Chapter 1958: Retreating Is Not An Option
“Bastards!” Sally clenched her fists. This bunch of cowardly rodents caused the Wind Forest to be in such a precarious situation.
Next, she asked the elves beside her, “How much longer would the guards in the south need to retreat?”
“It would take half a day to deploy all of them back to our core area,” the elf replied quickly.
Sally frowned. “No, that is too slow. Get them to abandon all military supplies, and rush back at full speed. Otherwise, by the time they arrive at the forest, the Roth Empire’s cavalry will probably have reduced this place to a piece of flat land.”
“In my opinion, we should just surrender. The Roth Empire is too strong. We aren’t their match at all,” Elliot said nervously. “Right now, the queen is still uncontactable, and High Priest Helena is not in the forest. What can we use to put up a fight against the Roth Empire army?”
“Yes, the Roth Empire is too strong. We aren’t their match.”
“Your Highness, why don’t you have a talk with the Roth Empire. We’ll surrender. We’re not fighting.”
A few other elves agreed. The news of the Roth Empire cavalry attacking the forest had already made many elves flustered.
“Shut up!” Sally shouted.
There was a sudden pin-drop silence. All the elves looked at Sally, and could not help but swallow their saliva.
“The Roth Empire cavalry has just reached the outer perimeters of the Wind Forest, and all of you are already eager to surrender. Back then, almost the entire forest was occupied, but we didn’t give up until the end. Where did all your courage go after just a short century? Where is the fighting spirit to protect this forest till the end that you once had?” Sally looked at the elves with disappointment in her eyes. “All of you have shed your blood of passion for this forest. Now that the forest needs you once again, are you going to give up?”
The elves lowered their heads in shame, afraid of meeting Sally’s eyes.
This princess who seemed rather amiable and kind currently exuded an aura similar to Irina’s.
“The Roth Empire used to be our ally, but from the moment they launched an attack on the Wind Forest, retreating was not an option.” Sally’s tone turned colder. “If you don’t want to become a slave to the Roth Empire, take out that passion that you had in your younger days when you drove the orcs and demons out of the forest, and drive these invaders out of the Wind Forest!”
Elliot wanted to continue. “But—”
“Those who dampen the military’s morale shall be put to death immediately,” Sally told Elliot coldly.
Elliot swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue. Although Sally was his daughter, he could tell that she was not kidding judging from her expression.
“Chase the humans out!”
“Chase the Roth Empire out!”
The elves shouted loudly as the atmosphere in the tent grew passionate. Everyone seemed to have found themselves back when they were embroiled in the racial war.
“I’ve just received news that the high priestess is on her way back. I will go to the queen to see if she can come out of seclusion.” Following that, Sally said, “I will hand everything in the military to Master Denton. He was part of the planning team back then. I don’t care what any of you think. Master Denton has the last say in any planning. Those who go against his orders will be executed!”
“I will do my best,” an elderly elf told Sally sincerely as he slowly stood up.
“Thank you.” Sally nodded before leaving the tent.
“Whew…” After walking out of the tent, Sally took a long breath out. She turned back to check that no one followed. After that, she fanned her burning cheeks with her hands, and looked at her sweaty palms. She smiled bitterly, and realized that she was really far from catching up with Irina. If the latter had been here now, she would probably have done better, right?
“This time, will she stand with the forest?” Sally looked towards the south before rushing off in the direction of the Tree of Life.
***
“Chaos. This is complete chaos. This might be a good time for us to stage a revolt.”
“Yes. We’ll start a revolt amidst the chaos. Maybe we can get more people on board with us.”
“The chance to overthrow the tyrannical rule is here.”
The few leaders of the Night Elves had met up once again.
“No. This is about the survival of the entire race. The Roth Empire is very strong, much stronger than the orcs and demons back then. We cannot bring even bigger chaos to the forest,” Snarr said solemnly.
“Right now, the Wind Forest is a cage. None of the elves have freedom. In that case, why don’t we let it be destroyed and rebuild it? Wasn’t this our original plan?” One of the elves looked at Snarr with bewilderment.
“Princess Irina once said that no matter how terrible the elves are, it is our internal matter. It’s not for others to interfere.” Snarr shook his head. He looked at the elves, and said, “I called all of you over urgently once again to remind all of us not to have any such thoughts during this time. Our first goal is to fight the Roth Empire’s invasion, and to chase the invaders out of the forest before we solve our internal issues.”
The elves all fell in deep thought before finally agreeing.
“Will Princess Irina come back this time?” another elf asked.
“I think so.” Snarr nodded with conviction.
***
The Uto Tribe had successfully defeated the Roth Empire flying troops’ attack. The orcs were elated at the achievement of almost annihilating their enemies.
However, Haga did not seem very happy. Instead, he was looking out at the endless stream of the Roth Empire cavalry rolling in from the valleys afar. The line of troops stretched on, and he roughly estimated the numbers to be above 30,000.
30,000 fully armored elite cavalrymen with numerous magic casters with them.
It was the Roth Empire military’s unique point to have a certain ratio of magic casters with cavalry. This would allow for more possibilities for the cavalry, which only had one way of attacking.
An army of such scale would have more than one magic caster of the 8th-tier and higher. This was a huge threat to the Uto Tribe.
“Get ready for battle, the enemy is coming again!” Haga turned to the orcs on the wall and at the bottom of the wall as he said, “This time, the battle will be very tough. The tribes that were defeated have been reduced to ashes. We have to fight to protect our tribe and our tribesmen!”
“Fight!”
“Fight!!”
The orcs’ howls and shouts echoed around the tribe.
***
“The position of this tribe is very important. We have to go through the valley in front, and if we don’t take this tribe down, they could cut out our chain of supply any time.” Charlie, who was on horseback, looked out at the tribe halfway up the mountain.
The orcs were rough and egoistic. They would usually be very casual about choosing a location for their tribes’ settlements, and would rarely consider practical reasons like defensiveness. It was rare for an orc settlement to be in such a strategic position.
However, the tribe in front of them had to be taken down, whether it was to take revenge for their flying troops or for that critical location.
“It’s just a small tribe. General, allow me to take 2000 men with me to finish it off,” a captain said confidently.
However, Charlie shook his head, and looked at the tribe with a solemn expression as he said, “This tribe could defeat our steel eagles without their powerhouses. This means that this tribe is good with its defense. We can’t spend too much time here. Summon all the magic casters to the front line.. I will personally lead this attack!”