Ulf and his Sparrow Corps seemed to have been cursed these past few days.
Karl's blows were like precise surgical operations, always avoiding the other Sauron units and pouring the deadliest firepower onto the Sparrow Corps' sector.
Night raids, sniper shots, artillery barrages, psychological warfare... The soldiers under Ulf's command dwindled at a visible rate, while their morale sank to freezing point.
The soldiers whispered among themselves that Karl had singled them out, because the Sparrow Corps had contributed the most men to the previous nighttime raid on the cliffs.
Ulf himself was at his wits' end, and the resentment in his heart toward Harald grew by the day.
Of course, he knew that Harald intended to weaken the power of the various units and strengthen centralized control. As an old elite force with relative independence, the Sparrow Corps was naturally one of the targets.
But to do it this way—using Karl's knife to weaken them—was far too cold-blooded, and far too foolish! Every Sparrow Corps veteran lost was a loss to Sauron's overall strength, and an even heavier blow to the army's morale.
After repelling yet another small-scale harassment attack from Carnford and tallying more than thirty additional dead, Ulf finally could no longer endure it. He personally went to the central command tent to plead his case before Harald.
Harald had naturally seen the Sparrow Corps' miserable state as well, and heard the private rumors in the army that he was "killing with a borrowed knife."
Though Ulf was at odds with him, an old military chief with great prestige among the tribes, he could be weakened—but not allowed to grow utterly disheartened or even turn rebellious. Besides, Ulf was right. If the Sparrow Corps truly collapsed, it would affect the entire offensive front.
In the end, Harald