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.

and they were only now managing to uncover them, or something in the sea beasts' conduct had changed drastically in the last couple of

the battles wouldn't have been so even over the past few centuries. Spies gave an incredible amount of intelligence, which would allow

the battles that had been happening over the past decade. For hundreds of years, the battles between the land beasts and sea beasts had been even. The land

than ten years 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 the war. Something like this didn't just

actuality, it was more about the place and the styles in which the battles

and power. If that happened in only one battle, one could simply

think of. There had to be a great Commander and

to that, the Empress started to 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

asked him more about how humans fought wars. Gravis had told her more about how human societies functioned, and

about as many troops

be about equally as powerful as an enemy. They would send in an army slightly stronger or

of conducting a war way more. It was almost like an experienced human was leading the

traitors. Judging by what Gravis had told her and by how he had described the humans' way of thinking,

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

sudden increase of spies

that humans wouldn't directly kill the traitor or spy but feed them false information to lead the enemy into an ambush. Another usage of spies would be to use them to find even more spies. After all, the

a lot of talking, the Empress told Gravis her idea. The striking squad had an unrealistically high death rate. Such an elite squad shouldn't have so many casualties, and all of this reeked of a traitor in the squad. The Empress was 90% confident that the silver wolf was a

would enter the

bait the Empress 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

to do anything to him. Additionally, not the entire

King to help him. If it were