Chapter 198 Crushing Victory

Garn wiped his forehead with a towel as he stood on the short of hidden port where several dozen ships were docked. He was thinking of the gains he would make when the men under Ashtar began pouring in. The powerful Demon General had already promised him several thousand gold coins per ship of people that would be transferred over to the Central Continent. As an incentive, he had paid Garn three hundred gold coins for shipping the group of half a dozen that had come earlier!

The bald man rubbed his hands greedily as he imagined all the women he would be able to pay for when next he visited a brothel. Or the slaves he would buy for labor the next time he visited a black market. The ones he had now were already worn and used.

"Sir Garn!" A loud voice pulled Garn out of his fantasies, irritating him.

"What?!" He spun around so quickly that his large belly shook with the momentum.

"Erm... His Excellency, Lord Ashtar, wants to speak to you through the transmission crystal..." The guard who had come to fetch Garn spoke nervously as he held forward the glowing crystal ball that projected Ashtar's face.

"A-ah! Lord Ashtar!" The scowl on Garn's face immediately fell away, replaced by a fawning look as he hurried over to snatch the crystal out of the guard's hand. Ashtar simply ignored the man's earlier behavior because he held value.

"Garn." Ashtar nodded his head. "How many ships do you have ready?" He asked.

"I have fifty five ships that are capable of carrying three hundred people at a time on hand at the moment, Your Excellency." Garn replied almost immediately.

"Hmm, that is not enough, but it will do for some preliminary preparations. Send the ships, I have enough men on hand to fill them at once." Ashtar commanded.

"As you wis-!" Before Garn could complete his sentence, a rumble shook the ground, and a deafening boom was heard not too far away. "What?!" The bald mage spun around in shock, only to see a large cloud of smoke rising in the distance.

From nowhere, a black cloud of lightning had appeared over the hidden dock that was kept out of view by the cliffs. Thick lightning bolts flashed, striking down at the cliff and creating explosions that caused the cliff to collapse on itself.

"Attack the Demons!" A battle cry was faintly heard in the distance too, and Garn's eyes widened.

"What is happening?!" He stuttered.

"Your hidden port has been discovered." Ashtar said calmly, but in his mind, he was shocked. He had not expected such a development. And not only that, but the attack had come right when he was about to begin sending his troops!

'Is this some plot?' Was what was on his mind.

"There! He should be the one in charge of this place!" A voice reached Garn's ears, and he turned to see a force of ten men rushing towards him.

"Who dares?!" In anger over his losses, Garn raged, paying no attention to the worn and damaged armor of the attackers. He thought them to be mere bandits that sought to raid his riches, and so, he underestimated them.

Garn raised his hand and summoned a large fireball then hurled it at the advancing fighters, only for it to get split by a single swipe of the lead figures swords.

"W-what?!" Before Garn knew it, he was overwhelmed with a flurry of attacks that drowned out his own efforts.

"Wait! We were ordered to take captives. Don't forget that!" The lead figure announced, and Garn felt that attacks stop. But he was already too injured to even fight back.

'...What just happened?' Garn asked himself in shock. His body was too injured and broken from the barrage of attacks to move, so he could only watch as the attackers discussed amongst themselves. He watched as the barrage of lightning strikes came to a stop, and then a dark robed figure descended from the sky. He easily recognized the prominent figure that had appeared multiple times in Divinity's Bout. The mage summon of the powerful Undead that challenged the boss of the fiftieth floor.

As Garn lamented about his bad luck, Kaladin landed a couple of feet away from Eric. The dark robed Undead mage looked around calmly and nodded.

"The master will be happy." He said calmly.

Kaladin had been sent by Leon to oversee the operation over on this side. The humans had been split into two groups, with the other one being led by Nero. Although Kaladin had participated, the humans still had ample opportunities to flex their muscles. He had only used his lightning to expose the hidden port, but had not busied himself with fighting the weaklings hidden within the port.

"W-who are you people...?" Garn gathered the strength to open his mouth and ask. He was hoping that they would indulge him and leak a bit of information about themselves so that Ashtar would hear them through the transmission crystal which was still intact.

Kaladin turned to look at Garn's beaten body and strode forward. He then bent down and picked up the cracked crystal, looking into Ashtar's unshaking eyes.

"We are the ones who will kill you according to our master's will." Kaladin replied, staring right at Ashtar. The Demon General held the contact for a couple of seconds before severing the connection with the crystal. Kaladin only scoffed in disdain.

,m "The master would appreciate this gift." He said, tucking the crystal into the baggy sleeve of his large robes, and turning around. "Let us return." He said to the humans.

"The others are still rounding up the prisoners." Eric told him.

"I see... Well then, we shall return when the prisoners are rounded up." He said and turned to walk away to the edge of the high cliff that Garn had been standing on before their sudden attack. He looked at the distant waters and sighed.

The mission had been a crushing victory!