The Survival Rules of NPCs

Chapter 139 Are you here for rescue?

This injury...

Wang Gou Dan carefully examined the other party's injuries, shook his head and said, "Karen, right? Your injuries have been there for over a day. The nerves in the wounds are basically damaged by frostbite, and the infection is severe. Even with a high-ranking priest present, it will be difficult for it to recover."

Karen's face was ashen. He was a seasoned warrior and knew all too well how irreversible his injuries were.

The priests of the Beth Empire, who are the Lord of the Storm, possess divine magic far inferior to that of the Sun Church of the neighboring Rhine Empire. However, even the divine magic priests of the Sun Church would likely find it difficult to recover from their current injuries.

"You'd need to find a highly skilled, exceptional doctor, and even then, there's no guarantee they'll be able to help..."

"..." After finishing the inspection, Wang Gou Dan shook his head and said, "You were pretty ruthless. Is this how unpopular you are, deputy regimental commander?"

Karen's lips twitched, and she remained silent.

Tangyuan, prompted by the remote rain maiden, whispered, "No one would be happy about this. The border of Daos has fallen, and the families of those warriors are seriously threatened. The Duke is still concerned about his forest. Under these circumstances, to ask his men to abandon their rescue of their families and go back to report to the Duke would drive anyone crazy."

"If I'm not mistaken, the centurions of the Silver Fox Knights should all want to rescue their families as soon as possible. After all, the grasslands are open, and even if the Southern Witch Alliance invades, they can't concentrate their forces to threaten their family castles immediately. If the support is timely, there is still a good chance to rescue their families, or at least to rescue and evacuate their core members."

"Ultimately, the fall of Daus Pass was the result of the Duke's unauthorized actions, which led to the evacuation of most of his elite troops..."

Ignoring so many pleas for help, and even executing the general who requested reinforcements, has already fueled discontent among the troops. Now, with the soldiers' families under threat, forcing them to abandon their loved ones and return immediately to report is futile. With just a little provocation from the centurions, a mutiny would be inevitable.

Tangyuan approached, looking at Karen's terrible injuries, and sighed, "Not killing you, just keeping you here, is already showing mercy... If I remember correctly, Vice Commander Karen, your family is in the capital, right?"

Karen's face was grim. When Wang Gou Dan and the others heard this, they immediately understood why this guy had been betrayed so readily by his subordinates.

You told us to abandon our families and retreat to inform the Duke, while you and your family are enjoying a safe and comfortable life in the capital?

Isn't this utter nonsense?

You mean if your own family was also on the border, you would set an example by not rescuing your own family, but instead go back to relay intelligence, and that would be fine. But your own family is doing well in the capital, and you expect others to abandon their families?

If it were me, I'd do it too... This is utterly inhuman.

"Well... esteemed lords from the capital..." Karen's face darkened, and she said resentfully, "You all speak so casually without understanding the situation. The commander is in trouble, and I am the primary commander. If I were to order everyone to rescue their own families, thus delaying intelligence gathering on the battle, what would my fate be?"

Wang Gou Dan and his group immediately realized that this guy must have been deliberately tied up by his men.

If he leads the troops to rescue the soldiers' families, then as the legion commander, he will be delaying the battle. If the empire loses the opportunity as a result and it cannot be recovered, neither he nor his family can bear the responsibility.

While he was guilty of failing to manage his subordinates properly, he had no choice in the matter and at most lost his own life; at least it wouldn't implicate his family too much.

It can only be said that anyone who manages to attain this kind of title must have had an easy time.

Tangyuan nodded: "You've seen the situation now. If we don't take measures, the empire will suffer losses that are unbearable for a century. Duke Jackdaw has lost his mind and is obsessed with things in the forest. We must do something to stop the situation from spreading."

"Hmm?" The other party looked up in surprise. He thought the other party would force him to identify Duke Raven immediately and take this opportunity to bring down the duke. Unexpectedly, the other party said something so righteous about making up for the losses. For a moment, he felt a little embarrassed as a general who allowed his subordinates to rebel for the sake of his family's survival.

"You...aren't you here to gather evidence of the Duke's crimes?"

"They've come to our doorstep, and this is all you can think about?" Tangyuan retorted bluntly.

Karen avoided the other's gaze somewhat guiltily. As a border soldier, this was the first time he had felt so guilty in front of an intelligence officer. In the minds of many soldiers, these intelligence officers were the royal dogs, completely ignorant of national righteousness, and only knew how to target loyal officials of the empire for the sake of the royal interests.

But this time...

"When the border of Daus was in dire straits, we tried to send messages to the Duke many times, but we didn't get a reply. Do you know why?" Tangyuan asked in a questioning tone.

"I..." Karen didn't know what to say for a moment. The border was in grave danger, and many families had already sent messages, but the Duke seemed not to hear them and even executed some soldiers who asked to return to help.

So, the capital already knew about the situation at the border?

"It seems unrealistic to expect the Duke to provide immediate assistance." Tangyuan sighed. "Count Karen, we need to know the family garrisons of those Silver Fox Legion centurions."

"What do you want this for?" Karen asked, frowning.

"Of course, we must avoid losses as much as possible!" Tangyuan said. "The Empire has received the latest intelligence that the Southern Witch Alliance has mastered some kind of forbidden technique for demon sacrifice. The more high-quality enemies sacrificed, the more demons can be summoned. The Silver Fox Legion that came to the family's aid is likely to be in danger!"

"Forbidden technique?" Karen's eyes widened.

"Yes, that's the key to their success in breaching the Daos defenses this time—there were simply too many demons!"

"But this forbidden technique that summons a large number of demons will backfire if there aren't enough human sacrifices, right?" Karen was also a veteran who had been on the battlefield for a long time, so she naturally knew about the so-called demon sacrifice methods of the Southern Witches.

"They didn't consider the consequences this time!" Tangyuan said gravely. "They don't intend to capture people; we have already..."

The investigation revealed that everyone along the way was a victim of human sacrifice; they've resorted to any means necessary to seize the empire!

"How is this possible? Have they gone mad?" Karen asked incredulously.

Demon summoning... is a double-edged sword. If you're not careful, it can backfire. Recklessly using human sacrifices to summon a large number of demons to sustain the war might sound powerful, but once there aren't enough human sacrifices to replenish the supply, the greedy demons will soon turn their hunger on you.

Moreover... demons are easy to summon, but very difficult to get rid of. Even if everything goes smoothly and they help you conquer the Beth Empire, how do you plan to deal with such a large group of demons?

Should we continue to support them?

Can you afford to raise it?

If you don't raise it, can you give it away?

"The specifics are unknown... We don't know either, but this is the result of our investigation. It is estimated that no less than a million people near the border have been sacrificed as human offerings. Moreover, this time, the sacrifices do not exclude nobles. It seems that the higher the rank of the sacrifice, the more favors the demon lord can receive, and the more powerful demons can be summoned."

"Those southern barbarians have really gone mad this time!" Karen's face turned ashen. In the past, when fighting, there were always some rules to follow. If a noble warrior was captured, the enemy country could pay a ransom to get him back.

I've never heard of such a cruel method as using nobles as human sacrifices. If this rule is broken, then it will inevitably be attacked by nobles from all over the continent.

The Southern Witch Alliance was at odds with most of the forces on the continent, but no one expected them to do something so taboo.

"We must find the family strongholds of those centurions as soon as possible!" Tang Yuan said. "Their family strongholds have likely already been taken over, and they may have surrendered like the rebellious deputy commander before, because their family members were controlled. But surrendering won't save their families. We must rescue them and minimize the losses for the empire!"

"Rescue?" Karen frowned. "If what you say is true, and the Southern Witch Alliance has already initiated human sacrifices involving over a million people, then the number of demons is probably already outrageously high. You want to venture deep into the heartland for a rescue? Are you sure?"

"Yes...not only must we rescue the elite troops, but we must also try our best to rescue the population!" Wang Gou Dan also spoke with feigned seriousness, "Without the protection of nobles, the scattered herders on the grasslands are nothing more than food for demons. We must avoid such a thing, otherwise, if hundreds of millions of herders in the southern grasslands become sacrificial offerings, then the Bes Empire... will be finished!!"