"During the attack, all of you will be there. I was thinking about two things." Reidar paused.

Reidar went on streamlining the plan. Basically, there would be a main force that would attack the enemy. That had to be manageable for the enemy forces so that they would send their troops, and Aaron would get out to take care of the pests.

The second was that Lena had to sneak inside and kill Judas, but only after Aaron left, and in his opinion, he would. Aaron turned arrogant after he got rid of the system. He felt too strong, superior to everyone else, and that would mean he would get out to kill the invaders.

At that point, it would be Jake's turn. He would need to take care of Aaron and prevent him from going back to Judas, as Lena and Seraphine took care of him.

At the same time, Reidar would attack Silas.

Lena stood, her movements still stiff, but she did nonetheless. "The plan has merit, but there's a problem. You're assuming you can handle Silas, but I beg to differ."

"I'll have my summons."

"Will they be enough?" Lena was blunt. "Aaron was able to hold off thousands of your creatures using just a single barrier based on what you said. Silas is presumably as strong or stronger. Moreover, Aaron might not leave to assist the War Hounds at all, which means you will need to fight both him and Silas, and they might ask for help. More troops might be there to protect the base; they surely will."

Silence fell again. "Then we need to make sure Reidar doesn't face Church reinforcements," Kara said. "If we reduce their number of troops as Reidar suggested before the attack, they will need to choose what to do."

"But what will their focus be—protecting the supply line or protecting the almost complete circle?"

"That's the problem," Reidar said. "We can't be sure about that."

"I don't know if we can do this," Seraphine said. "We grew since the valley; our core members are stronger now, but based on how many people they recruited, they will make up the level disparity in numbers."

"We can't even try to disrupt them internally since we can't trust whoever joined them, even if because of fear. The same fear that made them join might be the catalyst for a betrayal."

"There is an alternative," Reidar said. "We can lure the monsters to the War Hounds' base and force them to fight."

"Thousands of people will die," Seraphine said.

"And even more will if we don't do something." Reidar was dead serious when he said that.

Everyone paused.

"Can you safely lure the monsters to the War Hound base?" Reidar asked the others.

"I can," Helga said, "After you give me some juicy levels, and if Lena comes with me, of course. She understands monsters like no other."

"I don't like this," Seraphine said. Reidar gave her an icy look, one that made even Matthias shiver. "You were the one asking me to come here to help you."

"Yes, but…"

"There is no but. The church must be stopped. The circle must be destroyed. We need to look at the bigger picture."

Seraphine looked down. It was weird for everyone in her group to see her subservient, but there was no contesting Reidar. If he took a decision, then they had to swallow their pride and accept it.

At that point, Lena intervened. "Let's try to do this with the first idea, not the second, shall we?"

Seraphine threw an appreciative glance at her.

"Fine… But it will be more dangerous."

"Do you all agree?"

Everyone's face was filled with tension as Reidar's gaze swept over each face. One by one, they nodded—Helga with a grin, Matthias with resolve, Seraphine with a flicker of unease, Kara with measured confidence, and Aldric with a warrior's readiness. Even John gave a deliberate tilt of his head despite knowing what was going on in his boss' mind.

However, Reidar was uneasy. The plan was sound, but the variables were infinite. He had seen Aaron in action, and everything hinged on his ability to level up everyone.

Helga grinned and said, "I like it. It's simple, brutal, and involves violence."

Aldric sighed.

Seraphine stood. "Kara will lead my people then; they will need a leader during the assault."

"Me?"

"Why not?" He said. "You did fairly well during the raid."

"Y-yes, but…"

"It's fine," Seraphine said. She sighed.

"Reidar is the smartest here out of everyone, and he knows the enemy better than anyone. I will trust his judgment."

She turned to him. "I'll be with Lena. She hasn't recuperated yet, so I guess you want me to keep her safe."

"Oh, how sweet of you," Helga grinned.

Reidar openly rolled his eyes. Helga hefted her warhammer. "Finally, a proper fight. It's been too long since we crushed some skulls. I'm hitching for a fight."

"Let's keep the kill count among those who joined the War Hounds by force at zero, is that alright?" Aldric said, and everyone nodded.

"Then let's get to work," Reidar nodded. "We don't have time to waste."

"We move tomorrow," Reidar said. "We have ten days to power-level our forces and organize the assault. The main roles will be those I outlined earlier."

The meeting broke. The various leaders dispersed to organize their people and purchase skills, preparing for the coming battle. Reidar remained at the table, staring at the maps of Creamont.

He had Three weeks to stop this. A week to build a core group. Some more days to increase the rest of their people's levels. That won't do much; three days was not enough to make everyone level up enough. But at least Reidar would get a core group of fighters that would take care of the rest.

<And maybe they will be able to level the others up nicely.>

The war room emptied. Reidar stood alone with his thoughts, bearing the weight of what had to be done.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.