One month.

  It took one whole month from the conclusion of the GES to for all the participating nations to gather their troops and get logistics organized. Well organized enough to allow the everyone to begin marching to the Wild Lands.

  Logistics would constantly be a mess of an ongoing effort the longer a war like this went on.

  Too many different troops and powers were working together to fight a war with limited information. Too much communication between different races and language speaking nations to make things simple.

  But they would have to make do.

  And make do they did.

  Not counting any personnel responsible for logistics and their respective guards if they had any, the war party had reached a number just over 10,000 strong.

  It was only 4000 more people than the three companies of Knights that attacked previously, but that group couldn’t compare to what was happening here.

  The versality alone would add a different level of danger that Rick and his Goblins simply wouldn’t be able to account for.

  While the Knights of Verdan are versatile in their own right, they are all swordfighters by trade with a few that specialize in the bow and magic.

  But here 500 highly trained archers from the Liasante Nation would be coming in full force. Not to mention the riders from North Balarian.

  Rick himself had never once had to face a mount combatant.

  And those were just two of the many differences that would be facing the Goblins, and while there were a few other physical things to note, the biggest change was one of knowledge.

  There isn’t a single strategist worth anything at all that would argue against the power of knowledge.

  Of course there was always the idea that no strategy could account for overwhelming power, but that was a strategy in and of itself. If you knew the strength and weakness of the enemy you faced, then you would then know best how to approach that enemy.

  Maybe all it would was one of your generals storming the enemy and destroying everything with just their own power, or the strength of your enemy closely matched your own, so things like battle strategy and subterfuge would play a higher part.

  What was important here was that the troops now marching on the Dark Lands of Mir were more keenly aware of the threat they were about to face.

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  Thousands of Goblins and at least 6 powerful Goblins of the Seventh Tier.

  All the planners involved even went as far to assuming that the Goblins had double that number in their ranks.

  It was preposterous to assume that the Goblins even had 1 Tier Seven among them, let alone 12, but that just goes to show the seriousness in which the gathered powers were treating the situation.

  In total, there were 13 Tier Seven members across all the gathered troops. Even if the 14 Goblins Chiefs were able to fight one on one battles with no interference, and one of the battles received the help of a second Goblin, the overwhelming advantage they previously held in power was now gone.

  The Chiefs were strong.

  Every single one of them.

  But this wasn’t like some of the Orcs who lived in the Iris River Plains who never actually saw real war and weren’t battle hardened.

  The opponents they faced would be just as powerful in terms of Tier, but far more deadly when it came to skill, technique, and knowledge. Even if two of the Chiefs doubled up one of the opposing Tier Sevens, another Chief could just as easily lose their one on one in the meantime.

  And of course this was assuming that no one else would interfere with the battle at hand and the GES Tier Sevens would be actively seeking out one on one battles.

  This was a war.

  A war in which one side was fighting for survival, while the other side was fighting to eradicate.

  There would be no call for mercy here.

  At least not on the side of the Human and Demi-Humans. They were fighting to cull the threat and kill the King of Goblins.

  Something that every single Goblin in the Dark Lands of Mir would die before allowing it to happen.

  This would be a bloody and brutal war fought to the death.

  Now despite the fact that the odds were brutally stacked against them, Rick and his Goblins would have to be thankful that only 10,000 troops were moving in their direction.

  Verdan alone had far more than 10,000 standing Knights in their ranks, let alone the other Human nations and the sum of the Demi-Human lands.

  But although this was a serious affair, and the nations were indeed taking it as seriously as they thought they should, not a single one of them had gone all in.

  This alliance was a loose one.

  It would only take one little order for this to turn from a war against Goblins to one against Demi-Humans or vice versa.

  Even the Humans. It wasn’t like they were all friendly with each other, or that everything was perfect in their respective nations.

  Much like Dalor, there will always be someone or a group waiting for their moment in the dark to strike at the most opportune time when whoever they intended to attack was at their weakest.

  So while a lot was dedicated to this advance, there was far more kept in the confines of their respective power.

  And this was obvious by the fact that none of the leaders left the borders of their respective nations to join the attack. It was the same reason why the Queen of North Balarian had sent an envoy in her place.

  It was far too dangerous to get caught unawares just traveling, and such a tragedy would be far easier to hide in the midst of a battle.

  This wasn’t even considering some of the other powers that shared the continent.

  For example the Dwarves in the far south whose mountains bordered the Nameless Forest.

  Their power wasn’t to be questioned, even by the likes of Verdan. And for reasons long forgotten by some, they would never help in the eradication of a Goblin King.

  So unless the situation truly called for the power of the Eighth Tier, then those that wielded such strength would remain home.

  Either way, war was coming. And it was coming fast.

  And Rick now had to worry about the fronts back in the Dark Lands of Mir which showed no signs of ceasing, and now the approach of an army that stood 10,000 strong.