Chapter 74: The Retreat of Humanity (Revised)
Suratu didn’t respond to Victor’s words.
He was intently watching the treemen engaged in battle.
The human soldiers simply couldn’t withstand the advance of these treemen.
While their speed had decreased a bit once they charged into the human formation, they were still pressing forward.
As they advanced, the human lines were slowly collapsing, with no one knowing how many human soldiers had perished at the hands of the treemen.
As for the attack on Silnas Fortress, despite breaching the city gates, there had been little progress since.
The humans had literally opened the door but lacked the strength to enter.
Faced with such dire circumstances for humanity, Suratu’s deep gaze revealed nothing—no joy, no anger, and certainly no clue as to what he was thinking at that moment.
After a long while, Suratu sighed and said, “Your Highness, order a retreat! We have lost this siege today.”
“No, Grandpa Suratu! We haven’t lost yet! We can still fight! The gates of the Elven city have already been breached! We can storm inside any moment now!”
But Victor wasn’t willing to concede.
The Elven gates had been breached, and he was just one step away from gaining immense merit and glory.
Yet now, that chance slipped away because of these treemen.
Though the stark reality screamed that victory was nearly impossible, he still refused to believe he would lose.
He would win!
He had to win!
Only by winning this battle could he obtain what he desired.
Besides that, he needed to heal his father.
And then continue to leverage his father’s name to intimidate those around him.
If he lost, it would be a devastating blow.
Seeing Victor being stubborn, Suratu had to counsel him, “Your Highness, the situation is set; we truly cannot turn it around. Right now, the best strategy is to retreat quickly and preserve our forces as much as possible.”
Victor completely ignored him.
He continued organizing the human army to fend off the treemen’s advance.
Most of the human soldiers, despite not losing their fighting spirit in this unfavorable situation, still couldn’t halt the treemen’s aggressive onslaught.
The massive treemen could easily kick multiple human soldiers away with just a casual kick.
In contrast, the cutting weapons in the hands of human soldiers barely left any mark on the treemen—at best, they only scratched their rough bark.
And those scratches meant absolutely nothing to the stout treemen.
“Use fire! Quickly burn them to death!”
After a while of chaotic fighting, someone among the human soldiers suggested a way to deal with the treemen.
Seeing the treemen’s bodies resembling vast trees, they thought to treat them like firewood to burn.
The human archers, previously without much impact, began firing flaming arrows at the treemen, and a countless swarm of arrows surged towards them.
Additionally, the human mages started unleashing various fire magic spells against the treemen.
In an instant, the area around the treemen transformed into a realm of flames, engulfing them in fire.
Seeing this scene, Victor’s expression lit up with joy.
Suratu, however, shook his head gently.
Clearly, he did not believe, as Victor did, that mere flames would defeat the treemen.
In fact, that was precisely the case.
A dry twig fears the fire, but treemen are no dry twigs.
The flames merely annoyed them.
And it completely ignited their ferocity.
The treemen charged out of the fiery realm, bloodlust awakened, continuing their slaughter of human soldiers.
Their methods became increasingly cruel, causing the human soldiers to retreat in disarray.
Therefore, this counterattack not only failed to achieve its intended effect but even backfired, rendering the treemen even more invincible.
Naturally, the morale of the humans plummeted, teetering on the brink of collapse.
Victor’s earlier joy vanished instantly, replaced by a blank stare.
He clearly hadn’t anticipated such a result.
“Your Highness, you see, we simply have no way to resist the treemen’s attacks. We must retreat to preserve our strength and then think of another way. We may have lost this battle, but we have not lost the war; we still have a chance,” Suratu seized the moment to advise again.
After a long time, witnessing everything at the back, Victor begrudgingly said, “Retreat!”
Humanity genuinely found itself unable to turn the tide.
The Elven soldiers inside the fortress saw hope after the treemen launched their surprise attack.
With hope, they naturally fought with greater vigor.
The already beleaguered human soldiers found their situation becoming even more dire.
Once the retreat order was issued, most human soldiers and officers began to break free from the fight, fleeing for their lives.
Only a small fraction remained to hold the line against the elves and treemen.
After dealing with the human rearguard, the elves and treemen joined forces to pursue the retreating human soldiers.
Humans had no choice but to abandon some officers and soldiers, forcing them to stop and set up a new defense line to fend off the pursuing elves and treemen.
This chase continued until the human soldiers retreated to their previously established temporary camp—the landing point on Silnas Island.
The sea tribe soldiers, untrained for land combat, had remained behind.
Thanks to their assistance, the human soldiers avoided the fate of being driven into the sea.
After the battle concluded, Airael once again stood atop a small platform on the city wall, gazing around.
At this point, night had completely fallen.
The surroundings relied entirely on the torches held by the soldiers for illumination.
Additionally, many soldiers were busy clearing the battlefield.
Though the elves had ultimately achieved victory in the battle, they paid a hefty price for their earlier losses.
Corpses of elven soldiers were scattered across the city wall.
Many from the elven race had lost their lives in the fight.
Of course, the humans fared far worse.
After a day of fighting, particularly the later pursuit, human corpses littered the ground outside the wall, blood flowing like a river.
Casualties were roughly estimated to be at least over ten thousand.
At that moment, Hela approached and spoke, “Your Majesty, the soldiers tasked with the pursuit have returned, and the battle is over.”
“We won! Teacher Hela!”
Though she spoke with joy, Airael didn’t look nearly as happy.
Initially, she didn’t feel much when she was solely focused on winning the battle, but now, witnessing so many corpses around her, it was genuinely hard for her to feel joy.
Moreover, this war was far from over.
The elven race had merely turned the tide of a disadvantageous situation.
Humanity still held an overall advantage.
Hela followed Airael’s gaze to the surrounding corpses and sighed, “Your Majesty, you need not feel too saddened; whether it’s our elven soldiers or the human soldiers, they all died for a cause. It’s entirely normal for soldiers to perish on the battlefield.”
