The Demon Clan’s retreat was extremely chaotic, as the Demon God Offspring ran wildly with saliva flowing from their gaping mouths.
Hearing the cannon fire, the ordinary soldiers were like startled birds, discarding their armor and fleeing towards Antipa’s direction.
After barely reorganizing their formation and advancing in the direction of the Black Fog, Monroe suddenly burst into laughter.
“Why does the Eastern Border Duke laugh?”
Antipa, looking somewhat disheveled, was filled with suspicion. Could it be that Monroe had suddenly gone mad after just hearing the situation on their side?
“I laugh at the Northern Border Governor’s lack of strategy and the Northern Border Army’s foolishness. If they had laid an ambush here, cut off our retreat, what would happen?”
As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of tanks emerged from the shadows, along with several troop transport assault vehicles. However, in the eyes of the Demon Clan’s army, these were of no concern anymore. Before the tanks even launched an attack, the Demon Clan’s army began to flee in chaos, their recently stabilized formation collapsing outright.
Though the number of tanks was not very large, and some of them were not equipped with cannons and could only provide fire support from the soldiers on top, if this were a normal Demon Clan army, they would never give up such a good opportunity. At this distance, the Demon God Offspring could have rushed forward and flipped over the enemy’s tanks, but the Demon Clan army, upon seeing the human’s steel monsters, acted as if they had seen a ghost and began to retreat in panic.
Fear spread among the Demon Clan’s troops like a plague.
Antipa finally organized some troops to cover their retreat, leading the army far enough away from the pursuing distance, but Monroe, whose rear was nearly out of control, suddenly started laughing again.
“Why does the Eastern Border Duke laugh again?”
“The Northern Border Army is not as capable as they claim; they are just a group of brutes. If I were leading the army, I would have predicted the enemy’s escape routes from the start, laid an ambush here, and waited for them to tire, capturing their main commander directly!”
As soon as he said this, dust suddenly flew up not far away.
“Kill!”
“Capture the Demon King alive!”
This time, the number of tanks and assault troop carriers was even less, but there were many Lars Knights surrounding these steel monsters, forming a more flexible formation, clearly preparing to capture Antipa alive.
Isha calmly loaded ammunition on the assault vehicle, aiming to intercept this group of Demon Clan troops.
“Protect the Demon King!”
Fortunately, Antipa had loyal subordinates, who, without waiting for orders, charged out to actively cover the retreat.
The Demon Clan’s army fled in disarray once more, the Black Fog already closing in.
Monroe, about to continue laughing, was met with a warning glance from Antipa. Just as Antipa began to speak, it was as if he was suddenly choked, unable to make a sound.
The Demon Clan cautiously marched along the edge of the Black Fog, only relaxing after confirming that there were no pursuers behind them. At this moment, Monroe finally regained confidence to speak.
“Our retreat this time is a result of the humans’ great victory; truly worthy of the Demon King!”
The human nobles quickly covered their backsides while panting, flattering Antipa.
However, hearing this flattery, Antipa was not pleased. Even for the Demon Clan, facing such a disheveled situation, it was hard to claim victory.
Seeing Antipa’s grim expression, a human noble quickly said, “The humans’ pincer attack and multi-segment pursuit clearly show they had premeditated plans, yet Your Majesty the Demon King still managed to escape!”
“And thanks to Your Majesty the Demon King digging trenches in advance, these humans couldn’t coordinate their attack properly, allowing us to escape. We all owe it to Your Majesty the Demon King’s foresight!”
“Your Majesty the Demon King has a keen eye; why should we not be able to defeat the Northern Border?”
Antipa felt he had already lost enough face, but he didn’t expect these humans to be so adept at talking nonsense. Although he still maintained a stern demeanor, Antipa’s expression had improved significantly. Though these human nobles were a bit garrulous, they indeed had some usefulness; if all else fails, they could simply be left to manage their own kind.
Antipa took one last look at the vast and fertile area around the Royal Capital, knowing he would return sooner or later, especially when the Supremacy Magic arrived from across the sea.
…..
When the people on the city walls saw the Demon Clan and their monsters retreating far away, enthusiastic cheers erupted. The returning Northern Border Army was treated like heroes, and Cliff let out a long breath, genuinely pleased that the Northern Border had repelled the Demon Clan army.
Although the Northern Border Army seemed stronger than previously anticipated, seeing the cheering crowd made Cliff’s tired face look considerably more relaxed.
However, the retreat of the Demon Clan did not mean everything was over. The identity of that bizarre Black Fog remained unclear, and in the southwestern region, An Zhu was seizing the opportunity to invade Cape’s territory.
Naturally, Cliff was unconcerned about this. His main function at this point was merely to serve as a figurehead. He would stamp whatever Lind sent him.
Isha, arriving to provide support, was devoid of joy over defeating the Demon Clan, instead discussing the battle situation anxiously with Lind.
“The monsters of the Demon Clan seem to be tougher than before. Those Demon God Offspring that were once just a pile of flesh and blood are now gradually forming a hard shell.”
“Intelligence from the Eastern Border has also come through; it seems the black mist has stopped expanding, and the Demon God Offspring born from the black mist appear to be even stronger.”
“We’ve rescued a survivor from the Eastern Border with Holy Water; according to that survivor, when the Black Rain Curtain formed, it was as if they saw a ghostly figure of some kind in the sky, and the clearer the description they gave of that figure, the more severe their mental issues became.”
The investigation into the Eastern Border was currently at a standstill; Lind needed to continue exploring for more intelligence, and what had happened in the Eastern Border aside, the most important matter was still concerning the Royal Capital.
With the Demon Clan retreating, Lind was not in a hurry to leave the Royal Capital. Instead, he started to implement Lilith’s policies within the city.
Of course, rather than just Lilith’s policies, it was actually a super-enhanced version of those policies; Lind aimed to reshape the Royal Capital into the likeness of the Northern Border.
Not only did he want to strengthen the connection between the Royal Capital and the Northern Border, but he also planned to expand several more railway lines and began to forcefully implement various policies.
Moreover, the nobles’ lands were now practically impossible to retain; some production factories had already been directly purchased by Lind.
Unlike Lilith’s previous reforms which faced numerous obstacles, Lind’s policies did not encounter clashes or troubles between the new party and the old party. After all, most of the nobles in the city had been captured, and the remaining ones had largely been stripped of their power, needing to retake exams to become officials.
Some nobles also secretly sent messages to Cliff, but as soon as Cliff received them, he directly passed them on to Lind. Lind did not disappoint those nobles, performing a textbook example of silencing dissent, and finally, no nobles dared to speak up again.
However, this did not mean that these nobles easily gave up. Soon, they began their path dependency again, that is, seeking to attach themselves to someone. Though it was not yet a matter of public knowledge, the nobles could clearly feel that Lind was ambitious; where there is ambition, there is desire, and once there is desire, it becomes easier to manage.
“Have any messages from the Northern Border come in? How feasible is the plan?”
A group of nobles from the Royal Capital were consulting an elder at a ball. These nobles were honest and straightforward, not involved in the coup and had never helped Claire with backdoor dealings. Even in Cliff’s final city defense meeting, they had participated honestly.
However, this did not mean that these nobles were truly that honest; climbing the social ladder could be said to be the instinct of every noble. Hence, on the premise of not offending Lind, these nobles still wished to make as many attempts as possible, including within Marcel.
“I advise you to abandon this plan. Without mentioning the news from my distant relatives in the Northern Border, there’s inside information that, in fact, the governor’s wife’s dress that day was a wedding gown modified from what the old Lars had prepared for her. Don’t you understand? This route is not viable.”
The nobles of the Royal Capital had particularly strong information capabilities in this regard. After hearing what the old noble had said, the other nobles could roughly guess the positions of Lena, Lind, and the Northern Border.
Furthermore, Lind’s experience, starting from being a lost viscount to this point, had also been uncovered. When many nobles learned that Lind’s initial funding came from Lena, and that initially, Lena even had to go into battle, many fell silent.
Not to mention that when Lind carried out the great purge, quite a number of nobles who were only slightly involved and still had their children defending the city were saved by Lena. The fact that many people were still alive to discuss this issue was still reliant on Lena’s favor.
Perhaps the status of Lena and her connection to Lars’s influence in the Northern Border were not related. Rather, it could be said that Lars still maintained influence over the Northern Border, thanks to Lena’s connections.
“Better to give it up…”
