Chapter 198 - 171: Riddle of History (Part 3)
Chapter 198: Chapter 171: Riddle of History (Part 3)
The adjutant wanted to object, to say that the enemy was hardly an elite army. In his experience, humans had always either cowered behind castle walls or been on the run.
But the words died on his lips as he recalled General Curry’s disastrous defeat.
Decades ago, Curry had been a renowned general of the Empire. Now, long past his youthful days, he had still been utterly crushed by the humans. No matter how one looked at it, the army defending the city was far from simple.
"General, General, we have a situation."
A messenger ran over to report.
General Griff raised an eyebrow.
"What is it?" General Griff asked.
"The soldiers have discovered a problem with the local water source... It has a strange taste," the messenger said.
"A strange taste?" General Griff frowned. A water source was vital to any army, especially since he was leading nearly twenty thousand men.
"Take me there at once."
...
"General, this is the place. This is the largest pool of water nearby.
This... lake... looks a bit strange." The messenger led General Griff to a small body of water. Though called a lake, it was more like a large puddle, and its surface was now an inky black.
After all, that *stuff* only became more potent the longer it was left to steep.
General Griff frowned. As soon as he got close to the puddle, a foul stench assaulted his nostrils.
His Golden Tier power made General Griff’s sense of smell exceptionally keen. In an instant, he knew exactly what the substance was.
"You said it had a ’strange taste’?" General Griff gave the messenger a complicated look.
The messenger nodded and took out a waterskin from behind his back.
"I filled this with some of it. The General can try it for himself," the messenger said.
"Get it away! Get it away from me!" General Griff said with utter disgust, pinching his nose.
Because they were so close to Thermopylae, any Thunderhawks that dared approach would be flying right under the noses of the Griffin Knight Order. As a result, General Griff was completely unaware of this matter.
The only thing he knew was that the forest had been burned.
Now, the aftermath of the forest fire had concealed any traces left behind from when it was transported.
"General, what should we do now?" The adjutant, who had also clearly realized what the substance was, asked with a frown.
"These humans... they fight so dirty."
"We’ll go east. There’s a massive lake over there; it’s impossible for them to have contaminated that," General Griff said, waving his hand dismissively.
Robson’s fire had burned down a huge swath of forest. If General Griff wanted to build siege engines, he would have to source timber from dozens of miles away. As a result, he couldn’t even construct a proper wooden encampment, much less an adequate number of chevaux de frise.
Of course, General Griff didn’t think the enemy would venture out of the city. If they dared to, it would be exactly what he wanted.
General Griff looked toward Thermopylae, wondering if the pass’s defenders were also observing his army’s movements at that very moment.
’This is truly a troublesome opponent,’ General Griff sighed.
Because of one fire, his soldiers were stuck living in drafty tents. To build siege engines, they had to travel several miles.
And now, the enemy was pulling tricks like this...
Although this trick only added a few miles to their march, it was this method of slowly bleeding them—a small disruption here, another small problem there—that frustrated General Griff the most.
In fact, General Griff would have preferred it if the defenders had charged out to attack right after the Beastmen completed their forced march. After all, his army had been ready for that all night.
But in the end, the enemy made no move at all...
This was the consequence of General Curry’s defeat. The humans now held the initiative.
If General Curry had succeeded, it would be the humans who had yet to enter Thermopylae who would be in a panic right now.
But there were no "ifs." Time was not on the Beastmen’s side; they had to race against the clock.
General Griff shook his head and returned to organizing his troops. No matter what tricks the enemy employed, he had only one method. Or rather, the current state of the Beastman Army and the enemy’s preparations left him with only one option.
That was to let his soldiers rest, build enough siege engines, then have them take their combat potions and go all-in with a single, massive assault.
If they won, the Beastmen would break into the interior of the Frank Kingdom and threaten its central army from the rear, achieving a total victory and beginning the next phase of the war.
If they lost, the war would devolve into a stalemate, and the Beastmen’s supply lines would be stretched even further.
Moreover, with winter setting in, it would be difficult for the Beastman Empire to leverage its advantage in sheer numbers.