General Arthur

Raimon and his team walked along, observing the gloomy twisted trees, with branches that look like thin fingers ending in sharp claws and bare of leaves.

The trunks seem to take on expressions of horror as if they had seen something dreadful and were frozen in horror. No sound is heard except for the whistling wind that ruffles Raimon's long red hair, but you notice the presence of tiny beings watching him with their tiny red eyes as he continues his way along the path.

The dark sky, illuminated only by the light of the full moon, was round and white.

Raimon and Reineza took the lead until the path reached an extensive dead plain, full of shadows covering animal skeletons and weeds. At the bottom of the plain, a pond could be seen, but it had long since dried up, showing corpses inside.

Raimon looked at the desolate place, seeing death and sadness. And suddenly, Raimon closed his eyes, imagining this place green and alive again, he imagined that the frightful trunks with twisted branches become magnificent trees with elegant branches and abundant leaves. He imagines the vast plain filled with vividly colored flowers and a pond filled with clear water.

Various colorful fish swim in the pond and tiny, shimmering creatures fly over it, like little fairies, filling the air. While orbs of white light illuminate the dark area.

Raimon concentrates on his imagination, putting a lot of effort and will, imagining every little detail.

When he opens his eyes he sees how his surroundings have transformed, how the dead plain has become a beautiful creation. Breathing calmly for a few minutes Raimon closed his eyes again and when he opened them everything came back to reality.

The place where the hiding place of this cult was located was a dead zone between the protective wall of the Kingdom of Austria and the border with the abyssal plain.

The air filled with a black and depressing aura was the most basic characteristic of this place.

Raimon's imagination was because this place was the most beautiful garden in the Empire before the arrival of the abyssal plain. It was said that the forest fairies and wood elves lived in harmony in this place transforming the spring into life-prolonging water and the wood of the trees into a material sought after by the best craftsmen in the world.

Arriving at this place clarified a little to Raimon the consequences of the abyssal plane for the world. There were always doubts about this place in Raimon's heart so before joining the youth in the mission Raimon ran to this place.

Thanks to this detour he was able to find William who was in a coma while Reineza detected the hideout of an abyssal cult in this place.

Considering William's condition. Raimon was quite angry with these people, first, they attacked him at the foot of Eclipse Mountain and now these people come to mess with the students of his Duchy.

So Raimon decided to teach them a lesson in this place.

****

While Edward and his group were concentrating on their defense mission at the Kingdom wall, the rumor of Edward's notes spread to the front. They were reaching the ears of the Corps commander in charge of the front line fortress.

In the end, Edward was summoned to prove the veracity of the rumors. General Arthur led Edward, just as he had done during his first day at the school, into the command of the fortress.

Many people were waiting for his arrival at the fortress. From the looks on their faces, it seemed that they had heard the rumors, so they anxiously awaited his arrival with interest coloring their faces.

General Arthur carefully knocked on the Corps commander's door as Edward silently endured the overwhelming stares of the people on the road.

"Corps commander, Edward has arrived."

"Come in."

"Yes, sir!"

"Never mind that, have a seat."

The strongest commander of the Vanguard Corps that protected the front line of the Northeast, The Kingdom's only Duke Stewart, made Edward sit down in front of him.

"I've long wanted to see your face, so I'm lucky to have this opportunity."

Once General Arthur left the room, Stewart looked at him with deep interest.

"You must have realized why I called you in. I want to hear your explanation of the rumors spreading at the front. I'll listen to you no matter how long it takes."

"What do you want me to tell you?"

"Everything."

Edward's eyes widened as he heard that Stewart wanted to hear everything. He hadn't expected the Duke, someone famous for being busy, to devote so much time to him.

"Is that all right, even if it takes a long time?"

"That's right."

Edward took a deep breath and opened his mouth to explain after hearing that the Corps commander was willing to listen to him no matter how long it took.

He explained the following:

First, he stressed if he had heard of the news from the Gods on the material plane a couple of years ago. Information that someone without connections to the strongest would not hear.

Secondly, he talked about the tactics and strategies they could use against the abyssal monsters based on the combination of evidence he had gathered.

Third, he explained in detail their plan for receiving and obtaining ammunition on a large scale preparing for the worst. The news that ex-duke Balar Flower was having difficulties in the Red Fortress even though he was a God rank in strength were the things that the illegitimate son of the Kingdom of Austria was most interested in talking about.

And, fourthly, he spoke of his plan to develop weapons to reduce the need for human soldiers in the event of an accident at the front, explaining at the same time that it was something he had imagined.

After listening to Edward's explanation, the corps commander became thoughtful. He understood how realistic his words were after listening to him carefully.

"It's good to make active use of weapons to attack the weak points of monsters. It's good enough to propose to the Northeast Command and officially request that a unit be established."

"Thank you."

"The problem starts with your third point."

"News from ex-duke Balar is not easy to come by. We only know that those crazies from the abyssal cult attacked Raion's son when he left Castle Blood so he retaliated against those guys all over his territory."

"As for the ex-duke, we only know that he returned from a mission in the south of the Duchy with his knights where a God rank beast and many other mythical beasts were awakened."

"It is said that he returned alone. Afterward, he was able to reach God's rank, but all of us think there is something strange since ex-duke Balar had already failed once."

"As for future dangers the Kingdom is aware of everything, a proof is you."

"That's right."

Stewart was thoughtful again.

"The use of weapons do you think is possible?"

"I think it is more than possible. For the first and second points to be possible, there needs to be a large number of engineers and alchemists. But the amount we are currently supplied with will not be able to support those points."