Cthulhu Gonfalon

Chapter 914: Mountain Expedition

Just as Sui Xiong was carefully exploring the small underworld, both the humans and Orcs on the Main Plane had almost finished with their preparations as well.

The humans had already gathered and amassed over one hundred thousand troops. They were all young and nimble lads, and all of them were equipped fully with uniforms and weapons. They had even followed the latest method of training and had gone through intensive exercises to prepare for this battle. These people were all well trained, well-armed and only required a little bit more of training to become outstanding soldiers.

These hundreds of thousands of troops were not the typical men who usually kept order in the streets. They were actual talents who were made to be soldiers, and they were many resources directed towards them. There were servants who tended to them and made sure they had the right equipment and safety precautions in place. All the human countries on the Main Plane had sent out their best men and all sorts of resources were being conserved or converted into useful items for war and constantly shipped to the frontline.

These troops wanted to utilize an all-out battle strategy, which required a giant and expansive battleground. There weren’t many battlegrounds like these available, and the only suitable one was in the northeast area of the Main Plane. This was the border between the Orc Empire and the Kingdom of Light.

The border between the Orc Empire and the Kingdom of Light was a vast, sprawling field. This piece of land was not well known and did not have much infrastructure. It was basically empty and barren. However, once the humans had established their country, they had continuously built and developed this land, building up a sturdy city wall, several outposts, several fortresses, several other blocks of city wall and finally a giant defense system.

As compared to the Great Wall of China back on Earth, this defense system that was built on the plains and hills was definitely much more complicated. There were also many soldiers permanently stationed here. To cater to their needs, there were many small villages situated along the east side of the defense system, and there were at least about two million people who lived in these villages. The human countries also continuously rendered support to allow for this defense system to stay afloat. If the Orcs had wanted to ever invade the humans previously, they would never try to go against this defense system and would instead choose to attack Eagle Kingdom instead, despite it being a more dangerous terrain.

To the Orcs, the danger of terrain could be overcome with bravery and skills of the troops. However, the defense system at the border that was filled with humans was a barrier that was definitely harder to conquer. In fact, it was seen as almost impossible.

This was the logic that the dangers of a territory lay in its manpower and not its natural dangers, and this case study proved this theory well.

Similar to the Great Wall of China, the humans and the Orcs’ area of control was not this border. In actuality, the humans’ control area extended to about 200 or 300 miles west of the border. The humans had built several outposts and cities here. These outposts and cities were trading posts for the humans and the Orcs. During wartime, it was the frontier post for the frontline troops and small scale battles.

The huge number of human troops all thus headed now towards this frontier post.

As for the Orcs’ troops, they had yet to be assembled yet.

This was not due to the fact that they had no ability to mobilize their troops. It was more of the fact that their troops had not been fed and developed well enough. They could not copy the humans and send a massive number of troops to the frontier post to either train or eat plentifully.

Although the various Orc gods had provided lots of goods and resources for the Orcs, to allow for all the troops to go through intensive training was something that was beyond their capabilities.

The Master of Order did not allow the gods to intervene too much in the peoples’ lives, and the desire of the Orc gods to confiscate food and resources from other worlds to share with the Orcs troops was crossing the line in his eyes.

The Orc troops thus had no choice but to scatter themselves along the east side of the big grass field and work in farms to grow their own food while waiting for the war to start or for the enemy to approach.

The difference in development and literacy could now be clearly seen between the humans and the Orcs.

If everything went smoothly without any surprise intervention, everyone would assume that the Orcs were doomed to lose this war.

The humans had handpicked troops who were well trained and well-armed. There were tens of thousands of them, and they were all energized and ready. On the other hand, the Orc troops had to tend to the farms while they trained and were struggling to be self-sufficient. Their skill levels were uneven and not consistent. More than one scholar who did research in war history predicted that once the war between the humans and the Orcs commenced, the Orc troops may lose during the first wave of battle only as they would probably be massacred.

Of course, all these scholars were, however, humans, which would have contributed to their extreme view.

The Orcs, on the other hand, had a different view. They insisted on the belief that they were strong and looked down on the smaller humans. All along, they had won more battles than they lost with the humans, and this gave them confidence for the battle ahead now. This time, the Orc Empire had truly given their all in terms of mobilization, and they felt that they had a good chance of winning.

Even in the previous battle of Sun’s Death Day, the Orc Empire had not even mobilized that many troops. This time, however, they had rounded up almost every soldier who was ready to fight to send into battle. Furthermore, within their armies, there were soldiers of other races. For example, there were supporting troops from the dwarf and elf race as well as those from the Great Marsh. There were even a few troops from races such as the pygmies.

These were just but a few of the supporting solider types that made up their Orc army.

The fact that the humans had tried to fully defeat the Orcs made them seem like the biggest bullies on the Main Plane. This had created an advantage for the Orcs as there were now many races willing to step up and fight against the humans alongside the Orcs.

If ancient Chinese philosopher Mencius had arrived at this time and seen the troops on the side of the Orcs, he probably would have uttered something along the lines of, “A just cause gains great support; an unjust one gains little.”

Although the Orcs had a lot of “support,” there was still no denying the fact that the humans were still stronger overall.

Of course, during this period of time, both the human and the Orcs’ higher-ups did not simply rest on their laurels. They both understood that the real deciding factor of the outcome of this battle was not the fighting skills of the many troops below them but rather their battle strategy and decisions.

Legendary Masters of various races that were allies of the Orcs had already gathered on the big grass plains, and there were more than 100 of them. They trained under the Orcs’ demigods and continuously developed and improved themselves every day. They aimed to reach a higher level of skill by the time the war started so they could showcase their skills better against the enemy.

As for the human side, their Legendary Masters had also all gathered and were similarly trying to make use of all the remaining time they had to train hard.

As for those of an even higher level, both sides had not mobilized them in big batches, but everyone understood that when both sides actually started the battle, the demigods would appear and participate as well, adding to the intensity and cruelty of the war.

As time passed day by day, the new year soon came about.

This year’s new year was not celebrated by either side. Both the humans and the Orcs were making their final preparations, and they wished that they had one or two more days to get ready. Even the Republic of Northwest, which was neutral, had a tense atmosphere within the country due to the war looming ahead. There were considerably lesser new year activities as no one was really in the right mood for it.

In Void Mask City, there was even a cold, hollow feeling in the air.

However, such an atmosphere did not last long. On the 10th day of the new year, both sides’ troops were finally activated.

If one viewed this sight from the sky, it would be akin to seeing two giant groups of shadows slowly moving closer together.

At the same time, both sides rushed forward with intensity and set out from the hills and plains.

These people were the demigods who had hidden away in both camps for many years. With the start of the great battle, they obligingly left their hiding places to come forth and participate.