Starting With an SSS-Rank Swordsmanship Talent

Upon returning to the camp, Lucas gathered all the highest-ranking military officers.

“Venerable, everyone is here now,” Garandel told Lucas after all the military officers had arrived.

Hearing this, Lucas nodded and cleared his throat to gather everyone’s attention.

Ehem!

With all eyes on him, Lucas spoke. “I know all of you are confused by the sudden call for retreat when we are close to victory.”

He paused and scanned everyone’s faces before he continued. “However…”

“If we hadn’t retreated earlier, many of our soldiers would have died.”

When he said those words, the military officers frowned.

Looking at their confused faces, Lucas explained. “When I was fighting with the Catastrophe-grade Ogre, I noticed that it was mentally communicating with someone. It was reluctant to stop fighting, but it still chose to retreat. Do you understand what that means?”

“What?!”

“Is there really something that can command a creature at that level?!”

“If it’s a creature capable of mental communication, that means it’s a spirit-type beast.” Garandel’s expression darkened.

“And not just a simple spirit-type beast. It should be a Catastrophe-grade monster too, one that is more powerful than that ogre. Otherwise, a stubborn monster like the ogre wouldn’t listen to its orders.” Vulcan chimed in, his expression unsightly to behold.

This wasn’t good news for them.

When they were starting to panic, Lucas’s calm voice suddenly drifted into their ears.

“There is no need to panic, everyone.”

Everyone turned their heads to look at him.

“We still have a Catastrophe-grade beast on our side and I can assure you that it is way stronger than the ogre.” Lucas smiled faintly.

“Is what you said true, Venerable?” A Transcendent Knight barbarian warrior asked.

Lucas nodded. “I won’t lie to you about this.”

“The ogre may be powerful physically, but it’s slow for a Catastrophe-grade beast. Moreover, its usage of mana is also very simple since it relies mostly on its raw power.”

“If it wasn’t for the spirit-type beast, I would have slain that ogre.”

Lucas’s voice was filled with confidence, making everyone reassured.

“So the only problem here is that spirit-type beast, huh?” Vulcan crossed his arms seemingly in deep thought.

The others also fell silent.

“What do you think we should do, Venerable?” Garandel asked.

Lucas held the final say here since he was the strongest fighting force. The Draconic Lion was also under House Silversword’s control.

Even though he was an elven royalty, his status was meaningless in front of absolute power.

Lucas rubbed his chin with a thoughtful look.

He tried to come up with a plan, but he found himself stumped. He had faced spirit-type beasts before, but never had he fought one at the Catastrophe-grade.

In the end, he turned his head to his son and asked. “Alaric, do you have any ideas?”

Everyone turned their gazes to Alaric.

Sensing everyone gazes, Alaric was silent for a moment.

So it was a spirit-type beast capable of controlling Catastrophe-grade monsters. No wonder the difficulty was set to hell-mode.

This isn’t a kind of monster that can be defeated with mere martial power.

There is also a possibility that the two-headed ogre warrior isn’t the only Catastrophe-grade beast under its control.

After some time, Alaric lifted his head, took a deep breath, and opened his mouth.

“We all know that facing a spirit-type beast is dangerous, especially to those with low willpower and mental strength. If we want to defeat it, we have two choices.”

“One is to use the same method we did earlier. We can force it to come out by sending Zephyr to join the battle.”

“The second way is to concentrate our attack in one place and brute force our way through the nest. This method is very risky and there might be high casualties on our side. However, the spirit-type beast wouldn’t expect us to use this method so it’s highly likely that we will catch it unprepared.”

Everyone ruminated on his words.

“The second method is out of the question. It’s very dangerous. I don’t want to sacrifice my subordinates for a mere chance.” Garandel expressed his disapproval of the second method.

Some military officers nodded in agreement. They also believed it to be dangerous and not worth the risk.

“So that leaves us with the first method, but will it fall for the same scheme?” Vulcan raised an eyebrow, feeling skeptical of the idea.

At this moment, Lucas seemed to have understood something and said. “Of course not, but it will have no choice but to show itself.”

“So do we all agree with doing the first method?” Alaric glanced at everyone present.

Most of the military officers expressed their approval. Vulcan and Garandel also supported the plan.

“In that case, let us discuss how we are going to execute this strategy.” Lucas sent Alaric a knowing look.

With his father’s encouraging look, Alaric told everyone his plans.

A long discussion followed afterwards.

…

At this moment, Yvanna was also in the meeting room, but she was only one of the many listeners. She didn’t even have the authority to express her opinion.

Looking at Alaric calmly discussing with her father and the rest of the highest-ranking military officers, she didn’t want to admit it, but she found herself admiring his abilities.

If only he hadn’t…

She shook off her random thoughts and focused her attention on the meeting.

Our kingdom comes first before me.

She tried to convince herself to forget her feelings.

She lowered her head and gently touched the bracelet on her left wrist.

Initially, Yvanna thought about throwing it away, but she couldn’t bear to do it. She felt that it might be her last memento of him so she chose to keep it.

Why is it hard to forget you?

Her shoulders trembled as she lifted her head to look at Alaric’s face.

As if sensing her gaze, Alaric glanced in her direction, but he quickly averted his gaze.

Yvanna felt uncomfortable. She hardened her gaze and muttered to herself.

I can do this… I will try to move on…