The Herb King



"You guys should return to your empires first to see the situation. Although our scouts didn't see a separate Underworlder army, it is better to be careful. You have the upgraded Communication Runes on you so just inform us if you encounter the Underworlders." Aethelwolf was worried that the Underworlders might attack the other empires while they would fight with the one million Underworlders marching toward the Jasper Empire.

Hearing this, everyone's faces turned incredibly serious. They nodded their heads and expressed their desire to return to their respective empires. 

"We will return first." 

"Goodbye, Ancestor Xymera."

"Goodbye, Sir Aethelwolf." 

After bidding farewell, the various leaders left one after another. 

"I should go back too. I will come back as soon as possible." Empress Shiphra felt a bit reluctant to part with Aethelwolf. He was the first man who made her heart flutter so she wanted to stay with him and get to know him better. However, she had to go back to the Azure Phoenix Empire to stabilize the hearts of her citizens.

"Alright. Take care." Aethelwolf smiled at her.

Empress Shiphra also smiled beneath her veil. She then leaped into the air and summoned a pair of fiery wings as she flew into the sky like a beautiful phoenix. 

"We should go too." Estes muttered. He then turned his gaze to his daughter and said. "You are coming with us." He felt that there was a need for his daughter to experience more battles. Although she was already a Level 5 Esper, she still lacked battle experience. 

Nocturna was pleasantly surprised when she heard her father's words. Most of the time, her father would ask her to stay in the headquarters. She was naturally happy that she could join them this time. "Yes, father." She smiled joyfully.

"Let's go!" Xymera urged them. 

Soon, the group left under the lead of Ancestor Xymera. 

***

Ramiel was experienced in leading an army. Under his leadership, the allied army had already formed into several regiments. Each regiment would be stationed in key locations and their primary objective was to act as eyes of the allied army. Once they see the Underworlder army, they had to report it to Ramiel immediately so that the allied army could provide them with support. 

"Remember, you are not allowed to attack proactively. You should report to me when you encounter the Underworlder army. Do you guys understand?" Ramiel stared at the Regiment Commanders he had temporarily appointed. 

"Yes, sir!" The Regiment Commanders answered in unison. 

"Good! You guys go to the locations assigned to your regiments!" Ramiel shouted in a commanding tone.

"Yes, sir!" The Regiment Commanders saluted before they went to their respective regiments. 

Looking at their figures, Ramiel frowned and shook his head. "They are strong, but they are not as skilled as the elites of my main army." He muttered with a sigh.

"Why are you even comparing them to Sir Aethelwolf's soldiers?" A cold voice drifted into his ears, sending chills in his heart. When he turned around, he saw Aenwyn looking at him with a calm expression. Her nickname as the Ice Goddess truly suited her well.

Ramiel smiled and didn't say anything. There would be no good outcome if he dared to quibble with her. 

Suddenly, the faces of Ramiel and Aenwyn changed as they stared into the sky. They felt powerful auras coming towards them at lightning speed. 

Ramiel furrowed his eyebrows, but they soon eased up. He raised his hand and muttered. "It's King Aethelwolf's aura." 

Aenwyn was surprised by his words. She still couldn't tell the auras, but Ramiel already identified them. From the looks of it, Ramiel was a bit more powerful than her. 'This guy has hidden himself well...' She thought it her heart.

Not long later, a few figures appeared above the clouds, hovering like immortals. Leading them was a woman with unrivaled beauty. Even Aenwyn who was known for her beauty was slightly inferior to her. 

"Transcendent Level!" She heard Ramiel's soft cry and his words made her heart tremble. 'Transcendent Level! That woman is actually a Transcendent expert! She must be the Ancestor of the Ancient Fairies. The person who was sealed inside the Frigid Snow Dimension.' As one of Aethelwolf's most trusted subordinates, he would always often tell her about important matters. This included information related to Xymera, the Ancestor of the Ancient Fairies.

Aethelwolf and the rest slowly descended in front of Ramiel and Aenwyn.

"Greetings, King Aethelwolf!" The two greeted while lightly lowering their heads. As for the people who came with Aethelwolf, they just gave them a nod to show their courtesy.

Xymera's eyes flashed imperceptibly when she saw this. She noticed that the aura of these two people was quite strong. The aura they revealed was already comparable to Eliazar and Victor, the two strongest Holy Generals of the Mystic Island. "These two are..."

"This is Ramiel Sigurd, the General of my Barden Territory's main army. And this is Aenwyn Aracan, the former crown princess of the elven Aracan Kingdom. She is now working under me." Aethelwolf didn't plan to hide anything from her. To be precise, he couldn't hide anything from the eyes of a Transcendent being. Sooner or later, she would know about this information so it was better to tell her now. 

Xymera nodded her head at his words. Though she was quite surprised when she heard Aenwyn's identity. Even during her time, the elves were elusive creatures and they would rarely interact with the others. 

It wasn't just Xymera, the others were also stunned when they heard Aenwyn's identity. They thought that she was just a High Elf. Who would have thought that she was actually the princess of an elven kingdom?

"Where are the other soldiers going? When we were flying towards this place, we noticed that they are moving in separate directions." Estes said while looking inquiringly at Ramiel. 

Ramiel didn't answer him right away and looked at Aethelwolf. After seeing him nod his head, Ramiel turned his gaze back to Estes and spoke. "We received a report from our scouts in the Northern Region that an army of one million Underworlders is marching towards the Jasper Empire. To prevent the Jasper Empire from falling, I mobilized the allied army to intercept the Underworlders. I told them to..." 

Ramiel told them about his plan and when Estes and the others heard it, they couldn't help but reevaluate him. 

"Sir Argus, it looks like someone has stolen your spotlight." Estes muttered teasingly. 

Argus merely shook his head at his words. He wasn't actually interested in leading the army and now that there was someone who has shown a better leadership ability than him, he felt more relieved in his heart. 

"Since you have already organized the defenses, we only need to organize our attacking armies. From the last report, there are almost ten million Underworlders who had gathered in the Northern Region. They must have sent one million of their soldiers to test me out." Xymera's eyes flashed with wisdom as she uttered those words. She intentionally revealed her aura earlier during their flight to prevent the Transcendent expert of the Underworlders from taking action. She never thought that he would actually respond in such a way. From the looks of it, the other side was still uncertain of her power and they wanted to know how powerful she was. However, would she foolishly reveal her abilities? 

"Just stay here and rest for the time being, Ancestor. We will deal with those small fries. You only have to worry about the Transcendent being on their side." Estes muttered confidently. With Argus and Aethelwolf, he was confident that they could decimate the one million Underworlders." 

Hearing this, Xymera chuckled. "Alright, but you guys should be careful. Don't underestimate those creatures. They are more cunning than you can imagine." She muttered seriously. She had experienced their cunningness back then and even her comrades paid the price with their lives. 

Aethelwolf and the others nodded. "We will be careful." They answered. 

Soon, a week passed by in a flash. The allied army was preparing for the attack of the Underworlders. They set up numerous traps in the territorial borders of the Jasper Empire. Estes also commanded the four Holy Generals to lead an army of one million and five hundred thousand soldiers to intercept the enemy. Ramiel also joined them under Aethelwolf's command. 

At this moment, Ramiel was leading the attacking army. He split the army into two to execute a pincer attack on the Underworlder army. Victor led half of the army, while he led the remaining half. 

Another week passed and they finally saw the Underworlder army. 

"There are only six hundred thousand of them here. Where are the four hundred thousand Underworlders?" Ramiel frowned after roughly counting the enemy forces. He felt that something unusual was going on so he immediately informed Victor about this. He also called Aethelwolf and told him about what he had seen.