Chapter 622: No Supplies? Let the Enemy Deliver Them
"They came quickly and struck hard. We weren't prepared at all before they broke through the city gates…"
"Aside from some half-elf slaves, the rest were gray dwarves warriors. They had massive siege engines, and the lord's manor fell soon after…"
"Black Crow Fortress was destroyed, all the supplies were seized, and the defending soldiers were slaughtered."
"They appeared out of nowhere; our scouts didn't notice a thing."
"There were just too many enemies—we were completely unprepared…"
"The lord took all the soldiers with him…"
"What about the lord's situation? Did he catch Sparta? Did he kill those gray dwarves?"
"…"
With a blank face, Hess carefully reviewed the Cole Elf soldiers' crystal recordings, a deep glimmer in his eyes.
A swift figure rushed over, delivering another recording crystal.
The crystal's translucent surface glimmered faintly, displaying a large, clear magical image.
Tens of thousands of Cole Elf troops were besieging a towering city, the ground already littered with countless corpses.
Broken siege engines, flames rising to the sky, dense hail of stones, and breached city walls.
The scene before Hess was a brutal battlefield.
With his extensive combat experience, Hess immediately saw the Cole Elves' disadvantage:
Though they had made it onto the walls, they could never push their advantage and take the fortress in one swoop.
On the ramparts, the half-elf slaves in ragged clothes drew a cold light in his eyes.
Half-elf slaves absolutely didn't have the power to resist tens of thousands of elven troops—someone had to be supporting them.
Given how sudden their assault was, and their willingness to spend huge manpower and resources to build a city in the vast underground, their ambitions must be enormous and long-term.
Hess thought even if the Cole Elf army couldn't quickly take the city, at least they could withdraw and recover Black Crow Fortress with their main strength intact.
Unlike Glory Fortress, the Black Crow area was the Cantrell Mountains' most important production center.
Over 300,000 Cole Elves and a full 800,000 half-elf slaves were gathered there.
Three fortresses and cities stood there—losing just Black Crow Fortress wasn't enough to lose control of the region.
But if these 50,000 Cole Elf troops were lost, it would devastate their remaining forces.
All other troops would have to stay on the defensive.
Just as Hess prepared to order a retreat, the recording crystal suddenly flashed with bright red light.
Fireballs rained down from every direction.
The blasts of burning oil quickly plunged the Cole Elf army into chaos.
A wall of fire washed over the crystal's view, swallowing the entire image.
As the image faded to black, Hess vaguely heard a troubling voice:
"Behind us—the enemy's behind us! They're counterattacking from the tunnels…"
The image went completely dark.
Tess gripped the recording crystal, staring at its scorch marks in horror.
"Could there be enemies attacking from behind?"
Hess knew the predicament of those tens of thousands of Cole Elf warriors. Deep underground, their only escape was to retreat the way they came.
But if that retreat was cut off, their situation would be dire…
Hess subconsciously stood up, about to act.
Then he recalled how the enemy had lured the Cole Elf army away, encircled and slaughtered them, then struck at Black Crow Fortress. He quickly suppressed the impulse to move.
Narrowing his eyes, he told the cloaked Shadow Council member:
"Notify every city in the Cantrell Mountains to activate alert mode at once. Distribute food to the half-elf slaves."
"If anything seems off, eliminate them as soon as possible…"
Hess's logic was blunt: stabilize the mountains at all costs, prevent escalation, and ensure steel production ran smoothly.
He understood the urgency and his top priorities—but he underestimated Matthew's plan.
Once the Cole Elf army at Glory Fortress was cut off, their destruction was inevitable.
Matthew had already dispatched the gray dwarves forces to capture Black Crow Fortress.
This classic diversionary tactic was executed perfectly.
Bay Territory liberated over 600,000 half-elf slaves in one stroke.
However, to haul off Black Crow's stockpiled goods, Bay Territory let a number of Cole Elves escape.
Fortunately, Bay Territory had already dug an underground city beneath the mining area.
Tens of thousands of kobolds and goblins were rapidly digging battle tunnels.
Soon, the latest group of half-elf professionals and Bay Territory adventurers would arrive.
They would use tunnel warfare to defend against any Cole Elf counterattack.
The widespread unrest Hess feared did not occur.
Bay Territory was educating and reforming the million half-elf slaves it had saved.
Once they were fully "integrated," Bay Territory's plan to excavate and build underground cities in the Cantrell Mountains would make huge progress.
Biting into a hard black loaf, savoring the wheat flavor lingering in his mouth,
Sparta stared in disbelief at the mountain of food and asked curiously:
"This is last month's wages? It's enough to feed everyone for three months!"
Alice, knowing Sparta's background, didn't look down on him—she patiently explained:
"This is just part of your pay."
"The more skills everyone learns, and the more goods we produce, the more you'll all earn."
A little dazed, Sparta looked at the newly built city, at the busy construction golems and half-elf kin, the corners of his mouth curling as he asked expectantly:
"What's the next plan for the territory? Can we save even more half-elves?"
Alice nodded without hesitation, flipping open a new project book, and, seeing Sparta's confusion at the Chinese script, replied:
"Next, we'll test guerrilla warfare in the Cantrell Mountains."
Guerrilla warfare?
Sparta didn't really understand, but still nodded firmly and said resolutely:
"As long as we can save more half-elves and let them eat their fill, no matter what the order or battle mission, we're willing to do it."
Hearing this, Alice finally understood why the lord had entrusted her with the entire Cantrell Mountains.
With Sparta, these obedient half-elves, powerful gray dwarves, and seasoned adventurers,
she could truly accomplish something big here!
Alice kept the engineering teams focused on city building and tunnel excavation.
She also sent advance parties to other mining districts to begin laying groundwork for more underground cities.
The Cantrell Mountains were vast, with millions of half-elf slaves still awaiting liberation.
Freeing them and settling here for good would be a long, arduous process.
"But first, we need to give the Cole Elves something to keep them busy."
"Otherwise, they'll launch massive attacks on us."
"At the same time, we need to weaken their grip on the Cantrell Mountains as much as possible."
Sparta, gazing at the huge suit of armor brought before him, feeling the surge of magic power, asked curiously:
"So how should we start? Which Cole Elf city will we hit next?"
Alice shook her head, beckoned Chris over, and answered expectantly:
"Chris will explain the specifics."
"Right now, we need to train the chosen half-elf professionals for combat."
"You and Chris can start by running some guerrilla missions together."
Hearing this, Sparta turned to the eager Chris and nodded with anticipation.
The two quickly huddled to discuss excitedly.
Alice watched them, took a long breath, and turned toward the worksite.
The Cantrell guerrillas in their infancy were a spark for the half-elves—a beacon of hope!
Having left the Cantrell Mountains, Matthew had achieved his goal.
He'd planted several big "nails" there and drawn the Cole Elves' attention.
Unless something went wrong, the roving half-elf guerrillas and gray dwarves would seriously undermine Cole Elf production.
The Cole Elves would have to pour even more resources into the Cantrell Mountains.
Matthew actually had two reasons for not stirring up even greater chaos.
First reason:
He had no intention of treating half-elves as disposable pawns.
If things got too wild in the Cantrell Mountains, the ruthless Cole Elf garrison would slaughter the half-elf slaves without hesitation.
This was common—Sparta had seen it many times, and even Matthew had gotten Cole Elf commanders to admit it under interrogation.
To save more half-elf slaves, they'd have to infiltrate and carefully set up inside elven cities.
If they were going to act, they had to seize control of the entire Cantrell Mountains.
Matthew wasn't interested in killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
He genuinely wanted to bring half-elf slaves into Bay Territory.
The half-elves had excellent racial talents, a deep hatred of the Cole Elves, and were natural citizens of Bay Territory.
Matthew was unwilling to use underhanded means to force them to join.
Instead, he focused on strengthening Bay Territory, setting the tone for upright conduct, and creating a healthy, positive culture.
These intangible assets were among Bay Territory's greatest treasures.
Second reason:
More than a million zombie monsters were advancing from the edge of the Death Desert toward Bay Territory's south.
They were ravenous, devouring every living thing they encountered.
Their target was clear: Bay Territory.
More importantly,
their bodies had undergone eerie transformations, mutating into a horrifying, monstrous zombie horde.
Their threat level was at least as high as the mutation tide years ago.
They posed a serious threat to Bay Territory.
Especially at this critical moment,
with all battlefronts still in a defensive stance and not yet ready to counterattack.
Once these zombies and any follow-up threats were dealt with, Bay Territory could launch its own offensives.
Bay Territory.
The Lord's Manor.
On the giant magical projection, a dense horde of zombie monsters surged north toward Bay Territory.
Most were skinless muscle-zombies, roaring and howling madly.
They were not only strong but frighteningly fast.
Twisted bone spikes protruded from their bodies, making their already misshapen forms even more terrifying.
Besides regular-sized zombies, there were also all sorts of monstrous giant creatures.
Some had twisted tentacles, some were covered in eyes, some were stitched together from countless corpses.
Such bizarre, horrifying zombies were unseen anywhere else.
Bay Territory's public warning drew the attention of many groups and factions.
The Netheril Empire sent a special patrol to study and sample the zombie horde.
Their conclusion was terrifying:
Once these zombies gained enough flesh and energy, they would keep mutating and growing stronger.
This caught the eye of Netheril's legendary spellcasters.
But under some mysterious influence, those legendary spellcasters were forced to back off.
"There must be a controller. Should I intervene?"
A few days ago, Arch-Arcanist Cronorman had offered his help, which delighted Matthew.
But remembering the Cole Elves' plots, Matthew declined, convincing the Arch-Arcanist to keep a low profile for now.
"The Cole Elves wouldn't cause such a scene just to deal with Bay Territory…"
"They must have even greater schemes—maybe targeting you…"
The Arch-Arcanist was supremely powerful, but not invincible.
Matthew remembered well that Cronorman fell during the orc-driven 'Green Tide Cataclysm.'
Matthew never believed orc monsters alone could threaten the Arch-Arcanist.
But if the mastermind behind the cataclysm had fully studied and planned for him…"
Looking at those ugly zombies, and the fleeing people they drove before them,
Yaya the dragon, stretching her 25-meter-long body, turned excitedly to Matthew and said:
"Yay! It's our turn to fight!"
Having absorbed divine power and a godshard, Yaya was eager to show her might.
Matthew pondered the Cole Elves' possible trump cards, then nodded with some hesitation:
"We've got a big job ahead of us…"
One man and one dragon, against a million zombies!