Cthulhu Gonfalon

Chapter 925: The Impasse (Part 1)

The war on Earth slowly fell into a strange state.

On the battlefield of the Positive Plane, the Orc army had to face the defensive line at the Great Wall that the humans had built and managed over a long period of time. Even with the help of divine spells, the Orcs were still quite helpless.

The city walls were tall and thick. And they were all wholly reinforced with spells. Striking against them with ordinary swords and blades would only leave inconspicuous marks that would disappear after a while. These walls were not simply joined together but also relied on the veins on the ground and formed uneven bar structures. Among them, many took the forms of meandering barbican structures. If anyone wanted to charge into the city by coursing along the road, they would fall into the barbican and be trapped from several sides. It was easy for the entire army to be wiped out.

Therefore, to attack this defense line, the only way was to rely on equipment such as aerial ladders to climb up the city walls.

However, when it came to the level of siege equipment, the Orc’s skills were simply a little pathetic to speak of. Over the years, they had failed to come up with anything more powerful—there simply was no need for them to do so. The Orcs themselves did not have the habit of building high and thick walls. Neither did they have the habit of attacking cities. Moreover, even in the face of the towering and steep city walls, there were still the flying beasts, as well as the mid and high-level masters.

But to the defense line at the Great Wall, even the flying beasts were useless. The mid and high-level masters were equally useless.

The humans also had their flying troops, and their numbers were also large. Perhaps the total was not as many as that of the Orcs, but at least when used for defense, it would be more than enough.

In terms of the number of masters, the humans had an absolute advantage. In the previous major battle, the confrontation between the Legendary Masters of both sides eventually ended with the defeat of the Orcs. It was a pity that even though the battle dragged on for such a long time, in the end, it was still unable to produce any decisive significance for the situation.

In this regard, the situation was the exact opposite of the flying troops.

But if the defensive line at the Great Wall was taken to be the battlefield, and the Legendary Masters from both sides were to get started on a long period of fighting, then the weakness in the number of the Orcs would be made apparent. By then, their Legendary Masters would suffer great losses, and this was something the Orc Emperor found unacceptable.

The loss of some ordinary soldiers was not much of a problem in such battles that involved the entire race. But when they did not have many Legendary Masters to start with, further losing a few of them, the situation would become even more disadvantageous.

Since the Legendary Masters could not be mobilized for war, then the Orcs would naturally be placed at an absolute disadvantage. If they wanted to attack the city, then all they could do was to use their lives to make up for their shortage in number.

But did they have enough lives?

Of course they did.

But the Orc Emperor had no intention of using the lives of his Orcs to fill in that terrifying defense line.

“No need,” he said at the military conference that night. “The humans outnumber us. They must be on a tighter budget when it comes to food supply. And they don’t have enough spellcasters. The healing of the wounded, nursing of the sick… all of this is very loss-incurring.”

“More importantly, their logistics line is going to run into problems soon,” said the emperor with an eerie smile on his aged face. “Tens of thousands of people are continuously causing destruction at their rear. The Oracles of Your Majesties here are attacking the temples and altars. They can’t hold out any much longer!”

This was the outcome of discussions of the advisory board. According to their estimation, their army provisions would at most last for another month or so. In a month’s time, millions of soldiers would find themselves in a predicament due to the lack of rations.

At that time, the humans could either initiate an attack or choose to retreat. There would not be any other viable options.

Emperor Ilo was not worried about the safety of the mobility troops. They were not isolated without any support like the mobility troop of the southern military army of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins. Behind them were the great gods, as well as a large number of Oracles.

These Oracles would provide them with sufficient intelligence and support in a timely fashion so that they could keep themselves in good condition. The Oracles would even transport supplies to them—with the help of the Oracles, even if they had to go up front alone, they would never be left with no support at all.

On the contrary, given the actual situation, they might be much better provided for and more carefree than the main military army. This main Orc army of troops was presently at the western region of the defense line at the Great Wall, doing their best to outstare the human army.

After all, the army they had to face was not strong. It was nothing more than some militia or the private army of aristocrats. The elite troops of the humans were either mass-gathered at the defense line at the Great Wall or stationed to stand guard at the various important points of the supply lines. It was simply impossible to deploy enough troops to deal with them.

As for the issue of transferring a few masters, what was the use of a few masters in the face of such a large army of tens of thousands of men, as well as the masters who might possibly be hidden among this great army? It would be nothing but death.

In fact, the humans could also mobilize a few troops to lay siege around them. With the advantage they had with their military strength, this was not impossible. But the Orcs had the Oracles to help collect information. The human army had tried to surround them twice, but they easily evaded the humans on both attempts. The second time around, they even managed to take advantage of the situation to lay a trap and but was hit with a swift counter-attack.

As the days passed, the weather gradually became warmer. But the commanders on both sides were feeling cold deep within instead.

The cold was not due to despair or fear, but rather, due to their murderous intentions.

The humans had suffered a great loss. Their previous loss incurred at the war of bases was nothing much. This period of time where they suffered a harassing attack by the Orc’s mobility troop in the core region of their own land, this was truly a heavy loss for them. At least a hundred towns and villages were reduced to rubble and ruins, more than one hundred thousand civilians were turned into refugees in need of rescue—and all of this was just the beginning.

A hundred thousand people were not considered many, but it was not as easy to provide food and shelter for an additional one-hundred thousand people.

The humans deliberated on this aspect repeatedly. In the end, they could only choose to move this one hundred thousand people towards the defense line at the Great Wall. Only there were they able to get enough food and shelter.

As for the issue of danger, if the great army failed, where else could there not be danger?

On the side of the Orcs, their mobility troop had gone through more than 10 days of continuous combat and were also a little tired. Most importantly, they had yet to accomplish their greatest goal for this trip.

For the Orcs’ mobility troop, attacking the core region of the humans’ land and creating a large number of refugees were only targets conveniently accomplished along the way. Their primary goal was to destroy the supply lines of the humans. However, the humans certainly expected this as well. Every fortified point along the entire supply line was heavily guarded. Almost all were uniformed fortresses and were heavily guarded. The Orcs’ mobility troops would suffice when it came to attacking places like aristocrats’ castles or towns and villages, but they were still far from adequate to be used to attack these heavily guarded fortresses.

Under such a situation, these Orcs who had gone deep behind their enemy’s line, could not help feeling frustrated.

According to tradition, at this point in time, they should be capturing large numbers of humans, force these civilians to attack the fortress and use their lives to deplete weapons and morale of the guarding soldiers. Such a method was cruel, vicious, but extremely effective.

But this time, they could not do so.

When the Orcs’ mobility troop convened their military conference at night to discuss this plan, they heard a roar coming from the sky.

Their sturdy tent was torn to shreds. A huge green jellyfish was looking at them with big, terrifying bloodshot eyes.

Sui Xiong did not say anything, but his attitude made everything crystal clear.