Above the boundless ice plains, a desolate scene filled the eyes. When the winter sun rose, the dark horizon was the gathering of warhorses and warriors.
"The Beastmen are here!"
After a simple announcement, the first wave of catapults and tactical magic spells began to carry out their duties on the battlefield. Huge rocks flew into the sky with a terrifying sound of wind. Every time they fell, dozens of lives would be taken.
Originally, Red Maple City was just an ordinary town with two layers of walls. However, after the various countries invested in it without caring about the cost, it had become a fortified city with four layers of walls. There were also countless defensive equipment.
Earth Mages might not have powerful and flashy offensive magic spells like other Elemental Mages, but when it came to construction and engineering work, they had an advantage that other Elemental Mages couldn't compare to.
Tall walls were instantly erected, and the moat was forcibly widened by seven to eight meters with the sound of "Mud to Mud". The alchemy poison flowing in the moat might not be very toxic, but it was still able to enter.
The city walls were at least three times taller than before. Ballistas and heavy engineering cannons filled the towering city walls. Gryphon Knights were circling and patrolling in the sky, looking for any blind spots that could lead to openings.
Countless catapults were built on the various platforms of the city walls. This kind of time-honored siege and defense weapon would be able to display satisfactory power as long as there were enough scholars and craftsmen. There was no difference between the huge rocks falling from the sky and the Meteor Spell, as they could kill a large number of people with a single hit.
Simple, violent, effective, low-cost, and effective. These were the reasons why catapults were a necessity on the battlefield.
However, this time, they had just entered the range of the largest catapult. At such a distance, it was impossible for them to pose a threat to precise attacks. Instead, they were more of a deterrent.
"On the battlefield, there is no place that is safe."
Not to be outdone, the Beastmen counterattacked. The range of the mobile catapults was limited, and the largest catapult only managed to hit the city walls with great difficulty, causing a cloud of dust and gravel to rise. However, this earned the ridicule of the defending troops.
Not long ago, the broken stones and boulders outside the city had been cleared. The usable stones were stored in the city as stone bullets. If the Beastmen wanted to find something suitable for themselves, they would have to rely on long-distance transportation.
At the same time, at the west gate, the Donglan soldiers who were assigned to defend the city were preparing for war. As the temporary leader, Renée's palms were sweaty. This was her second time in a war, but it was her first time participating as a soldier.
"Hold on, hold on, Renée, you can do it. Big Brother Roland was even younger than you are now when he went to the battlefield."
What she didn't know was that while she was silently cheering herself on, many people with ulterior motives were secretly watching her, and some existences were constantly prying into the mysteries of this world through her eyes.
…
There was a saying that good intentions did bad things, which was quite common. But there was also a saying that bad intentions did good things, which was quite rare.
The surrender of the "coward" Fismer Caso had directly brought great humiliation to the Sleuweir Kingdom, and as the first descendant of the Mist to surrender (in name only), he had allowed himself to be hung on the pillar of shame in history, but at the same time, he had brought about an extremely bizarre yet important impact on the war situation.
Firstly, due to the entire kingdom's fall and the royal family's surrender, the nominal Sleuweir Kingdom became a subordinate of the Beastmen overnight. For a moment, the city lords and domain lords of the various cities and towns were at a loss as to what to do. However, the Beastman army bypassed the various cities and directly reached the deepest part of the city, Red Maple City.
"They've already surrendered, so what's the point of fighting?"
The second impact was the elves' declaration of war against the Beastmen.
Yes, they declared war. That silent alliance only lasted for less than half a month before it directly turned into a hostile relationship.
This time, the Elf King of the Tassel Kingdom was ruthless. The human bastard he chose as the fuse was a citizen of San Antonio, and he even had the identity of a noble of the Kasomi Duchy. As for the middleman and slave trader, it was a noble of Sleuweir, and it was said that he had some relations with Füml.
Thus, in an instant, the target of the war was locked onto the Sleuweir Kingdom and the Kasomi Duchy. Naturally, San Antonio would not be able to get away from this relationship.
His plan was good. As long as the war went smoothly, he would use this fuse to escalate the war, inciting the resentment of the people, and letting the war spread. Since it was revenge for the leader of the anti-war faction, Princess Suana, the peace faction and anti-war faction in the country would not be able to say anything against it.
However, if the main culprit, the target Sleuweir, surrendered to the Beastmen, and ended up being protected by the Beastmen, who should they go to for revenge?
The famous general 'Black Bear' Ainlo was rough but meticulous. He was also quite bold. After knowing about the 'death of the Dove of Peace', he immediately smelled the scent of a conspiracy. He immediately removed the name of the bastard noble from Kasomi Duchy, tied up his brother and sent him to the elves, and attached a sincere letter of apology.
"… Hearing about the tragedy, while grieving, I express my deep regret. We will not tolerate the murderer. Since he is already dead, we will send his brother, wife and daughter as sacrifices to comfort the soul of Princess Suana in heaven …"
Alright, this was indeed very unkind and shameless. However, in a sense, it was indeed effective against the famous stubborn elves. The human kingdom had also understood the temperament of these elves who were amenable to coaxing but not coercion. They would rather suffer for their pride.
"Which family doesn't have a few unfilial descendants? Sincerely apologize. The Kasomi Duchy has already done very well. Using the wife and child of a sinner as sacrifices is simply the same as the barbaric Beastmen. If this news were to spread, it would not be good for the reputation of the Tassel Kingdom and the elves."
When this kind of news spread, the pro-war faction of the Tassel Kingdom knew that the situation was not good.
The Kingdom of the Elves was the birthplace of the archon system and the parliament system. It was the symbol of equality and freedom in the eyes of the people. The elves who were known as the free kingdom had different political systems, but the royal power was weak.
In the eyes of the pro-war faction, if the majority of the elves satisfied their desire for revenge and requested to stop the war with their "ally", then wouldn't Suana's "sacrifice" be in vain? How could they accept such an inexplicable ending? How were they going to explain to the elven gods who wanted to intensify the conflict?
On the other hand, the elves were very particular about their reputation and reputation. If there was no righteous war, wouldn't they become evil invaders? How could the kind and peace-loving elves become evil invaders? We must be on the side of justice. Our targets must be heinous villains.
Thus, a piece of conclusive information was dug out. Among it was evidence of the elves being abducted and sold in recent years. Those elven traffickers and slave hunters were actually backed by the government. The culprit, or the mastermind behind the scenes, was Sleuweir, his nobles and the royal family.
Actually, since the evil slave trade was taking place in this country, and the government actually turned a blind eye to it, how could the upper echelons of this country be clean after the bloody profit chain was established?
Alright then, everything that happened next would be King Füml's fault. But to be honest, with the hundreds of elven dancers in his palace, he really didn't blame the wrong people.
In the elves' eyes, they weren't invading at all. They were taking revenge and upholding justice. The evil Sleuweir Kingdom would have to pay the price, and the evil humans would be banished from the elven kingdom.
But now, the elves met with a small problem. Sleuweir had surrendered. The People of the Mist, who had never surrendered before, had surrendered? In the eyes of these long-lived species, this was as inconceivable as the elves suddenly becoming open-minded and magnanimous, the dwarves becoming clean and tidy, and the beastmen becoming educated and reasonable.
But Sleuweir had indeed surrendered. In that case, whether or not the elves should still take revenge became a major problem.
If they didn't take revenge, they wouldn't be able to take it lying down, nor would they be able to explain themselves to certain existences. But if they wanted to take revenge, would they have to take revenge on Füml, who was under the rule of the beastmen? Would the beastmen be willing to give up the major victory they had obtained after so much difficulty?
"Foolish beastmen, hand over that Füml and his bloody subordinates, and we can still negotiate … Wait a moment, why are you dragging me around? Ah! "
The elven envoys were as arrogant as ever, causing a negotiation that had a 90% chance of failure to become an absolute failure. But this was also the result that a certain elven king wanted.
"Esteemed priests, please tell that lord that his will will definitely be carried out."
Anslo Shusta Adelban. This was a very long name, but it was an abbreviation that omitted more than ten short words. There were many things he had done in his life, and he had created quite a few titles. However, there was one adjective that perfectly described his characteristics: Main God of the Elves.
The Order Gods were composed of many different Divine Factions, and there were only seven Main Gods among them. This was enough to prove how powerful Anslo was. By the way, it was also Anslo who had exiled Rose, causing the Dark Elves to collectively fall into depravity. Anslo was also one of the main targets that Heloise had sworn to take revenge on.
As the Main God of the Elves and the Guardian God of the entire elven species, how could Anslo's will possibly be disobeyed? And so, the elves directly declared war on the beastmen. They declared war on the beastmen who "attempted" to protect Füml.
"As expected of the elves, their brain structure … It seems that no elven expert was able to evaluate such a change. I'm afraid that we'll have to revise our elven studies textbooks again. Hmph, the more intense the battle, the better. It would be best if both sides perish together. "
While many human kingdoms' military strategists were astonished by this, they also fervently anticipated a dog-eat-dog comedy. However, they soon discovered that this declaration of war was nothing more than a pretense.
While the beastmen gave up on other cities and focused on preparing for the final battle, the elves began to take over this show of slaughter. Of course, the elven language that they were so proud of didn't have such a filthy word as slaughter. The elves used the word "cleanse."
Overflowing hatred was contagious, and bloodthirsty insanity was contagious. Soon, the trials went out of control. Finding evidence that a noble's ancestor was involved in the elven slave trade was enough to sentence that noble's family to death.
"What? My grandfather was actually a mercenary in the past? You can't even tell where he used to earn a living? In that case, I'm sorry, but since you can't prove that he's innocent, he's guilty. And if he's guilty, that means that you're guilty. "
The elven priests acting as judges also fell into an inexplicable frenzy. In their trials, which were filled with the presumption of guilt and implicating others, very few people would be able to escape unscathed. Compared to the beastmen, the elves' only advantage was that they temporarily didn't touch the commoners. Or perhaps it should be said that they didn't take the initiative to touch the commoners.
Besides, it was impossible for there to be no deaths or injuries in battle. Faced with their own losses, the so-called elegance of the elves was probably to give the defending soldiers a way to die that wouldn't be too unsightly.
And so, the fallen city was filled with human heads. The commoners who were fortunate enough to survive looked at the long-eared elves with eyes filled with hatred.
"What an insane display of loyalty. I'm afraid that the Northlands elves will never be able to return to how they were in the past. Perhaps, after this calamity, there will be no elves left."
As for me, I could see sorrow in the elves' madness. Only the True Gods would be able to control the will of the priests. Since the True Gods no longer cared about their reputation, it was likely that they themselves had fallen into despair and madness.
The elves chose to betray the Order Gods at the very first moment and become the vanguard in a Divine War. In this generation where vanguard and cannon fodder were synonymous, it was likely that the Elven Gods would all fall together.
"This really is a banquet for traitors."
As I said this, I kept checking the letter I wrote to another traitor. Whether or not this traitor had the intention to change sides was directly related to the victory of this battle.
"Dear Lady Rose, greetings. I'm your loyal fan, Roland Mist. Perhaps you've heard of me before. I've long been looking forward to your art of interrogation, and I've always wanted to find an opportunity to exchange some pointers with you … You've also heard about the recent events, so I have a small suggestion for you …"
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