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The group setting up camp had spent the past two days crossing the only clear road through the Taltin Mountains, the one naturally formed by decades of travel between the Prodson and Forell Territories. Not to the enjoyment of the small group, their trek through the mountains was easy and without a single beast or bandit sighting.

Likely, the cause of that was the gorilla leading the group in Hurman’s absence. Hurdo, along with the predatory Thunder Jaguar and the daunting Shadow Drake, worked as a natural deterrent to anything that spotted him. Anyone that spotted such a group, and wasn’t a high or peak-perennial, wouldn’t dare to antagonize or approach them.

With the beasts, troops under Forell’s, Libarn’s, and Mottz’s command formed the first Forell Militia. It was a mixing pot of hired mercenaries and cultivators pledged to noble families in exchange for resources. And those militiamen were tasked with holding the base camp until more troops from Iron and Forell arrived.

Commanding those under the Forell Family, Trantor and Freele held complete control of their troops. And Fulkar did the same with those under the Libarn Family. Both family heirs were lauded by their men and proud to hold the position until their fathers arrived alongside Hurman.

The mercenaries under the Mottz Family were guided by Mottz’s eldest son, a long-time peak-elder with a decent mercenary resume.

But, deep down, the mercenaries regarded the beasts as the ultimate authorities. Stories of how Hurdo ripped assassins apart had spread like wildfire between all mercenaries, whether they were adepts, elders, or perennials. The rumors around Sarpo and his chase on the mid-perennial assassin boss were shared as well. However, stories around the jaguar were overshadowed by rumors surrounding both Hurdo and the drake.

Vero the Shadow Drake had quickly become a legend among the mercenaries. That was because the elder mercenaries could only dream of standing up to a perennial. Yet the mortal Shadow Drake had confronted multiple perennials, even injuring and crippling a couple of them!

The elders who had survived the assassin attack would never forget the agonizing wails of the perennial who had his soul tortured by the drake… And those that heard the story would struggle to forget as well.

.....

With all three beasts present at the base camp, the Mottz mercenaries felt safer than ever! Once the camp was set up, the mercenaries happily drank and celebrated landing the largest job they had received in years. And they made sure to offer each beast at least a few rounds of wine or liquor of their choosing.

Sarpo accepted one round of drinks and Hurdo accepted three. Then, they both got back to business and checked on the other troops.

Oli, however, was nowhere to be found.

He was busy fulfilling his role on the task force, only getting enough time for a nap before Oli departed from the base camp. By the time the base camp was fully set up and the sun was setting, the drake had already crossed the Forell-Prodson border.

Despite his form as a Shadow Drake, Oli still made use of his greatly weakened earth essence senses to help scout his surroundings. Whenever possible, Oli used his dark essence as well. But Oli wouldn’t rely on just dark essence while in enemy territory, not until nightfall.

The drake moved steadily but not too quickly. Oli would carefully choose where to go, constantly checking his new map of the area.

*The main road seems to be clear, just like Hurman and Reuben suggested… If they were right about that, then Prodson should either have one or two camps near the road, ready to ambush an advancing army,* Oli surmised, comparing his findings of the area with the thoughts of his peers.

*Lam and Mar said Prodson would send at least two camps, if not more. Because Prodson will want to cut Forell out of the war in one fell swoop. So let’s not focus on the road. I need to find the camps first.*

The terrain in the area was mostly wooded hills due to the nearby mountain range, with some natural or man-made clearings.

Oli was glad to get the most recent map after helping the Mottz Family, who consistently hired their own mercenaries to map and chart the region every year. It was something the Mottz Family had depended on to keep their income stable, especially after Rhyner left the territory and their supply of jobs was cut in half.

It was thanks to the updated map that Oli kept a few things in mind.

The map was still a few moons old, so there was a chance that another man-made clearing or two existed. Also, Oli factored in what type of terrain was easier for Prodson to both set up camp, as well as quickly maneuver in and out of.

That helped Oli greatly narrow his search.

Oli also remembered something Opal had said, regarding her time as a soldier in the Prodson military.

*Prodson has long-range armies designed for both siege and defense. So where would I put an army of archers and spearmen, letting them rain down fire on our passing forces…* Oli questioned himself while studying the map for a few minutes.

The border-crossing road moved south-southeast toward Prodson City. Immediately after the border, it was mostly wooded hills. But what caught Oli’s attention was what came after the woods.

There was a stretch of rocky hills before a swath of grasslands. Among the grasslands, there were sparse patches of lumber and groves of trees but nothing like a forest.

However, it was that section of the map that was the least accurate. Though Forell and Prodson weren’t officially on bad terms moons ago, that didn’t mean it was easy for a party of Forell mercenaries to travel and record Prodson’s geography far past the border. It was for that same reason that Prodson’s maps of the Taltin Mountains were far from accurate as well.

Still, Oli’s gut feeling was strong. After taking in every thought and assumption of his peers, the drake knew where he wanted to check next. But he had to wait until complete nightfall before moving beyond the wooded area…

The next few hours, Oli zipped through the hilled woods with caution. And it only took those few hours for Oli’s pre-existing gut feeling to grow stronger.

*I’ve only encountered two found two scouts in the woods. And it seems that neither spotted me… Thank you, Vloz,* Oli sighed.

Oli had been freely given all of Vloz’s cultivation techniques and battle arts. But Oli didn’t even have enough time to master one. So, Oli had been spending all possible free time on a single battle art. It was one of the most simple arts. And it wasn’t an offensive battle art either.

The Shadow Stalker art had only one purpose. To blend in with shadows. Trained to perfection, it would allow Oli to hide in shadows and freely hop between any shadow he wished.

Of course, Oli had just barely started training it.

Effortlessly leaping from one shadow to the next paired with the perfect execution of Vloz’s Shadow Stride art for a boost of speed was entirely out of the question. As much as Oli would’ve loved to mimic his Uncle Vloz’s every calculated ability, Oli accepted the fact that his long-time focus on earth-based arts for power with dark-based arts used for support and control now left Oli with very limited abilities.

That was the main thing Oli had learned during his night of “sparring” with Vloz. That Oli was no master of dark or death essence, and that forcing Oli to rely solely on dark-death essence was the right choice before the next round of the Mortal Championship.

Oli’s first successful shadow entry had been in the tree on the outskirts of the mercenary camp a few days prior. For that to work, Oli, Sarpo, and Hurdo had exited the city earlier than the others and chosen that spot for the camp. Hurdo buried himself and Sarpo underground. And Oli spent almost ten minutes just to enter the stationary shadow of a nearby tree. That’s how Oli worked as the lookout for the operation, cueing Hurman and Tranton when to stop with telepathy and signaling when to start the counterattack, which allowed Fulkar to kill the assassin targeting him and let Hurdo and Sarpo strike at the perfect moment.

Luckily, the two-day trip to the base camp was a simple wagon ride for the drake. The mercenaries gladly agreed to cart the drake, thinking that being near such an imposing beast guaranteed the mercenaries’ immediate safety.

What the mercenaries didn’t know was that Oli was in his soul jade the entire time and only came out to eat at least once a day. Otherwise, Oli stretched his two-day trip into twelve days of dark-death essence cultivation.

And, since it had been a covered wagon, Oli would occasionally leave the soul jade to test his Shadow Stalker art.

By the time they reached the desired location to set up base camp, Oli was beaming with pride!