It was late at night. Imola's 3,000 people had reached the edge of the forest, near Landen's camp. All the Mana-Wielders in the tribe were preparing to leave the forest and launch a surprise attack on the camp.
"Imola? Are you really sure you want to lead everyone straight in?" Before they set out, Rebeta sounded a little uncertain. "We can't afford to lose even one person. Gray Crow's scouts reported that there are at least sixty or seventy Mana-Wielders in the camp."
"We're not actually going to fight. We'll pretend to be a slave trader's group and charge to the vicinity of the camp. There are over 40,000 people in there, so their Mana-Wielders won't risk leaving the camp. They'll stay on guard and defend it instead. As long as we make them nervous, they won't take the initiative to attack.
"If they do come out, they'll only send those Frost-Wolves." As she spoke, Imola made the Holy Emblem of the God of Life. "With His Majesty's protection, the magical beasts in Frost-Wolf Forest won't attack us."
Seeing how confident her best friend was, Rebeta could only say, "All right. We'll follow behind you. I'll have the people whose Bloodlines have recently awakened come with us too, to make our group look more imposing."
"Ah, I didn't realize the chance of awakening a Bloodline was so low in the south." Imola sounded a little helpless.
According to the Empire's usual awakening rate, a group of 3,000 could generally produce 300 to 600 Mana-Wielders. But in reality, after uniting several tribes, they had only 36 Mana-Wielders altogether. If they hadn't brought 50 veterans with them, their original Mana-Wielders wouldn't even have been enough to fight off the magical beasts.
Fortunately, with the Wolf Priest's guidance, the two girls had improved