As soon as the next day ca, it seed as if nothing even happened. Zeke was back to his usual self but, nobody wanted to dig even further about what happened to him. Everyone stayed as they are and only focused on the task at hand. Naly, the eting held by Zeke in order to brief them about the plan. Naly raiding more fortresses before finally closing the portal in the Demon Continent.
"Our main concern is preventing Glade from returning to Mythos." He began, opening a holographic map showing the whole of Mythos and, zooming in on the demon continent. A pointer is placed on their current location and, on all other fortresses owned by the generals of the continent.
"We still have that many to fight?" Mordred said in a complaining voice.
"Calm down Rei. I'm sure that mister Zeke has everything sorted out already." Kaguya replied, using Mordred's nickna. Zeke nodded at her in agreent and proceeded to explaining more.
"Our goal isn't to fight all of these generals. The main goal is still to close all the portals which Glade could use. Everything else follows after that." Zeke snapped his fingers, lowering the number of fortresses present on the map.
"The problem is this, we can't simply close the portal itself. That's the tricky part about it. There are gems which keeps it active and, these are hidden on the fortresses of so generals." He said to the group, pointing to the ones left on the map.
"I've registered the mana type connected to the crystals. I've been able to do that since, I already have one in my possession." Zeke proceeded to taking out the crystal which glowed a bright violet color.
"Our target are all those areas. Before I continue, do you have any questions?" Zeke asked, seeing Amare's hand raised.
"So does that an we need to clear out all these areas first? Even with the numbers decreased, these are still a lot and, they don't look to be near each other." Amare said, already feeling her body complain about the amount of work she needs to put in.
"Well yes. That's the only option that we have. So of these are actually fakes but, the mana type is too similar to distinguish." Zeke said in reply. He knows that Glade's benefactor is the one responsible for this as, there is no way for a mortal to tamper that much with mana crystals.
"Does that an we need to use the sa technique on the other continents?" rlin proceeded to asking.
"Yes and No. You see, the crystal type is different for each continent. I've already done a study on these crystals so ti ago and, there is only a certain type of mana crystal which could activate within a continent." Zeke said, showing the other continents on the map and, revealing the number of fortresses that needs to be raided.
"Since we don't have a crystal to sue as a reference on the other continents, we can't narrow down the raids yet. For the mont, this is what we need to deal with."
"Isn't this a bit unreasonable?" Jake said in reply, viewing the thousands of fortresses present.
"I think 'a bit' is an understatent." Zeke said in reply.
"This mission in itself is close to impossible. It is both impractical and illogical. So, if you plan on chickening out now, I won't stop you." He continued. Zeke didn't mince his words; he wanted the group to know just how difficult the mission actually is.
"If this was a video ga, then you'd be noob players stuck on [Hell] difficulty. I'd be carrying your sorry asses through the stages but even that would prove to be difficult. Your precious deities knew of this and yet they still sent you as band-aid solution to this wound-rotting problem." Zeke furthered.
"What are you implying right now then?" Quinn said in reply, his ego getting hurt the more Zeke speaks.
"What I'm implying is that, you lot need to get stronger fast. Because that's the only way we can complete this mission. And for that to happen, you need to battle stronger enemies within shorter intervals. And this will be the start of that." Zeke showed them another part of the map, one which specifically has the word [Raid] on it.
"For now, this is the main goal. I need to see how well you'd fair all on your own. The area I marked is owned by one of the strongest generals wing this continent. By going there, we'd automatically wage a war against all the neighboring generals, making it a large-scale battle." The group got a bit worried by what Zeke said but, with their new equipnt and the gar backing them up, they are sure that it would be doable. But then, Zeke added sothing which drained their confidence completely.
"If you think that I'll be joining this battle, then you have another thing coming. I won't be helping you because, like I said, I need to assess your strength on situations as difficult as that." Zeke said to them. Soone from the group was about to say sothing but, Zeke sealed this part of the conversation saying:
"This isn't negotiable."
The group beca worried of course but, they knew that Zeke is right. They need to prove that they can handle the tough battles that are to co and, more importantly, win. Zeke then continued explaining the other details to the group.
"There's a bigger reason why I can't join the fight. I'll be maintaining a large [Cloud of Dreams] together with Heron. Through this, we'll be assured that most of the continent won't be alard." Zeke showed a zood-out version of the terrain, including all the neighboring fortresses.
"As you can see, on so parts, there is a large gap between one fortress and the next, those will be the endpoints of the skill. We'll be able to make an illusionary scenario, showing that the fortresses are still fine. We'll also silence the whole area, preventing any sound from coming out of the mist of mana. Any kind of ruckus will be contained until Heron and I disable the skill." Zeke furthered.
"How long can you maintain the skill?" Quinn asked.
"If the condition is that, we need to fight within a non-permanent skill effect, then that ans there is also a ti limit to the fight correct?" He continued.
"That's correct mister leader. You only have 3 hours to finish the task. Anything longer than that would cause permanent damage to both my body and Heron's." Zeke said in reply.
"What if we finish it in an hour and a half?" Quinn inquired, making all other elites widen their eyes in horror.
"What the actual f*ck are you saying?" Were the words written on Jake's eyes as he stared at Quinn. But their leader simply gave him a blank expression.
"Oh now that is a surprising question mister leader." Zeke said in reply.
"Okay, if you guys could accomplish that then I'll share sothing with you. One which the gods never told you about. Does that sound fair?" He continued, smiling at the leader who nodded in agreent.
After this little bargain, Zeke proceeded to telling them other parts of the mission. He continued by telling them about the letter he received and how it spelled trouble all over. The ssage itself was vague but, Zeke knows that the enemy has so sort of idea that a group is working against the governnt.
"Waitif they know that we're here then doesn't that an that the king will be coming back?" Mirio replied worried.
"Don't worry about that. You see, they can't report what happened to Glade."
"Why? Is there so kind of problem with their communication channels?" Curio asked.
"No. Of course not. Things work perfectly fine and I'm guessing that even on the portal, there are soldiers ready to deliver a ssage to the king. But, there's one fatal flaw that Glade wasn't able to overco."
"You see, the governnt he set up is one which he deed to be perfect. Mr. leader, you know what that ans right?" Zeke said, with Quinn actually having an answer prepared already.
"Yes, it ans that he will not tolerate any kind of failure. IF he himself was the one who knit the governnt together and, in such a long ti, then he'd expect nothing less but a flawless performance." Zeke gave the human three claps for the masterful response.
"That is exactly right. Glade's higher ups have been trained to do things properly. If it was made known to him that, nine of his generals died including thousands of soldiers, then what do you think would co next?"
"I'll tell you. Execution. Death will co to those whom he put into power in order to make them living examples of what cos with failure. Hence, these generals and officials he appointed will try their best to clear things out themselves and, not just this, they won't make this news public for fear that the other continents will catch wind of it reporting everything to Glade in order to gain the favor of the king." Zeke said.
"Damn, these are so ruthless bastards." Jake said, creeped out by the fact that everyone within the ranks of Glade's governnt are working for their own self-interest.
"But that doesn't an that we're safe. That's why we need to move as fast as we can because, if Glade sohow finds out through his own efforts, then I guarantee that all of you are done for." Zeke said in a grim voice.
"He wont even need a minute to eliminate all 20 of you and I can guarantee that." Everyone felt terror rush down their own skin. They knew that things would be more dangerous from this point on but, they aren't sure if they're prepared to actually face soone like Glade.
But even with all of this, the elites decided not to back down. In fact, Quinn asked Zeke a minute after all the details have been given saying: 'when do we start.' To which Zeke smirked to as he snapped his fingers and said:
"Now."
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