Chapter 1672
Chapter 1672 - 1668: Mountain Nation at a Dead End
1,369 words
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7 min read
The war of the Mountainous Kingdom continues.
In some ways, this kingdom is both the luckiest and unluckiest in this war.
Lucky because their mountain and forest terrain is disgustingly difficult to navigate, the damp forests and swamps coupled with the harsh and unpredictable weather are like deadly weapons against mortal life. Those accustomed to oceanic life, the invaders, haven’t had it easy either.
Unfortunate because their effective resistance has drawn the enemy’s focused attention....
"...Quick, put out the fire! Without this forest, the Red Mountain Camp will have no barriers left."
"It’s no use, those are Elemental Lives....Retreat to the next area."
The scorched earth on the ground continues to spread uncontrollably, with masses of elemental flames transforming into unstoppable wildfire demons.
The invaders, not skilled with fire, nonetheless have cultivated numerous masters of flame. They care not for the resources of this forest; to them, it’s all but a meaningless obstruction.
Flooding has been proven to be of little value, while simple and crude scorched earth tactics can steadily push forward, only....
Suddenly, a mighty thunderclap strikes the area, followed by clearly unnaturally gathered dark clouds.
A torrential downpour follows, within the storm and clouds, angry human faces flicker in and out of view.
The "God of the Monsoon" intervenes directly, summoning lightning and storms, and with them, a deluge of rain.
In fact, the Mountainous Country’s mere five Deities have been highly active in this war.
And this rain is not just any ordinary fire-extinguishing downpour.
The next moment, as if time had reversed, with the touch of the raindrops, countless trees rise from the earth as if all the flames were nothing but a bad dream.
This is not the power of a single Deity, for the "Bamboo and Hurricane God" has also been watching this war intently.
Following this, come the Deities’ Saints and guards.
And the direct engagement of two Deities along with Their Messengers, also means that the ninth-order Quasi-Divine Fishman, originally restrained and constantly struck by lightning, has nothing in its way... It charges directly into the defenders, starting a spree of slaughter.
However, it still faces countless ambushes and the targeting of strongmen.
Warrior matched against warrior, lord against lord, King against King, God against God; it doesn’t enjoy itself for long before equivalent multiple "Overlords" intercept it... Unless the strategic balance is shattered, unless one side’s advanced combat power is exhausted, top combat power achieving a massacre among mortals is hard to accomplish.
The kind of slaughter where the strong overpower the weak typically only occurs on battlefields with a wide disparity between the sides, but clearly, had that been the case, the war would’ve concluded long ago.
Mortals and Fishmen fight to the death, Giant Soldiers brawl with local demonized beast swarms, and the precious Void Rays are sniped by countless hidden spears.
Kings are blocked by other kings, Overlords clash fiercely in the skies, and the battlefields with few Quasi-Deities and top Overlords are so intense that even Kings dare not intervene.
No constraints, no feigning blows, no tacit agreements... Two races fighting for survival, each trying to annihilate the other with everything they have.
In theory, the Fishmen with at least Tier 1-2 in combat power should have an advantage in lower-end battles, but in reality, the opposite is true.
The main force in battle is not the human warriors who are sometimes trees, sometimes stones, but the real Jungle Executioners... a multitude of drones and Mechanical Dogs.
Black and grey drones float slowly through the woods, light machine guns equipped with biological poison and armor-piercing bullets, droning continuously from start to finish.
They’re shot down one by one, but the cost of a lightly armed drone has dropped to less than three thousand a unit. Heaven knows how many tens of thousands are stocked in this forest... In reality, the Fishmen have already destroyed at least hundreds of thousands, but it seems like the opposition is multiplying like magic.
Yet more lethal were the Mechanical Dogs moving at high speed on the road.
These things cost 6,001 each, attacking with machine guns on one side and pouncing towards the approaching Fishmen, then...
The Mechanical Dogs had gone through many generations of updates, but after repeatedly testing and failing with Armor-Breaking Types, White Bladed Types, and Poison-Type models, this rough and simple original version with explosives became the most popular.
A large amount of Iron Sand scattered in all directions, a face-to-face killing weapon more vicious than Armor-Piercing Bullets.
For the Fishmen who were innately fragile in flesh and unarmored, this was no different from bullets; either way it was about penetration or infusion into the body... and with the incorporation of Biological Poison, it basically meant being hit equaled death.
Blooms of Death unfolded on the ground, and these Mechanical Dogs, which had no biological reaction, were all painted in green, and even high-tier combat power couldn’t instantly lock onto these troublesome things... Jumping out from corners of the jungle, bushes, underground, trees, they were impossible to defend against.
And when the ground forces were in retreat or even annihilated, yet the enemy above could not be overcome, the war would naturally come to an end.
"Retreat..."
Eventually, an Overlord could not withstand the siege and chose to leave.
As these invaders were originally a "Warlords Coalition," after one "Deserter" appeared, the others naturally hurried to flee even faster.
Soon, the battlefield returned to calm once more, only the flames burning slowly, with occasional whimpering sounds.
Warriors numbly and swiftly cleaned up the battlefield, the tired high-tier combat power returned to the rear to rest, exchanging information with the Advanced Combat Power that were taking their places... Forcing Top Professionals to continuously use their abilities was the best way to kill them.
In the forest, high and low, everywhere one could see people in deep slumber, they were too tired, far too tired.
When neither side could steamroll the other, this was the state of war, exhausting each other, not just in terms of arms and military might, but also draining the physical strength and lives of warriors.
"...How much longer can we hold on."
Even the most optimistic warriors couldn’t help but think about this.
This was their third year of resistance, and even though the Mountainous People were known among the nations for being good at fighting and willing to fight, how much longer this endless war would continue was unknown.
Cleaning the battlefield, collecting bodies, dragging the wounded back for treatment... they did all this numbly and swiftly, because no one knew when the next battle would be, possibly within the next two hours.
The others who make up these chaotic warlords may not even understand what a strategic plan is, and it was very likely that another lord would think there’s an opportunity to profit and just casually take a group of men straight into battle.
"...How about we add some more landmines?"
There are hundreds of types of landmines from various places, and their capability has been more and more proven.
The invaders are life forms adept at swimming and naval battles, not accustomed to walking on land and being vigilant... They would instinctively forget to guard their steps and fail to sense the obviously discordant ground conditions, especially in Mountainous Country’s terrain that even humans find uncanny, where landmines explode with certainty.
Yet, the Mountainous People still did not deploy landmines on a large scale.
"It would be a disaster after the war..."
Mountainous Country with experience in warfare, familiar with, having used, and deeply loathing landmines... their past war experiences and even more painful postwar cleanup informed them that landmines are easy to lay, but after the war they ruthlessly kill their own people, especially civilians.
"At this rate, we won’t have an aftermath..."
Clearly, the situation had become so dire that they could no longer afford to think far ahead.
"...Let’s ask ’them’ for some more, start with a hundred thousand, we need those capable of Extraordinary reconnaissance..." Eventually, they made the decision; they simply lacked the capacity to consider the aftermath.
— End of Chapter 1672 —