Chapter 609: Victory and Defeat (2)
The slippery, soft feeling made Claremont lift his soles subconsciously. When he saw that his grey boots were completely dry, he frowned in confusion and put down his soles again. However, when he put his right foot on the ground, he saw a series of ripples that were slowly spreading out, fluctuating from the solid khaki-colored ground.
A sudden jolt lurched in his heart, as an ominous premonition rose from him immediately. Claremont hurriedly looked up and glanced around. Everywhere that he could see had already turned to become as soft as mud in a short period when he lowered his eyes. Hurriedly, he reminded Ya.s.sen King, who was next to him, “Your Highness, the enemy is using a large-scale land divine power…”
“It’s just a ‘mud transformation’ a.s.sault that makes little difference. A zero-level spell of ‘Light Body Spell’ can quickly resolve it anyway. Look, Claremont. I don’t even need to give out any order, and the sorcerer legion has already begun to cast spells.” Hoffe pointed to the coalition sorcerers who had started to cast their spells intuitively after a moment of bewilderment and interrupted his think tank’s words, “Looks like this is the final struggle attempted by the barbarian troops. How…”
Before Dignity King could finish his words, tens of thousands of sharp spears had already pierced out of the soil where his finger was pointing at. Hundreds of coalition soldiers were stabbed and killed, before spraying fresh blood everywhere like a fountain. Countless barbarian warriors drove their ferocious mounts out of the soil and wielded their sabers as they began to open fire to ma.s.sacre all mainland humans that entered their sight.
These h.e.l.lfire barbarians were covered with faint yellow, blue, and red brilliance. The soil mixed with blood would not stick to their armors at all and would gradually trickle down when it splashed on them.
As countless blood and soil dripped on the ground, the arrogant Ya.s.sen King also felt that the blood in his head also been dropping continuously. With an ashen face, he stared at the battlefield stunned for a long time before finally murmuring in a dry voice, as though he was sleep-talking, “Claremont, this is… is…”
The army that had spared no effort in battling for four to five hours was suddenly a.s.saulted by the enemy’s fresh troops and were overpowered in terms of number and combat power when they were just about to welcome their arduous victory, so the blow that was given to their will was naturally devastating.
Claremont looked at the coalition soldiers who had collapsed in the distance. Instead of panicking, his mind was still remarkably clear-headed. “My king, the number of troops in the h.e.l.lfire barbarian is not just millions like what we have expected. Instead, it’s more than ten million. Their strategy is to use a million troops as a bait to ‘destroy’ the mainland coalition forces first, before wiping us all out in one fell swoop. We’re doomed to lose in this war, so right now, the most important thing is to consolidate the remnant army and preserve its strength. As long as we manage to gather a million soldier seeds, there’s still room for tenacious defense and another battle for Green Leaf Mainland…”
The Ya.s.sen’s think tank voiced out his own inference. When he was about to ask the Dignity King to order the coalition forces to retreat while fighting back, he suddenly saw that their own formation had already been completely wiped out from west to east.
The army in flight was like a landslide. In just a blink of an eye, the entire front line of the mainlander disappeared without a trace like a dike that had been destroyed by a hurricane, leaving behind only a few millions of defeated troops who threw their helmets and armors away as they fled.
“H-How come? H-How can it be shattered in one fell swoop?” Looking at the defeated troops who were being pursued and ma.s.sacred by the barbarians as though they were lambs, Dignity King whose mind was in utter chaos let out a final hysterical roar.
“Your Majesty, Fran’s army had already disarmed and fled when the barbarian ambush army first appeared, then the Wharton Princ.i.p.ality, the Republic of Catelia…” After a few seconds, a young military intelligence officer announced in a trembling voice.
“Wharton, Catelia… T-They are all va.s.sal states close to Fran,” Ya.s.sen King was, after all, an outstanding monarch who possessed remarkable ability and wisdom. Now that his arrogance and conceit had dissipated, he became clear-headed all at once. His pupils dilated opened as he glared and howled loudly, “Otto de Parildo, you f*cking sc.u.m! You actually betrayed mankind!”
Unfortunately, it was already too late when he came to this realization. The festering army had already charged towards the coalition’s central battlefield…
At the same time, in the underground city of Gaoden Hill, Zhang Lisheng who had exhausted all of the power of faith to finally complete this incredible underground ambush was studying the mainland coalition army that was continuing to be shattered like ants through the water curtain that had been changed to become a bird’ s-eye view in an exhausted manner. His face that had been ashen since the war kicked off finally showed a relaxed smile.
When the mainland chief priest beside him saw that his own kind was being ma.s.sacred helplessly by the barbarian warriors, he spoke in a whisper, “Your Majesty, the defeat of the heretic coalition army has been set. These fleeing mainland soldiers will inevitably convert to your faith, so instead of killing them all, it’s better to capture them…”
“Tuan, we can’t recruit and guard the prisoners of war now,” Zhang Lisheng replied with a smile as he waved his hand, “I suddenly feel that this is the best time to destroy the Ya.s.sen Kingdom, so I plan to let the Wizard Li expeditionary army to pursue the remnant army all the way to Ya.s.sen. When Ya.s.sen is occupied, it’ll then be the Quelst Kingdom, then Rhobin Princ.i.p.ality. By the time we’ve surrounded the entirety of Fran, we’ll engulf it, and just like that, four-fifths of the land on the Green Leaf Mainland will be under my command. What do you think?”
If it was a democratic country or even a feudal dynasty, this kind of civil warfare that had a strategy involving thousands of troops must be discussed thoroughly by top think tanks before a simulation was carried out through the non-commissioned officers, which would only lead to the final decision. However, in a theocratic country, the poor and rash decision made by the only G.o.d in the country who just had a whim of mind could overpower all the wisdom of the mortal world.
Looking at the triumphant look on Wizard Li G.o.d’s face, Tuan pondered for a while and did not continue to plead for the millions of his compatriots who were being slaughtered in a wretched manner. Instead, he replied respectfully, “Your Majesty, it’s easy for you to destroy the root of the Ya.s.sen Kingdom with your strategy. It’s a wonderful idea to use a coalition force’s remnant soldiers to break through the city defense.”
“Tuan, you really can keep up with my thoughts.” Zhang Lisheng proudly praised his mainland chief priest with ambiguous words and summoned the Wizard Li dispatch warrior to spread out his own idea.
Under the command of the Wizard Li G.o.d, the mainland coalition force no longer had the chance to breathe nor escape since they were defeated and driven by the h.e.l.lfire barbarians to lay siege and attack the city.
In case 50% of the mainland reserve soldiers, 60% of the professional soldiers, and 70% of the lords and n.o.bles were almost completely annihilated, the Ya.s.sen Kingdom, of which 80% of its military strength had been invested in the mainland coalition forces, no longer had the energy to fight back when the barbarian army advanced towards them.
As for the Fran Kingdom that was just beside it, though it was not directly attacked by the h.e.l.lfire barbarians, they also felt a heavy military pressure. Driven by greed with no other way out, its ruler, Sun King, astonis.h.i.+ngly announced the Wizard Li religion as the national religion, going against the trend of time as he began to ban other religions in the territory of the Fran Kingdom.
If the G.o.d wanted to destroy his nation, he would surely go crazy.
Just like this, as the h.e.l.lfire expeditionary army annexed Ya.s.sen and other countries, Fran King had already paved the prelude of the conquest of his own land. By the time the barbarian army started to advance to the border, it was already too late for him to regret. Just like this, the Parildo Dynasty that had lasted for hundreds of years fell apart within three days and was replaced by theocracy. So far, 80% of the land on Green Leaf Mainland had been shrouded by the Wizard Li G.o.d’s belief.
In the height of summer, the northern border welcomed its hottest season of the year. At this moment, the national boundaries and cities in the mainland’s interior had already long disappeared and merged into one unit. However, all of the bustling cities that were sharing a border with the Hardstone Plateau remained firm and unwavering, continuing to fulfill their only mission in these several thousands of years—to defend against the invasion of the northern barbarians.
The Tusala Citadel was in the central position of the starting point of the Hardstone Plateau. It was the strongest city in the northern part of the Green Leaf Mainland and a border city with the most population.
As the sun set, Zhang Lisheng stood on this mottled, majestic city wall made from boulder and clay that had undergone countless years of vicissitudes. Placing a hand over his eyes to shade himself from the sun, he looked at the distant desolated mountain road that was ridiculously high and stretched out as far as eyes could see. He abruptly saw about 1000 Wizard Li scout troops, a mixture of h.e.l.lfire tribesmen and the mainlanders, making their way nearer to him as they sped down from the hillside setting off specks of dust and smoke.
In the flying dust, there were about 100 towering giants with a height of at least 250 centimeters whose hands were tied with thin string made of black iron wire. They were being pulled behind the earth dragon rode by the Wizard Li warriors, struggling unyieldingly with their might as they ran down the plateau at a speed that was in no less slow than the mounts.
“Have they finally captured the prisoners?” Looking at the scout troops who were in complete mess entering the city, Zhang Lisheng muttered, “They’re also barbarians, but these northern border ‘Hardstone people’ who live in the vast plateau are poles apart from the h.e.l.lfire tribesmen who evolved on tropical islands. However, their ‘straightforward brains’ are pretty similar to each other. As long as I can find a breakthrough, I should be able to get them to be under my command using a very simple method. Then again, what will this method be? Ancestor wors.h.i.+p, ancestor wors.h.i.+p… I can’t pretend to be the reincarnation of the ancestors of these big fellas…”
When the young man was contemplating with a frown, a middle-aged mainlander with a st.u.r.dy body and hedgehog-like short one-inch hair and short stubbles wearing yellow robe climbed the wall with a group of armored warriors and strode up to him from behind.
“Great G.o.d, the scout troops have defeated a small tribe of more than a thousand people on the edge of the Hardstone Plateau and seized hundreds of northern border barbarians…” The yellow-robed middle-aged man reported with high respect.
He was initially the wisest and bravest warrior in Tusala Citadel, but since his family had long been wiped out and he was born without the ability to master any spellcasting ability, he accomplished very little despite plodding hard throughout most of his life. It was only until the Wizard Li religion’s brilliance had shone down on the northern frontier that he finally had a breakthrough for being the first to pledge his piety.
After conquering most of the land and population of the Green Leaf Mainland and occupying the entire continent, Zhang Lisheng rapidly consolidated his rule and began to open the gamble of fate that could only be enjoyed by the h.e.l.lfire chief warriors before this to the mainland elites who abided by his theocracy ruling—the transplantation of the spiritual monster’s Gold Core’s power.
Therefore, after this brave, lucky man gambled his own life, he first came to possess the power of spellcasting and restored the state of his prime and even gained a long life. Later on, he was appointed as a general of the army, so for this reason, he was extremely pious towards the Wizard Li G.o.d at all times.
“Jitim, I just saw the scout taking the northern border barbarians into the city,” Zhang Lisheng continued to look at the distant highlands without looking back as he answered, “Bring them up the city wall. I’ll meet those stubborn prisoners here.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Jitim replied respectfully and got up to retire. After a while, a group of tall barbarians made up of old and young people of both males and females who were tightly tied up were brought up to the wall by a team of Wizard Li warriors.