"What? Rex already came back?"
Arthur stood up in shock as soon as his subordinate reported to him.
Having waited for a long time and searched everywhere for him to no avail for over 2 months already, though Arthur hated to admit it, he started believing the strange rumor that Rex was perhaps already dead.
Rex dying was a joyous news in his books, the only problem was that after suffering so much humiliation from him, he wanted to kill Rex himself.
Arthur wanted to relish the pleasure of sucking Rex's life away, he was too greedy to leave this pleasure to someone else and was why he was paranoid.
For the past 2 months, he was the sole motivator behind the constant attacks on the Berserk Gang. The more he attacked and the more the Berserk Gang did not respond, the more he was irritated and motivated to wreak more havoc.
For the next attack, he was ready to mobilize a troop which he would personally lead to attack the headquarters of the enemy, the Berserk Mansion.
If he attacked the Berserk Mansion and Rex still didn't show up, then he could finally confirm that Rex was really dead.
Before he could act though, an emergency was reported in the headquarters of the Gandalf Gang as they seemed to begin losing access to their secret bases through which they monitored all activities in the Red Zone.
Arthur was curious but he remained patient and let the specialists troubleshoot the problem. During his wait was when one of his subordinates came and reported the news to him.
On hearing that the Berserk Gang attacked the Gandalf Gang's detached secret bases, he was shocked as he wondered what gave them the confidence.
It was after hearing of Rex's return that he finally understood. "That fearless bastard is capable of doing this!" Arthur gritted his teeth.
He was glad at Rex's return and irritated by the fact that he had to wait for so long. Without hesitation, he grabbed his mystic daggers and left.
A few minutes later, he entered an office where Scorpion and Gandalf were already gathered. Without hesitation, he spoke. "Rex is back!"
"Yes, we know". Gandalf turned to face the younger mystic warrior.
Arthur was already agitated. "We need to go kill him now!"
Gandalf smiled. "You promised to be patient. You've already tried to kill him more than once in the past with your own plan but you failed, leave this to me".
"If you really want him dead this time, be patient and leave it to me".
Arthur was reluctant but on looking back at his track record when facing Rex and remembering the warning from his elders, he calmed down. "Ok".
Throughout the whole conversation, Scorpion remained quiet.
…
The Berserk Gang had a great victory, but it was not without sacrifices.
"What is the casualty estimate?" Rex asked as soon as he returned to the Berserk Mansion where he finally got to free himself from his war gear.
Wearing such a thick mystic armor with his other mystic treasures into battle looked dope, but he still had to admit that the comfort levels while wearing them was still not the best, especially now when he already stressed himself.
Once Rex asked, Aragorn focused on his computer screen as he typed away at the virtual keyboard that hovered before him.
About a minute later, he finally answered. "There are already 800 confirmed deaths with a tendency to rise over 900".
Rex paused. "What about the enemies?"
"More than 2000 of their warriors died since they didn't expect the attack and were caught off-guard. All their secret bases have been taken by us".
"Good". Rex nodded in satisfaction, this was more or less what he expected before starting the raid. "Prepare a funeral for the dead warriors".
As Aragorn went to work organizing a befitting funeral for the warriors who died to further the cause of the gang, Rex thought back to their sacrifices.
During the past 2 months as the Gandalf Gang harassed them, there were casualties here and there but they never crossed the dozens. The combined casualties of the past 2 months were lesser than the ones suffered today.
Though he already expected it, Rex was still affected as he thought of the possible consequences of so many warriors dying at the same time.
The consequences were numerous and they were all negative.
They were only up against the detached forces of the Gandalf Gang, and they already suffered such harsh casualties. Considering that the Berserk Gang barely had 10,000 mystic warriors, this was a huge blow.
Apart from the fact that they succeeded and took over all the secret bases of the enemy, every other fact resulted in a drop in morale of the Berserk Gang army.
If fighting against just the detached troops of the Gandalf Gang already resulted in so much casualties, they dreaded to think about fighting the main gang itself, it would by far be the greatest test of the Berserk Gang.
Another demoralizing fact was that the Berserk Gang was still far smaller and weaker than the Gandalf Gang. Rex had the confidence to go on this impossible mission due to his incredible personal strength after returning from the desert.
Unfortunately, his incredible personal strength didn't translate to the strength of the Berserk Gang as a whole. He was just one part of the gang.
He may be powerful but he was no one-man army yet especially against enemies as strong as the Gandalf Gang. Rex felt the need to re-strategize.
Without hesitation, Rex started re-strategizing. If he could think despite this victory and arrive at so many negative points that were against the gang, some of his warriors could definitely think too.
If he left this unattended, it could bring problems for the gang in the future.
At this moment, they had confidence in him due to the incredible boldness that he showed while motivating them to go to war.
But the effects of being an incredible public speaker could only last so long. If the casualty rate continued like this, no one could guess when morale would start dipping fast and the desire to leave the gang would start coming.
Once the desire to leave came, the Berserk Gang was already half-way towards destruction and this was what Rex desired to prevent the most.
No matter how important he saw himself and his sworn brothers and sister to the Berserk Gang, he still had to admit that the other warriors who made up the gang were the real pillars of foundation of the gang.
Without the thousands of basic and intermediate mystic warriors, there would be no Berserk Gang and catering for them was catering for the gang.
After removing his war gear and locking himself in his room to think, Rex was only able to arrive at a single plan, expanding the Berserk Gang.
With today's raid, he already kickstarted the war. Even if the Gandalf Gang did not retaliate immediately tomorrow, they would retaliate soon and to survive, the Berserk Gang needed to be prepared for the incoming heat.
Instead of resting after today's successful raid, Rex decided that it was time that the Berserk Gang rode the current momentum and expanded again.
In the Gundam Shelter, apart from integrating new mystic warriors that came here, the only other way for expansion and growth was the chaotic way of attacking and taking over other gangs.
Attacking other gangs was the best possible short-term method for the Berserk Gang to get strong enough to put a resistance to the Gandalf Gang.
Rex stopped this activity after taking over the Berserk Gang since then, he, Aragorn, and Elanor had to consolidate their nearly discovered powers as Advanced mystic warriors. Now though, they were free to be ambitious again.
Once he thought of it, Rex could not suppress it as he soon left his room and returned to the strategy room while calling for his sworn brothers and sister.
By the time that Aragorn, Elanor, and Ben arrived at the strategy room, Rex already drew a chart on the virtual screen that illustrated his plan.
"What are you up to?" Aragorn narrowed his eyes as he looked at the screen.
"Is that a conquest chart?" Princess Elanor asked in a surprised tone.
Rex was surprised. "Yes, how did you get it so fast?"
"My father regularly had conquest campaigns to take over the territory of the Kamaitachis, I grew used to it".
Rex gave her a thumb up and started explaining. "The Blood Market is the focal point of this region and the only point that we cannot covet due to the powers that own it, I marked it with blue".
"To the south of the Blood Market is our territory, the Berserk Territory which I marked with green".
"The other cardinal locations of the Blood Market are territories of loose gangs and organizations which I marked with red. These are our targets; I want us to start our conquest with them".
"If we can take all of them in even after fighting a great battle, we can have an influx of mystic warriors not less than 5000 or 6000 which would be a great boost to our army".
Aragorn rubbed his chin. "But we'll have to lose warriors too in the conquest".
"That's why I drew a chart". Rex smiled. "My plan is not to attack but to use advanced intimidation tactics to take over all of this territory".
"If we can take all of them in without a battle, we can have an influx of mystic warriors not less than 10,000, effectively doubling our current numbers".
"After our little victory over the Gandalf Gang, our notoriety in the Red Zone grew a bit. Let us ride the momentum to full effect and benefit maximally from it".
For over 40 minutes, Rex and his sworn brothers and sister planned on the perfect strategy to take over the surrounding territories without a fight.
It was not perfect but they succeeded in arriving at a plan, all that was needed now was the finishing elements for the plan to be perfected.
"We'll perfect the plan tomorrow".
With that, Rex drew the planning to a close as his brain was already tired and needed rest. On his way back to his room, nothing happened but Rex froze as soon as he entered his room in the Berserk Mansion.
An intruder in black was seated on his bed.
Rex's eyes widened in alert as all traces of sleep left him. "Who are you?"
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by (f)reew𝒆b(n)ovel.com