Outside a small town on the edge of Fire Leaf Territory, eight thousand troops advanced slowly in ten square formations.
On top of the low walls, several hundred hunters, able-bodied civilians, and soldiers holding crude bows had trembling legs and pale faces as they watched the army steadily approach.
Even the town mayor, who had once possessed countless stirring words in his heart, could not shout a single sentence now. He could only stare blankly as the Southern Army continued to advance.
Fire Fish Town governed no more than twenty thousand people. After several waves of flight, only a little over fifteen thousand remained. Gathering able-bodied men and women, adventurers recruited with money, the local Security Team, garrison troops, and merchant guards, they had only a little over six thousand defenders.
Of those, four thousand were serfs and commoners who had only just picked up weapons. No more than two thousand had combat experience, and fewer than three hundred had ever taken part in a proper war.
The mayor of Fire Fish Town gripped the railing tightly to keep himself from collapsing in fear.
"Mayor, why don't we surrender?" A middle-aged man reported bitterly to the young man.
"Captain Lake, is there really no hope?" The mayor of Fire Fish Town looked pale as he asked the Guard Captain in a trembling voice.
"Mayor, there is no hope. With my strength, I am not even a match for one of their squad leaders. Resisting by force would only add to their War Merit."
He did not want to surrender without fighting. He had also wanted to rely on his own strength to turn the tide of the battlefield.
As a Silver Intermediate Warrior, he was a respected figure in Fire Fish Town. But among the elite troops of a great