Chapter 219: Reunite
With that being said, we were still lucky that no more Empire forces were met, and we were raiding farms for food to continue feeding our army as the Logistic army was struggling to catch up. There were simply too many duties for the army to keep up. The Farmers were pissed, but we left them with enough food to survive till the next crop under my orders.
Any warriors that didn't and were caught not doing that would be severely punished with seven years of the most brutal, sadistic boot camp I could think of after the war was over.
Rumors were running rampant after the night raid and the Elite army's performance and training. The forces working together showed how to stealthily take down enemy scouts without alerting the enemy. Honestly, I think it was more the lack of a system to check when people got back and mandatory report times, as I had instituted from my scouting forces.
At least once an hour, someone would have to come back and report. That was also why my warriors and scouts were paired up as they moved to ensure no one suddenly disappeared.
If they didn't report in, we went looking for them, which was something the Empire did not seem to be doing. That was a relief, but if the war went on for a long time, then something they would probably fix. As of this point, we were marching forward, and finally, I received the report I was hoping for.
"Supreme Commander! We have received several reports from our scouts that the Main forces of the War Chief are ahead, setting up camp at the rendezvous location!" Commander Brain reported to me, and I smiled.
"Acknowledged report," I replied, "Continue movement and check the area for Empire forces and send a message to Elder Lily so that she is in the Loop."
"Yes, Supreme Commander!" Commander Brain replied, and I smiled. Commander Brain looked a little harassed lately from the amount of things he had to be doing. It seemed that while I had been entertaining Queen Mira. Mira and I had not had a conversation about why she was so sexually needy at the moment, but I think it had to do with the night raid, too.
Commander Brain had been a champ, taking many smaller issues off my hands, and not once had I seen a bad decision from him. It was only camp issues at night, but the Warriors and the Elite army seemed to be listening to his orders as if they were mine and Brain was doing fantastic. At this rate, he would be promoted at the end of the war or during to run a portion of the Elite army on his own.
That was for the future as I walked with the Warriors as we closed the last couple of Kilometers without reports that they were engaging with an enemy. I shot forward as our army neared the Main forces, and I smiled as Queen Mira and Elder Lily did the same as we approached the other forces.
The War Chief and Elder Leon were there smiling as we approached. The War Chief looked happy, standing strong with Elder Leon, who stood beside her, looking very powerful. He was a Dog-kin of the Wolf Tribes and looked powerful in light leather armor and grey fur from age. It seemed that the Elder was looking at Elder Lily with a smile as we approached the army.
"How did the battle go?" The War Chief opened with, and I grinned.
"We came, We Killed, and we Slaughtered," I replied with a smile. Elder Leon started laughing, and Elder Lily looked at me with a smile as Queen Mira was still eyeing me more sexually. "We took the Fortress and found reinforcements on the way to join up with the main Camp.
We slaughtered them all and killed an A ranker that was with their camp to stop them from reporting!" I announced, and the laughing stopped from Elder Leon.
The War Chief and Elder Leon then looked to Elder Lily, "Is this True?" Elder Leon asked.
"We killed a Human A ranked Swordswoman before she could flee and ripped her heart out. I placed it in a jar as my first Trophy of the war," Elder Lily said with a smile, and new, more ferocious smiles dawned on The War Chiefs and Elder Leon's faces.
"THE FIRST A RANK BLOOD HAS BEEN TAKEN BY OUR BEAST-KIN NATION!" Elder Leon roared, and the Warriors of our Nations shouted in joy.
"YEAH!" The First blood of an A rank was momentous, and the moral of the army would go up as Beast-kin shouted for joy.
"I would like to," I held up a hand and stopped Elder Leon.
"Elder Leon, I hate to say this, and I know it would be good for Moral, but if you say we should feast to celebrate, I will stop you here," I told him seriously.
"You may be the Supreme Commander of the Elite army, but that doesn't mean I cannot have the army party," Elder Leon said, clearly wishing to celebrate such news.
"And I will reply with the fact that my Logistics army follows me also. I am also keenly aware of supplies, and a Party would rip through them. We'll need to talk about this more privately unless you have a significantly different supply situation than I do. Then we cannot feast on this occasion. " My reply was hard and solid, and I stared down Elder Leon.
The moment turned tense, and finally, he nodded without getting mad, "Although I hate to admit it, There are reasons we hand over duties to B rankers. At this time, you have more information about our current Circumstances. We can discuss this in the tent; please Bring your Warriors in and rest for the night. We have a lot to talk about." Elder Leon said, and the War Chief nodded.
Walking into a tent and discussing things took hours and hours, and it was late into the night. It seemed that my fortress and the fortress they raided were in different conditions. Theirs was more fortified, and the Enchantment made the fight hard. But superior numbers tore down the Enchantments, forcing the A ranker to flee. They suffered mostly injuries, but there were a lot of deaths as well.
They moved forward without incident after securing the Fortress and leaving the Logistics army with some extra warriors. When I iterated that the Reinforcements, if I missed them, would have killed our back line with what we left behind, we all sobered up in the close call. Our general lack of information at the front of the war was a serious problem.
Still, with us finally meeting up, we noticed that there were A rankers in both of the Empire's strongholds, which meant we might face harsher fights at the Border City. "At least we killed one, but how many A rankers will there be at the Empire Border City? There is no way that there is only one or two. We will need reinforcements in order to attack.
I am thinking at least four," Elder Leon said, and I could not help but agree.
A rankers tend to be more hidden. They were nukes, and you did not want your enemy to know how many of them you had. With that even being said, you also want to make them think you have more as a deterrent. "We need to take the City," I said, my voice resolute, "Our Supplies are dwindling, and the farmers on our way here were not enough to make up the shortfall.
I have messages from the Logistics Army that we have about two weeks of supplies to get up to the front in about six days. That being said, I also hear that the Badgers A rank Elder, Elder Farrow, Is coming in the next couple of weeks instead of protecting his Tribe. He wants to be part of the war effort, so," My voice trailed off, and the five of us went silent.
"We are in for a serious problem," Elder Lily said, "The two A rankers that retreated might be reinforcing the City. They will be weaker if we attack early, but if we give them weeks to recover, then we will be in an Issue."
Those words couldn't be truer, and Queen Mira sighed, "I am still recovering from the excessive Mana and energy usage I had at the Night battle. Supreme Commander Chelsea is still assisting in my recovery, but I am still at least a week away from full recovery. Not that I mind the recovery process with her," Queen Mira finished while licking her lips and looking at me.
Doorknocker throbbed, but I suddenly had an idea. "Wait, I think I have an idea," I said, having everyone turn to me. I got a couple of raised eyebrows, but I shook my head, "Not about Queen Mira, Although I am enjoying your Recovery too," I replied with a smile at her. "No, I was thinking about attacking almost when we get to the city.
It's not a full attack, but I want them to bring out a couple of A rankers to defend. I am also going to send a message back to the Tribes to have two A rankers defend our Logistics. Something tells me we will need them earlier rather than later. I have one, but I think they will notice our weakness after this fight." I said, and I got tilting of heads.
"Why would we attack right away and get them to commit to the battle a little," Elder Leon asked.
"To show what we are against and to make them think we have less power than we do have. We will commit the main forces while I order my Elite army to scout and watch instead." I told them, "We will have them map defensive locations, and we can see what happens more or less. We show them the least amount of information as possible and see what happens.
Then we back off while making defensive fortifications and enchanting the hell out of our position as we wait for things to move up. That way, my Logistics Army has enough time to secure our lines as we have a forward position against the Human armies and ensure they cannot flank us," I made my point, and everyone went quiet.
"It is very defensive of a mindset," Elder Leon was annoyed. The War Chief nodded, and I could see them thinking more.
"We will lose our Momentum; give them a chance to gather more forces," The War Chief added, which Elder Leon nodded to.
"That is the worst part of this plan. But we are ahead of schedule," I told them, "We also can raid their river system if possible and fortify around there. That would leave us vulnerable to enemies attacking our supply line," I told them. That made everyone quiet again, "Look," I added a minute later, "This is a City; we will attack and potentially win in the first fight if no one is there.
Plus," I decided to add something everyone seemed to forget, "Remember, the Military of the Empire has been occupying and doing something in the city for the last couple of years. We have no idea what is happening inside the city; being overly aggressive to the city might not even be a good thing in the short term if there is an issue there," I finished.
That was a reminder that had everyone growing, and I wanted to sigh. The meeting went long, and we all were in a thought session about the Border City. One thing was for sure: we were no longer high on our Successes as we realized what two additional A rankers at the City might mean if they retreated there.
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