Chapter 31- The Blood Hounds

~ Higloas Kingdom ~

Early the next morning the king gave the order to his most trusted generals to send troops to his daughter's household as she requested. The generals didn't dare send anyone who was substandard and drove it into the leaving soldiers that they must never provoke to young miss. They were at first pensive and confused at the evident fear in the eyes of the generals they respected so much.

379 soldiers were all sent towards the place that the princess had designated. When they arrived they met the princess in tight fitting clothes sitting on a nearby rock in the middle of a clearing. The surroundings were far away from the nearest village and the trek took all of them half a day to reach this deep in the woods. They were exhausted from marching in their armors and when they saw the princess some opted to sit down and await further order.

"Do not sit!" The princess had infused aura into her command and her volume reached even those in the back.

"In all due respect we are all tired could we please rest for a bit?" A braver soldier who wasn't educated in aura said while in the process of sitting down.

Then the princess suddenly disappeared and reappeared next to the man who had a surprised expression and started to rain down punches and kicks onto him. She didn't even give him the time to cry out in pain till he fell unconscious and even then she didn't let up until she stopped. Everyone was terrified. No one dared to make even a movement in the downward direction they all stood perfectly erect like statues.

"You and you, carry him back you all are disqualified from being in this elite force." Eliana pointed to two men who were originally sitting down in the back, but jumped up in fright at her ruthlessness. Strength was feared by all and she certainly had the strength to be feared.

"We do not have the luxury to rest because our enemies will easily slit your throats whenever they see the chance," Eliana stared everyone down and began her monologue, "You all are here because it was my father's orders, and now my orders are the law. You will train, eat, and survive those who don't meet the margin will be sentenced with a beating similar to that one just now. If you leave send a note to your general and he will send another in your place. Those of you who survive will become a part of a force without equal. I assure you of this!"

When she finished many men began to walk away leaving only 200 out of the original 379 left. They were all drawn to the phrase 'force without equal'. They were convinced of princess Eliana's strength and desired to follow.

"Good then those of you who are staying, I want you to spar with me till you cannot move. If you can still move by the end then run until you are drained of energy." Eliana's words were clear as day, but sounded like a sharpening blade to those 200. The first victim bravely walked up and drew his weapon. His eyes were locked firmly onto any of Eliana's movements.

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Eliana did not use any aura and rushed at him with a sturdy broken branch. A few minutes later the man was lying down battered and bruised while Eliana was was without any signs of exertion.

"Next." Eliana unceremoniously called out her next sacrifice and slowly beat down the whole 200 soldiers one by one. She had worked up no small amount of sweat and was breathing fairly heavily. She had only used her aura to help her physical body push through the continuous beatings.

"I see you all are well." Another voice rang out from the woods and those who were still conscious saw a large man with a scar on his chest.

"Gus how was your mission?" Eliana greeted the man warmly and inquired him about her recent orders.

"The woman and children have been relocated to the location you specified, and any able bodied men have been put into the slave unit you told the king to arrange."

"Good work, anyways in about two hours introduce them to the rest and lead them to our actual training grounds."

"And if they don't wake up?"

"Leave them, we have no place for the weak."

Eliana left the soldiers and Gus as she headed deeper into the forrest. Gus sighed and gave a whistle. At that signal 10 others came out from the surrounding trees and gathered around Gus.

"Ahem, listen up, listen up, I am named Gus and as for these guys you can ask them on your 'free time'. Anyways I'm about to take you guys to hell, those who survive can join us in the Blood Hounds." After two hours past Gus kept it as short as possible and turned around in the direction that the princess had left earlier. His ten subordinates followed him quickly.

"Oh yea and you'd all better follow me, it's easy to get lost here. You don't wanna take the shortcut to hell because then you most certainly won't come back." At Gus' reminder the 200 soldiers quickly got up and followed him leaving a dust cloud in their wake.

After walking for days the tired soldiers reached a huge campsite in the middle of the woods. Log cabins littered the area with women and children moving about on the small dirt paths laid out. There was a huge cliff face on the east side of the camp that connected to a larger mountain that overshadowed the campsite. The men wondered if they had stumbled into heaven instead of hell.

"Haha I know what you all are thinking, but don't get your hopes up. Our little lady will make sure to crush your hopes." Gus shot down their fantasies quickly before they had time to take root and reminded them of why they were here. Then he headed in the direction of a small cabin on the edge of the camp. Every time they passed a woman or child Gus would take the time to greet them and they would greet back, but fear was a common emotion displayed in their faces.

Some of the soldiers gave a closer look to the women and children and discovered that they were all from noble families. Although they didn't seem like the more pampered nobles, they were definitely part of some families.

"Um, Gus sir, why are noble families living this far out from the towns and villages?" A soldier asked Gus after working up a little courage.

"That's because we executed their families due to trying to overthrow the king and attempting to assassinate the young miss."

"Oh I see." The soldier didn't know how to respond to such an answer and the others who were ready with questions quickly shut up.

"I see you all made it safely." The princess walked out of the small log cabin and greeted Gus. She then gave a long stare at all the men and opened her mouth, "Alright, I'll be short. Now that you're here the only way out is to either die or get killed running away. I'm pretty sure you saw how Gus handled those beasts right? Well then let's get started, those of you who survive will become part of the Blood Hounds."

The 7th day of the second month of snow was the day that the most feared and the strongest elite small army was started.