shrunk. This was due to the parting of three of his influential followers.
These three were among the four dwarf leaders the Corporate United targeted. One of them was Yonhilda Mountchest whose brother was rescued by Grace and the others from Fort Khurn Valdur.
Yonhilda left Boron's camp after Dograr was brought to her. She brought 80,000 troops with her when she left. The other two dwarf leaders that Corporate United had successfully persuaded brought 20,000 troops each.
Boron's force was now 1,080,000. He lost ten percent even before the battle started. The troops he lost went to Thelgrun, who accepted the defected leaders happily. He couldn't afford to punish these leaders for opposing him in the first place because that would dissuade the remaining leaders in Boron's camp who might still have second thoughts. Hence, he pardoned their initial sedition.
Master and Boron had a meeting the night before when their armies arrived near the outskirts of Mount Sedgebare. The meeting was conducted at Liguritudum's field command tent. Boron objected to the location of the meeting at first. As the future sovereign of this country, it should be the Liguritudum's ruler who came to his command tent. Liguritudum served as his support in this war.
But Master sent a transmission reply that their forces should just act on their own in that case. After persuasion by Sizhad, Boron finally relented.
This morning, they were facing the enormous mountain, ready to carry out their plan to take it down.
However, one gargantuan creature watched over these two armies with burning eyes. It was a dragon with bright red scales. It perched upon the side of the mountain above the main gate into Balgadur. It was as if announcing that anyone who wished to enter would have to get through him.
The red dragon was Palgrost's country guardian, a level 90 eternal-grade dragon.
"Uddroth…," Master uttered while gazing at the magnificent red dragon. "Let's see whose fire is hotter."
Master used his ruler badge and summoned Suzaki. The sky burned and the giant flaming elemental bird descended.
Uddroth's eyes narrowed when he saw Suzaki.
"Empress of fire… I never thought we would finally fight," Uddroth greeted.
"Wasn't that what you always wanted in the past? You were eager to prove that you hold the best dominion over fire," Suzaki replied. "This is your chance. You can finally get your fight."
Uddroth chuckled. "I was young then. When you age, you start to see things differently. Well, I don't have the passion to prove that I'm the best in controlling fire anymore, but I do have the passion to protect this place and its sovereign."
"I respect that, but I also have the commitment to carry out the request of my contract bearer."
"Then let today not be the day we decide who is the best flame wielder, but to decide who is the most committed to our duty."
Uddroth unleashed an intensely bright fire breath once he finished speaking. Suzaki spread its wings and a flame shield appeared before her. Uddroth's flame hit the shield. The flame swirled upon contact. It was as if Uddroth's flame was broken apart. Tendrils of the swirling flames then gathered above Suzaki, forming a fireball.
Uddroth stopped his breath. He had heard that Suzaki could not be hurt by pure fire energy. He would need physical contacts for that. He simply fired his breath to make sure that was true. He spread his wings. His huge body lifted off. Despite his size, he was very fast. The air burned as he flew past.
Suzaki didn't retreat seeing the incoming dragon. She flew forward. The fireball she had formed using Uddroth's flame followed beside her.
They clashed in the sky, multiple times. As the battle turned more heated, they flew higher and higher.
This was Master's instruction to his country guardian. He wanted Uddroth out of the picture, and Suzaki was luring him away.
As the two country guardians flew ever higher, Liguritudum and Boron's armies started advancing.
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