Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Chapter 473: CDLXXIII. Out Of This Room

"I've always been fascinated by geology, ever since I was a child. On Earth, it was my favorite subject. Anyway, I see that there's a cave on this mountain, too. Is it another base of operations of the Claws Of Fenrir?" the young Master asked, who wanted to take stock of the situation.

"That's right... that should be the biggest. It is said that within that mountain, the wolf warriors have built an entire city carved into the rock and for this reason, they have never again claimed their dominion over Klorr."

"So that's the first place we should go." 

"Uhm?" Gunnar said, unable to understand what the young Master was referring to.

"What do you mean? Who should go there? Us?" Kranus asked, touching his beard, interested in Dag's proposal, which had already entered his mind, trying to figure out what was the best tactic to get rid of the threat of the Claws Of Fenrir.

"You said that wolf warriors don't own a real city, but so many small outposts scattered across Krypstorm, many of which are caves, right?" 

"Yes... so what?" 

"In my opinion, the creation of new small command centers full of Jotunns warriors will only disperse your forces and make your army more and more vulnerable, despite training new warriors every day. You're playing their game, you think you're winning a war, but you're actually slowly losing it" Dag continued, without stopping to look at Randt's Massif on the map.

"How dare you, kid? We started fighting the Claws Of Fenrir in this way more than 20 years ago and we have already won many battles, driving them out of territories near Tungvek and protecting our people. And now we should change our tactics just because a stranger who thinks he is a God said that?" Gunnar exclaimed, who, having spoken for the second time without the permission of his superior, attracted another of his stern looks.

"Silence, Gunnar. I didn't ask for your opinion. No one has said that we will change the approach of our army, but listening to the opinion of a boy who, so young, has already managed to form an Alliance and travel to an unknown nation can only do us good" Kranus continued, pointing to Dag and politely asking him to continue his explanation.

Dag nodded, thanking the magician for the trust and continued to speak.

"You have won many battles and I congratulate you on this. Thanks to the hard workouts you put them through, your warriors are certainly among the strongest in Krypstorm, but... if your real goal is to expand your borders beyond the walls of this city, I believe that you are not using the right tactics and that this war will still last for tens of years, without ever leading to a concrete result. Where do the leaders of the Claws Of Fenrir live? I mean those who decide how to deploy their beast-soldiers..." he asked, looking the leader of the Ice Giants in the eye.

"In Randt's Massif, you just said that" he replied coolly, still unable to figure out what his interlocutor had in mind.

"Well. So you can easily imagine that's where their strongest warriors hide, in defense of their leaders. In my opinion, you should call all your warriors back to Tungvek, abandoning the Outposts you have created, which are just a waste of men and resources... soon after, you will create a group of soldiers suitable for this type of task and send them on a diplomatic mission directed at them, the leaders of the Claws Of Fenrir's Clan." 

"What?! Commander, I'm sorry if I intervene without your permission, but I can't listen to such bullshit! That wouldn't make sense! Any victory achieved in the past would become useless if we decided to withdraw our men and not continue to attack those bastards!" Gunnar interrupted again, rising from his chair and turning rudely to Kranus, who slowly turned his gaze towards him.

"Wrage..." the white-bearded mage said.

"Yes, Commander?" the Shield Master asked, who had been called unexpectedly.

"Please escort your colleague out of this room and if you want, come back without him. Today he can't control his momentum and I'm starting to lose patience" Kranus said again, continuing to look Gunnar in the eye, who looked down angrily.

"Uhm... yes, sir... as you wish, sir" Wrage answered diligently, rising from his chair and gently touching his friend's arm.

"Don't touch me!" Gunnar exclaimed, quickly moving his arm and freeing himself from his grip. 

Everyone in the room looked at him, fearing that, driven by anger, he might do something he would regret.

"I can get out on my feet" he continued, looking at Dag with the same air of defiance that had accompanied him throughout the encounter and attracting the attention of Thalos, who began to growl, slightly scratching his neck hair.

"Easy, Thalos... easy... don't worry, he's leaving" Dag said, calming down his four-legged friend and proving once again superior to the Giants Of Ymir's Master of Arms, waiting for him to leave the room and maintain his usual composure.

After opening the door, he violently shut it, slamming it.

Wrage, who had risen to accompany him, sighed and returned to sit in front of Dag and Freydis, interested in listening to the rest of the speech.

"If I did or said anything wrong I'm sorry... I didn't think I would" 

"Dag. Pretend nothing happened, then I'm going to talk to him privately. This is not the first time he has had problems with 'discipline'. Now please, go on" Kranus interrupted, leaning back on the back of his bone chair.

"I was saying that... breaking the continuous micro-battles between your Clans with a diplomatic meeting, could be the key to solving these long-lasting diatribes. If you gather all your soldiers, I'm sure their number would exceed that of your enemies..." 

"Yes, that's for sure. And why should we reunite them if you're talking about diplomatic missions? We certainly won't need their help" the mage replied.