Dusk gradually fell.
The human battle line had retreated again and again, falling back at least two or three miles.
Those two or three miles of ground had truly been bought with blood for every inch. Every step the humans retreated cost them many warriors. Each withdrawal often required several lives to be thrown into it just to keep the line from collapsing.
Though the human commanders had exhausted every effort and seized every scrap of opportunity they could, the disparity in strength was ultimately not something wisdom could bridge. No matter what they tried, they still could not reverse the defeat.
All they could do was lose without falling into disorder, retreat without breaking apart.
Behind the human lines, the Goddess of Virtue's face was as dark as still water.
"Do we need to strike?" a demigod asked.
The goddess shook her head. After a long silence, she finally said, "Fall back to the Great Wall defense line. Let them come and attack the city!"
This had been one of their planned tactics as well. It was simply that nobody had expected a battle they had thought they could win easily to end up like this.
Fortunately, the Great Wall still stood.
With that defensive line stretching across the eastern reaches of the northern lands, dividing the human realms from the orc realms, the orcs would never win easily even with the advantage.
Even without divine spells, the humans could still wear them down by relying on favorable terrain and superior numbers.
The gods had not fallen. Something had merely gone wrong with their connection to the mortal world. Once the problem was resolved, it would be time for humanity's full-scale counterattack!
By then, the exhausted orcs' disadvantage in troop numbers would be completely exposed. One fierce assault would