First Battle

To be honest, when they stepped out of the city gates, everyone was prepared for a bloody battle with the Demon Race.

But the truth was completely beyond their expectations.

Along the way, they encountered almost no resistance worth mentioning. According to the adventurers who had previously traveled to the Northern Lands, there should have been plenty of monsters and members of the Demon Race here. Yet ten days had already passed since they departed from the Royal Capital, and the allied army had not even encountered a single decent battle.

Although they occasionally came under attack from a Beast Horde while making camp at night, the attackers could not gain much of an advantage against the allied army, which was always prepared for battle.

Thanks to this, the allied army's originally high morale gradually began to decline.

"What exactly is going on?"

Anisphia and Euphilia were also completely baffled. Duanmu Huai, on the other hand, let out a mocking laugh.

"It's simple. We're falling into the enemy's trap."

"Huh? There's a trap?"

"Of course. In fact, I imagine the commanders of the various legions know that too, but they have no choice."

"No choice?"

"That's right."

Seeing Anisphia look at him expectantly, Duanmu Huai shrugged.

"It's actually a very simple strategy: luring the enemy deep into their territory. They're probably trying to gradually wear down the soldiers' morale while taking us as far away from the Royal Capital as possible. Once we reach a certain target location, they'll launch an attack, cut off our retreat, and then swallow us in one fell swoop."

"How could that be... Is there really no way?"

"There is, of course. We could turn around right now, announce that our operation had failed, and slink back to the Royal Capital with our tails between