Late at night, several Vampires transformed into bats circled the skies above the Northern Territory.
They flew very high, high enough that magic cannons would have difficulty hitting them.
They were spread very far apart, far enough that if enemies pursued them, they could flee in different directions in time.
The wind howled.
From below, a sound emerged.
At first, it was very faint, like the whimpering of the night wind blowing through a valley. But listening closely, it wasn't the wind.
Pu-ji, pu-ji, pu-ji, pu-ji...
It was the orderly, endless sound of tens of thousands of Puchis stepping on the frozen earth.
Under the moonlight, countless Puchis formed massive square formations, stretching endlessly to the limits of the Vampires' vision, blending into the night.
The Puchis' marching speed wasn't fast, but their advantage lay in being able to march day and night without stopping.
Just like now, the Puchi Masters worked in shifts day and night. When resting, they lay inside the bellies of Otaku Puchis controlled by other Puchi Masters.
The bodies of these Otaku Puchis were hollow, like little mobile huts.
Curled up inside, warm and comfortable, the Puchi Masters slept peacefully while listening to the faint pu-ji sounds outside.
A Puchi Master could give the simplest "follow" command to the Puchis under their command, ensuring they got ample rest even while on the march.
The bats circled once more, roughly getting a clear view of the Puchis' numbers.
It wasn't that this vanguard army hadn't noticed the bats overhead, but the Empire's scouts had learned to be smart by now.
They knew the terror of the fungal mat and understood what landing on the ground meant.
Even if they had to fly for days and nights on end until their wings ached so much they felt like falling apart, they would absolutely never descend; they would never give the forces below any opportunity.
Chasing them as they flew randomly would only delay marching time, which wasn't worth it.
Having circled enough, the bats flapped their wings and flew south.
Inside Dean's castle, the lights were bright.
A bat landed in front of the tent, transformed into its humanoid form, and walked in with brisk steps.
His face was filled with exhaustion, his eye sockets deeply sunken, but his steps remained steady.
He presented the intelligence in his hands and stepped aside without saying a word.
Dean took it, his gaze sweeping over those few lines of text.
He turned around and walked over to the massive map on the wall.
The map was marked with countless symbols in red ink—cities, mountain ranges, rivers, and the previously scouted coverage of the fungal mat.
He reached out and drew a line north of Cold Bay Fort.
That was the latest scouted marching direction of the vanguard army, pointing straight at Cold Bay Fort.
And on the map, there were already two other lines drawn prior to this.
"Advancing on three fronts simultaneously... Cold Bay Fort, Dragon Horn Fort, and Round Tower City."
He pondered which direction was the Mushroom Fortress's true main axis of attack.
Ultimately, there just wasn't enough intelligence to rely on.
Due to the existence of the fungal mat, the Vampire scouts under Dean's command couldn't land to rest. Therefore, their scouting range was limited, unable to gather information from further behind enemy lines. Dean could only infer things himself.
The grand armies of both sides hadn't clashed yet, but the contest between Dean and Louisa had already begun.
Fortunately, Dean wasn't some incompetent glutton who had risen to power through business; he quickly sorted out the situation.
Cold Bay Fort was the easiest among them to breach, but its location was also the least important.
If the Mushroom Fortress's main force went to attack there, trading an unimportant pawn to discover the movements of the enemy's main force and buying time to deploy his own troops to respond was not a loss for him.
And if it wasn't the main force, the strength of Cold Bay Fort was sufficient to hold off that vanguard army for quite a long time.
Next was Dragon Horn Fort, which was the sturdiest of the three cities.
Garrisoned by elite Demon-kin, its wall defenses could even withstand dwarven siege constructs, and its stockpiled supplies were enough to last for months.
Even if the Mushroom Fortress threw its entire main force at it, the city could hold out until he deployed troops to rescue it.
Then...
Dean's gaze slowly shifted to the last city.
Round Tower City.
Located in the northeast corner of the Empire, this city was traditional Demon-kin territory and also the barrier separating the Northern Territory from the Mountains.
On the map, its position was like a gateway, stuck between the Northern Territory and the Dwarven territories.
In the past, the Northern Territory had been entirely occupied by demon tribes. Even if they gave way, the dwarves had nothing good to communicate with them about. In fact, some tribes might even have tried to raid the Mountains for spoils.
Therefore, in the past, Round Tower City hadn't been that important.
Its internal city defenses were merely "good enough." They were a bit stronger than Cold Bay Fort's, but far inferior to Dragon Horn Fort's.
But the situation was vastly different now!
The Mushroom Fortress had risen to power and even colluded with the dwarves.
If he had more time, Dean definitely would have upgraded Round Tower City's defenses entirely. Unfortunately, he didn't.
The fact that the Northern Territory had started making moves this time only after the dwarves had taken action clearly indicated a joint military operation by both sides.
Over on the dwarves' side, although Duke Levi was sharing the pressure, Dean also needed to guard against them joining forces to conquer Round Tower City, thereby connecting the Northern Territory and the Mountains.
Once Round Tower City fell, the passage between the Northern Territory and the Mountains would be completely opened.
When that time came, whether the Mushroom Fortress's army traveled to the Mountains to attack Duke Levi's territory alongside the dwarves, or both traveled to the Northern Territory together to attack his own territory, the situation would be much, much worse.
Therefore, Round Tower City absolutely could not fall!
Having figured this out, Dean personally led half of his main force toward Round Tower City, leaving the other half behind as a fail-safe measure, standing by in the rear at all times.
However, when he had led his grand army halfway there, a Vampire responsible for communications from a nearby city landed in front of his warbeast in a panic.
"Lord Dean, Cold Bay Fort has fallen!"
Upon hearing the news, Dean's first reaction was actually somewhat pleasantly surprised, but that was immediately followed by some confusion.
According to the intelligence he had gathered on the Mushroom Fortress Marshal, Louisa.
Putting aside how a Vampire traitor possessed Lord-tier strength, she was not some rookie unversed in marching and deploying troops.
To be able to utterly annihilate Eugene's grand army in the Northern Territory—although it was largely due to capitalizing on Eugene's lack of understanding regarding the Puchis—her own command capabilities were also quite excellent.
So why would she choose to deploy her main force toward Cold Bay Fort?
Attacking south from that direction meant encountering either sturdy, impregnable passes or long, narrow terrain that was completely unsuitable for utilizing the Puchis' numerical advantage.
When things are abnormal, there must be something strange afoot. For a moment, Dean's heart actually started racing: Could it be some new Puchi tactic again?
He understood that if this was truly the case, he might be about to suffer a massive loss.
Dean took the detailed intelligence report and quickly flipped through it.
He subsequently revealed a conflicted expression, a mixture of relief and disbelief.
Good news: It wasn't some new Puchi tactic, nor was the Mushroom Fortress's main force over there.
Bad news: Traitors had opened the city gates, the defending nobles had been ambushed and killed, and that vanguard army had captured Cold Bay Fort almost without expending any effort.
Dean crumpled the intelligence report into a ball.
He couldn't figure it out. Before setting out, he had specifically reviewed the detailed report on Cold Bay Fort. The report had explicitly stated that the operation to purge traitors had gone very smoothly.
How could the city gates still be opened by traitors, and the City Lord ambushed and killed?
In a daze, he recalled scenes from over a hundred years ago, when he followed the army to attack human and dwarven cities.
Back then, they also occasionally encountered situations where, the moment the Empire's grand army arrived, the city would open its gates and surrender.
How had things reversed now?
(End of Chapter)
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