Chapter 19: The Northern Border Battle
Inside the War Council Hall, the old snake-man, High Lord Arcadia, and High Lord Sheila were all seated.
Sheila still didn’t bother with anything. The Chaos Legion at this point was quite amusing, with the division of labor as follows:
The old snake-man was in charge of material allocation, Arcadia commanded the border garrison, Su Xiao went out for war and resource acquisition, and finally, Sheila was responsible for being beautiful—she was undeniably the Chaos Legion’s beauty representative.
“At most, we can pull 350,000 frontline troops. The pressure on the defensive lines has increased recently, especially on the northern and central fronts.”
Arcadia spoke, the anger in his eyes obvious. Being continuously raided by small units baffled him. The Duoyin Empire, Aier Great Forest, and the Northern Border seemed to have lost their minds, frequently launching attacks that benefited no one.
In reality, this was caused by contractors controlling small military units. The contractors wanted to earn merits, so they naturally sought out soft targets, and the Chaos Legion was the current soft target.
This kind of relentless harassment and surprise attacks wasn’t a big deal in the short term, but the Chaos Legion’s total military strength was now only about 1.98 million.
Unlike the Six-Tribe Alliance, the Chaos Legion no longer had a massive population base. This meant that when orc soldiers died in battle, there were no new troops to replace them—each death was a permanent loss.
The reason Arcadia said only 350,000 could be pulled was because of this. The edges of the war zone needed defensive lines, and furthermore, the Chaos Legion’s four major cities also required some troops for garrison duty.
This severely limited the number of orc troops that could be mobilized. Adding Su Xiao’s existing 250,000 orc troops, his orc army would total 600,000.
The Six-Tribe Alliance had 6 million troops, while his side had 600,000. This disparity in combat power couldn’t be compensated for by a War Lord, at least not yet.
After completing the handover of the orc troops, Su Xiao returned to his room on the seventh floor and sat before the fireplace, thinking.
The current turning point lay in the Northern Border or the Southern Region. Either attack the freezing Northern Border or head straight for the Aier Great Forest. The central region was absolutely untouchable for a simple reason: they couldn’t win.
The Duoyin Empire was ambitious. Su Xiao even suspected that after the Chaos Legion was destroyed, the Duoyin Empire might go after the Northern Border or the elf tribe of the Aier Great Forest.
In essence, the Duoyin Empire at this point wasn’t fundamentally different from the Chaos Legion of the past. The only difference was that Duoyin was smarter, knowing how to appear harmless, unlike the Chaos Legion, which had once shown the world that if it conquered the continent, the continent would face destruction.
Su Xiao was certain that Duoyin’s troops were more numerous than they appeared. In fact, the forces hidden within the Duoyin Empire might exceed those currently displayed by the Six-Tribe Alliance.
If the Chaos Legion was destroyed, it meant the main quest failed, and the consequences were predictable. Su Xiao didn’t see many turning points ahead.
Relying on the Chaos Legion to have some hidden trump card was impossible. Therefore, the key was to upgrade the War Lord title.
Su Xiao didn’t need too many troops. If he could elevate the War Lord to a seven-star title, he felt that with just a few hundred thousand orc soldiers, he could march straight to Duoyin’s capital. He needed an unstoppable force.
At that point, no matter how powerful the Duoyin Empire was, this beheaded giant would fall into chaos, possibly even splitting internally due to power struggles.
Su Xiao estimated that if he truly completed the “Plan to Capture Duoyin’s Capital,” even if he couldn’t find the Void Tree fruit this time, his gains from entering this world would be worth it.
Moreover, the Void Tree fruit was likely in the hands of someone with high authority. Capturing Duoyin’s capital would give a high probability of finding it.
The plan remained unchanged: head toward the Northern Border. Su Xiao needed to gain some support there; otherwise, the plan couldn’t continue.
The capture of “Yan Valley Fortress” seemed smooth, but it wasn’t. It was achieved only by consuming one [Blazing Sun’s Wrath · Apollo].
This time, Su Xiao brought two [Blazing Sun’s Wrath · Apollo]. Although the manufacturing cost wasn’t high, the materials available for exchange were limited.
He didn’t plan to use the remaining one anytime soon. Thus, how to breach the enemy’s walls was the biggest current problem. Without attacking a fortress, triggering a battle was difficult, unless they engaged in an ultra-large-scale plains battle, which would cause too many losses to their soldiers.
Battle victory = Title reward = Opportunity to upgrade War Lord. The current issue was how to breach a fortress and trigger a battle.
After determining the next goal, Su Xiao lay down on the bed and fell asleep.
The flames in the fireplace gradually died out. Morning sunlight streamed in through the window. Su Xiao’s eyes opened, and he felt four dog paws scrambling on the bedsheet beside him.
Sitting up from the bed, Su Xiao’s gaze was a bit dazed. Something was kicking his leg repeatedly, which gradually cleared the confusion in his eyes.
“Hoo~”
Bubu Wang also woke up and let out a sigh, looking somewhat tired. In last night’s dream, it had participated in an animal sports meet, running a marathon all night, which exhausted it.
“Woof.”
“No, it’s already six in the morning.”
“Woof~”
Bubu Wang acted as if it had a severe case of laziness, wanting to sleep a bit more, as usual.
An hour later, Bubu Wang stood on the crown of a war treant, full of energy.
“Howl!”
Bubu Wang let out a long howl, and the 600,000-strong orc army set off, heading toward the Northern Border.
Sitting on the crown of the war treant, Su Xiao looked at the distant snowy mountains. Based on current food consumption, the dried meat supplies they carried could last about seven days, which was enough for now.
His army didn’t enter the war zone directly but detoured through their territory, only entering the war zone after reaching the northern side.
Half an hour later, in Li Hui City, the Alliance Council Hall, on the fourth floor.
Six diplomats representing the six tribes sat around the negotiation table, waiting for something.
A messenger ran in quickly, placing a hand on his chest, and said, “The War Demon has reached the northern war zone boundary.”
Hearing this report, the elf diplomat breathed a sigh of relief inside. He looked at the Northern Border diplomat and said:
“As a member of the alliance, the Northern Border should stop the War Demon—no, it should annihilate him.”
“That’s right.”
The dwarf diplomat immediately seconded.
“We will send reinforcements.”
Among the five diplomats, the Duoyin diplomat was the most reliable, but this couldn’t soothe the bitter feelings of the Northern Border diplomat at that moment.
The situation was clear: the Chaos Legion was like a candle in the wind, but the War Demon was too damn good at fighting. Whoever this killing god targeted was in for a world of trouble.
“If I remember correctly, the dwarf’s Silver Medal troops have been stationed near the Northern Border line for nearly two years. Shouldn’t they come to reinforce us?”
The Northern Border diplomat was a cold-faced beauty. Her appearance, eloquence, and judgment were all essential qualities for a diplomat.
“This...”
The dwarf diplomat with a big beard looked as if he had eaten something foul. Those dwarf troops were actually meant to guard against the Northern Border.
“Or is it that the Silver Medal troops are intended to suppress the Northern Border?”
“Of course not.”
The dwarf with the big beard flatly denied it. In matters between nations, even if everyone knew the truth, it couldn’t be admitted.
After nearly a morning of debate, the six diplomats couldn’t reach a conclusion. The result was that the Northern Border would temporarily hold off the War Demon’s troops, while the other five sides would provide quick and accurate reinforcements depending on the situation.
In harsher terms, the other sides would wait and see until the Northern Border was beaten to a pulp.
Of course, this was only a temporary conclusion. After enjoying a refined and luxurious lunch to ensure ample energy, the diplomats would sit down and continue debating—this was routine.
After all, according to battle reports, the War Demon wouldn’t reach the edge of the Northern Border until at least 9 PM tonight. If he encountered resistance along the way, it might even take two days to reach the Northern Border area. Time was plentiful.
More importantly, entering the Northern Border was no easy task. A naturally formed ice wall, known as the “Yatade Wall,” separated the Northern Border from the war zone. With an average height of 400 to 500 meters, it was a natural barrier.
...
The wind howled, carrying snowflakes, and a mournful wail came from afar. The biting cold wind pierced the bones. While the six diplomats were still enjoying afternoon tea, planning to come up with a plan before 5 PM, Su Xiao’s army had already reached the Northern Border.
The black feathered cloak fluttered in the cold wind. Su Xiao stood atop an iceberg, facing a fortress that looked like a heavenly wall. On both sides of this fortress were towering ice walls, and the only gap was blocked by this stronghold, named Ice Hoof Fortress.
Boom!
A loud crash came from the distant battlefield, sending ice fragments flying. The corpses of war treants piled up beneath the fortress walls. Amid rising flames, orc soldiers charged upward.
A bright red signal flare shot into the sky, indicating that Ice Hoof Fortress was about to fall. Their enemy was launching a suicide assault. The walls were too high? No problem—they used the corpses of orc soldiers to pile up a ramp, forcing a way upward.