In the eastern part of the Empire, at a border fortress right next to the mountains.
Dwarves were scattered across the streets in groups of twos and threes, using battleaxes to pry open tightly shut doors and driving out the remnant soldiers huddled in corners.
Those old, weak Demon-kin soldiers raised their hands and were escorted through the rubble-strewn streets, heading toward a temporarily erected prisoner-of-war camp outside the city.
General Dwalin stood in the plaza at the center of the fortress, stepping on a torn military flag bearing Duke Levi's crest.
He looked around, his brows knitted into a tight knot.
This fortress had been captured far too easily.
The city defense runes were barely half broken, and the second time the dwarves climbed onto the battlements, the defenders broke and routed.
Upon entering, they saw that the Demon-kin soldiers inside were almost entirely the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled.
When these prisoners were questioned, they revealed that the main force that had been engaging them had been transferred to the rear three days ago.
Dwalin couldn't figure it out.
Normally, a city of this caliber would take at least a month or so to chew through, resulting in thousands of casualties.
But now? Was Levi handing the fortress over to him on a silver platter? Where was the logic in that?
Dwalin was somewhat worried that this was Levi's scheme to lure the tiger from its mountain. He repeatedly reviewed in his mind whether he had overlooked some crucial piece of information.
At this moment, a messenger flew from the city gates.
"General! Urgent report!"
Dwalin took the metal cylinder and pulled out the parchment inside.
As his gaze swept over the first line, his frown deepened. Sweeping over the second line, his eyes widened slightly. By the third line, he was completely stunned.
"Dean died in battle... Dragon Horn Fort fell... The Mushroom Fortress's grand army is dividing its forces and heading south, sweeping across the entire north of the Empire...?"
If it weren't for the Mountains' official seal stamped in the bottom right corner, he would have thought this was some drunk idiot bragging in a tavern!
Due to their cooperative relationship with the Mushroom Fortress, quite a few dwarves worked there. Some of them shouldered the task of transmitting information to the Mountains, so the delay in news wasn't actually that significant.
But... how did they do it?
The Mushroom Fortress was indeed very strong; he had witnessed that previously.
But defeating Eugene through an ambush and attacking head-on were entirely different levels of difficulty!
Moreover, Dragon Horn Fort—if he remembered correctly, wasn't that the Demon-kin's sturdiest castle built upon a crucial transport hub?
They even slaughtered Dean?!
Now he understood why Levi had transferred his troops back. If he were in that position, he would also have to concentrate his forces and contract his defenses.
"General, what do we do next?" the deputy commander beside him asked after reading the report.
Dwalin laughed heartily: "What do we do? Do you even need to ask? Naturally, we beat the drowning dog! Tell the warriors to hurry up; we must keep moving forward!"
"Yes, sir!"
Amidst the high fighting spirit of the dwarves, Dwalin, however, silently pondered over the "Boss" of the Mushroom Fortress mentioned in the intelligence, as well as the role mycelial parasitism played in the battles where the Mushroom Fortress conquered the northern Empire.
He looked around. Although there weren't many, some warriors in his own army also had mycelium growing on their bodies...
Dragon Horn Fort.
The Marshal Puchi stood with one foot on the fortress's spire. The newly donned, extra-long bright red cape fluttered in the breeze. Beneath it were No. 4 and No. 7, striking combat poses. All three Puchis maintained their postures without moving an inch.
Below, several dwarven artisans were working overtime to carve this magnificent scene.
For Lin Jun, this was just his daily check-in.
But for No. 4, this was a momentous occasion recording its glorious moment, so it was exceptionally excited.
If only the Fungal Lord's cape wouldn't keep blowing over and covering half of it, that would be even better...
Down below, aside from the stonemasons in charge of carving, Thorin, Mark, and a group of construct technology researchers were also on the scene.
This was the first time the siege constructs had been deployed in actual combat, so naturally, they had to conduct a field inspection afterward.
Thorin picked up a few pieces of scrap plating that had half-melted due to high temperatures, as if he could see the attacks the construct had endured from them: "This is way too terrifying. It's almost impossible to repair..."
Seeing the creation they had poured their blood, sweat, and tears into destroyed, Thorin still felt a bit bad.
Mark was much more excited. He was examining the damaged defensive runes of Dragon Horn Fort: "Just as the records in the blueprints stated, high-frequency magical oscillations have an excellent destructive effect on large-scale magic arrays! We designed Centipede No. 1 with eleven oscillating segments. If we increase it to sixteen segments, we'd only need two rounds to completely destroy Dragon Horn's defenses, instead of leaving half remaining! But with a longer body, the control of the construct itself..."
The effect the constructs displayed in this battle was quite good, qualifying them as specialized city-breakers. Lin Jun decisively increased the budget for Mark and the others, telling them to build a few more later.
Little Pig, Norris, and the others didn't stay at Dragon Horn Fort; instead, they went to receive the remaining territories of the two Dukes.
It truly was "receiving."
After the news of Duke Dean's death in battle spread, the nobles under Eugene's command almost all chose to abandon their territories. They took all the wealth they could carry and fled toward the central part of the Empire.
On the Demon-kin's side, Lin Jun originally thought they would encounter some resistance, but the truth was, they left even more cleanly.
Over in Eugene's territory, in the cities Norris occupied, mostly some Demon-kin commoners and low-value, old, or weak slaves were left behind.
Naturally, the Mushroom Fortress gladly accepted all of these.
However, on the Demon-kin's side, it was wiped completely clean. The several cities in the rear had all become empty cities.
Of course, this was also related to the Mushroom Fortress army's southward advance speed being limited by the spreading speed of the fungal mat.
The grand army could indeed march off the fungal mat; however, continuing south meant approaching the central Empire, where the Emperor and the Prince resided.
Without the reconnaissance capabilities of the fungal mat, it would be disastrous if they were ambushed.
And if they didn't die on the fungal mat, they wouldn't even be able to reincarnate as mushrooms.
Therefore, to play it safe, the grand army generally would not march separated from the fungal mat.
Their slow advance speed gave the Demon-kin in the rear ample time to evacuate, allowing them to take everyone with them.
Lin Jun didn't care about this fleeing population. Or rather, it was good that some ran away.
Despite the Mushroom Fortress's strong combat power and the overwhelming feeling of numerical superiority they gave off when fighting, this was almost entirely because the Mushroom Fortress army could repeatedly replenish their Puchis.
Setting Puchis aside and simply comparing the number of soldiers, the Mushroom Fortress had far fewer people than the two Duke's territories combined.
Counting non-combatants, the gap was even larger.
Swallowing nearly half the population of two Duke's territories this time could practically be described as a snake swallowing an elephant.
Assimilating the bodies and minds of this population into Fungal Citizens was a massive project.
Having some people run away could be considered lowering the difficulty of assimilation.
Even so, Lin Jun still had to thank the division between the upper and lower classes of the Empire, which allowed the Mushroom Fortress to win over hearts and minds relatively easily.
It wasn't as obvious on the Demon-kin's side, but in the territories of those Vampire Lords, it couldn't have been clearer.
While gathering territory, Norris encountered a Vampire putting up a stubborn resistance at a mine.
The guy had sent out a request for reinforcements to the Prince, believing that as long as he held out for a period of time, he would receive rescue and keep his mine.
And his method of resistance was to arm the mine slaves, attempting to hold fast and await reinforcements under the leadership of a small number of overseers.
Norris didn't even attack. After surrounding the mine, he merely asked the slaves a single question: "The Empire's armies have all been defeated. Why are you still selling your lives for this guy? So you can die in the mine tunnels later?"
That Vampire and his overseers ultimately all died at the hands of the very slaves they had armed. Norris didn't expend a single Puchi from start to finish.
The Mushroom Fortress had no slaves.
Therefore, wherever the Mushroom Fortress's grand army went, the slaves welcomed them wholeheartedly. Everywhere presented a scene of vigorous vitality, a realm where all things thrived.
(End of Chapter)
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