Chapter 214. Withered fields

Once I accepted the deal, the Mad Prince yelled at his soldiers to start packing.

Without questioning the decision, everyone started on their tasks.

Some of them were tasked with breaking the rare blocks, others with gathering items from all chests and separating everything in different inventories and some with other important tasks.

I looked in fascination as the group of soldiers moved in unison like ants and finished everything just under an hour.

After everything was collected and the unwanted items got burned, they all sat in a formation, ready for the next order.

The Mad Prince nodded in approval at his men and cleared his throat to give a speech.

"My people who love endless battles. Today we shall fulfill your biggest wish and attack the enemy camp. No more careful plans, no more retreats, and no more stopping."

Everyone raised their hands and yelled with excitement.

I could feel the bloodlust rise into the air, making my heart beat faster.

They all turned around and marched towards the black field in an organized order.

I didn't expect such a short speech, but it was probably for the best for those kinds of people.

But it seems that one soldier wanted to speak with the Mad Prince since it stayed behind.

And after one glance, I quickly recognized her.

She was the second in command and the reason I was here in the first place.

I hope she's not here to pick up a fight with me.

I don't like to fight with humans unless is necessary, and the Brutes have been docile until now.

But to my relief, it seems she wanted to talk with her boss and it wasn't about me.

"Boss, I know you told us not to make any plans, but I know better than that. So what's the objective of this mission?"

"Hahaha! As always, Second is the most reliable of them all. You're right. I never go on a battlefield without a plan, and the man beside me is the plan."

She looked at me with cold eyes, clearly not over the fact that she lost in our last duel.

"If the boss is trusting you, then I don't have a choice but to trust you as well. So don't disappoint us or you'll have to suffer for it."

She turned around and followed the group of marching soldiers.

The Mad Prince laughed once again and signaled at me to follow him.

I let out a sigh and followed the man.

This reminds me of the older days when everyone kept bugging me to follow them without question.

Now, most of the people are too scared to do that or learned to treat me like a normal human being.

Everyone walked confidently on the red floor of the Nether, that was until we arrived at the death fields.

Then the formation changed to one of a pointed arrow, where the first group of people slashed the flowers down, and the ones coming from behind had torches in their hands, burning the cut flowers.

It was a very practiced movement from what I could tell, but even with this, it would take a while to get anywhere we want to.

There has to be a way to move faster than this.

I looked at the ceiling and saw openings that were filled with more flowers, or lava flowing down.

I could make a bridge that everyone can walk on, but that would mean that I have to stop and get some blocks.

There was also the option of using my mace to blow away a path that we could use, but that would only be a waste of my precious energy.

So the only option left is to dig a new tunnel underneath the death field.

"This would take forever to get anywhere. The Wither would die from old age before we'll get to him."

"If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears."

The Mad Prince is truly a noble from the way he acts, and his mannerisms.

But I'm surprised to see that he's not only that.

Sure, he is proud of his strength and intelligence, but he only likes to rub it on his opponent and not his subordinates.

I could say he was humble overall, but still a jerk.

"The rock in the Nether is easier to break than the one in my world, and with an enchanted diamond pickaxe, we could move faster than this method."

Of course, the disadvantages are that we can't see where we're going, and the fact that the pickaxes would brake at some point.

That's why I was willing to lend my 2 pickaxes to mine the tunnel.

The durability will go down, but I'll put a rule where we'll have to stop whenever we find a quartz vein to mine it and get the xp from there.

"Hmm, that is quite true. Even if we accidentally run into a lava pool, everyone is enchanted with fire resistance so we could always patch things up."

He ordered everyone to stop and called 3 Brutes, who seemed to own the diamond pickaxes.

It seems that their mining equipment was suitable enough for this endeavor, and I didn't need to take action.

That was probably for the best since I didn't have to damage my items, and I wouldn't get too tired.

We all went underground and the three Brutes began to mine a 3 blocks wide tunnel where everyone followed at a respectable pace.

While it was more tiring than before, the pace was much quicker, and every time the mining soldiers got tired, they were switched to new ones who had the strength to continue.

We continued like this for a full day, where every hour we stopped and checked the surface to see if anything was different.

But after a day of mining, we finally arrived at a Bastion.

"Ok, everyone! Looks like we'll finally get some action. Now get some rest and prepare for the upcoming battle."

Everyone did a grunt of approval and fell down to the floor sleeping instantly.

What are they, robots?

Why are they so efficient with everything? How can you even train such a large number of humans to be this coordinated?

"I suggest you get some rest as well, Trader; it's best to be at the peak of your strength before entering a battle. And you'll be safe while you're with us."

I wasn't that tired yet since the only thing I did was walk all day.

But I do understand his reasoning for this, it's just that I didn't trust them to watch me while I sleep.

"I'll make myself a room and sleep there, wake me up when well go to battle."

The Mad Prince nodded, and I quickly made a small room for myself while blocking the entrance with a netherack.

"Alexa, since you don't need to sleep, you'll be on guard duty. Wake me up if they try to break the wall or anything else."

<Order received sir, get some rest.>

Alexa's invisibility wore off a few hours ago, and I didn't see a reason to use any more invisibility potions for now.

Because of that, we had to stay at the back of the group so soldiers wouldn't be annoyed every time they looked at Alexa.

Once everything was prepared, I put my head on the hay blocks and fell asleep.

-----

<Sir, the Brutes are breaking wall.>

"Wha-what?"

I quickly got up and looked as one of the Brutes broke the wall with a bored expression.

"It's time to go."

That's the only thing he said before turning around and leaving.

"I guess that's my new alarm clock. It's a shame that I don't have the snooze button."

<What are you talking about sir?>

"Don't worry, I'm just talking to myself."

I did a few stretches and cleaned up after myself.

After everything was done, I went to the common room, where I saw everyone was ready, just waiting for me.

There were a few moments of awkward silence before the ceiling was broken, and the attack began.

I wasn't in a hurry since this wasn't my battle, so I slowly walked.

This was just a normal bastion with converted Brutes and mindless skeletons.

But that didn't mean that I was going to stay back and let everyone have their fun.

Instead, I decided to concentrate on the loot.

When the battle began, nobody bothered to pay attention to me anymore, and because of that, I became invisible in the middle of the battlefield.

While the Brutes tried to dodge the deadly arrows to take over the walls.

I just calmly walked while blocking the stray attacks with my mace and broke the wall without a problem.

On the other side, there was a lot of movement, with skeletons and Brutes running from side to side, trying to reinforce the walls with more soldiers from the constant attack.

I even saw some of them carrying buckets of lava, which would leave some unpleasant burns on the Diamond Squad.

But that wasn't my problem to deal with.

This wasn't their first rodeo, so I wasn't going to tell them how to fight.

Instead, I got closer to the man who was in charge of all of this and was desperately yelling commands at his soldiers.

"-throw rocks at them, I don't care, just keep them off my walls!"

The Brute wore a dark fur coat with the head of a Hogling that had golden tasks.

That was quite the ornament he had there.

Around him were a few golden blocks and chests, probably to showcase his wealth to anyone who visited him.

But I doubt he had anyone alive to show it to, so it was all for his eyes.

While he was procureupied, I looked through a few chests of his, and I was quite impressed by what he gathered.

The bastion was similar in size to the one that I took over last time, but this one seems to have more netherite than I expected.

I wonder how they got so many Netherite ingots without a diamond pickaxe.

Or maybe they found another way to mine those precious blocks.

I took whatever I found to be more valuable and looked back at the man who was sweating buckets of water from all the stress piling up.

"What do you mean they found a hole in out walls and used it?"

Wops, looks like they found my tunnel and used it to get inside.

Well it's not like we were going to lose, I just speed up the process of taking over the bastion.

"No, this can't be happening! I just got this power, and I can't lose it after giving up so much. I'll run away and take over another bastion! I'm sure the Wither would have some to spare."

Looks like this man could know the location of the Wither, and if he's so confident that he's not gonna be killed as a retaliation for failing to protect the bastion, that only means his ability must be truly amazing.

I can't let such a key escape from my hands.

The Brute send the last of his soldiers to fight and began to franticly look through the chest that I just robbed.

"Where is everything? Who dared rob me in such a way? And when did they even have the chance?"

I didn't want him to suffer anymore then this, so I decided to knock him out with my mace.

Unfortunately I didn't have any potions on me to make this job easier, and his armor was too strong for me to threathen him with my sword.

But becouse I didn't know witch enchantments he had on his armor, that resulted in him getting hit more then necessary.

Let's say that I had to use a regenerative potion on him, so he wouldn't die by accident.

But I also learned how to use the energy more 'gently', so I'll take that as a valuable experience.

Not too long after, the battle was won by the Diamond Squad with no casualties.

And now it was time for some interrogation.