The air inside the Main Commander's Tent was tense as all the high-ranking officers of the Yelan Army had gathered to discuss their strategy.

Great General Sherlock had invited Lux to join them. He believed that the Half-Elf had the right to participate in their meeting.

Lux felt quite flattered when he received an invite, but he didn't actively participate in the discussion. He just stood in a spot where he could see the map of the battlefield on the table, where several wooden figures were placed.

The Generals all had grim expressions on their faces when their scouts reported the estimate of how many soldiers they would be facing when morning arrived.

"The Army led by their Great General, Gideon, should have no less than 200,000 men," The Captain of the Yelan Scouts, who had risked his life and the lives of his men in order to observe the Ammarian Main Camp, reported.

He paused for a bit before continuing his report to ensure that everyone was taking his words seriously.

"My subordinates, who I ordered to check the Army led by General Herodes, reported that his troops numbered around 70,000. Right now, they have cut off our routes of escape, leaving us no choice but to fight them here in the Great Plains or retreat to the Glouswell Forest, where we can take the narrow path that would allow us to return to the borders of our Kingdom."

All the Generals inside the room frowned, aware of the fact that they only had 150,000 soldiers in their army.

Even though the Ammarian Army was 200,000 men strong, they could still fend them off even despite having fewer men.

However, since their Western Flank had been breached, and an army that was estimated to number around 70,000 had blocked their path of escape to the mountains, they were in a relatively more difficult position.

Just like the Scout Captain said, they could choose to retreat to the Glouswell Forest and withdraw completely from the Ammarian Lands, or they could try to fight both armies, who were going to attack them from two sides.

"If we retreat now, they will take this as an opportunity to launch a direct attack on our Kingdom," General Fahad said. "I say we stop them here and kill as many of them as possible, preventing them from eyeing our homeland for a period of time."

General Carran looked at the map of the battlefield as he checked the position of the enemy troops, as well as their own troops.

They had always fought against the Ammarian Army, and every time, they were outnumbered, but this time around, something different had happened.

An unknown Ranker had joined the Ammarian Army and used a devastating attack to blow away the fortification that had been erected in the Mountains to protect their Western Flank.

In fact, they were so confident that General Hubert would be able to easily hold the line because he specialized in defense and fortress sieges. His death was truly a surprise to them because they believed that as long as the Yelan General was holding their western post, the enemy could only dream of breaching their defenses.

And yet, General Hubert was killed, and only a quarter of his army managed to escape. This made Great General Watson and Great General Sherlock very wary of the unknown Ranker who had appeared out of nowhere.

"According to the reports of the survivors, the one responsible for destroying most of the fortifications made by General Hubert was a Ranker who shoots black lightning bolts from his fingers," Great General Sherlock said.

"Also, this same Ranker had the ability to create a giant Shadow Ball, capable of mass destruction. According to the survivors, this attack was strong enough to create a giant hole in the mountain, killing our defenders with one blow."

When Lux heard that the opponent Ranker was able to shoot black lightning bolts with his fingers, the image of Nero popped up inside his head.

However, he immediately dismissed this because Nero had just become an Initiate Rank. It was impossible for him to become a Ranker in a short period of time.

"When I asked the survivors to describe the Ranker, they said that he had long, dark-brown hair, and two bat-like wings protruding behind his back," Great General Sherlock added. "He also had two crimson horns on his head, which were the same colors as his eyes.

"The Ranker was also wearing black plated armor, covering most of his body, which they hadn't seen before. I'm guessing that he just recently joined the Ammarian Army because we have no records of such a powerful individual on their side."

The Generals as well as the Commanders glanced at each other with worried looks on their faces.

Just like their Great Generals, they had never seen someone that matched the description of the survivors who had fled the mountain to escape.

It was at this moment when Great General Sherlock shifted his attention to the Half-Elf who had remained silent during their discussion.

"Do you perhaps know who this person is, Lux?" Great General Sherlock asked. "Is he perhaps one of your former mercenary members?"

Lux was about to shake his head, but the part about their enemy being able to shoot black lightning from his fingers made him have a nagging feeling at the back of his mind.

After organizing his thoughts, the Half-Elf held Great General Sherlock's gaze before giving him an answer.

"None of my previous members were Rankers," Lux replied. "However, I do know someone that can shoot black lightning bolts from his finger. However, the rank doesn't match. He is still of the Initiate Rank. I think he might not be the one that you are referring to."

Great General Watson who had his arms crossed over his chest, lightly cleared his throat to catch everyone's attention.

"Maybe he came across a miraculous encounter," Great General Watson said. "Although it is still uncertain that he is the person you have in your mind right now, it will be better if you tell us his abilities, so that we can prepare countermeasures just in case your hunch is right.

"Getting information about our new opponent is vital in this war. As long as we know who we are fighting against, we will not be caught by surprise, which is what happened to General Hubert."

All the Generals shifted their attention to the Half-Elf, and the latter nodded his head, agreeing to share Nero's information with them.

Although he was still doubtful that the identity of the unknown Ranker was the teenager with dark-brown hair, he still couldn't refute Great General Watson's comment about Nero having a miraculous encounter, allowing him to temporarily raise his rank to become a Ranker.

'If he really is capable of temporarily boosting his strength to the level of a Ranker, I'm sure that the first one he will target in the battle will be none other than me,' Lux thought. 'I better make preparations for the worst case scenario.'

After facing off against General Revon in the Glouswell Forest, Lux had gained insight for how he could fight against stronger enemies using all of the abilities he had at his disposal.