Eighteen, A New Battle Begins at Dawn

  Eighteen, A New Battle Begins at Dawn

  As time passed, the fire in the valley gradually weakened as fuel was gradually exhausted. Thick smoke mixed with ash climbed up the surrounding cliffs under the drive of heat, and a choking smell of burning filled everywhere.

  "Those Ametta Church people are really something!" Fili's jaw nearly dropped as he gazed down at the S*M girls who were displaying their divine power on the mountain. Less than a hundred female warriors were actually chasing after several thousand enemy soldiers, not letting up! If the men in the Giant Bear Army had even half the courage of these S*M girls, it wouldn't just be Sofia's motley crew that they could handle - taking down the North Pole Port would be a piece of cake.

  However, despite the scene appearing to be overwhelmingly one-sided in their favor, not all of the Elven soldiers were routed under the intense flames and the S*M girls of the Aemita Church. A portion of the Elven army seemed to have regained normal command after escaping the inferno, reorganizing and regrouping before redeploying to a small hill to set up defensive positions. From the glow of the fire, it could be faintly seen that this contingent consisted of only several hundred soldiers, but they were well-trained, moved with precision, and were completely different from the other scattered and disorganized troops. Their equipment was also far superior. The S*M girls of the Aemita Church, although extremely frenzied, couldn't make a dent in this hard nut. A few S*M girls, brandishing whips and shouting "Justice is invincible", charged forward but were all skewered by swords and spears into minced meat. The rest, seeing the situation, quickly turned around and went to chase after other enemies that were easier to deal with.

  To prevent the enemy from gathering, Fili ordered the snipers who had been deployed around the battlefield to try to harass them a few times. Unfortunately, the enemy was extremely vigilant and the snipers did not gain any advantage, but instead lost many lives and retreated with their tails between their legs.

  "It seems that Sofia's Rialia is not so easy to deal with after all, and she still refuses to retreat in this situation. The remaining ones are probably her core troops, and there will be another tough battle next! " On the mountain, Philery handed the telescope to Allen, who had been jumping around for a long time, and asked Feton, the red-robed mage following behind him, "How's Renny doing?"

  "The main force of the legion has been deployed, but it's unlikely they'll be able to launch a strong attack." Feton, who was now serving as Phil's deputy officer, had been sent on an errand to New Morselbra City before the battle at Emon Port and had thus escaped that disastrous defeat. "As General Charlotte said, if we send them to charge into enemy lines, they can't even beat a bunch of goblins, let alone the legendary 'Ghost Rose'. Maybe just hearing that name will make our soldiers' legs turn to jelly and have them retreat en masse!"

  "I didn't expect much courage from them anyway, sigh, why are the men of New Zealand so useless?" Fili shook his head and looked at the battle situation below. At this time, the defeated Elven army had been driven out of the camp by the brave S*M girls and were fleeing wildly along yesterday's route. From Fili's position, looking through binoculars, the snowy plain was filled with small black dots running around aimlessly, like a colony of ants whose nest had been flooded.

  "It seems that this part of the enemy is no longer a threat." The enemy had already gone far away, and the fire in the canyon was almost extinguished. Fili put away his telescope and turned to Feitan, "How's it going on the side of the Great Druid?"

  "Mr. Vini has just sent a magical message saying that everything is ready, and he hopes we have prepared the celebratory honey!" Fenton said with a smile, "His over 300 bears have already stirred up the whole Emon Port, and now they are causing trouble in New Morsobley City, eating away several pastry shops in just two days, who knows what else they will do?"

  "As long as we can win this battle, Speaker Zena will secure the position of war zone commander, and all the supplies in New Nazaril will be at our disposal. Will we still worry about not having enough then?" Phil didn't have any complaints about the misfortune of Bear Squadron's thievery since it had nothing to do with him. Even death row inmates get a last meal before execution! Letting those bears eat their fill for a few days before the battle is just fattening them up for slaughter, and that's only natural.

  "Let them wait a little longer, until the sky brightens up some more before we strike!" Fili gazed at the faintly visible spirit army camp in the firelight, hesitated for a moment, and still gave the order to continue waiting.

  ****

  As the sky gradually revealed its pale belly, the scenery in the canyon also became clearer. In the faint morning light, yesterday's massive military camp had been covered under a thick layer of ash, and most of the soldiers had scattered without a trace under the whip of S*M girl, leaving only a small number lingering near a small mound in the campsite, forming a dense circular formation under the command of the commander, coughing due to the remaining smoke while anxiously waiting for the arrival of dawn.

  In the center of the circle, Sophia Yliya sat on horseback, her clothes full of holes and black marks left by flames, her face and hands covered with scorching colors, as if a piece of dry tree bark that had been cracked all over and smoked. She looked very wretched.

  Her iconic green eye still gazed at the camp where the embers had not yet died out, and although she was extremely reluctant to admit it, this battle had been thoroughly lost, and she no longer had the ability to launch an attack on New Mobsolbra City.

  This time, she was in an unfamiliar region, commanding unfamiliar subordinates and fighting against unfamiliar enemies. She should have been extremely cautious, but instead, she was deceived by the overly easy victory at Emon Harbor and indulged in her past reputation, failing to maintain sufficient vigilance against the enemy, which led to today's terrible situation.

  But for now, she can't retreat. As a seasoned veteran general, she is well aware of the terrible things that will happen in a chaotic and disorganized retreat - collapse of organization, abandonment of equipment, trampling each other, trying to let comrades die instead... In the end, it's complete collapse, being hunted down by the enemy one by one. And here is the enemy's hinterland, not even a relatively safe gathering place (after failure, she obviously overestimated the opponent's strength), once the army is scattered, it's hard to gather again, and even if gathered, most of them have lost their weapons and equipment. She must keep an organized and combat-effective army, waiting for dawn to retreat in order, or else they will be completely annihilated.

  "When I've gathered the army of North Harbor, I'll definitely come to avenge today's humiliation! At that time, I must kill all these insolent Nefarians who dare to oppose me... No, this is not enough, I will also turn them all into undead creatures for me to command..." She was thinking of various ways to torture the people of New Masobray City in her mind, seemingly completely forgetting the fact that she didn't have any necromancers under her command. It wasn't until her gaze fell upon a group of gray-robed clergy, whose attire and appearance were entirely different from those of the elven priestesses, that she stopped her wild thoughts and walked up to the one with the most luxurious clothing among them.

  "Respected Mr. Beckman, do you have any solution to the current situation?" Sophia asked in a rare humble tone and extremely polite voice.

  A middle-aged man named Beckman stroked the holy emblem of Talona, the goddess of poison and disease, on his chest, looked around at the snow-covered surroundings, shook his head regretfully, "I'm very sorry, respected Marshal. The weather is really too cold now, I'm afraid my god's power can't be exerted. Moreover, just now you lost almost all your mages, in my opinion it's better to consider how to hold on until dawn!"

  "Don't worry about this." Although they had just suffered a great defeat, Sofia was still full of confidence. "Let those useless miscellaneous soldiers go, I still have these elite troops in my hands," she pointed to her remaining subordinates, most of whom were private soldiers of the Liriaton family and church knights sent by the Xievolras Church to Sofia. "Taking down New Mazosuburei Castle is not very realistic, but covering our retreat is absolutely no problem. The reason we're not leaving now is just that we don't want to get scattered in the dark night."

  "But where do you plan to retreat to? With such a small force, it's impossible to hold Emon Harbour, and all the ships have been dismantled in the landing operation!" Bechman asked in puzzlement.

  "We won't return to Emon Port!" Sophia raised the whip in her hand, pointing towards the northern horizon. "The ship is destroyed, we'll head to Northport by land. There are still a few thousand soldiers available there, and there should be some reserves of weapons and food. Once I've reorganized the troops there, I'll definitely head south again. By then, the weather will probably have warmed up too. As for the cleanup work on the local aborigines, I'll have to trouble you to take care of it!"

  "If it succeeds, then that's the best." Beckman still didn't seem too confident about Sophia's prospects, but he had no other choice. "Punishing these insolent plebeians is our duty, and we've already obtained all the materials for various plagues from the fire scene. As soon as the weather warms up a bit, we can serve General-sama!"

  "That's good, in the future on this land contaminated by evil gods, your teachings will surely flourish." Sophia nodded in satisfaction, just about to order the troops to change formation and leave in an orderly manner, when a small commotion broke out at the periphery. Before she could even ask her subordinates what was happening, Beckman, who had better eyesight, shouted out.

  "Marshal, something is coming!"