Chapter 397 - The Sooner, The Better

"Will your wife be okay?"

Ivan asked as they all watched the women leave with the servants. 

"She'll be fine. She knows why she came here with us. She's not on vacation," Perun said as he started walking towards another direction. 

"How cold— you should at least help her settle down." Gin looked at his brother's back with disapproval. 

"Quit it Stribog. She's with Ali now. Her daughter can take care of her. It's not the time for Father-in-law to cater to her. She's in danger," Ryuu admonished. 

With this, Gin clamped his mouth shut. They all quietly followed Perun towards his study. The Ritz King went directly towards his seat behind the huge oak table while the others sat randomly on the different chairs and chaises inside the huge room. 

"News?" the king asked, and Fredek immediately stepped up to report. 

"The royal guests already returned to their respective countries," he said. 

He was talking about the kings from the kingdoms who came to visit to witness the summoning of Aurel. For Ged, the event only happened less than two days ago as Perun and Ivan had only been gone for a day. 

Perun nodded before signaling him to continue. 

"There seemed to be very little activity from the Dark Valley. But there's unrest on the neighboring empire."

"Dhahliah?" Perun asked. 

The mentioned Dark Valley was the vast barren land where he had sealed Czernobog. The neighboring empire was called Dhahliah. 

"Yes, Your Majesty," Fredek's face looked grim. "The empire's crown prince went missing. Civil unrest was brewing as the second prince was not popular among the citizens."

"Sthral?"Ivan snorted. 

"What's with him?" Gin asked. 

"Harpy caster," Ivan answered and Gin winced. 

"Empire's doomed then," he commented. Harpies who were not part of his horde were an uncontrollable harbinger of chaos. "Are we going to help?"

Perun shook his head. "Rod's Law," he reminded them. "Also, that man won't do anything stupid as long as we're all here," he added, and so nobody talked about aiding the Dhahlian Empire anymore. 

"We don't have to go to Dhahliah. We will just need to go to the Dark valley with our army." The five of them discussed the plan in detail as they were going to be Alinea's pillar of support. 

"I am to go to the depths of the Black God's lair with the Princess?" Fredek asked with a glimmer of happiness in his eyes. 

Ivan grinned. Fredek might look scholarly, but he was actually a demon on the battlefield. If he were not out on a sėnsɨtɨvė task during the Immortal War, he would have been with Alinea during the battle. But locating Stribog and Kresnik was Perun's priority so he and Ivan left the Ritz Princess to battle it out with the Black God's forces almost a year ago. 

"Yes. You and Ivan and some selected men from the army will accompany you. Once we release the first seal, the dark forces will go out to the surface. But many will be left in the lair— the stronger ones. Alinea should not deal with those." 

"How do we select the men—and how many?" Gin asked. 

"My special team of elites has three hundred people and most of them are upper B class in strength," Ivan answered. For normal Gedians without deity blood, the strongest they could be was B class. 

"Assign half to Ali," Ryuu said, surprising the men who all turned to him. 

"Only half?" Ivan clarified. This was different from what he was expecting. "The distance from the first seal to the second seal is far. Along the way, there would be hordes of enemies. Even if most are simple shadow lurkers the number is still astounding. If there are only a hundred and fifty soldiers plus me and Fredek to accompany Ali, there is a big chance we will be exhausting are powers before we even reach the Black God."

It was true. 

"You all don't need to do anything before the second seal," Ryuu said. "I will clear the path for you."

"HA?" Gin stood up to look at Ryuu closely. "You will let me deal with the minions at the surface alone?"

"Are you so weak you can't even deal with those alone?" Ryuu countered blandly. 

Gin sat back down with a pout. "My babies can deal with them," he said swiftly. 

"I will leave Mavara with you as well. He's too big to bring," Ryuu added as he turned to Perun. 

The King of Heaven looked like he understood what he was planning. Instead of helping Stribog clear the surface, so the others could go to the lair, he would clear the path for them until the next seal. Then he would return to help Stribog outside. 

"It's faster," Perun agreed. 

The territories at the Dark Valley's proximity were Ritz and the Dhahliah. Since the latter was having internal problems, they would only utilize Ivan's men and the Ritz Kingdom's army. 

"There's no need to utilize the army actually. My babies can't go all out if they have to mind where they step," Gin said lazily. 

Harpies went battle crazy. They're naturally inclined to bloodlust. Once they started killing, they wouldn't stop and might accidentally cause friendly fire. 

"Just let the army on standby at the edge. Limit the harpies' attack area and let the army finish off those that step out of the boundary," Ryuu said. 

With that, the strategy for the final Immortal War was finished. 

"When do we do this?" Gin asked and Perun sighed. 

"As soon as possible," he answered. "I told the Makis I'm taking Yuuka on a cruise so the maximum time we have is a month and a half Earth time."

He was originally planning to fix the time difference between Ged and Earth, but he couldn't do that while guarding Yuuka against Fanya. If he prioritized doing it, it would postpone the battle further as it took time. 

"We'll do it the day after tomorrow then," Ryuu said, and the rest agreed. 

The sooner, the better.