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Chapter 166: Unexpected Betrayal

While Chonk was talking with Horell about their next move, the party sent out by the Tempest Branch Alliance had just returned to the alliance base, with the leader of the party hastily making her way to where Herellia was. At this moment, Herellia was currently talking with the Executive level and Pillar level members of the alliance, wondering as to whether they should deploy one of the defensive trump cards they have in order to be ready against sudden attacks.

This, in turn, meant that it took a while for the leader of the party, whose name was Verutia, to actually speak with Herellia since she was just a normal member. The Tempest Branch Alliance followed quite a strict hierarchy, only being able to talk with members of a higher position when permitted. Fortunately, while Herellia was talking with those members at the Executive and Pillar level, Aurus noticed Verutia, who was just waiting for Herellia to finish her talk.

“Yo Herellia.” Without a care for what Herellia was talking about with the others, Aurus interrupted her from continuing her conversation. This easily attracted her attention, albeit making her slightly frown as she asked, “What is it? I hope it’s important or el—”

“It’s very important,” Aurus interrupted her from continuing any further. He then formed a tendril that pointed towards Verutia as he continued, “The party you sent has come back. Don’t you think the information they have is more important than the thing you were talking about with the others?”

Focusing her field of vision towards where Aurus was pointing, Herellia was able to see Verutia, who was inwardly thankful for Aurus since that meant she was finally able to talk to the alliance leader. As for Herellia, after noticing Verutia, she looked back at Aurus and said, “I apologize for being slightly angry a while ago. Anyways, can you handle the conversation I was having with the Executive and Pillar level members? It’s about a defensive trump card in case of sudden attacks.”

“Got it,” Aurus accepted Herellia’s request, leaving Herellia for herself as he said, “Make sure you obtain a lot of information from her.”

“Don’t worry,” Herellia radiated an aura of slight happiness before excusing herself from the members she was talking to a while ago, making her way to where Verutia was. At the very instant Herellia had arrived in front of Verutia, the first thing Verutia did was greet her properly, saying, “I greet alliance leader.”

“I’m sorry I made you wait.” After hearing Verutia’s greeting, Herellia could not help but feel slightly bad, apologizing to her. “Did I make you wait that long?”

“Not very long,” Verutia replied to Herellia’s question, before adding, “Also, I bring results from the mission.”

“Yeah, I know,” Herellia said as an aura of affirmation radiated from her. She then asked, “So, what happened?”

“First off, let me say to alliance leader, I am very sorry,” Verutia replied to Herellia’s question with this statement, slightly confusing the latter as to why she would say sorry to her. Not long after, Verutia went silent for a bit before telling Herellia the results of the mission. After hearing Verutia talk about the results, it was then that Herellia understood why she said sorry to her.

“Result of mission is as follows: The party sent by alliance leader made it back safely. No member from party was injured. On the other hand, the opposing party was killed. No member from opposing party was spared from destruction.”

“Could you tell me as to why this was the case?” Herellia asked Verutia, although she had an idea as to why that was the case. Nevertheless, she wanted to be sure that her idea was correct.

It did not take Verutia that long to respond, replying with, “My party members stronger than expected. Even we did not attack back, we used reflect skill to reflect attacks shot at us. I don’t know why reflected attacks became stronger and killed the members of opposing party. But since opposing party was running away, I decided to tell party members to make sure no one from opposing party is left alive.”

“Hmm…” Herellia pondered over Verutia’s words for a bit, finally understanding what was going on in Verutia’s mind while she was fighting against the opposing party. Not only that, Verutia’s answer even solidified the idea in her mind, leading her to say to Verutia, “Alright, that will be all for now. Good work. You may leave.”

“Yes, leader.” After hearing that she could finally leave, the feeling of nervousness Verutia felt a while ago was finally gone, allowing her to be at ease while the members of the party she was in a while ago came up to her and asked how it went. With an aura of slight happiness radiating from her, Verutia told her party members, “Alliance leader is not mad, though I don’t have idea why. At least we’re not punished.”

…

Just as Verutia had told her party members that the alliance leader wasn’t mad at them, on the opposing army’s side, Horell had made his way towards a certain portion of the army, meeting up with what seemed a few Inanimates that radiated eerie auras. These eerie auras made the other Inanimates stay a fair distance away from them, but this did not stop them from knowing what these Inanimates could do.

These few Inanimates were Inanimates specially trained by Chonk for a special purpose. This special purpose was related to the Code 2 Chonk was talking with Horell about a while ago. As Horell got closer to these Inanimates, he could not help but feel uncomfortable once he entered the radius of the aura emanating from them. Nevertheless, this was his master’s orders, so he had to follow.

Enduring the weird feeling as he moved, he eventually made his way towards the largest branch among the branches that radiated the same eerie aura. What set this branch apart from the other branches was not only by its size, but by its color and design as well, taking on a dark hue while being covered in silver engravings. As for the other branches, it was either one of the two, taking on a dark hue, or being covered in smaller silver engravings.

Coming face to face with this large branch, Horell then said, “Master told me that we’re going to initiate Code 2.”

In response, an aura of slight shock radiated from the large branch as it replied back, “Seriously? We’re actually going to initiate Code 2? Didn’t Master not use Code 2 for the two previous alliances?”

“Master’s words.” Horell made a shrugging movement with his ethereal body before continuing, “Either way, the alliance we’re up against is stronger than you’d think. You better be careful when choosing the members you possess.”

Since Horell was basically the leader of the Inanimates, these words of concern could not help but make the large branch more vigilant as it replied, “Alright. If it’s just as you say, then we’ll take great precaution.”

“I wish you good luck, Reinvor,” Horell replied to the large branch’s words before turning around to head towards the front of the army. While he left, Reinvor, the large branch, could not help but let out a sigh as he looked at the branches around him. Not long after, a slightly elated expression radiated from all of them as Reinvor said to himself, “It’s been a while since I was able to use Code 2. To think that another chance has come.”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Not long after, these branches started to hover before making their way to Reinvor’s body. Soon after, these branches were absorbed by Reinvor’s body, as if they were part of his body in the first place. In fact, that was indeed the case. Reinvor was told by Chonk to make the other parts of the army think that Code 2 constituted of many Inanimates, rather a single Inanimate. Either way, since he was about to use Code 2, he did not have to set up a facade anymore, gradually hovering off the ground before turning himself invisible.

Whoosh!

He then started to make his way towards the Tempest Branch Alliance without attracting the attention of the members of Chonk’s army, nor the attraction of the alliance he was trying to get close to. Nevertheless, this did not stop him from softly laughing.

“Hehehe…”

“[Code 2: Unexpected Betrayal]…”

“Begin!”

…

While Reinvor was making his way towards the alliance, Herellia made her way back to where Aurus was, with Aurus informing her of the decisions he had made with the Executive and Pillar level members before letting Herellia continue where he had left off. It took a few more minutes for Herellia to finish her discussion, coming to a unanimous agreement with the alliance members she was talking to, with them hastily making their moves at the instant the discussion was finished.

On the other hand, after finishing the discussion, Herellia made his way towards Aurus, who was currently fiddling with a few things in his system. Seeing this, Herellia used a red tendril to attract Aurus’ attention, prompting Aurus to close the system before turning around to look at who tapped on him. Noticing that it was Herellia, Aurus then said, “What’s up?”

“I’ve already obtained the information from Verutia’s party,” Herellia answered Aurus’ question, before proceeding to tell him the things Verutia told her without concealing anything. After that, she then asked him, “I’m pretty sure you know what Verutia was aiming for with her move.”

“Yeah, I do.” Aurus radiated an aura of affirmation as he continued, “By killing all of the members of the opposing party, Chonk’s army would think that we are strong, but they don’t know how strong exactly, which would lead them to sending more parties we could possibly kill.”

“Mhm.” Herellia radiated an aura of affirmation as she knew Aurus was right. She then asked, “Do you think they’ll move just like how Verutia thinks they’ll move?”

“Hmm…” Aurus pondered for a few seconds, thinking up of various conclusions before replying to her question.

“I think the chance of them doing that would be highly unlikely, “Aurus said to Herellia before adding, “Chonk is an Animate. He could think up of multiple countermeasures. If he was still an Inanimate though, there might be a high chance that he would actually do what Verutia wanted him to do.”

“You thought so as well?” Herellia said in slight shock before adding, “But yeah, I agree with what you say. Looking at this war from a neutral perspective, an Animate would surely create tons of countermeasures for these types of things. Inanimates have a limit as to how far they could think…unless they’re blessed by a god.”

“Well, of course,” Aurus radiated an aura of slight happiness, which turned into seriousness not long after as he said, “Anyways, we’ll have to wait and see what move Chonk would do next.”

“Ahh! I’m sick of this!” Just as Aurus and Herellia were about to look out of the entrance of the main hall, their attentions were attracted by a loud scream from a certain portion of the main hall. In fact, this loud scream had attracted the attention of all of the alliance members, prompting them to look at a decently large branch with blue engravings on his body.

Seeing as it had gotten the attention of everyone, it then continued to scream, “Why do we fight for the alliance? Don’t all of you fear the fact that you could die from this war?”

Not long after, another scream could be heard from another part of the main hall, this time coming from a sapling that was of a dark hue. “That’s right! Although we’re fighting for the survival of the alliance. In actuality, it’s just a way for the higher positioned members to keep their positions while us normal members sacrifice ourselves for the alliance!”

Continuing where the sapling left off, a weird looking branch started to shout from another part of the main hall, saying, “Us normal members should band together and let the higher positioned members know that we’re not some sort of sacrifice! We’re not some sort of sacrificial lamb, ready to lay their lives for everyone at any time!”

“Yeah! Let them feel our wrath! Bring down the Pillars to a lower position!”

“Oust the leader from her position! Let a new leader lead the alliance!”

“I’m screaming for no apparent reason, but yeah! Change!”

A few seconds later, a few more alliance members started to scream out loud, attracting the attention of all of the members of the alliance. In response to this, Aurus and Herellia could not help but feel that something was off. A while ago, the alliance members were harmoniously working together, only for a few members to start complaining? Was it because of the nervousness they felt knowing that they could die at any time?

Looking at each other in slight confusion, Aurus asked Herellia, “The members that shouted out their complaints…were they always like this?”

“No, not at all,” Herellia radiated an aura of disapproval. “In fact, those members are the most cooperative members we have in the alliance.”

“Oh, really?” After hearing Herellia’s reply, Aurus had instantly gotten to a conclusion, connecting Verutia’s mission to what was happening right now.

“It seems…”

“We have a rat on the loose.”