System's POV
chapter-403

"If you're just making this up, we will kill you," the Wolf King stated. "You already broke our trust once. Don't think that you can get away with doing it a second time."

"You'll soon realize that I'm telling the truth," Jalrog replied as it traveled alongside the Wolf King and the Broodmother. "Also, there won't be a next time. I can promise you that."

"As you should," the Broodmother commented. "Still, how did you come across the information?"

"I caught a few of their scouts loitering in my territory, so I interrogated them," Jalrog answered. "Humans are weak-willed. All I need to do is promise them that I will give them a chance to live if they answer my questions, and they start talking."

"What happened to those humans?" the Wolf King asked.

"I ate them, of course." Jalrog smirked. "It has been a while since I have eaten Wanderers."

The Wolf King and the Broodmother didn't ask more about the matter because whether the Centipede King was telling the truth or not would be known the next day. For now, they hastened their paces because traveling with the bloodthirsty centipede was something that made them uncomfortable. The Centipede King didn't mind and allowed its two comrades to march ahead of him until they could no longer be seen.

'Yes, there won't be a next time,' Jalrog mused. 'Because by tomorrow, both of you will be mine.'

After making sure that there weren't any other monsters nearby, Jalrog dug deep underground to meet up with the Magma Bal-Boa near its lair.

A few minutes later, it arrived at their meeting place and eyed the Rank 7 Sovereign, the servant of the creature who went by the name Thirteen. "Aside from the Wyvern King and the Death Lord, almost everyone is amassing their armies in the North," Jalrog said. "Are you sure your Master can keep his end of the bargain?"

Rocky nodded. "Yes."

"Good." Jalrog nodded back. "We'll see if our interests really coincide with each other. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's battle."

The Centipede King's eyes glinted with killing intent as it remembered the faces of its comrades.

All of them hated Jalrog for what it had done to Evuvug, but the Centipede King didn't give a damn about what they were thinking.

'I will devour all of you anyway, so why should I care about the opinion of food?' Jalrog thought before leaving Rocky behind, with a sinister smirk plastered on its insectoid face. The Magma Bal-Boa, who was doing his best to not feel intimidated by Jalrog's oppressive aura earlier, finally relaxed after the Centipede King was gone.

Rocky was currently on standby and waiting for Thirteen's further orders.

It had just finished setting up dormant mines in the North an hour before meeting up with Jalrog.

These mines were a bit special because they were developed by the Dvalinn Federation in preparation for a day like this.

When Renz shared this information with Thirteen, the teenage boy asked that he be given half of the Dvalinn Federation's stockpile of these special mines.

Wendell didn't bat an eye and agreed to the request of their Supreme Commander.

They couldn't afford to not go all-out in this operation, so he didn't hesitate to share this special weapon with the teenage boy.

These mines were hard to detect, even by monsters living in the ground. They would only explode when exposed to a certain frequency which only the Higher-Ups of the Dvalinn Federation could identify.

The Earth Dragons remained at the center of the continent because they believed that the Kings and their forces were more than enough to handle the humans.

They had driven them out in the past, and they were confident that they could do it again.

At least, that was what they believed.

As the hours passed, the sun finally rose from the East and shared its light with the world.

Thirteen woke up from the sound of his alarm clock and yawned loudly.

He had a good night's sleep, and he even dreamed.

However, for some reason, he couldn't remember what he dreamed about.

'Well, I guess it's not that important,' Thirteen thought before getting up from the bed to take a quick shower.

He knew that he might not get a chance to freshen up later, so he decided to take a bath while he still could.

The water was cold, but it didn't matter to him. Its low temperature only made his mind sharper and more awake.

After wearing the clothes he had prepared to wear that day, Thirteen headed to the cafeteria and saw that the 69th Battalion and the Valkyries were already there to eat.

The moment they saw him, all of them stood up to give him a salute, which he returned in a casual manner.

"Eat up, and make sure that you'll be able to last for half a day's battle," Thirteen declared. "Feel free to bring some energy bars because anything can happen."

After saying those words, Thirteen went to eat with Tiona, feeling at ease.

His soldiers were paying close attention to their Commander, but they couldn't see any signs of anxiety in his facial expression.

It was as if the teenage boy was just about to take a stroll somewhere in the Rigel Continent.

He didn't look like someone who was about to command the allied armies of the Dvalinn Federation, the Aldebaran Alliance, and the Central Government.

After spending many months with him, the 69th Battalion had fully recognized Zion Leventis as a very capable commander.

The Valkyries, who had recently joined them, felt the same. They had suffered greatly due to the incident at the Dvalinn Port, and Marion had even written her letter of resignation.

But after Evuvug was defeated, Thirteen gave all the credit to the Valkyries, allowing them to regain their honor and dignity.

So in their eyes, Zion Leventis was a special existence that allowed them to atone for their past mistakes.

Thirteen, who was unaware of the overflowing respect and gratitude that the people in the cafeteria had for him, ate happily while he communicated with Jubei, who was commanding the Nautilus far out into the sea.

An all-out attack on land, air, and sea was about to begin in a few hours, and if everything went according to his plans, a good chunk of the Rigel Continent would be as good as his own private property.