There had been a long silence during the decision making. It had seemed like an eternity to Grandma Yuan while it had been only a few seconds off her life, waiting for the System to share its information with her.
The System had not been idle with the Monster Horde situation despite the abrupt problem that the Farming World was currently facing. Que Er, the Magpie Queen, had been sending out her crows and magpies into the forest for surveillance purposes as suggested by Lynn.
However, for once the System deduced that it would be for the best if its User did not interfere with such a dangerous situation. At least not unless they had gathered enough information and it would be deemed optimal for the dungeon supplier to perform the counter offence operation they had been working on.
It should be simple enough. Slip in, make a big bang with the help of his bellators to attract as many Demons as possible and hold them up in an dungeon instance. Then it would be either up to Jin’s minions to finish them off, or they could sell the monsters the trapped creatures as a seasonal dungeon for the cultivators. Of course, they could also use those same Demons as training products for the advanced training centre for the Demon Exorcists. No doubt, it was a win win situation for Jin and the people involved in it.
However, the development of this issue had been too quick. Even the magpies which had recorded it with their magic eyes were shocked by the sudden change in pace. The moment the Royal Horse soldiers had entered into the forest, the Bone Spirit Demons began springing out from the depths of the mountainous forests.
While the soldiers had been initially happy about no longer having to search for hours for any signs of the monsters, the Royal Horses quickly changed their opinion. They had not expected the frontline of the horde to display such terrifying power, eliminating nearly 10% of their forces almost immediately upon contact.
The Royal Horse Soldiers never even had the chance to fight back properly, and the first ten minutes had turned into a massacre. It wasn’t until their higher-ranked officers like the Royal Horse Captains and Majors stepped in, that the battle started to turn in their favour. Yet, the soldiers weren’t the only ones to have reinforcements. Soon stronger monsters joined the fray, making the Majors and Captain’s firepower seem like nothing but a joke.
The Royal Horse General Xi Le Ma had never seen such ferocity being displayed by a Monster Horde let alone the sheer number of monsters that could take out his highly reputable military officers half an hour into the sweep. However, highly reputable did not translate to being capable enough, and deep down in the General’s heart, he knew that his battalion wasn’t one to have the most combat-hardened soldiers among the Zodiac Clans.
Instead, most of their officer ranks received the titles to appease the Royal Horse Clan family members. That was one of the few reasons why Le Ma had wanted to use this Monster Horde as a training session to get their soldiers beaten into shape. Money was not an issue for the Royal Horse Clan, and resurrection could be done as long as the number of casualties was not substantial. Yet, this Monster Horde happened to be beyond his expectations.
“Where are the Demon Exorcists?! Didn’t I request them to assist us half an hour ago?!” General Le Ma shouted at his base camp near the border walls as he saw his soldiers’ morale visibly dropping after getting reports of how their soldiers were faring, and there was a lot of confusion in the temporary headquarters.
“I have contacted them, yet they refuse to heed our call! Instead, they are evacuating the cities right now!” His aide replied in a panic. Amidst all the chaos, Le Ma had actually forgotten that there was a living breathing city right behind him and further beyond, an entire province.
“General! Border Guard Captain Ding Huo is right outside demanding for orders to retreat!” Another officer came to report in a hurry.
“What are you talking about?! If we retreat now, the monsters will bash through the walls!”
“But a single battalion is unable to hold off this size of a horde!” The officer screamed back with increasing anxiety dwelling in his heart. “We will have our backs against the wall!”
“THEN SO BE IT!” General Le Ma shouted so loudly that everyone was shocked by his temper. “We are the elite soldiers of the China Armed Forces. ACT LIKE ONE, GODDAMNIT!”
“Sir, yes sir!” The officer saluted, despite knowing his entire body was trembling. He then turned and ordered the Border Guard Captain to bunker down. All those inside could hear the other party screaming that it was insane to die just like that right outside the camp. The guards had to pull him away as the captain punched the officer for giving a death order to the rest of his men, and yet the officer stood there motionless.
Yet, deep down his heart, the officer was already crying. He had hoped to see his family once more. Praying that this was all just a bad dream he could wake up from. But the harsh reality was, that the chances of him getting resurrected after this entire ordeal was infinitely small.
“I feel you, Captain, but this is to defend our motherland from this horde! Do you want those citizens to share the same fate as us?! Or do we stop the horde here at all cost?! ” The officer replied back with a strong front.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Ding Huo knew that they swore an oath to protect the citizens from monsters when he first signed up for the Border Guard Defence, but he never imagined in his ten-year career that such a situation would actually rise. That they would have to face something this …catastrophic.
“It does not change the fact that you guys fucked up and brought a lightly armed battalion! I heard from the peeps at Huizhou borders that the other two Royal Battalions came with far better armaments and even fucking tanks and helicopters to this shitshow!” He later calmed his nerves a little and returned to the border wall while showing a middle finger at the Royal Horse officer.
At that moment, everyone near the border walls started to hear the sirens going off and somehow that pissed off Le Ma even though he knew that it was best for the city. “General! The local officials are trying to contact you!” One of his aides said that he had the mayor on the line.
“Reject that phone call. We have more important things to do now than to please some bureaucrats.” Le Ma said decidedly as he too shut his phone after he noticed 28 missed calls and dozens of messages waiting to be read. Whether it was pride or the feeling of guilt for that inaction to pick up the phone, the Royal Horse General ordered the soldiers to fall back to the wall where they would have better cover against the deadly Monster Horde.
Even though he knew that this would only quicken the inevitable…
