KEEP BUANA (Rise of Darkness)

The Meeting of the Three Dukes

Situngkoro immediately ordered the rest of his soldiers who had not yet entered the narrow gap trap to retreat as soon as possible and return to the forest behind them. Senopati is quite intelligent and quick to take action in such precarious conditions.

Situngkoro thought, if they retreated through the same path as when they left earlier, then his army would definitely encounter a trap regardless of its shape. So, entering and surviving in the forest is the most appropriate step according to him. The unknown enemy for sure his number and strength would be dangerous to deal with.

Unfortunately, his actions had been anticipated by Rambang Dangku who was good at the war strategy. Inside the seemingly untouched forest had prepared thousands of traps. More than the number of soldiers Lamahtang when still intact though.

And so, shortly after the entire Situngkoro army entered the forest and dispersed, the wrenching screams of death rang out in the various corners of the forest. Occasional explosions were heard in the forest, indicating that the warriors in Lamahtang's army were trying to destroy the traps set, or just save lives.

Then we saw three large birds darting away from the forest. The three animals left the forest with the riders on their bodies. They are the Swordsmen of the Lamatang warrior beast breed from the Black and Red Kala group.

No one tried to hinder or chase the three people away. That is what the Star of Hope wants. There must be one or two survivors to preach their fate to the highest Black leader in Lamahtang.

After a while, the atmosphere around the forest became quiet. The forest is silent. But the fishy smell of blood soon spread and invited the wild animals from the surrounding forest to arrive. The sounds of wolf howls, barking coyotes, vultures, tiger growls, and various other animals were increasingly heard after a while had passed.

Although one might have survived the trap of the Star of Hope warriors, the soldiers had to face the ferocity of the beasts that came more and more into the forest. Absolutely tragic!

Situngkoro himself managed to get out of the forest with his five subordinate commanders. Only the six of them were seen coming out of the forest after three large birds had gone ahead. But their condition is very concerning. There were many torn and charred wounds burning on their bodies.

When the six of them had just reached the other side of the forest end, an explosion followed by a dazzling flash of light greeted them. That dazzling white light swept over the bodies of the six of them and turned them into ashes. In less than two seconds!

Not only their bodies, even the trees and shrubs around them also turned into ashes after being passed by the mysterious light.

A silvery-white-haired middle-aged woman in the color of her robe emerged from the remnants of the puff of smoke from that dazzling flash of light. The woman only smiled for a moment before disappearing back behind the rocks on the edge of the forest.

Apparently, despite letting the three great bird riders escape, the Hope Star alliance placed great warriors at some point of the forest to prevent the others from escaping.

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Away from the location of ‘slaughter’ nearly two thousand troops Lamahtang, the four leaders of each division in the Star of Hope alliance are gathering. They gathered in the Duchy of Bone Mesuji. Present at the meeting with the four division heads were three dukes who felt that his life was now threatened by a plot of attack from the Kingdom of Lamahtang.

The news of the destruction of the Lamahtang army that was about to attack the Bone Mesuji Duchy was immediately heard in the ears of the white stream warriors thanks to the unique abilities of the Black Bat swordsman. The news of the success of their first plan succeeded in igniting the spirit of resistance in the chest of the warriors. Moreover, it also raised hopes for the three dukes present to escape destruction.

All of this is just the beginning. There were still a few steps they had to switch off right now so that the four leaders felt the need to discuss with the three dukes.

“We cannot let them prepare a bigger army and attack us. We'd better move ahead of them while they don't realize that our alliance is behind all of Lamahtang's defeats.” Pendekar Indung Imau opened talks in the meeting.

“True. We better get on with our plan. We're going to storm the capital. I thought, right now the number of their soldiers will not be more than the combination of the three Duchies. Didn't many of Lamahtang's original warriors have resigned or been killed while the Capital was occupied by the Black school?” Pendekar Indung Imau continued his sentence.

“I'm sorry, Chairman. According to the data I obtained, the original Malahtang soldiers who did not resign at this time were still more than 3000 people. They were mostly warriors under the Third Prince, I mean Scavenging Exorbitant. The entire Commander of those soldiers was currently purely an accomplice to the Demon Coral or the representative of each of their groups. If plus the number of all black-flow alliance warriors, then their total number is no less than 7000 people, chairman.” Benduriang conveyed his observations.

“That's Arttinya, the combined number of all the soldiers of the three duchies though, our number will only be a little more?” duke Bayang Keling.

Currently the three dukes had agreed to unite to fight against the black sect. After that, their respective plans will form a new government. Whether as one country or standing alone, has not been determined. But clearly, they agreed that defeating and expelling black warriors from the seat of power is absolute if you want life to return to normal.

At present, only about three months the kingdom is controlled by black groups, but the condition of the people falls to a very alarming level. Paceklik and crop failure occur throughout the country. Coupled with the absence of assistance from the government makes many families can no longer survive in the midst of poverty that is squeezing. farmers lose income and people lack food. Not to mention the high tax increases that make entrepreneurs forced to go out of business because they have to bear a large loss due to income is not worth the costs incurred.

The emergence of more and more beggars in port cities became a common sight today. Even the current capital of the kingdom had its condition become extremely seedy.

Surprisingly, gambling and prostitution are mushrooming in times of crisis like this. Many new gambling and prostitution venues were opened due to gambling, booze, and women's play becoming a new craze and custom for the soldiers in Lamahtang. The managers of these places are the nobles of the family and supporters of Tulung Selangit.

Apparently, the obligation to send the best young men and women from each village is intended to meet the needs of the place of worship. But the guise used is very noble, which is to be a soldier to protect the country and service the needs of soldiers. The village heads who realize this will usually choose to evacuate the best young men to the nearest village and silat college. Then send the people who were the culprits of the trouble in the village instead.

Utilizing those loopholes and conditions, the Star Hope Alliance devised a plan.

The Swordsmen in the alliance will all move to the capital disguised as refugees. Currently, the wave of refugees from the village to cities including the capital Lamahtang itself is quite common because of the difficult conditions experienced by all people. The rest, the core warriors of the three duchies would infiltrate as well by disguising themselves as construction workers. Thus, this disguise should not encounter any significant obstacles.

While the soldiers of the three duchies will move through the forests and stop at the nearby village of the royal fort. Each of them will enter at points that have been marked in the raid map. It will not pass through the main gate.

Their time to infiltrate and encircle the kingdom was no more than a week. They would invade just when the second army sent to quell the three dukes was dispatched.

According to Benduriang and Rambang Dangku estimates, the second wave of the Lamahtang force will be larger and will be led by the main figures of the black-flow alliance. If you are lucky, maybe the Devil's Reef and Mpu Jangger himself will intervene to lead this army so that the palace will be controlled more easily.

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