Central Continent, Black Forest Kingdom.
"Three days ago, the allied forces gathered an army of eight hundred thousand and launched a decisive battle against the foreign-race coalition led by the Elves. The battle lasted two days and two nights.
"In the end, the command headquarters was ambushed by the enemy. Dozens of senior officers, including Marshal Ancotte, died amid the chaos.
"After losing their command structure, the allied forces unfortunately collapsed yesterday afternoon, and all of Corubia fell.
"..."
As Count Nicholas's words fell, the great hall became deathly silent. Everyone wore expressions of utter disbelief, unable to accept that it was true.
More than eight hundred thousand troops gathered by the nations of the Central Continent had been wiped out so quickly. Their collapse had been even faster than that of the Northern Continent before.
The small nations of the Northern Continent had fought on their own, yet they had still held back the Elven army for more than half a year. Of course, that included the period when the Elves had been holding back early on.
War was cruel. Regardless of the reason, the Central Continent allied forces' performance had been unacceptable.
There was no point blaming the foreign races for not following the rules. Continental War had never been a place where rules mattered. Here, success or failure was the only measure of a hero.
Besides, had the sudden collapse at the front truly been caused only by the enemy's ambush on the command headquarters?
No one present was a fool. They all knew that the allied forces had already been suppressed by the enemy, their front line retreating again and again.
Rather than saying the command headquarters had been ambushed, it would be more accurate to say there had been a problem with the frontline army's