" My lord the merchants are afraid to travel under our banners …. " A courtier reported to Thor who had a deep frown to his face.
" What kind of a space pirate are we facing? How much damage have they caused? Thor asked, stroking his beard as the bad news was broken down for him.
" It's not a group sir, it's a god, certainly not someone we know or already have on our wanted lists, but he is rumoured to be at least a mid tier 6 god and is extremely powerful.
As per the report he uses a sword but you can never be too sure because the report also suggests that he has powerful mage-like abilities". The courtier reported as Thor seemed to be perplexed.
" How much was the worth of the goods being transferred by the merchant fleet? " Thor asked
" A few billion gold coins… " the courtier replied sheepishly
" Why would a tier6 god even care about such a small haul? This makes no sense, who the f*** made this report? " Thor grumbled as clearly this made no sense to him.
If one had god-like abilities and strength, they would rule entire planets and even if they were going for looting they would take control over galaxies with abundant resources, not merchant ships worth little money.
" The only thing that I can think of is, the god had a personal beef with the merchant fleet somehow and took it out on them.
It's certainly unfortunate, but it happens.
Tell the merchant union to not be too afraid and fly out normally and attach added security measures to their fleet.
If push comes to shove we will send strong gods to save their fleet ". Thor said as he dismissed the matter for the day.
The very first terrorist attack that Rudra had launched had rattled the merchant union of the thunder nation.
The reason they were rattled was because of the stories of the one survivor ship that Rudra had let go, whose members said that it took the enemy one move to obliterate the fleet and injure a tier 6 god, and two more to finish him.
However, Thor had concluded the matter as an isolated incident so the merchant union could only uneasily restart business as usual.
What Thor and his courtiers missed out on completely was the contents of the goods being transported by the merchant fleet.
Albeit only worth a few billion the merchant fleet was transporting Rhodium crystals and high grade steel that could be used to forge weapons.
Rudra's attack on this particular merchant ship was strategic. He was not a fool who did things without thinking them through, as while Augustus had been preparing for war since ages having already ramped up production of weapons and import of energy crystals and food to create a huge strategic reserve, the thunder nation had not been doing so.
Rudra wanted to target their existing reserve pool even before the war started so that when they actually became desperate for weapons and energy they would find that they were in a big shortage of both and would bleed to import them from the outside through supply lines that could always be choked.
Rudra's plan had many layers, and for now it was only the start of his plans as the scale at which he planned to launch terrorist attacks on Thunder nation's merchant fleet, he was sure about immobilizing the organisation completely after 3 months time.
If his execution was perfect, by the time Thor would begin to realise what was going on, it would already be too late.
**********
( Meanwhile Asmodeus )
" My lord, it's that cave … " a subordinate said with a trembling voice as he pointed out the cave where it was suspected that the dragon queen was resting with her egg.
The scouts had confirmed a black dragon spotting in the vicinity and with the stench of blood being so thick in the air, one could get the hint that a powerful dragon rested inside.
Asmodeus' initial guess was right, the two scouts who had died during the initial scouring turned out to be the best 2 directions to explore.
While one of them turned out to be a den of a very powerful tier 6 earth dragon, the second one was the one that the group was most likely looking for.
The reason why the Asmodeus was confident that there may be a dragon monarch inside was because of her leaking aura in the surroundings.
Grown men started to shake and cower for no reason at all while they entered these surroundings and the temperature felt extremely cold compared to the rest of the forest.
Unlike the rest of the forest, no bird or animal could be seen lurking in these parts while the cave itself felt eerily quiet.
" Your orders my lord? " One subordinate asked as Asmodeus bent down to touch the soil beneath as he tried to figure out a plan.
After a while he said " We burrow into the ground and wait for our opportunity.
Barging into the dragon monarchs den without a plan is just plain stupid and I'm not here to throw my life away.
We wait for her to leave, or for some other dragon to lure her out for a fight and then we run in to grab the egg.
So scatter around and start digging "
As per Asmodeus's order the men immediately got to work and began digging man sized holes into the ground for the group to camp inside of.
" Any news on the kids? " Asmodeus asked the leader of scouts as the man shook his head and said " none yet, but we will have something by the end of day 2 "
Asmodeus was visibly angry but he controlled his rage as he patted the scout leader on his shoulders and said " Let's hope you are right, because if you don't come with some concrete news for me by the end of the day…. I'll then see you on the outside ".