Jack let the ridicule slide, if this guy could hatch a plan that dealt with their quandary, he did not mind suffering a few of his unpleasant words.
“We have two main problems,” John explained. “One, our sizable presence scared off most monsters. Two, the army was too vast that even if it was attacked, no guarantee it will be at our position.”
Jack and Jeanny nodded in agreement at his words.
“So all we need to do is pretty simple. Cut down the size of the army so it won’t scare the monsters away and put it in a position where they will be the first to be attacked.”
“Huh?” Jack did not catch his drift.
“A vanguard troop,” John spelled it out. “Go and tell the commander that a vanguard troop can help to speed the march up. On the last two occasions when the army engaged the monsters, the whole army had to slow down so the side that was having the battle did not get left behind. By having a vanguard troop goes in advance and deals with any possible hindrance, the main troop can continue to march at a stable pace. Of course, you need to make sure that our force is the one selected for this vanguard troop.”
“That is a good one,” Jeanny commented.
“Of course it is. Now, leader, go tell the commander. Chop, chop! We have wasted enough time as it is,” John said to Jack.
“All right, I will head over right away,” Jack said as he controlled his steed to take him to where the Duke and the Commander were at.
As they watched Jack went away, Bowler said to The Man, “from what you just saw. Who you reckon looks more like the leader?”
“Do you even need to ask?” The Man replied.
Jack weaved his way to the heart of the army formation, where the Duke and the Commander were located. The elite guards parted way as they already recognized Jack.
He saw Prince Alonzo and Lieutenant Bailey there. Bailey seemed to fashion herself as the personal bodyguard of the prince. Considering their past relationship as student and instructor, it made sense for her to take up that role. With her sticking to the prince like that, his second faction quest might be completed without him needing to do anything at all.
There were several other high-level individuals around the Duke, they seemed to occupy a special position in the army as well if they were with the Duke. A more noteworthy one was a man in an elaborate white robe. Jack used his God-eye monocle to inspect him.
Laurent (Special Elite Human, High Priest), level 70
HP: 390,000
Level 70? This was the highest level NPC he had met. Even though he was one grade lower than the Duke, his level was higher.
“That is the high priest Laurent, he is from the Church of Creation,” Commander Quintus said when he noticed Jack’s gaze.
“Church of Creation? I thought everyone here is from the kingdom faction,” Jack asked.
“Laurent is a good friend of the Duchess. They and the Duke often went out adventuring together in their younger days. When he heard the Duke had organized this expedition for getting a cure for the Duchess, he had volunteered to join.”
“It’s a beautiful thing to have a caring friend,” Jack commented.
“It is. Now, what is your business here? You do not come here just for a chat, do you?”
Jack then relayed John’s idea to them. He especially noted that the company under him would like to be this vanguard troop. Duke Alfredo had come over to listen as well when Jack was proposing the idea.
“But having a small advance troop ahead might just expose it to unnecessary combat, I don’t see why we should take the risk,” Commander Quintus said.
Duh, that combat is exactly what we are looking for, Jack said in his mind.
“If it can let us keep our pace, I think it is worth a try,” the Duke offered his opinion.
Jack guessed the Duke was eager to reach the destination as fast as possible. After all, it was his wife that was at stake here.
After the Duke’s approval on the idea, Commander Quintus gave his blessing, “all right, but I will give you another three hundred soldiers. It is still better to be safe about this.”
Another three hundred, won’t that make the troop large again? The monsters might get scared away again by the numbers. Anyway, he did not stay to argue with them. With that approval, he went back to where his friends were.
“Another three hundred? Then that made the vanguard troop become six hundred strong. That will still be an impressive force when all the soldiers marched together. I doubted the monsters would dare to approach,” Jeanny expressed her concern after listening to Jack’s report.
“That’s easy,” John said. “Just divide the six hundred troop into three groups. Send them out to march at three different fronts, left, middle, and right. Not only will we cover more grounds, that will make each troop only two hundred strong. The monsters should not be fleeing with this number.”
“Then we should appoint a leader for each of these groups,” Jeanny said. “How about the three of us here take command on each?”
“Okay, but please make sure no death on the NPC soldiers if possible. I am the one that has to take responsibility if there are too many casualties,” Jack said.
“Well, if it is only you that will bear the responsibility, then I have nothing to worry about,” John said.
“Do you want me to kick you out from this quest?” Jack asked.
“You can do that?” John asked back.
“I don’t know. Care to give it a try?”
“I will take good care of the troops.”
Jack then called for Captain Salem and had him helped in organizing the troops. The three hundred addition from Commander Quintus arrived and they divided them equally between the three groups. Each now had two hundred soldiers.
The players were also divided amongst the three groups. They were still in one party and although they would be at a distance from the other two groups, the distance would not be too far so the experience sharing would still be working.
Jeanny’s friends without a doubt joined the group which she was in charge of. Bowler, Flame, and The Man’s people came to Jack’s one, leaving John’s side only with Weird Trap and Pointy Tip. John did not seem to care about his lack of players, but he made sure the only other healer in the group, Sunset Walking, was there by his side.
Jack asked The Man to order some of his people to John’s side. The Man refused at first, Jack needed to use his Boss status which The Man usually imposed on him to force the guy to relent some of his men over to John’s side. The Man reluctantly sent four of his men over.
Now all three groups had an equal number of NPC troops and an almost equal distribution of players. Jack took the center group, Captain Salem stayed on his side. John was on the left-wing, while Jeanny was on the right-wing. When everyone had finished arranging their formation, Jack gave the sign to move forward.
They galloped their mounts faster and left the main army behind. John and Jeanny on the sides led their troops to fan out further away from Jack, so they could cover more ground.
Not long after, they could see several packs of monsters some distance away. The monsters did not come pouncing at them when they entered their range of perception, but the monsters also did not run away from the presence of around two hundred opponents.
It is working, Jack thought with glee. He then gave out the order to the NPCs, “attack!”
