Chapter 163 - 151: General Dor in Tears
Chapter 163: Chapter 151: General Dor in Tears
"General! Urgent report! General!"
A messenger’s anxious voice rang out while General Dor was drinking and making merry with his brother.
Good news had been arriving one after another these past few days.
Prince Kase had completed the encirclement of Devil City...
His valiant Highness the Prince had broken through Devil City’s satellite city...
The great Prince Kase had broken through Devil City’s City Defense Maze Lock...
It was all good news, but unfortunately, none of it had anything to do with him, Dor.
During this period, General Dor’s greatest achievements were breaking through Mold Castle, Vegas Castle, and Qimo Fortress...
It sounded as if he were on par with Prince Kase, but in reality, everyone knew it amounted to nothing.
On the main front, after breaking through an enemy wall only to find another wall behind it, General Dor realized things were bad. He stopped holding back and immediately threw all his Extraordinary Cavalry into the fray.
The result was predictable. The Magic Crystal Cannon had brought glory to the Dwarves, but not to the Gray Dwarves.
Under the endless barrage, General Dor found the excessive casualties unbearable, especially since the enemy’s Magic Crystal Cannons seemed to be getting more and more accurate.
After withdrawing the Extraordinary Cavalry, General Dor resorted to throwing waves of goblins and kobolds at the walls. But behind each wall lay countless more, crushing not only the frontline soldiers’ morale but also General Dor’s own conviction.
As the casualty figures grew more and more shocking, General Dor began to feel that the enemy was getting stronger with every battle, while his own forces grew weaker.
His plans to build a bridge were all thwarted by the enemy. Having lost his last card, General Dor decided to just let things rot, ordering the goblins and kobolds to line up and throw themselves at the obstacles, even if more obstacles lay behind them.
He was out of options. Fortunately, with the massive investment of cannon fodder, the walls were still being broken through, one by one.
However, every time he looked out from the mountain and saw the number of enemy walls, General Dor felt a great weight crushing his chest, making it hard to breathe.
His long-standing frustration and dejection had slowly built up to this state.
Dwarves aren’t fond of beautiful women. Or rather, in the Dwarven worldview, a beautiful woman is one you’d find in a smithy, using her thick biceps to forge steel plates into weapons.
So, General Dor had called Aurora over to drink with him, numbing himself with alcohol. As a result, when he heard the messenger’s shouts, he didn’t react at first.
"What’s the panic? What’s so bad? Can’t you stand still and speak properly?" Aurora slurred, pointing a dizzy finger.
He wasn’t pretending; he was genuinely drunk. Though his brother’s decision to just give up had surprised Aurora, it suited him just fine. He had joined General Dor in letting loose in the camp.
Aurora had even brought out the liquor he had with him. It was originally just a prop to round out his persona, but he never expected to actually use it.
The scolded messenger bypassed Aurora and went straight to General Dor. As one of Dor’s personal guards, he had that privilege.
Aurora watched as the messenger whispered a few words in General Dor’s ear. The general’s expression changed drastically, and he scrambled out of the tent on his short legs, unable to wait a moment longer.
"Really?"
"Quick! Go get Eric..."
Shaking his groggy head, Aurora took off his helmet. The early winter chill sobered him up considerably, and he hurried to follow General Dor.
...
When Aurora had fully sobered up, he found that he had somehow followed General Dor back to the mountaintop. Confused, Aurora looked to his brother for an answer.
At that moment, General Dor was a little excited—no, he was extremely excited. So much so that his stout body was trembling.
"They’re retreating! They’re finally retreating!" General Dor’s voice quivered with unconcealed emotion.
Aurora was still wondering what was retreating. Soon, he understood: the enemy was retreating.
To be precise, they hadn’t fully retreated yet. The number of tents on the opposite bank had begun to dwindle. It was already noon, but there wasn’t enough cooking smoke. They weren’t eating; instead, they were busy bustling around their camp.
However, the enemy’s five Magic Crystal Cannons were still continuously bombarding the Magic Bridge. In the past, the humans seemed to have intentionally avoided attacking it, but now it was finally unable to withstand the assault and was showing signs of collapse.
"Brother? Should we send troops to stop them? This might be a good opportunity," Aurora asked tentatively.
"Stop them?" General Dor exclaimed in disbelief, as if he’d heard something incredible.
"Are you suggesting we send the Griffin Knights to dismantle the cannon towers, or have the Extraordinary Infantry endure the cannonballs?
Though the enemy lacks the courage to face me in a decisive battle, I, Dor, acknowledge their methods.
The humans currently hold the geographical advantage. It would be irrational for us to launch any military action to hinder them," General Dor said with great conviction.
The humans’ retreat seemed to have restored much of his confidence, and he resumed his favorite pastime of pontificating.
’If the enemy retreated any faster,’ Aurora suspected, ’I wonder if Dor would keep trying to lecture me.’
Standing on the mountaintop, General Dor calmly watched the humans across the way demolish their own Magic Bridge. Then, the walls that had plagued Dor for days were blasted to smithereens by a few bursts of Explosive Magic.
A wave of emotion washed over General Dor as he watched. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of using a few Explosive Techniques on the walls himself. Unfortunately, Magic required casting time, and the human Extraordinary Knights weren’t just going to stand there and watch.
After failing a few times, General Dor had stopped trying.
He never expected that in the end, the ones to destroy the enemy walls would be the enemy themselves.
’No, that’s not right. It wasn’t entirely their doing. My efforts, General Dor’s efforts, played a part in this too.’
’Ultimately, it was I, General Dor, who broke through the humans’ defensive lines.’
It had to be said, Aurora really saw through Dor. Right now, Dor was already scheming how to report this as the "Great Victory at Sirich."
"General, General? Is there anything we should be doing now?" It was Eric, who had just arrived.
Eric clearly thought the same as Aurora, unwilling to miss this precious opportunity. After all, apart from the goblins, the Wolf Race had suffered the greatest losses during this time.
"The bridge has been demolished. What are we supposed to use to stop them?" General Dor shook his head, rejecting Eric’s suggestion.
"Huh? Then... what are we going to do now?" Eric asked, confused.
"We’re going to write the battle report! Understand? The enemy has retreated! This is a victory!
We must let those back home know of our progress! The sacrifices of our warriors must be compensated! Do you understand?" General Dor declared passionately.
General Dor had been thoroughly harassed by all sorts of news from his clan during this period. Finally, he could hold his head high.
It wasn’t just Aurora; even Eric was having trouble following General Dor’s train of thought.
General Dor, however, felt not a hint of embarrassment.
"The enemy is skilled, at least on the same level as an opponent like Kase. I admit, he’s quite formidable.
Unfortunately for him, he ran into me, Dor. That sealed his defeat!
All in all, the enemy is competent. If my army weren’t more powerful, it might well have ended in a draw," General Dor commented.
As he spoke, General Dor pointed at the retreating human army, looking to Aurora and Eric for some external validation.
Aurora’s eyes went wide. A Dwarf’s eyeballs were already large, but now they truly looked like bronze bells.
’To be this shameless,’ Aurora thought, ’is a skill in its own right.’