The leaders appeared to be making plans for what they were going to do next. They couldn't just hang around here forever. They had far too much work to do for that, and the General had been stationed on the Mountain Giant border specifically to keep them from causing trouble with their Overlords.
"Shall we retire to dinner and let our subordinates take care of the rest?" Nacht, the black dragon Totem, asked.
"Yes, dinner sounds wonderful. Prince Karl, kindly wait here for someone to relieve you." The Archbishop replied.
The General nodded. "I will have someone come to take over, but unfortunately, I am needed on the line."
The Giants' leader said nothing, and simply left with his people.
The General turned to his people and gave them a polite nod. "I will send reinforcements here within the next five minutes. You just need to make sure that nothing happens while they're attempting to awaken their System interface."
"Understood, General."
This all appeared to be part of the ritual, pretending that they didn't know that there was going to be an imminent attack at the lower levels and that the deal they had made actually held any weight.
The Black Dragon opened a portal with a wave of his hand, and left with the Archbishop. Then the General left, and a unit of a hundred Commander Rank soldiers, and fifty Ascended and Awakened Rank support staff rushed through, only to realize that they had no orders other than be here.
Karl cleared his throat. "Listen up. Every new arrival is to follow the directions on the plinth to give thanks to the World Dragon for the opportunity to gain access to the System. Once you have accomplished that task, you will be stationed here for guard duty of the orb.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"
"Sir, yes sir!" They responded in unison, then swarmed the Orb.
Colonel Lu chuckled at their response. Karl wasn't even part of their army, but they were so used to just following orders that they naturally assumed anyone giving them orders had the right to.
It only took a few seconds before the first of them had vanished, and the rest were gone within two minutes.
This unit was all younger soldiers, likely a frontline shock troop unit that the General happened to have stationed near his camp.
The old Minotaur rubbed the shoulder of his freshly regrown arm, distinguishable by the lack of tattoos and scars, then smiled at Lotus.
"Well, Little Cleric. I told you I would love to try your food again, and it looks like I'm going to get a chance sooner than expected. It appears that your merchant group on a pilgrimage routine is a bit far gone to salvage, though." freeweɓnovel.cøm
Lotus laughed and winked at him. "Never underestimate our shamelessness. We fully intend to continue with the act as soon as we are done here. We're headed for the Jungles and then to Whiton Temple. That much hasn't changed. We will just have to leave someone else to help you with the mess here."
The old Minotaur smiled at her, then reorganized his troops to surround the plinth.
[Everyone, I believe it's time to come out and be sociable. Hawk, you can scout the area in case they're forming up in the distance.]
The beasts appeared in the ruins, and Hawk made a quiet screech along with a 'come along' gesture to Dana that said he intended to have a rider for the scouting mission.
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