277 Heading ou (1/2)

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”Does anyone have an questions about the plan?”

Luis asked those who were with him in this meeting. He just explained the plan on how they are going to initiate contact with the enemy. No one raised their hand, meaning that everyone present understood the plan and were ready to execute it.

”Alright, Raven will be your commander for this assignment. His orders will be the law, anyone who fail to comply will face a severe punishment after this.” Luis announced while looking at his son.

Raven stepped forward, behind him were his team clad in full battle gear and ready to meet their enemies. Everyone who were participating with this mission had no qualms being led by a 17 year old guy since all of them here knew that he could take all of them on without even breaking a sweat.

”We'll move out within two hours.” Raven announced, ”You may go back and make preparations for a long trip, after that meet us at the Southern Gate. Move!”

”Sir!” The soldiers saluted and left the meeting area. As soon as they moved out, Raven faced Luis who was clearly feeling a little worried.

”Don't worry Dad. I'll take us back home, that's a promise.” He comforted.

Luis sighed and patted his son's shoulders, saying: ”I know you will. Just make sure to come back in one piece, you hear?”

”I will, Dad.” Raven gave him a hug and turned towards his team, asking: ”You guys ready?”

Each of them gave him a nod. Raven then said: ”Alright, let's go to the Southern Gates.”

After saying that, he and his team turned into blurs as they ran towards their destination.

Three weeks passed by like a blur with Raven being too busy preparing for a counterattack. During this time, on top of training himself and his team, he was also discussing tactics with his father in order to secure the best possible outcome out of this clash.

The Grand Purging Array had been built and activated for the Kingdom's protection. Just as Raven expected, the project was done in less than a week. The array was tested by the inscriptionists under Raven's instructions and passed, meaning that the Kingdom's safety is at least secured.

In the end, both of them agreed that they can't bring too many people since that would hinder their movement far too much. They decided to bring out 25 people who were considered as elites through the Kingdom's new soldier standards. All of these people benefitted from Raven's reform of the Kingdom's military and are a far cry from their previous strength, which is why they didn't oppose him leading them on this operation.

The plan they agreed upon is that, Raven and his team will initiate the confrontation. Since Raven just got the message from his slave that there would be a total of 515 soldiers escorting their target, the team will try to shave as many of their numbers as possible before calling the elites over to finish them off.

What happens after that will depend on the situation. If the threat was too strong for them to handle, they will try to injure him/her at least before signaling retreat. If they could take the target down, then there should be no hesitations. Of course, there is a possibility of an unexpected event happening and it will be up to Raven's decision at that point.

After grabbing everything that they will be needing, the participants of the mission were gathered at the Southern Gates. All of them, except Raven and his team, were wearing black cloaks made out of special materials that would minimize their presence, this is useful for them since they don't want their travels to be impeded by a sudden attack from stray beasts.

Once they signed off their names, Raven gave the signal and they immediately blurred into action.

Raven and his team lead the way, taking flight for a faster and unrestricted travel, while the rest of the crew took the ground and travelled in batches to cover each other's back. The team kept a 500 meter distance between them and rest, this is intentional since the plan was the team will be the one who will initiate contact, the rest were considered as back up.

”Anne, any signs of a Diamond Dust Eclipse?” Raven asked as he flew with Luna's Pegasus. He would've rode Venus as a mount but she wasn't big enough yet, plus she can't fly so Raven had to share with Luna in the mean time.

”None.” Anne replied, ”It just passed about a week ago if I'm not mistaken.”

”Good.” Raven replied, ”At least we could cross that possibility out.”

”Hey, I'm calling dibs on one of the Emissaries okay?” Paul exclaimed while being carried by Ellen.

”Shut it, you Big Oaf!” Ellen grunted, pinching his hand. ”Your voice is too damn loud, what if you alerted some beasts huh?”

”Oh right, Haha my bad.”