The blood that he drank from Alexander was quite delicious and reinvigorated his body. However, his mana reserves were still dry. He regretfully scanned the bloody battlefield and could only shake his head sorrowfully.
Since the first and second stage of his plan had succeeded, Musashi was no longer needed to die. Even if Musashi didn't die, the fox-kins hope for victory was inevitably rekindled. Unfortunately, however, Caesar by himself was, by no means, capable of saving him.
Noticing Caesar's strange look from the corner of his eyes, Musashi roared in laughter while a small stream of blood fell from his mouth, "don't be getting sentimental on me now, boy. The future of the clan rests in your hands. Don't let me down!" he roared, and Caesar tightened his fists in response.
Caesar ground his teeth angrily before turning around and speeding away. If he died, then the clan would become a headless chicken. As such, he needed to make sure he maintained his life, no matter the cost.
The trolls attempted to stop his retreat with their bow and arrows, however, Caesar, using his superior perception, dodged them with ease. He then blasted through the edge of the forest and soon caught up with the retreating fox-kin soldiers.
Their clothes are armor were covered in blood, and they carried expressions full of anger as they ran. All of them were unwilling just to leave their commander, and Musashi, alas, they still followed orders.
"PICK UP THE PACE!" Caesar roared from behind, his presence shocking the clan heads, and soldiers alike. A smile suddenly formed on their faces as they ran with even stronger might. Their destination was, of course, the troll stronghold.
Although Musashi was nowhere to be seen, the soldiers were relieved that Caesar made it out of the battlefield safely. They lost many friends and fellow warriors in the battle. However, the fact that they stood on even ground against the trolls aroused their fighting spirit.
Their previous orderly formation was in tatters as they rushed towards the direction of the troll stronghold. Like animals, they moved across the battlefield with their four limbs, some even throwing away their heavy armor.
Seeing this, Caesar smiled and picked up the pace himself. They needed to reach the troll stronghold and prepare for battle before the trolls arrived. This way, they could do a headcount and rest before entering into another fight.
Caesar and his army traveled across the entire forest until the sight of black smoke rising into the sky appeared in their vision. The smell of blood, urine, and battle entered into their noses as they finally approached the massive, iron gates.
The gates were currently raised, and troll bodies littered the ground, they seemed to have died in shock as their eyes were opened up wide. Seeing this, many of the fox-kin men smiled and stepped over the bloody mess.
Some of the bodies possessed crushed crotches, which caused the nearby men to shiver strangely and continue walking. This further solidified Caesar's statement, although women weren't as dangerous in war, they were undoubtedly scarier!
Caesar led his small army to the middle of the colossal troll-stronghold. They passed by the many houses and huts that were set aflame until they reached the grand palace that was currently surrounded by fox-kin women and men.
Akari, with her long raven black hair, stood at the top of the staircase. Blood was splattered on her face and clothes as she executed a troll commander with her katana-esque weapon. The rest of the fox-kin cheered in response to her execution, and they finally noticed Caesar and his group.
"L-Lord" Akari spoke first and kneeled on the ground, shock and confusion were evident in her voice. It was clear that she didn't expect his arrival until much later, if at all. Caesar forced a smile at her abnormal reaction and patted her on the shoulder.
"No need for formalities, brief me of the situation while we walk…" Caesar spoke softly and walked past her, to which she recollected herself and caught up with him, "the trolls were completely unsuspecting when we attacked… I used my elites to infiltrate the stronghold and pull the lever allowing our entire army to flood in and massacre the enemy," she said excitedly, fishing for praise.
"Good work, how many casualties?" Caesar asked after they walked through a large entrance and entered into a vast courtyard filled with fountains, grass, and marble. In the middle of the courtyard were many injured fox-kin being bandaged and treated by the others.
"Although we caught them by surprise, we still lost about one-fourth of our battalion, and another fourth has been injured," she replied sadly and looked towards the ground in shame. Even though they had more soldiers, and caught them off guard, she still let so many of her warriors die.
Caesar, who had expected such a result nodded his head while patting Akari on the head, "you did a good job, now go outside and help Ebisu direct our soldiers to defend the gates… I want you to also feed them and bandage our injured," Caesar ordered and quickened his pace, leaving Akari behind.
Once he left Akari's presence, he mindlessly turned a few corners until he entered into what he presumed to be the throne room. Many sturdy pillars, vases, and murals were present. In the middle of the room lay a throne made out of pure gold.
Caesar, however, was in no mood to appreciate the extravagant room, but instead, his previous composed expression was replaced by one full of anger. He gripped his fists tightly and smashed the beautiful vase to his right.
"DAMN IT!" he shouted and breathed heavily. He hated the fact that he wasn't strong enough to save neither Andrea nor Musashi. And now there was a chance of Zul'thar using them as a hostage, that is if Musashi didn't kill himself first.
Although they did a lot of damage and took over the troll stronghold, while also procuring a large number of supplies, their losses were considerable. At the rate it was going, even if they somehow won, there wouldn't be much of a clan left.
An intense rage overtook Caesar as he smashed a few more valuable items before finally getting ahold of himself and breathing deeply to calm himself. His contorted expression turned back to normal, and he left the palace chambers to find a group troll brats being led by Akari.
"Lord, we found these children in a training facility, should we let them go or perhaps, train them to be our own?" Akari asked hesitantly. She had just heard a domineering shout and many things cracking, so she was somewhat fearful of being in Caesar's presence at the moment.
Caesar glanced at the troll children who were glaring at him and gracefully straightened his collars while walking out of the door, "what would you do if you came across a goblin child?" Caesar asked as he made his way to the door.
"I would kill it, sir!" Akari replied without a hint of hesitation. Goblins were well known to be the natural enemies of all races.
"Then why are you asking me such stupid questions," Caesar asked and soon disappeared from Akari's sight, leaving her alone, dumbfounded. And the troll teenagers, who were currently chained up, shivered fearfully.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
After Caesar passed by Akari, he headed out of the over-sized palace to personally oversee the warriors. He assumed that they were still tired from the battle, and were currently mourning for their losses; however, they didn't have time to sit around and do nothing.
As such, Caesar stretched his limbs, walked down the fleet of stairs, and surveyed his surroundings. The nearby soldiers were spread out, either talking, being bandaged, or eating. A few women had set up a stand which served dried meat and some stew.
Two long lines of men were waiting for their turn to eat when Caesar walked by. They greeted him with a casual salute and then refocused on the food being served. It was clear that their hunger was currently much more important to them than showing respect at this given moment.
Perhaps a reasonable commander would be bitter about this fact. However, Caesar didn't mind such insignificant details and continued on his way to the outer walls. He treaded atop the many lifeless bodies and bloody ground until he finally reached a tall ladder.
The towering ladder led up the walls,
which surprised Caesar, who expected there to be stairs, similar to Rahvin kingdom. Caesar smiled wryly and climbed up the stairs for roughly 30 seconds until he reached the top.
He walked to the edge of the wall and peered down at the surroundings. It was covered in a dense, green forest full of life. No animals were in sight, and even the birds didn't dare fly in this area.
The thick smoke that rose into the air from the troll-kingdom had just about disappeared, and the signs of battle were much less apparent from outside. Seeing this, Caesar nodded his head while stroking his chin and walked along the edges until he reached a guard tower.
The sides of the guard-tower were quite weathered and had plenty of strange markings that looked similar to hieroglyphics. Caesar observed them for a few moments but couldn't decipher them in the slightest. Thus, he pushed open the thick, wooden door and walked inside.
Immediately, a dull and dusty smell assaulted his nose. The room wasn't very large and was full of books and pages everywhere. The floor was a mess, and empty plates and cups littered the ground while the desk was covered in scribbles.
Curious, Caesar tiptoed to the desk and sat down on the wooden chair. He grabbed a nearby box that was full of firesticks, also known as matches, and grabbed one. He scraped it against the part of the box and lit the half-used candle at the side.
A dim light soon illuminated the surroundings and barely made the words written on a few parchments of paper legible. Caesar used his slender index finger to trace the words as he deciphered the strange pattern that they were written in.
"Day 1: After delivering the gifts, the trolls have accepted our conditions."
"Day 4: The trolls have requested more elven women. I shall notify the church immediately to sate their desires."
"Day 9: Using our superior engineers and architects, we've increased the troll defenses exponentially… the chance of losing is zero, as long as we don't anger any of the stronger clans."
"Day 32: apparently the legendary nine-tailed-fox bloodline has been revived in the medium strength fox-kin clan, my personal mission has been altered."
"Day 92: …"
Caesar read the useless journal for a while before shifting his attention to a half-written letter located at the far-right corner of the table. An ink-pen still coated with ink was rested atop this paper.
Caesar examined the letter for a few moments before chuckling and altering the message a tad bit. He then rolled it up neatly and walked towards the messenger bird that was sitting in a cage at the corner of the room.
He opened the cage and attached the small scroll onto its neck, and then it proceeded to fly out of the window and fly somewhere. Seeing this, Caesar smiled slyly and glanced around the room one more time before his eyes landed on a silver sword attached to a wall.
Its sheath was a shade of dark blue, and its hilt was golden. Even from a distance, Caesar felt repulsed by the sheer holy energy radiating from it. He slowly walked towards the sword and wrapped his hand around the sheath, and in response, his skin slowly started to burn.
He placed the sword into his storage ring and then walked out of the guard's tower, he figured the weapon would be an excellent gift for Elizabeth, that is if he makes it out of the war alive. Caesar then hopped off the large walls and used his long fingernails to slow himself down as he fell.
Once he reached the ground, he headed back towards the palace and rounded up the soldiers that were now finished with their food. They huddled up in a circle with Caesar at their center. The expressions of the soldiers varied greatly.
Some possessed anticipation on their faces, while others contained fear, "My warriors, no, my people… we are few in numbers, and our past leader, Musashi, has presumably fallen to the enemies. Our lands have been taken, our food stolen, and our lives threatened" His words paused for a moment as he scanned the surroundings.
"We no longer have anywhere to run, the citizens are relying on our return, and the empress could be attacked at any moment we aren't there. We must prevail in this war, avenge Musashi, avenge our fallen brethren, and take back our home!" Caesar roared and lifted the spirits of the nearby fox-kin.
"Archers, get to the walls, and I want the heavy infantry at the gates. One battalion of swordsmen will stand behind the archers in case they scale the walls, but I want the rest behind the gates," Caesar ordered curtly before walking to a nearby building made out of stone.
It was blocked by a massive wooden gate that opened as Caesar pushed on it. Immediately, armor and weapons presented itself before the army, and even Caesar took out his armor he had used back at Rahvin kingdom from his storage ring.
"Armor up, we are no longer required to use guerilla warfare," Caesar spoke while adorning his black and red armor that possessed intertwining dragons on the breastplate. He knew that once the trolls realized the fox-kin stronghold was empty, they would rush back to their home.
In response, the fox-kin army rushed into the troll armory and geared up. An ominous wind suddenly coursed through the entire stronghold and fluttered Caesar's hair, revealing his facial expression in the process.
A bloodthirsty smile was plastered on his face as he walked to the front gates, his dark scythe resting on his shoulders, "Zul'thar, in my entire life, I have never failed to win in the end" he whispered as the wind passed.
***
Inside of a spacious tent, Renee was vast asleep, and ten shadows appeared on the outside of the tent wielding weapons. However, Joe, who was also asleep, woke up first. His muscles taut, and veins were running down his neck.
"ASSASSINS!" He roared and woke up the rest in the tent, even Renee. Immediately, the ten shadows attacked aiming for Renee, but Joe blocked them with a large ax.
"Don't underestimate me, you bastards, I fought on par with that monster, after all," he roared with saliva escaping from his mouth as he charged forward, Tiberius and Magni joining him. Their strength was not to be underestimated, and soon, a considerable scuffle was created during the night.
Renee, who was still shocked, turned around to see Charlie walking towards her, "A-are you alright?" he asked worriedly as he approached.
"Charlie? I thought you went to war with my husband?" she asked, the word 'husband' striking Charlie in the heart.
He smiled wryly, "No, I wanted to protect you… come with me," Charlie said while reaching his hand out. However, Seraph from behind Renee stood up and shielded her.
"This is a bad man!" he called out cutely, shocking Renee and all of those present.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Seraph's loud shout reverberated throughout the spacious tent and halted some of the battles. Joe looked over whilst in the middle of his fight and couldn't help scrutinize Charlie, who was someone he knew that Caesar detested.
The others, on the other hand, fully trusted Charlie, as he was the son of Faust, the most loyal, and hardworking clan head. He didn't even mind when Caesar took the clan leader position, making him quite respected throughout the clan. Naturally, Charlie, who rode on his father's coattails also garnered some respect.
As such, the battles once again continued, however, Joe clutched his axe even harder as he glanced between Charlie and his current opponent. His foe was a lanky man with a mask covering his face, presumably a skilled assassin. He wielded two daggers coated with poison and Joe had to be extremely careful to not get sliced.
Renee patted Seraph on the head and stood up from the bed while observing Charlie, who was her best friend. She trusted him; however, she knew that Caesar disliked him, and also didn't trust him. Thus, she couldn't help but look at him weirdly for a moment.
"After one of the larger battles, Caesar had caught sight of some cloaked assassins disengaging from the fight and heading in your direction, thus, he sent me to follow them and help you," Charlie explained with a small stream of sweat dripping from his back.
"Is that so?" Renee asked strangely as she walked a bit closer to Charlie, doubt reflecting in her eyes. She believed that Ch
arlie was the last person Caesar would send to help her, thus, she didn't quite believe Charlie's story.
And as expected, Charlie's hand, similar to a snake, grabbed her wrist once she got closer and pulled her back. This sight was caught by Joe who immediately tried rushing towards her, but got slashed in the back, instead.
Joe, unable to turn his back on his foe, and the others also fully attentive to their battle, were not capable of helping Renee, who was just grabbed by Charlie. His expression was cold as he threw her out of the tent where two other assassins awaited.
As he threw her, he couldn't help but glance at her expression. Surprise flashed through his eyes as he saw her completely angry look. Her violet hair seemed to fluctuate a tad bit and rise into the air, while her tails punctured her dress.
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