Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 409 - 400: United as One

Fortunately, my roommate finally stopped obsessing over that dreadful high-interest loan.

"You’re right, we really should be in the same boat, it’s not right to undermine each other."

Sigmund wanted to shout, "You’ve been the only one undermining me from start to finish!" But it took so much effort to finally see the other side soften, he naturally wasn’t stupid enough to argue, instead, he sent a deeply approving "hmm hmm" in his mind.

"So, I think I should get half of your credit as well. Isn’t there some ’Book of Miracles’ about the Abyss on your Emperor’s side? When the war is over and we talk rewards, why don’t you get it in exchange for me to take a look?"

"This really... is half..."

This book was originally used as bait to entice the Evil Mage Margas to contribute.

Of course, this wasn’t an empty promise.

If everything had gone smoothly with the original plan, he indeed would have requested this book from the Emperor as a reward.

Back then, if the Strange Dream ritual succeeded and thereby severely damaged Alama, capturing High Castle Fortress would have been his sole achievement, and requesting a book would naturally not be an issue.

But now... three Dukes are fighting side by side!

You don’t need to think much to know, even if they successfully capture High Castle Fortress, after he asks for the ’Book of Miracles’, the rest of the material rewards and territorial allocations will surely be greatly reduced.

But... choosing the lesser of two evils is better than having the campaign messed up by his roommate inside, and facing retaliation from the Emperor himself!

...

Lin Jun beckoned, calling over the adjutant.

"Inform Virelis to have her trolls assault the left flank, the rest of the troops follow closely behind, best to destroy the underground magical power transmission nodes... Have Eleanor lead her men to charge at the magic tower on the far right, that tower is already somewhat damaged, should be possible... You take the Blood Knight Order, split into three hundred-man teams, spread out in a skirmish line, accompany the main gate assault, make a strong attack posture, but retreat upon contact..."

Speaking out what Sigmund ordered in one breath, Lin Jun felt his mouth go dry.

Watching the adjutant depart, he smirked: "Such superior military force, just F2A and be done with it... fancy tactics..."

Regarding this war, Lin Jun certainly didn’t want the Demon Race to win just like that; a dominant Demon Race was foreseeably going to greatly hinder his Fungal Mat enterprise.

But honestly, he couldn’t help the Human Race much.

He was only controlling half of Sigmund, after all. Small manipulations were okay, but jumping ship too obviously would result in Empire hierarchies coming for reckoning, and Sigmund himself wouldn’t hesitate to fight him to the death.

Lin Jun had no intention to sacrifice himself for humanity’s benefit.

Just hoping Pink Puki’s father could be more competent, Lin Jun was willing to offer them maximum support on a spiritual level!

----------------- 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Golden Valley City, a small city located in the middle of the western part of the Kingdom, had a garrison of two thousand.

Although close to Duke Brunus’s frontline, fortunately, the flames of war had not yet reached here.

During the standoff, like other places around, Golden Valley City became a temporary placement for the wounded and a transit point for transporting military supplies.

To say what’s different from surrounding city fortresses, in this garrison of two thousand, there were five hundred Puki Masters and five hundred Beastman troops, the number of Human soldiers only made up half.

Various Beastman clans, ostensibly part of the United Kingdom, have always lived in the less developed southeastern jungle regions.

Although the regions where all Beastmen live combined can’t match any Duke’s territory in the Kingdom, although in making important decisions the Kingdom wouldn’t usually include them in discussions, and although Beastmen in many areas within the Kingdom face discrimination to varying degrees.

But in the face of the Empire’s threat, they clearly were also an indispensable part of the Kingdom; conscription naturally wouldn’t exclude them!

Unlike humans, their Kingdom had binding recruitment quotas for them.

Tiger-men were naturally strong, Leopard-men agile, making them extremely excellent soldiers.

The only problem was that the conscripted Beastman troops didn’t just include Tiger-men and Leopard-men; Beastmen were a very mixed group.

Mouse People, Foxmen, Birdmen... many of them were rather weak.

Also, some groups considered Beastmen had joined the Empire, like Pigmen.

The conscripted Beastman troops were like this too; they could be described as a ragtag group. In battlefield settings requiring unified command and discipline, they seemed less effective.

But... having them is better than not!

Angela, as the commander of this Beastman army, would love to have more troops under her command, even ragtag ones.

She felt utterly insecure right now!

The news of Brunus’s army defeated, the Sword Saint gravely injured and possibly dead, spread throughout the city with soldiers fleeing for their lives.

Civilians gave up hope, packed their belongings, and began to flee in large groups, hoping to find safety further back.

Golden Valley City had no towering walls, no powerful magic towers.

No one believed that the moat alone surrounding the city could hold back the Demon Race’s advance without a large army.

Even Angela herself doubted they could hold their ground.

However, no order for the army to retreat came from above.

Consequently, the phenomenon of desertion emerged.

A month ago, those complaining about missing out on merits at the front line, in just a few days, saw over thirty Puki Masters and over fifty ordinary soldiers flee, while her Beastman troops remained without desertions for now.

This wasn’t because she was more capable than her colleagues, but due to Kingdom laws, the punishment for fleeing Beastman soldiers was harsher and would implicate their entire tribe.

As for herself... unless she planned to defect, or intentionally wanted to harm her family, the officers could only choose to obey orders.

Now, she could only pray that the Demon Race army would chase Brunus’s remnants further east and forget about small fries like them.

But that was obviously impossible.

The Demon Race army was naturally chasing Brunus’s remnants, but they would also not give up on these readily available assets.

Several Demon Race forces split off, pouncing on surrounding areas with sparse defenses.

They came for two things—kill! Loot!

When Angela saw that Snake-man army appear in the distance, she felt despair.

Their numbers seemed similar, around two thousand, yet... the opponent was clearly a frontline combat unit, exuding high morale.

In contrast, her side consisted of local garrisons, with new deserters appearing every day.

The outcome was obvious!

About the city walls... unless specifically fortified with various magic arrays, their main use was collecting city taxes...

Evidently, as a not particularly important small city, Golden Valley City did not receive the fortress treatment.

The Snake-men seemed in no hurry to attack, instead encamping far outside the shooting range.

Angela felt they wanted their side to collapse on its own accord.

And so far, it worked well.

"Viscount Knight, maybe we should... retreat!" A command officer tremblingly suggested, "We can’t win, and even if we do, it will only bring more Demon Race forces, they might even take revenge on us! Why not now..."

Before he finished speaking, the Viscount replied with the sword in his hand.

The head rolled and stopped at Angela’s feet; she swallowed hard.

Angela and the other commanders never expected Viscount Knight, who was usually quite agreeable, would draw his sword and act so swiftly in such a moment.

"Run where? Take your family and be punished as slaves? Or surrender to the Demon Race and become slaves over there?" The white-haired Viscount Knight shook the blood off his sword, "Grip your weapon tightly, for your family, for your dignity!"

"Yes..." No one dared to openly disagree.

Yet that night witnessed nearly a hundred new desertions, including the commanding officer of the Puki Masters.

Thus, inexplicably, Angela and another colleague were promoted; they became thousand-man commanders, with the Puki Masters under her command...

The next day, as expected, the Snake-men, no longer waiting, attacked.

But... when the fighting truly started, the situation seemed unexpectedly different from both sides’ expectations?!