Volume 3, Chapter 92 – Resolve

Now, the war between Eden and the Stronghold had entered a white-hot phase.

However, right at this deadlocked stage, the Stronghold’s beastman army suddenly chose, at this critical moment, to stop confronting the enemy on the front line…

This was obviously a baffling move. In reality, the reason they suddenly stopped fighting Eden and all but hung up a no-war sign was that the Stronghold’s commander, that old Beastmen King, had wavered.

Yes.

That old Beastmen King had wavered.

He had clearly been acting all disdainful before, yet at the critical moment he suddenly wavered.

Of course, there was a reason. Not long ago, the Stronghold had received the bad news that the half-beast riot could no longer be suppressed.

Not only that, quite a number of half-beasts were already converging toward this battlefield, and what was even worse, the secret grain supply route they had painstakingly established had been discovered by the Graveyard’s army and then simply blocked off…

In the game world, NPCs and players were completely different. Players had a fullness meter, but they did not actually feel hunger, whereas for NPCs, hunger was something very real.

Legendaries did not need much food, but for ordinary NPC soldiers, daily food intake was essential.

Take an army for example, without food supplies, an army would lose all fighting strength, not only growing weak and exhausted. In the worst case, soldiers who received no food at all would simply mutiny.

And among all the major factions, the ones most heavily affected by food shortages were the Stronghold’s beastmen.

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Unlike elves, who only needed a bit of fruit, dew and similar basic fare to fill their stomachs, the Stronghold’s beastmen ranked first among all races in this game world when it came to their obsession with food.

In past wars, the beastman army had never lost out to other factions in either numbers or combat power, yet in almost every war they ended up suffering a crushing defeat.

The biggest reason was always that they did not have enough food.

A beastman army without food was irritable. Even though the presence of beings at the Legendary-tier could impose some restraint, once they clashed with the enemy, the foodless and violent beastman army would soon show their commander just how maddening and shattering a lack of food could be…

Disobeying orders was actually on the lighter side. In more serious cases, beastman soldiers would attack without distinguishing between friend and foe.

Once that happened, there was no doubt that defeat was only a matter of time.

“What the hell is wrong with those half-beasts, how did it end up like this!?”

The rations they had brought along had already been used up almost completely in these few days of war. They had still been looking forward to the next batch of rations arriving, only for the Graveyard to unexpectedly block the grain route…

“And the Graveyard… don’t let me get free. Once I finish dealing with Eden this time, the next ones I move against will be you stubborn idiots clinging to life who don’t know when to quit…”

He said that, but in the end, the old Beastmen King’s mindset was already in trouble.

“My king, what should we do next? The transport convoy that was supposed to arrive today got wiped out on the road by the undead, and the news that we are short on food has already spread through the camp…”

Rеαԁ oո КαtReаⅾіnɡСafе

Five hundred thousand sturdy beastmen consumed an astronomical amount of food.

Just their daily consumption alone was hard to even quantify, and the food they had brought with the army had been eaten through almost completely in just a few days.

“…How many more days can our current supplies last?”

“Three days… My king, if we are going to retreat, three days is still enough time…”

One of the Legendary-tier generals spoke with a dejected face. As a Legendary of the Stronghold, he understood very well the awkward situation the Stronghold was in now.

No matter what, Eden could not possibly be wiped out in a short time, and the grain transport teams in the rear had been blocked by the Graveyard. On top of that, inside the Stronghold, the half beast race had started an internal revolt.

You could say that the final option now was to abandon the Northern Fortress and directly pull back the troops.

“No. We have already come this far. How can we just give up so casually?”

“But my king, if we keep stubbornly holding on, we beastmen really can’t bear the losses this time. In the war with the Graveyard we already took a heavy blow, and in the plan targeting the Northern Fortress we directly lost more than three hundred thousand of our kin and one Legendary. In our current state, we can’t afford to lose any more.”

Aside from the old Beastmen King who had already fallen into an extreme state, the heads of the few Legendaries present were perfectly clear. Because they understood exactly what situation the Stronghold was in, all of these beings lost their will to fight at the same time.

They were only thinking of retreat.

Rеαd оn КаtRеadinɡСafе

As for that prophet whom the old Beastmen King had forced out of seclusion with heavy handed methods, he simply sat there with his eyes closed, looking like this had nothing to do with him.

“No. If we retreat, that is when we truly have nothing. If we choose to withdraw, Eden’s army will definitely keep chasing us, and the Graveyard’s undead might join in too. That way, we will take even heavier losses. Only if we defeat Eden will we have even a sliver of hope to survive.”

“But… my king… given the current situation, Eden is not something we can resolve in a short time.”

“In that case…”

The old Beastmen King was perfectly clear on that fact, but at this point, he no longer cared.

“We can only put every breakthrough point on Eden opposite us. Tomorrow, we will not worry about whether the undead in the rear will launch a surprise attack. We will use all of our strength and crush Eden in one blow.”

When the old Beastmen King said that, it meant he had already made up his mind to send out their Legendary-tier combat power on the battlefield the next day.

As for whether the Graveyard in the rear would launch a sneak attack, the old Beastmen King no longer wanted to think about it.

Before this, because there was still a chance to win, the old Beastmen King had been cautious in his command out of concern for the undead behind them.

Now that the Stronghold was on the verge of defeat, the old Beastmen King finally came to his senses and decided to go all in.

But the ideal was beautiful and reality was cruel.

Rеaⅾ οո ΚatReаⅾiոɡСafе

Right after the old Beastmen King made up his mind to begin the final decisive battle, the next day, that Stronghold army which had been avoiding battle once again appeared on the battlefield.

Then something unexpected suddenly happened.

The Stronghold army had moved out, but Eden’s army, which had been outside yesterday shouting challenges at them, now chose to turtle up.

“What kind of move is this supposed to be?”

Many players were puzzled. Yesterday, when the Stronghold refused to come out and fight, was Eden not still out there furiously taunting them?

So how come once it was today, they suddenly chose to avoid battle instead?

Of course, Eden avoiding battle did not shake the old Beastmen King’s firm resolve for a decisive fight. He directly ordered the great army to launch an attack on the camp Eden had constructed.

Then something that made everyone’s jaw drop happened.

Because once they launched the attack, they discovered that Eden’s camp had already become an empty camp.

And inside it there was not a single person.