Ben remained busy looking over reports and preparing requested supplies. Fifteen minutes later his general began to enter his tent.
When everyone was present Ben put away his reports and stood up.
"Here we are again with another three kingdoms military invasion campaign. A few of you were not here for the first campaign and will have a chance now to earn glory for yourselves and the Avalon Kingdom.
We are better prepared than we have ever been, and we have far more troops than we ever had. Not only do we have brave men and women fighting by our sides, but I have also brought fierce beasts to fight with and to terrorize our enemies!
Our last battle in the canyon near the Rodara capital city proved we are the stronger more superior army. We were outnumbered three to one, but we were able to split up the enemy and devour them in sections." Ben explained
Ben then stepped aside pointed to a large map tacked to a board hanging behind his desk and said, "We are currently in this wilderness location in the Botodor Kingdom. As you can see their capital city is approximately ten miles northeast of here.
If everyone is prepared I would like for us to move out tomorrow at sunset. If we march straight to the Botodor capital we should arrive sometime around midnight. This kingdom has sent the majority of their levied troops into Rodara whom we defeated or captured already.
I do not expect a large defense of the city. We should only be up against the city and palace guards. They should still think that their troops are surrounding our towns and cities still in the Rodara region and will not be expecting us to attack them.
We will quickly take the city under the cover of darkness and I will lead a squad cultivators to capture the Botodor king and secure the royal palace. I had sent some of our spies to blend in with the captured troops to learn what they could.
They have reported the Botodor cultivators with any cultivation worth recognizing were eliminated during the previous battle, so we do not have to worry about local cultivator making to much trouble for us. The same goes for the neighboring Aithereal Kingdom.
The last Kingdom on our list is the Lunia Kingdom who were not as active in the attack on our Rodara region. Our spies learned the Lunia Kingdom personally pressures the southern Amura Kingdom for food in the same way the Botodor and Aithereal Kingdoms used to pressure the Rodara kingdom for goods.
The Botodor and Aithereal Kingdoms made some type of deal to have Lunia send them a small number of troops and cultivators to be used in their invasion. Unfortunately, this means they will still have troops to recruit against us and possible strong cultivators whom they kept back home.
We will not worry about them and cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, our target is Botodor capital. If anyone needs more time to prepare please speak up now so that I can adjust our attack time."
Ben stopped talking to silent look at each of his generals to see if anyone would speak up.
"Excellent! It appears everyone is ready for battle! Let move out tomorrow and strike hard and fast! It is time to live by our pledge!
The generals all yelled out in unison, "We will always retaliate!"
Ben smiled and dismissed his generals so that they could go and begin to prepare their troops to move out. Ben sent out messengers to the Special Forces Units, shock troops, and other personnel not under a general to have them also prepare to move out at sunset the following day.
Up until now, Ben would generally prepare to attack a city at first light. Now that he had a wider range of specialized units he had more options available to him.
The next day the troops sharpened weapons, examined their armor, and organized their gear. There was a slight tension in the air as everyone was mentally preparing for the up and coming campaign in their own ways.
Ben held another mission briefing in his tent and went over the strategy, he would apply toward attacking the Botodor city.
Before the sun began to set the camp was slowly packed up. Horses and carriages were prepared after the troops had eaten dinner. When the sun started to slip below the horizon the long train of troops in black armor began to follow behind Ben.
He led them on horseback as they marched in column formations. They made their way across the wilderness terrain with only the moon to provide them with light. Ben used his virtual map to keep them marching directly toward the city without ever losing their way or moving off course.
They all walked through the darkness for around five hours when the silhouette of the city could be seen in the distance. The land surrounding the Botodor capital city was mostly flat and did not provide any cover.
It worked out well they came in the night. They would have been seen from a distance approaching the city.
Ben stopped his troops around a half a mile from the city walls and rode back to the first regiment who was following behind him.
Ben dismounted his horse and said, "General Helena it's time for you and your unit to shine. Just follow my orders from the meeting yesterday and deal with any problems as they come along. We will wait here and remain vigilant for your signal."
"Thank you, your majesty! We will successfully follow your orders and open up the way for you!"
General Helena raised her hand and performed a couple of hand signals. As she stepped forward two thousand women wearing black outfits with black hoods over their armor stepped forward to follow her.
The thick cloth soles of their shoes allowed them to silently move across the grass. All that could be seen of each of the two thousand women were their eyes intently peering through the hole in their black hoods.
Ben closed his eyes to listen to them as they passed by. Each of them had done a great job of securing their gear and weapons along with tightly cinching their armor to eliminate any rattling or clicking noises as they moved. All that could be heard was a slight swishing sound of the grass moving that gave the illusion of wind blowing across the open field.
Ben opened his eyes and nodded in satisfaction as they began to melt away into the darkness. These women had attended lessons used by ninja to move silently and to hide in any environment.
They also learned martial arts that taught them to quickly and silently remove an enemy. They carried a short katana, two long-bladed daggers, and a compact compound bow. With the lessons Ben provided for them they could use each of these weapons to remove an enemy with stealth, or they could fight them in a straight head-to-head fight.
He made sure they could not only fight from concealment. If they were to be discovered before they could take down their target they would still easily outfight their opponents.
One of the great things about martial arts is it doesn't matter if the enemy is bigger or stronger than you. Martial arts were created precisely to defeat more powerful opponents.
A silent mass which was slightly darker than the rest of the surrounding nighttime darkness moved up to the city walls. A few sleepy guards stood on the was trying to not fall asleep as the sound of the insect sang outside the city walls.
The women up front brought out their compact compound bows and used hand signals to quietly release a quick barrage of arrows in unison. Ten city guards all fell together with arrows piercing their hearts.
The women who shot their bows stepped back a row to allow the second line to move forward. They swung their grappling hooks up onto the battlements and tied the rope to their climbing harness around their waists.
With practiced agility, they climbed the walls together and reached the top in mere seconds. The women on the walls removed a black sack they had slung over their shoulders and opened the drawstrings.
From inside these black cloth sacks, they brought out rope ladders with black wood rungs. The rope ladders were tied off and lowered to the waiting women below.
Waves of the silent black-clad women began to spread out across the corner of the city wall they had secured.
General Helena began using hand signals to send out units of ten to silently capture the other city guards standing watch on the walls. A unit of fifty women was sent toward the city gate to open the way for Ben and his troops.
The remaining women were sent out into groups into the city. They used dark alleys and rooftops to cross the city unseen and capture or eliminate any patrolling guards.
By the time all of the women were over the wall and sent off into the city, the gate had been already captured. The few guards who sat in the guard post at the gate were knocked unconscious or choked until they passed out. The attack was too silent and sudden for them to react.
General Helena approached the gate and gave a command for them to remove the wooden barricade bar. Once the gate was swung open she grabbed a torch from a sconce on the wall and walked out of the city gates.
Standing a few yards out from the gate she raised the torch above her head to wave it in the air.
Ben who was watching the gate saw the signal and gave his troops the command to move forward on foot.
At just past midnight, Ben led over sixteen thousand of his troops directly through the city gate of the Botodor capital city. The city fell without anyone even realizing it had happened yet.
Now it was Ben's turn to move on the royal palace. He and his cultivator squad swept through the palace halls rounding up everyone they came across and securing them in the throne room.
The king of Botodor was awakened by a disturbance outside his chamber doors. Before he could climb up out of bed to find his guards had been captured Ben strolled in through the two double wood doors.
With his Night Vision activated he could see a middle-aged man sitting up in bed with a look of annoyance.
"What's going on who told you that you could enter my private chambers! You best have a good excuse for disturbing my sleep and barging in here like this or I'll have you sent off to the dungeons!" The Botodor king wasn't happy about being disturbed and began lashing out at Ben.
With a smile, Ben stopped near the bed and said, "Oh but I do have a good excuse, your majesty. The city has fallen and the royal palace has been captured!"
The king looked at Ben like he was mad, "What are you on about? Have you been drinking and just who the hell are you? I do not remember ever seeing you in the palace!"
Ben smiled and said, "Oh how rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself, I am the king of Avalon. You sent your troops to besiege my towns and city in the Rodara region, so I came up here to return the favor. Unfortunately for you I just skipped the whole tedious siege thing and captured your city. After capturing the city I came straight here to pay you a visit."
After Ben explained everything, he brought out a pair of zip cuffs and held them up before him. The Botodor king was still looking at him like he couldn't believe him. How could his city have fallen and the enemy just marched right into his bedroom without a single alarm or warning from the guards?
As he watched Ben slowly approaching him while holding the zip cuffs he grew nervous.
"Where are my guards" Who let this madman in here! GUARDS take this man away!"
Just as Ben reached the Botodor king two male cultivators walked into his bedroom carrying the unconscious guards who were standing outside his chamber doors.
As the two unconscious guards were thrown into the room the king began to shake his head in disbelief.
Before he realized Ben had zip-cuffed him and was dragging him from his bed only wearing his undergarments.
As Ben pulled him along into the hallway the Botodor king saw strange faces wearing black armor waiting patiently along the walls. They all fell in behind Ben and followed him toward the throne room.
The Botodor king finally began to realize he was in trouble and the man dragging him along might not be a madman!
'May the gods have mercy! What is going on here! Did the Avalon troops just ignore our siege to march here and capture me and my city?! Maybe they plan to use me as a pawn to break the siege in the Rodara region? If that is the case I still can get out of this and things might not be as bad as they appear!'
The Botodor king's mind was racing of ways to get himself out of this predicament, but little did he know his fate was sealed the moment his troops stepped foot into the Rodara region.