Cthulhu Gonfalon

Chapter 927: A War of Attrition (Part 1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The weather gradually became warm.

The development of the war situation on Earth was also gradually becoming detrimental to the humans.

The defense line at the Great Wall, having been built over many years and being heavily guarded, was still unbreakable, and the other countries were still continuously providing supplies and manpower. But the continuous harassing attacks by the Kingdom of Light was too much for the humans, who were gradually losing their hold.

The ruling foundation of the Kingdom of Light was based on an Oracle system comprising a large number of temples and churches. This country was practically an utter theocracy, where the regime depended on the existence of divine rights. When its theocratic system had been destroyed and scattered all over the place, their governmental system was also almost on the verge of collapse.

No matter how many people there were and how much resources a country had, once its governmental system collapsed, it would fall into a state of disunity and become nothing more than a heap of loose sand.

Could a heap of loose sand fight a war? A major war at that?

Of course not.

The good news was that the humans had many masters. Though their Oracle system could not hold out any further, they could still rely on these masters, who were free to run around, in order to maintain a basic transport line. This was, after all, something they could always do.

But in doing so, the lives of the refugees from the Kingdom of Light would meet with serious problems.

Their production tools had been destroyed. Their farmlands were burned down. They had even lost their food supply. They could only depend on the country for support. But now, the state system was on the verge of collapse and could no longer provide them with enough support.

Their kind of situation could almost be said to be “left high and dry.”

If this situation was allowed to persist, it would not be long before a massive famine would take place in the Kingdom of Light. Then there would be a serious outburst of refugees emerging—this was exactly what the Orcs wanted.

However, at this point in time, Sui Xiong finally made his move. He sent his Oracle to the refugees and asked them if they were willing to break all ties with this war and convert to a neutral position.

If they still insisted on fighting, then there was nothing Sui Xiong could do. The people that he wanted to help were only the refugees who did not wish to fight. It did not include the potential warriors.

But if the refugees were to give up on the fight, Sui Xiong’s Oracles would send them to the refugee camp that he had prepared for them.

There were houses, water sources and well-prepared food. There were also good fields and proper farming tools for the refugees to pass the time.

Sui Xiong did not need the refugees to do anything for him. His only requirement for these refugees was peace.

“The moment you all decided to go to the refugee camp, this war that was originally yours, has already ended,” the young lady Oracles, in their wonderful bodies of armor, warned. “You all can have peace and tranquility, as well as the insurance for security. In exchange, you all have to abandon all thoughts of fighting in the war.”

Sui Xiong felt that this was a fair deal.

“Your Majesty, you are much too kind!” Sui Xiong’s follower, Wall, could not help but sing his praises as he watched the refugees being sent off in batches. “Few gods would go to great extent to help refugees on such a massive scale.”

“I can do it if the others won’t. Anyway, it’s within my means to do so,” Sui Xiong said indifferently. “Since I can do it, why shouldn’t I?”

Wall smiled and nodded as he watched those refugees who had given up war leave in a continuous stream.

Sui Xiong’s actions won the unanimous praise and support of the good gods. Though there were also some who felt that he had not been thorough enough—for example, some gods felt that he should have stopped those Orc mobility troops from destroying the homelands of the civilians of the Kingdom of Light—but after Sui Xiong emphasized on his “neutral” position, they were all left with nothing to say.

Neutral did not necessarily mean he had to be impartial. But at least, he could not be explicitly biased and show favoritism towards any side. Sui Xiong stopped the Orcs’ mobility troops from carrying out a massacre of civilians, and then he rescued the refugees who had given up the war. He had done more than enough. If he had to go any further, he might really have to deviate from his neutral position.

The Orcs did not have much of an opinion on this. For them, it was a great accomplishment to be able to bring down the Kingdom of Light and oppress the logistics supply line of the humans. As for the matter of depending on a harassing troop to defeat the humans, even the Orc Emperor himself had never dreamed of using a means as such.

In this world, the essence of war still lay in frontal combat on the battlefield. Everything else was just for auxiliary purposes.

If the Orcs could not break through the defense line at the Great Wall, then saying that they wished to defeat the humans was ultimately just the Orcs spouting empty words.

And wanting to break through the defense line at the Great Wall was definitely not something that could be accomplished overnight.

Over the long years, the Orcs had launched many attacks on this defensive line. In the end, other than finding themselves badly battered up over and over again, they had not gained anything at all. They had not even managed to advance half a step into the east. On the contrary, the humans had relied on this defense line to open up another large territory towards the west.

With this war, the Orcs had completely seized back all the lands that the humans had opened up over the years. It was already considered a rare victory.

Most importantly, the humans were gradually falling into a dangerous situation.

“The mobility troop has reported that they had successfully attacked the humans’ supply lines again yesterday. But it was a pity they did not manage to destroy much food,” said a staff officer as he read from the intelligence report at a meeting at the Orc military headquarters.

These days, they frequently heard intelligence like this.

Since the previous few attempts of the Orcs’ mobility troops setting fire to great amounts of their military provisions, the humans had changed their way of thinking. The mages of the Mifata Federation had created a temporary batch of space bags with enormous storage capacity. This space bag had a limited effect in reducing weight, but they were, indeed, extremely helpful in reducing capacity.

In the past, when the Orcs attacked, large quantities of military provisions would be loaded onto the trucks, and there would be nowhere to hide them even if the humans wanted to. But now, so long as they could find an opportunity, and with the slightest bit of time, the convoys could hide these space bags in inconspicuous places. Unless the Orcs’ mobility troops could annihilate all the human convoys, then there was no way they would have time to find the human convoys and annihilate all of them.

As a result, what the Orcs’ mobility troops could gain from the war was significantly reduced. Unless they attacked the fortresses where the rations were stored, they would hardly be able to find the opportunity to destroy large quantities of the humans’ military provisions.

If it had not been for the numerous attacks that killed a large number of human convoys, which in turn, caused the transportation capability of the humans to be greatly reduced, perhaps the mobility troops would long have returned without having accomplished anything.

But no matter what, the mobility troops would always be useful to a certain degree. The collapse of the Kingdom of Light, as well as the increasing distress of the human convoys, was good evidence.

It was just that... the loss of the mobility troops themselves was relatively alarming as well.

“They must be requesting for extra help again, aren’t they?” Emperor Ilo asked.

His advisor nodded and said, “They are saying that this war has caused them substantial loss. They wish to replenish their elite forces as soon as possible.”

Emperor Ilo sighed and said, “Then let them replenish their troops. Give them whatever they want—anyway, the army that is stationed here has nothing much to do. The battle over the other side maybe a little more brutal, but it’s always better than not doing anything.”

He looked indifferent and did not display any emotions.

As a veteran who had fought countless battles, war was simply a battle of attrition between these two parties. So long as the loss of the Orcs was relatively lower, it was acceptable.

It was just that... The delay in seeing the chance of determining the outcome of this war made him somewhat annoyed.

After the military conference ended, Emperor Ilo walked out of the tent and raised his head to look at the sky.

The stars shone brilliantly, just as they would every day.

“Gods in heaven, please let us find the human gods as soon as possible. We need to destroy them completely!”

The white-haired Orc emperor prayed silently.

“This is the only way to end this war as soon as possible!”