The Themisphere army stopped a distance away from Mount Sedgebare. The soldiers could see the tattered condition of the mountain even from a distance. One-half of its peak was gone. They could only imagine the fierce battle that had happened there before they arrived. A battle that had not yet ended.

The large sea of soldiers that was the Liguritudum army was seen at the base of the mountain, waiting for them to come.

There was a small mountain nearby, John climbed that mountain and used it as his command base. The place gave him a good view. He preferred that he could see the entire battlefield instead of just looking at the situation from the projection map.𝐧𝗈𝚟𝐄𝐿𝓷𝑒xt.𝐜𝗈𝓂

Before he went up the mountain, he had divided the Themisphere army into three smaller armies, each numbered 500,000.

The left-wing army was led by Meryl. Duchess Isabelle, Robin, and Polom were with her. Robin and Polom were the officers who used to follow Crown Prince Therribus.

The right wing had Arther leading it. He was accompanied by Claudius, Ahab, and Uvira.

Jack commanded the center army. He had Armstrong, Salem, and Bailey by his side.

Kramer, who had joined the Themisphere army, and Ana, the mythical recruit from two months ago, were with the center army. They served under Salem’s unit. Stewart, the newest mythical recruit, was not yet at a sufficient level to join a military campaign. Jack took these two so they could have their first experience in a war.

With the help of the multiple boosts on training speed, the two gained leveling speed that almost rivaled the players. Kramer only increased by one level since it hadn’t been that long since he arrived in Themisphere. He was now level 54. He had also consumed a Pill of Growth from Jeanny and was now a rare elite. As for Ana, she reached level 52 recently.

“How should we approach them?” Jack asked John. He was up here with John on the small mountain while Armstrong took temporary command of the center army down there.

A battalion of elite soldiers was up here with them to protect John and the war table. Half of these elite soldiers were those who had wing tools or fly spells, in case the enemy sent flying units here.

Tip and six other guild representatives were also up here. These guilds were Themisphere guilds which had headquarters. They were the Dogs of War, Corporate United, White Scarfs, Black Cloak, Crowd of Sins, and Offline Beasts.

Offline Beasts was the guild Jeanny helped to get a headquarters when Themonium upgraded to a metropolis. After the battle to defend Wicked Witches’ headquarters at Aurebor, Jeanny developed a good relationship with this guild. Hence, she invited them to move to Themisphere and develop their guild there.

These guild representatives were ready to use their Guild Army Summoning Crystal upon John’s command.

“It’s not good for us,” John said. “We are the ones who have to go to them while they already set up their formations to deal with us. They also have more troops than us…”

“And…,” Jack asked when John didn’t continue.

“I’ve said before, I can beat my mother in field battle considering if we have an even number of troops. For this battle, we don’t. They have more numbers.”

“So…,” Jack asked again when John paused.

“So our first order of business is to take her out to even the playing field. Without her commanding the army, I will have a better time maneuvering our army.”

“You did that before, right? You can do it again,” Jack encouraged.

“I don’t need your pep talk. The situation this time is different. Last time, she was out in the open and she didn’t know about our hang gliders. This time, I’m pretty sure she is cooped up inside that mountain. It won’t be easy getting to her.”

“Hm… You said it won’t be easy. So, it’s not impossible?” Jack asked.

John smiled. “You told me before that you have a disaster item with you, didn’t you?”

“Oh?” Jack looked inside his inventory. The Gate of the Underworld was still there inside his storage bag. He had forgotten he still had this thing.

“Do you want to use this?” Jack asked. He took the disaster item out. “This thing will not only attack the enemy but us as well.”

“Store it. You are the one who is going to use it,” John replied.

“I am?”

John grinned upon the question. He told Jack what Jack needed to do.

*

Not long after, the three divisions of the Themisphere army started advancing. They moved slowly while shifting slightly to the left, where the east gate of Balgadur was located. This side also had the least concentration of the enemy.

The Liguritudum army stood their ground and waited for them to arrive. They had already transported all their siege weapons into the capital to deal with the diamond gate, so they didn’t have any with them. They were waiting for the Themisphere army to come into the range of their long-range soldiers.

Themisphere army, however, brought some siege units. Only one type, though. It was a siege unit that had been upgraded from the research of military techs. The unit was Wind Ballista. The upgrade increased the siege unit’s movement speed. This movement speed upgrade was also the reason these siege weapons were brought. The other siege weapons were too slow.

The upgrade not only increased the movement speed. It also gave the ballista additional wind damage and strong piercing power. The bolts it shot ignored 50% of defensive stats.

They brought twelve of these ballistae, which were half of what Themisphere had. These ballistae initiated the first strike considering they were the longest-range units on the battlefield.

The Liguritudum army advanced then. They couldn’t just let the enemy shoot at them freely without retaliation.

Themisphere’s central and left-wing armies advanced to engage them. The right-wing army pulled to the side and formed a long line of defensive formation as the bulk of the Liguritudum army came from the side.

“I don’t remember teaching you to be so gullible,” John received a message. It was from Linda.

After the Hydrurond war, there were several instances where John went out of Themisphere to join some guild quests. During one of these times, he received a friend request from Linda. His mother must have been somewhere nearby to be able to send this request. He accepted the request and sent his members to search her out, but they couldn’t find her. She must have left once she sent the friend request.

“Why do you say so?” John replied to Linda’s message.

“You should know I purposefully leave the army on the east side thin for a reason, and yet you still go for it.”

As the message ended, an army came out of hiding from behind the rubbles around Balgadur’s east gate. These rubbles were pieces of the mountain that fell when the mountain was bombarded by Liguritudum’s siege weapons.

This hidden army now charged to Themisphere left-wing army’s flank.

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