Chapter 618 – Defensive Line
It was already dark, and they were already deep in the sea and could only barely get some sunlight. However, there were still a lot of them to the point where many smaller Fishmen have been pushed near the surface, which made them the target for some aerial magic beasts. During their day trip they didn’t rest even for a bit, therefore, they needed to get some sleep in the evening.
Zhao Hai and the others were now inside the Blade Scale Whale’s living room. It had been a few days since they had gone out of Mermaid Island. However, they didn’t have much time for each other because Luo Luo was with them. And since Laura and the others had become close friends with her, they would oftentimes sleep with each other. Because of that, Zhao Hai had very small opportunities to talk with his wives.
Today, Luo Luo had finally rested on her own. So Zhao Hai and the others gained the opportunity to gather inside the s.p.a.ce. Zhao Hai looked at Laura and the others’ expression, they seemed like they hadn’t had a good sleep for a while. Zhao Hai couldn’t help but smile and said, “What’s wrong? You haven’t been resting in the s.p.a.ce lately, didn’t have a good sleep?’
Laura smiled bitterly and said, “I really don’t know why, but Mermaids are very cold. It would be strange if one can sleep comfortably with them .”
Lizzy nodded as well and said, “But I still envy the Mermaids. Surprisingly, they cannot look old. No matter how high their age is, they would still look like they are 20 years old.”
This was the first time that Zhao Hai had heard of this matter. He couldn’t help but look at Lizzy and said, “Oh, is that it? No wonder I can’t see any old mermaids during our stay in Mermaid Island. Also, why aren’t there any men in their clan? How do they reproduce?’
When Megan heard Zhao Hai, her face couldn’t help but turn red, then she looked at Zhao Hai and said, “The Mermaids have a secret ability. After a certain age, as long as they eat a special fruit from mermaid island, they would get pregnant and bear a child. There is also another way, once a Queen reaches 40 years old, she can use a special method to make an egg of which little mermaids would hatch from. But this method would harm the Queen’s vitality. Something that the fruit would not.”
Zhao Hai stared, then he muttered and said, “So it’s like that. No wonder I can’t see any men. Haha. So what have you been doing in Mermaid Island? Did you have fun? Also, did you manage to see the fruit?”
Megan looked at Zhao Hai’s expression and couldn’t help but chuckle, “I already know which question you want answered. And yes, we did see it. The fruit only grows in Mermaid Island. The fruit is in the root itself, and it directly absorbs nutrients from the sea, it was very mysterious. We begged for half a day before they allowed us to get a section of the root. Cai’er has placed it in the warehouse.”
Zhao Hai replied, “Oh? I didn’t know about this. Cai’er, quickly show me the root.” Cai’er nodded and then took the root out.
After the root was taken out, a prompt immediately came from the s.p.a.ce, “Discovered a root that is full of vitality. The vitality of everything in the s.p.a.ce has been improved. If planted in the s.p.a.ce, the root’s vitality would get stronger and stronger. s.p.a.ce has levelled up to level 59. Looking forward to the Host’s further efforts.”
Zhao Hai stared before he became exhilarated with joy. He immediately had Cai’er pick a place to plant the root. In the end, the root was planted right beside the villa with Cai’er taking good care of it.
Megan and the others didn’t expect the root to upgrade the s.p.a.ce. After Zhao Hai planted the roots, he couldn’t help but turn to Laura and the others before laughing happily, “My wives, you really did great this time. Let this one give you a present. We’ll work hard in making the next generation!” Then he pulled Megan into the villa. Although Laura and the others were blus.h.i.+ng, they still followed behind….
The army had travelled for 13 days by now, at this point, they were already in a place not too far away from the frontlines. They were currently preparing to take a rest so that they can reach the frontlines in one go.
Naturally, Zhao Hai didn’t object to this. He also wasn’t idling in these past few days. In addition to turning Magic Beasts into undead, Zhao Hai had also been learning how to lead an underwater army from Dashan.
In the war between Humans and the Beastmen, Zhao Hai had managed to learn how the Humans and the Beastmen lead their troops. However, the methods used by the Fishmen were different. First, while the Beastmen and Humans needed to worry about logistics, the Fishmen did not, so Zhao Hai didn’t need to worry about that aspect anymore. And another was the fact that Fishmen Army can move in three dimensions while the Humans and Beastmen can only use the flat land. Leading and fighting in this three dimensional battlefield was a completely different world to Zhao Hai.
A Human and Beastman Race army’s advance was divided into the Vanguard, the Center Army, and the Rear Guard. Those three were the most common formation for any army in the continent. But the Fishmen had a different approach, compared to the continent, the formations of the Fishmen were much more complicated. If the continent’s army can be seen as three blocks, a Fishman army would be just like a Rubik’s Cube. Each face of the cube would have 9 armies while the most important officials of the army would be at the core of the cube.
This way of leading an army made Zhao Hai’s eyes blank. This kind can of formation can not only attack, it can also defend properly while at the same time, leaving enough room for retreat. There were a lot of possibilities with such a formation, it was really an eye-opener.
This arrangement of the Fishmen was naturally much more difficult to manage compared to Human armies. It was great that they didn’t need to worry about logistics. Otherwise, Zhao Hai reckoned that even those Fishman generals would have trouble in going to war.
Dashan is the captain of the Mermaid clan’s guards, so his ability was certainly not average. Although this army comprised of 2 million people, Dashan still managed to easily take command. Looking at him made Zhao Hai learn a lot.
In order to learn how Dashan was leading the army, Zhao Hai stayed close to him these past few days. He even had Cai’er record his movements. Before Zhao Hai went to take a rest at night, he would repeatedly look and review Dashan’s way of leading his troops.
Laura and the others had become curious as well, so they also joined Zhao Hai’s research. In the end, Zhao Hai had found out that he had no talent in leading an army. If he were to be a commander, he can only be a vice or someone who managed a small division. If they really had him lead, who knows what would happen?
What surprised Zhao Hai was the fact that Lizzy and Megan seemed to have talent in leading armies. If they were to lead an army, they would surely find it quite easy.
As for Laura, she was already a mighty force in commerce, so her skills in commanding an army was only on par with Zhao Hai. The two almost had the same talent.
Seeing this situation, Zhao Hai decided to stop studying and just had Megan and Lizzy learn it instead. In any case, they had nothing else to do. Generally, they would go and help Laura in managing the Buda Clan’s matters. But in fact, Laura alone was enough to do all those things. But it was good that they now had something else to do, this made them much happier with this development than Zhao Hai.
However, they still couldn’t be considered genuine commanders at this point. After all, the things that they had learned this time were only about Battle Formations. They still had very few knowledge about the battlefield itself.
Zhao Hai wasn’t under anyone’s command, so as soon as the battle against the Sea Dragons start, they would have a chance to lead an army. This would give the two some experience in combat.
The next morning, Zhao Hai and the others hurried on towards the frontlines. Zhao Hai also asked Luo Luo about the current situation there.
The frontline was in a very special terrain, on its left side was a trench. This trench was called the death pit by the Fishmen because of the cold undercurrent present in its deeper parts. This undercurrent was invisible, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a beast or Fishman, once they get in contact with this undercurrent, they would immediately be frozen to death. And after getting washed away, they would immediately shatter into pieces. Most importantly, this place was also the domain of the devil octopuses.
The devil octopuses were top level magic beasts of the sea. Every grown devil octopus possessed nearly 9th rank strength. And they were the only beings that were able to survive in the trench. Fortunately, devil octopuses rarely went out of their territory. But even so, this area was still labelled as forbidden by the Fishman population.
On the right side of the frontline was also another restricted area, the Soul Sucking Reef! This reef was densely covered in corals. All of those who went inside it had never managed to come out. The Fishmen had already sent people to examine the place. They didn’t go too deep, but they understood that the situation inside was indeed very alarming.
In Soul Sucking Reef, as long as someone goes in, they would immediately lose all sense of direction. They would find themselves to be walking around in circles. This kind of trap works in all directions, not just in two dimensions. Additionally, there were also poisonous magic beasts inside. The threat that those magic beasts posed weren’t something to be scoffed at either. Once you are poisoned, you won’t be spared.
Because of these two places, the Mermaid Clan had decided to place their defensive line here. This place was the most appropriate place to establish their defense. The ocean was just too big, and since the Fishmen didn’t build any cities, it would be nearly impossible just to find a place to bunker up.
While depending on the terrain, the Mermaid Clan managed to establish a defensive line of about a thousand li(500km). Although the present army only comprised of 6 million troops, they were still able to block the attacks of the Sea Dragons for more than a month.
Zhao Hai’s army was only the first batch of reinforcements. There would still be a second and third batch that would be coming in the next few days. After those armies arrive, the true battle would start.
However, since Zhao Hai had joined, everything had suddenly changed. In the past few days, Zhao Hai had already ama.s.sed over 1 million marine undead beasts. Additionally, he can also turn any corpse into undead at any time.