In a sensible grey room with no decorations, there were threatening rumbles of thunder despite this place being right under the ground.

On the wall, there was an old map of the kingdom and her surrounding lands.

A stoic person stood there with a five star badge on his shoulders and a rank plate on his chest.

“A jaguar… he’s a Martial Lord.”

The military ranks of Saint Empire are given by how many men one commands:

(Brown Dog) Five men squad - Martial Leader （武長）

(Grey Wolf) Hundred men section – Martial Captain （武首）

(Yellow Jaguar) Thousand men platoon – Martial Lord （武君）

(White Tiger) Ten Thousand men company – Marital General （武將）

(Black Eagle) Hundred Thousand men battalion – Great Martial General （大武將）

(Green Kirin) Two Hundred Thousand men regiment - Martial King （武王）

(Silver Pegasus) Five Hundred Thousand men brigade – Martial Saint （武圣）

(Red Phoenix) A Million men Division - Martial God （武神）

(Blue Dragon) Two Million men Corp – Heavenly Prince （神王）

(Five-clawed Golden Dragon) Six Million men Corp – Heavenly Emperor（神帝）

The last two ranks that were held by the third prince, fifth prince, and the emperor, are now all in the hands of the Devilheart family. Although, their power had not reach the point where they could fully wield the army, but in emergencies they could issue out orders.

Since Kairos and his friends are commanding a force of three hundred, they are Martial Captains and only someone above their rank could address them for their mission briefing.

The man introduced himself, “I am your mission command. I am surprised that you lads took so long to clarify your mission objectives.”

“I’m surprised that we’re skipping the training part but not forgetting the briefing,” Kairos rebutted.

“Feel free to train,” the Martial Lord said with a smirk. The boys could indeed go for the usual training, but the mission countdown will not stop. If they couldn’t complete within six months, the penalty is public humiliation, and then death.

Under the Devilheart family’s control, taking a few lives are inconsiderable. But because of the Snowdrifts’ reputation, the Devilheart are forced to find a proper excuse to execute their plans.

“It’s not as if the time you’ve given is possible for anyone to develop any proper skill, don’t you think your plans are too flimsy?”

“Haha, what an honest boy. Well, it doesn’t matter if the ploy is unravelled with a single glance, because history is always written by the victors.”

Kairos thought a while on what was said, then nodded his head in agreement, “You’re right.”

The confidence on the Martial Lord’s face changed into bafflement. Surely the boy did not think that they had a chance?

The Martial Lord started on the mission briefing.

No matter what, he has to follow the ridiculous plan in keeping up their pretences.

Their cover story is that the Snowdrifts went on a valiant mission to destroy a critical enemy stronghold but perished in the hands of the villainous enemy commander.

The reputation of the Gold Earl and his guild works better when they are all dead. The Devilheart planned to rally the people furious with the death of their young heroes and take that opportunity to openly form an alliance with the Silent Lambs Empire.

On the surface, the two neighbouring empires are at war, but underneath, there was an unholy alliance between the Phrixus royal family and the Emperor Regent Devilheart.

However, with the many years of strife and blood debts between them, the people from both sides hate the other to the core.

The reason why Calculate Devilheart dared to send so many young heirs of great families or clans to the Dark Hall was because of the help that Axtaius had promised.

“The mission location is here, three hundred miles behind the frontlines in the north,” the Martial Lord said, pointing to the map.

The location he highlighted was a highly defensible point between two fast rivers and on top of a plateau. In addition, there was only one path up and no one knows how many escape routes were dug into the ground.

Even if all of Saint Empire’s ten million practitioner army were to siege the place, it will be difficult to secure a fast victory.

The plateau’s body were not made of soft soil either, but an ancient bedrock that was elevated by a great calamity in the past.

“The Ku Kang camp is located on this plateau. The ground is made of an extremely hard material, but it doesn’t mean that it cannot be drilled through. Our scouts report that there series of tunnels that the enemy had dug. It is a highly strategic structure that allows them to flank our troops unexpectedly or for them to retreat back into their camp when things go bad.

For the past thousand years, our conquest of the north had always been stopped by this goddamned fortification. If you lads could complete your mission, it will be a grand victory for our side.”

There was a hope in the Martial Lord’s eyes. He did not care for the power struggles between the upper echelons, nor did he have any compassion for their victims but if the result is favourable for Saint Empire, he will be gladdened.

Especially when the target this time is somewhat of a thorn of the empire’s side.

“Why don’t our armies just ignore that plateau?” Jim asked an amateur question, causing the Martial Lord to blink in silent disbelief.

His hopes to see this mission complete was formed because of Kairos’ confidence, but almost immediately it was utterly destroyed.

“Ah… who am I to kid myself. These kids are just like new-born calves that aren’t afraid of tigers.”

He patiently answered, “The Ku Kang army is the greatest military force that the north has. If we leave our backs open for them, we will be decimated in a moment. Even without an enemy behind us, if you compare the terrain of our empire and their kingdom, you will notice that it is too easy for them to invade us, while half of our troops will die from the savage north winds before we could reach their cities.”

“What if we lure them out with an army, then sandwich them with another?” Jim continued.

“You’ll need a large amount of troops to bait a significant enough number of them, and how are you going to hide the second army? If our two armies are too close, the Ku Kang will just wait, if they are too far apart, then the enemy could destroy the first army before returning to their fort with ample time to take a shower.”

He shook his head, these children do not have the slightest knowledge of war tactics.

The guys studied the map attentively then asked, “Could we use their tunnels?”

Finally, they gave him a question worthy to be answered.

“No, it’s difficult. The locations of the tunnels are well-hidden and every time an exit was found, they will patch it up and create a new one.”

They expected this answer and did not dwell on it.

Alan said, “Tell me about the Ku Kang Army.”

Now that they know the rough camp layout, they need to understand their opponents.

The Martial Lord was obliging, “The location as the most important strategic stronghold of the north is guarded by their best. Not counting the non-combatants, they number a million and all of them are elites.”

It was surprising that each soldier is around the level of the Saint Academy’s top ten combatant. Although they are students, to reach the top ten best fighter in an elite school isn’t an easy thing.

Of course, amongst barbarian chiefs, there are also stronger and weaker ones. While the bulk might be weak and not actually comparable to the likes of strong fighters like Watts Yournae, Gigas Sermont, Lucas Flare, or Lee Hei, a million fighters nearly of their strength is terrifying.

Naturally, the four of them had become far stronger than four years ago by now and the average member of the Snowdrifts had all improved themselves.

Kairos did a mental organisation of their team.

He is the overall command for this mission. Following him are Jim, Alan, Tommy, and Edward as the four main leaders.

The strategists, Luciette, and George will be their warfare support.

Leaf, Snow, Small, and Smaller, are their tactical support.

Long, John, Silvers, and Sasha, are their vanguard’s commanding officers spearheading at the frontlines.

Lee Hei will assemble and lead those from the Dark Swords. Lucas Flare will gather the Purple Turtle fighters. Gigas Sermont can rally the Pink Chicken combatants. And, Watts Yournae will call along the Green Dog Guards.

Von Cixton will be their Artillery General.

Lux Cixton will be their Shield General.

Alucard Angelheart will lead his small team as their special unit commander.

The Dark Hall Troops had sent out three hundred odd Snowdrifts members, but many more will join them in the culling of the Ku Kang army.