Chapter 105

"Everyone, the one-month rest period has ended."

The voice from the throne echoed once more, steady yet sharp as a blade before being drawn, reverberating through the now-solemn council chamber.

"Most of the wounded have returned to their units or been settled, and the vacancies in each legion have been filled. Now—"

He paused slightly, his gaze sweeping over every face on both sides of the long table as if it were a physical presence.

"It is time to point our sword tips toward a new battlefield. Morax, you shall command the Dragon Beast Legion, head to the front lines of Abyssal Plane 1872, and rendezvous with the main force of the coalition. Iroge and Vikes will serve as your deputies."

He turned toward the two newly promoted legends.

"Shalute, Gisk. You shall each lead three reorganized legions; there is no need to follow the main force. Your mission is to penetrate the traffic nodes, mountain passes, and strategic hubs on the flanks of that plane. Establish fortresses there, hold the passages, and become the wedge for our future roots."

Finally, his gaze fell upon the Thorn Deer and the Drow Elf.

"Velanse, Verna. You will accompany me. We are heading to Abyssal Plane 64; the fighting there is intense, and we need to go and show our stance."

After the orders were issued, he leaned back slightly, allowing for a brief silence.

"Are there any objections to this deployment?"

"I, Gisk, have an objection!"

The Gnoll Ranger's voice was rough and abrupt, cutting through the silence of the hall. He stood up, his armor clattering, his yellow-orange pupils staring straight at the throne without flinching.

"Grand Duke, your arrangement this time is not quite what you promised initially." He grinned, revealing sharp, bone-white fangs, his tone as hard as a forging hammer striking an anvil.

"My value must be earned on the battlefield where blades draw blood and arrows chase souls! Hiding behind the front lines, dealing with mud and rocks, and repairing those turtle-shell castles? That is work for engineers and scribes."

He pressed one hand against the inscribed dagger at his waist, while spreading the other, as if displaying his empty yet slaughter-laden hands.

"Locking a hunter like me into fortifications is the greatest waste of a blade."

"Grand Duke."

Shalute's voice rose, not loud, but carrying the solid weight of a great axe. He did not stand up, merely casting his gaze steadily toward the throne, one hand still resting on the long handle of the battle axe leaning against his chair.

"As the commander of this battle, there are some things I must ask you here." His tone lacked the outward sharpness of Gisk, but contained a deeper pressure. "Our army suffered heavy casualties in this campaign, with countless soldiers spilling their blood beneath the walls of Agrik. The living are waiting for rewards; the dead, their families are waiting for pensions."

He paused slightly, letting every word sink into the silent air.

"The meritorious rewards you promised before the battle, and the pensions for the fallen soldiers... where are they now?" His question was direct and specific, his gaze heavy. "This is a commander's promise to the soldiers and the foundation of military morale. I need a definitive answer to account for the entire army."

"The questions of you two can essentially be answered together."

The voice from the throne sounded steadily, gathering two seemingly different questions under the same strategic vision.

"The primary goal of this march into the Abyssal plane is not to engage in direct combat with any force. What we might encounter are merely security battles to clear out remaining demons; for such simple tasks, the Harpy aerial patrol squads and the Centaur rapid scout brigades are more than capable."

He shifted the focus of his words to the core.

"Our true and only critical mission is to establish fortresses that cannot be easily uprooted at every traffic node, terrain pass, and strategic hub.

I do not care how many scattered settlements or demon nests are on the wasteland; as long as these key nodes are in our hands, the entire region is, in a substantive sense, truly controlled by us."

His gaze swept past Gisk and finally landed on Shalute.

"What we must do is not plunder, but take root. We must establish a new order and a new home on that purified scorched earth. As for the rewards and pensions you are concerned about."

He raised his voice slightly, as if announcing a basic national policy.

"They will be redeemed directly through the arable land, mining rights, and trade charters of that new territory. The families of the fallen will receive mansions and pension fields in the new city-states.

The gold coins earned by the soldiers under your command who crave land will be the fertile river valleys, sturdy fortresses, and prosperous markets there—provided, of course, that these are guaranteed by solid city defenses."

"Ha—?!"

The Red Dragon Iroge puffed two sulfurous smoke plumes containing sparks from his nostrils; his massive body shifted in his seat, his tail scales scraping against the stone floor, making a harsh sound.

"Sakavi, the way you say this, why does it sound like you are starting to renege?" His molten-gold slit pupils narrowed dangerously, his voice rumbling.

"You might be able to fool those Ogres with muscles for brains with pie-in-the-sky promises. But me, Iroge, when are you planning to hand over the visible and tangible fiefs and treasures you promised me?"

He leaned forward, his huge shadow pressing toward the throne, the sarcasm and questioning in his tone undisguised.

"Besides, you and I both know the situation with the pollution of the Abyssal plane! That stuff rots into the ley lines and is harder to clear than the most stubborn curse.

Wait for your purification tricks to produce clean land that can grow crops? Ha! I fear that by the time that day comes, the brats under your command waiting to eat will have had their bones drummed out in the barracks!"

"Indeed."

Vikes's cold voice rose, like ice shards colliding. He was not as restless as Iroge, merely lifting his neck slightly, a ghostly blue luster flowing over his scales.

"Sakavi, there is a fundamental problem you seem to have deliberately avoided: creatures of the material plane cannot survive for long in an Abyssal environment." His tone was calm, yet as precise as a scalpel.

"Even with the highest-level protective magic applied, those stationed must strictly adhere to a three-month rotation cycle. Otherwise, the Abyssal erosion will be irreversible, flesh will mutate, will will corrupt, and they will eventually degenerate into mindless demon puppets."

His gaze swept over all the non-dragon generals present, finally returning to the throne.

"Even we dragons dare not stay in a single Abyssal plane for more than a year. That is a serious problem where even scales will gradually lose their luster and souls will suffer irreversible invasion."

He paused slightly, posing that sharp question, "Then, those Ogre soldiers, Minotaur craftsmen, and other races in your plan that require year-round stationing, construction, and maintenance of fortresses—what do they rely on to take root and build large numbers of castles in an environment that even we must treat with caution?"

"Seeing that you are all so concerned about this matter... I am, on the contrary, relieved."

No annoyance at being questioned could be heard in Sakavi's voice; instead, it revealed a steadiness of having long anticipated this. His massive body adjusted to a more relaxed posture on the throne, as if the hunter had finally waited for the prey to step into the expected range.

"Since the problem has been laid on the table, then, I will give a clear answer." He paused slightly, as if weighing his words, his molten-gold slit pupils slowly sweeping over Iroge and Vikes, finally casting toward the broader void.

"But before that—" his tone suddenly carried a hint of smugness, throwing back a seemingly irrelevant question.

"I want to ask everyone here: who knows, in this great war of the Abyssal plane... who exactly is the supreme commander of the coalition?"

"It is the Divine Rank Paladin of the Church of Light, Kalesia Vangen." Verna's voice rose steadily, timely taking over the question Sakavi threw out.

Her fingertips lightly tapped the non-existent dossier in front of her, her tone as if stating a verified piece of intelligence:

"According to the latest assessment by the Shadow Intelligence Agency, this commander was sent directly by the Pantheon. This means that behind this plane contention war, it is not a game between secular forces and the Abyss—"

She paused slightly, her gaze sweeping over everyone present, making the following judgment seem more conclusive:

"Multiple deities have already cast their eyes on this battlefield." Her voice lowered a bit, "And we, in a chess game of this scale, the role we currently play... is probably closer to expendable items that are dispensable and can be replaced at any time."

"Accurate. But there is one point that needs correction—"

A sharp light flashed in Sakavi's dragon pupils, taking over Verna's lead.

"We are not dispensable, provided that we must be in the right position."

He leaned forward, as if revealing an invisible strategic map to everyone.

"The coalition is massive; if it relies on the single supply line of Weilincheng for a long time, the pressure will be unbearable. They will eventually have no choice but to turn to obtaining supplies locally within the Abyssal plane, whether it is food, magical materials, or workshops for repairing equipment."

He paused deliberately, making the following inference clearer and more powerful:

"If at that time, there happens to be a 'friendly' force that has firmly controlled key passages and established complete, stable, and productive strongholds and trade networks..."

Sakavi's tail tone rose slightly, "Everyone can imagine, facing the two options of 'spending money to buy ready-made supplies' and 'spending precious troops and time to personally occupy and manage a strange wasteland,' how will the coalition, eager to advance the front line... choose?"

His gaze swept over Iroge and Vikes.

"Remember, every inch the coalition advances on the front line, the benefits they can seize—whether it is divine grace, territory, or rare resources unique to the Abyss—are thousands of times higher than the supply costs paid to us.

To us, it is a huge profit; to them, it is merely an insignificant lubricant to ensure the wheels of victory continue to turn. What we must do is become those irreplaceable gears."

"Does the Grand Duke's meaning imply hoping to use the coalition's hands to solve the fundamental problem of plane purification? Or... to urge them to provide the scarce resources needed for purification?"

Morax's voice rose, carrying the unique coldness and prudence of a Silver Dragon. He did not directly refute, but laid out his worries in the form of a question.

"Please forgive my bluntness—" he lifted his head slightly, his scales flowing with a moonlight-like luster appearing particularly calm under the dim light of the hall, "any attempt to negotiate on equal terms with a force significantly stronger than oneself, or even to haggle, is no different from walking a tightrope over a bottomless abyss."

His gaze swept past Sakavi and finally fell back to the table, as if staring at cracks that might appear in the future.

"Relying on others' power to solve one's own predicament and entrusting the foundation of survival to the other party's 'needs'—the imbalance and variables in this will likely eventually evolve into an uncontrollable crisis. Dancing with the messengers of deities, a slight negligence could lead to annihilation."

"You are right. But trading with powerful existences far beyond oneself has never relied on cleverness."

Sakavi's voice was calm, yet carried the weight of a thousand jun.

"What we need is to become an indispensable part of their plan. For the coalition that must penetrate the Abyss to fight, continuous and stable supplies are an inescapable dead knot; and purifying polluted land is a lesson they must complete if they want to stand firm."

He paused slightly, letting the following words nail into everyone's thinking like a wedge:

"Then, imagine if the only passage that can quickly transport supplies, the only area that has been initially purified and can be used to build forward bases, are firmly in our hands..." his gaze swept over everyone present.

"At that time, it will not be us asking for a share, but any force that wants to step onto this battlefield will have to knock on our door first."

"We do not negotiate terms; we only provide the only solution. This is the qualification for trading with dragons or deities."

"This is undoubtedly a high-stakes gamble. But just as ancient trees know that when they are weak, even breathing is an original sin. No one will voluntarily hand over the benefits they have obtained."

Velanse's voice was like the wind in a deep forest, low and solid. She lifted her head slightly, the faint light between her Thorn Deer antlers pulsing as if with her words.

"We must build the fortress and purify the first piece of fertile land before the coalition's supply lines are truly strained. This is the only language that can prove to all greedy eyes: we are not gravel that can be swept away, but ironwood that has taken root here."

Her gaze swept over everyone present, finally landing on Sakavi, her eyes flashing with unshakeable resolve.

"Time is as pressing as an arrow released from a bow. But fortunately, we are nominally still a member of the coalition. This identity is our first and last armor, which we can use to buy time. I need to use a large amount of resources to purify the land in a short time."

"Velanse, you can go ahead and do the land purification."

Sakavi's voice cut off the last trace of hesitation, like an anvil setting the tone.

"All the special materials, rare media, and even the bargaining chips for negotiating with the Nature Sects required will be prepared by me." His promise was exceptionally brief.

Sakavi's gaze swept over both sides of the long table for the last time, and after confirming that no one else raised substantive questions, he made the final ruling.

"Since you have no objections—"

He stood up, his shadow covering half of the council chamber.

"Start preparing immediately!"