Second World

"We will proceed as planned," John replied. "Our army had gathered. We are about to march, but something unexpected happened in Hydrurond yesterday."

"Define unexpected," Jack said.

"Master used a despicable method to increase his manpower," Paytowin said.

"How?" Jack asked.

"By killing the population of draconian natives," John answered.

"What…?!"

"Well, he didn't exactly kill everyone. Just the natives with levels. After killing them, he revived them to become his zombie army. I must say his idea was both brilliant and ruthless. I will not be surprised if it was my mom who proposed this."

"Brilliant? That is genocide. This is madness, but no way the draconian public just let this go unchecked," Jack said.

"Master moves fast. He went from one settlement to the next for the entire yesterday. He managed to reap the population out of five metropolises and three cities before the other settlements caught wind about what had happened."

"This should cause the Hydrurond army they had recruited to rebel, shouldn't it?" Jack asked.

"The natives that can rebel within the Hyrdurond army are just the ones with high enough ranks. The foot soldiers are similar to our guild soldiers, they can't defy the order from the one sitting on the throne. Their morale will be affected, though. Once their morale is low enough, the world system' hold on them will wane and they can desert their post."

"Master was prepared," Tip said. "He sent most of Hydrurond's resources to Liguritudum to build his army using the ethereal race. The little draconian army that was recruited has been sent into the Jagara region to hinder Sangrod's army which had started marching yesterday. They wanted to just sacrifice those draconian soldiers."

"That is despicable!" Jack cursed.

"Master saw these natives no more than computer codes, NPCs. I bet he didn't care even if he wiped them out," Paytowin remarked.

"Anyway, the high-rank officers did rebel. Most had abandoned their post and moved to the settlements that had not been touched by Master, preparing to help the citizens to resist Master's onslaught. But without a real army, they would still just be victims for Master to reap. The smart ones chose to run out of the country, but the draconians are a proud race. Most chose to stay and die, unaware they would just strengthen Master's zombie army."

"He attacked more settlements?" Jack asked.

"He never stopped," John answered. "He went at it all night and continued to today, even now as we speak. From the last intel earlier this afternoon, he had invaded a total of two metropolises, four cities, three towns, and a bunch of villages aside from the eight settlements yesterday. The difference was that Master didn't touch the commoners in the first eight settlements. It was not so now that those settlements fought back. Many commoners were slaughtered in the process, but those level 1 commoners couldn't be revived by the Necronomicon. Not that they mattered even if they could."

"I heard that the villages his army attacked had now turned into ruins," Tip said. "They were no longer considered a settlement because they had no population."

Jack gritted his teeth. "Damn that madman!! He has gone too far this time…!"

"From the look of it, he has given up on Hydrurond," John said. "That country is now just a zombie factory for him."

"Does Aldryth know? I don't think she will take this news well," Jack asked.

"She didn't. As a matter of fact, she had rushed to Hydurond with her small army once she caught wind of the news, which was around five hours ago," John answered.

"What? She will be massacred if she marches with only her force," Jack uttered.

John shrugged. "You know how these draconians are. I don't think she will listen even if you talk to her. She was supposed to wait for my signal before marching so that we could synchronize with the others. I must applaud my mother. She truly messes up my beautiful plan. Now, I've to adjust my strategy with consideration that our Hydrurond ally is out of the picture."

"Screw that! We have to help her!!" Jack exclaimed.

"Sigh… To be honest with you. I was both happy and depressed when I received your message not long ago. Happy because our strongest player is back in the picture after missing for a few days. Depressed because I know how you will react when you hear this. All right, if you truly want to help Aldryth, take the army in Palgrost. They are ready to enter the Daflue region to cross into Hydrurond following our original plan. I have another plan for the army in Themisphere."

"I will trust your plan, but please don't consider abandoning Hydrurond," Jack said to John.

"You can count on me," John replied.

Jack couldn't tell if John was being sincere or not. He decided to just believe in his friend.

"Will you depart immediately? I suggest doing it tomorrow," John said. "I believe you will have to rush to Hydrurond if you want to catch up with Aldryth. This means you won't be building any supply depot. I know Aldryth won't. I will have to arrange for our army in Palgrost to secure more supplies from Palgrost before heading out. This will take one day. In the meantime, I will also task a small division to build supply depots from Themisphere into Hydrurond. I just have to ensure our army from Palgrost has enough supplies until this division reaches Hydrurond. You won't be getting any from Hydrurond settlements under the current situation."

Jack nodded. "Please arrange that."

"I also need you to go to the throneroom to use your ruling powers. I got a few research need hastening."

"I will go there tomorrow morning," Jack said. It was near nighttime by now. He was also exhausted after that battle against Evil Janus and Tiemezzys. He needed to rest. He supposed it would be another long day tomorrow.

"Jack…!" Jack heard Grace's voice. He turned and saw the lady running into the room. Jack felt a hug before he could reply.

"Maybe we should leave?" Paytowin asked.

"Hell, no! I'm busy here. Tell them to go find a room somewhere else!" John returned.