Within the City of Brim on the border of the Orc's Kingdom of Brimstone

Lord Xurek stands at his full two meters of height with both of his arms crossed in front of his chest and a smile on his face as he stares out at the city below him from a balcony.

"We should be ready to move out in just one month," an Orc High Knight says whilst standing to the Lord's right. "Our entire schedule has been moved forwards a month thanks to the help of our Hybrid friend."

The Lord turns to the Tier 4 Knight and says, "That's good, but how much do you think he has helped Frost's side speed up their timeframe?"

"Not as much as it has helped us," the High Knight says with a grin, showing off his sharp fangs, "thanks to us getting into contact with City Lord Leon long before Frost, we were able to gather a lot more benefits than he has been able to over the last several months."

Xurek's grin widens as he turns back to look out over the ash-covered city below him, only to raise his head again to look at the enormous volcano to the East of the city.

The city itself is built to withstand volcanic eruptions thanks to their high foundations, and their use of a specific type of rock found within the Kingdom of Brimstone that has an extremely high heat tolerance.

"With this advantage," Xurek begins before turning back to look at his most trusted Knight, "we shouldn't have anywhere near as many issues as we had the last time we went up against them."

The High Knight - Aughan - grins at his Lord and says, "It's as you say, my Lord."

Within a meeting hall in Fort Frost, on the border of The Drezar Kingdom

A tense atmosphere fills the hall as the gathered Knights all sweat under the glare of their Lord.

"Are you telling me," Lord Frost begins speaking slowly without retracting his glare as he sits at the front of a long table, "that we are falling behind in our war preparations when compared with the Orcs?!"

The tense atmosphere deepens even further before one of the gathered Knights - a Mid Knight named Orlan - gathers his courage and speaks.

"Yes, but we ought to be able to turn it around with the ships," the knight says with a slight tremble, barely managing to keep himself from stuttering when faced with a Tier 5 being's aura.

Edwin Frost turns to look at Orlan with a frown before asking, "And what makes you think the Orcs haven't done the same thing and gotten their own ships?"

Orlan opens his mouth to speak only to pause and close it again whilst lowering his head in silence.

"Exactly," Edwin says before pausing as a High Knight stands up.

"We still have the advantage due to the terrain, my Lord," the High Knight says with a slight bow of his head, "remember that the Orcs are more limited with what they will be able to do with the boats, not only due to having less experience, but because they can't use them to get directly to us. At most, they would be able to sail around the Lost Mountains to land somewhere in The Drezar Kingdom."

The Knight's words alleviate some of of Lord Frost's anger as the cold look in his eyes begins to calm down a little.

"You make a valid point," he admits before going silent for several seconds.

Almost everyone at the table looks at their Lord with apprehension before nearly jumping as he begins to speak again.

"Send another delegate over to Wolfdenn with payment for a crossing," Edwin announces before getting up from his seat, "then send a Mid Knight to scout out the enemy lands on the other side of the Lost Mountains."

All of the gathered Knights stand up in sync and shout, "Yes, my Lord!"

Fenrir

One hour later

"Hey, Fenrir!" I hear Dawn's voice as I break out of my cultivation. "The intruders are entering the seventh floor!"

I quickly turn my attention towards them to find them leaving the warm air of the staircase into the cold taiga that makes up the seventh floor.

The intruders once again shiver, although not to the extent that they did on the sixth floor, before they begin to look for the first of the ten fortresses.

I glance at Dawn - who I find inside of the body of a lycan at the moment - before asking, "Did they get any World Ore?"

Dawn looks at my core with her hands on her hips and says, "I would have told you about it if they did."

A faint pulse of light radiates from my core in my relief before I turn my attention towards the intruders again.

These particular intruders have gotten too much World Ore as it is.

My thoughts are interrupted as the intruders begin to speak.

"How long do you think it will be before the war breaks out?" Corbin asks with a frown as he holds his bow with an arrow nocked to the string.

A war?

Now that I think about it, I remember some people talking about a war a few days ago. I think the annoying princess also mentioned something about it.

"It will probably be another month or two," the Undine says with a frown before adding, "or at least, that's what my master told me the last time I saw her."

Wait, her master?

Elisah glances at her from the front of their group and says, "When was the last time you saw your master?"

The Undine continues through the forest with her swords drawn, "Just a few days ago."

All of the other intruders turn to her with surprise before shaking their heads and facing forwards again.

"I wonder who - or what - her master is?" Dawn mutters from her place seated next to my core.

I pulse a faint ray of light out of my core to signify my agreement before we both fall silent to watch as a group of both lycans and direwolves begins to approach the party of intruders.