Chapter 428 - 428: Overwhelming victory!(1)

The military competition helps to check the individual strength and the military tactics of a kingdom. It gives the opportunity to shine to everyone who participates in it, so the possibilities of talents been wooed over to another kingdom are pretty high. For this event, most kingdoms pull out the best of their forces and move to the capital without fear since it's forbidden by the empire to attack a defenseless kingdom during this period. That way subsidiary kingdoms dare not plan sneak attacks against each other once the main forces of a kingdom have left for the exercise.

..............................….

"what the hell is this?"

Watching the troops of Kedus march out of the kingdom, the spies camping around the kingdom couldn't help but scream in shock. Right now, roughly a thousand soldiers were leaving the kingdom's gates with the King, Jules, Lucia, his advisor, and Chloe, the commander of the forces. Watching a small group, ride out of the kingdom without any hint of worry in their eyes is something none of these spies could explain.

Thanks to the laws of the empire, the kingdoms are at their safest as during with military exercise, so it's not unusual for a small kingdom to pull out all its forces in hopes of marching the big kingdoms and making a name for itself.

Many could understand that the Kingdom of Kedus has grown quite powerful over the previous year but then only a thousand troops are too small. Even level one kingdoms don't bring less than fifty thousand troops and that's when they are taking things easy. For a kingdom to bring only this small amount of forces was a sign of disrespect, not only to the other kingdoms but to the empire itself.

These spies cursed Kedus for their c.o.c.kiness, before returning to their masters to report the situation. It didn't take long before the news of the one thousand-man march spread across the empire and the hatred for Kedus which was already high skyrocketed by leaps and bounds.

.................................

"Are you sure only a thousand men are enough?" Chloe couldn't help but ask as he gazed at Lucia's back.

He was only a commander and only followed orders set by the king but of recent he noticed that the king wasn't the one making the decisions, it was Lucia. Alfred was yet to tell the family the truth about Lucia's death, so they all still assumed that this was the same Lucia they knew. They all assumed that Lucia had been chosen as the physical representation of the god of death after his appearance above, and they weren't too wrong since Lucia was Derik's host. The only difference was that the real Lucia was dead, and they didn't know.

"The god of destruction has decided that a thousand of us is more than enough to take the empire… we have no reason to worry!" King Jules replied firmly, causing Derik who was riding in front to break a smile.

At this point, the once fat King Jules had become muscular and fit. Complementing his shiny black armor was his black crown and the massive black broadsword his sword-bearer was carrying. If one should get close enough they would notice the eyes of the horses were bloodshot and each time they exhaled a black gas escaped their nostrils. Except for Derik who looked perfect, everyone present had a pale complexion and dark circles under their eyes. Each of them wore heavy armors and carried along with towering shields but they didn't seem tired at all, neither did the undead horse look tired either. While other kingdoms stopped at night to set up camps and rest, the forces of the kingdom of Kedus never stopped to rest. For three days straight they kept riding and the spies sent to tail them ended up losing sight of them due to exhaustion. 

In reality, they were still humans but they were closer to death than life now. They possessed the unlimited stamina of an undead and their pain receptors were gone too but that doesn't mean they won't die if they lose too much blood, or get injured fatally. They were humans but undead as well.

Their advance continued until they left they came across a level three kingdom known as Hous! One of the only few kingdoms in this empire that still strongly believes in the church of light. As a level three kingdom, a bishop is sent to oversee the activities of that branch and because of his presence, those who wished to try their luck with the god of death were immediately killed upon suspicion.

There are many more safer and shorter, routes to the capital but Derik chose this part because he was expecting a confrontation from this group. He knew the church's current priority is to destroy his rising fame and regaining control over the masses and since it's not illegal to attack a party on their way to the capital, the chances of this happening are quite high.

What these people didn't know was that Derik had already predicted this and he chose to fall into their little trap because he was searching for an opportunity to increase the fame of his forces so as to be able to legitimize his claim to the throne when they conquer the capital. What he wanted wasn't just victory but an overwhelming one!

"Mortals are so predictable!" Derik grinned as he gazed at the large army ahead, adorned in white armor.

Knowing fully well that this may occur, many other forces from kingdoms of different levels had chosen to follow Derik's forces closely. They have all heard the wild stories of Kedu's achievements and normally they can't deny it but now they had the chance to see it happen upfront. Everyone was eager to know the outcome in a battle between the dark forces of Kedus and the light forces of Hosu. In their opinion, this was not only a battle between two forces, instead, it was also a battle between the god of light and the god of death and destruction. The outcome of this fight will determine their choice of religion tomorrow.

"We demand an audience with your king and bishop!" Derik spoke lightly but his voice transmitted throughout the entire area, reaching everyone's ears. It felt like his words were been carried by an invisible force. Under the watchful gaze of everyone, he and King Jules rode towards the thirty thousand forces of the Hosu Kingdom!

The most stunning about this was that even when faced with the thirty thousand forces of Hosu, Derik and his forces wore a confident smile on their faces. The look on their eyes carried hints of pity for their enemies but their smiles were filled with contempt and disdain too.

" You asked for us… Here we are! May I know the reason for this unexpected visit?" A bald middle-aged man, adorned with white armor and an elderly man wearing a bishops garment with the same light pendant hanging around his neck appeared.

Those who watched Lucia and King Jules approach the enemy forces were stunned by these two's bravery and some even called it stupidity but for the King of Hosu and the bishop, they could feel a strong force surrounding these two men, making them reluctant to attack. They came prepared to fight at first but now they even entertained the thought of letting Derik's forces go if they would just agree to turn around and leave.

"Unexpected? You look well prepared for our arrival… maybe too prepared!" King Jule's voice sounded threatening as he gazed at the enemy's forces without fear.

In his opinion, bring out this many force as a welcoming party was a declaration of war and an insult to a man like him who will most likely become the new emperor in no distant time.

"We have heard stories of your achievements… so it won't hurt to be careful when going up against powerful foes" The bald king responded calmly.

Thud!

"Speak your mind and begone… why are you here?" The bishop seemed rather impatient and vexed.

His hostile gaze was fixed on Lucia who he determined was the most dangerous here. While he could see the amount of death aura flowing out of King Jules, he couldn't see or feel any aura from Lucia.

As someone who has lived long enough to be ordained a bishop, he knew the basic knowledge of preys and predators in the supernatural realm. When dealing with a supernatural foe, as important as it is to gauge their power through their aura, it is important to know that the stronger predators tend to hide their aura in a bid not to scare away their prey before getting the chance to pounce on them.

Gazing at Derik, he could see something no one else could see. He could see the Derik's shadow and within the large shadow which had the shape of a demon wolf were many eyes of different kinds. Within that shadow, countless cries and howls of pain and anguish rang out like a bell.

"You! You are really something!" Derik couldn't help but commend this bishop!