Ignoring Nili's inner turmoil, Chen Yu bounced off excitedly to organize the army.
This would be an unprecedented military operation!
Their enemies would be the mercenaries, adventurers, vampires, and endless undead scattered throughout every corner of The Gloomy Lands... perhaps even more unknown threats.
According to the mercenaries he had captured before, The Gloomy Lands covered an enormous area, even comparable to the Northern Territory, which occupied nearly half of the White Horse Kingdom's land.
Of course, the prosperity and wealth of a human kingdom were not something The Gloomy Lands could compare to.
Food crops struggled to grow in the darkness. Apart from the vampires' Eternal Night Territory and the stonekin's Gorl, the only two relatively established spheres of influence, The Gloomy Lands had almost no proper large towns. Most were merely temporary trading camps scattered through hidden corners.
For the White Horse Kingdom's regular army, unfamiliar with The Gloomy Lands' complicated terrain and dark environment, completely exterminating those rats hiding in shadowy corners would be an almost impossible task.
Moreover, this land was neither as fertile and abundant as the Golden Ear Plain, nor did it possess the diverse Demonic Beast resources of East Swamp.
What it did have were ancient ruins scattered across mountains and valleys, dangerous Magic Traps, and endless undead creatures.
This was paradise for adventurers, mercenaries, fugitives, and ambitious schemers, but to the White Horse Kingdom, which sought stable tax revenue, it was worth less than a penny.
Over time, it had become an unmanaged Gray Zone.
Yet this "worthless" land in others' eyes held immense allure for Chen Yu, who had lain dormant in the Swamp for so long and desperately needed expansion and resources.
Not to mention the undead that could serve as "experience packs"—the adventurers and vampires active here year-round alone