The marching speed increased once again. The wolf packs scouted far ahead, opening the field of vision.
Al stayed pressed against the centaur girl's back, constantly watching the situation on the map.
Waiting.
Anxious, uneasy waiting.
So much so that Al repeatedly wondered if he had gone the wrong way and was heading in completely opposite directions from Thar and the others.
The centaur girl sensed Al's unease. She gently lifted him up, placed his head against her chest, and greatly eased his tension.
But Al's mind was still filled with Thar Thar Thar. Even pressing against the mare's soft, fragrant, elastic breasts no longer felt as comforting as before.
Only when the first red dot appeared on the map did Al confirm they were going the right way.
"Everyone halt!"
"Stop!"
When he saw more and more red dots representing the enemy appear on the map as the wolfmen scouts advanced, Al felt both excitement and apprehension. He urgently ordered the entire army to stop.
At the same time he frantically locked onto the foremost wolfmen on the map and kept sending them retreat signals.
These wolfmen had limited loyalty to Al and weak connection, so the void orders didn't work very well. Al watched them continue forward despite the commands. Only after running a distance and revealing more red dots did they finally start withdrawing.
By then the wolfmen scouts who had come back to report had also returned.
"Chief, enemies… ahead… many."
The wolfman stammered out a few simple words to report the frontline situation to Al.
Thanks to the Four Gods' blessing, Al naturally understood all languages and clearly grasped its meaning.
Now the way forward was blocked by the enemy, and even more un-scouted dots lay behind the fog. Al fell into hesitation.
A beastman captain hurried over. The previously dying yellow wasps in his palm suddenly moved. They kept crawling in one direction while desperately flapping their wings, trying to fly.
Thar's direction!
Al immediately ordered his subordinates to advance stealthily, using their racial advantage to approach the imperials' rear through the forest under cover.
At the same time he sent the returning wolfmen scouts out again, spreading them to the left and right flanks to scout and find out how wide the imperial lines were. This would give him a rough estimate of the imperial army's numbers.
He also ordered several agile beastmen to climb a few trees and see if they could spot anything.
Time passed minute by minute. More and more visible red dots appeared, the line stretching extremely wide like a semicircle.
Al didn't know what lay behind that arc. Perhaps Thar's group was being surrounded? Or maybe it was simply the imperials' rear camp.
Al didn't dare gamble lightly. With his current forces, if he didn't commit at the key, correct place, his numbers, equipment, and discipline would be vastly inferior to the imperial army and he wouldn't be able to achieve much.
"Chief… chief!"
The most nimble horned beastman had climbed the fastest. He was the first to stand on a branch and look ahead.
"Trees… so many trees… fire… so many fires!"
His messy shouting made Al even more anxious, but there clearly wasn't enough loyalty between this horned beastman and him to form a close connection, so he couldn't share the other's vision.
"The shaman! I see the shaman!"
The horned beastman suddenly shouted excitedly a few times, then lost his grip and slid down.
Fortunately the centaur girl was right beside him. She caught the horned beastman with one hand and set him on the ground.
The still-shaken horned beastman hadn't recovered when he saw Al's suppressed expression and the blazing fire growing brighter in his crimson pupils. Panicking, he spilled out everything he had seen.
"The shaman's banner! I saw it! An open area, a big valley mouth! They're trapped there! So many corpses!"
He had already learned the local terrain from the beastman captains. This was a valley carved out of the endless Pina dense forest and hills, like a section that had broken off from the Irrana Mountains.
Overall it formed a figure-eight shape. The farther in, the narrower the terrain became. Passing through the end of the valley would lead into an even more dangerous, rarely visited dark forest. Within the Pina Forest countless terrifying monsters were born, even twisted creations resembling those from the corrupted forests of Athel Loren.
Thar and the others had probably planned to pass through this valley and hide deeper in the Pina Forest to escape the humans. Monsters might be terrifying, but with hundreds or thousands of people they could still deal with them. The imperial army, however, would exterminate the Revelers beastmen entirely.
Yet now they were blocked at the valley mouth. One step forward meant a new world, but for some reason they could neither advance nor retreat.
Al's mind was now filled with all kinds of plans and calculations. The strength gap was too great. One wrong step and he would pay a heavy price. Alina was the Bloodmother's Chosen, but in the receded Chaos environment she couldn't single-handedly slaughter hundreds or thousands of men.
The beastmen who had just been organized into squads hadn't even trained. They relied solely on the tacit understanding and coordination developed within the old tribe.
The Chaos beastmen were a noisy horde of wild animals. Along the way Al had constantly had to restrain them to prevent internal fights and backstabbing.
But Thar was right there in front of him. He couldn't not save him!
"Recall the black and white wolf packs. Send the gray pack to the outer perimeter for reconnaissance."
Al bit his finger, closed his eyes, and focused on the map in his mind, making his decision.
Three wolf packs. Al simply named them Black, White, and Gray.
"Everyone move left."
Al planned on the map, very much like certain famous micro-managing masters.
But unlike them, the next moment Al would personally carry out his own plan.
When the position was about right, he called over the leaders of the black and white packs and pointed at the faintly visible human camp beyond the dense forest.
"You will lead your packs that way. Charge through from there into the humans' rear."
The wolfmen leaders uneasily scratched the ground with their claws, clearly reluctant.
Al's face was cold, his pupils blazing crimson like fire.
"I'm not asking you to sneak-attack the enemy. That would be sending you to your deaths. You have only one task."
"Use your fastest speed to charge through the humans' camp from behind and link up with Thar and the others inside."
"With your speed, you should be able to get through before the humans can react and intercept you. Can you do it?"
Al asked the two alpha wolves in a deep voice.
"The gods will reward those who contribute in this battle. Show me the speed of the wolf packs!" His words seemed to carry the clash of metal, inspiring courage in those who heard them.
The two alpha wolves exchanged a glance, knelt on one knee to Al, accepted the order, and left.
Al immediately led the army, using the forest's cover to advance toward the imperials' left-rear flank.
That was the spot on the map where the red enemy dots were relatively fewer, but still not the weakest position. He would wait for the right moment.
"Can we launch a full offensive yet?"
The wood elf leaned against a tree in boredom, toying with a dagger in her hand.
Rhine and the others gathered outside the tent, observing the battlefield.
His risky plan that ignored his subordinates' objections seemed about to achieve a good victory. Using the mobility of pegasus knights and griffons to launch an attack from the sky that the beastmen could never have imagined, followed by a ground assault led by wood elves and hunters.
The long-peaceful Shepherd-worshipping beastmen were beaten back step by step by this combination punch. That very night they abandoned their gathering place and fled into the forest. But this step had already been part of Rhine's plan.
Through the deal with the wood elves, they agreed to assist his beastmen extermination operation. They communicated with the dormant forest spirits of the Pina Forest, who informed the wood elves of the surrounding terrain. Rhine used this knowledge of the terrain to drive the beastmen from the very beginning toward the pre-planned location—this perfect, most suitable place for an annihilation battle.
It was the escape route Thar had chosen for his people, and also the trap Rhine had set for the beastmen.
He used the mobility of pegasus knights to constantly ferry personnel to the valley mouth and deployed almost all his hunter units, along with lightly equipped infantry, to march day and night. They hid at the valley mouth, cut timber on the spot, and built barricades.
When Thar led his tribe into the valley and found the retreat behind them already sealed by the imperial army, they had already fallen into Rhine's scheme.
Ahead of them was narrow terrain and dense human defensive lines. Behind them were the steadily advancing imperial troops. Trapped in this narrow zone, they faced a constantly tightening encirclement.
Rhine Julius, this highly talented young general, had ignored his subordinates' strong opposition and forcibly led his troops into the forest to fight the beastmen, quickly driving the Revelers tribe into a dead end. But now victory was in sight, and his heart was just as troubled as Al's.
He seemed to be observing the battlefield, but he was also watching the surrounding staff officers and subordinates.
If it weren't for that idiot Will—that useless pretty boy—everything would have ended by now with the launch of the offensive.
Rhine felt stifled with anger.
The half-grown cub riding a powerful centaur that Will had described had still not appeared, so he could not make up his mind to annihilate the remaining beastmen.
He had to kill it!
Otherwise the fact that a woman of the Julius family had given birth to a Chaos bastard and that the bastard was still wandering in a foreign forest would become a stain on the entire family!
Shame itself wasn't frightening. What was frightening was not washing it away!
Even if Selesthin had suffered such defilement, as long as he could kill that Beastlord and that beastman cub and slaughter the Chaos tribe, this shame would be cleansed. Even the enemies of the Julius family would have nothing to criticize!
Selesthin could go to Altdorf, enter a convent, or even stay in this foreign land of Estalia and marry some wealthy, good-tempered merchant to live a carefree life.
Washing away the shame was the greatest help Rhine could give his cousin.
Even if it meant defying the court's orders and facing attacks from enemies afterward.
"Come out… come out…"
He left his subordinates, walked alone to a tree, stroked the rough branch, and murmured while looking at the battlefield.
"There… there are wolf packs!"
A messenger rushed over in panic. The staff officers looked over. The young soldier gasped as he urgently reported, "Gait's company was attacked by beastmen. Those bastards charged out from behind and raided their lines."
Rhine lightly tapped the tree trunk. "How many?"
The messenger licked his dry lips and continued, "Not too many, but difficult to clear in a short time. Lord Will on the left flank has already taken troops to support."
Rhine nodded, thought for a moment, then shook his head and laughed scornfully. "Idiot."
"Pass the order. Prepare to launch the offensive."
"You… we once fell into Chaos, sinking in the mire of corruption! But after the Great War, the Shepherd's teachings freed us from filth. We worked diligently, farmed, and built our own tribes and homes!"
"Yet the imperials have never cared about any of that. They still see us as beasts, as Chaos dogs. In the name of their gods they slaughter our kin and burn our forests!"
"We fight for the Shepherd's faith! We fight for the tribe! We fight for them, for you, for ourselves!"
Al pointed toward the humans' rear. Thar and the others were behind that defensive line.
The beastmen gripped their spears and short swords tighter. Expressions of shared hatred appeared on their faces (successful inspiration, leadership +8, love from Altdorf).
Al felt increasingly skilled at battlefield techniques. That aura of clashing metal constantly surrounded him—analyzing the enemy, finding weaknesses, assessing chances of victory, inspiring subordinates… He realized the Bloodmother had not only given him a guiding, protecting Chosen.
She had also given him the affinity, yearning, and mastery of war contained in his burning blood!
For the Shepherd believers he had to use short speeches to inspire them, but for the rage-tainted beasts and launching an attack, only one short sentence was needed.
"Attack!"
"Blood—!"
The centaur girl turned into a crimson lightning bolt and charged out of cover!
Two imperial soldiers carrying supplies were struck as if by thunder. They stared dazedly as the crimson figure leaped high and descended!
Her front hooves crushed one soldier's chest. The warhammer sent the other flying.
"Sacrifice to the Bloodmother!"
From the forest, the beast tide surged!