The One Luna

"Move out!" As soon as the orders were given, the Sovereign Army; The Smiling Immortals moved out once more. This was probably the most crucial and most s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e operation they were about to embark on.

Harvesting resources was an easy task, but for a huge force to evade detection, meant that the Stealth teams were in full force. Any scout from Emil's Nation was killed on sight.

Luna himself was not slacking off either, he went and took on a mission that only himself, Sura, Maxene, and Elder Aran could do with a near 100% chance of success: Infiltrate Emil's Nation.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. This man you call Sun Tzu is indeed quite knowledgeable. The Art of War is an excellent read!" Elder Aran thought out loud.

"Indeed he is. Anyone who wishes to lead, if they had to choose one book, they should definitely pick that one." Luna agreed.

"Sounds good to me, Lord Luna. When shall we leave?"

"We'll go at night. If Lily's information holds true, then we'll have gained quite a bit." Luna replied. Lily had heard of the Agimat that Emil was in possession of, but surprisingly, she had mentioned a possible second one.

This was their second objective.

Their main objective was to collect whatever information they could and find things to exploit. The weaker Emil looked to his citizens, the easier the takeover would be. In other words, they were softening this already soft persimmon even more.

***

The mutant beasts to the east were not slacking off either. Thanks to the Sovereign Nation's efforts, they made no progress in their attempts to invade, only succeeding in handing over precious EXP to the soldiers.

Eventually, the beasts began to adapt. It got to a point where even they were able to form their own Nations, albeit, they were unable to make use of the structures or challenging territories. Nonetheless, it brought its own advantages. The leaders of these Mutant Beast Nations became immune to any form of taming. The beasts could collectively share EXP, making it so their young would grow stronger much faster. Unfortunately for them, should any of their members be tamed, they would automatically leave the Nation and join their tamer's Nation instead.

They were finally intelligent enough to communicate with each other. The leaders of each Nation had their own summit and carved out territories for each other.

The Visayan Beast Nation who were stronger, but nowhere near as numerous as any of the others, ended up getting the short stick. They got Cebu, a place that was already ravaged prior to this deal.

The Visayan Rat Nation took control of Bohol, since they initially took the majority of the resources here.

The Visayan Roach Nation retreated to Leyte* island, farther east.

The Visayan Arachnid Nation took Samar* island, even farther east, beside Leyte.

In the end, the reason why the Beast Nation was could accept these conditions was simple. Due to the fact that despite agreeing on where they can set up their respective bases, there was no cease-fire agreement between all of them, and thus, they could invade each other at any time or kill each other if they meet while out on their hunts.

Suffice to say, the survivors at Leyte island had a huge majority of their defenders decimated and those who managed to escape joined the forces over at Samar. There, the survivors banded together.

It was fortunate that the people of Samar and Leyte had an agreement and had assigned members to station themselves in the other Nations. As soon as one received the news of the mutant beast horde's invasion, all of them were immediately alerted.

The people of Samar fought fiercely to the point where even the Arachnid Nation felt the pressure. It was all thanks to the Magic Attack Agimat the strongest Nation in the island had found. They had occupied the area near the Janbatas channel*, and with the walls situated there, it made it easy for the couple thousand of their Mages to defend. While it was a minuscule amount compared to the Sovereign Nation, it was enough.

The Roach Nation saw this as an opportunity and attacked them from behind.

Being pincered and forced to fight on two fronts, the Arachnid Nation struggled and suffered devastating losses. Thankfully, they were a direct counter to the Roaches and they ended up being able to survive and retreat. They set up web traps all around Tacloban City* which kept the humans and roaches at bay.

"Those damned Roaches! Betraying us the very chance they get, eh? We will make them pay!" The Spider Queen was frothing at the mouth. Her Arachnid Nation was supposed to be the strongest of among the rest. Instead, they were the ones to suffer the most casualties. It would take months before they could even come close to recovering to their previous strength.

"Indeed, my Queen. They seem to forget that in a one on one fight, we have a major advantage." One of her husbands said.

"Fool! It will never be a one on one fight! We're surrounded on both sides!" She reprimanded him.

"My apologies, dear!"

Seeing her husband's pitiful face, the Spider Queen's eyes seemed to show a hint of pity. "My dear husband, come. There is no need for us to fight over this," she said, as she transformed to her slender humanoid form and opened her two human-like arms to welcome him in an embrace.

This was another effect of being a mutant beast and becoming a leader of a Nation! Albeit, this humanoid form would still have traces of the beast's characteristics. For the Spider Queen, it was the eight spider "arms" growing out of her back and unique patterns on her head. The same benefit could be given to her chosen "husband" which she could only have one at a time. It didn't matter, as she already had potential husbands lined up.

"Indeed, my dear wife." The male spider expressed his delight and embraced her. This enormous spider rubbed his head on the Spider Queen's b.r.e.a.s.ts as she embraced him.

Soon, the two were locked in a l.u.s.tful battle. Once they were done, the husband shriveled up and died as everything he had was absorbed into the Queen. She pushed him off of her as his corpse was carried out by servants.

"Next!" She shouted.

***

Leyte.

"Kekekeke! We sure showed those c.o.c.ky Arachnids who's boss!"

"None of you better slack off!" The Roach King hollered. "Bring me all the women! Let's reproduce! Warriors, what are you waiting for?! GIVE DADDY SOME EXP! Go go go! Feast on the abundant resources!"

"Hell yeah! Keep increasing the gap between us and those damned spiders!"

The Roaches were celebrating their overwhelming victory. They had planned to do this from the very beginning. They were aware that the c.o.c.ky Arachnid Nation would try to bumrush the humans and the zombies as fast as they could. They were expecting all of those resources to be ripe for the picking! Never once considering how strong they were and that they were actually capable of fighting back.

Their overconfidence lay in their expectations that as long as it wasn't the Sovereign Nation, it would be easy pickings. The Roach Nation recognized this and capitalized on it beautifully. If before they were doomed to be snacks for their neighboring Arachnids, now they had the overall advantage.

***

The people of Samar and Leyte finally realized the folly of having separate Nations and merged with the <Nation of Santa Rita>. This was the name of the Municipality that covered the shores along the Janbatas channel, and the name of the Nation who was in possession of a Magic Attack Agimat.

This newly formed Nation, albeit rocky, was a solid defense against the expansion of the other mutant beasts in the east.

If Luna knew about this, he would definitely send an Army over to look for more resources north of Samar. After all, the only reason he didn't prioritize that area was due to the fact that he didn't want to risk his soldiers getting wiped out when the beasts expanded. Regardless, to him, dealing with Emil was his first priority.