The weather was gradually growing hotter.
The course of the war in the mortal world was gradually turning unfavorable for humanity.
Although the heavily defended Great Wall Defense Line, built up over many years, remained impregnable, and although every nation continued to supply materials and manpower, the Radiant Kingdom, beset by constant raids, was gradually unable to hold on.
The foundation of the Radiant Kingdom's rule was its system of clergy, built upon vast numbers of temples and churches. This nation was practically a thoroughgoing theocracy, with its political power dependent on divine authority. Once that divine system had been shattered into pieces by the Orc Pantheon's divine envoys, their political system was also on the brink of collapse.
No matter how large a nation's population or how abundant its resources, once its system of government collapsed, it became nothing more than a heap of loose sand.
Could a heap of loose sand fight a war—a great war?
Of course not.
Fortunately, humanity had many powerful individuals. Though the clergy system could no longer endure, with the powerful rushing about everywhere, they could still maintain at least a basic supply route.
But because of this, the refugees of the Radiant Kingdom faced a grave problem in their lives.
Their tools of production had been destroyed, their farmlands burned, and even their stored food was gone. They could only live on aid from the state. But now, with the national system on the verge of collapse, it could no longer provide them with sufficient support.
This situation could more or less be described as "the mountains exhausted and the waters spent."
If this continued, it would not be long before the Radiant Kingdom suffered a massive famine and a severe tide of refugees—precisely what the orcs wanted to see.
Yet at