Back on Gaia, the development of the first Snowdrifts’ city had been quickly progressing. Batches of soldiers loyal to emperor Galahad volunteered to guard the newly erected city. Farmers, merchants, and people of all trades arrive, hoping to make money in the coming war. At the same time, more than a-third of the aristocrats had openly sided with the Snowdrifts, with two of the three great noble families leading the way with their support.

Of course, their foes are not just standing still, waiting to be defeated. Although the Devilheart family only gained the support of the Moon from the Sun and Moon Clan, they had tremendous advantages over the Snowdrifts when it comes to the number of common adventurers that are siding them because of the pawns they had planted in the adventurers guild. In numbers, they far outstrip the Snowdrifts, and while they have fewer paramount cultivators, the Devilheart family are not acting alone. With the help of their allies, the Silent Lambs Empire and the southern mage countries, not only is their paramount cultivators outnumbering the Snowdrifts, but they also have the advantage of mages. The might of a spellcaster shines when placed on a battlefield. It will not matter whether you are an internal or external cultivator if hellfire envelops you and all of your friends.

If it is not for their weaker constitution and being few in numbers, the southern mage countries would have started a road of conquest by themselves instead of quietly staying in their corner.

To see the Devilheart family allying with a hostile empire and the ambitious mages, everyone knows that this is soon going to end with the demise of the great Saint Empire. When the giant fall, the vultures will come to feed. Only the faithful will head to the Snowdrifts’ new city to form their last resistance while those loyal to themselves will carry the flag of false justice.

Ku Kang camp, war room. The three leaders of the offensive against Snowdrifts sat in a war room in heated discussion.

Guarding them outside of the room are the giants of the Sahara Desert. What was discussed in an ancient cellar underneath the desert between Calculator Devilheart – younger sister of Calculus – and the delegate from Silent Lambs’ Phrixus royal family had almost come to pass… the toppling of Saint Empire’s royal family. The third prince killed, the fifth prince turned into a puppet and the Emperor Galahad, captured by the mages.

Unfortunately, the one member of the royal family that had escaped their clutches, Relestia Vestimore, proved to be their biggest resistance.

Now, they must fix their mistakes.

Using the camp that had been given to them by their foe as a frontier is a resounding slap on the face of the Snowdrifts. Of course, they made sure to check the Ku Kang Camp carefully for any traps and switched out all the soldiers under Esley before using this place. The Sahara giants that they brought over as replacement are skilled hunters and fearless warriors. If there are any race on Gaia that could outmatch the Frosthral warriors in a head on battle it will be them, the Kiffians.

They are a newly discovered group that appeared after the winds of the Sahara Desert stopped and new vegetation and critters burst forth. As green sprouted everywhere and the rivers flowed again, these giants appeared with heaven-imbued strength and the cunningness of an apex hunter. Even their women stood well over two and a half metres tall, and their young could reach C rank solely by their physical strength alone and when fully grown they will all be S rank at least.

With such potential it is very likely that each and every warrior of the Kiffian tribe will reach SS rank at adulthood with the right cultivation method. Their natural advantage of a powerful physique means that the Kiffians only need to focus on internal cultivation, and they will be as those who dabble in both internal and external cultivation but use half the time. Undoubtedly, their fame quickly spread from the travelling merchants to the hears of the highborn. Soon, many rushed to make this new tribe into their subordinates, including the well-informed Devilheart family and the Silent Lambs Empire’s absolute authority – the Phrixus royal family.

The two quickly suppressed the news by taking down all other competitors, crushing them so utterly that no one who knew about the Kiffians could live to tell another soul. One can imagine how much the travelling merchants regretted as they were woefully tortured to death. Why torture them? Well, how else can it be certain that the merchants did not leave a name out? As long as the merchants are miserable enough to want death, a soul jade will easily snuff out any lies.

The merchant only had to swear with a jade slip that they had left out someone and if the soul slip did not respond it means that the truth was spoken, and the torture will continue until all names are named.

The Kiffian tribes number only three hundred thousand, with a-third of them warriors from both genders. With the potential of a hundred thousand double S rankers hanging on the line, the last two families remaining – Devilheart and Phrixus – had to crush all competitions. It is only because they cannot snuff the life out of each other that they tolerate the other family’s fingers dipping into this delicious pie.

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They pooled their families’ resources and heavily invested in the Kiffians. At the beginning they only focused on making the Kiffian warriors willingly submit to their might and their seemingly boundless resources. The main Kiffian camp remained unmolested, since it works for everyone’s favour to have these giants continue to produce more fighters. In fact, the two families each shipped over farm tools, medication, books, and other essentials that could quickly grow a population then offered cultivation resources in exchange for warriors.

The backwater tribe did not know any better and quickly bit the bait, hook, line, and sinker. Of course, rather than having any real loyalty to either the Devilheart or the Phrixus that had employed them, the Kiffians are more akin to mercenaries with a dash of gratitude and a hidden ounce of belittlement towards these short people with too much money.

Still, the Kiffian has a tradition of putting all their heart into the task they are doing, and this made them incredibly professional workers as well as mercenaries that live by their word. Any Kiffian who was found to have promised to work but did not is considered a thief and thieves will be branded, despised, shunned, and beaten wherever he goes.

With such virtuous culture, when the Kiffian warriors found out that the Devilheart and Phrixus are competitors, they did not hesitate to draw arms against the Kiffians employed by the opposite side. Their fights were brutal and merciless, though no amount of money will make the Kiffian warrior willingly fight to his death. Besides, the two families also did not want to lose any of their hard-earned warriors, so the situation became sickly amicable for a while. It was only when the two families found out that they had a common adversary – the Snowdrifts – that their rivalry finally ended. Although they were ashamed to admit a group of children bested them, this problem will not go away by pretending the Snowdrifts do not exist.

From that point on, they worked together to topple the new city erected by the Snowdrifts. Fortunately, because the Kiffians never stop fighting each other thanks to the Devilheart and Phrixus, the warriors will be ready to enter the battlefield at any time. Most of all, after years of pumping in resources, the majority of the Kiffians are now at Peak S rank and there are over ten thousand Double S rankers in the mix.

Under the directions of the Phrixus and Devilheart family, the armies of the Silent Lambs Empire and Saint Empire started mobilising towards the north while the powerful Kiffian warriors departed a month earlier as the scouting party. Their mission will be to retrieve vital information on the Snowdrifts’ capabilities and to sabotage any military assets that they could.

Although the Kiffians are only willing to spare fifty thousand warriors – half of all the tribe has – such an amount of S and SS ranking cultivators will be able to roll over most obstacles. Of course, the Saint Empire is no push over. As a military state, they have more Paramount Cultivators than any other countries, those are experienced warriors forged in the fires of battle and willing to help the Snowdrifts because they were indebted to the Emperor Galahad in one way or another.

It is not an easy task, but not impossible for the Kiffians. Moreover, their employers promised that they will not be doing the job alone. They do not really know much of the world outside of the Sahara Desert, but they have still heard of the immortal realms before. This time, the ones accompanying them in the scouting parties will be cultivators that came down the upper realms, and they were told that they have a secret weapon for the mission. An entire crate filled with Devil-turning pills.

…..

It had been a day since Relestia’s capture. The princess was brought to a room where someone is in the midst of dying. Her task was simple, to cruelly torture the poor soul until the person dies… eventually. As a wartime princess, Relestia is not a damsel in need of a knight and has gone through her share of hardships, but she realised that she does not have the stomach to be a torturer.

Because of her refusal, the poor man who would have bleed out in an hour even if the princess did nothing, instead fell into the hands of one of the monsters. The monster gleefully tormented its victim in a far more gruesome and disgusting manner than any sane person could imagine. Relestia was forced to watch the process and when she pleaded for the ordeal to end, the monster stopped. Unexpected, it went away only to return giving the man food, water, rest and even help stanched the blood flowing from his wounds.

Relestia knows that it is impossible that these actions were out of any sort of kindness, and quickly forced herself to take on an emotionless façade lest the situation worsen. The monster delightfully leered at the man as he greedily ate and drank everything even if he also knows that this will only extend his torment, but logic cannot beat instinct when one is at the brink.

Even if he knows that death will set him free, even if he knows that the torture will unbearable, he cannot stop this wretched desire to survive.

The monster laughed happily at the illogical decisions made by its victim. At this time, the man suddenly stopped stuffing his face with food. His eyes were like blazing fireballs as they stared right at Relestia, “Princess! I beg of you, revenge me! I don’t have family, I don’t desire a quick painless death, I only wish for these bastards to die terribly. Do not let them perish easily. They must feel what I felt!”

Relestia was terrified with the boundless wrath she felt from the man. The anger of being toyed with, helpless, and ridiculed. The rage he felt from slowly losing control of his mind. He cannot accept the ones who did this to him could laugh at his torment.

The blazing eyes turned icy cold, until Relestia met his gaze and firmly nodded. All at once, the man seemed to have lost all his energies and fell into a heap. Now, he has no regrets knowing these monsters will join him one day.

The monster that was about to torture the man again turned to look at Relestia. For the first time, there was anger in its eyes.

…..