Jack stopped by the bakery and restaurant, taking the gold coin profit as well as lots of food with beneficial effects from Ellie. It had been his habit to eat beneficial food three times a day, just like previous world habits, even when he didn't need to. So, he always had an extra boost from food at all times. He could afford this luxurious habit because he had the coins for it. He didn't even need to cook the food himself anymore.
After chatting with Ellie and Samantha, especially with Samantha because she asked a lot about Amy, Jack left and went to the zone portal. He used the device there to teleport to Palgrost. From there, he rode Pandora to the border where his army had been waiting.
It was late afternoon by then. His tasks ended up taking more of his time than he planned for. Aldryth was more than one day ahead of him already. The location where Aldryth entered into Hydrurond was also far away from where he would be entering since he marched from Palgrost. He hoped he could get to where Aldryth's force was before she clashed with the enemy force.
Jack saw the mass of the army in the distance. Everything had been arranged. Palgrost's officials were fully cooperative in helping the army prepare. He mostly saw the human soldiers in the army. Palgrost army had left for the Daflue region following John's plan. Vanessa had brought her vampire army to meet Sangrod's main army before they left for Hydrurond.
Jack lamented the situation. Their three forces, Aldryth's, Sangrod's, and his, were supposed to enter Hydrurond simultaneously and carry out a coordinated attack, but Master's heinous act in Hydrurond had turned their plan upside down.
Now, the three of them were most likely entering at a different time.
Pandora flew to the head of the army where Arther and Meryl were waiting. The army was larger because many players had also joined. There were almost one million outworlders, bringing their army counts to almost twice. Most of them were players from Palgrost. The Themisphere players were following the army led by Emris.
A legion of 20,000 Palgrost soldiers were in the mix. They were led by Broban Deepminer, Thelgrun's aide. Jobreak Goldhoarder, who used to be a part of Boron's rebellion but rejoined President Thelgrun afterward, was also there. Thelgrun sent this legion so that the guilds that followed Jack's army could summon their guild armies when needed.
The army was ready to move at a moment's notice. Jack hovered over the army and addressed his soldiers. His voice reached all the soldiers thanks to his mana manipulation.
"Thank you, everyone! I know you have just been through a fierce battle a few weeks ago and long to be back in our home country. Unfortunately, our work is not done. The force of evil we drove out of this country weeks ago is now performing genocide in Hydrurond. Our ally, the legitimate queen of Hydurornd is now on her way to stop this madness. We are honor-bound to help her. We also cannot let this unspeakable evil go unchecked. We will not rest until we vanquish this evil, which means you will not likely go back to Themisphere until we chase our enemy back to his lair in Liguritudum and eradicate them for good. I apologize for asking this from you but believe me the world will be a better place for you, your family, and your descendants once we complete this crusade. This is a war for our country, our world, and our future! Are you with me…?!"
"We are…!!" Arther shouted. The others followed suit.
"Thank you! Now, let us march. To Hydrurond!!!" Jack summoned his Runestone of March. The army started moving with the enhanced speed from the runestone.
*
With normal speed, it would take the Themipshere army in Palgrost six days to reach Hydrurond, but Jack's Runestone of Marching cut that to four days. Aldryth's army which had left one day earlier required five days to cross the border. The two armies ended up arriving in Hydrurond's territory on the same day. However, Jack's force was in the south of Hydrurond while Aldryth's was in the East. They were days apart from one another.
Jack sent messages to Arthur, who was marching with Aldryth. He asked Arthur to request Aldryth to stay at the border and not to enter too deep into Hydrurond before they joined forces, but Arthur told Jack that Aldryth had no intention of doing that.
Master continued to massacre one settlement after another. The speed of his dreadful undertaking had slowed down significantly since the second day. This was because more and more settlements had put up fierce resistance. All native combatants had banded together to repel Master's force.
Even many players joined the resistance. They couldn't stand such an indiscriminate killing. Added by the news about how Master had killed many players during the convention, Hydrurond players who originally had no intention of getting involved in the war now joined the native's side.
The combined players and native combatants were mostly low levels, though. They couldn't exactly turn the tide, but their number was great enough that they caused Master to lose soldiers before the settlement was subjugated. This forced Master to consolidate his force into a bigger army, to easily put the resistance down without losing much manpower. He was, after all, trying to build his force. Losing soldiers to get zombie soldiers was not truly productive.
So, Master could no longer spread his force to multiple settlements while he and his guild members teleported to one settlement after another for a quick extermination. He now had his army gather and move from one settlement to the next.
By the time Jack and Aldryth's forces entered Hydrurond. Master had slaughtered more than half of Hydurond's population, leaving only the commoners who were level 1.
Aldryth knew this. She had a transmission device that fed her information about what happened in Hydrurond from someone in the resistance. She couldn't just stay still and let Master continue slaughtering her people. Even if her army was not Master's match, she had to go to her people.
Hence, she couldn't follow Jack's request to stay put.
The other half of the population that was still not yet touched was in the northern part of the country. Aldryth was heading there.
This ultimately caused her to move further away from Jack's force.
There was nothing Jack could do about the situation aside from urging his force to hurry. As they marched, they passed through the ruins of a village. It was completely demolished. No native was seen living there anymore. Whether they were all killed or they left after the devastation, Jack couldn't tell.
The human soldiers who saw the scene hardened their faces. This could be the scene in Themisphere if they let Liguritudum invade. No matter what, they couldn't allow that to happen!
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