Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1250 - 1243: The War of Civilizations

Chapter 1250: Chapter 1243: The War of Civilizations

In the following three days, there was little activity from the Dongsheng Empire’s army outside the city, whereas reinforcements from Abisien were rushing in from all directions. With these reinforcements joining, leaders like Linglan gained much confidence and planned to launch a counterattack to crush the ten-thousand-strong army outside the city.

Soon, a new battle was about to begin. The Abisien allied forces decided to take the initiative, defeat the ten-thousand-strong army outside the city, and break the siege of Lingyuan City.

To speak frankly, Luo’er really couldn’t make sense of the East Continent’s warfare tactics. A mere ten thousand enemies were blocking the front gate of Lingyuan City while the back gate was almost completely unobstructed, allowing Abisien’s allied forces to continuously enter Lingyuan City and supply goods also being transported into the city via the harbor.

As for this, the Dongsheng Empire’s army appeared completely oblivious. They just stayed put, waiting for further troops to arrive. Luo’er really couldn’t understand such a way to lay siege.

Even sending a team of cavalry or a general to raid the rear would effectively cut off Abisien’s allied forces’ support for Lingyuan City. However, the Dongsheng Empire’s army did nothing, merely watching helplessly as the enemy assembled and prepared to launch a new assault on them.

Luo’er didn’t understand this before, but ever since Cheng Ziang’s group reported to him about Xuan, he seemed to understand some actions of the Dongsheng army.

According to Xuan, this military expedition’s purpose was not to fully conquer West Outer Heaven, but to use the war to deplete their own generals.

However, from the current situation, it’s obvious that Abisien’s strength had been greatly overestimated; the Dongsheng army advanced tightly yet successfully to the north, while the depletion of their generals in the war was minimal. Clearly, this was contrary to their previous plan.

So evidently, they were continuously easing up, bolstering Abisien’s strength, allowing these members of the Demon Clan an opportunity to assemble and confront them head-on, in hopes of depleting more of their generals.

It’s clear that, for these people, internal conflicts are far greater than external ones. They could allow the Demon Clan to assemble right under their eyes but were unwilling to overlook the accomplishments of their acclaimed generals.

After the Abisien allied forces assembled, their strength at one point exceeded fifty thousand, particularly with the addition of the three major clans—Xiaotian, Zilu, and Luwu—which greatly enhanced the allied forces’ combat capability. These clan masters, although they did not practice cultivation, could match the cultivators, equivalent to the generals of the allied forces.

As the army gathered, the Command Department of the allied forces could no longer restrain itself, and sent a letter to the Dongsheng army outside the city, arranging to fight the decisive battle the next day.

To be honest, it was the first time Luo’er had seen such a meticulous war. Both sides appeared very courteous, even giving a heads up before striking, much like the wars in Ancient Times.

Quickly, on the fourth day, the Demon Clan’s army and the Dongsheng army positioned themselves outside the city, ready for the decisive battle. Despite being outnumbered, the Dongsheng army had over a hundred generals, and their overall strength was not to be underestimated.

The main thing was that the battlefield outside the city was near water, so there wasn’t enough width. The fifty thousand-strong army couldn’t fully deploy onto the battlefield to leverage their numerical advantage. Thus, the real gap in the forces of the two sides wasn’t particularly large, with at least half of the Demon Clan’s army still in the city as backup.

As for this battle, if Luo’er were to command, he would have the remaining troops completely surround the enemy’s rear and aim to annihilate them in a pincer move once the battle began.

However, the Command Department of the allied forces didn’t seem to think so, they considered this strategy but opted to keep the remaining forces in the city for stability. This way, if the enemy attacked the city, they would at least have troops to defend it.

It wasn’t that they were overly cautious, because that was all of Abisien’s army. The Demon Clan’s population was already small and had been depleted by years of constant warfare; assembling fifty thousand troops was already stretching their limits.

According to Zhuyan Yu’s estimate, mobilizing to the limit, Abisien could probably gather around one hundred and fifty thousand troops.

Therefore, for the Command Department of the allied forces, they really couldn’t afford to lose, and everything had to be played safe. If the war failed, the Advance Team could still escape back to the West Continent on an airboat, but the Demon Clan had no way out.

Since it was a standard visibility warfare, the battle was spectacular, with Dongsheng’s troops and the Demon Clan’s allied army facing each other in formation, filling the battlefield with their ranks, and tens of thousands of flags fluttering in the wind. Looking around, the area below the city was packed with heads.

As guests, the Advance Team had not explicitly declared to join Abisien in opposing the Dongsheng army, but they were still allowed to climb the city walls to watch the battle.

Before the formal outbreak of the war, there would be a routine duel between military generals, which had almost become a hallmark of wars in the East Continent. Despite being enemies, the duels were quite fair, mostly resembling arena battles.

When generals from both sides engaged in combat, neither side’s soldiers would initiate an attack, even if the enemy’s main general was only a few meters away from their army.

To be honest, although the format of warfare on both sides was full of loopholes, in terms of sheer spectacle, these wars were still quite exciting, especially the military generals’ duels before the two armies clashed, which had almost become the main form of combat.

Because the battlefield was wide enough, the two sides, after negotiation, would each send out three generals to duel the opposing generals. The three arenas did not interfere with each other; even if one arena’s battle ended, they could not interfere with the battles at the other arenas.

Thus, in three arenas, dozens of battles took place. Both sides started arranging their troops in the morning, and the duels of the generals alone lasted until the afternoon.

As for the current situation of the war, both sides had lost dozens of top generals, and, observing closely, Luo’er was surprised to find that the losses of the Dongsheng army were actually higher than those of the Demon Clan’s allies.

It was unexpected that the Beast Head Tribe was so formidable, exchanging blows with Dongsheng Generals, who were cultivators, and even sustaining fewer casualties than their opponents.

The leader of the Luwu Clan, Bai Po, was truly a tiger among generals; as the first to go into battle, he had fought from morning until afternoon without rest, slashing down fifteen Dongsheng generals off their horses, becoming the only champion in the three arenas not to be replaced.

If they were not aware of Dongsheng’s military intent, Luo’er and his group would definitely be puzzled by this battle. But now, they could view this battle from a completely new perspective.

Clearly, this battle had achieved the goal of the Dongsheng army’s commander; the duels between generals resulted in dozens of Dongsheng generals’ deaths, greatly exceeding his expectations.

Moreover, as time went on and night was about to fall, it was certain that both sides would soon sound the retreat. Since it was visibility warfare, night battles were rare; usually, both parties would withdraw once night fell.

"These people are really fierce." Listening to the clang of both sides sounding the retreat, Hu Daoke yawned and couldn’t help but remark.

"That Bai Po is so strong, cutting down more than a dozen people from morning till night, he simply deserves to be called a war god." Even the always proud Cheng Ziang couldn’t help but express his admiration.

"Clearly, given the current situation, that commander named Xuan has already achieved his goal, losing over thirty of the more than a hundred generals in his vanguard," Luo’er said to Zhuyan Yu.

"I guess they’ll fight again tomorrow. I’m really curious when that commander plans to retreat. If all his generals die, won’t he be in jeopardy?" Zhuyan Yu said, stroking his cheek.

"Since it’s just a duel of generals, why still deploy troops in formation? Why not let the generals of both sides come out of the town for a battle?" Hu Daoke asked, puzzled.

"This type of ancient warfare relies on morale and organization. The higher the morale, the stronger the soldiers’ desire to fight; the higher the organization, the more intact the army’s formation," Luo’er explained, "Obviously, this type of duel between generals greatly boosts soldiers’ morale. Once one side shows timidity, their army’s morale will drop, allowing the other side to launch an attack and decisively defeat the enemy."