Chapter 63 : Chapter 63
Chapter 63. The First Prince’s Scheme, Defeat Collapses Like a Landslide
William had Tos lead the way in front as the group trudged along the desolate relay road toward Qila City.
The surviving soldiers supported one another as they staggered forward. Only the thirty-eight slaves followed closely behind William. Though their eyes still held exhaustion, there was now an added trace of unwavering resolve.
Inside the royal palace of the Royal Capital, candlelight flickered atop gilded candlesticks, causing the First Prince’s face to shift between light and shadow.
He fiercely crushed the secret letter in his hand, and scraps of paper fell onto the velvet-covered floor.
“Trash. A bunch of trash.”
His low growl echoed through the empty palace hall.
“With so many people surrounding them, they still failed to kill a single one. Fine, William had Shadow Guards protecting him—but what about the Third Prince? They still could not kill him? I raised them for so long for nothing.”
He paced around the hall several times. The fury in his chest gradually subsided, replaced by a cold, sinister calculation.
“It all has to be cleaned up.”
He muttered to himself.
“We cannot leave behind a single trace. As long as Father cannot find any evidence, he will not be able to touch me.”
After saying that, he quickly strode out of the hall to make arrangements for covering everything up.
Not long after he left, a figure slowly emerged from the shadows in the corner of the hall. A hood covered most of his face, revealing only a pale stretch of jaw.
He stood there silently for a moment, like a statue that did not breathe. Then he soundlessly melted back into the shadows, as if he had never appeared at all.
At the same time, on the Wind and Snow Plains, the sounds of slaughter still shook the heavens, yet the tide of battle had already begun to show signs of collapse.
The scales of victory were gradually tipping toward the allied forces of Kroll and Dragon.
The battle line of the barbarian tribes collapsed first. Without the support of a Monster Legion, they were like praying mantises trying to stop a chariot when faced with the charge of the Royal Second Monster Legion of the Kroll Kingdom.
The Giant Wolf Riders tore open their formation. Wherever iron hooves fell, flesh and blood flew. Some of the giant wolves even died from overeating corpses, collapsing in the snow and never moving again.
“Retreat! Retreat now!”
The barbarian leader roared, but he could not stop the tide of fleeing warriors.
They had not come here to die. Kadiya had Monster Legions covering them, while they had been forced to withstand everything with flesh and blood alone. If they kept fighting, they would only be completely annihilated.
Inside Kadiya’s central command tent, Selena looked at the letter from Ningshuang City, her expression as grave as ice.
Their only chance had slipped away.
“Pass down my orders.”
She suddenly turned around, a ruthless glint flashing through her eyes.
“Have the barbarian tribes hold the rear at all costs and delay the allied army. Kadiya’s main force will immediately withdraw south and fall back to defend Meteorfall Fortress in the Southern Frontier.”
The messenger took the order and left. Only Selena and several core generals remained in the tent.
One general hesitated before saying, “Princess, if we do that, then the barbarian tribes will probably…”
“Probably what? If the barbarian tribes had not secretly colluded with the Orc Kingdom, would we have been defeated this badly?”
Selena cut him off, her voice cold and hard.
“Preserving Kadiya’s remaining strength matters more than anything else. Once we retreat to the Southern Frontier, we can rely on the natural defenses there and look for another chance.”
She looked at the Kadiya banner fluttering outside the tent, then at the barbarian battle line in the wind and snow, already on the verge of collapse. Her fingertip traced the location of the Southern Frontier across the map. Her eyes were filled with unwillingness, yet also carried a desperate resolve.
She could not afford to lose this war too completely.
Less than a quarter of an hour after the order was issued, the tent flap was violently thrown open. The Third Prince of the Barbarian Royal Court stormed in, bringing a gust of snow with him. Bloodstains still marked his fur cloak, and rage burned in his eyes.
“Selena, what do you mean by this? You want our barbarian warriors to die in front and shield you from the blades while you run away yourselves? Do you think we’re idiots?”
Selena had been lowering her head over a Military Intelligence Report. Hearing this, she slowly raised her gaze. There was not the slightest ripple on her face—only a faint trace of mockery.
“You are the one treating me like an idiot. You’re treating the Kadiya Kingdom like idiots.”
“If your people had not deliberately pulled the Giant Legion away without authorization, how would the battle have reached this point?”
She threw the report onto the table, and the sheets made a crisp sound as they struck the surface.
“You swore with complete confidence that you could hold the flank. And what happened? The moment the orcs attacked, you withdrew the Giant Legion and left the entire mess for us.”
“You useless fools, more than capable of ruining things and incapable of accomplishing anything—what right do you have to come here demanding an explanation?”
The Third Prince was left speechless, his face flushing red. He pointed at Selena but could not get the words out.
“You… you’re slandering me. The orc ambush was an accident.”
“An accident?”
Selena let out a cold laugh.
“Do you really not know, or are you pretending not to know?”
She lifted her eyes toward the guards outside the tent.
“Escort this ‘prince’ out. Without my order, he is not to come within half a step of the central command tent again.”
Two heavily armored guards immediately stepped forward and seized the still-struggling, still-roaring Third Prince from both sides.
“Selena, you’ll regret this! The Barbarian Royal Court will never let you off!”
His roar grew fainter and fainter until it was swallowed by the wind and snow.
Selena straightened the slightly wrinkled sleeve at her wrist as though she had just driven away some noisy insect.
She turned to the generals beside her and said, “Ignore him. Continue the retreat according to the original plan. Whether the barbarian tribes live or die has nothing to do with us.”
The generals nodded in acknowledgment, though inwardly they sighed. Now that the alliance had turned against itself, the road of retreat would only become harder.
Once the retreat order took effect, it became as unstoppable as a burst dam.
The nine remnant legions on Kadiya’s left flank were the first to break away from the battle line. Almost in a panic, they withdrew to the rear, exposing the entire front line directly to the barbarian tribes.
The barbarians were still stunned by Kadiya’s sudden retreat. Before they could react, the legions of the Kroll Kingdom surged forward like a tidal wave, and flashing blades instantly swallowed the front ranks of the barbarian army.
Soon after, the remnant Kadiya soldiers on the right flank also began to retreat frantically. The entire battle line collapsed with terrifying speed, like a dike hollowed out from within.
Only then did the order from the Third Prince of the Barbarian Royal Court finally reach the various tribes:
Retreat.
The chieftains who received the order could no longer restrain themselves. They slapped their hands on the tables, rose to their feet, and rushed out of the command tents.
The barbarian retreat was utterly chaotic. More than a hundred thousand tribesmen fled to the rear like a panicked herd of beasts.
The chaotic torrent of people directly smashed through Kadiya’s already loose retreat formation. Men crowded and trampled one another from front to back, and the scene completely spiraled out of control.
“The chance has come.”
When the Dragon Rider Order of the Dragon Kingdom saw this, they immediately drove their dragons forward. Dragon breath poured down like waterfalls, turning the chaotic crowd below into a sea of fire.
Inside Kadiya’s central command tent, Selena listened to the reports from her subordinates, her face turning ashen with rage. She suddenly lashed the riding crop in her hand against the desk.
“A bunch of idiots.”
This utterly undisciplined rout by the barbarians had practically sealed off Kadiya’s retreat route.
“Pass down my orders.”
She made the decision at once.
“The central army will abandon all supplies and retreat at full speed. There is no need to care about the two flanks or the rear any longer. If we wait any longer, we’ll only be encircled and devoured by the allied forces of Kroll and Dragon.”
Though the generals were reluctant, they knew they had already reached a dead end. They could only accept the order with stiffened resolve.
Kadiya’s central army no longer continued the fight. Abandoning their camps and supplies, they marched at full speed toward the Southern Frontier, trying to tear open a path of survival through the chaos caused by the barbarian rout.
The battlefield had completely turned into a boiling cauldron.
The allied forces of Kroll and Dragon pressed the attack and slaughtered their fleeing enemies. Kadiya’s routed soldiers, the stampeding barbarians, and the diving dragons were all mixed together. Battle cries, screams, and dragon roars intertwined into a hellscape of despair.
Selena rode atop her warhorse and looked back once at the chaos behind her. A trace of pain flashed through her eyes before being replaced by ruthless determination.
She tightened her legs around the horse’s belly and charged into the wind and snow without looking back.
As long as she could escape to the Southern Frontier, there would always be a day to rise again.