Chapter 74 - Pep Talks Are Unimportant!

Mohawk continued to chase Malim around the beach for a while more, while Tide and Ariel continued to discuss more important matters concerning their mission here on the Northern Continent.

They oversaw the offloading of equipment onto the beach, from the ships, and the setting up of the beachhead, and then they directed the warships into the hollowed out cavern that Sir Delk had told them about, after checking them out first.

"Wow, Sir Delk really knows his stuff. Are you sure he has yet to visit the Northern Continent?" Ariel whistled upon setting her eyes on the spacious cavern.

The rocky ceiling was high above the ships, and the spacious width of the cavern allowed multiple ships to sail into it side by side. It was large enough to serve as their harbor for now. In fact, if they so wished, they could very well launch a campaign to conquer the Northern Continent, using this area as their base.

"That's what he said." Tide murmured in response as he too, examined the cavern.

The pair of them were currently standing atop one of the many warships that had been brought into the cavern. Only a couple of warships remained outside the cavern, but they would remain there, just in case anything awry happened to the ships in the cavern.

A silent thud drew their attention to the back of the ship. There, Mohawk had landed with ease, and was also inspecting the interior of the cavern.

"Are you done playing around?" Tide smirked at the annoyed look that Mohawk shot his way.

"Shut up, or I'll beat your ass next!" Mohawk sneered at the blue haired Merfolk before he finally approached them. He gave Ariel a curt nod, which made her cheeks heat up. Mohawk was a very good looking man, and Ariel had a soft spot for men with such sculpted looks.

"The men are busy setting up the beachhead. It will be some time before we will be able to strike with our full force, but despite that, Malim wans to send out a smaller strike force to Kraetor City. He says Sir Delk has predicted it to be our target's location." Mohawk informed the two other demi-humans about the latest developments.

"Sounds good. With the forces the Kraetor City will be able to provide us, we can sweep across the remaining packs with ease, and then focus our attention on the Henshaw Dynasty." Tide nodded. Ariel remained quiet as the two men discussed their plans.

"So who will lead the strike force deeper into the Northern Continent? Malim said we can decide that between ourselves." Mohawk asked when he finished explaining their plans. He blew on his finger that had been digging through his ears, a slight frown marring his expression.

Tide and Ariel looked between each other, before shaking their heads.

"We work best in the water, and while Kraetor City has lakes and rivers surrounding it, we still won't be at our best." Tide answered.

"It will be best if you led the initial strike, as you will be the most effective." Ariel concurred. While she was eager to let loose on the naughty humans who had plans of being the overlords of the Northern Continent, she knew that her time was not yet right. The time when she and her spectacular abilities would shine had yet to come.

"Hmm, if you insist." Mohawk tried to sound as though he was not too excited, but the wide grin that spread out over his face betrayed his true emotions. He was eager to test his mettle against the natives of the Northern Continent.

The Northern Continent had only just been colonized by some minor forces that had emigrated from the other continents of Topor.

Because of how recently the colonists had moved here, their development was lacking quite behind that of the other continents, making them some of the weakest forces on the world. Mohawk was eager to fight them and see how far they had developed since then. After all, the forces that were present on the continent had been here for less than two decades.

According to the information they had on hand, Kraetor City was one of the major powerhouses present on the continent, along with the hostile Henshaw Dynasty. Topping the Henshaw Dynasty would leave only the Kraetor City and a few powerful packs as the major powerhouses on the continent, and because of their crucial help in letting them get their freedom from the oppressive humans, the powers left standing will be indebted to them.

"Hahaha!" Mohawk erupted into fanatical laughter as he imagined all the benefits that he could bring the Crescent Arc Kingdom, back on the Central Continent.

He did not notice the strange looks that his maniacal laughter garnered him from the people around him.

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A couple of days passed by in preparation before the initial strike force that was led by Mohawk departed from the beach. The strike force consisted of three hundred demi-humans and humans. The demi-humans varied in species, while the humans only took up about forty percent of the total amount of manpower in the strike force.

"Alright, people!" Mohawk yelled out loud to get the attention of the people that were placed under his command. An oppressive aura rolled off his shoulders in waves as he commanded the full attention of hundreds of people. No one made a sound while he stared at them, and although there were over a dozen other dominants present in the strike force, none of them thought of trying to disrespect Mohawk.

The Wereape stood atop a large rock that gave him a nice view of the people under his command. He had his signature red slacks hanging from his hips, and a small, red jacket around his back. The jacket was too small to cover him properly, and was left open, but he preferred it that way. On his back, a long, red metal staff was secured firmly, his main weapon of choice. He looked imposing, as though he could easily sweep away all opposition.

After a long five minutes of examining his underlings, Mohawk finally spoke.

"We are the initial strike force of our army, I am sure all of you know about this already. I am not good at giving pep talks or morale boosting speeches, so I will get straight to the point. When we leave here, we will march straight to the walls of the Kraetor City! And we will sweep away all opposition!"

Mohawk's voice boomed across the clearing as he addressed his subordinates. Although he did not say anything too inspiring, the fact that such a powerful figure was taking the time to speak to them was enough to light up a flame in the hearts of the various people of different backgrounds.

While the people taking part in this mission were of various races, their employer had taken the extra time and care to pick humans who had no misgivings or animosity towards demi-humans of any kind, and also to pick demi-humans who had nothing against humans.

Because of this extra care that was taken, everyone worked together smoothly like a well oiled machine.

By the time Mohawk's speech was over, the spirits of his men had already peaked, and reached the high heavens above. As one, they all looked up at the authoritative figure of the Wereape that was about to lead them into battle.

"Let's move!" With the order given, the men and women, human and demi-human alike, all marched as one into the forest that laid between them and the Kraetor City.

Mohawk himself took to the tall trees, using his incredible agility and dexterity to maneuver through the thick, plentiful branches of the trees. He, along with several other Wereapes, would act as the scouts of the strike force, seeing as they had some of the best scouting abilities among everyone there.

With the scouts at the lead, the strike force soon disappeared in the morning fog that obscured the vision beyond the beach.

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"They have left." Malim spoke to himself as he watched the strike force disappeared in the fog. A scroll immediately rose from within the side bag that hung from his shoulder. The scroll glowed as a few lines of writing appeared on its surface.

~

'Good. They should be able to meet up with the taskforce that is about to launch an attack on the city within a day's time. According to my prediction, they will be able to meet up with them just before the taskforce leaves their camp.'

~

"Mmm." Malim nodded and the scroll rolled itself up and tucked itself back into his side bag before losing its glow.

'I wonder how things are going to turn out..' Malim thought to himself.