Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1305 - 1298: Divide and Conquer

Chapter 1305: Chapter 1298: Divide and Conquer

Regardless of how much they wished things were different, they had to face reality. The truth was that although Abisien now occupied Lingyuan City, they were still on the defensive. To shift to an offensive, they would absolutely need to capture Wufeng City, driving away the Dongsheng Empire’s troops stationed there.

But speaking of driving them away was easier said than done. Wufeng City had amassed the entire northward advancing military force of the Dongsheng Empire. Without one or even several thrilling battles, the Demon Clan would be incapable of taking Wufeng City.

As they held Lingyuan City, the surrounding area was mountainous, with scant arable land. If they were to stay there for long, the land’s output was sure to be insufficient to sustain a force capable of counterattacking.

Thus, both sensibly and logically, they needed to launch a counteroffensive. Only by capturing Wufeng City could they secure their footing and stabilize the confrontation.

During the following month, the Demon Clan’s military didn’t launch a counterattack but was actively preparing for war. They were acutely aware that they didn’t have much time to upgrade their weapons and train in new combat techniques. Capturing Wufeng City was essential for starting anew.

In the meantime, with assistance from various leaders, Luo’er established a Military Propaganda Committee, continuously mobilizing war efforts among the Demon Clan. He emphasized the concept of national identity, aiming to unify the Demon Clan rather than seeing it fragmented into the Beast Head Tribe and the Beast-Ear Race.

Practically speaking, the Beast-Ear Race had mostly achieved national identity recognition internally, no longer distinguishing between groups. The primary issue was the Beast Head Tribe. These tribes, long residing in the deep mountains and lacking communication, still predominantly held traditional tribal views. Once they interacted with the Beast-Ear Race, such ideological conflicts became particularly evident.

There were no obvious hybrid traits between the Demon Clans. If two different types of Demons mated, their offspring would resemble either the mother or the father, without mixed traits like Luo’er, who had black hair as an Elf characteristic.

For instance, if a member of the Qingqiu Clan mated with a member of the Luwu Clan, their offspring would be either Qingqiu or Luwu. A child resembling the Qingqiu wouldn’t display Luwu characteristics, and vice versa.

However, this was a characteristic unique to the Demons of the East Continent. In contrast, the Laurel Family, having lived in the Western Continent for a long time, seemed to exhibit a tendency to compromise on dominant traits with foreign races.

The most typical case was Baiyue, a descendant of the Laurel Family. According to the traits of the East Continent, she should not have had any of her father’s characteristics.

But in reality, it was quite the opposite. Baiyue had both the rabbit teeth and long ears characteristic of the Laurel Family, as well as distinct Slavic traits. It seemed her hair color was due to the fusion of Laurel and Slavic bloodlines.

Thus was the reason the types of Demons in the East Continent did not blur even with integration. They remained clearly defined, not manifesting as hybrids. This too became a significant barrier in the national identity recognition of the Demon Clan.

It is noteworthy that, like the Elf Race, the Demon Clan also possessed a strong assimilation ability. If a Demon mated with a member of the Human Race, their offspring would undoubtedly be a Demon, avoiding any Human traits.

This was precisely why the Human Race harbored such fears toward the Demon Clan. Since Demons could not Cultivate, once their progeny became Demons, the Humans would almost completely lose the potential for Cultivation—a disaster for the East Continent Clan.

Generally speaking, the Demon Clan was a very formidable race; they could absorb members from other races to expand their own.

Unfortunately, they might have been able to do so in the past, but now they were at a disadvantage. The Dongsheng Empire, coming from the distant Kyushu, regarded them as dangerous as floodwaters or ferocious beasts.

A month later, although the army was still in the active planning stage, the Demon leaders, advised by the Advance Team, prepared to initiate a special operation plan before the battle. They planned to surgically eliminate the scattered Generals of the Dongsheng army, thereby weakening the Dongsheng army’s power.

It must be said, it was because of the collaboration of insiders that Luo’er and his group dared to propose such a bold plan.

According to a commander named Xuan, he had already dispersed the generals around Wufeng City, coordinating with the Demon’s surgical elimination work.

These positions were mostly in villages where the villagers were Conquerors drafted by the Dongsheng Empire, laboring in agriculture to supply the military.

These dispersed generals were generally accompanied by squads of around a hundred people. Officially, they were responsible for guarding these strongholds, but Luo’er and his team were well aware that the real purpose was to sacrifice them.

Each stronghold had about ten generals, and counting the soldiers they commanded, there were just over a hundred men. Such a small number of troops could easily be overtaken by deploying elite forces.

As previously mentioned, the generals of Dongsheng were not invincible, and there was a clear disparity in strength among them. They had both victories and defeats against the Beast Head Tribe.

Therefore, according to Luo’er’s plan, the special operations forces were primarily composed of the Beast Head Tribe, supplemented by the fast assaults of the Beast-Ear Race Cavalry. Their objective was to quickly take over the strongholds and then use their high mobility advantage to retreat before the enemy could react.

With just over a hundred troops and about ten generals, an investment of one hundred to two hundred men was generally sufficient to take them down.

The strikes on these strongholds served a dual purpose: they supported the command of Dongsheng by weakening the combat power of the Dongsheng army, and they also aimed to demonstrate to the Demon Clan that the generals were not to be feared and that the Dongsheng Empire was not invincible.

Otherwise, Luo’er’s painstakingly managed military propaganda committee might face a severe crisis of trust, which he was most reluctant to see.

It was for this reason that Luo’er had to deploy his own combat forces, allowing the Advance Team to also join in the raiding battles. The Advance Team was generally equipped with Yuanzi weapons, making it effortless to deal with the generals. With them involved, the raiding squad was expected to have no problem taking down these strongholds.

Just as the Demon Clan were gearing up for a major action, Zisu suddenly found Luo’er and informed him that a group of uninvited guests had arrived outside Lingyuan City. They appeared to be merchants from Kyushu, and their purpose was unclear.

Hearing her description, Luo’er suddenly recalled Cheng Ziang’s report and, if he wasn’t mistaken, these people were probably the Kyushu merchants Cheng Ziang had discussed earlier.

With this in mind, he promptly relayed the situation to the leaders of the Demon Clan, hoping they would not resort to violence but would instead try to make contact to see if any consensus could be reached.

Linglan agreed with Luo’er’s suggestion, as they indeed needed some trade interactions to replenish their depleted resources. The area around Lingyuan City was short of supplies, and relying solely on local resources was insufficient.

Soon, the leaders of the Demon Clan reached a consensus, and Cheng Ziang, accompanied by the leader of the Maoyou Clan, went to meet with the merchants. Luo’er decided not to show himself and stayed behind to manage the operations.

As the people were just outside the city, Cheng Ziang didn’t bring many companions, just Feng, while Zisu brought a guard team with her.

Zisu was chosen because she spoke the Kyushu language. Although Luo’er made it clear that the merchants should understand the language of the Demon Clan, for safety, they decided to send Zisu, who was multilingual, for the interaction.

Arriving outside the city, to prevent any treachery, the entire army of Lingyuan City was mobilized. Baiyue set up a sniper rifle in the tower, ready to provide cover at any time.

As they approached the outskirts, Cheng Ziang immediately spotted Boyan, the leader of the group. He had brought about a dozen people, some of whom seemed to be merchants like him, while the rest were attendants.

Seeing Cheng Ziang’s arrival, Boyan became very excited and went up to greet him, saying excitedly, "Manor Lord, we’ve arrived."

"I thought you weren’t coming. It’s been over a month," Cheng Ziang said with a smile.

"Oh, sorry, we were still organizing the goods, so we got delayed. I hope you don’t mind," Boyan replied with a cautious demeanor.

"Let me introduce you. This is Zisu from the Maoyou Clan. If you have any concerns, speak with her," Cheng Ziang graciously stepped aside after some pleasantries to introduce Zisu.

"Ah, so this is the Zisu Grand Mansion? I am Boyan. I am truly embarrassed to trouble you with our visit," Boyan immediately became apprehensive upon hearing Zisu’s title.