Chapter 1296 - Taming the Old World - Compulsory Reaction - South

Chapter 1296: Chapter 1296 - Taming the Old World - Compulsory Reaction - South

Down by the central column, Ren, Luna, Larissa, and Liora slowly turned their heads toward the entrance of the vault, staring now with mana eyes at an empty patch of air that had just blown its own high-grade stealth array by yelling at the top of its lungs.

Concealment artifacts were marvels of old-world engineering, yet they were useless if the people wearing them decided to have a loud domestic dispute in a quiet cave.

"...Just how long have you two been standing there?" Ren asked, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous calm.

A heavy silence fell over the stairwell.

"The whole time," Mayo admitted, deactivating her veil with a sigh because trying to lie their way out of this was pointless. "We saw the whole thing, and honestly, it was beautiful. I have to hand it to you, Player Patinder, I had no idea you were hiding that kind of game under the surface..."

"Mayo, shut up," Min hissed through his teeth, his face turning pale as he watched Luna, Larissa and Liora sit up from the floor with glowing eyes.

"...and quite frankly, I think the citizens of this kingdom deserve to know that their supreme commander is capable of..."

"MAYO, STOP TALKING!" Min kneeled on the floor, grabbing her skirt.

By the pillar, Ren closed his eyes, let out a slow breath through his nose, and decided that there was only one punishment that fit the crime.

????

He could not let the two biggest loudmouths in the Vanguard walk up those stairs with free rein to broadcast what they had seen to the entire army. The girls were already mortified enough; if this story made the rounds through the barracks, the embarrassment would be unbearable.

So, Ren took the only practical route available to a good tactician: he made sure Min and Mayo walked out of this room with a secret just as humiliating on the line if either of them ever dared to open their mouths.

"Larissa," Ren said, opening his eyes with a calm, terrifying smile. "Liora, Luna... Did the three of you catch what this noisy duo was arguing about a second ago? Something about testing the science of a kiss... Maybe they like each other, we should give them a little push, right?"

What transpired in the cavern over the next three minutes was more than enough to forge an unbreakable pact of mutual silence. By the time the four of them finished cornering the two eavesdroppers into conducting a dramatic show of their own "true feelings", not a single person in that subterranean chamber had any desire to speak of these events ever again.

Total secrecy was guaranteed across all six participants.

"There we go," Ren said, dusting off his hands with a satisfied nod as he looked down at the two of them. "Welcome to the club of silence."

????

Five minutes later, the entire group had made it back up to the castle courtyard. 𝖿𝖗ⅇℴ𝑚

"I hate you," Min muttered under his breath, staring straight down at his boots with his ears still burning bright red, refusing to make eye contact with anyone within twenty feet. "And I hate dragon energy..."

"The mana doesn’t lie, Min; the movements in it proved the whole thing was completely consensual, congratulations by the way!" Ren replied smoothly, walking beside him without a shred of guilt. "Besides, you don’t hate me, you adore me... Now shake it off, we have a war to win."

Across the broad stone plaza, the mobilization was already complete. The elite strike teams stood in tight formations, the heavy flying mounts were saddled and loaded with supplies, and the deep, rumbling chorus of beast roars filled the morning air. It was time to fly.

Leaving Min to recover his dignity by the transports, Ren walked over to the forward command post where Arturo and Victor stood hunched over a wide tactical map.

"Did the forward scouts manage to pick up any trace of Yino’s Shadow Core?" Ren asked, stepping up to the table.

"Nothing," Arturo said, shaking his head. "And if I am being honest, I doubt they will spot it before the clash begins. The most logical play for Selthia is to keep it burrowed deep underground until the last possible second. She knows that core is the first thing you would hunt for."

"Because she knows you would target the carrier to take it off the board," Victor added, resting a heavy hand on the edge of the map. "That stitched-together shadow dragon mutant they birthed yesterday is a genuine powerhouse at the Diamond tier. Even so, if Selthia gets careless and lets you catch its scent in the open, you could put it down and rip the core right back out of its chest. She is hiding it for sure, holding it in reserve as a trump card for the final push."

Ren gave a slow nod, his eyes narrowing as he weighed the angle.

"Tell the spotters to stay sharp," Ren said. "If she is saving it for the climax, she is going to deploy it at one of the two Light Dragon mountains, almost certainly whichever one I am not personally attacking. That is the exact move I would make in her shoes: hold the ace back until I commit to a lane, then drop it on the opposite front to guarantee she walks away with at least one prize where her biggest threat isn’t standing in the way."

He leaned in, studying the troop markers Arturo had laid out across the parchment.

Selthia had split her newly doubled army to march on both Light Dragons at the exact same time, sending one massive column north into Yano’s territory and another south into Yino’s. At the same time, she had detached a third force to push toward the capital, though the formation looked much lighter than yesterday’s siege: it was positioned like a wide containment cordon rather than a battering ram. She had shifted the bulk of her weight into all-out offense, gambling on stealing the final guardians rather than playing defense, while still keeping enough pressure on all three sectors to pin the humans down.

"She has no intention of launching a real assault on the city walls yet," Arturo observed, tapping the thin ring of markers surrounding the capital. "Not until her vanguard at the mountains finishes the job and pulls back. Look at the spacing; her units around the city are spread far too wide and sitting well outside our artillery range. Her real concern today isn’t taking our territory, it is keeping tabs on you."

"You and Liora," Victor clarified, looking up at Ren. "You two are the only pieces on the board capable of wiping out dozens of her elite units in a single exchange. Anything she loses to standard attrition against the rest of us, her breeding grounds can replace by tomorrow morning. What gets incinerated or crushed by the two of you is gone for good."

Ren studied the two distant mountain peaks marked on opposite ends of the map, running the final numbers in his head, and made his call.

"I am taking the south this time," Ren said.