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Chapter 106 Guerrilla Warfare

Inside Eagle Fortress, the savages are celebrating their victory.

From far behind, the Wild Elf King Dollik sent a messenger with new instructions, demanding that the front-line troops hold Eagle Fortress and avoid conflict with the Faher forces to the east.

Meanwhile, more food, soldiers, and craftsmen were about to be sent to Eagle Keep. The craftsmen's task was to build simple boats so that the savage army could cross the Raging Tide River and officially set foot on the fertile lands on the north bank.

The vanguard leader who occupied Eagle Fortress was "Tauren" Karmaus Dororech. This wild elf chieftain liked to cut off the heads of his enemies and then pierce their temples with two bull horn cups, making it look as if bull horns had grown on his head. Therefore, he was fearfully called "Tauren Chieftain" by the surrounding tribesmen.

After capturing Eagle's Fortress, all the surrendered militiamen were killed by Carmes. They were then placed on bull's feet and neatly arranged outside the city walls to show off their victory. They did indeed look like bull's heads.

The reason for choosing to kill prisoners was that there wasn't a single grain of food left in Eagle's Keep. Carmes sent some savages to hunt for food near Eagle's Keep, and had several trusted men transport the corpses of the militiamen to the cellar, cut off some of the meat strips, salted and cured them, pretending they were cured and smoked meat stored in Eagle's Keep, to be mixed with the meat obtained from hunting and used as military rations.

Of course, these methods can only buy time. The key is to find a way to reach the Land of Abundance as soon as possible and break into the granaries of those human nobles.

The banquet in the hall lasted until late at night, and the underlings dispersed, all tipsy. Carmes, however, was wide awake and summoned the scout captain who had just returned to the city to inquire about the situation outside.

"Our scouts are being intercepted," the scout captain reported. "All the escaped knights have horses, and once the scouts are discovered, it will be difficult for them to escape alive."

"Has the food from the south arrived?" Karmes wasn't too concerned about the remnants of Eagle Fortress. Once the soldiers ran out of rations, he would have no choice but to order a forced attack on the Faher family in the east, or be murdered by the starving savage warriors, or even both at the same time.

"Not yet." The scout captain knew what his chief was most concerned about. "Every now and then, we send scouts south to check if any grain has been transported out of the mountains."

Carmes was silent for a moment, then asked unwillingly:
"Are there no people among us who know how to use ravens?"

The scout captain lowered his head, thinking to himself: Even if there were humans among the prisoners who knew how to use ravens, you turned them into bulls.

Carmes was greatly disappointed. He waved for the scout captain to leave and told him to "report immediately as soon as news comes from the south."

The next day at noon, news finally came from the south:
Both castles have fallen!

"...I sensed something was wrong from afar because there was no one on the city wall. So I ran closer and sent out the designated sentry signal, but there was still no response from above, and the city gate remained unmoved."

Inside the Eagle's Fortress hall, a scout who had just returned from outside was reporting to Chief Carmes:
"To confirm the situation, I went to another castle and found that there was no response there either. I even found charred marks near the city gate, as if it had been burned by oil."

The scout recounted the events in great detail, and all the suspicious signs pointed to one thing: both routes from Eagle Fortress to the Serpent Mountains behind it had been cut off.

Calmez waved his hand nonchalantly, signaling that the scouts could leave.

What to do now?
He didn't hesitate for long and made a decision quickly.

Gather your troops and march south to recapture the two castles!
If the two supply routes cannot be reopened, the artisans in the rear will not be able to reach Eagle Castle, and the people will not be able to build boats to cross the Raging Tide River. Attacking Fahel's family territory to the east is too risky. If the war goes badly and the food is exhausted, defeat is almost inevitable.

In comparison, turning south is clearly less risky.

Hours later, the southern gate of Eagle Keep slowly rose, and savage warriors carrying various weapons filed out, heading towards Twin Eagle Keep in a grand procession under the leadership of Chief Karmes.

Far away in the woods, watching the savages leave the city in large numbers, Dia couldn't help but ask in surprise:
"Raine! How did you predict they would go south?"

Although Maiser and the Eagle Knights did not speak, their gazes toward Renn were filled with doubt.

“It’s not difficult at all,” Renn said casually. “When the situation suddenly turns unfavorable, most people’s subconscious reaction is to try to play it safe, so they tend to choose the safest answer.”

“Indeed.” Aurora nodded seriously. “This is psychology.”

Fatin calmly took out a roll of parchment and began to pretend to take notes, muttering to himself:

"...suddenly unfavorable...choosing to play it safe..."

"That's enough." Rein, feeling he was about to lose his composure, interrupted their playful banter. "Now, you two, go and retake Eaglehold!"

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Eagle Fortress, as a key stronghold to block the invasion of savages, has excellent defensive design in all aspects.

For example, the double-layered cast iron city gates were embedded in deep grooves in the walls, making them impossible for ordinary siege engines to break open, and even the flames of a dragon would find it difficult to forcefully breach them from the outside.

If the attacking side wants to enter the castle, they can only rely on overwhelming numbers to build ladders while enduring heavy fire. Unless they have a crushing numerical advantage over the defenders, there is no chance of them getting through.

In other words, Dolores bears full responsibility for the unfortunate fall of Eagle Keep to the savages and the resulting rebellion that led to the deaths of many Eagle Knights.

Now that a large number of enemy troops have been lured away, the city's defenses are inevitably weakened. However, Raine is also short-handed, so he still has to resort to individual surprise attacks.

The assassin Fatin reappears. With one scimitar in her mouth and the other slung over her back, she swiftly scales the city wall.

The stones used to build Eagle's Fortress walls were far superior to those of Great Eagle's Fortress and Small Eagle's Fortress, both in size and smoothness. Unable to climb in a straight line, Fatin was seen leaping left and swinging right, searching for footholds to gain leverage.

Fortunately, the savages patrolling the city wall had extremely poor military skills. They just strolled along the route without thinking to glance down from the city wall.

Aurora had already drawn her bow and arrow, her eagle eyes fixed on the top of the city wall. As soon as anyone spotted Fatin, she would need to fire enough arrows to kill the patrol before they could even shout.

Bersalia was a little bored, so she turned to Ellina and said:

“I always felt that our tactical value had been depreciating ever since Ryan resurrected them.”

"You can get jealous over this?" Ellina said irritably. "Everyone has their own strengths, and I don't think it's necessary to compete with them in their areas of expertise."

“Indeed,” Bersalia said seriously. “I’m certain that if the battle were to take place on the bed, the two of them combined wouldn’t be a match for me.”

Ellina silently took a step to the side, pretending not to recognize the dark elf beside her who had been suppressing her emotions for so long.

Fatin finally climbed the city wall, grabbed both swords, and prepared to kill the guards patrolling the wall.

They circled the city wall, but where were the people?

Aurora, watching from afar, could see clearly that after patrolling the city wall, the guards walked down, chatting and laughing. Such behavior was absolutely forbidden in a proper military fortress; a small squad must be maintained on the wall at all times, and the guards on the watchtowers must be on duty day and night.

But a savage... that's normal.

Fatin climbed over the city wall. Before long, the heavy city gate began to rise slowly, even faster than the one at Twin Eagle Fortress.

Mather led his knights in a swift charge, shields raised, to avoid any enemy arrows suddenly appearing on the walls. However, they remained undetected until they reached the base of the walls.

It gives the impression of frantically defending against thin air.

Ellina and Bersalia quietly mingled among the knights, looking towards the open city gate ahead.

With their superior hearing, they could faintly hear shouts of battle and the clash of swords in the castle courtyard.

The two heroes swiftly stormed into the courtyard and soon saw Fatin battling the wildling guards who had rushed to the scene.

Twenty-odd savages surrounded Fatin. The front row brandished swords and knives, reducing her space to hide; the back row fired a hail of arrows at Fatin.

While the savages had their flaws, their archery skills, honed through hunting in the mountains and forests, were undeniably excellent. Fatin was quickly cornered against the city wall, forcefully deflecting the incoming arrows with his twin swords while using the surrounding debris as cover.

Ellina stepped forward, and lightning burst forth from her hands, quickly transforming into chains of electric arcs that leaped through the crowd, instantly turning many people into dust.

Berthalia, wielding a longsword, swiftly charged into the savages, parrying attacks coming from the left and right, and seized the opportunity to slip to Fatin's side.

Considering the sheer number of wooden crates and barrels around her, she dared not use a wide-range fire spell like Burning Cloud, lest she set Eagle Keep ablaze and be held accountable by Raine afterward.

More and more savages poured out of the castle. The knights initially tried to maintain their formation, but as the savages joined the battle one after another, they quickly broke through the knights' lines, and the two sides fell into a chaotic battle of one-on-one combat.

Ellina cast a spell again. The precision and instantaneous, non-trajectory nature of lightning allowed her to thrive in this complex battlefield situation.

A burly barbarian slammed the knight Mather to the ground, then turned his greatsword around, about to stab him in the neck, when suddenly he was struck by lightning.

He struggled against the paralysis, roaring furiously at Ellina, who expressionlessly increased her magical output. Arcs of electricity leaped violently around the barbarian, quickly piercing his flesh and bones, scorching his internal organs and brain. No matter how valiant a warrior, before the ancient heroes, he still felt a sense of powerlessness, as if struck by a weapon from a lower dimension.

Meanwhile, escorted by Dia and Aurora, Renn discreetly bypassed the battlefield in the courtyard and entered the castle through a side corridor.

As one of the three castles of the Fahel family, Eagle Castle is now in a state of utter devastation after being ravaged by savages.

The decorated knight's armor was overturned on the ground, its gold and silver trim and jewels all pried off with sharp blades. The portraits on the wall were also taken down, and the pile of chopped wooden strips in the corner seemed to be intended to be used as firewood.

At the end of the corridor, on the wall, Renn saw a huge knitted tapestry embroidered with the detailed genealogy of the Fahre family—considering the Fahre family’s almost terrifying reproductive capacity, the tapestry was several meters high, and each name on it was only the size of a fly.

The savages didn't destroy the tapestry; they just urinated under it, making the entire tapestry reek of urine.

If the old Marquis Fahre were still alive, seeing his Eagle Castle so ravaged, he would probably be furious again.

Raine didn't have much of a sense of family honor, but after doing a quick calculation of the expenses needed for the subsequent repairs, he immediately felt a headache and a pang of heartache.

Damn savages!
If it weren't for the fear of being discovered as a necromancer, Raine would have loved to resurrect all the savages he killed and have them work for him at Eagle Hold for the rest of their lives to pay off his debts.

The study at the top of the castle was originally the residence of the former lord, Dolorwell. Dolorwell was fond of fine wine, so the walls of the study were lined with rows of luxurious wine cabinets made of solid wood, containing many rare and aged wines from well-known estates in the South.

The cabinet door was sealed with tape, and a few lines of text were written on the tape in messy handwriting:
"These fine wines are dedicated to Dorric, the King of the Wild Elves! Even if you fools are illiterate, you should know what this hand below means!"

At the bottom of the seal was a severed hand, nailed to the cabinet door with a knife. The blood from the wound had completely dried, emitting a faint stench of decay.

Ignoring the seal left by Carmes, Ryan opened the cabinet door, casually picked up a bottle of red wine, opened it, and slowly began to drink.

Wine tasting is also a skill that nobles must master. Otherwise, if everyone is gathered around discussing fine wines and you go over and say, "I've had this wine before, it's strong," you'll most likely not fit in.

Ryan could tell at a glance that Dolores cherished these wines very much, even writing "scheduled opening time" on the label of each bottle, meaning they could only be drunk when they were at their most fragrant and delicious.

Unfortunately, just as Zhang Xiu's sister-in-law, whom he respected greatly, was casually kicked by Cao Cao, these fine wines, which Dolores and Carmes treasured, were, in Ryan's eyes, no different from Coca-Cola.

"Would you like to try some?" He opened another bottle of red wine and poured a glass for the two of them.

"I'd rather not," Dia waved her hand and refused. "I don't know anything about wine tasting."

Aurora, however, didn't stand on ceremony and took a sip of the wine.

"The taste is alright," she commented. "There's nothing to criticize in terms of craftsmanship. If I had to say something, it would be that the raw materials aren't good enough. Naturally grown grapes can't compare to the quality cultivated by the Druid masters. If you have the chance to go to the Jungle Sea again in the future, I can take you to taste a real Wood Elf wine."

“Yes, that’s good,” Ryan said. “In return, you can take any bottle of wine you want from these cabinets.”

“I can’t drink that much,” Aurora quickly shook her head.

"Take your time and drink it slowly. Are you worried the wine will spoil?"

The group chatted idly in the study as they heard the shouts of battle below gradually fade away.

A moment later, Ellina and the others came up to report that the savages had been wiped out.

Eagle's Keep returned to the Fahel family, but the people there were not very happy. The minotaur chieftain Karmais could return at any moment, and Eagle's Keep was not only short of manpower, but also completely out of food.

“My lord, we should seek help from the direction of Searock City,” Maisser advised Renn. “If Lord Dirian knew you were here, he would surely send troops to your aid in time.”

"And then?" Renn asked calmly. "Can the entire Faher family's forces stop the savage army's invasion?"

“If we can’t hold them off, we can retreat to the Land of Fertility,” Mather said in a low voice. “The nobles and grand dukes of the Land of Fertility will not stand idly by and watch the Fahel family perish.”

“That’s the problem,” Raine said. “Without the support of the nobles of the Fertile Lands and Grand Duke Malorne, no matter how much we fight the savage army, we have no chance of winning. So whether we continue to hold Eagle Keep or ask for help from Searock City, it’s all in vain.”

"The really important thing is to delay the savages' invasion as much as possible while waiting for reinforcements from the Land of Abundance, and at the same time minimize our losses." Elrina pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Are you planning to wage guerrilla warfare against the savages?"

“To minimize losses on the main battlefield, we have no choice but to resort to guerrilla warfare,” Raine said. “In the past, it was the savages who harassed us with guerrilla tactics, but now the situation needs to be reversed.”

"Everyone, get ready, we're about to evacuate Eagle Fortress."

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Not only does the Fahr family need the support of the Reach, but the Reach also cannot afford to lose the Fahr family.

Upon receiving Duke Malorne's mobilization order, many nobles from the bountiful lands immediately conscripted knights and militias from their own territories, preparing to march south to fight against the savage army.

Among them were even many nobles who had already packed their bags and were preparing to flee to the Riverlands for refuge.

Earl Tanfell of Deepwood had even boarded his carriage, preparing to head north, when he received a message from the raven of Highrock. He immediately jumped off the carriage and shouted:
"Damn it! Why are you only arriving now? We're not going to the Riverlands! Gavin, summon all the family knights, the Tanfol family is about to go to war!"

"Not going to the Riverlands?" His eldest son, Gavin Tanfield, exclaimed in alarm. "But...didn't you say this morning that we definitely couldn't defeat the savages?"

“Of course we can’t defeat them on our own,” said old Earl Tanfol, looking at his son with an “How could you be so stupid” expression. “Even if all the nobles of the Fertile Lands were to join forces, it would probably be difficult to completely defeat the savage army.”

"Then why did you..."

"Fool! Of course it's because the Malorne family and the Nightshade Legion will be coming!" Old Earl Tanfor shouted. "With them on the list, we'll have a ten or even nine-tenths chance of winning! And in a military operation like this, where all the nobles of this prosperous land will participate, if our family doesn't play a significant role, wouldn't that be tantamount to cutting ourselves off from the noble circle?"

His analysis was spot on, and in fact, the other nobles of the fertile lands thought the same thing: Although I don’t want to fight the savages, if everyone chooses to send troops and I am the only one who chooses to be afraid and avoid war, I will inevitably be criticized and isolated afterwards; but once everyone can think of this point, the result will inevitably be that everyone will send troops.

Soon, the nobles of the entire Fertile Land began to mobilize, conscripting and gathering their armies together, and then marching in a mighty procession to the Angry Tide River in the south.

Meanwhile, the Tauren chieftain Karmaus is leading his army to attack Great Eagle Fortress.

Just as the scout had said, there were no guards on the walls of Great Eagle Keep, and there were signs of scorching heat near the city gate. The wooden city gate had been forcibly broken open by the explosion and could not be repaired, so all that could be done was to fill the gate opening with all sorts of random debris to block the way.

Carmes ordered his men to clear away the debris, and after nearly an hour, they finally cleared a narrow passageway through the doorway.

No enemy came out to stop them throughout the entire process, which made Carmes increasingly suspicious. So he held back until the area around the city gate was completely cleared before ordering his warriors to rush into Eagle Fortress.

Moments later, terrified screams rang out:

"There are enemies!"

Carmes breathed a sigh of relief and gave a contemptuous sneer: I knew there would be an ambush in the castle.

Hmph, under absolute power, any conspiracy or trickery will only be utterly crushed!
However, not long after, many savages escaped from the castle.

Carmes killed four deserters in succession before these panicked men calmed down:
"There are spirits! Spirits!"

Undead? Carmes frowned. Where did these undead come from? Oh…

He finally remembered that after leading his troops into Great Eagle Fortress, he had killed all the surrendered prisoners and left their bodies lying around in the castle's cellar.

In this world, if corpses piled up in a concentrated manner are not purified, there is a high probability that undead creatures will be generated, and there are obviously no death priests among the savages who are skilled in purifying corpses.

"They're just a bunch of zombies!" the chieftain roared, raising his sword. "They were no match for us when they were alive. Now that they're dead, we can just kill them again!"

"Charge in there and chop those skeletons to pieces!"

Due to the formidable reputation of this minotaur chieftain, the savage warriors had no choice but to grit their teeth and cautiously enter the castle to begin their battle against the undead who inhabited the place.

Many savages feared that if they were killed by the undead, they would also become filthy undead creatures. Therefore, they would turn around and run away as soon as they were slightly injured. As a result, although there were not many undead creatures among them, it took an entire afternoon to clear them out.

Finally, after all the undead creatures had been wiped out, the routed soldiers who had arrived from the north brought the wild elf chieftain devastating news:
Eagle Castle has fallen again.

(End of this chapter)