“What do you mean we underestimated the dravu, we gathered all the forces we could muster and are well prepared.” The dwarven king said while stroking his beard.

Jace shook his head, “We underestimated their intelligence. This ambush was more than it seemed if me and Collin are right about our assumption. The dravu may have collapsed the tunnels behind us. These new dravu did not show up on the scrying done by the earth mages, if they snuck behind us and attacked the supply camp while collapsing the tunnels behind us then we are stuck here…”

The marshal suddenly paled, “Then that means we will not have the supplies needed to retreat without severe casualties. If they keep launching attacks while we dig our way out… Even without those attacks it would take us days!”

The other rulers realised the seriousness of the situation. The marshal immediately began barking orders, scout were sent out. The remaining supplies were put under heavy guard, earth mages were strengthening the tunnels around them, while the rulers stood around the table.

“This amount of strategy should not be possible, the dravu are dangerous enough as it is. If they have developed the intelligence to strategize…” The holy maiden of the republic spoke softly.

“If all this conjecture is true, that would mean the attack on the city and the retreat into the tunnels was planned to lure us here. If they wipe out our army the kingdom will be nearly defenseless. If they manage to grow from consuming all the citizens available in the city… This has become an even bigger catastrophe than we anticipated.” One of the mustached representatives of the AOS muttered. (alliance of states)

The elven queen looked troubled, “I have sent messages through to the city, the supply camp was indeed attacked. I sent out an alert with the order that all Adventurers and S ranked individuals are required to report to the city and prepare for an invasion. I told the guild master what is happening and he promised that he would personally kick anyone out of the guild that was not willing to help. This disaster is threatening to the entire continent.”

The rulers stood around the war table with pale faces and rigid postures. The marshal stroked his beard, “The next question would be how do we react. Retreat is a bad option and will cause heavy casualties, if our supplies even manage to last that long. In my opinion our best option is a neck breaking rush towards the matriarch. If we can reach her and kill her, then we have a chance to curb this disaster before it really starts.”

Jace nodded, “It has a high risk but I agree. If we stay here too long and keep reacting to the opponents plan then we lose, we have to make sure it has to react to us. It may have developed intelligence, but it should not yet have much experience in war. That may be the only chance we have.”

Silence once more fell in the command tent, the leader of the sandwalkers spoke up, “What do we tell the troops? They might panic if we tell them that the dravu have gained intelligence and have trapped us.”

The marshal frowned, “I do not like keeping things from my troops. Keeping it quiet might come back to bite us in the ass later on.”

Jace sighed, “I hate to admit it but there is a good chance that the adventurers will panic, they aren’t soldiers and don’t have the discipline. They don’t really fall under our command and are mostly volunteers. If they know that there might be nothing more than death if we continue onwards they might attempt to leave on their own.”

The other rulers nodded, “As brave as they are to have joined us on this expedition, their discipline is worrisome. They consist of nearly a quarter of our troops, if we were to lose even half of them it would heavily affect our combat power.”

The queen looked over at Jace, “You were an adventurer Jace, what do you think they will do if they learn of this?”

Jace frowned, “My guys will stay, but as for the others.” He shrugged, “As I said they might attempt to leave. I expect at least a quarter to try.”

The holy maiden spoke up, “It would be wrong of us to send them towards their deaths if they do not even know how risky it might be. Do they not have the right to know?”

The marshal sighed, “They do indeed have that right, but we can’t afford to worry about that right now. Our survival is at stake, losing a tenth of our troops because of desertion and the impact it will have on morale… We can’t afford to tell them about it.”

The rulers looked at each other, a moment of silence spread. Jace had to admit they were right, it might seem immoral but did they have a choice? This was why he would never want to be in command, making choices like this. Just point him at the enemy and let him do his job, that’s the way he preferred things.

Collin spoke up, “So who do we let know, we will have to know some of the officers know at least. The scouts will find out the tunnels behind us are collapsed and the smarter ones among them may figure things out. The communication brigade will also find out about it soon enough. Do we ask them to keep it to themselves? Can we even stop the information from spreading?”

Jace rubbed his shoulder, “We will just have to keep everyone busy enough that they do not have time to spread the information. If a dead rush is what we are going to do then it will leave little time for the spreading of rumors.”

The other leaders nodded, the marshal sighed and looked up. “Spread the order, everyone is to pack up and prepare. We will be moving fast and resting little, those who have trouble with keeping up will receive support from the mages or potions. We find the Matriarch and kill her, our deadline is within three days. If we take much longer we may not have the supplies to leave even if we do win and survive the battle.”

The queen looked over at Jace, “You’ll have to take charge of the adventurer faction, you are one of the few with a foot in both sides. You have gained a name for yourself in the fights, the adventurers know of you and they respect you. Ask the Xor woman if she would be your second in command, with her by your side you should be able to sway the adventurers.”

Jace frowned, he knew this would be a dirty job, if they ever found out about the collapse things would get troublesome. He sighed and rolled his shoulders, “As you command.”

The queen nodded, “I am sorry dear knight for burdening you like this. Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

Jace smiled grimly, “I know your majesty, I will do my duty regardless.” He bowed stiffly and turned around to find Hirki. He had talked little with the woman, but he respected her and he knew that the respect was likewise. He found her near a chameleon dravu, she was cutting off the skin and examining it. Jace walked over and tapped her on the shoulder, she raised an eyebrow at him and stood up.

He told her about the dravu and what happened. He held nothing back and gave it to her straight. The woman growled, her teeth bared. She ran a finger along her blade, “So the ancient enemy evolves once more, we shall keep to our duty and kill them all the same. Regardless of cost.”

Jace raised an eyebrow in question but the woman waved him off. Jace frowned, then nodded. He took a deep breath. “I’m going to be put in charge of the adventurers, I would like to ask you to be my second in command.”

Hirki looked at him with a blank face for a moment before nodding, “Very well, some things must be done for the sake of extermination.” She stood up and rolled her shoulders, “Let us go and prepare our troops then.”

Jace smirked, “I had hoped to never be put in command of an army, yet here I stand.”

Hirki shrugged, “Kill them with blade, or with command of troops it makes no difference. As long as the enemy lie dead our duty will be fulfilled.”

Jace glanced at her, “Perhaps I should be YOUR second in command then.”

The woman smiled, “I think not, talking as much as a commander will need to sounds exhausting.”

Jace rolled his eyes. But honestly he agreed with her, commanding such a group sounded exhausting. Each of them was individualistic, untrained as a group. They could work in squads but make the groups larger and they would have trouble keeping up. He walked over to the spot where most adventurers were gathered. He made them gather round and he looked at the group. There must have been nearly fifty thousand adventurers here, he rolled his neck, at least not all of them were here at once, the group he was talking to consisted of maybe five thousand adventurers.

“Alright listen up, some of you may recognise me. My name is Jace and I was a former adventurer and am currently a knight under the command of the Queen of Kringva. I’ve been made the commander of the adventurers.”

Some people muttered but most of them stayed silent and waited for him to continue. “We adventurers aren’t an army, nor do we belong to any single country. I’ve been made your commander but we all know that is not how we adventurers do things. I’m not the highest ranking adventurer, nor the most powerful of us.”

“That’s debatable, oh Bloodsoaked Berserker. Guardian of the People.”

Jace frowned, “The what now?”

One immensely tall individual grinned, “You didn’t know? People have been giving you a nickname. Ever since the time your daughter was kidnapped and you wiped an entire gang from existence, you became infamous. Then the dravu attack happened and you jumped down to bring the fight to them, we all saw that.”

Jace folded his arms, “So my nickname is the Bloodsoaked Berserker, Guardian of the People?”

The man grinned, “There’s more actually, War God’s Favourite, Insane Shieldsman, Bloodbringer, Leader of the Psychotic, Brother of-”

Jace interrupted the man, “That’s a bunch of names, don’t they have anything better to do?”

The man shrugged, “People like their stories and folktales, you’re a bit of a local legend now. We also know you have the approval of the Xor.” The man glanced at Hirki, and Jace noticed most of the crowd doing the same. The man looked back at Jace, “Honestly as far as commanders go we could do worse. At least you got an adventurer’s spirit!”

“Here here!” Another shouted, the call was taken up by other adventurers. Jace frowned then grinned.

“Well I guess that makes my life somewhat easier. The dravu ambushed us, they have evolved. We have all noticed that.”

Murmurs of agreement reached his ears. “We worry that they may evolve yet again so we are going to be picking up the pace. We will rush towards the matriarch before anything else unexpected can happen. The goal is to find her in three days time! The pace will be high, we will move fast. Anyone unable to keep up will receive magical support or be given a stamina potion.”

The adventurers looked at eachother, unsure. Jace took a deep breath, “Some of our brethren died! Every moment we waste the dravu retreat further into their tunnels, putting others at risk! We are adventurers, risk is our job description! We move in and hour, we run till they are dead! MOVE!”

The large man saluted, “YES SIR!”

Some other adventurers followed suite and saluted clumsily, Jace nodded. He would take whatever he could get. Deep down he wondered if he was doing the right thing, probably not. But he was doing what was necessary, and that was a soldiers job.