Chapter 712 - 701: Forward, Great Fungus Castle
Chapter 712: Chapter 701: Forward, Great Fungus Castle
To the east of the Empire, adjacent to the Mountains, lies a border fortress.
Dwarves scattered in groups of twos and threes on the streets, using their battle axes to pry open tightly shut doors and driving out the remnant soldiers hiding in the corners.
The old and weak Demon Race soldiers raised their hands, being escorted through the rubble-strewn streets towards a makeshift prisoner camp outside the city.
General Duvalin stood in the plaza at the center of the fortress, stepping on a tattered military flag beneath his feet, the emblem of Duke Levi on it.
He glanced around, his brows knit into a knot.
The fortress was taken too easily.
The Defense Runes were only partially broken, and as the Dwarves climbed the city walls for the second time, the defending army collapsed.
Inside, almost all the Demon Race soldiers were old, weak, sick, and disabled.
Upon questioning the captives, they learned that the main army they had been entangled with had been redeployed to the rear three days ago.
Duvalin couldn’t understand.
A fortress of this level usually took over a month to conquer and caused thousands of casualties.
And yet now, has Levi just handed the fortress over to him? How could that make any sense?
Duvalin was worried this was Levi’s trap to lure him in, repeatedly replaying in his mind whether he had overlooked any crucial information.
At this moment, a messenger came rushing from the city gate.
"General! Urgent report!"
Duvalin took the metal tube and pulled out the parchment inside.
His glance swept over the first line, and his brows furrowed tighter; as he scanned the second line, his eyes slightly widened, and by the third line, he was utterly stupefied.
"Dean killed in battle... Dragon Horn Castle fallen... Fungus Castle’s army is splitting south, sweeping through the entire northern Empire...?"
If not for the Mountain’s imprint in the lower right corner, he would have taken this as the drunken ravings of a fool boasting in a tavern!
Due to the partnership with Fungus Castle, many Dwarves worked in Fungus Castle, and some were tasked with relaying messages to the Mountains, so the information delay wasn’t significant.
But... how did they manage this?
Fungus Castle was indeed strong; he witnessed it before.
But defeating Eugene through an ambush and attacking head-on were entirely different in difficulty!
Moreover, Dragon Horn Castle, if he remembered correctly, wasn’t it built on a strategic junction, the most fortified castle of the Demon Race?
And they even managed to kill Dean?!
Now he understood why Levi had redeployed the army back; if it were him, he would also concentrate forces to fortify defenses.
"General, what should we do next?" the deputy commander asked after reading.
Duvalin laughed heartily, "What to do? Isn’t it obvious? Of course, we hit them hard while they’re down! Tell the warriors to move quickly; we must keep advancing!"
"Yes!"
In the high spirits of the Dwarves, Duvalin quietly pondered over the "leader" of Fungus Castle mentioned in the intelligence and the role the mycelium played in the battle where Fungus Castle conquered the Empire’s north.
He looked around; though not many, some of his soldiers also had mycelium growing on them...
...
Dragon Horn Castle.
Marshal Puki stood with one foot on the tip of the fortress tower, his newly donned extended bright red cloak fluttering in the breeze, with No. 4 and No. 7 posing in combat stances below, the three of them holding their posture without a single movement.
Below, a few Dwarf craftsmen were working overtime to carve this great scene.
For Lin Jun, this was just a daily routine check-in.
But for No. 4, it was extremely exciting, as it was a crucial moment to record its moment of glory.
If only the Mushroom Lord’s cloak would stop blowing over to cover half of it...
Below, besides the stone carvers responsible, Tolin, Mark, and a group of Combat Puppet technical researchers were also present at the scene.
This was the first time the siege Combat Puppet was put into combat, so naturally, they needed to conduct an on-site inspection afterwards.
Tolin picked up a few partially melted boards due to high temperatures, as if he could see the attacks the Combat Puppet suffered from them: "This is too terrifying; there’s practically no way to repair it..."
Seeing their painstaking creation being destroyed, Tolin felt a bit distressed.
Mark was much more excited, examining the damaged Defense Runes of Dragon Horn Castle: "Just as the blueprints recorded, high-frequency magic power oscillation has an excellent destructive effect on large Magic Arrays! Centipede No. 1, with eleven sections oscillating, if increased to sixteen, it would take just two rounds to completely destroy Dragon Horn’s defenses, leaving none remaining! But a longer body, the control of the Combat Puppet..."
The Combat Puppet performed well in this battle, practically dedicated to breaking castles. Lin Jun decisively increased Marco’s budget, instructing them to create a few more later.
Little Pig and Norris didn’t stay at Dragon Horn Castle but went to take over the remaining territories of the two Dukes.
Indeed, it was a takeover.
After the news of Duke Dean’s death got out, almost all the nobles under Eugene chose to abandon their territories and fled towards the central part of the Empire with all they could carry.
On the Demon Race’s side, Lin Jun initially thought there would be some resistance, but in fact, they left even more cleanly.
In the territories Eugene ruled, in the cities Norris occupied, most of the remaining behind were some Demon Race civilians and low-value old and weak slaves.
Naturally, the Fungus Castle gladly accepted all of these.
As for the Demon Race’s side, it was completely empty, and the towns behind became deserted cities.
Of course, this was also related to the Fungal Mat expansion speed limiting the southward advance of the Fungus Castle army.
The main army could indeed march off the Fungal Mat, but heading further south, nearing the center of the Empire, there lay the Emperor and Prince.
Without the Fungal Mat’s reconnaissance ability, a surprise attack would be disastrous.
Moreover, if they didn’t die on the Fungal Mat, they couldn’t even hope to resurrect into fungi.
Therefore, for safety’s sake, the main army generally wouldn’t march off the Fungal Mat.
The slow advancement pace gave the Demon Race in the rear plenty of time to evacuate, allowing these Warriors to take everyone away.
Lin Jun hardly cared about these runaways, or rather, it was actually advantageous to lose some.
Despite the Fungus Castle’s strong fighting force, creating an impression of a large and powerful army during wars, this was almost entirely because the Fungus Castle army could repeatedly replenish Puki.
Discounting Puki, in terms of soldier numbers, the Fungus Castle was far inferior to the two Dukes’ lands when it came to population.
Including non-combatants, the gap was even larger.
This time, devouring nearly half the population of two Dukes’ lands was almost akin to a snake swallowing an elephant.
Assimilating all these people into Fungus People mentally and physically required a vast endeavor.
Losing some of them somewhat eased the assimilation difficulty.
For this, Lin Jun had to thank the divisions in the Empire’s upper and lower echelons, which allowed Fungus Castle to easily gather people’s support.
It wasn’t yet apparent on the Demon Race’s side, but it was most evident in those Blood Race lords’ territories.
While Norris was seizing land, he encountered the final resistance of a Blood Race at a certain mine.
The guy sent an SOS to the Prince, believing that as long as he held on for a while, he would receive reinforcements to save his mine.
His means of resistance was to arm the mine’s slaves and, under the guidance of a few Supervisors, attempt to hold out for reinforcements.
Norris didn’t even attack; after surrounding the mine, he simply asked the slaves, "The Empire Army has been defeated. Why still risk your lives for this guy? Just to die in a mine shaft later?"
That Blood Race and his Supervisors eventually perished at the hands of the very slaves they armed, with Norris expending not a single Puki.
Fungus Castle has no slaves.
Thus, wherever the Fungus Castle army went, the slaves welcomed them wholeheartedly, painting a scene of vibrant life, with all living things flourishing.