Book 3-5.2 Metro makes his move
It has already been two months since Pareia’s warriors were in a stalemate with the Wikaly’s warriors in the southern oasis.
Even though they had multiple times the amount of warriors as Pareia, the Wikaly did not charge forward to face Pareia head on.
A couple of warriors started to complain about it, but Runa, who had received permission from Abham to be in charge of the strategy, did not do anything other than allowing a small amount of patrol warriors out at a time.
Pareia wanted to just leisurely wait for the news from the 10,000 warriors who had traveled up the quicksand river, but needed to change their plan as the morale of the warriors was starting to fall.
Their mental state was one aspect, but while the Wikaly was in an oasis where there was plenty of shade and a source of water, Pareia’s warriors were suffering under the intense heat of the desert sun.
On top of that, since they could only receive a rationed amount of water, it was only natural for the warriors’ morales to drop.
“Normally, we would use the nervousness from the fact that they have more warriors than us to help control this frustration and anger, but it is very frustrating as they are just tightly hiding inside the oasis.”
As Vibli spoke in frustration, everybody let out a sigh.
They had been trying to start a fight with the Wikaly for the past half month, but the Wikaly did not respond. At one point, they made up their mind and tried to attack the oasis, but they just ended up losing 2,000 warriors to the WIkaly’s perfect defense. They even tried to use smaller amounts of warriors to launch surprise attacks to disrupt the enemy, but Runa knew that Pareia’s warriors would not dare to barge in and had the warriors rest in shifts.
This really was what you would call a situation where you could not do anything.
“Let’s try charging at them with our full force once more. If we stay like this, the warriors would lose all motivation and will fall over before we even start to fight.”
As Trebol shouted with frustration, Egane tried to calm him down.
“Do you not remember our last attempt? Night raids, fire attacks, even the Glow and Red Storm’s strong charge was not enough to break past their first layer of defense.”
“Then you want to just sit back and watch?”
“Do we have any other method? The enemy has already prepared perfectly. Honestly speaking, even if Metro takes the central oases and we pincer them from both sides, I don’t think they will fall easily.”
Vibli continued where Egane left off.
“Based on our spies, there are also enough food in that oasis to feed 50,000 warriors for two years. Doesn’t that mean our plan to cut off their supply line is useless?”
Trebol came up with another idea.
“If it’s going to be like this, why don’t we get some reinforcements and attack them at full strength? Or switch some of our warriors?”
“Impossible. We would need to retreat to do that.”
As multiple Greatest Warriors continued to throw out impossible suggestions, Yulian stopped them as he started to speak.
“But as Greatest Warrior Trebol has mentioned, if we just sit here like this, the morale of our warriors will hit rock bottom. It is not like we can just temporarily retreat to our oasis. If we disappear from here, the 10,000 warriors in the center will be in danger.”
Yulian thought long and hard before starting to speak again.
“What if I take the Red Storm and break into the Wikaly once more and we use that chaos to attempt a full assault again?”
All of the Greatest Warriors opened their mouths at the same time.
“That is not an option.”
A shocked Yulian scratched his forehead before continuing to speak.
“Wouldn’t it be okay to just charge a little bit while they have their attention diverted to me so that we can let the warriors let out some stress?”
Vibli coldly responded.
“That will not work. Do you think they will just let you do as you please again? Last time, it worked because it happened in the center of the oasis and the warriors could not surround you very well. Honestly, it only worked because it was just the Glow and Red Storm. But if you tried to do it again, you will be noticed hours away from the oasis. If they know you are coming, even if it is Yulian-nim and Red Storm……”
Vibli started to trail off before shaking his head and continuing.
“You won’t stand a chance with just that number. It will be a meaningless attempt. Also, do not forget that they have at least 10,000 more warriors than us.”
“We can’t do this, and we can’t do that. Then what do you suggest?”
Vibli let out a small sigh at Yulian’s question and just shook his head.
Usually in situations like this, they would retreat and wait for the next opportunity.
But Yulian’s desire was extremely strong, and as he mentioned, if they did not seize this opportunity, it will be difficult to get another chance like this in the future.
If they didn’t take this opportunity, their will be other wolves looking to feed.
They didn’t even know whether those wolves will bare their teeth against the Wikaly or against them.
“He really is an amazing human. I thought he was amazing from the first time I met him.”
Trebol grumbled as he thought about Runa.
“I don’t know why such an individual has remained unknown until now. I would have never expected for there to be such a warrior. From what I hear, he received permission to be the lead strategist from Commanding Greatest Warrior Abham.”
Vibli chimed in from the side, but Yulian knew about the abilities of the young warrior named Runa, very well.
A tight formation and warriors who moved with precision. They had been well-trained and prepared thoroughly.
Runa also had the confidence to not worry even after seeing Yulian’s might.
Yulian nodded his head in approval as he started to speak.
“He definitely is a surprising warrior. But this is just an obstacle we must overcome. Use whatever tactics you need to use to find a way to make the enemy move. That is the only way for us to win.”
Egane realized nobody could stand this situation very well and clapped loudly to clear the air before starting to speak.
“I think we should first wait for news from Metro as he takes over the central oases. If he is successful, there should be some response from our enemies. Our priority right now should be thinking about how we can raise the warriors’ morale.”
Everyone agreed with Egane and ended the meeting of Greatest Warriors.
“What?”
Abham shouted with shock after hearing what the messenger warrior had to say. Runa also stared at the messenger warrior speechless.
“The Glow has asked that you quickly return or help pressure the central oases.”
Once the messenger warrior delivered the Glow’s message, Abham looked toward Runa and Runa asked a question to the messenger warrior.
“How could they reach the central oases? We have been holding off Pareia’s entire army right here.”
“I do not know the details either. However, it is reported that the enemy first appeared near the western quicksand river.”
“Who can come up the quicksand river?”
As Abham shouted, the messenger warrior flinched before answering.
“I do not know either. But it is certain that 10,000 of Pareia’s warriors appeared from the quicksand river and have already taken over two oases.”
“Just what were they doing? Aren’t there still 15,000 warriors in the rear?”
“As you are aware, we needed to make sure each oasis had enough warriors to defend, so there are only around 2 to 3,000 warriors at each oasis. The enemy quickly invaded, and we did not have time to gather the warriors and ended up being defeated multiple times.”
Runa shook his head at the messenger warrior’s explanation. There was nothing they could do about it. It was normal to keep 2 to 3,000 warriors at each oasis to deal with monsters, wild animals, and potential enemies. Even he would not have been able to do anything about it.
“It is hard to believe, but it looks like Pareia is following the quicksand river north. Now it all makes sense. I was wondering why they only brought 20,000 warriors when they were capable of bringing 30,000 + warriors on this campaign.”
Abham knew about that as well.
But for it to be the quicksand river, that was something nobody could have ever imagined.
“So then what happened?”
“The warriors who were at the other four oasis, as well as the warriors who retreated from the two oasis add up to just slightly over 10,000. Once the enemy realized that we were gathered together, they stopped their attack and started to focus on defending the oases they took over.”
Abham let out a deep sigh as he started to speak.
“Hmm~. That makes sense. Even if it was an oasis without much warriors, you can’t still recklessly charge in.”
“The enemy seems to have wanted to cut off our supply line. Either that, or take over the center and pincer us on both sides.”
Abham started to tap his feet at Runa’s comment. They could not move from here, but the rear would be in danger as time went on.
“What are we going to do about the oases that do not have warriors to protect them……”
Abham let out another sigh thinking about the people who would be left behind at the oases.
It was possible to protect the oasis from monsters and wild animals with strong women, young warriors who have yet to complete their coming-of-age ceremony, and elders who have retired from the position of warrior, but they could not fight against enemy warriors.
They had no way to prevent Pareia from doing whatever they want, even if it was pretending to be crazy and killing off all the people in the oasis to clear it.
Abham looked toward Runa and asked.
“Runa, what should we do?”
Runa thought for a while before finally answering.
“We cannot return with the enemy to our back. We would be at a disadvantage in a head-on battle. So we must change our strategy. We have to draw them in to us.”
“Can you do it?”
“We have to try. If we don’t, the Wikaly will have suffered too much damage even if we manage to be victorious.”
Runa’s eyes started to sparkle.