Chapter 297: Soul Drain
The fact that Grinot - a regular regiment commander - was sent to Earth showed that the Sovereign didn’t see Earth as something worth taking seriously, and he believed that he only needed one Regiment to handle them since they were only a Rank II world. In fact, Grinot told JAson that everyone on Radagan viewed Earth as a lower-tier world that they didn’t need to take seriously. That was why they didn’t bother organising the army at first, and they just called the phantoms to handle things. But if Grinot and the others don’t return soon, then Grinot was certain that the Sovereign would finally send out a General.
Jason’s eyes narrowed as his mind began running through the possibilities.
’It’ll be difficult to deal with all the Generals at the same time. They’re all SS Rank, so they’ll be as strong as I am. The only subordinates that can match their power are Ragnar, Azrael, and Raya, and if I add a few more points, then Fenrir would be able to match them as well. It’s not enough.’
Jason gently rubbed Gina’s shoulder absentmindedly as he thought about what he needed to do, and Gina continued to eat his sandwich while waiting for him to finish thinking. Gina could hear what the Radagan soldiers were saying, but she didn’t bother trying to add her own input since she could tell that Jason was trying to put together a proper plan. Gina knew the look on Jason’s face meant he was deep in thought, and she had learnt a long time ago that it was better to just stay quiet and allow him to finish his thoughts before asking what was on his mind.
Jason began to go through the list of subordinates he had in his Legion once more. Jason had well over seven hundred pawns and about a hundred rooks, but only three of his subordinates were in the Rook Rank III. Jason also had all the subordinates that Azrael had resurrected after Jason gained him as a subordinate. There were more than two hundred A Rank subordinates under Azrael’s control, as well as about twenty S Rank Giant Paladins and worms. Azrael also had the dead bodies of the five dragons and four of the dragon riders that had attacked New Jersey. Jason made sure not to cause too much damage to the bodies so Azrael would be able ot use [Necrotic Reanimation] on them, but Azrael couldn’t resurrect Grinot since Jason had taken his head off.
Most of Azrael’s subordinates were Rook Rank I or II, and if Jason added them to his Legion’s numbers, then he would have more than a thousand subordinates. If Jason sent out that number, then he was sure that no SS Rank would stand a chance. But the problem wasn’t that Jason didn’t have strong subordinates; instead, it was the fact that there were too many powerful people in Radagan. Jason asked the Radagan soldier how the Generals were stationed around Radagan. Did all the Generals live in one military barracks, or were they stationed around the kingdom?
’The Royal Army Generals all live within the Kingdom’s castle since their job is to protect the king. There is an entire town built around the foot of the castle, so the Generals and many of their regiment members never need to leave the kingdom for any reason.’
Jason ran his hand through his hair and let out a sigh. A sandwich was suddenly put in front of his face, and Jason blinked in slight surprise before he smiled and took a bite out of the sandwich. Gina spoke up as she watched Jason eating.
"Is everything alright? You look like you’re running a marathon inside your head."
Jason nodded as he swallowed and let out a content sigh.
"Yeah, I’m good. It’s just a little difficult to get the tactics right. There’re a lot of powerful people on Radagan, so I don’t think my Legion can handle all of them in a straight-out battle. I guess there’s a reason why they’re a Rank III world and we’re only Rank II."
Gina blinked in surprise and tilted her head to one side.
"Rank III? What does that mean?"
Jason made an ’oh’ sound as he realized that he never told Gina about the ranks of the worlds. Jason gave Gina a rundown of what the Ranks meant and Gina could only shake her head.
"I think I might understand why Gaia is trying so hard to keep the existence of other worlds a secret from humanity. If people found out how vulnerable we really are, then they might lose their minds."
Jason scoffed at Gina’s words and he drank some juice as Gina spoke up again.
"If you don’t think you can handle the entire army at once, then maybe you should try to split them up?"
That suggestion actually made Jason smile. Jason had already been thinking about using a similar strategy, and his mind began putting together a plan immediately. Jason had twelve dragons in his Legion right now. Five of them were Rook Rank II subordinates that Jason had gained after killing Grinot’s regiment, and Ragnar was the only Rook Rank III. The other six dragons were the reanimated corpses of the dragons that were under Azrael’s command. If Ragnar and the other dragons attacked the towns around the castle, then the Generals would be forced to act. There were ten Generals, so Jason would need ot pick out ten towns that were far enough to make sure that the Generals needed to go in separate directions. If the number of Generals in the main town reduces, then it would be easier for Jason to handle the Sovereign without any interference.
But Jason still needed a way to even the playing field, and he turned to Azrael and asked him if he had any spells in his arsenal that would help with a situation like this. Azrael answered quickly.
’Yes, my king. There is a spell called [Soul Drain] that works by extracting the life force of any creature in a given vicinity and using that power to fuel any one magic spell that the caster wishes to activate.’
Jason’s brow furrowed. That seemed like an amazing spell.
’Why didn’t you use it against me?’
’I couldn’t, my king. The spell is a runic interface that takes too long to forge, and you would need to have prepared both a significant amount of mana as well as a massive Runic interface in advance before you can use it. If you wish, then I could begin preparations for the Runic interface now.’
Jason told Azrael to hold on before he began the preparations.
’I need to understand what your spell is actually going to do. You said it extracted life force from other creatures right? How wide of an area does the skill cover?’
’The skill covers a minimum of a five-mile radius, but it can be increased depending on the caster’s wishes and how much mana is put into the spell.’
Jason frowned as he realized that this could be useful. If they cast it over the castle, then it could take life force from the Sovereign as well as the Generals. But the only downside was that it would also absorb life force from the civilians around the castle. That wasn’t good. The civilians aren’t a part of this fight, so Jason didn’t want to kill them.
The Lich came in with another explanation.
’The absorption of life force does not necessarily mean the targets will die. The Rune carvings are categorized as a Fourth Grade Magical Glyph, so at it’s full power, those in S Rank and above will be able to withstand the attack with minimal damage. But the rune can also be calibrated so that it only takes enough life force to weaken all the targets.’