Chapter 429

"Wait!"

"Wait?" Knight Mi Gen Gen's face was full of questions.

"That's right—just wait. The crisis at Lindongcheng isn't something our single unit can change!"

"So now, all we can do is wait and see whether the Supreme Commander and the others can resolve this crisis!"

"If the crisis at Lindongcheng is resolved, we'll naturally be safe too!"

"My lord, what if the crisis at Lindongcheng can't be resolved?" Knight Mi Gen Gen asked cautiously.

"If they can't resolve it, then we can only leave it to fate—our western flank is also occupied by the Beastmen!"

"As for heading north, that's even less of an option—it's straight into the Beastmen's homeland. So we'd better pray the God of Glory shows mercy to Lindongcheng and lets it hold out!" Gervas replied with a smile.

Knight Mi Gen Gen was on the verge of tears.

"O God of Glory, please mercifully bestow your divine grace! Let Lindongcheng survive this crisis!"

Gervas shook his head with a smile.

To truly turn this tide, the God of Glory himself would have to lend a mighty hand.

For now, he could only take it one step at a time.

Of course, his true hope lay not with Lindongcheng, but with the system.

He just hoped the system would deliver something powerful soon.

……

Time passed, and two days later arrived.

When the twenty thousand Beastmen on the southern road came into view, the last shred of hope among Lindongcheng's nobles vanished entirely.

Previously, they had clung to the hope that the Beast King's words might be false.

But with the arrival of these twenty thousand Beastmen, they finally understood what despair meant.

"What do we do now? Fourty thousand Beastmen were already overwhelming—now another twenty thousand have arrived! We've lost even the chance to retreat!"

"Yes! Worse still, our grain supplies won't last long!"

"This is it—we're going to die in Lindongcheng, aren't we?"

"We never should've entered Lindongcheng in the first place. Back then, the Beastmen were fleeing—clearly a trap. We fell for their scheme…"

Suddenly, despair began to spread through the city.

Although the Supreme Commander immediately summoned all nobles to calm and encourage them,

in this desperate situation, any words of comfort or encouragement had almost no effect.

The Supreme Commander had no better solution.

He could only urge the troops on while tightening food rations even further.

Even the hidden food reserves secretly kept by the nobles were confiscated again.

As a result, the nobles grew resentful toward the Supreme Commander.

Fortunately, everyone knew chaos must be avoided now, so these grievances remained only muttered curses in private.

"Ha ha, Supreme Commander, how's your food holding up? How many more days can you last?"

Time passed again, and five more days went by.

The Beastmen's assaults continued.

Although their attack intensity hadn't increased, the Kingdom army's weakening food supply had steadily eroded the soldiers' combat strength.

Even facing the same level of assault, they now struggled harder to respond.

Worse still, the Beast King had devised a tactic that made the Supreme Commander's teeth grind.

He set up grills upwind of the city, roasting fresh wild beasts until their fat sizzled and dripped.

The aroma of roasted meat drifted on the breeze, filling every inch of Lindongcheng's ramparts.

It made the already starving Kingdom soldiers and nobles swallow saliva uncontrollably.

"Beast King, thank you for your concern—but I must inform you of bad news: according to current conditions, our grain can still last a full month, ha ha!" The Supreme Commander answered calmly, his expression unchanged.

The Beast King's brow twitched almost imperceptibly—he grew suspicious.

"Is that so, Supreme Commander? Are you lying? Last time, at least half your grain was burned—I doubt you can last ten days!"

"How about this? Supreme Commander, I'll give you one chance: if you surrender, I swear by the God of the Beasts to guarantee your safety and that of your nobles!"

"By the way, isn't there a noble named Mil in your ranks? Hand him over first—prove your sincerity!"

"Well, Supreme Commander—will you surrender?"

"Beast King, stop dreaming. Our Kingdom army has no cowards—only warriors who die fighting."

"So I advise you to return to the northern wastelands as soon as possible!"

"As for Mil—he's a hero of our Kingdom army, and he'll kill even more Beasts in the future!" The Supreme Commander sneered.

"Hmph! Supreme Commander, you'll come begging to me eventually!" The Beast King's face turned dark with rage. Without another word, the war horns blared again.

The Supreme Commander didn't linger on the ramparts.

Only after descending from the wall did his face finally show signs of exhaustion.

These past days, he'd been occupied with defense arrangements, grain logistics, and troop morale—working late every night, barely sleeping at all.

"Supreme Commander!"

At once, the nobles on the staircase greeted him.

The Supreme Commander forced himself to rally, smiling: "My lords, please don't worry!"

"We still have one hundred thousand troops stationed in Black Dragon City and Red Stone City."

"Though our communications are cut, I'm certain they'll realize our plight soon and come to our aid!"

At that moment, the Supreme Commander happened to spot Mil: "Lord Mil, did you hear what the Beast King just said? You're now someone even the Beast King is watching."

Mir nearly burst into tears upon hearing this.

Before, he hadn't taken Gervas's words seriously, thinking that even if the orcs had set their sights on him, it was no big deal.

But now, trapped in a desperate situation, he finally understood how miserable it was to be remembered by the orcs.

"Grand Commander, we can definitely defeat the orcs, right?" Mir had no desire to lose the battle and fall into the orcs' hands.

"We certainly will!" the Grand Commander nodded.

Shortly after, the Grand Commander left the city wall directly.

As for the nobles, great and small, each had their own thoughts; how many of them truly believed reinforcements would arrive was anyone's guess.

In any case, quite a few nobles held a pessimistic view.

Because everyone knew that without orders from the Grand Commander and the two dukes, the main army in the rear would most likely not dare to take the risk of advancing on their own.

After all, the risk involved was enormous.

The more cautious ones might send word back to the royal capital to seek instructions.

But with the delay of the round trip, whether they could hold out until then was truly hard to say.

"No good, we must find ourselves a way out!" Inside a small building in Chengnan, Minister Weilade and Solit sat on the sofa with faces full of worry.

The two were among the pessimistic nobles.

"Solit, do you have any good ideas?" Hearing Solit's words, Minister Weilade asked aloud.

"Minister Weilade, you heard what that Beast King said today, didn't you? He wants Baron Mir!"

"I heard that, but we can't exactly tie Mir up and hand him over to them, can we?"

Solit rolled his eyes. "Of course not tie Mir up and hand him over. Besides, Minister Weilade, you probably don't know—Mir is actually just a fellow with an empty reputation."

"In the previous battles, the credit actually belonged to someone else; they just didn't want to become famous, so they pushed it all onto Mir!"

"This..." Minister Weilade's eyes went wide, not expecting Solit to come out with such news. "Th-then who is that person?"