Chapter 369 369:- Glouto Mountain Range
Using its unique geographic location, The Empire successfully managed to build the largest port in the northwestern region of the Empire. All the cargo ships coming from the Dry Savanna Continent stopped at the Echo Dominion Empire to restock their supplies before heading to other regions of the Dying Isle Continent.
Most cargo ships from the Dry Savanna Continent were full of Mana stones or precious metals that cannot be found in the Dying Isle continent. The Echo Dominion Empire was able to take advantage of this and earn a big amount of profit.
In the West, the Echo Dominion Empire shared borders with its biggest rival and enemy, the Echo Nexus Empire. Both Empires had a long history of rivalry and enmity between them. Although now the tides have changed and the Echo Nexus Empire has been able to suppress the Echo Dominion Empire to a certain extent using the authority of the Oracle Alliance, there was a time when the Echo Dominion Empire dominated the entire northwestern region. That period is also considered the golden period of the Echo Dominion Empire's history. Sadly, with time, everything declined and the roles changed.
And Finally, on the southern borders, the Echo Dominion Empire shared its borders with the Qeyesha Empire. However, the area near the Southern borders was very unique and was the second coldest place in the Northwestern region.
Glouto Mountains formed a mountain range on the southern borders of the Echo Dominion Empire. Glouto Mountains has the second-highest peak in the northwestern region. The Glouto Mountains acted as a natural barrier. Especially during the months of summer, when the northern rain clouds entered the northwestern region through the Echo Dominion Empire, almost all of the rain clouds were blocked by the Glouto Mountains and forced it to rain.
This left the other side of the Glouto Mountains extremely dry. The Qeyesha Empire was located on the southern side of the Glouto Mountains and did not receive any rainfall as a result. Because the Glouto Mountains were blocking almost all of the rain clouds, the Qeyesha Empire was very dry and struggled during the months of summer.
Qeyesha Empire was located in a very bad position. From the south, during the winter time, the rain clouds that the rain carried from the sea to the northwestern region through the Hephaestus Kingdom cannot go past the Hargeo Mountains. Because of this the Methia Empire and the Qeyesha Empire barely receive any rainfall.
Fortunately, the Methia Empire is not dry as the Qeyesha Empire as it has access to the sea from the eastern side. And also water from Hargeo Mountains came to the Methia Empire in the form of rivers and streams. When ice and glaciers of the Hargeo Mountains melt, it supports the entire Methia Empire with water.
However, the Qeyesha Empire was located in a place where it was completely surrounded by a land mass. It did not have any direct access to the sea. And the two giant mountains in the north and in the south blocked almost all of its rain. And to make matters worse, the rivers from originated from the Hargeo Mountains mostly dries up even before reaching the Qeyesha Empire.
This makes Qeyesha Empire extremely hot during summer. And during winter, the Qeyesha Empire rarely sees any snow. It wouldn't be wrong to say that Qeyesha Empire and the area surrounding the Empire is a big desert.
In the Qeyesha Empire, water is more valuable than gold. If not for the Mystic Spring Empire which fulfills the Qeyesha Empire's water needs, the Qeyesha Empire's population would have been reduced by 1/3.
If the Echo Dominion Empire were to fall the Empire that would benefit the most in the long run would be the Qeyesha Empire. After all, the Echo Dominion had everything that they desperately needed. The Empire had abundant food, water, rainfall, and fertile land. On the other hand, the Qeyesha Empire had desert and desert. Only around 5% of the Empire's total land is suited for cultivation.
Life in Qeyesha Empire is truly difficult. In the Oracle Alliance, the Qeyesha Empire is the weakest and poorest Empire. Due to its unique geography, the Empire didn't have any natural resources other than a few silver mines. If the Echo Nexus Empire were to stop supporting Qeyesha Empire with resources and the Mystic Spring Empire stopped supplying its water, the entire Empire will collapse within a month.
Qeyesha Empire was slightly stronger than the Hephaestus Empire. Before joining the Oracle Alliance and finding itself under the wings of the Echo Nexus Empire, the Qeyesha Empire supported itself by robbing resources. The Empire did not exactly have a pleasant past to look at.
To make sure that it would keep on surviving in the desert, the Qeyesha Empire sent its troops outside the northwestern region. Around a few hundred years ago, The Qeyesha Empire captured many small and big islands located around the Northwestern region and in the Western region. Using teleportation arrays, the Empire bought water and other valuable resources from those islands and supported its small population.
But when it joined the Oracle Alliance, all the members of the Alliance had helped the Empire. It was also during this time, the Empire's military strength grew and it finally rose to the rank of a 5-tier Kingdom.
Qeyesha Empire had sent 1,000,000 troops toward the Echo Dominion Empire. Due to the Glouto Mountain range, the one million troops of the Qeyesha Empire had to take a detour. They had to head to the southeast side of the Glouto Mountains where the Glouto Mountains range is not that high and can allow the troops of one million to go beyond the Glouto Mountain range.
However, the Echo Dominion Empire had long known about this part of the Glouto Mountain range. People of the Qeyesha Empire use this route to illegally get into the Echo Dominion Empire to have a better life. Leaving this point unguarded wasn't an option. So, around 20,000 soldiers always guarded this site and made sure that no one from the Qeyesha Empire passed through without proper documents and identification cards.
Now this site was going to become the battlefield between the two Empires. Knowing this, Daxton had sent 500,000 troops along with two beginner 5th-order cultivators. Daxton would have sent more troops but the Istarin Empire also had sent 500,000 troops of their own along with a beginner 5th-order Dragon Warrior and one of their generals.
The allied troop of the Istarin Empire and the Echo Dominion Empire were waiting for the Qeyesha Empire's troops to come. But climbing the Glouto Mountain range was anything but easy. The southern side of the mountain range was full of rocks. The troops of the Qeyesha Empire have to climb 4000 meters before reaching the battlefield.
Although cultivators had better stamina and physique compared to normal humans, after climbing 4000 meters, most of the soldiers who were 1st-order cultivators would be pretty much half-exhausted or fully exhausted.
So even before the war began, the Oracle Alliance was in a disadvantageous position. They were in a position where they would most likely lose this battle. However, to counter this, Lucas allocated more resources to the Qeyesha Empire's army so that they would be able to win this war.
At first, Lucas wasn't worried. Even if they lost this battle, it wasn't going to affect them. Under constant attacks from three directions, the Echo Dominion Empire was going to fall. But never did Lucas expect Aditya to be crazy enough to waste his Empire's wealth by teleporting around 2,000,000 troops to the Echo Dominion Empire and the Hephaestus Kingdom. This was completely unexpected and ruined Lucas's plans.
And after knowing that they had lost the first two battles, Lucas gave more firepower to the Qeyesha Empire's army. The 1,000,000 troops did not lack anything. They had high-quality weapons and armor. Their pockets were full of pills and potions. And most importantly, they had multiple 5th-order cultivators.
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