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Dagor
Dagor stood to the side, listening in on Kalugal's strategic huddle with his leadership team as they discussed the battle plan.
No one had thought to ask for his or Negal's advice, but the immortals didn't seem to mind that they were listening. Did that mean that they were interested in their input?
Clearing his throat, Dagor stepped forward. "If I may, I can offer a slight improvement to your plan." It was a big one, but he was downplaying it, not wishing to sound condescending or to offend.
Kalugal nodded. "Go ahead."
"You don't need four teams. Negal and I can go ahead and take out all the sentries. We are faster, stronger, have sharper senses, and we can shroud ourselves to become invisible. We can achieve the objective faster and with less chance of complications."
Kalugal's eyes rounded with appreciation. "Why didn't I think of utilizing your superpowers before? I can shroud myself fromimmortals, too, but I can't pull off a disappearing act. I can only make myself look like someone else."
Dagor eyed him with curiosity. "You have godly powers despite being a hybrid. How come?"
Kalugal's compulsion ability was so strong that few of the gods back home could compete with it, and only those that came from the same royal line as the Eternal King at that. And now he had revealed that he could also shroud himself from other immortals.
Kalugal smirked. "I'm special. I am the descendant of two powerful gods. That's why inbreeding was so popular among our people." He winked. "When genetic manipulation wasn't available to us, it was the method of choice to produce more powerful offspring."
"Which gods were your ancestors?" Dagor asked.
They knew that Kalugal was a descendant of the Eternal King through Mortdh, but who was the other one?
"That's a story for another time," Kalugal said. "Now, we need to focus on the task at hand. Since you two can pull a disappearing act, you're on."
That was easier than Dagor had expected. "Good."
Next to him, Negal grinned like he had just won a game of Barkada. "We can do more than that," he whispered so low that only Dagor could hear him.
He nodded. "If I may, I have another idea for improving our chances of success."
"I'm listening eagerly," Kalugal said.
Dagor cast a quick look at the other members of the leadership team to make sure that he wasn't stepping on anyone's toes, but they all seemed as eager as Kalugal to hear what he had to say.
"Both Negal and I can conceal one more person in addition to ourselves. Once we dispatch the sentries, we can come back to collect you and another person. We can get you right in front of the Doomers without them being any the wiser. Once you freeze them, the rest of the convoy can arrive to help with the cleanup."
A smile bloomed on Kalugal's face. "That's perfect, Dagor. Thank you. We don't even need to waste time on the sentries. You and Negal can sneak me and one more warrior past them right in front of the Doomers. The element of surprise will be complete."
Bhathian shook his head. "We need to take out the sentries. When you freeze those at the meeting point, the sentries will be too far away to hear you, so they will not be frozen, and they could cause plenty of damage to our convoy, which will still need to reach you. The sentries might activate booby-traps to blow up our vehicles. They might have armor-piercing bullets, RPGs, and Fates know what else. Eliminating them is a must."
Max nodded. "After the sentries are dealt with, we will follow slowly behind and check for traps. When you reach the Doomers and their patsies and freeze them, we will not be far behind."
Kalugal groaned. "What if taking out the sentries reveals our hand? I'm sure that they have to report to their cohorts every few minutes."
Dagor lifted his hand to get their attention. "That's a good point, which necessitates another change of plan. We need to take you with us, and instead of taking the sentries out, you will compelthem to keep reporting that nothing is happening. We will take them out on our way back."
Kalugal grinned. "That's brilliant. Thank you, Dagor."
Negal pushed his hands into his pockets. "We can achieve our objectives much faster if Dagor and I carry you and the other guy on our backs. We can cover twice the distance in half the time."
Kalugal shook his head. "I draw the line on being carried."
Negal shrugged. "As you wish. But we can cut the time in half that way."
"Thanks, but no thanks." Kalugal squared his shoulders. "When the stories about today are told, I don't want them to include you carrying me on your back." He turned to Max. "Coordinate with the convoy to hold back until we give the signal that the scouts have been dealt with."
"Understood," the Guardian nodded.
