” Are you sure? ” Anna asked Severus as she felt her blood pump from excitement over the news that Sebastian had brought her.

” I’m sure ” Severus affirmed as Anna rushed towards Max’s office quarters.

Nobody had seen the captain over the last 20 days and everyone had begun wondering what could be the reason behind this.

With Max not keen on revealing his use of the shamanic arts to his faction, the matters of him using the [ Death Plague ] spell were kept strictly confidential.

” Captain, it’s me, I’m entering ” Asiva said as she entered Max’s office and immediately was attacked by a strong foul smelling stench.

Max’s office which was once neat and tidy was now covered all around in empty mana and stamina potion bottles as it looked like 15 bachelor’s had a drinking party here last night with potions instead of alcohol.

Max on the other hand looked like he was ready for action as he said ” They’re leaving the fort, raise the alarm, tell Severus to pick the best Garrisons, I need 5000 men on the March in 30 minutes.

Today we capture the northern fortress “

Max’s eyes shone with an almost inhuman excitement as despite looking like a sewage treatment worker, Max did not lose any of his enthusiasm.

” Aye, I’ll relay your orders, if you have 2 minutes please clean up, you surely don’t want to make your first public appearance in 20 days looking and smelling like this ” Asiva said as she quickly walked out of the office and ran to relay his orders.

Today was marching day and if everything worked out well, it would be a historic day as the vampire’s gained their first bit of land in over many decades.

Severus had told the group that he could hear marching footsteps which were headed away from the fort when he put his ear down to the earth, however Asiva was not sure of Severus’s long distance hearing ability.

Now that Max had confirmed the same, it really meant that the barbarians had been forced to abandon the fort, in which case today would be an easy victory for the vampire troops.

The marching orders were given to the troops and the Garrisons were organised quickly as within 30 minutes 5000 troops were ready in full body armour to march straight into enemy territory.

A clean Max made his appearance on one of his Netherbeasts as he looked at the crowd and said ” Some of you maybe wondering, where the fuck was the captain the last few days?

Well, if you want to find out then make sure you don’t fall behind as we are seriously hard pressed on time if we want to catch those cocksucking barbarians before they can run with their tails between their legs.

Nobody slacks for the next 12 hours.

Today we make history! “

*Cheers* *screams* *whistles*

The excitement amongst the troops was high as Max rode on the abandoned road that once connected fort Sven to the northern fort when it was still under the Vampire control as 5000 soldiers rode behind him.

The abandoned road was not in the best of conditions as it used to be, but it was still navigable enough that it was only a 2-3 hours ride till the northern fortress.

Max was sure that he was going to be able to take control of the fort today without a fight, as the only matter that concerned him was to kill the 2000 barbarians who had chosen to run away from the area with their chieftain Maki before they reached the Southern fortress.

The death plaque had been extremely successful in whittling down the enemy numbers from 12,000 strong to just over 2000.

Max had killed 10,000 troops in a span of 20 days and gained 25 levels total as a result of his endeavour.

By the end, Max was able to make sense of the vision of a rat and it was with that vision that he realised that Maki was planning to run away today which prompted Max to act in a hurry and try to see if he could catch him mid journey.

Hence, Max cancelled the death Plaque spell after days of operating it and the rats summoned by him finally turned back to dust.

Putting the bone staff down for the sword, Max began riding hard alongside his men and all his wildest dreams came true when 2.5 hours later he stormed into the northern forts front gates with nothing but a handful of barbarians guarding it who were taken out within minutes by his troops.

Deafening cheers erupted from the troops when they realised that they had seized a fortress without a fight, however, Max was not content.

” Kill everyone who is sick and defenceless in the infirmary and inside the houses, burn the food supplies and the Barbarian flag from over this fort and unflur our colours.

Leave 1000 men to man the fort, the rest will continue charging with me into the Unakku valley, today’s campaign ends with the head of the Barbarian chief Maki hanging from the front door of this fort ” Max ordered as the cheers died down considerably.

The captain had relayed the orders and the troops quickly began reorganising themselves to best suit the command.

Not even 15 minutes after seizing control of the fort, Max was back outside with 4000 men at his tail riding at full speed towards the southern fort trail, trying to catch Maki and his men before they make it to safety.

Max’s end goal was not just controlling the northern fort, but was to control both the north and south fortresses.

Should Maki and his strong men reach the south’s asylum, it would be 2000 men more that he would need to deal with when he came for the southern fort and it would be much more difficult than catching them out in the open fields today when he outnumbered them 2-1.

Hence acting decisively, Max continued the hunt.