Chapter 442: Are You Dreaming?

"Grand Leader Moral, what do we do now? His Majesty the Beast King ordered us to finish this quickly, but those damn two-legged sheep nobles have fled north."

Moral hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth: "His Majesty has already made arrangements for Lindongcheng—there will be no problem!"

"Even without our ten thousand beast warrior heroes, it won’t make much difference!"

"But if we don’t eliminate this group of humans now, they’ll remain a lasting threat to our beast race—so these humans must die, and that noble Gervas must die too!"

"Therefore, we must pursue that damn brat with all our strength until we annihilate them completely!"

"This... Grand Leader Moral, is this really safe?"

"Of course it’s safe! I’ll send messengers right away to inform His Majesty the Beast King of the situation—any consequences fall entirely on me, Moral, and won’t touch any of you!"

Upon hearing this, the leaders and captains all breathed a sigh of relief.

"By the way, these damn humans are too cunning—besides our own pursuit, I think we must notify the beast warriors scattered across the western regions to join the chase!"

"Send out messengers immediately!"

"Yes, Grand Leader Moral!"

Without further delay, Moral’s group pressed forward—except for the messengers sent to relay the news, everyone else headed straight north in pursuit.

By the next day, Gervas learned the beast folk were relentlessly chasing him.

He also learned that Moral, besides his twenty-thousand-strong army, planned to request reinforcements from surrounding areas.

But this wasn’t surprising—he knew the beast folk now hated him with a burning fury, and feared his spearmen, so they wouldn’t let him go easily.

In response, Gervas accelerated his retreat.

Though he had gained a full day’s head start, his escape window was still tight.

The reason was simple: along the northern route ahead lay two checkpoints held by beast folk that he must breach.

Only after passing these two checkpoints would he truly enter the wasteland.

Thus, how swiftly he could break through these two checkpoints would determine whether he could escape pursuit.

…

"My lord, look—there’s a fortress ahead!"

Two days later, a stone fortress blocked the road ahead of Gervas and his men.

The fortress was small, no larger than a camp for two thousand men.

But it had been built by the kingdom to defend against beast invasions, constructed to the highest standards.

Its walls stood twelve meters high—taller than a baron’s castle.

Moreover, the fortress sat within a mountain pass, offering a single-man-defends-the-pass, ten-thousand-men-cannot-break-through stance.

Under normal circumstances, with one or two thousand defenders inside, an enemy would need five to six times the numbers just to dare approach.

With ten times the force, they might attempt a direct assault.

"Move closer and take a look!"

This fortress was the only path north for Gervas’s group—and now, the beast-bone banners flying atop its walls confirmed its defenders were beast folk.

Indeed, as Gervas’s party neared, tall green-skinned figures became visible in the distance.

"My lord, what do we do? Judging by the guard strength and numbers, there must be at least a thousand beast folk inside?" Mi Gen and the others frowned.

"Precisely two thousand one hundred: six hundred beast warriors, fifteen hundred conscripts," Gervas murmured to himself.

Intelligence that morning had reported the exact numbers inside the fortress.

But such limited intel offered no help in breaching it.

"Roar! You’re a two-legged sheep army?"

Suddenly, a startled shout rang out from the fortress wall.

At first, seeing Gervas’s party approach, the beast folk had assumed they were southern conscripts returning.

Though odd, perhaps they had some mission.

But as the two-legged sheep drew nearer, they realized this human force was no conscript band.

It was a human army.

After all, the gleaming silver armor worn by these humans was something even beast warrior heroes coveted.

Conscripts could never be equipped with such gear.

Gervas said nothing, but signaled Mi Gen.

Mi Gen understood instantly, spurred his horse forward several meters, then shouted arrogantly upward: "Green-skinned bastards in the fortress, listen up!"

"We are the Storm Legion of the Griffin Kingdom’s Storm Domain! You are now surrounded by us!"

"We give you one final chance: lay down your weapons, open the gates, and surrender—or we will storm this fortress and exterminate you all!"

Upon hearing Mi Gen’s words, the beast folk on the wall froze—then erupted into roaring laughter.

"Ha! Did I hear that right? These two-legged sheep are telling us to surrender? Soldiers, are you serious? Ha!"

"Yeah! Said they’ve surrounded us! Ha! Are these two-legged sheep insane?"

"This is too funny! Two-legged sheep soldiers, are you dreaming?"

Mocking laughter poured down from above, making Mi Gen grit his teeth, his nose nearly crooked with rage.

If they’d roared back angrily, that would’ve been normal.

But this mockery felt like a deep insult.

"You damn green-skinned bastards—this is your last chance! If you don’t take it, then die!"

"Ha! Two-legged sheep soldiers, we don’t want your ‘last chance’—why don’t you come and wipe us out? Let’s see how you two-legged sheep defeat us!"

"Exactly! Two-legged sheep, we’re eager to see it! Ha!"

The beast folk laughed louder.

Clearly, they’d never suffered at the hands of human soldiers.

Hum!

Whoosh!

At that moment, a hum and a whistling cut through the air from within the Storm Legion.

A massive black streak shot toward the fortress wall at blinding speed.

The beast folk, still doubled over laughing, saw no danger.

Then—plop—the black streak struck the wall, flashing through the chest of a beast folk still grinning wide.

His laughter died instantly. He stared down in disbelief at his chest.

A gaping hole now pierced it.

Looking through the hole to the other side, a crater marred the wall behind—stone shattered.

On the ground below, a broken arrow, as thick as a man’s wrist, lay in the dirt.

"Why... so thick..."

Thud. The beast folk collapsed, kicking out his final, chaotic dance of life.

"I remember running beneath that sunset... that was my lost youth... uh..."

The beast folk closed his eyes.

Only then did the surrounding beast folk snap back to reality.

"Damn it! Take cover!"

The beast folk scrambled behind the battlements.

After all, an arrow that could pierce a beast warrior’s chest—this was their first time seeing such a thing.

It was terrifying!