The gnolls were clearly stunned. They had agreed on a surprise attack, so how did they run into the enemy here?
On the Swarm's side, everything seemed motionless on the surface, but in reality, the brain bug had not yet issued the attack command.
It was because there were too many powerful individuals among this wave of gnolls.
To ensure the surprise attack was successful and swift, they had only deployed the incredibly fast zerglings, lacking any long range fire support.
They needed a few minutes to bring the hydralisks up from the rear.
...
At this moment, Patriarch Tiger, who led 5,000 elite gnoll warriors, had gradually realized what was happening.
“These guys are also here for a surprise attack.”
Yes, he understood.
The valley terrain here was not suitable for an ambush, but if a unit took a detour through here, they could reach the enemy's flank without being noticed and launch an attack.
Thus, both sides had coincidentally made the same move.
Simultaneously launching a surprise attack!
And then it became awkward...
After staring at each other for a while, Patriarch Tiger suddenly sneered. “Since we have run into each other, do not blame me for being ruthless.”
These 5,000 gnolls were Tier 3 at minimum, with Tier 4 making up half.
One fifth of them had reached Tier 5.
There were also many Tier 6 powerhouses, and he himself had reached Tier 7.
Facing 2,000 zerglings, would it not be an easy crushing victory?
Patriarch Tiger prepared to fight a brilliant battle.
If he won, his status among the gnolls would rise significantly in the future.
“Everyone, form ranks!” he roared.
The marching column was too disorganized; the gnolls needed to quickly tighten their formation.
About two minutes later, seeing that they were ready, he raised his claws and roared:
“Charge!”
Roar!
The army launched its attack.
Countless gnolls swarmed toward the insects in a dense mass.
Viewed from a distance, the visual impact of this scene was actually no less than a zergling charge.
Unfortunately, halfway through the charge, a massive amount of hydralisk venom was fired from both sides.
It covered the sky!
These hydralisks arrived on the scene openly under the protection of zerglings, regardless of whether the enemy's main camp could see them. Some zerglings even carried banelings on their backs, launching suicide charges into the heart of the enemy legion.
5,000 elites packed tightly together like that were perfect targets for the explosions.
Boom!
Boom, boom, boom!
Sizzle...
The venom killed in swathes, and the explosions sent countless severed limbs flying.
The banelings' potent toxins soon took effect, followed by the zerglings launching attacks from all directions.
In this encounter, the gnolls ultimately lost due to the lack of long range superiority.
Even the few geniuses who mastered magic could not change the overall decline.
At this point, Patriarch Hio, located in their camp, also had his composure crumble.
All the elites were sent out, yet the surprise attack failed and they were slaughtered instead.
“Damned things! These magic beasts must have listened to the humans' cunning schemes. They knew all along that we would launch a surprise attack and were waiting there.”
Patriarch Hio did not realize that their failure was not due to a strategic error this time, but simply that at the moment the two sides met, they had not reacted in time, allowing the insects to immediately call in reinforcements from nearby.
Yes, for the Swarm, the entire battlefield was in real time.
The gnolls could not do this. They needed reaction time. Even if they had the information, they still had to pass it along through commands and speech, allowing other individuals to know and then make decisions.
This gap in efficiency caused irreparable losses.
“It is over, completely over.” Hio sighed deeply, looking utterly defeated.
“Patriarchs, let us find a way to have part of the army cover the rear while the rest of the gnolls retreat to the back to regroup,” one patriarch said.
“Fine.”
Though he spoke thus, Hio had clearly lost all confidence.
Nearly half of the northwestern side of Clearwillow Lake was being slowly swallowed by the enemy.
Every battle was an unbearable loss for the current gnoll race.
One must know that the gnolls had more than one enemy.
All the powers along the shores of Clearwillow Lake were their enemies.
Once the news of their defeat in this direction of the Kingdom spread, it might trigger more factions to take action.
At that time, the gnolls would be surrounded on all sides.
...
Amelo had arrived at the shore by this time.
After washing his face, he personally saw zerglings running nearby, throwing strange looking but murderous Swimmers into the water.
A Swimmer swam back and forth on the surface a couple of times before diving straight down.
“Another type of Zerg?”
Amelo frowned.
Where on earth did Her Highness get so many creatures?
It was strange, truly very strange.
The key was that these things were like fish.
“Could Her Highness really have seduced a magic beast king?”
Judging by this, it was more than just one.
“I see!”
He thought for a moment and suddenly understood something.
“There is more than one magic beast king who likes Her Highness, but there is only one of her.”
Magic beast kings were all proud and would not allow the girl they liked to be snatched by other guys.
However, Her Highness was so delicate. If they fought over her and made her feel afraid or hurt her, that would be unacceptable.
So the kings decided to use their own methods to win Her Highness's heart.
To make Her Highness happy, they all contributed their subordinates, willing to help Her Highness reclaim her kingdom.
This was the condition for the marriage alliance between the magic beasts and the Princess.
To win the beautiful Princess, a group of magic beast kings were probably willing to act like simps, competing for her favor just to make her happy.
Phew, what a wondrous scene.
Rate on N.U.
