Volume 3, Chapter 93 – Fifty-Fifty?

The empty camp did not only catch the players who were just there to watch the drama off guard. Even the old Beastmen King who had personally led the army forward to attack could not understand it for a moment.

However…

Without a doubt, the fact that the imposing Stronghold army had pounced at thin air was real.

“This is… this is outrageous…”

Facing something like this, even with the composure he had cultivated over many years as someone in a high position, the old Beastmen King could not help wanting to curse out loud.

It felt just like putting all his strength into a punch only to have it land on cotton. That feeling of finally winding up and striking with all he had, only for it to have no effect at all…

It was just… way too suffocating…

“Where are they? Where are Eden’s people?”

“That’s weird, there were quite a lot of them yesterday, right? Did they all run away?”

“Are you stupid, this is called a tactical retreat!”

In any case, the crowd of onlooking players were all making their own comments about this move from Eden.

“My king, it seems Eden’s army noticed something, then withdrew overnight.”

Although his expression was a bit ugly, the old Beastmen King still trusted the judgment of his Legendary commanders.

“It should be like that. But even if they withdrew at night, they could not have gone very far. We just have to chase them directly.”

Rеad оn КаtRеaԁіոɡСαfе

Since he had already made up his mind to fight Eden’s army to the death, and then discovered that the enemy had pulled back, the only thing left to do was pursue.

This was also the only way to handle things now that he had chosen to stake everything. Because the old Beastmen King had already decided that he could not afford to lose again.

Very soon, once the old Beastmen King’s orders were passed down, even though the low-ranking beastman soldiers felt a bit dissatisfied with this order, they still carried it out and continued the pursuit.

So, under the distant gaze of the players watching, the entire beastman army of five hundred thousand marched in great numbers toward Eden City. Of course, the reason they chose that direction was also because if Eden’s army wanted to retreat, they could only fall back to Eden City.

After all, only Eden City could give Eden’s army some measure of terrain advantage.

However, while this army of five hundred thousand beastmen advanced under the old Beastmen King’s command with single-minded focus, none of them noticed that the Graveyard army behind the beastmen had suddenly begun to follow as well.

The Graveyard army did not close in right away. Instead, they stayed far behind the beastman army, making it hard for the beastmen who were focused only on pursuit to notice anything.

Not only that. Even further away, the cat-eared girl Yeluo, the one who had stirred up the rebellion and seemed to have strength beyond that of an ordinary Legendary, was currently leading a massive half-beast uprising army, hurrying toward Eden.

The reason Yeluo had personally taken the field was that in the Stronghold’s rear area, the few Legendaries who could fight her, including Fuyi, had all been heavily wounded by her. And the half-beasts who had joined the rebellion made up ninety percent of the entire half-beast population.

Although the half-beasts’ status meant their numbers were much lower than the beastmen’s, the half-beast population was still in the tens of millions.

After excluding the elderly, the weak and sick, and the women and children, the number of half-beasts who could form the uprising army still reached a full one million.

This half-beast rebel army of a million had already become a serious hidden danger that the Stronghold could no longer get rid of easily after going through the Graveyard war and the struggle for the Northern Fortress.

Of course, if it had been the Stronghold in its peak state, a mere million half-beast rebels with low combat strength could have been wiped out in a matter of minutes.

Rеаԁ oո KatRеаdinɡСаfе

But the Stronghold now was no longer the Stronghold of the past.

Unlike the old Beastmen King who wanted nothing more than a decisive battle with Eden, the Graveyard army trailing behind the Stronghold forces was soon noticed by some sharp-eyed players.

Not only that, but the news of the half-beasts rebelling inside the Stronghold spread very quickly as well, fanned by those lord players who had sided with the Stronghold.

Speaking of those lord players who had joined the Stronghold, they had very proactively adopted a neutral stance the moment the half-beasts rose up in rebellion. For those players, the more chaotic the NPC forces of the Main World were, the better.

In any case, once the players understood all this information, the clever ones all sensed that something was wrong.

The Stronghold’s rebellion, the movements of the Graveyard’s undead army.

And on top of that, Eden’s inexplicable tactical retreat.

These events that looked unrelated on the surface actually seemed to be tied together by countless threads.

“The Stronghold is going to lose. This time, if nothing unexpected happens, Eden will win.”

In the end, a player summed it up like this on the forums.

However, would Eden really win? As the Stronghold’s nominal leader, the old Beastmen King did not know. And as Eden’s leader, Tianyin did not know either.

“Sister Xiaomu… weren’t we retreating?”

After withdrawing with the main army under cover of night, Tianyin, together with Xiaobingxue, Xiaomengyao and the others, had left the frontlines with Xingyu Muxi.

Reаԁ oո ΚаtRеαԁіոgCafе

What puzzled Tianyin was that just as dawn broke, Xingyu Muxi gave the order for the entire army to turn around.

“Does that mean we’re going back?”

“No, this is just one step in the plan~”

Seeing Tianyin’s confused expression, Xingyu Muxi gently stroked Tianyin’s hair while Xiaomengyao watched with envy.

“I ordered the army to turn around not so we could go back, but to welcome the final battle~”

“The final battle?”

Tianyin was slightly taken aback.

“Sister Xiaomu, are we going to decide things once and for all?”

“That’s right~ After stalling for so long, I have used every bit of power I can make use of. It is about time we have our last showdown.”

“Mm…”

Just as Xingyu Muxi had said, they had reached the crucial moment of the decisive battle.

Yet even though Tianyin knew very clearly in her heart what a decisive battle meant, her mood did not ripple at all.

“Nervous, Xiaoyin?”

Rеаԁ oո ΚаtRеαԁіոɡCαfе

“Eh… M-Me? I’m not nervous, Sister Xiaomu…”

“That’s good. Because during the final battle is also when you will make your move, Xiaoyin. And if I am not mistaken, the Stronghold’s Throne will also step in then.”

“T-Throne-class?”

“Nervous now?”

“Of course not, I am just a little surprised, that is all. It is really a bit hard to believe that a Throne would personally make a move…”

Of course, it was only normal to feel shocked after hearing that a Throne would fight.

However, more than surprise, Tianyin actually found herself looking forward to fighting a Throne.

『Hey, Samael, if I give you five minutes, can you beat the Throne on the other side?』

In her mind, Tianyin asked Samael this.

In response to Tianyin’s question, the blood-like girl residing inside Tianyin’s body answered in a very relaxed tone.

「About fifty-fifty…」

「Of course, if Gluttony returns in time, then the result will be a different story…」