Chapter 699: Chapter 700: First Day It was a well-thought-out plan, with Amon acting as the villain for him. Faceless made it so that he could not be confirmed to be Ashcroft, at least not truly, which helped Damon. If he showed up and verified that this was Ashcroft and publicly took credit for defeating him again, this would make him the hero of the people who had been brainwashed and conditioned by the temple to view Ashcroft as a great evil. Which meant the hero who defeated him was effectively untouchable, even by the temple, at least publicly. With this move, the temple could not harm him in the name of justice or righteousness, because he was justice. He was righteousness. Second, his plan gave him credit for stopping Ashcroft the first time and verifying Abellona’s claims. Moreover, with his identity as Amon, he had ordered the demon kin not to attack him, which meant he would be able to assault and tax his fellow goddess race members freely, because the demons wouldn’t dare go against the orders given by the suspected Dominator. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦 Oh, and he had an easier time getting his quest completed now. He had to stop himself from dancing for joy because, when he finally showed up and defeated Amon, he would get all that juicy money, all that wealth and fame. His hands spread open as he raised into a demonic-sounding laughter, his demon horde standing behind him as he roared into laughter in the image of a terrifying demon lord. No one wanted to be the first to speak, but clearly, someone had to. Damon had forgotten something important. "My lord, how do we proceed?" Bakemon asked softly. His words made Damon pause. Ah, that’s right, he hadn’t actually given them any orders on how to proceed. He glanced at the bridge. "We shall occupy the area around the dungeon gate, using that as our base of operations." Bakemon glanced at the main island where the battle would take place. "I understand. With our numbers, defending and securing such a large piece of land would be difficult. Our forces would be spread too thin. Would it not be wiser to lay in hiding until they had wilted themselves out with infighting?" Damon already knew that, but he had his own plan. "No need. We will destroy all the bridges, save one. This one, we will leave for them to cross." He turned around, walking forward. "If we destroy all the bridges, some of them may just fly across from any direction. After all, some of our enemies have wings, much like us." Damon didn’t have any wings, he wasn’t a demon or a fae. "By leaving a single bridge, they will naturally gather and cross it. Why go through the difficulty and risk flying in this dangerous terrain when they can easily cross a bridge?" Bakemon’s eyes flickered with understanding. "I see. You want them to gather in one direction. Since they will all be using this bridge, we can expect them to attack from one direction. We can put the bulk of our defensive and offensive power there, while leaving scouts in other areas to prevent ambushes." Bakemon could finally see part of his plan, though there was still a small problem. "My lord, I am sure everyone is thinking it. While you are powerful, we still lack numbers. Thousands of them against a few hundred of us, including the demon beasts under your control... we are still outnumbered." Damon didn’t say anything. He was aware of that fact. Thousands of warriors from the goddess races against the demons would be a harsh battle. While demons were a powerful race, even they couldn’t deal with overwhelming numbers. If it was a series of unrelated groups, then the demons would have no problem. But if the goddess races decided to unite and organize into a proper military, then they would have serious problems. Damon raised his hand. "Heed my order. You are to go out and gather as many demon beasts as possible and bring them under my control." Bakemon nodded slowly. Still, there was a problem. "Between us all, we can’t tame that many in such a short time." Damon didn’t even look at him. "Who said anything about taming them? Herd them to me. I will tame them." He glanced at Kashi. "You will take the demons most suited for this task, along with half of the demon beasts, and gather more demons to my army. The rest of you, gather resources and begin to create a fortress." He glanced at Bakemon. "I will leave organizing this all to you. Do not fail me, Bakemon Baal." Bakemon smiled calmly. "I will not disappoint my lord." The group of demon kin began to organize themselves like a trained military, using their knowledge of each other and the demon beasts. Soon, Damon had several squads of demons, each with their own unique functions. Bakemon, being the son of the Demon Lord of Order, used his attribute to subtly guide the demon kin. They were prepared some scattered to find supplies or plunder them, others moved to destroy the bridges, and those with building capabilities were deployed onto the island, crossing the bridge to begin fortifications. Among them, Damon noticed the young mysterious demon-kin woman with the hood joining them. His expression was calm, sensing no danger from her, yet he still felt a bit uneasy without even knowing why. She was a priestess from the Snake Temple. Damon didn’t quite like the idea of the priestess getting far or going anywhere. Still, she hadn’t done anything wrong or suspicious, and he recalled Ishana, who had raised Lilith, was also one such priestess. Lilith wouldn’t mind if he killed her, but he didn’t. He still chose not to. "Priestess..." he called out as she set foot on the bridge. She turned her hooded face toward him, bowing slightly. "Stay by my side," he ordered, his words causing no change to her body language. She bowed, accepting his order, and stood quietly behind him. Hopefully, this would put a damper on whatever the unknown god was planning, or wait, maybe her being here with him was the plan. Damon gritted his teeth, unsure if he should just let her go about her duties. Still, he gazed out into the distance. God was truly the best of planners, and the unknown god was one hell of a planner. While everyone was fighting to gather medallions, Damon was building his army. With that, the first day came to an end.