Volume 6, Chapter 18 – Plan

After more or less confirming that the Underground World’s Neutral Faction might launch an offensive against Dawn, Tianyin assigned Julius, who had just joined Dawn, to the border, putting him in charge of early warning.

In truth, Tianyin’s arrangements were very timely. But plans never catch up with changes. Just as Julius had only just taken over the border defenses and had not even started to familiarize himself with them, Seles personally led an army like a tide and stormed over.

In the army from the Underground World there were not only the tall, burly Minotaurs and those Dark Elves who only fought by casting spells from long range.

There were also the Evil Eye Lords Tianyin had seen before, with their huge single eyes and bodies supported by tentacles.

Of course, these Evil Eye Lords were not the same Evil Eye Lord Tianyin had encountered last time.

Besides the Evil Eye Lords, there was also a demon army whose bodies seethed with the aura of chaos.

At this moment, the army led by Seles had already begun to assault Dawn’s border.

Because they were attacking Dawn’s entire defensive line, Julius, who was responsible for the border defenses, had no need to look after everything on all sides the way he had when he was defending a city before.

And Julius had only just taken over the responsibility for defending the border. He himself was not familiar with the specific situation of Dawn’s border line, so when all parts of the border began to come under enemy assault, Julius could only play the role of stabilizing the troops’ morale.

After all, as a Legendary-tier, Julius’s very presence was a highly effective shot of courage.

“So how is the situation now?”

In a relatively concealed spot close to the border line, Julius asked the Beastman general beside him, whose name was Orgum.

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Before Julius arrived, this Beastman general had been the highest-ranking commander in charge of the defenses along Dawn’s border outside the northern fortress.

His strength was only Epic-tier, but when it came to understanding Dawn’s borders, Orgum should have had the most authority to speak.

In response to Julius’s question, a very grave expression surfaced on Orgum’s face.

“Right now we’re completely in the dark. We have no idea how large the enemy force is. So in this situation, every route that might be used by the enemy as a breakthrough point, I’ve assigned troops to defend all of them… but that means our forces are spread far too thin. If the enemy concentrates on one point and breaks through, then the entire line could collapse from there…”

“I see. We really are at an absolute disadvantage in terms of intelligence… but for the moment we can still hold off the enemy attacks for a while, right?”

After thinking for a moment, Julius asked another question.

“Mm?”

Orgum looked at Julius with some surprise.

“For a while we can hold them, yes. Why… Do you have an idea?”

“Mm… I wouldn’t call it an idea, more like a delaying tactic.”

“A delaying tactic? What do you mean?”

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“Haa…”

Julius let out a slightly helpless sigh.

“The current border line is too long, which really is causing our defensive strength to be spread even thinner. That much is an undeniable fact. In that case, what if we just pull the line back, how about that?”

“Shrink the line, pull our forces together for defense… that method is workable. But the enemy isn’t stupid. They won’t just stand there and watch us retreat.”

Julius’s suggestion was certainly workable, but in Orgum’s view, this was the kind of thing that was easy to say and very hard to actually do.

“That so? But the idea I just mentioned still counts as a pretty good method, doesn’t it?”

“Mm…”

Orgum nodded in agreement.

“Shrinking the line is the right direction. But… just deciding on our own that it will work and then doing it is not right at all… we also have to consider whether the enemy will notice what we’re doing.”

“Even after everything you said, I still think my plan will work. For example, we could leave someone behind as a rear guard during the retreat, or have a certain person, or certain thing, draw the enemy’s attention.”

Even though he was nominally the overall commander in charge of the border, when it came to opinions, Julius still respected Orgum quite a bit.

“A rear guard… or using something to draw the enemy’s attention, and while that happens we pull the main force back?”

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Orgum started rubbing his chin as he chewed over Julius’s proposal.

“Your idea is indeed not bad. I can arrange for a rear guard force… though it might not be able to win us enough time. If we really intend to use this method, we also have to find something that can draw the enemy’s attention.”

“Draw their attention, huh? Tell me… if a Legendary-tier suddenly appeared on the only route they have to pass, and then started a bloodbath… do you think the army on the other side would shift their attention over?”

“If a Legendary-tier really took the field, then that opportunity… is workable.”

This time, although Orgum was still frowning, his voice had clearly become lighter.

And right after that lighter tone, Orgum also realized in an instant that something was off.

“Wait… Legendary-tier, it’s not like there is more than one Legendary-tier here, right?”

“Of course. Other than me, do you see any other Legendary-tier here?”

Julius’s expression was still completely relaxed, but under that relaxed look, Orgum saw a noble sense of responsibility.

“You don’t have to do this… truly. Legendary-tier combatants are actually very rare for us in Dawn. If you just die like this, how am I supposed to explain it to our lord? What, am I supposed to say I was the one who sent you to die?”

“It’s alright… this is only my plan anyway. But you also said it yourself. If we pull back in secret, it will take the enemy some time to figure it out. We just need to make sure they don’t notice very promptly…”

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“Fine. Right now, if we want to keep the line from being easily broken through by the other side, the wisest course of action is to pull the line back… because only by pulling the line back can we be confident of holding out until our lord’s reinforcements reach us… and not like now, when we keep worrying that the line could be broken at any moment…”

In reality, even if Tianyin rushed over to support them, the earliest she could arrive would be in the evening.

Until then, Julius and Orgum needed to come up with a way to manage…

“… Mm… this really is all we can do… we first leave a small part of the troops behind to confuse the enemy… and the main force uses that time to begin retreating.”

“But that aside.”

Even though he had already accepted Julius’s plan, Orgum still felt that something about it was not quite right.

“What if the plan fails?”

“Then what can we do?”

Julius spread his hands, his expression utterly calm.

“If the plan fails, then we can only grit our teeth and hold on. Well, we will deal with it when the time comes.”