After stating those words, Vlad aimed his finger toward a small city that was also very close to the city’s entrance. This was the first point on the path to Silent Wind Base.
"That is Breeze Town, am I right?"
General Omar’s eyes widened for a moment, and a conflicted expression appeared on his face, which confused General Anglius but made Vlad’s eyes grow sharp.
"Is there a problem?"
"No, no. Yes, that is Breeze Town, but what does that matter? The horde should have already destroyed that place. We must focus on what is important right now and not waste time."
Vlad saw in the man the intent to deviate from the subject, but he did not care and carried on.
"If somehow someone deviated the attention of the horde from Goldstream Town to Breeze Town, that person would have redirected the entire course of the horde, putting them in the path toward Silent Wind Military Base. They would have been very good news for Strong Hammer Military Base."
General Omar’s eyes widened for a second, and just as he was about to hastily speak, Orion’s voice echoed in the room.
"It seems that you are insinuating that we somehow changed the course of the horde. Are you saying we interacted with the demons or influenced their behavior in some way?"
Orion’s eyes were sharp as she focused on Vlad, ready to engage in a battle of words with the young man. She had remained quiet all this time as it was clear that General Anglius would show prejudice against her, but it seemed she could not let General Omar continue speaking.
Vlad immediately saw how everybody focused on him, and if he were to make an accusation, it would be better if he could back it up. After all, just throwing out empty words was not wise or helpful.
"Once again, I am not making an accusation, only stating a fact, advancing General Anglius as I was asked. Second, I do not believe you made a deal with demons, as they would not heed your words. And finally, you do not need to speak with them to affect their behavior, as you could simply use a blood bait, which would do more than enough."
General Anglius could not help but frown when he heard the term, as he was unfamiliar with it, and Vlad immediately explained.
"Simple. You just put a large enough group of people between the demon horde and Breeze Town, deviating the attention from Goldstream Town. Once they kill all the people in the blood bait, they will naturally move to Breeze Town since it is closer. After that point, they will keep advancing, moving toward us."
Vlad made a small pause at this point as he stared at the angelic woman. "It is a good tactic, although it will require a lot of sacrifices."
General Anglius’s eyes widened as he heard those words and came to the realization that blood bait was literally using people as bait to move the demonic horde in a direction. It was clear that those people would not just stand in the road waiting for the demons to eat them, but if they were tied up, there was little they could do. Its usefulness could not be negated, but you must be ruthless to do something like that and care little for human life.
The next moment, the middle-aged General glanced at General Omar and Orion, his eyes glowing cold as suspicion regarding the duo began to arise in his mind. There was no proof, but it was plausible they took that path. If that was the case, they had sent the horde in their direction, putting their base at risk, and were trying to act as their saviors for a problem they generated.
It was nothing short of a monstrous scheme, and if General Anglius had not known better, he would have fallen for it.
"So you just said you came to help us, and we treated you poorly. Please continue."
Vlad stared at General Omar and Orion as he uttered those words. He had just started that line of thought about the blood bait to taunt the terrain, and while the angel showed nothing, keeping a cold facade, the old General was not that good of an actor.
Orion stared at Vlad for a moment before smiling.
"You express many points and interesting tales, but none of that matters. The only real and actionable information is the army of over 5000 demons marching to this place.
We are offering our help to defend this place since the horde will overrun and devour you all without us, and the Silent Wind Military Base will be nothing but a den of demons before the month ends.
You might not like us, but can you really afford to refuse our help?"