Boiling Beast Bloodline-Chapter 2111 - 658: Borrowing Troops
Alps Wetland, Sea Clan’s Western Campaign Camp.
Inside a huge field tent made from rainbow-colored shells, hundreds of dignified Sea Clan generals sat upright and stern, their gazes unwavering.
Outside the tent, the fine drizzle continued to fall incessantly, a persistent rain that hovered between rain and fog, unique to the natural environment of the Alps Wetland. Except during the cold winter months, it drizzles for about three hundred and twenty days a year here.
People say that wherever there is water, it’s the Sea Clan’s pasture, but this isn’t entirely accurate. At least the Sea Clan generals stationed in the Alps Wetland are nearly driven mad by this incessant, effeminate drizzle. It’s neither a heavy rain nor a complete stop, and it continues throughout the night, making one feel damp and moldy, uncomfortable and sticky all day long.
This feeling is much like facing those damned human armies, fighting endlessly without being able to crush them, only able to accompany them in a protracted stalemate.
"Just what is Subisareta doing? Since he led his army into the Fire Falcon Mountain Range, I’ve heard him complaining that he can’t bear the heat. Now, when asked to break westward, he dares to shirk, saying it’s too cold to penetrate the north!" His Majesty Beckenbauer roared furiously while crunching on toffee: "Does this Coral Prince intend to forfeit his duties or not?"
The Sea Emperor Seia had every reason to be angry. Since landing on the East Coast, the Sea Clan’s subsequent military advances seemed cursed, overgrown with unforeseen complications. First, the opening battle in Donau went awry, followed by the Alps Wetland conflict being bogged down in mire. The strategy was to dispatch a hereditary iron hat prince to lead two million troops into the Fire Falcon Mountain Range, flanking into the Aegean North Region, opening a path for the main forces behind Kalimdo Plains. Unexpectedly, as the commander of the north forces, guardian Prince Subisareta of the South Sea of Seia moved slower than a snail and has yet to break through the Fire Region into the cold snow plains.
Fortunately, the Alps Wetland abounds in Everton Toffee, offering the enraged Sea Emperor a means of venting amidst a burning rage, for even the supreme ruler cannot indulge in such delightful hard candy amidst the salty waters of the vast ocean.
"Calm down, Your Majesty. Scolding won’t aid the grand army’s movements, as we Sea Clan can’t tolerate either extreme heat or cold—that’s a fact! What’s urgent now is to reassess our attack priorities!" advised Queen Ares, seated with Seia on the Seven Treasures coral throne, furrowing her brow: "The more time we delay, the heavier our logistics burden will become."
Since the Sea Clan’s march into Aegean, food supplies are hardly an issue, thanks to human kingdoms that are far from being as impoverished as the Bimon Kingdom, where even a mouse cries tears upon entering. In wealthier human territories, foraging locally for army provisions poses no difficulty. However, "salt" is a pressing issue that cannot be ignored—water barriers can moisturize the Sea Clan’s skin but cannot supply salt! Accustomed to sea life, marine races consume salt at a rate hundreds of times greater than land races, yet only fresh water is available on land!
Along the East Coast, various human countries had plenty of salt pans near the shores, but these were the first to be destroyed by invading Sea Clan troops at war’s outset—it was unavoidable; Sea Clan troops must traverse these salt pans upon landing.
Now, the daily salt consumption needed by millions of Sea Clan soldiers is astronomical. The logistics department long prioritized salt above food as the top necessity; however, even diligence must be met with solutions. Even a fool knows transporting seawater for military needs is impossible; enslaving human captives to boil seawater for salt is too late in coming, and the Sea Clan can’t magically transform vast blue seawater into pure white salt crystals.
During the last sea-land war, the Sea Clan’s salt base was located in the Florendo Salt Alkali Forest under the Berling Mountains. However, this time, it’s tricky, as the barren, desolate Donau Wasteland has now become the Sea Clan’s most hated and feared opponent—the territory of Bimon Kingdom.
The problem lies here: The assumption to sweep through Bimon with the two massive Haimu Army Corps fell apart, with one already failing and the other chained firmly in Sabak.
The Coral Prince Salinas and his two million troops assigned to southern Aegean have been advancing southward through the Alps Wetland for nearly half a month. In theory, this branch could outflank behind Aegean human armies, but the reality is this Expeditionary Army has been tormented to the brink in the steep mountains, with immense logistical pressure, let alone numerous slippery eel-like Aegean resistance fighters hiding deep within the forest.
Now, the Sea Clan army faces just two paths to tread.
The first approach: Swiftly annihilate the human army blocking the Alps Wetland, allowing the massive army to continue advancing westward. In the central Kalimdo Plains, there are four human nations renowned for their rock salt. By breaking through the Alps, the logistical problems will naturally resolve.
However, defeating the human army is not that simple; they hold the most treacherous terrain of the Alps, the Forgotten Valley, and use the Wall of Sighs as a barrier, leveraging advantageous terrain to counteract the Sea Clan’s numerical strength. To exacerbate matters, they’ve now installed numerous Totem Pillars of War Songs, which offset the Sea Clan mages’ advantage.
