Link changed out of his training shirt and into a more comfortable Magician's robe. As for the Storm Lord's sword… Well, Link had grown fond of it and decided to keep it by his side.
Five minutes later, Link was ready and followed the officer to the stronghold center.
When he reached the hall, he found that everyone had gathered, including the religious leader.
The religious leader was named Yinnos, and he was a 50-year-old man with gentle looking eyes and brows. He was slightly bigger around the waist, a sign of prosperity.
In Firuman, the church did not interfere with affairs of politics and war. If not for the appearance of the Dark Serpent, he would not have come to this war meeting.
When he saw Link, he gave Link a slight smile before closing his eyes, sitting peacefully in his chair.
Duke Abel and his officers were dressed in full military attire. Duke Abel himself was only a Level-5 Warrior, but with his commander's uniform, he looked very imposing.
He asked Link, "Sir Link, what is the progress with the magic formation?"
"They've had enough practice. As long as no one interferes, there shouldn't be any problem with the formation," Link assured him.
"Excellent!" Duke Abel said, punching his fist in excitement. Then, he said, "The Dawn Swordsman will lead 3,000 Silver-white Shield Warriors to surround the formation and defend it from enemies."
Kanorse was in the hall. However, despite his individual fighting prowess, he was born as a commoner and did not hold a major position in the army. He did not have much say in this command structure. He stood to the side of the hall.
Listening to the Duke's commands, he bowed to Link, looking extremely self-confident. The Silver-white Shield Warriors were the strongest in the kingdom and were all over Level-4. The commanders were at least Level-5. With over 3,000 of them, Kanorse had the confidence to defend against any enemies.
Yinnos spoke, "The leaders of the church will operate the Sacred Light Wall to protect the magic formation as well."
"That will be fine," Link expressed his gratitude.
Following this, the rest of the commanders began discussing their plan of attack.
All of this was about war strategy which Link was not well-versed in. Link stood silently by the side, observing and paying close attention to the details. He had to make sure he knew what was going on throughout the battlefield.
There was a magic sandbox in the middle of the hall that displayed a battle simulation. An area of about 50 miles around Orida Fortress could be seen.
The group of officers huddled around this sandbox to discuss the strategy.
After listening for a while, Link got an idea of the overall deployment of troops. On the iron-wall defense line, there were the First, Second, and Third Armies of the Norton Kingdom.
The First Army was the strongest, with 70,000 Warriors gathered in Orida Fortress.
Within the fortress was also 3,000 Dwarf Warriors, 2,000 Musketeers. The Yabbas had brought along one team of airships, consisting of three main attack ships and ten smaller defense ships. They also brought 100 magic cannons with them and had them set up along the city wall in a standby position.
The last force were the High Elves. Although they were the smallest in number, every single one of them was Level-6 Magicians or higher. They were also the main force forming up the Soul Slalom formation, so the army could not do without them.
As for their opponents, the dark elves, it was reported that they were over 10,000 strong. Furthermore, they were all very strong, and at least ten percent of them were high-level demons.
What's worse was that they still had yet to discover the location of the demon army. No one dared to take the demon army lightly.
They had no other information on the Dark Elves, as they had the Black Forest completely locked down.
At the end of the discussion, Duke Abel sighed and said, "We've no other choice, we have to build our defenses around this fortress. Although we humans have the numerical advantage, we do not have enough strong Warriors. If we bring the fight to the demons and encounter them in the wild, we won't stand a chance."
Everyone was silent.
Link had brought back news that there were many high-leveled demons amongst the demon army. Many of them were at least Level-7 and Level-8 demons. An army of that strength would make anyone think twice before fighting against them.
With regards to this, Link also felt helpless. He knew that even with the advantage of high ground from Orida Fortress, this battle would still be a bloody one.
In the Black Forest
There was a new patch of clearing in the forest, within which was a Dark Army Camp. Similarly, they were discussing their attack strategy.
For this battle, the Dark Elves were also deploying all their strongest experts. All the members of the Silver Moon council were here, including council leader Romand.
Romand was the only Level-8 Magician amongst the Dark Elves. However, his strength was so close to Level-9 that he was almost on the verge of breaking through. Among the Dark Elves, his fame and power were extremely high.
However, he was only interested in magic and did not care about politics. The one who was really running things was Aymons.
Naturally, the commander of the Dark Army was Aymons, wielder of the Divine Gear.
There was also a special person in the clearing. She looked like a human girl, standing at about 4.5 foot tall. She wore a simple black cotton war gown.
She had long black hair that extended to her waist and looked as silky as water. Her skin was fair as snow, and her features were very pronounced. Her lips were red, her teeth were brilliantly white, and her eyes were particularly beautiful.
This gentle looking girl stood in the forest clearing surrounded by Dark Elves that looked like vampires and vicious looking demons. She looked like a young lamb that found itself surrounded by wolves.
Strangely, everyone treated her with respect, and this was especially so for the demons. There were even a few that kneeled before her, licking her feet.
This was because she was the daughter of the Lord of the Abyss, Nozama, sent by him to command the demon army.
At this time, Aymons was sharing the attack strategy to attack Orida Fortress in the south. As he was in the middle of his talk, the girl interrupted him, "Sir Aymons, Link has been at Orida Fortress for at least half a month by now. You might not think that he has found a way to oppose the Divine Gear, but I disagree."
"What do you mean, Your Highness?"
"I believe that your worst-case scenario should consider the possibility that Link has a way to oppose the power of the Divine Gear. We need to come up with a contingency for the event in which the Divine Gear is no longer effective," the young girl said. Her voice was sharp, just like the yellowbirds in the south Girvent Forest.
Lawndale agreed with her. He said in a low voice, "Teacher, perhaps we ought to prepare for that possibility too."
Aymons pondered over it for a moment before nodding. "Your Highness, do you have any suggestions?"
"Me? Nope, I'll just be watching from the back later on. Romand, aren't you the chair of the Silver Moon council? I don't see you saying anything. Aren't you going to come up with some spell to counter Link?"
Romand coughed lightly and said, "Well, I do have some spells prepared. We have re-discovered a lost spell known as the Moon of Annihilation. This spell requires 50 Level-5 Magicians to work together, and it can unleash power equivalent to a Level-11 Legendary spell. I believe that even if the opponent wants to render the Divine Gear ineffective, they would have to rely on a magic spell formation. This spell can destroy the spell formation that the enemy creates."
"That's not bad. At least you haven't been a waste of space," The black-haired girl smiled as she clapped her hands. Then, she said, "Well, I don't have any more ideas. Please do continue, I'll just watch on from the side."
Aymons continued the discussion.
After listening for a while, the black-haired girl got bored. She yawned and said to a black shadow beside her, "Noya, how's your coordination with the Dark Elf Assassins?"
This black shadow was naturally very respectful towards the girl. He saluted before saying, "Your Highness, it's pathetic. The Dark Elves are too weak, none of them are higher than Level-7. If we were supposed to infiltrate the fortress to take Link out, they would not even serve as cannon fodder. They would only alert the enemy and make my job difficult."
"Wouldn't you have to go on your own then?" The black-haired girl opened her mouth in shock, seemingly worried.
"Your Highness, don't worry. An assassin is strongest when he is alone. I'm fine on my own. Once the battle starts, Link won't last more than half an hour," Noya said.
"Ha, you're that confident." The black girl nodded her head. "But don't underestimate him. He just killed Misamier. Here, take this, my father wanted me to give it to you."
The girl handed a skull-shaped ring to Noya.
Noya looked at it and then immediately fell to the grounds. His voice trembled as he said, "Your Highness, this is too precious, I… I…"
"What?! Quickly take it. My father wanted me to give this to you. You're only allowed to succeed, not allowed to fail. If you do, you know what will happen."
Noya received the ring with two hands and said, "If I had this Oath Ring and still failed, I wouldn't have the face to meet the lord anymore."
If Link saw this ring, he would immediately be shocked. In the game, this was the description of the ring.
Oath Ring
Level: Legendary
Effect 1: After equipping this ring, the user will exist in a different dimension. Except for the moment when attacking, the user will not be affected by any other attacks.
Effect 2: User can create two illusory clones which can switch positions with the user at any time.
(Note: Any assassin that possesses this will become the greatest nightmare of the living.)
This ring was almost a Legendary item for Assassins. How could Noya not be moved?
He slowly put on the ring and felt a thin membrane form around his body. His body turned half illusory and half real, as though he were a floating cloud of gas.
Meanwhile, Aymons and the rest had completed their discussion. They determined that the time of attack would be late at night on the next day.
Aymons declared loudly, "Everyone, please remember that we are not fighting alone. On the southern edge of the Norton Kingdom are our allied forces. I just received news that the Kingdom of Delonga have started their attack on the Girvent Forest. The news will reach the humans in the Orida Fortress soon. I'm sure the news will throw them into chaos. So for the upcoming battle, we SHALL be victorious."