Rebirth of the Prime Dragon Master
Chapter 696 Now Or Never

The priority at that moment was to hang on to Yu City, so they could impede the attacking plan ofHoly Sea Empire. As long as their attacking process was interrupted, Rocky would be able to takecontrol of the situation.

Not to waste any time, Rocky immediately called together all the soldiers in Heaven Unicorn City toget ready, and they were marching to Yu City over the night. Since it was supposed to take themless than one day to get there, they should be able to arrive earlier than the troops of Holy SeaEmpire, and with this time difference, they would get sufficient time to prepare to fight. And theymust have a miraculous trick to defeat the enemy. Otherwise, all their previous efforts would comein vain,

As the night was getting dark, Rocky left Heaven Unicorn City with the eight thousand soldiers. Withgreat haste, they immediately headed to Yu City. In the meantime, Rocky also sent spies to monitorthe movements of Holy Sea Empire's troops. The spies were preventing that their enemy feintedand pretended to go east while in reality, they were attacking west.

Rocky and his soldiers arrived at Yu City as planned. While on the other side, the news that MontCity had been occupied by Holy Sea Empire alarmed everyone in Palace City.

The position of Mont City was important, and taking it, Holy Sea Empire could attack surroundingsmall cities with little efforts, which would consolidate their advantages. On the other hand, CrimsonDragon Army was concentrating on fighting with Timber Deity Empire and was unable to spare anytime to get Mont City back. The emperor might be able to call forces from other legions, but itwould take them at least a couple of days to get there. At that time, the small cities around mighthave been controlled by Holy Sea Empire already. In that case, it would be hard and would take timeto take them back.

The emperor hurriedly called the Priest Dean and several other chief officers, which included Marcia.All of them together had an emergency meeting to decide their next plan.

"Your Majesty, the loss of Mont City puts our country in a dangerous position. We need to dosomething to get out of such an unfavorable situation as soon as possible. In my opinion, we needto make another negotiation with Holy Sea Empire. This is probably the best choice for us now," theforeign minister suggested as he bowed to the emperor.

"Foreign minister, I'm afraid that I can't agree with you. Don't you see that Holy Sea Empire hasclearly shown that they won't negotiate. The eldest prince has presented himself in the front-lines,but they didn't give a damn about it. I suggest it's better to gather our men from Gehenna Borderand take Mont City back. The only way to keep our country and people safe is true military strength.Negotiation won't do this time. Trust me!" The military officer had a completely different opinion.Soon, the officers were divided into two parties. One supported to solve the problem withdiplomatic measures while the others advocated force. As the two parties tried to win the emperor'sagreement to their suggestion, they arguments escalated furiously.

"It's said that the eldest prince had sent the newly appointed Commander in Chief of CrimsonDragon Army to Mont City. The prince hoped that the new Commander in Chief might be able tocontrol the situation, but it seemed that he has let the prince down. The city fell so soon. I believethis new Commander in Chief is not that competent as we expected,” Priest Dean suddenly cut in ashe bowed at the emperor as he coughed. The Priest Dean had already learned from a secretmessage sent by the eldest prince that Rocky was Basil. Without any hesitation, he would do hisbest to discredit Rocky as bad as possible.

"Is that so? But General Lance spoke highly of him in every letter he sent me. According to him,Rocky has made a lot of contributions for Crimson Dragon Group. Otherwise, General Lance won'teven make him the Commander in Chief," the emperor said as he was a little confused to what hejust heard.

"Perhaps it's because he is too young yet was able to achieve so many accomplishments. Thus thegeneral has a positive opinion about him. You may not know this, Your Majesty. This newCommander in Chief is actually the son-in-law of General Lance. I believe that he will always be in apositive light in the eyes of the general," Priest Dean said meaningfully.

After such a remark, all the ministers present immediately began to whisper with each other. Thediscussions was about what Rocky should look like and what he could do exactly.

"Priest Dean, are you sure that your news are correct and true? Please verify it!" Marcia suddenly cutin and cast a sharp glance towards Priest Dean. The recent bad news about Rocky made her breakher silence.

As he received such cold stare, Priest Dean felt a shudder ran down from his spine.

"What do you mean by that statement, General Marcia? Please clarify for us!" Priest Dean asked witha long and troubled face.

"Your Majesty, as far as I learned, Mont City has been occupied even before Commander in ChiefRocky got there. The fall of Mont City shouldn't be his fault. It has nothing to do with hiscommanding ability or fighting plan. The timings of recent events were just unfavorable towardshim. However, according to the information, Commander in Chief Rocky has already retreated toHeaven Unicorn City. It was said that he's making huge efforts to protect the small cities around.He's doing the best he can do as of the moment,” Marcia reported to the emperor in meticulousdetail.

"Oh, I wasn't aware that General Marcia has been paying attention to the war on the GehennaBorder." A surprised expression painted the emperor's face

"However, I'm afraid that it is only wishful thinking that Commander in Chief Rocky will be able tosave the neighboring small cities. Sadly, he has no troops at all to resist the attack of Holy SeaEmpire,” the Priest Dean continued as he faked a sad face. The priest was already well aware that itwas easy for Holy Sea Empire to take Mont City only because the eldest prince had plotted it inorder to deal with Rocky. Additionally, at that moment, Rocky didn't have any forces at all. Therewas no way for him to save the nearby small cities empty handed.

"That's quite an impressive update. However, how did you know that Commander in Chief Rockydoesn't have enough forces?" Marcia asked as her cold eyes stared at Priest Dean. In fact, Marciahad already learned from her apprentice that Alston started to aim at Rocky the moment he arrivedat Gehenna Border. Unable to deal with Alston, Rocky had to tell her apprentice who he really was,hoping that her apprentice could give him a hand. All of the facts pointed to one thing, that Alston'spurpose was nothing but Rocky's downfall. He had no intention to fight Holy Sea Empire in the firstplace.

"Oh, about that... It's rather easy to deduct. All the troops of Crimson Dragon Army are focused ondefeating Timber Deity Empire. There couldn't be that many men left after Mont City was lost.General Marcia, the answer is rather obvious and you don't have to ask!" The Priest Dean had neverexpected that Marcia would go to the point and immediately interrogate him. Fortunately for him,he responded quickly and tried to make out a good case.

"Priest Dean is right this time. It isn't the ability of Commander in Chief Rocky that matters, but thetroops. We can't make as many troops as we want out of nothing. I'm afraid that we're losing thosesmall cities around us!" A worried frown appeared in the emperor's face as he nodded inagreement.

"Your Majesty, now that the eldest prince is currently in the front line, I think that he shall be incharge of the whole situation on Gehenna Border. I believe that he will make better decision andsave us lots of troubles. To be honest, the loss of Mont City won't be that much to the country.Please don't worry about it. The eldest prince is currently leading Crimson Dragon Army in the fightagainst the Timber Deity Empire. It's a good opportunity to cultivate him so that he can grow into agood leader. I believe that he will break the defense line of Timber Deity Empire soon. After that, hecan easily take Mont City back. We'll just have to wait and see," Priest Dean said once again with aconfident tone.

"Priest Dean, leading an army is not as simple as you thought. We need to pay close attention to theTimber Deity Empire. Otherwise, we will suffer a tremendous loss,” Marcia sneered as she stareddaggers at the priest.

"You are thinking too much, General Marcia. Actually, I'm more worried about Commander in ChiefRocky than the eldest prince. He may think that he can save the small cities, but I think that he is justoverconfident about his abilities. In case he fails to save one of them, what can you say about it?"Priest Dean continued to mock Marcia and her belief in Rocky.

"Military officer, how many of those small cities are around Mont City?" After he thought for a while,the emperor asked impatiently.

"There are three of them, Your Majesty,” without any hesitation, the military officer immediatelyreplied.

"If the Holy Sea Empire marched to attack all of them, how long will it take them to capture themall? Do you have any idea?" a grim expression painted the emperor's face as he asked once again."At least ten day, Your Majesty," after he thought for a moment, the military officer replied honestly."Then, we still have some time. Let's see what Alston will do first. If he can break through thedefense line of the Timber Deity Empire and still have time to mobilize soldiers to support Rocky,then he might be able to take Mont City back," a firm decision was said by the emperor. It seemedthat he also chose to believe in the eldest prince.

Marcia bowed to the emperor and left the hall without saying anything more. A troubled expressionpainted her pretty face as she stopped right in front of the gate and looked at the direction wherethe war was going on. With her soft lips, she murmured, "Hold on, Basil! Don't let me down. Don'tlet Alston win over you! If you lose this time, it will be impossible for you to start over. It's now ornever!" A deep sigh escaped her mouth. Then, she cracked a mysterious smile and suddenlydisappeared.