Asiva was pleasantly surprised to see Severus storming into the Dombivili city palace, he was ruled out for training for months, but he seemed to have finished it faster than expected.
" Look who completed his new secret training? You look much stronger than before God-Father " Asiva said mockingly as Severus looked much paler than usual.
If Severus was in the mood he would have given a snarky reply to Asiva, but he couldn't bring himself to say a word after he found out about the injustices that the Nightblade clan and Asiva's mother must have faced in the past.
He brought out a thick book from his inventory and somberly placed it in Asiva's hands.
" The record of the Nightblade clan " Asiva said as she read the title of the book and looked at Severus's serious expression.
" I've stolen it from the archives of the Saint Maximus Clan, I thought you should know…..
Also, you officially don't have it.
You can never bring the contents of this book up in an official setting.
If you do, I'm fucked so
I'm trusting you on this one " Severus said as he patted Asiva on the head twice before turning around and rushing out of the room.
Just as he was about to leave the room he paused and said " Any messages for him? "
" No-, just look after him, okay? " Asiva said as she shook her head.
Max had already been gone for over a week and she missed him a lot, but she did not want to distract him by sending love and concern filled messages from outside the battlefield.
If he was okay, then that's all that mattered to her.
As Severus left, Asiva locked the room and began reading the book.
She had always been curious about the origins of the Nightblade clan and their history, it seemed like her curiosity would be satiated today.
**********
( Meanwhile on the battlefield )
Rudra was amused by how Max approached him for advise this time around.
Unlike the rest of the soldiers who would have patrol duties or positions to hold, the old man had nothing to do.
His daily routine saw him taking a stroll around the riverbank at sunrise followed by some coffee and then lunch.
A seemingly health oriented nap in his tent in the afternoon, followed by an evening stroll and watching the sunset before dinner.
He did not do much of anything, yet the troops respected him and everyone knew who he was since the word had spread that he was trusted by the Lord.
What Rudra was really doing however was watching. He was patiently waiting as he watched over all the developments on the battlefield and those with his brother and his clan as he was thoroughly enjoying this practical lesson where he got to groom Max.
" I'm stuck this time around old man. I'm not sure if the dark faction raid will be useful.
We need to destroy the orb and if it was only that I would have probably taken a covert operation approach and either solo'd the mission or taken a handful of the finest with me.
But we need to actually occupy those lands if we wish to do something meaningful with it.
I actually need to advance with my entire army and strategically take possession of cleared areas.
If I want to open the route to future raids on the dark faction side, then we can't keep crossing the forest again and again and again and take 12-18 hours doing so.
We need to make a road that shortens the trip to about under an hour and then hold both sides of the road to ensure smooth movement.
The problem is that I'm not sure if spreading the forces so thin is a good idea?
I can capture the other side, but what's stopping the stronger dark faction forces to reclaim and push me out of it?
What if the road that I make through the forest becomes the strategic blunder that allows the dark faction to get to our lands faster and leads to the downfall of the Bloodfall clan?
My current war instructions say that I'm only to destroy as many orbs in raids as I can.
But there are only so many orbs around the centre line.
Somewhere down the line the light faction would need to push towards the deeper dark faction lands and vice versa. That day occupation and control of their lands would become necessary.
The only question for now is, am I strong enough to hold onto it? Or is it smarter to just smash the orb and run?
What I'm afraid of is, a tier 6 god swings by and destroys the entire forward base that we might set up within seconds. Killing hundreds of thousands of Bloodfall clan soldiers and reclaiming their lands.
So what should I do?
Should I wipe out that party in the woods and take that momentum and launch a full assault on the enemy forces with the intent to occupy it or should I play the waiting game for now?
Wipe the party in the woods and then take a solo mission into enemy lands?
Destroy them for now and think about the connecting road and establishing a forward base there some other time? " Max asked as he seemed very nervous as he confided in the old man.
His concerns were valid.
Marching into the enemy lands with a full blown army would mean suffering casualties on the Bloodfall clan's end.
The forest was filled with traps and being looked after by multiple enemy troops.
As a solo man Max could bypass all that and infiltrate the enemy lands and cause chaos to wipe out their orb and even escape safely using flight, but what he could not achieve alone was holding and claiming that ground.
For that he needed to have marched with his entire army there.
Going solo meant that he would destroy 40-60% of enemy forces and the orb, but it meant that the rest of the enemy forces could regroup and become rogue warriors who would constantly clash against the Bloodfall clan in the forest and try to take revenge with nothing to lose.
It would mean that a new protector would be sent to the lands, to prevent the light faction easy access into their territory, or maybe reinforcements would reinforce the area.
Getting the orb was a small victory, but getting a hold in the enemy lands would be a strategic victory.
Having a base that side Max could always cross the forest area safely for future missions with his army and then turn to raid whatever orb he wished to without having to repeat the process again.
Not having the hold there meant that he would always have to cross the central forest line filled with traps.
Deal with armies sitting inside for every clan that he faced and still have no way to access the deeper areas.
But setting up a base on the other side meant that Max would spread the already numbered Bloodfall clan forces even thinner.
It was both an offensive and defensive risk.
Smiling Rudra opened his mouth as he said " I'm sure you already know what the right answer is my Lord.
I believe that ambition is good. But the time to conquer will come later.
Getting the first disc down on the enemy side would be a great morale booster.
I would be more inclined to destroying the orbs for now "
Rudra understood that penetrating the enemy lands was not on the agenda for now which was why the higher management had not issued orders to occupy lands but only to schedule raids.
Max was intelligent and was thinking two steps ahead as a good leader should do, but the scenario he was preparing for was still best left for the future.
The time to conquer had not yet come.
With his doubts solved Max sighed deeply. It seemed like he had overthought this simple problem as deep down even he knew what the right thing to do was.
Talking to the old man helped clear his mind and give him the assurance that he was not passing up on a good opportunity by sitting tight.
It seemed like for now, it was time for the rising star of the vampire clan to show his solo dominance.