CHAPTER 810: CHAPTER 809: DIVERTING DISASTER EASTWARD IS ALSO A PATH...

Fanriel Capital, White City.

Hall of Freedom.

This is the political center of the Kingdom of Flame, as well as its core. However, at this moment, everyone walking through this palace wears a worried expression, with some clutching a heap of documents and scurrying down the corridors, while others whisper softly. The air is thick with a dense and uneasy atmosphere.

Even in the corridors, one could faintly hear the tumultuous arguments within the council.

"This is simply a nightmare!!"

A councilor slammed his hand on the table so hard that it turned red, yet he seemed oblivious to the pain.

"Fifty thousand troops!! Fifty thousand troops!! Less than thirty survivors!! How do you expect us to explain this to the citizens? Duke General?! Tell me, what in the world happened? Just to subjugate a group of Demon Beasts, and the entire fifty thousand troops were annihilated? Am I dreaming? Or are you dreaming?"

Not only him, but most of the council members present also looked grim. This wasn’t just about the simple annihilation of fifty thousand troops; many among them were sons of the nobility.

After all, the Kingdom of Flame values seniority and achievements, and right now, the entire continent isn’t at war. Thus, many families sent their descendants to this army to gain accolades, hoping to add a noteworthy achievement to their resume.

Developing unexplored lands is rare, which is why the Kingdom of Flame could muster fifty thousand troops this time. Everyone wanted a piece of the action, and the mission to subjugate the Demon Beasts seemed to lack danger, prompting many families to send their rising stars or favored heirs there.

But they never anticipated the army would almost be completely wiped out! Only less than thirty survived, mostly Mages, and a few were naturally timid nobles who had prudently equipped themselves with teleportation tools before setting out.

The others all perished!!

Facing the questions from the councilors, Duke General also didn’t look well, as he was the one who proposed the plan to eliminate the Insect Hive and completely seize the unexplored lands. With such a disaster occurring now, someone would undoubtedly have to take the fall. Those families that lost their offspring and heirs would not spare him, and citizens who lost their children and husbands might tear him to pieces.

Fifty thousand troops, after all!

Since the founding of the Kingdom of Flame, never has an entire legion been utterly obliterated!

"Not all of this is my responsibility!!"

Duke General did not plan to sit idly by; if he said nothing, the council might soon send him to a military tribunal. No question, the outcome would inevitably be hanging him to appease the anger of the populace, but he refused to take the fall!!

"This decision was made by the council, and before that, you all looked closely at the frontline reports. At that time, we never discovered that the Demon Beasts possessed skills to burrow and hide, nor did we know they had numerous kinds!"

"Isn’t this a failure in intelligence gathering?"

"Of course not! We dispatched Scouts to conduct in-depth gathering, and we can be sure that we never found any indication that these Creatures had such characteristics! The only explanation is... they were hiding their abilities!"

"Hiding their abilities?"

Hearing Duke General’s explanation, another councilor laughed angrily.

"So, Duke General, are you suggesting that those Demon Beasts have human-like intelligence and deliberately feigned weakness to lure us deep into their territory and then annihilate us?"

"Isn’t that so?"

At this point, Duke General went all out.

"The frontline soldiers engaged with these Creatures multiple times and never found them capable of burrowing, which indicates what? It shows these Creatures have high intelligence and collective combat ability! They intentionally paralyzed us! In any encounter, if we had found any with such capabilities, we would’ve been on higher alert!"

"Then if, according to you, they are truly intelligent, why would they recklessly meet their doom?"

Another councilor raised his doubt, biting his lip.

"I suspect that perhaps these Creatures have a ruler, and as long as the ruler issues orders, no matter what the mission, they would complete it...... In fact, if we consider these Creatures as humans, then what we faced was a perfect ambush!!"

Despite Duke General’s vehement explanation, the present councilors remained skeptical. This was also a human failing, to judge matters by appearance. If something looks human, they may believe it possesses human intelligence, but for creatures like the Zerg that appear very... well, they would never consider them as equally intelligent.

That’s absolutely impossible! They are merely monsters, Demon Beasts, at best just cunning Demon Beasts!!

They could never be on par with us humans!!

"Alright, now isn’t the time to argue about this."

As the meeting was about to devolve into mutual blame-shifting, the Speaker of Parliament picked up his gavel and tapped it.

"The most important question right now is, how should we respond to those Demon Beasts? According to Scout reports, there are currently hundreds of thousands of Demon Beasts entrenched at the northern frontier, beyond our border in the unexplored land. If they flood into Fanriel, how do we resist?"

"........."

At this point, everyone turned solemn as hundreds of thousands of Demon Beasts were no trivial matter. They all gasped when they saw the border through the Magic Crystal. It’s important to note that the continent only has the Kingdom of Flame, with no neighboring countries, so the Kingdom hasn’t constructed any defensive facilities along the border, save for some walls in a few cities.

However, if these hundreds of thousands of Demon Beasts penetrated deep into the Kingdom of Flame, they’d be doomed!

Where on earth do these damn Demon Beasts come from?!

"There’s one more crucial issue."

The Speaker seemed unwilling to let everyone off, half-closing his eyes, glancing coldly at them.

"How do we report the matter of that Master......?"

"......"

Upon hearing this, many councilors instantly turned pale, glancing at each other, momentarily speechless.

After "Dragon Slayer" Kara was instantly killed by Black Katie, the Kingdom of Flame’s reputation fell sharply, but more importantly, the Kingdom lost their Guardian God, a very dangerous sign. When Kara was present, the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Flame were stable, but now that Kara is dead, some internal forces have naturally begun to stir.

In this scenario, the Kingdom of Flame had to spend a fortune to make contact with the Red Dragon Clan and secured support from a genius rising star among them. The Kingdom of Flame believed having a Red Dragon would ensure security. Additionally, even if someone had designs on the Red Dragon, it would mean going against the entire Red Dragon Clan; under such circumstances, even foes would hesitate to act rashly to avoid unexpected consequences.

But none expected that fate would be so cruel as to see this Red Dragon perish in its first battle, where it was supposed to display might and power!

This indeed was a predicament!

How would they explain to the Red Dragon Clan? Say that the Red Dragon was killed by a group of Demon Beasts?

Ridiculous! They could say it, but whether the Clan would believe it is another matter!!

Besides, even giving a hundred steps backwards, assuming the Clan believed them, after dealing with the Demon Beasts, the Red Dragon Clan might turn on the Kingdom of Flame!

So, the death of the Son of the Red Dragon was tightly sealed away by the council, hoping to conceal the matter for now...... one day at a time.

"I have a plan!!"

At this moment, a young councilor seemed to hit upon an idea, his eyes gleaming with light, as he stood up and pressed his hands on the table, scanning everyone present.

"Everyone, this unexplored land was once Chaos Land, and those creatures are Demon Beasts from Chaos Land, isn’t that right."

"This...... is true, so?"

The people sat in bewilderment, uncertain what this was about, as they heard the young councilor declare something they already knew. Observing their puzzled expressions, the young councilor smiled slightly.

"Since they are Demon Beasts, they are the minions of Chaos, enemies of order; thus...... how about we seek assistance from the Sanctuary to help us resolve this issue?"