Chapter 402 Preparing an Army!
Of course, along the way, I already sent Ember to fetch Queen Thalia to include her in our discussion. After all, the more hands we have, the better.
With their outer walls being completed, they now need the minimum number of tamers to man the turrets; their energy level is irrelevant. In short, they could afford to provide some help in our hunt for god-level essence crystals.
Everyone gathered in the meeting room, the one I've been slowly getting familiar with due to the frequency of its usage. After we took a seat, Ember entered with Queen Thalia and Princess Hazel in tow.
"Welcome, Queen Thalia. Please have a seat."
As she looked around, I saw how her shoulders shook upon seeing the members we have. God Zeshion, Goddess Vermeil, and Goddess Blanc. Three god tamers gathered at one table!
She tried to seem calm as she went for the seat closest to her before sitting down.
"And? What's the agenda for today to see such big figures with us?"
Not wanting to waste time, Queen Thalia asked immediately. I smiled at her before answering while nodding my head.
"Right. We called you here so that you can also send help. You know about the empire's invasion starting three days ago, right? It's in relation to that."
I began to summarize the situation for her, making it as short and informative as possible. Five minutes later, her face turned paler as she looked down on her hands atop the table.
"Hundreds of god-level demons...!"
Even Princess Hazel, who tagged along, was having her face warped into a deep frown as she listened in on our conversation.
"So, you want us to provide support by sending our 9th- and 8th-stage tamers, correct?"
Although she was shaken greatly, her mind was still working fast. Queen Thalia quickly predicted what I was about to request, making me show a wry smile in return.
"Well, basically that. With your walls fixed, you can protect your territory even without the presence of high-level tamers, right? So, we'll borrow their strength instead."
"But going out and hunting god-level demons is too dangerous! How can you assure us that the precious tamers we will send won't die in vain?"
I gently shook my head at her question.
"No, Queen Thalia, that's not the right thing to ask."
"...? What do you mean?"
"Think about it. If we don't help that beyond-god-level being reach heaven, then we'd need to prepare to fight a much greater army of demons. Can you imagine fighting thousands of god-level demons simultaneously?"
"...!"
As soon as she heard what I needed to say, she turned silent for quite a while. About a minute later, she finally sighed resignedly, leaning against her chair, and responded.
"Well, that'll be a hopeless situation then. Alright, to avoid such a catastrophe, I'll send all my 9th and 8th stage tamers, along with all their tamed monsters, to help your cause."
"Thank you for your understanding, Queen."
After exchanging a firm handshake, we returned to our seats and quickly changed gears.
"Now that we've cleared that out of the way, let's begin our strategy meeting..."
The discussion wasn't only about who we would bring but also what sort of formation we would employ, how to handle surprise attacks, and how to ensure the safety of everyone.
In the end, we took over a full day before all details were set. It was long, but we can't really be lazy about our preparation. Our enemies are god-level monsters, so just winging it is out of the question. Doing so might lead to thousands of deaths and could even lead to fatal situations for Zeshion and the others, despite their strength.
After the discussion was done, Queen Thalia and Princess Hazel returned to their kingdom. I also sent a notice to all the 9th- and 8th-stage teachers, conscripting them to participate in this excursion.
I was worried that others wouldn't follow the order, but I guess adding the name of Zeshion and the others did its job. We had full attendance the next day. A total of 4 god tamers, 33 god-
level monsters, 5,202 9th-stage and 23,661 8th-stage tamers and monsters from Heaven's Republic, and 3,201 9th-stage and 9,553 8th-stage tamers and monsters from the Cleaver Kingdom.
It was a large army of roughly 40,000, but honestly, I'm still worried if we can take on multiple god-level demons with only this much. So, I requested that Ember pass them her stockpile of guns—assault rifle models—that she was making en masse without anyone's notice. I wonder how many projects Ember handles simultaneously, really?
Everyone got one gun and a full backpack of bullets, roughly 1,000 rounds each, but given the firing rate of the assault rifles, that's too few. Thus, we created a method for Ember to send an additional supply of bullets while we were out.
By the way, I am also participating in this excursion as an 8th-
stage tamer myself. Accompanying me was Igni alone, since she's the only one that matched the requirements. Although I knew how powerful Fang and the others were, taking them would make things complicated, so I sent them to defend the borders while we were away.
Right, the reason why there were only 33 of the god-level monsters tagging along was because the rest of them were required to keep the minimum defenses around the country. After all, unlike Cleaver Kingdom, we haven't renewed the walls around our towns yet. And we don't have an all-encompassing wall to cover our entire territory since it's too spread out.
"Alright, everyone's here, right?"
After confirming the checklist for each battalion, I nodded my head.
"Then, let's head out!"
In response to my command, Goddess Zeta opened up a wide portal for the entire army to march through. As the commander, I was the last to enter, while the four god tamers were spearheading the group.
"I wonder if I'll need to step up during the battles too?"
I really hope I have a chance to fight, since just sitting back and twiddling my fingers doesn't fit my personality.
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