Lightning Is the Only Way

Whoosh!

Jessy immediately fled into the distance after she managed to get a grasp on the situation. The plan had fallen flat, and her fellow spy, who had been even a bit more powerful than her, had died instantly. She couldn't stay here!

"Not so fast, dear," a voice came from behind her suddenly.

Jessy felt shocked, and fear raised its ugly head as she realized that she didn't recognize this beast's voice. The terrifying thing was that she hadn't felt the presence of this beast before. This meant that this beast was very likely even more powerful than her!

BRRR!

Thick walls of earth rose in front of her, cutting off her path of retreat. Just with her experience alone, Jessy was able to feel the hardness of these walls, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to crush through them in a timely manner.

Additionally, there was a bigger reason why she didn't continue. Right in front of her, on top of the newly raised wall, sat a beast casually.

"Why don't you listen to what I have to offer?" the small badger said casually.

This was the same badger that had welcomed Gravis when he had been in his first invasion. This badger was the master of the mantis that acted as the Commander of that one defensive line.

How did all of this happen?

When Gravis asked the Empress for an opponent, she had thought about something. In the last ten years, the number of spies had risen significantly. This gave her two options to consider.

the sea beasts had always had so many spies previously, and they were only now managing to uncover them, or something in the sea beasts' conduct had changed drastically

gave an incredible amount

to this conclusion was the average outcome of the battles that had been happening over the past decade. For hundreds of years, the battles between the

ago. Right now, the sea beasts were winning more battles than they were losing, which hadn't happened in an incredible amount of time. The fact that the sea beasts won more battles broke the entire balance in

reason for the sea beasts' higher number of victories wasn't their power. In actuality, it was more about the place and the styles in which

beasts attacked, the sea beasts often had a minor edge in numbers and power. If that happened in only one battle, one could simply attribute that to bad luck. Yet, that had been happening for a frightening number

only one explanation that the Empress could think of. There had to be a great Commander and strategist in the sea beasts' ranks,

change her approach. In the beginning, when the balance was still there, she could get away with not handling things perfectly. Yet, now, every decision had bigger and more far-reaching consequences. If this continued, the sea beasts might gain an additional, huge chunk of the

more about how human societies functioned, and

about as

in an army that would be

of fighting resembled the human way of conducting a war way more.

how he would deal with spies and traitors. Judging by what Gravis had told her and by how he had described the humans' way of thinking, she saw that their war style had a

beasts'. They would take way less risky battles but would immediately overwhelm a weaker force. Due to that, there would be many times fewer casualties in these

existed for beasts, their number wasn't nearly as high as if they were humans. The sudden increase of spies

false information to lead the enemy into an ambush. Another usage of spies would be to use them to find even

of this reeked of a traitor in the squad. The Empress was 90% confident that the silver wolf was a traitor. Yet,

would enter the

could offer to the sea beasts. Gravis' Battle-Strength was monumental, and killing him would probably be worth about as much as killing an Emperor. The

as Gravis was there, the silver wolf wouldn't be able to do anything to him. Additionally, not the entire squad could be

three King would be too weak to guarantee success. Because of that, the Empress would be sure that the silver wolf would either get a level four King or a level five King to help him. If