Suspicion at the Dam (I)

"Sir! The latest battle report from Mount Mishil!"

Yushikin, who had been resting with his eyes closed in the command post, immediately opened them upon hearing the messenger's voice. His fatigue was swiftly replaced by anxiety.

When he took the telegram and saw its contents, that grave anxiety quickly gathered into dark clouds.

"Damn it..."

He threw the telegram onto the table, drawing curious glances from the legion officers around him.

Yet the words on it were truly alarming.

During an attack personally led by Guk, the Orks had sent Snotlings to infiltrate the heart of Mount Mishil and sabotage its largest supply depot, leaving the nearly eighty thousand remaining defenders at risk of running out of food.

"I'm afraid—"

Alfred, who had recovered from the previous great battle, picked up the telegram and pondered it for a moment before walking to Yushikin's side and saying quietly:

"We can only retreat."

"Retreat... where?"

Yushikin leaned back, folded his arms across his chest, and stared at the map on the table.

A huge green arrow pointed directly at the city they had bled for on the front lines from the southwest, yet there was nothing they could do now.

The entire Witlier Front was like a spring that had reached its limit under pressure. Any further pressure would cause a total collapse.

Although Tyre's telegrams pleading for aid arrived more frequently by the day, Yushikin could no longer spare even a platoon—most of his own guards had been sent to the front, leaving only a few Nightblades to protect him.

Diego's orders had arrived yesterday—

Retreat.

Evacuate as many troops as possible from the Witlier Grand Canyon.

But the destination was not Tyre. It was the eastern border of Glamatia Province, a narrow isthmus between Iron Snail Bay and the Desolate