As the water that had suddenly disappeared returned in full force, the people who lived near the body of waters where Charybdis' clones appeared, began running in panic.
They weren't foreign to tsunami. They had had a tsunami before, but never was it able to harm them due to the Barrier the Kingdom had erected to hold it off.
The tsunami that was about to sweep them this time, however, was capable of such as it managed to destroy the Barrier. That indicated the tsunami didn't happen due to a natural cause, but the work of Magic.
Needless to say, the casualty it would cause would be way bigger; so, of course they were afraid. On top of that, they could also spot the Aquatic Demons which they were sure, would come out of the body of water once water filled the land.
"The chaos has started," Scylla remarked. She was looking at the scene that was unfolding in every body of water that hosted Charybdis' clones through her connection with them. "What are we going to do next, Goap?"
"We will wait. I can feel it—the human army is already close." Goap was looking at the swarm of Aquatic Demons jumping into Charybdis' mouth calmly. "There is not much we can do other than wait for them and deliver them to their demise."
Nodding her head, she ceased the conversation. Looking at the unfolding scene in front of her, she couldn't help wondering if humans could persist this time.
The world was too peaceful compared to when it was still in the Age of Chaos. Humans had been living peacefully for thousands of years, so she was sure they wouldn't be ready to face this hurdle.
Shaking her head in the next moment, however, she forgot that thought. She didn't want to repeat the mistake that Demons had done in the past, which was underestimating Humans.
Humans are the most unpredictable creatures. Demons had ignored that fact two millennia ago, and received a worse humiliation than losing their Authority.
She was optimistic, regardless, that they would be able to win against the humans before their unpredictability surprised them.
...
50 kilometers from Southern Sea Region, the four Legions of Royal Army that weren't assigned to any other battlefield, which was lead by Anthony himself stopped their march under Anthony's Legion.
They turned around to find none was behind them. Their eyes couldn't help but darken as that means their reinforcement, which was supposed to meet up with them at this point were still far away from them.
Despite being the top Legions—the Legions that were chosen to be the escort of the King, they weren't arrogant. They could easily admit they weren't strong enough to face Goap's Army by themselves because they knew their limit.
"Bloody citizens! I have protected them from the hegemony of the Empire and this is how they pay me, their King?!" Anthony exclaimed. "Why has no one showed up yet?!"
"Cease your anger, Your Majesty. I am sure they are in their way," the Thirtieth Legion's Commander, Carlyle placated. "Unlike us, they are not competent enough to avoid unnecessary obstacles."
"Just how incompetent they are to be hundreds of kilometers apart from us, Carlyle? This is war—there is an urgency. Regardless of how incompetent you are, in my experience, in urgent situations, you move faster."
"Maybe, Your Majesty, if you had described what kind of urgency we have, you would be able to make them feel more urgent, which in turn also make them move faster." Carlyle smiled.
Clicking his tongue in faint annoyance, Anthony replied, "You and your smart mouth." Getting down his horse, he shouted, "We will camp here for the time being. I just want you to recover your energy—not sleep—so don't erect a single tent!"
"As you wish, Your Majesty!"
Sighing lightly to calm his racing heart down, he looked around the place. He saw many trees as they were in the middle of the forest, and when he found a boulder the size of a hut, he immediately dashed to it and sat on it.
The four Legion Commanders followed suit in the next moment, then surrounded the boulder where he was sitting on. Although there was no need for them to guard him, they still did it as it was their job.
"I expect a great performance out of the four of you. You better recover your Energy, so you won't disappoint me," Anthony reminded.
Nodding their head lightly, the four Commanders sat down, closed their eyes, and started to meditate. The sole Knight amongst them nurtured his Core, meanwhile the Mages Carved their next Magic Circle.
The rest of the Legions were also doing the same. None of them were chatting with each other; so, the forest, despite having 24,000 people in it was as tranquil as if there was no one there.
Buzz!
A few minutes after, the silence was disrupted by the Visual Orbs that each Legion had. They were shining and vibrating, which means someone was reaching out to them.
As the people with Visual Orbs, the members of Information Squad in each Legion put their hands on their Visual Orbs, then projected the scene the caller's wanted them to see.
"What the...?"
All of them couldn't help gasping as soon as they saw the projection. They could see water flooding the land and the floating debris of the destroyed buildings, which was the only indication that it had been indeed a land.
"A Monster, which we haven't identified yet, suddenly appeared in various body of water throughout the Kingdom. It created a massive tsunami which resulting in this chaos," one of the callers spoke.
"Countless of Aquatic Demons are now roaming the flooded land, killing those who survived. We don't know how many they will be—they keep pouring out—but we can say, for sure, the affected areas need to be forfeited."
They couldn't believe what was happening to their Kingdom. Looking at Charybdis' clones pouring out tens of thousands of Aquatic Monsters, they wanted to immediately rush back and helped the civilians, who were definitely suffering.
All of them instinctively turned their head to Anthony. As the King, he was the only person qualified to make a decision in this situation.
Anthony didn't look bothered at all, and looking at that, everyone immediately knew what his answer would be. True to their guess, Anthony's decision wasn't far off what they had expected him to say.
"This is the enemy's plan to divide our attention. We have also gone this far, so we won't return. Trying to hold a lot of things at once can risk losing everything. It is better to focus on one thing."
Closing his eyes, Anthony added, "Make sure to deliver that to those already on their way to group with us."
Smiling bitterly at the answer, they couldn't help shaking their head. They repeated what he had said a few moments ago, and deactivated the Visual Orb to resume recovering their energy.
The command left a bad taste in their mouth, but they still didn't want to protest because they knew Anthony had just made a logical decision.
Silence descended on the forest again not long after. Unlike before, however, none of the soldiers had a calm mind since they really wanted to immediately rush to the battlefield and end the Outbreak.
With hearts palpitating in giddiness, the soldiers meditated until the reinforcement came. Two hours had past at that point, so they immediately readied themselves the moment the people arrived.
"We are very sorry for our lateness, Your Majesty."
Opening his eyes at the feminine voice, Anthony jumped down the boulder, and stood before the owner of the voice. "Did the news make you hesitated, Jacinda? I didn't expect someone as bright as you to be swayed by that."
Smiling apologetically, Jacinda, who was the de facto leader of the Mages that weren't a part of the military, said, "I am embarrassed to say that we were slowed down by our lack of coordination."
"Your Majesty, Miss. Jacinda has done the best she could. She wasn't playing around, and I assure you, the fact that we are only two hours late is because of her. If it wasn't for her, we might not be able to arrive here."
Quirking his eyebrow as he turned his head to the person who had just chimed in, Anthony found a 2 meters tall giant of a man with a handsome beard.
He was Zander, the Guildmaster of Firefly Guild, which was one of the four most influential Guilds in Braxtein Kingdom. Having just had a breakthrough a few months ago, the Middle Stage Violet Core Knight's presence was overwhelming.
"So, you are the representative of the others, huh?" Anthony was referring to the Guildmasters of the other three influential Guilds who didn't come. "Well, I can't blame them. Their paranoia has become a reality."
"Yes, Your Majesty. My fellow Guildmasters are now taking care of the situation in our Kingdom."
When the Outbreak first occured, the Kingdom spent a lot of effort to gather informations about Goap's Army. Anthony was trying to locate all of the six Great Generals, so he could immediately kill them.
The four most influential Guilds had participated in the search. When they could find none, Anthony decided to wait for the Great Generals to wait by themselves; however, the Guildmasters thought differently.
They suggested to send people to the less inhabited areas and the most inhabited areas of the Kingdom because they were sure the Demons would appear from one of the places.
Anthony, of course, didn't want to spend so many men on such an uncertain thing, so he dismissed the suggestion. Uncaring to that, however, the Guildmasters still proceed with their plan, and didn't join the battle because of that.
When Charybdis' clones appeared in the body of waters that were big enough to host them, the people that the Guildmasters had stationed in various areas were ready to face the hurdle, which proved that the Guildmasters' plan wasn't a mere paranoia.
"Very well. Let us start moving." Anthony waved his hand. "I want to end this Outbreak quick."
At Anthony's words, those who rode a horse mounted their horse, meanwhile those who travelled by their feet prepared to run. Anthony did the same, and immediately took the lead.
As he motioned them to move with his hand, the march to Southern Sea Region was resumed.