Chapter 1161
Meanwhile, the Marchioni Imperial Army was struggling without Siegfried.
Though the Corals had shifted their strategy from offense to defense, the imperial army’s casualties were steadily mounting.
Why? The reason was simple.
The Corals kept fielding more elite units led by the Coral Emperor’s imperial guards, outclassing the Marchioni Imperial Army in terms of quality.
The Marchioni Imperial Army had no choice but to rely on the Adventurers to break through the enemy’s fortified defense lines.
Adventurers were the perfect expendable resource to conserve the imperial army’s strength, as they would simply come back to life after drying.
Even so, they were still human at the end of the day. Casualties among the venturers were inevitable against the overwhelmingly powerful Coral Imperial Guards unleashed on the frontlines.
The Adventurers' growth rate was incredibly fast, but the penalty for dying was simply too steep compared to the experience points and rewards they stood to gain fighting against the Corals.
As a result, the number of Adventurers who conscripted into the Marchioni Imperial Army began to dwindle.
The Adventurers were no fools, as they soon realized that the empire was treating them like cannon fodder or meat shields.
Among them, the higher-ranking ones—needed the most on the battlefield—started showing reluctance to fight, as dying even once at their current level was very costly.
Most Adventurers heading to the Coral Planet were Level 299. If one death would cost them three levels, then recovering from the penalty alone could take two to three months.