Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1336 - 1329: Enterprising Ziye Ning

Chapter 1336: Chapter 1329: Enterprising Ziye Ning

Wufeng City’s victory allowed Abisien to gain a vast land as a base for a counter-offensive, and soon, a large number of the Demon Clan people began departing from Lingyuan City, returning to their once homeland to start production and construction.

War and construction proceeded in tandem. As more Demon Clan people continuously migrated to take over and assimilate Wufeng City’s land, the Demon Clan armies did not plan to stop there but instead prepared to launch another counter-offensive.

As mentioned before, as the Northern advance base of the Dongsheng Empire, Wufeng City had stockpiled a large amount of supplies, enough to sustain the Demon Clan’s fifty thousand troops through long periods of intensive combat. This even led Luo’er to start doubting whether this was also part of that commander’s intention.

However, when it came to the timing of the counter-offensive, another disagreement arose among the leaders of the Demon Clan, which left Luo’er feeling quite helpless.

Some within the Demon Clan believed they should seize the momentum of the great victory in Wufeng City to pursue and capture the southern cities in one fell swoop. Meanwhile, others thought they should rest for a time and replace all the old-fashioned firearms in the hands of the line infantry before striking again.

Those who advocated for an immediate attack were mainly the leaders of the Beast Head Tribe, while those who advocated for a temporary halt to the offensive were the leaders of the Beast-Ear Race.

This time, however, Luo’er did not stand with the Beast-Ear Race. After careful consideration, he steadfastly aligned himself with the stance of the Beast Head Tribe.

Because in his view, the collapse of the Dongsheng Empire had a scent of deliberate weakness and also highlighted the Demon Clan’s superior equipment. Before the Dongsheng Empire found a way to counter the Demon Clan’s line infantry tactics, the Demon Clan armies should continue to launch attacks and catch them off-guard.

So, in fact, whether or not to replace the firearms didn’t have a significant impact on the situation. As things stood, even the flintlock guns, which were merely modified from matchlocks, could cope with the current battle conditions. Thus, there was no need for a complete rearmament before launching an offensive.

Nevertheless, Luo’er did not wholly agree with the opinions of the Beast Head Tribe leaders, because, in his view, this series of battles had been too smooth, easily giving the Demon Clan the false impression that the enemy forces were weak. Should they face a fierce head-on blow from the Dongsheng Empire, the Demon Clan army’s morale would plummet to rock bottom.

Since launching their invasion, the Dongsheng Empire had consistently held the upper hand, and the Demon Clan armies, even with firearms, struggled to confront the Dongsheng forces. How could such an army possibly be routed so soundly by mere tactical adjustments and equipment upgrades of the Demon Clan armies?

Ten days after the fall of Wufeng City, the Demon Clan’s grand army once again assembled and set out, targeting the next city occupied by the Dongsheng Empire, Ziye Ning.

Ziye Ning’s name was translated into Chinese, and the city had a very special name, originating from a canyon outside of it. It was said that whenever lightning flashed and thunder roared, cries and howls like ghosts and wolves would emanate from the canyon, chilling to the bone.

It was precisely because of this that the Demon Clan people named the city Ziye Ning, hoping that the spirits in the canyon could maintain peace at midnight and not disturb the city’s residents.

The city of Ziye Ning was a typical brick-and-stone structured metropolis, whose history could be traced back at least a thousand years.

Baiyue and Taran must have had a profound influence on this city, as it was once the main city of the Laurel Family. Hundreds of years ago, the Human Race empire from Kyushu invaded West Outer Heaven and occupied Ziye Ning.

They took the people from the Laurel Family to the canyon to be slaughtered, and their bodies were thrown into the canyon. Even though these skeletons had long since been eradicated, when walking through the canyon, one could faintly hear their wails at the time of their slaughter.

For the Demon Clan people, they believed the wails were those of the spirits from the Laurel Family. Thus, after driving out the Human Race forces and taking over the city, they renamed it Ziye Ning.

The Demon Clan people hoped that this name would allow the spirits outside the city to remain peaceful at midnight and also hoped to comfort the tragically deceased clan members, making Ziye Ning a place of great significance in the hearts of the Demon Clan people.

As for this phenomenon, the Advance Team from the scientific world found nothing unusual or believed it to be the doing of restless spirits. Because Xia Yue had already made it very clear that there was no concept of souls in Otherworld.

The so-called deities of today are entirely artificial life forms made up of programmed magic, similar to the concept of artificial intelligence.

They prefer to believe that it was due to some coincidental factor during the time of the massacre that the screams and wails of the victims were recorded, and at this specific time point, they would replay over and over again like a loop machine.

Such cases also exist on Earth, but because the physical laws of the Otherworld and Earth are different, the Advance Team couldn’t figure out the principle behind it.

In those days, the Laurel Family was slaughtered, and only a few members managed to escape West Outer Heaven, taking the Kunzhou to the West Continent. After the Demon Clan launched their counterattack, the Qingqiu Clan took over the city, and the fall of the city again had always been a sore point for Linglan.

Now, with the opening stages of the Demon Clan’s counteroffensive, they were about to conquer this ancient city, which held extraordinary significance in the hearts of the Demon Clan. Once Ziye Ning was recaptured, it would mean that the Demon Clan had achieved a complete victory in the first phase of their counteroffensive.

Luo’er had to stay to handle the takeover of Wufeng City and couldn’t follow the army to conquer, while Tangmo also chose to stay with him; the rest marched north with the army, and the two groups parted ways again.

Ten days later, the army arrived at the base of Ziye Ning and began to issue a challenge for the Dongsheng forces to come out of the city for a decisive battle. As expected, the Dongsheng army once again accepted the challenge from the Demon Clan forces, agreeing to arrange their formations for battle the next day.

The following morning, both sides set up their positions outside the city, ready for a fight to the death. The terrain around Ziye Ning was rather unique—although it was primarily hills and plains, the undulating terrain meant that there could be Dongsheng ambush forces hidden on the reverse slopes of some of the hills.

Therefore, before the battle started, the Demon Clan cavalry was sent out as scouts to provide extra vision for the battle and to avoid ambushes from the Dongsheng army.

Before the formal fight, the two sides, as per tradition, engaged in single combat between military generals, a practice nearly as certain as thunder, regardless of how sour the relationship was; there was sure to be a duel before the fight.

However, this time the Demon Clan obviously didn’t have the upper hand. Although the number of Dongsheng generals decreased, those that remained were elite, and after a series of duels, the Demon Clan lost more than a dozen leaders, while the Dongsheng side had only a few casualties.

Even when Bai Po personally entered the fray, he gained no advantage. The Dongsheng army sent a General who had practiced both Banshan and Zhongyan techniques, and he fought fiercely with Bai Po. After exchanging blows, the invincible Bai Po was at a disadvantage.

By noon, the Demon Clan, having lost the single duels, proactively ended the dueling phase and started the decisive battle.

As the sound of drums and bugles rose, the Demon Clan army finally began to assert itself. Taking advantage of the terrain, the infantry guns and mortars positioned on the slopes started firing non-stop at the Dongsheng forces.

This time, the Dongsheng army was clearly prepared; the front ranks were the shield and flintlock gun soldiers, equipped with solid metal shields, aligned together like a steel wall, thoroughly shielding the soldiers behind them.

The Demon Clan forces first fired Fragmentation Grenades, but due to distance and other factors, they were not very effective. They immediately switched to solid shot, which could easily break the shield wall, but Dongsheng soldiers quickly filled the gaps. After a round of cannonade, the Dongsheng army had just over a hundred casualties.

What really made an impact were the Fragmentation Grenades launched by mortars; these high-angle fired projectiles could easily sail over the shield wall and explode among the soldiers in the rear. After more than ten rounds of mortar fire, the Dongsheng forces had suffered over three hundred casualties.

The Dongsheng forces beneath the city still adopted a defensive strategy, setting up a shield wall and quietly waiting for the approach of the Demon Clan army. However, their rear archers and crossbowmen, being continuously attacked by artillery, were significantly weakened in offensive firepower. The Demon Clan’s infantry lines didn’t even need to activate their shields before they reached firing range.

"Prepare!!" As they reached the predetermined distance, the Demon Clan commander stood firm and raised his command sword.

At his command, the sound of drums and bugles instantly changed tune, and the Demon Clan soldiers all brought their rifles, which had been resting on their shoulders, to bear, aiming squarely at the opposing shield formation. A great battle was about to begin.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.