"Under the personal command of... (deep breath) the biological son of the Four Mothers, the destined Everchosen, the Messiah of the Beastmen, the absolute leader of the tribe, the savior of the Order world, the ally of the Northern Council, and the protector of all Estalians... the defense of the Sacred Grove has achieved a brilliant victory! This battle completely annihilated over one hundred thousand Greenskins who harassed our heartland, severely crippled the enemy's vitality, thwarted their aggressive momentum, and prevented them from launching a swift attack on Demontrei or entering the Northern Kingdom. It has revitalized the long-stagnant morale of our soldiers and civilians! It has a decisive, hammer-stroke impact on our Estalian campaign against the Green Tide!"
— Excerpted from a notice board at a certain tribal settlement.
"The tribespeople fought truly well... However, it would have been even better if they were replaced by the Tercio!"
— Barret Wallace, "Mercenary" of the Magritta Committee of Seven for National Salvation.
"I [profanity] your mother!"
— The Everchosen, while tallying his own combat losses after the war.
In the absence of special circumstances such as:
A hidden army suddenly lunging from a flank, shouting a massive "WAAAAAGH!" and yelling: "I've been waitin' 'ere a long time on the Warboss's orders!";
Or a handsome blonde youth having his mask knocked off, suddenly sensing the Holy Light, reaching for the sky, and casting a mass resurrection spell that pulls up a field of Greenskins;
The outcome was as Al expected (though he was deathly nervous at the time).
Supported by the air-and-ground monster units, magical assistance, and a host of warriors like Alina, Misha, and Hera.
With the Centigor adoptive mother—who, in game terms, would be at least a Legendary Hero unit—acting as the vanguard,
the tribal army launched a total counter-offensive that routed the Greenskin elite units.
Then, carrying the momentum of a great victory, they shattered several Greenskin lines in one breath, causing the morale of the enemies in the city to collapse.
This time, the glory of "Enemy Defeated" was not claimed by Alina.
The Blessed Minotaur Alestar, leading the Minotaur warbands, rampaged all the way through, trampling the Greenskin commander's guard.
Upon facing the commander-in-chief of this Greenskin invasion force, she directly hacked him down with two axes.
Regrettably, the finishing blow was slightly off, only shearing off half of the Greenskin commander's body.
Just like at the walls of Veling, the Greenskin leader was eventually rescued and spirited away amidst the chaos.
To avoid the desperate counter-attack of a trapped beast and to preserve his own manpower—
both the Mortal Auxilia and the Beastman warriors had already suffered heavy losses—
Al adopted the tactic of "surrounding three sides and leaving one open."
He left a "safe" path for the routing Greenskins to flee.
Thus, under multiple blows including their commander being severely wounded and fleeing the field,
the retreating Greenskins threw away their armor and weapons, shrieking and howling as they fled like a herd toward the only path of survival.
Along the way, they were pursued relentlessly, facing various pincer attacks and ambushes.
On the ground, they were hunted by light Beastman units, wolf packs, and Centigors.
In the sky, the monster corps of Griffons, Manticores, and Wyverns constantly dove for the kill, while Shamans cast spells from their flying mounts.
It is estimated that at most twenty or thirty percent of these defeated Greenskins managed to escape.
But regardless, the result was achieved, and Lileath's condition of a "thirty-thousand-head blood sacrifice" was undoubtedly met.
Twelve altars and twelve "beautiful and pure" virgin priestesses had also long been gathered.
After a period of education and training, they began to faithfully fulfill their duties, contributing their faith to the Goddess Lileath.
Al had personally "inspected" all twelve priestesses.
Just an inspection, nothing else.
Al was merely horny,
not some "Dragon Aotian" or "Yang An," and certainly not a total stud stallion.
Al looked over the twelve beautiful priestesses one by one, confirming there were no major issues.
They were indeed all quite beautiful, with outstanding temperaments—the kind he could enjoy for "seven-star entertainment."
It seemed the people below treated this serious, sacred, and solemn grand affair (shouting)!
As Al's way of holding a beauty pageant to fill his harem under a kingly guise.
The refugee elite class, who had previously committed a major error and were severely bled by Al—
who used their heads to buy people's hearts and appease public anger—put in a great deal of effort this time.
They jumped through hoops to perform, wanting the "Beastlord to remember them kindly."
Earlier, when Al stepped out as the good guy to purge the corrupt supply officials,
these wealthy councilors had intended to cling to the "Kingdom Legitimate" authority.
But the Vanguard Legion was squeezed and excluded everywhere, becoming depressed and introverted.
The envoy delegation didn't even dare to communicate much for fear of offending the tribe.
The elites, recognizing the situation, could only work hard to curry favor with the tribal side.
They feared that being surrounded by "Kingdom Traitors" and facing significant public resentment, they might one day be dragged to the execution grounds and hanged in front of the commoners.
A few had tried every means to flee north and return to "civilized society."
But most of their interests were rooted in the refugees from the three cities.
Their wealth, and their now nominal "power and status," all depended on their existence.
If they fled with their families, forget whether the North—which was about to face a Great War—was safe;
their status and wealth could not be sufficiently guaranteed. At least the status brought by being a "Council Representative" would certainly be gone.
With so many upper, middle, and lower classes fleeing north, what use was the identity of a small city councilor or a wealthy man?
So most of them stayed, planning to see how the situation developed.
If the North successfully resisted and restoration was in sight, they would find ways to return to the Kingdom.
If the Kingdom fought miserably again and the North turned into a mess, they would continue to hide in the forest with their families.
Life would be hard, but at least they'd be alive.
However, since then, the influence of the elite group had been greatly weakened.
Though not explicitly named or criticized, the "filth on their backsides" and their blood-stained hands from exploiting refugees during the famine would not be easily forgotten.
One could only say that under Al's deliberate control, a purge and further weakening of this group hadn't been actively triggered yet.
Because they no longer threatened the tribe's ability to recruit "sheep" and consolidate power among the refugees.
If he exterminated them all, it might cause unexpected variables, so Al temporarily left them alone.
They were quite obedient, keeping a low profile while trying every means to flatter and improve their relationship with the tribe.
Unfortunately, aside from the initial Madam Marlena and her friend, the "Second Madam" introduced to Al,
Al had no intention of expanding his human harem further for now.
Otherwise, a reinforced company of concubines would have already been assembled.
When it came to selecting the priestesses, the refugee elites seized the chance to climb up.
Since it wouldn't be proper to let Beastmen handle such a thing—risking a reputation of "The Beastlord of the Tribe kidnapping Estalian beauties"—
Al left it to the humans who had converted and submitted to the tribe.
They exerted their remaining influence and strength, racking their brains to help Al select these twelve.
Out of over two hundred thousand refugees, they were all outstanding beauties.
Their looks, temperament, and all aspects were excellent, and they had to meet the condition of being "pure virgins."
The first few conditions were common; there are many beauties in this world.
But the "pure virgin" condition filtered out many beauties who were otherwise not lacking, or even superior.
In truth, if Al could decide for himself, it wouldn't matter...
After all, wives, madams, aunts, big sisters... he liked them all very much!
As long as they weren't "Sayu Ogiwara" types, or broken shoes—
and once they were with him, no one else was allowed to touch even a single finger—
touch them and I'll kill your whole family! (The Chinese protagonist template).
Then it was fine.
But this was selecting priestesses for his stepmother goddess Lileath, not concubines for the Everchosen.
So he expressed regret but maintained respect.
It's worth mentioning that those who failed the selection,
perhaps because they were slightly inferior in one aspect or poorly dressed,
yet were women still fully deserving the title of "beauty"...
Of course, Al wasn't so deranged as to take over his stepmother goddess's entire selection.
Doing that would likely result in the centaur girl's halberd hitting the Everchosen's ass instead of the Greenskins, causing a total loss of dignity.
Considering the position of priestess wasn't synonymous with being eternal like the goddess—
mortals, even with enchantments and buffs, like the Fay Enchantresses of Bretonnia, still cannot escape death.
They might pass away at the end of a long life, or be eaten as a tasty snack after failing to defeat a monster.
Or they might meet a Slaaneshi (strike that) Chaos element like Al and play out a scene of a "Defeated Holy Nun."
If they didn't meet Al, they might meet someone like him and suffer for a while, but at least stay alive.
If they met a "Perfectly Loyal and Filial" figure like Manfred von Carstein, they'd be used as a direct sacrifice, leaving not even a soul behind.
[Vampire Manfred von Carstein, the Old World's number one "filial son" and "loyal" figure; readers can search for him if interested.]
So there would certainly be attrition.
Thus, most of the women who failed the last two rounds but possessed prominent conditions and excellent qualities
were persuaded by "the people below" with various bribes and charms to stay.
For a long time, they would temporarily maintain
their status as pure virgins, serving as candidates or handmaidens for the priestess corps.
For commoners, this was considered a leap in social class; at least status and supply of resources were guaranteed.
And for those from well-off backgrounds who had not suffered since becoming tribal people in the forest,
they either stayed under the encouragement of their fathers and brothers—hoping to one day crawl into Al's big bed or get a chance to enter the Goddess's service—or they drifted away.
Anyway, Al couldn't look after all of them; he was too universally loving.
If they were passable, he liked them; if they left, he felt it was a pity.
Candidates who weren't official "Twelve Priestesses" seemingly didn't have the "pure virgin" requirement forced upon them...
Besides, with so many of them, even if one, two... seven or eight weren't, there would be candidates to fill the spots...
Ahem.
Al's thoughts wandered a bit far, jumping from one battlefield to another... though at a different location.
The remaining defenders, when the Greenskins faced turmoil and their morale plummeted, summoned their strength.
Under the command and inspiration of Al's scions, they moved out from their defensive positions.
They proactively attacked the Greenskin ranks, accelerating the speed of the rout.
They have now merged with Al's main force, beginning to clear the battlefield and tally casualties.
Al rode the Griffon at a low altitude, observing everywhere while also allowing the soldiers and civilians to see him to boost morale.
The result was seeing the ground littered with casualties—green and yellow, red and black.
The joy following the great victory was instantly diluted significantly.
His mood could only be described as terrible.
This was a brilliant victory. Al, with less than one-fifth of the enemy's strength and using a city as bait,
had annihilated this massive Greenskin host—one large enough to fight another Battle of the Guadaz River—within the forest.
But at the same time, the price he paid was extremely high.