Chapter 402 - Party Time!

On the sixth day, even before the rose, the camp was already filled with activities. Everyone in the expedition was able to take a good amount of rest since Stribog had released his harpies to stand guard. The harpies were originally dark elementals— still were dark elementals but they had formed an eternal pact with the Wind God and only followed him. Riddled with malice, they scared off all the lesser monsters so they stayed away from the camp. 

The elementals didn't need to sleep as long as they were not injured badly. Guarding the entire camp was a piece of cake for them even if they would be joining the battle the next day. This was the reason the commander, Gin asked all the soldiers to sleep which they happily did. 

So today, everybody oozed with energy. After a quick breakfast, they kept their belongings and were ready to move towards the Black Cavern. None of them would bring their mounts and would go on foot so that they wouldn't be caught in the battle. The distance between the camp and the battlefield, the vast plane outside the Black Cavern was around twenty kilometers. 

Normally, the troops would walk continuously for an hour and take a break in between until they reached their destination. However, Gin had set up a huge portal that would deliver them straight at the edge of the battlefield, so they didn't have to waste a lot of stamina. 

If it weren't for Rod's Law, Gin would have preferred to set up the portal directly from Ritz to the Black Cavern. But the distance of this portal within Ged was restricted, and so he decided to use this to connect the camp to the battlefield instead. Alinea had asked him about it before and all he answered was: "It's because your grandpa's stingy."

Alinea didn't know how to react after that. She never knew Rod and he had vanished as soon as he was done creating heaven, earth, and hell. She was not sure if her uncle could casually call Rod stinky, though. Nonetheless, she put this at the back of her mind as the troops started entering the portal. 

Gin had already entered the portal at the forefront with Aello and the horde. The human soldiers who were to man the borders followed suit. Alinea, Ryuu, and the others would go after along with the hundred and fifty elite soldiers they would take with them to the second seal. 

Soon, everyone reached the plane just outside the Black Cavern. 

"Men, go to your posts at once!" the captains of the troops ordered and the soldiers didn't waste time going to their respective area of responsibility. 

They were severely outnumbered compared to the dark elementals, they knew, as the ones who could come out of the seal when it was weakened already amounted to three million. What more if the seal was removed completely? Their number was only an eight of their numbers during the recently concluded Immortal War when other kingdoms' armies also joined the fray. But unexpectedly, unlike before, they were more at ease. In fact, they were even excited. 

Why?

It's because not only they had Emperor Ivan, the strongest and Grand Adviser Fredek, second strongest Gedian partaking in the battlefield, they also had both Stribog and Kresnik with them. 

"Why are you smiling like idiots?" one of the captains asked his troops. 

The men were staring at the tall man who stood next to their princess with stars in their eyes. Their gazes were akin to people who met with their idol and they were bubbling with excitement. 

"Captain, that's Lord Kresnik," one of them said making the captain give him an "I know that, idiot" kind of look on his face. 

Both Stribog and Kresnik had been presented to the army before they left Ritz. Of course, there's no one in this expedition who didn't know who they were. 

"I'm so happy was born in this era," another said dreamily and the captain couldn't do anything but sigh. 

Soldiers were naturally battle-fanatics, and they greatly admired strength. They heard of the legends surrounding Stribog and Kresnik, but compared to the legends, they were more inclined to fawn upon Kresnik who had been a Gedian two generations ago. Emperor Vladimir, the hero of the Immortal War fifty years ago who had solely defeated the Black God's minions was a real living legend for them. Well, Vladimir was dead, but he was Kresnik, and Heaven's Flame Emperor was there with them right now. 

The captain sighed. There was no need to expend energy in reprimanding the soldiers. He could clearly understand their feelings. If he weren't tasked to keep his troop in line, he'd be joining them. 

"Ah, we're so lucky. Our king is Perun, our princess is Alencica, and Lord Kresnik is her husband."

"Enough! Go to your places. Don't let Stribog and the commander see you making fools of yourselves," the captain castigated and the men clamored to return to their places. 

Several more minutes and all the soldiers lined up the borders of the Dark Valley. They all stood in attention with their weapons drawn. They were to strike down all dark elementals that would be able to flee the rampage of the harpies and Mavara in the middle. 

"Let's go," Ryuu told Alinea and Fredek. 

Ivan who stood next to them raised his fist to signal the one hundred and fifty thousand men they would take to the second seal. All of them took their position on the far side of the Black Cavern. They would sneak in with Ryuu paving their way as soon as the first and second wave of dark elementals came running out of the cavern when Perun released the seal. 

Reaching their position, Ryuu released Mavara. The tattoo on his arm spiraled as it burst into blue flames. The flames left his body and became huge, taking up the shape of a twenty-foot dragon which gradually solidified and landed just at the entrance of the cavern. 

Stribog who sat on Aello's shoulder then gave one sweeping glance at his horde before releasing his energy and condensing it in his hand. He then shot the ball of wind to the air. It was a signal that was very sėnsɨtɨvė to his twin. 

Several seconds passed and a huge violet oracle appeared in the entire area of the battlefield. It was Perun working on the seal and Stribog grinned. 

"It's party time!"