Chapter 461 - The Tactic's Flaw
Sometime later, the three new vine walls were erected: two sidewalls and one back wall.
Simultaneously, a group of elven warriors remained behind the front vine wall, killing Wingrats ceaselessly.
A single long strip of vine could be seen wrapped around each other waist. The other end of the vines was held by another group of elven warriors, stationed on top of the vine walls.
Once the preparation was completed, Princess Thessalia ordered, "Pull them out now!"
The group of defending warriors was immediately dragged out by the vines yanking them.
Their body quickly flew outside the walled-off cage as Wingrats began pouring in after the front vine wall was dispelled.
Princess Thessalia stood atop the trees and solemnly gazed down at the Wingrats quickly poured into the walled-off cage for a moment before she barked, "Kill them all!"
The rows of elven warriors lined up atop the walls immediately manipulated their vines to lacerate everything with the walled-off cage.
Some distance away from the frontlines, Leon arrived with Aria, Princess Faelyn and witnessed the sight before them.
"Oh? This is a pretty interesting tactic." Leon shortly praised Princess Thessalia's strategy while they approached the area.
As they drew closer, Princess Faelyn shortly discovered the commander of the elven warriors and pleasantly exclaimed, "It's my third eldest sister!"
Although Leon's praise had been directed at Princess Thessalia, Princess Faelyn still felt pride welling up inside her.
She was proud of her sister.
At the same time, Aria quietly studied the battle formation.
"To funnel the Wingrats into an enclosed area and slaughter the rats from three different sides… This is a good strategy for killing the rats and reducing their numbers quickly. However, I don't think this is a good method…" Aria commented softly.
Leon nodded.
"There's a fatal flaw to this strategy." He said.
High up in the trees, a person overheard Leon's comment and immediately snorted. The person leaped down with a heavy thud before gazing into Leon's eyes sternly.
"And what kind of fatal flaw is that, human? Who are you to judge my tactics?" Princess Thessalia said, glaring at Leon.
"Third Eldest Sister."
Princess Faelyn greeted from the side, causing Princess Thessalia to turn over in surprise, temporarily ignoring Leon.
They quickly held hands before Princess Thessalia asked excitedly, "Baby sister! Why didn't you tell me when you got back?"
"Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that? You're embarrassing me." Princess Faelyn complained softly with a pout while sneaking a peek at Leon's expression.
"I just returned to the tribe earlier. How could I have informed you?"
"Hahaha, I see, I see. Well, no matter what, you are still the baby girl in the family." Princess Thessalia chuckled lightly, noticing Faelyn's subtle eye movement.
She shortly returned her attention to Leon and Aria at his side before she asked, "And who are these two people?"
After Princess Faelyn did a short introduction of both sides, Princess Thessalia nodded at them in acknowledgment. Leon offered a handshake in greeting but was coldly rejected with a ridiculing look.
Leon retracted his hand awkwardly, starting to wonder if the entire elven royal family despised the idea of shaking his hand—the hand of a human.
However, Princess Faelyn quickly pulled him to the side apologetically.
"My third elder sister is not targeting you intentionally… she has a superiority complex and looks down on all men, and not just humans." She quietly whispered in Leon's ears.
Her gently cool breath caused his heart to itch.
Nevertheless, Leon quietly nodded, expressing his understanding. He did not take Princess Thessalia's rejection to heart.
Princess Thessalia frowned and pull Princess Faelyn away before glaring at Leon fiercely.
"You said my strategy is flawed. Explain." She demanded.
Even after learning Leon's identity as the crown prince of the Crawford Empire from her baby sister's introduction, Princess Thessalia's attitude did not change much.
"Take a look yourself. Can you not see the problem? It should be quite evident if you observe carefully." Leon urged Princess Thessalia to look.
After Princess Thessalia turned around, but her expression remained calm.
The space within the walled-off cage was quickly being filled up with mountains of rat carcasses that steadily rose and reduced the distance to the top of the surrounding vine walls.
"It's a good strategy for killing. However, killing is useless if you cannot wipe out the rat tide. Initially, there was one side to defend. Now, you have three sides to worry about." Leon said.
The walled-off cage did not even need to be fully filled up.
Once the mountain of rat carcasses reached a certain threshold, the Wingrats would be able to lunge over the walls and directly attack the elven warriors.
At that point, the pressure on the elven warriors will increase tremendously, with the risk of being overwhelmed and cause the defensive line to collapse.
Princess Thessalia had understood all this.
After a moment, she snorted, "I just need to have the elven warriors retreat after more cages are erected to contain these rats!"
"True. However, you will need to construct a more giant cage to contain all three sides. Once that is filled up, you would need to erect an even bigger cage to contain the previous cage's openings. You can continue to repeat this method, but do you have enough warriors to cover such a large area?"
As Leon asked this, he glanced at the few warriors in the area.
Elvengarde was a Mid-rank Tribe with a population of 500-thousand elves.
Even if half of this population were warriors, the numbers would have already been stretched thin to form the defensive line covering the entire Great Forest Outskirts.
"Of course, there is enough—" Princess Thessalia shortly paused after realizing the shortage of warriors in the area.
Unwilling to admit defeat, she snorted, "I just need to summon the warriors stationed in the other areas! With the ring of fire warding off the rats, they do not need to defend their locations."
Princess Faelyn felt awkward for her sister.
She initially thought her third elder sister's strategy was good and felt proud about it. But now, she felt slightly embarrassed after hearing her third elder sister's point.
Once the elven warriors guarding the other areas are moved away, the fire would quickly spread through the Great Forest without restraint.
"What do you think we should do, Leon?" Princess Faelyn asked, seeking his advice.
Leon pondered for a moment before he said, "I believe we should—"
He suddenly paused with a frown.
"Shhh."
Leon shortly shooshed with his index finger on his lips, demanding silence before spreading his divine sense to the limit of his range.
"Ha, and here I thought you would have a better strategy than mine, considering how much you criticized mine." Princess Thessalia immediately sneered after Leon went quiet.
Aria disliked Princess Thessalia's attitude and immediately said displeasedly, "Can you shut up?"
"What did you just say? You want to fight?!"
"Sister!"
Princess Thessalia was riled, but Princess Faelyn quickly cried with a begging expression. Seeing her baby sister like this, she could only soften her stance.
"Hmph!"
Nevertheless, Princess Thessalia still snorted to express her displeasure before becoming completely silent.
"What's the problem?" Aria softly asked.
Shortly after recalling his divine sense, Leon said, "There are large movements of rats passing through in the underground passageways beneath us."