Chapter 930: Darc Demon’s Four-Sided Strategy (4k)
Of course, Nix and Aurora shared a room. Similarly, Dak and Olivia were also in one room.
This was all very normal and reasonable, nothing particularly worth paying extra attention to.
After settling their luggage, everyone regrouped. Dani Sophie then presented the collected documents she had gathered beforehand.
In terms of information gathering, Dani was clearly more professional than Marcus. Dak sat in a chair, taking the report Dani personally handed him, reading it thoroughly.
The report Dani provided also included a map, showing the positions of the various forces.
The entrance to the [Heavenly Court] was located right at the center of the [Mountain of Gods]. Connecting the academy’s campsite position with the Heavenly Court entrance formed a straight line directly north.
The Church’s forces’ camp was situated to the west of the academy camp. That area used to be a mountainous region but had since been transformed into a dense “sacred domain” rich in light elements.
Deep within the forest to the east lay the Elemental Race.
Originally a barren ghost forest, it had now become lush and verdant — the Elemental Race had ceased hiding themselves long ago.
The army of the Northern Duke was distributed along the southern front. Geographically, the Northern Duke’s army cut off the rear access of the other three forces, but they had legitimate reasons for protecting their territory.
Additionally, the covert forces secretly deployed by the king were hidden in the shadows, with only a small fraction mixed within the Northern army. They had no specific camp and remained secretive in their movements.
However, according to the documents, just the day before, a noble affiliated with the king appeared in the Northern Duke’s camp, seemingly establishing some form of cooperation with them.
“This isn’t good news,” Professor Metia said, flicking her fingers lightly as she spoke, “Do we have any concrete information on their collaboration?”
But faced with this question, Dani Sophie merely shook her head, saying, “Currently, there is no information. Due to our premature exposure, other forces were already prepared for our scrutiny, making it difficult to gather effective intelligence.”
Dak glanced at her and said, “Regarding the nobles, I will handle that. At the very least, I’ll ensure they don’t interfere with our actions. We never really expected their assistance anyway.”
“That’s up to you,” Professor Metia nodded and continued flipping through the pages.
Dak, however, focused on the name of the noble mentioned in the document, pondering if he had ever seen the person before.
Regardless of whether he had met the noble or not, the outcome wouldn’t change. After finding no results from his thoughts, he turned his attention back to the Church of the Saints’ intelligence, particularly focusing on recent arrivals.
The Church had shifted its focus from the capital city to the Mountain of Gods, and one of the covert operations involved this very mountain.
Their actions were the most urgent and could have the greatest impact on this operation.
Dak couldn’t help but worry about whether Chris could handle it—though not doubting her capabilities, the Church was notoriously stubborn and unlikely to change course easily due to external factors.
“Hold on, the Church sent twin saint knights?” Dak’s gaze shifted slightly, his expression becoming increasingly serious.
Saint Son Knights were a recent creation by the Church, even more famous than the [Saint Son] Evan Pearson and [Saint Maiden] Audrey Jeane.
They were former students of the Church’s secret academy and should be around twenty years old, considered pillars of the younger generation.
Since Dak started following the newspapers, he often saw their names in the headlines.
Twin Saint Knights were siblings, both blonde-haired and blue-eyed, exceptionally beautiful.
Sending the Twin Saint Knights to the Mountain of Gods indicated the Church’s high regard for the situation here… and their determination to obtain certain items!
Considering the possible presence of the War God’s soul within [Saint Maiden] Audrey Jeane, it wasn’t impossible that their goal was indeed the [Heavenly Court].
If this was true, the Church’s move would actually be very advantageous for Dak and his group!
After all, the Mountain of Gods was already fraught with danger, and the [Heavenly Court] was even more mysterious.
They couldn’t expect someone who had no interest in the [Heavenly Court] to collaborate with them in delving into it.
If the Church was interested, then they had a chance to cooperate.
“They were right; the focus of this operation lies with the Church’s forces!”
After some thought, Dak voiced his thoughts.
Then he noticed Professor Shylph seemed to be considering something but didn’t speak up due to her character.
Dak felt she didn’t need to maintain her facade in this situation, but since she was willing to, he didn’t press further.
Everyone speculated about what the Church was doing, quickly shifting the focus to negotiating with them.
But besides the Church, the Elemental Race also dispatched new reinforcements.
Compared to the Church, the Elemental Race kept their member information more confidential.
They had made extensive preparations in that forest, making it difficult for the [Scorpio Palace]’s maids to infiltrate.
However, given the similarities in planning with the Church, the possibility of the Elemental Race having a similar strategy was not small.
“So, we also need to invest heavily in dealing with the Elemental Race,” Professor Metia summarized.
“But it won’t be easy to reach an agreement with the Elemental Race,” Professor Steven Harvey stated.
Due to the convergence of the royal secret agents and the Northern Duke’s forces, Professor Harvey found himself without tasks. He was trying to find something to do.
But sending a necromancer to negotiate with the Elemental Race?
If they were dark elves, it might work…
Dak thought for a moment and said, “Considering the special circumstances, the previous task assignments do need adjustment. I will still handle the Northern Duke and the royal secret agents. Professor Harvey can join me. As for the Church, let Chris lead a team to probe first. Once I finish handling the nobles, I will go and see the Twin Saints Knights in person. Regarding the Elemental Race, Professor Kazel will take the lead, but I hope Professor Metia can also participate.”
“If the situation is clear, there is no point for me to stay in the camp,” Professor Metia said. “I share common interests with the moon elves, so I believe I can build friendships with them.”
Professor Kazel smiled slightly, not objecting to the arrangement.
“Hold on,” Marcus suddenly asked when everyone was nearly in agreement. “Don’t we have an Elemental Race student? Using her as a starting point should make negotiations easier.”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone’s eyes instinctively fell on Professor Shylph.
“That’s a good idea,” Ophelia suddenly said. Professor Shylph looked at her and asked, “Will it work?” Ophelia nodded slightly and said, “Shouldn’t be a problem.” Professor Shylph pondered for a moment, then looked up and said, “Alright.”
Dak knew she didn’t like interacting with the Elemental Race, but everything was for the greater good.
He therefore said, “We’ll finalize the initial distribution. We’ll set out immediately after breakfast tomorrow. We only have one day, so we must do our best.”
With that, everyone continued discussing, making more detailed personnel assignments and pre-planning specific details of the mission, completing a comprehensive plan on the spot.
[My headache was severe in the early morning, so I swapped a sick leave note for a little life. I wrote four thousand words to make up for yesterday’s minimum quota. The result of the knife-edge bounty is fourteen thousand words, and I should be able to pay it off after spitting out two pounds of blood.]
