Leon quickly passed on instructions to Rakon on how to handle the safety of the growing town, and then took Eric with him to return to the portal.
Eric was a veritable Peak B rank fighter. He would be a valuable combat asset on the field, and it would be a waste to leave him here. There were already hundreds of B rank summons on guard to defend the town if any attack came their way. Then he made his way to the place where the men from the Gublin Empire had gathered.
"Sure took your time." Richard commented when Leon and Eric arrived.
"I had to make sure my people knew what to do." Leon brushed off the comment as he looked around the place. The soldiers had stern looks on their faces while the mercenaries under Richard looked more relaxed.
"We've already given them a briefing, and they are already aware of what we are fighting for." Leonidas walked over and said, his eyes hard as he looked over the men. A middle aged lady walked beside him and he introduced her. "This is Lyra Decabell, she is one of the nobles under my service, and is the one responsible for our transportation."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Excellency." Lyra bowed her head in greeting with a small smile on her face. She had seen Leon's fights during Divinity's Bout, and knew exactly who he was.
"Likewise." Leon shook the woman's hand curtly. His face was expressionless, as he had turned back to his real form after leaving the temple.
Little more words were exchanged before everyone got to work. The soldiers were all ready, so all that needed to be done was to transport them. Leon brought over a map that showed the area where the main fortifications were based from. The hidden port that had been run by Garn.
"To think there was a hidden port here." Leonidas rubbed his chin in thought when he heard the story from Leon. Meanwhile, Lyra went ahead to open a portal that led to the port.
The air around her became charged with mana and her brown hair waved around wildly as the wind picked up around her. A bright light flickered in front of her before expanding into a large portal, the same size as the one that had led them to Leon.
"The portal is open!"
Troops began to march through the portal, with Leon's summons going in first. Leon watched them with a tense expression, eyeing the portal with suspicion. He could not get rid of the suspicion that this might be a trap to make him pass through the portal and then he would be transported to the Gublin Empire and captured.
He shared his vision with his summons on the other end of the portal, and indeed, they had arrived at the cliffside where the port was located.
"Don't worry, I made sure Leonidas had no alternative motives before we came here. He wants to settle the matter of the dungeon on a separate level." Richard patted Leon's shoulder and walked through the portal.
Leon huffed and followed after him and Leonidas. He was enveloped by bright light and the scenery changed. The air was salty and humid, and the sun shone brightly overhead. It was already well into the day and past noon, so the sun was at a high point in the sky.
When Leon saw that he had arrived at the shore without a hitch, he let out a sigh of relief. His worries had not been completely taken care of when he had stepped through the portal, but now that he was here, he guessed that there was no need to worry anymore.
"We need to meet them out at sea. It will be best to whittle down their forces there before we sweep up the remnants that make it to shore." Leonidas said, looking around. "Also, you did a good job with the defenses." He commented on the sixty meter tall stone wall that had been built to run along the shoreline.
Leon nodded and did not speak, instead, he looked around, trying to spot the person he had put in charge of the affairs on this side of things.
Whoosh!
With a cool breeze, James appeared in front of Leon and dropped to one knee, with his head bowed.
"Lord."
"James, how are things going here?" Leon asked the former human.
"Oris has just returned from his scouting mission. The summons are all prepared to launch an attack or defend against one at a moment's notice. We await your command." James immediately relayed the information that Leon needed to know.
"Good. Let Oris and his birds head out and launch attacks on the enemy to cause confusion for them for now." Leon ordered and James nodded. His body seemed to collapse on itself as he fell into his shadow and vanished into the darkness. Moments later, hundreds of Dark Wing Eagles took to the sky, with a much larger one at the head of the flock.
Caw!
Oris let out a proud screech and the space around the flock bent, allowing the birds to speed up rapidly. In seconds, the massive flock had turned into a black speck on the horizon.
"You have a large variety of summons. If my Gublin Empire were to fight against you, I am afraid we will suffer grievous losses." Leonidas said with wide eyes. He had been surprised by Leon once again. He could see the thousands of summons that worked along the shore and on the wall. The numbers were incredibly vast, and not to mention that he could feel B rank energies of varying strengths from all of them.
"Just grievous losses? With this number, I will be able to overrun your empire." Leon smirked.
"Haha! What a great sense of humor." Leonidas laughed and the aura he subconsciously gave off seemed to intensify. "You may be able to overrun most of our soldiers, but with myself there, you will fail." He said, his voice firm and overflowing with confidence.
"We shall see." Leon simply shrugged and said mysteriously. He knew very well that there was no way he could beat Leonidas. Leonidas was just too strong. At least, that was how things were for now. With his amazing growth rate, it would not take him too long to reach that level. Perhaps with his next Race Advancement, he would be able to take care of Leonidas easily.
Leon turned around when he felt two familiar auras. From the portal, Dibella and Darwin stepped onto the gray soil of the cliff. Darwin's white hair was as white as ever, while Dibella had her black hair packed into a pony tail. The two of them walked over to Leon as soon as they spotted him.
"Dibella, Darwin, how are you two doing?" Leon asked when the two of them stopped in front of him.
"We are well and fine, Leon. And also, I have changed my name to Dizen." Darwin, or rather, Dizen, answered with a smile.
"Oh?" Leon hummed.
"Yes. It is a rather nice name, and it is the name of my deceased grandfather, so it means a lot to me." Dizen said. His story was long and complicated, but he did not mind bearing such a name.
Seeing that he had already made up his mind and settled on this name, Leon did not try to push and nodded. After all, it was not his name, and Dizen was not his direct subordinate.
"Is that is what you have chosen, then I do not have any problems with it." Leon nodded his head.
Just then, Richard and Leonidas walked over. Kai had left to take charge of the eager soldiers from the Gublin Empire.
"Who are these?" Richard curiously asked.
"These are Dizen and Dibella." Leon introduced them and turned to the people in question. "Dizen, Dibella, these are our allies in this war. Leonidas, the Emperor of the Gublin Empire, and Richard of the Silver Tooth Mercenary Guild."
The two sides exchanged greetings, but Leon caught the hesitance that flashed across Dizen's face for a moment. The others also saw it, but could not ask the reason why. The white haired man had hesitated at the moment when he was to shake Leonidas' hand. The emperor was not too formal around Leon, so he did not mind.
Although Richard and Leonidas were rather clueless as to why he had hesitated, Leon knew the reason why. Dizen knew that it was the Gublin Empire that had controlled the Despair Dungeon, and after being forced to die multiple times over centuries, there was no way that he could just put the entire matter behind him like it never happened.
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