94. Recruiting Talent

“We have orders from our young master. Before nightfall, if any armed bear tribesmen are still lingering in this city, kill them all without exception,” Kane announced loudly.

At his public declaration, the bear tribe squad leader’s face flushed crimson. With a sweep of his hand, nearly a thousand bear warriors instantly formed battle lines at the city gate, their weapons leveled at Kane and his men.

There were still many townspeople near the gate. At the sight of those twenty black-clad, armored warriors actually driving off a thousand bear guards, they were all stunned. More and more citizens gathered by the gate; it had been many years since anyone had dared to stand against the rule of the bear tribe like this.

“So you mean to stay here to the last man?” Kane said coldly.

“This is bear tribe land. You are not welcome here. Leave at once,” the squad leader replied in a low voice.

“Now, I, Kane, Supreme Military Commander of the Death Empire, formally declare this small city renamed Stormwind City, effective immediately,” Kane said with murderous intent. “Form ranks. If they do not leave at once, destroy them.”

With a sharp metallic sound, the berserker cavalry, already arrayed in formation, raised the heavy crossbows in their hands and aimed them at the thousand armed bear tribesmen.

“The Death Empire? My God, they’re from the continent across the sea.” It was obvious that among the bear warriors, some had either been there or knew of the war fought against that distant land. “They are the most ferocious army on that continent. Our great army was defeated by them.”

At that, not only was any fighting spirit gone, but when they heard that the bear tribe’s hundreds of thousands, nearly a million soldiers, had all been defeated by these people, what were a mere thousand of them worth? No wonder twenty of them had dared to drive off their force of a thousand. These outsiders simply did not take them seriously.

And the townsfolk watching nearby all wore different expressions when they heard these people were from the other continent.

“You… you mean to in… invade our continent?” the bear tribe squad leader stammered.

“Invade?” Kane burst into laughter. “Your bear tribe has come to our continent twice. Each time, how much damage did you do to us? Now it’s our turn to give it back. But we will not be like you—seizing every village we see and attacking every city we come upon. Our target is your bear tribe alone. This time, we will uproot you completely and see what you will use the next time you come to our continent.”

Since they were going to make a scene, then they might as well make a big one. Besides, the young master had never said just how big a scene to make.

With a sudden clatter, the armed bear force of more than a thousand men dropped their weapons and fled in all directions beyond the gate. This was exactly the effect Kane wanted. He immediately ordered the berserker cavalry to take over the gate guard, while he hurried off to find Mo Fei.

He had boasted shamelessly, but in the end he still had to rely on the young master’s magic array to bring people over. Otherwise, when the time came, he would be the one in trouble.

When Mo Fei heard Kane recount what had happened, he was stunned as well. Having stirred up such a huge affair, Kane really was no ordinary handful.

But what was said had been said, and now the important thing was to prepare before the bear tribe came in force. By Mo Fei’s estimate, this little city was far from the other major cities, and for the bear tribe to muster its troops, march here, and then reach the walls would probably take several days. That was more than enough time for him.

Only now, the idea of forming a mercenary company for fun had completely fallen apart.

“Kane, find some large stone slabs or the like. If there aren’t any, use wood,” Mo Fei instructed.

“Yes, young master!” Kane answered excitedly and loudly, knowing that his master was about to use the magic array to summon people.

Kane took twenty berserker cavalry with him, leaving Mo Fei and the others to the city square. Though small, the city was remarkably prosperous. Perhaps because it stood at the meeting point of several great cities, its walls were low, yet inside was another world altogether.

The streets were orderly, and the side of every house facing the street was lined with shops. The ebb and flow of people testified to the city’s prosperity, but in Mo Fei’s eyes, it was a pity. If Elder Of were here, and if this place happened to fall under his jurisdiction, then in less than a year this city would surely become the largest on the entire continent. For a building fanatic like Elder Of, such an excellent place, if not used properly, would be a waste beyond forgiveness.

Still, perhaps in a few days this place would become a battlefield.

Mo Fei could not worry about all that now. He had made his threats, and if he did not hurry to gather his forces, he might well become a laughingstock before long.

Kane really did return with more than ten enormous stone slabs fashioned into steles, followed by nearly a hundred men hauling them along. No one knew where Kane had found so many people, nor what he intended to do with such massive steles. Did he not know how large the imperial capital’s magic array was? The one here could be larger, but if the other end was not large enough, it would not do either. But there was no time to care about that now.

Mo Fei had Kane arrange for the men to rest first; in a moment, he would need them to help stand the huge steles upright.

Taking out a small knife, Mo Fei began carving into the stone. Among the men pulling the steles, some were stonemasons. Seeing Mo Fei wield a tiny knife to carve stone at such astonishing speed, they were all at once dumbfounded.

This time, Mo Fei was much faster. Carving characters into stone was simply far more satisfying than carving them into wood. Before long, with the help of those hundred men, a huge magic array was erected on one side of the square. After paying their wages and sending the workers away, Mo Fei prepared to begin summoning people over.

By then, many citizens had gathered around to watch. They were eager to know what this young man was trying to do. That morning he had driven off the bear tribe’s city guards, and now, with only these two thousand or so men, did he mean to contend with the bear tribe’s hundreds of thousands of troops? It had been a long time since anyone on this continent had dared challenge the rule of the bear tribe. Could they really do it?

What Mo Fei wanted was precisely to summon his army before everyone’s eyes, to show these people from another continent what his empire could do, and to overawe them as well, lest they cause trouble behind him while he directed the battle from the front.

“Kane, after a while you go back first and assemble the troops. Tomorrow, once the magic gate opens, bring them over. One squad at a time, to avoid accidents.”

“Young master, there’s no need to assemble them,” Kane said with a grin. “Since you arrived on this continent, I’ve had all the death cavalry gathered before the magic array in the capital. The rebuilt capital was expanded a great deal back then anyway, and my thirty thousand heavy cavalry don’t take up much room.”

“Then go over there and…”

“No need. I already told them that as soon as the magic gate opens, they should come through.”

It turned out that after Mo Fei arrived, Kane, worried that he might need help and there would be no time to call them in, had simply gathered all of his heavily armored cavalry outside the capital. Before the magic array in the imperial city, nearly three squads, close to six thousand men, were always guarding it. That was why Kane had been able to arrive so quickly last time.

At that moment, Mo Fei activated the magic array. The immense magical response was unexpectedly even easier to drive than the array on the bull tribe’s side, and Mo Fei himself did not know why. Could it be because this one was made of stone steles?

He also did not need, as he had in the bull tribe’s village, to constantly channel magic to keep the gate open.

The watching townspeople then noticed in amazement that within the vast, hazy ring of light, a huge black void opened. Not long after, from that void emerged squad after squad of cavalry identical to the men outside.

Before long, Mo Fei had infused more magic to maintain the gate’s opening, while the watching citizens looked at the cavalry gathering thicker and thicker in the square. They all withdrew from the square, and some even climbed onto the roofs around it.

Before night had fully fallen, the magic gate finally closed. If the cavalry had not brought rations and water with them, Mo Fei truly would not have known what to do. Tomorrow, yes, tomorrow he would bring Elder Of over. With so much commotion here, there should be no trouble on the bull tribe’s side.

What had happened at the junction of several major cities spread rapidly.

“What? You’re saying the Death Empire’s army has occupied our Woodflower City?” In the bear tribe chieftain’s council hall sat five elders, advanced in years yet still ruddy and vigorous. Seated in the center was none other than the bear tribe’s former young chieftain, Udos Naphin, the one who had negotiated with Mo Fei for a withdrawal of troops. Now he ought to have been chieftain, but clearly, he had already been reduced to a figurehead.