“Gentlemen, I assume the area ahead is the true territory of the gnolls?”
Xia Jin asked with a smile as she stood on a high slope, looking at the dense clusters of wooden huts and the gnolls moving in and out of them in the distance.
“Yes.”
Facing such a scene, Count Hai felt his scalp go numb.
Without the support of the kingdom's main army, relying solely on the Eastern Lords, a decisive battle against the gnolls would likely result in devastating losses.
Just the number within their line of sight was easily in the tens of thousands.
Moreover, such legions existed in every region around Clearwillow Lake.
The surrounding powers had all suffered greatly at their hands.
If the internal relations within the Kingdom of Clear were tighter, they would actually have the capability to wipe out the gnolls, but that would require exhausting the entire nation's strength.
That was absolutely impossible.
Not to mention that many lords had already broken free from the capital's control; even if they could cooperate, how many would be willing to dispatch their precious armies to help?
Even if they were conscripts, they were still a part of their valuable population.
“Everyone, prepare for battle.”
The gnoll squads had been completely wiped out, so none were able to return and spread the word.
At this moment, these creatures were still unaware of the approaching danger.
The two sides briefly discussed their combat tactics.
Without a doubt, the swarm would lead the first wave of the charge.
This was also to demonstrate their strength, ensuring the lords' armies could enter the fray with peace of mind.
Otherwise, Xia Jin suspected that the swarm she brought might not be enough.
After all, Clearwillow Lake was a vast area. Once a fight broke out here, it was impossible for the gnolls in other areas to remain indifferent.
Once the war began, the scale could easily spiral out of control.
“Charge!”
With a thought and under the precise control of the brain bug, a massive force gathered from over ten thousand Zerg suddenly launched their assault from the enemy's southwest—to the left of Xia Jin and the others.
The dark tide pressed against the enemy's flank in a massive wedge formation.
The gnolls clearly hadn't reacted yet.
It wasn't until ten seconds after the charge began that some gnolls started to notice the situation.
“Look over there!”
“Enemy! There's an enemy!”
These furry creatures living among the tents took a dozen seconds of chaos before they began to assemble spontaneously. A few leaders rushed to high ground in a hurry, letting out incomprehensible roars.
Soon, enemies within a radius of several kilometers picked up their weapons and began to form ranks.
In fact, a gnoll's claws were very sharp, but the strength of low-tier monsters was still somewhat inferior to actual weapons.
As a result, a rather peculiar phenomenon occurred among the gnolls: those who reached Tier 5 often carried no equipment at all, relying entirely on their own strength to fight.
Those below Tier 5 usually used swords and blades plundered from the humans.
Decades of skirmishes between the two sides had allowed the gnolls to stockpile a staggering number of weapons.
Although many of them had rusted due to maintenance issues, they could still be effective in actual combat.
“Hydralisks, attack!”
Xia Jin ordered the long-range batteries to fire with all their might.
Corrosive liquid with the intensity of Tier 5 was no joke.
Although the gnolls were numerous, their average quality was truly inferior to the Zerg.
When countless globs of venom fell from the sky, the enemy's morale wavered in a very short time.
The next moment, the swarm reached the first tents and began hunting the nearest gnolls.
Some powerful zerglings rampaged through, completely ignoring all obstacles as they crushed the enemies in their path like tanks.
From the start of the charge to the engagement, only thirty to forty seconds had passed.
In such a short time, the gnolls had no chance to organize themselves.
Consequently, this wave of the charge turned into a one-sided slaughter.
But...
Xia Jin wasn't particularly happy, because she saw that the gnolls in the far distance had already begun to form ranks.
Compared to disorganized creatures like goblins, these humanoids that looked like a mix of wolves and dogs could truly be called an army.
They even understood how to coordinate their formations.
“Did they learn their tactics from you?” Xia Jin glanced at Count Hai.
“Well... the enemy is indeed improving,” Count Hai said, having no defense.
Indeed, gnolls were not idiots. If humans had something good, they would learn it.
As a result, the enemy had become increasingly difficult to fight over the decades.
After this wave of the charge swallowed a kilometer of the enemy camp, its momentum slowed slightly. The gnolls further back began to organize resistance, with phalanxes merging together to form large arrays of several thousand individuals to meet the Zerg's impact.
Low-tier gnolls naturally posed no threat.
The trouble came from those at Tier 4 or higher.
And these gnolls seemed to prefer grouping their elites together. The strong appeared in squads; a Tier 6 leading a large group of Tier 5s and Tier 4s could actually hold a significant advantage against the zerglings.
Thus, the battle turned into a steady advance across a broad front, though there were about a dozen points where the Zerg were actually being broken and routed.
But... the overall advantage was clearly visible.
“Incredible. These creatures are truly terrifying.” The viscount finally snapped out of his shock.
Tens of thousands of frenzied creatures, each capable of easily killing an ordinary soldier from a lord's army.
Under these circumstances, even the gnolls should feel fear.
However...
The enemy's numbers were truly too great. Seeing the even more staggering, endless lines of gnolls gathering in squads further back, they still felt a sense of unease.
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