Aigen had also heard the rumors.
That an outrageous fellow had joined the forces of Greed.
“I hear he’s nearly as strong as us. Why would soone like that not create their own faction and instead join an existing one so pathetically?”
Aigen wasn’t a fool.
He didn’t believe that soone with such abilities would simply join under soone else because they didn’t want their own faction.
It must be that they found it troubleso to deal with the checks and balances of existing factions when creating their own, so they decided to absorb an already established faction.
“Knowing Suk’s personality, he probably accepted him despite knowing this.”
If that’s the case, then that guy must have a good grasp of the situation in the Barren Ravine and be quite clever.
He accurately pinpointed a target that would accept him even while knowing he was after their position.
If it had been Rumo or Aigen, they would never have accepted soone if there was a possibility of losing their faction to them.
“An alliance, huh.”
Anyway, with the addition of a powerful being to the forces of Greed, the balance of power was as good as broken.
Even though people say that if left alone, the forces of Greed would eventually devour each other from within, if we just wait idly, tal and Gloom might be devoured first.
The alliance proposal from the forces of Gloom was very reasonable.
“I don’t like either of them, but I suppose a 1000-year-old hag is better than a filthy greedy bastard who wants to have everything for himself.”
He also thought it was sowhat better that the subject was Rumo rather than Suk.
At least Rumo, unlike the greedy Suk, wouldn’t covet Aigen’s possessions while they were in an alliance.
“Alright, go and tell them. Say we accept the alliance.”
Aigen made his decision and relayed it to the ssenger.
The ssenger bowed his head with a grateful expression.
“Ah, understood! Thank you!”
There might have been joy at the alliance being ford, but the relief of not being killed and surviving seed even greater.
Watching the ssenger from the forces of Gloom disappear hurriedly, as if afraid Aigen might change his mind, Aigen thought to himself.
‘An alliance. Not bad. Of course, I’ll have to think about what cos after.’
The ultimate goal of the alliance was to bring down the forces of Greed.
And of course, he had to think about what would co after that.
After all, Aigen had no intention of dividing the Barren Ravine with Rumo.
Making the Barren Ravine a territory they rule, just like the Five Great Forces.
That was the goal of the faction leaders who led their forces.
‘For now, we need to make the forces of Gloom take the lead in the actual battle. Well, that 1000-year-old hag is probably thinking the sa thing.’
He needs to tread carefully.
If they focus too much on preserving their forces and end up losing to the forces of Greed, that would be nonsensical.
‘Or conversely, we could commit our forces fully, achieve many rits, and then gain more benefits when dividing the land and control over the spirits that the forces of Greed ruled.’ ṝἁɴＯ₿È𝘚
A thod of taking more spoils after victory rather than preserving forces.
This isn’t bad either.
After all, even if they preserve their forces well, they’ll need ti to reorganize after the battle with the forces of Greed.
If they can recover their forces to so extent while effectively uniting the spirits under their control that they’ve gained more of, and use them as fighting power?
‘Not bad. Let’s go with this thod. We need to win against Suk anyway.’
If the forces of tal take an active stance, the forces of Gloom won’t be able to just focus on preserving their power either.
After all, they are allies in na.
“Kuhuhut. The day I rule this canyon is not far off.”
And then, after unifying the forces of the Barren Ravine, they’ll attack the territories of the land.
It’s about properly getting revenge on those who dared to drive him out.
As his true goal ca into view, Aigen’s eyes glead.
“They’ll probably push aggressively. They’ll try to establish rits to gain more control than us.”
Rumo, the leader of the forces of Gloom, saw through Aigen’s thoughts to so extent.
Although he could choose to preserve his forces, given Aigen’s ambitious nature, it was entirely predictable that he would opt for an aggressive approach to secure more spoils after the war.
“Then perhaps we should do the opposite and use that to conserve our forces.”
One of the subordinates offered a reasonable opinion.
If they are actively committing their forces, there’s no need for us to do the sa.
It would be better to conserve our strength for the future.
But Rumo shook her head.
“No, the forces of Greed are not weak enough for us to consider conserving our strength. Even though two forces have joined together, with that new spirit of fear among them, we too must commit our forces fully.”
Rumo focused on eliminating the imdiate threat of the forces of Greed rather than future considerations.
‘That spirit of fear is more dangerous than the likes of Aigen. After all, he’s a vessel for the Spirit King.’
More dangerous than dividing and fighting over the canyon with Aigen later is giving ti for the vessel of the Spirit King to grow stronger.
Before giving them that ti, we must end this war quickly and eliminate them.
If not, this canyon will fall into the hands of the Spirit King’s vessel.
‘Now, if only we could get a good opportunity.’
The alliance was in place.
Now, what they needed was a catalyst.
A reason to attack the forces of Greed.
Given the nature of these factions, similar to back-alley brothel gangs, they didn’t really need a justification.
They could just attack if they wanted to.
Until now, they had refrained from attacking a single faction out of fear that the other factions might take advantage of the situation.
Now that they had ford an alliance, they could attack at any ti without issue.
However, if an appropriate incident could occur to provide a catalyst, that would be perfect.
That’s what she thought.
For example, if discord arose between Suk and the newly arrived spirit of fear, causing internal strife.
Or if suddenly soone from the outside invaded and attacked them.
‘Well, the chances of that are extrely low, but…’
For now, her thinking was that they would have to take a direct approach through analyzing the allied forces.
But then.
“Lady Rumo! We, we have a big problem!”
“What? What’s the matter?”
One of the subordinates in charge of intelligence rushed into the conference room.
It seed that so major incident had occurred.
Rumo’s brow furrowed at the thought of sothing happening at this crucial ti.
But her expression quickly changed to that of a hunter who had spotted an opportunity.
“Ge-General Bester has co down from the Territory of Fire! Not to war with the wind spirits… but they’re heading north, according to the news!”
“What? Why are the fire spirits doing this?”
Suk, the leader of the forces of Greed, frowned at his subordinate’s report.
The sudden news that the fire spirits were advancing towards the northern part of the Barren Ravine.
Judging by the atmosphere and military strength, it seems their intentions are far from benign.
“What are these crazy fire bastards thinking all of a sudden?”
Originally, be it wind spirits or fire spirits.
There have always been movents to wage war in the Barren Ravine or to secretly contact these factions to form sothing resembling an alliance.
But they never attacked the Barren Ravine first.
Because the mont they attack the factions of the Barren Ravine, they would turn all of them into enemies.
When such a massive entity as the 5 Great Powers suddenly intervenes in a land where they’re squabbling among themselves, how could the others possibly remain idle?
So until now, not touching the factions of the Barren Ravine had been a kind of unspoken rule.
But now, the fire spirits were trying to break that.
“What about the Wind Territory? How are they reacting?”
“After confirming it’s not directed at them, they’re just reinforcing the defenses at their territory’s borders.”
“…So they’re not going to care about it?”
No, it’s not that they don’t care.
How could they not care when the fire spirits are trying to expand their territory to share a border with them?
They’re probably just deciding to watch the situation for now.
Because….
“The situation in the Barren Ravine is quite chaotic.”
The forces of Greed, suddenly strengthened by the addition of Athos, the spirit of fear.
And the forces of Gloom and tal, who ford an alliance to keep them in check.
And now the sudden advance of the fire spirits.
Moreover, their target is the northern forces of Greed.
Normally in this situation, all three factions should join forces to drive out the fire faction, with the wind spirits subtly helping them, but.
Right now, the forces of Gloom and tal have ford an alliance with the goal of bringing down the forces of Greed.
Then this attack is an opportunity for them.
An opportunity to strike from behind and completely destroy them while they’re distracted by the fire spirits.
The wind spirits probably know this too, which is why they’re just watching.
If they intervene unnecessarily and the situation becos even more twisted, it could harm them as well.
“Damn it all!!”
Suk cursed at the situation that was tangled beyond asure.
‘I expected the alliance. But the fire spirits… what wind suddenly blew their way?’
How to sort out this chaotic situation.
His head started to ache.
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