Chapter 121: Bloodless Victory
"Why?"
Under Crampus’s doubting gaze, Wisdom casually shrugged.
"We can’t make this the ‘last battlefield.’”
"...Hm."
The ‘last battlefield’ was a recurring pattern that tended to appear in The Lost World. If one side used faith resources to deploy creations or apostles, the opposing side would invest enough faith resources to defeat those creations and apostles. And the smaller the difference in investment was, the better.
Even if victory was achieved, it would be a waste to win after investing a significant amount of faith resources. Therefore, usually in battles involving a player’s faith resources like this one, there wouldn’t be a significant difference no matter the outcome.
The losing side wouldn’t fall that far behind the winning side, and they would be able to make a comeback in the next battlefield; therefore, there would be no reason to use up the remaining resources on a losing battle.
However, if both sides had sufficient amounts of faith resources but were limited by the number of entities they could control, then it would be a time to pour all the remaining faith resources into the battle. That would be the ‘last battlefield.’
Crampus didn’t use Divine Control on Yubaim Dolan to take charge of the battle because he wasn’t confident that he would win if Sung-Woon retaliated in kind. Crampus was also more inclined to accept minor defeats over the possibility of a major fiasco.
Unless he was fighting alone, It didn't seem like a good idea to take the risk; he had the other members of the alliance to think about.
As if noticing Crampus’s resignation, Wisdom said, "Crampus, you still have the capital city, Deimerit, and we still need to prepare."
"But..."
"Nebula has only used Lakrak so far. There’s no reason for us to use all our available power when we haven’t even seen his other creations, especially Sratis.”
In particular, Wisdom’s apostle, Redin BR Oser, wasn't ready yet. Redin was currently preparing for the final battle of his rebellion. He would easily achieve victory with Wisdom’s power, but he needed more time to gain prestige.
After thinking the matter over, Crampus said, "We’ll retreat."
"Let's go with buying some more time in the capital city, Deimerit. After all, Black Scale won’t be able to conquer all of Danyum with only ten thousand soldiers.”
“Alright."
Crampus gave a revelation to his priests. They needed to retreat while the creations were still alive.
***
"The enemies are running away!”
"Danyum’s army is retreating!”
As the reports came in one by one, Vasen Lak Orazen raised his sword high in the air and shouted, "Slash and kill those who run away with their backs to you! That way, the next battle will go smoothly!"
While Danyum’s army was escaping the gorge, Black Scale’s cavalry tenaciously chased after them. And one by one, Danyum’s soldiers dropped inside and on top of the gorge. Bodies piled up across the terrain, and blood flowed into the water.
Screams continued to echo in the Dilpa Gorge until Danyum’s army escaped beyond the cavalry’s reach, after the sunset.
Danyum had suffered a casualties of around one thousand—an overwhelming number in comparison to Black Scale’s losses. Still, it wasn't something Black Scale should celebrate yet considering the battles to come.
Vasen had Su-Heon bring him the map of Danyum’s capital.
"This is the Dilpa Gorge where we are at…and this is Danyum’s capital, Deimerit."
At Vasen’s slight nod, Su-Heon continued to explain, "It’ll take about five days to reach Deimerit with our current marching speed. And there are a few villages where the enemy could be hiding, so we need to check them as we go, which will add a few more days to our marching."
"You said there were no fortresses to be mindful of on our way there?”
"Yes. There were none when we last checked, and the merchants said that no fortresses had been built suddenly."
"Why do you think that is?"
"You mean why there are no fortresses?"
"Yes."
Su-Heon contemplated the question. He had answered Vasen’s questions in the previous battle based on the information he had known, and he hadn’t been able to provide proper answers. But after some reconsideration, he came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be bad to give the wrong answer if Vasen was going to reveal the right one anyway. Thus, Su-Heon answered to the best of his abilities based on what he already knew.
"It’s because they relied on the Dilpa Gorge too much. Through the years, in fact, Danyum had achieved good results against small tribes by utilizing the gorge. So their defeat to Black Scale will likely become a shameful stain in their history."
"Hm.”
"Did I make a slip of the tongue again?"
"I won’t call it a slip of the tongue."
"Then what is it?"
"It seems that you assumed Danyum would still remain in the future."
Su-Heon looked at Vasen with a puzzled expression.
Currently, one of Black Scale’s justification for the war was to get their ally to retract their demand for apology and compensation. And in addition to that, Black Scale had discovered Danyum’s recruitment of more soldiers and requested them to stop preparing for war, but Danyum didn’t comply.
If Red Fruit and Danyum both invaded, it would be difficult for Black Scale to defend themselves, so they carried out a preemptive attack. Of course, there were also rumors circulating among the citizens that the fight of the gods had already begun. This third reason was one that everyone was convinced about.
‘But still, could Black Scale possibly conquer Danyum...?’
Vasen calmly said, "Aren’t we going to attack the enemy's capital?"
"However...Danyum is a large country."
"I know that. Just because we attack the capital doesn't mean the country will disappear."
"Then where does your conclusion come from?"
Vasen replied, "They don’t have a king at the moment, do they? By the time we reach Deimerit, they would have made someone qualified enough take the throne, but that’s it. Let's assume we conquer the capital. What do you think will happen then?"
"Well..."
Su-Heon shared his initial thoughts.
"Even if we conquer the capital, there will still be many Satyr nobles in the provinces. And the royal family will probably run away before we arrive. They will plan for the future, gather strength in influential regions, and wait for an opportunity. We currently only have ten thousand...no, 9,000 soldiers, so it would be difficult to face all of them head-on. Therefore, they would focus on defending Deimerit while Black Scale send more reinforcements.”
Vasen scolded Su-Heon.
"Su-Heon, you think of Danyum like Black Scale.”
"...Pardon?"
"Well, I used to think not much different from you due to tunnel vision,” said Vasen. “Su-Heon, don’t you think the army of 30,000 soldiers from Danyum is quite large?"
"I heard they have a slightly bigger population than Black Scale. If they had been preparing for war for a long time, I think the number is within the realm of possibility."
"But it's also true that it’s excessive. The defeat of Danyum's army was partly due to the commander's wrong judgment, but there was also an issue with their training."
"Oh, that seems true."
Black Scale’s soldiers had mastered various weapon skills, but in Danyum’s case, both their spearmen and archers failed to utilize their swords in the right times. Although they carried them, it was clear that they had never properly used them before.
After all, soldiers only had to follow the commander’s orders from their designated position to be considered decent; spearmen only needed to maintain formation, and archers only had to avoid shooting the comrades in front of them, and they would be doing their part. However, more competent soldiers would be able to respond better to any given situation.
"When the cavalry were charging at them, there were many who still held onto their spears even when the weapons were getting tangled. They held onto their spears rather than drawing their swords since they had barely even used them before.”
"Are you saying that they’re last-minute recruits?"
"That's right. His Majesty told me that Danyum went too far in gathering more soldiers. He said that it would be troublesome for them if they were to experience defeat even once. But Danyum has suffered a defeat now. And they are expected to suffer another one."
Su-Heon was bewildered by the fact that Vasen was acting like they had already conquered Deimerit. However, he wasn’t bewildered because he thought Vasen's confidence was ridiculous, but rather because for some reason, Vasen thought he was persuasive.
"Is the situation between Black Scale and Danyum really that different?"
"Yes."
Vasen relayed what he had heard from Kyle.
"He said that if we conquer Deimerit, an internal problem will arise."
"In what way?"
"Because Danyum isn’t a small country, they were able to arm all their soldiers generously. But there are differences."
"The Satyrs and other races received different armaments."
"It revealed how much the species other than the Satyrs are discriminated against. The exact number is unknown, but it is said that there are many races within Danyum that desire independence."
Su-Heon cleared their throat.
"With all due respect, that's not much different for Black Scale. There are rebels that dream of rebellion everywhere."
"But Black Scale won, and Danyum lost."
Su-Heon brought up the point that they still couldn't understand.
"But the nobles of Danyum are Satyrs. If the Satyrs still hold power and wealth, even if other species take advantage of the chaos of war to seek independence, how much impact would it have on the country of Danyum?"
"The Satyrs have another problem, don’t they?"
"Pardon?"
Vasen smiled dryly.
"Their king died."
"Oh right...that is true."
As everyone expected, the king would be urgently replaced. However, with the sudden death of the king, the chaos of war, and the chaos of rebellion arising in various places, there was no guarantee that the established authority of the royal family would be maintained until the end.
Su-Heon said, "Then we should devote ourselves to conquering Deimerit."
Deimerit was well-known as a citadel. It was a known fact that Black Scale had once reached Deimerit and turned back in the past, and even the evil Vampire queen, Shaiven, did not dare to attack Deimerit’s thick ramparts.
Vasen then said, "We'll have to wait and see about that."
Su-Heon looked at Vasen with a puzzled expression since he’d said something loaded rather than a simple ‘of course we’ll do that’, which Su-Heon had expected.
A week later, when they got to the entrance to Danyum’s capital, Deimerit, Su-Heon came to realize what Vasen meant.
***
Two days after Black Scale won the battle at the Dilpa Gorge, they heard from their spy in Deimerit that the regent of Danyum had put the youngest prince of the royal family on the throne. Although the regent was not of royal blood, he was known to have ambition for power.
On the fourth day, two other pieces of information arrived within half a day. The first was that General Yubaim Dolan and his soldiers had entered Deimerit. If the spy’s words were true, the number of soldiers with Yubaim were 15,000, which was a much larger number than what Black Scale’s generals had expected.
Vasen concluded that although Yubaim was inexperienced with the modern tactic that involved cannons, he was capable of appealing and motivating his soldiers to reduce the number of renegades.
Even though Black Scale’s victory at Dilpa Gorge had been easy, the generals of Black Scale judged that unless Yubaim was an incompetent general, it would be difficult for Black Scale to carry out a successful siege with fewer soldiers.
The second news was that Yubaim Dolan had been executed for treason. Because he had entered Deimerit with 15,000 soldiers, the chance of him committing treason wasn’t zero. Still, both the nobles of Deimerit and Black Scale found the situation a bit suspicious. Yubaim Dolan appeared to be a loyal general, so it was strange that he was accused of the crime of treason rather than punished for the sin of defeat.
On the sixth day, new news arrived. It was said that the inner castle had been closed off, and the soldiers were on the move. There was another spy within the castle, but since Black Scale’s communication with them got cut off, it was impossible to know what was going on.
And on the seventh day, Vasen's Black Scale army of 9,000 arrived before Deimerit.
Looking at Deimerit, Vasen saw the castle gates opening in the distance. From the open gates came what seemed like an envoy. And accompanied by only a minimum number of escorts was a female Satyr noble.
Vasen greeted the envoy inside the camp.
The Satyr said, “I’m Aranju Dolan, the second daughter of Yubaim Dolan.”
"...The Commander-in-Chief’s daughter?"
"...Since yesterday the same time, I have become the ruler of the capital city, Deimerit, as well as the queen of Danyum."
Vasen looked at her with interest.
Aranju then said, “Danyum surrenders to Black Scale.”
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