Chapter 226 - Hundred Hills
Chapter 226 Hundred Hills
Author: M_W Cancer
Grammar checker: M_W Nomral
It was only in the late afternoon that Ash and her army of slaves left the Southeast Fortress to begin the planned attack to the Southern Fortress.
The army was made up of exactly 2,000 slaves of different races, so they looked like a bunch of ants in all sorts of shapes when Leo was looking up at the top of the Commander's Palace.
"Now that they finally left, are you guys prepared?" Leo closed the book that he was reading as he turned to look at Princess Elaine, Charlotte, Ahmed, Brad, Jasmine, Jeffrey, Matt, Venice, and those other 5 Divisions members who were tasked before to shoot the Cloud Piercer arrows straight towards Commander Decker, exactly 10 people that Leo doesn't even bother knowing about their names and had instead called them Number 1 to Number 10.
"I'm prepared!" Princess Elaine said as she clenched her fist in determination.
"I don't even need to prepare just to guard a bunch of you!" Charlotte said, seemingly sounding nonchalant about it.
Brad and Ahmed pulled their backpacks to show that they're fully ready.
Venice turned to look at Matt and Jeffrey before the three of them nodded their heads to express that they are ready, which was quickly followed after by Number 1 to Number 10.
"Then let's leave when the night falls!" Leo said as he walked downstairs to prepare himself. Amongst everyone one, he was actually the only one who hasn't yet finished with his preparation. Fortunately, with his act, no one was able to notice.
Also, there was actually no need for him to prepare a lot of things since teacher Homer's Storage Ring contains almost everything he needed right now, though except for food, clothes, and some Magical resources that he would be bringing with him so that he can cultivate while on the trip.
By the way, the Magical resources that they have bought from the Twilight Bears territory were already put into the Storage rooms at the Training Ground.
.....
When the night finally came, Leo along with the others sneakily left the Southeast Fortress using a secret tunnel located around the Business District.
He was purposely doing this mission in secret so that no one would be able to leak any information that there is currently no leader inside the Southeast Fortress right now, which would obviously make their opponents attack the Southeast Fortress once they found out since taking the territory back would be relatively easy with only General Sheng and General Alan defending. Even General Sheng and General Alan don't have any idea about his mission, and it was also not a problem where they would be reporting whenever a dangerous situation happened because he had prepared Boss Kent and Felix to handle everything.
Leo then took out a map the moment they got outside the walls, as he informed everyone once again of the path they would be taking to go to Heart city, "We would be going to cross the Hundred Hills to reach Heart city. We go straight this way, stop over here to rest, and then continue with the trip once again."
Everyone nodded their heads in understanding.
Leo then closed the map and began walking towards the northwest direction.
Hundred Hills, a wilderness located in the northwest of Southeast Fortress. Just like what its name suggested, it is a wilderness made up of hundreds of hills. This territory is considered as a Purple zone by the Silver Kingdom because this place is extremely hard due to the fact that traveling inside the Hundred Hills requires them to either climb up a hill or to walk in the middle of two hills which is obviously a very good opportunity for an ambush.
Although that's actually not the entire reason why the Hundred Hills is considered as a Purple zone.
The other reason is that the Mischievous Lion organization's main headquarters is located somewhere in the middle of the Hundred Hills, living alongside with the Mountain Gorillas, a 5 Star Magical Beast that rules the entire Hundred Hills. The Mountain Gorillas is considered safe for the members of the Mischievous Lion organization because it is actually now a tamed Magical Beast of Sandra, a member of the 12 Zodiacs who represents the Sagittarius.
So, any people that visited Hundred Hills doesn't only requires them to watch out for Magical Beast, but also to the members of Mischievous Lion organization.
And so, because of that, as a member of the Mischievous Lion organization, Leo crossing the Hundred Hills to reach Heart city is the safest path that they can possibly ever have.
The only problem that they would be facing though is how to safely arrive in the middle of the Hundred Hills. To be honest, no members in the headquarters of the Mischievous Lion organization would actually help any of their other members in reaching their headquarters because of the reason that they consider this as the most basic challenge, except of course if the situation really requires them to lend help. If they die going to their headquarters, then they can only blame themselves for being weak and not capable enough. Also, the only Magical Beast that Sagittarius Sandra had tamed was the Mountain Gorillas, not the entire Magical Beast living in the Hundred Hills. And even though that the Mountain Gorillas is also the ruler of Hundred Hills, even a King wouldn't be able to completely have control of his own territory, right?
In Leo and the other's case right now, it might sound easy for them to travel inside Hundred Hills because they have a 9 Star Battle Mage alongside them so even without the help of the Mischievous Lion organization they could still travel safely. But it's actually the contrary to that. In fact, they can't even assure their individual safety.
Just like what was mentioned before, in order to travel inside the Hundred Hills, every person is required to either climb up a hill or to move in the middle of two hills. Because of that, ambushes could be done by not only the assassins of the Mischievous Lion organization, but also the Magical Beast, and it's even the most common situation in this wilderness. After all, two different packs of Magical Beast would naturally always compete for the prey that travels in the middle of both hills.
They also can't allow themselves to be cornered because behind them would most likely going to be another territory of a pack of Magical Beast.
Aside from that, a Magical Beast stampede is actually another common situation inside the Hundred Hills. Imagine it this way, the hundred of hills are the buildings and other infrastructure in a city, so that makes the pathway in between two hills the road. So, in order for a pack of Magical Beast to have an easy journey to another hill, they would then use this so-called road. However, because there are almost always be two different packs of Magical Beast living in different hills waiting for a prey that will travel in these so-called roads, those Magical Beast would then need to travel as fast as possible in order for the waiting predators not to catch them, which would obviously cause a stampede in the process.
To be honest, Leo could have actually chosen to travel in either the Southern Fortress at the west and go north afterwards or to the Blue Coral city up in the north then go west afterwards for him to arrive at Heart city instead of traveling through the Hundred Hills at their northwest. However, right now he needs to meet up with the Aries Weapons group of the 12 Zodiacs to buy better weapons for Ash, Charlotte, and the others to better prepare themselves for this war and to also request Sagittarius Sandra to come with him because he needed her help as a Beast Tamer so that Levi could finally become his Beast Companion and to also help him with the Yellow Anaconda's egg back at Yellow Forest.
Unbeknownst to the common folks, this wartime is actually the best opportunity to tame and raise Magical Beast because they can simply plunder as many Magical resources possible that will help the tamed Magical Beast to grow and become powerful faster.
Also, going through the Southern Fortress or the Blue Coral city is not really safe. In fact, it's extremely dangerous than Hundred Hills, especially since the Sword and Magic organization and Silver royal family wouldn't be so stupid as to not station scouts around their territory. So, if he wants to go through either of those two territories to reach Heart city, it wouldn't just require him to be careful like in the Hundred Hills, but how to also not get seen by scouts who would obviously disguise themselves just like Royal Magical Knight Karl, that would also obviously report his whereabouts immediately the moment they saw him to the likes of Evangelion who can basically do a Teleportation spell to arrive right beside him instantaneously.
Basing in his past experiences, he would rather face Magical Beast since he can predict their possible moves and weaknesses, rather than fellow Human who might have a chance to be as capable as himself.
Arriving at a place located just right beside the territory of Hundred Hills, Leo then motioned for everyone to stop.
"Be sure to have all of your needed weapons firmly in your hands, sharpen your senses all of the time in order to effectively observe your surroundings so that we can avoid any attacks of the Magical Beast, and lastly, the most important thing, stick closely to the group so that you wouldn't get lost and end up dying." Leo reminded everyone with a very solemn voice. This reminder was actually the same reminder his Master Olivia had told him in the past when he first entered the Hundred Hills. Back at that time, almost all of the people he was with died because of not following the prior warnings given to them.
Everyone quickly held their weapons firmly in their hands, senses sharpened to the maximum limit they possibly can, and closely stick behind the person in front of them, seemingly like it would cost them their lives if they don't follow those warnings.
When everything was finally prepared, Leo then leads everyone inside the Hundred Hills.