By this point, two-thirds of the miner slaves' combatants had lost their ability to fight, while the demon army's casualties remained unclear for the moment.
When everyone was tangled together in chaotic melee, no one paid attention to casualties. But once the battle line stretched out and the formations spread apart, everyone would be forced to confront their current situation.
And at that point, the most crucial thing was that after discovering their disadvantage and the number of casualties, they could not retreat.
In ancient warfare, losing a third of one's fighting strength in a short period of time was basically enough to declare defeat, because such casualties would crush every soldier's will to fight, followed by a rout like a collapsing mountain.
Many ancient battles did not result in many deaths because once the opposing lines collided head-on, superiority and inferiority could be determined within mere minutes.
Once the disadvantage became clear and the will to fight was gone, one person turning back would lead to a whole group turning back, and soon it would become a pursuit. Looking across the history of ancient human warfare, true annihilation battles were exceedingly rare.
Batman had never agreed with spreading out the battle line. He did not believe these slaves could retain the will to fight and complete the final annihilation after discovering that two-thirds of their companions had died.
The flow of people spread eastward like a school of fish, and once the line had fully stretched out, everyone realized what a bloody battle they had endured. Even the dullest slave or soldier could now see which side held the advantage.
More demon soldiers remained, but they had almost no formation left. Their casualties had also been heavy, and once the line spread out, their ranks had been fragmented beyond