Chapter 111
Liam and Victor stood on high ground, overlooking the battlefield, not participating in the fighting. The city was littered with corpses; fallen soldiers lay everywhere, the blood staining the city a deep red. Most of the dead were Westhaven and Sandoria soldiers. In this trapped city, the battle was a test of courage; tactics were no longer applicable.
Victor knew it was only a matter of time before they would have to abandon the Southern Frontier. After entering Simonton City, he realized the Westhaven forces were there only to vent their frustration on Starhaven soldiers and kill General Aurora. They lacked the resolve to defeat Starhaven and had no intention of dividing the Southern Frontier with Sandoria. Their motives were driven more by anger than by strategic goals.
Victor was furious. He believed that if not for the Westhaven forces, the Sandoria forces might have been defeated long ago, resulting in fewer battles and fewer casualties.
“If you seek only to vent your rage,” he asked Liam coldly, “why not destroy the entire city?”
Victor knew Liam intensely hated the Starhaven people, having heard about the civilian massacre in Fawnrun City during the Victory Pass battle.
Liam’s eyes burned with fury. “War has already brought devastation and ruin upon the common people. If I continued slaughtering them, even if they are from an enemy nation, what difference would there be between me and a beast?”
Victor watched soldiers fall into pools of blood, his own heart trembling. He realized adjusting their tactics was no longer an option.
“Never would I have expected you to speak such words,” he said, his face reddened by the cold wind, his words slightly slurred. “You spare the lives of the enemy’s civilians while yours are being slaughtered. Pathetic.”
“A true warrior despises war,” Liam said, watching snowflakes drift through the air. “It’s snowing. This battle’s outcome is already decided. If you don’t want to lose more men, you should withdraw.”
“Have you killed the ones you wanted to kill?” Victor asked.
Liam’s lips twisted into a cold smile as he glanced towards the hastily advancing vanguard. “Kill? No.” Death was too lenient a fate for Aurora.
One of the Westhaven army’s vanguards advanced swiftly. Covered in dark red blood, the man wore a look of smug satisfaction as he reported, “Marshal, we have captured eighteen people, and the rest were annihilated.”
Liam slowly extended his hand to catch a pure white snowflake. It quickly melted in the warmth of his palm, as though he were performing a ritual. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them sharply, his gaze intense. “Send the order. All Westhaven soldiers are to withdraw from Simonton.”
He patted Victor on the shoulder. “Withdraw, General Crow. You’ve already lost too much on the Southern Frontier. You won’t be able to defeat the Hell Monarch.”
Victor’s lips twisted into a grimace. He said coldly, “You shouldn’t have come.” He drew his sword, pointing it at Liam and gritting his teeth. “You shouldn’t have come! You gave us hope, but you didn’t fight alongside us!”
Liam sneered, deflecting the sword with a casual gesture. “You’ve fought for the Southern Frontier for so many years, but your kingdom is already empty. Your king took three million silver coins and twelve million kilograms of grain from us, just because we only wanted to use the Southern Frontier battlefield for a while. Besides, we supplied all the military expenses and supplies ourselves. You haven’t been shortchanged.”
Victor kept his sword pointed at Liam. “How many civilians did they actually massacre? Is this your way of seeking revenge? According to our statistics, the Westhaven forces have only killed a few thousand enemy soldiers in battles at Illyrian. Adding today’s fight, it’s at most ten thousand. You’ve paid such a heavy price for the sake of ten thousand and eighteen prisoners you’ve taken. I really don’t understand.”
Even though the Westhaven forces killed ten thousand enemies, they lost several tens of thousands of men and paid so much silver and grain. With such a huge grudge and high cost, why not attack Victory Pass directly? A tactic that harmed so few enemies but cost a huge number of their own was unprecedented! Victor couldn’t make sense of it.
Liam didn’t answer. Instead, he stepped back and nodded politely. “Farewell.”
The Westhaven army sounded the retreat, and their soldiers on the battlefield began to withdraw gradually. Seeing the situation was hopeless, Victor slowly lowered his sword. Looking up, he saw Sandoria soldiers falling one by one to the Hell Monarch Army. Even the bravest among them seemed tireless, striking continuously with lethal intent.
Finally, he said, “Order the entire army to retreat from Simonton.”
(The "+15 BONUS" and "COIN BUNDLE" lines have been removed as they appear to be extraneous marketing material.)