Chapter 117: art 12)
Seeing the bzing wall of fire and the enemy fleeing in all dires, Dolo snorted white steam from his nostrils and raised his axe, ready to charge into the enemy lines.
But he was stopped by Langpu.
"It’s time to retreat, ander Dolo."
Dolo turned around in fusion, his red eyes full of rese: "Langpu, with the situation like this, you’re tellio retreat? Did you take bribes from those humans?"
Langpu replied calmly, "This is the master’s order. Do you also io defy it?"
Dolo spat on the ground, growling fiercely, "Langpu, don’t be so smug. I’ll report your ck of a in this war truthfully to the master."
"Hmph, let’s go!"
The hobgoblin ahen gathered his troops, preparing to retreat north of the pass.
Despite his anger, Dolo hadn’t lost all reason; he kneu wouldn’t say this without reason.
Langpu ighe enraged hobgoblin leader, instead pulling a special green-footed drake horn from his dimensional pouch, engraved with magical runes.
He activated it with ease.
Immediately, the majestic voice of the red dragon, recorded through magic, echoed across the battlefield like thunder.
"Followers of Embers —"
"Obey the order, the whole army retreats!"
Langpu followed, shouting loudly:
"This is the master’s and, the will of the great red dragon!"
The ogres crushing soldiers into pulp raised their heads, the chimeras that had been rampaging turheir three heads in fusion, the lizardmen pulling bloodied spears from enemies paused, and the wyverns s with fire-breathing dives spread their wings, beginning to asd.
Although Embers ’s kin didn’t uand why they were retreating, there was clearly no room for defiance against the red dragon’s orders.
So, even in the midst of a brutal sughter, they relutly left the battlefield, following the and to withdraw. The ogres and hobgoblins ran, the ground dragons moved slowly, while the wyverns and chimeras flew in the sky, all heading toward the follower camp north of Terrell’s Maw.
Soon, only blood, the bodies of humans and monsters, and still-burning embers remained on the ground.
"Am I dreaming?"
"They… left?"
"The gods be praised, those monsters have retreated!"
"I… I actually survived…"
"Oh, heavens—"
The allied soldiers, who had just experienced brutal bat, stood iunned. Most were covered in wounds and blood, dazed, mumbling to themselves as if in a dream.
This inexplicable "victory" didn’t inspire the usual cheers; instead, they felt a profound sense of relief from having escaped death.
The aide rode up, panting heavily as he reported, "My lord, my lord! Embers ’s followers have all retreated!"
Robert wiped the sweat from his forehead, finally exhaling in relief. At least he didn’t have to worry about a direct atta their base.
But faced with this situation, he was still puzzled: "They clearly held the absolute advantage. Why did they retreat?"
Lord Shroud, the "Gray Hawk," had already withdrawn from the front lines, standing nearby in thought before he spoke softly, "Red dragons are greedy, stingy creatures that rarely grant blessings. Perhaps the power of these creatures wasn’t given freely. And every power has a price."
"In other words, they might be burning their own life force."
Robert pondered briefly before asking, "So you mean…"
"Embers fears prolonged war?"
Shroud’s voice was raspy: "It’s just a reasonable guess."
"All I say… is that it’s possible."
Robert walked out of the tent, looking at the reg figures of the wyverns in the sky, finally gritting his teeth as he made a decision.
"Then pursue them!"
"This is the allied forces’ st ce."
"We ot let them recain!"
The bring horns of a charge sounded. Under Robert’s orders, the allied soldiers moved forward to recim their former positions, though their pace was slow.
The soldiers trudged forward wearily, even their horses whinnying in exhaustion.
"Soldiers, victory is within reach!"
"These monsters ’t hold out much longer!"
"You will be heroes of the North, preserving order!"
The officers shouted with enthusiasm, but the soldiers merely looked on coldly.
"Victory? What a joke."
"Has this guy ever seen a wyvern’s fangs?"
"Has he ever been struck by an ogre’s club?"
Grumbling voices rose in the ranks.
These soldiers, who had faced brutal bat, now harbored a desire to avoid further battle. They only refrained from deserting for self-preservatioe the officers’ repeated insisten the monsters’ retreat, the soldiers maintained a slow pace, fearing they might catch up too quickly.
Their passive resistao bat could not be punished by the officers through military w.
………
North of Terrell’s Maw.
Langpu stood half the mountain, overlooking the sloroag allied forces below, a hint of an expet smile on his ugly face.
"People of the North."
"You’ve finally e to meet your deaths…"
Surrounding him were the followers of Embers—ogres, hobgoblins, kobolds, lizardmehe captured nobles had been brought here.
They were still noisy, the frenzy from battle not yet fully subsided.
"I killed twelve humans with my hammer."
"Haha, I crushed them alive."
"It’s a pity, I wanted aaste of blood."
"Tsk tsk, isn’t there sht here?"
As they spoke, the monsters’ greedy eyes shifted toward the noble captives.
Vist Luton was terrified of the monsters around him and anxiously asked the tiefling, "My lord, why… why did y us here?"
"Please ensure our safety."
Medrosh smiled without answering.
"I was just getting into the fight, and now we’ve retreated."
"Yeah, I only got six hundred tribution points."
"Is the war over?"
"Is there a final mission or something?"
"Isn’t there supposed to be a cutse?"
The pyers, following the task prompt, also gathered at the camp on the mountainside, watg with i.
Seeing the allied forces drawing near, Langpu merely raised his staff.
【Wall of Stone】
The ground rumbled loudly.
A thick stone wall slowly rose, sealing the only remaini from Terrell’s Maw and trapping the nearly ten thousand allied soldiers in the valley.
"This is what the master called ‘catg a turtle in a jar,’ I suppose."
Langpu looked down at the astonished allied forces below, muttering to himself.
FAL
