King
Chapter 573 - 573 128 Half a Year Later_1

573: Chapter 128, Half a Year Later_1 573: Chapter 128, Half a Year Later_1 After the small conflict, Blake became much more behaved.

Without the Clergy, the giant at the helm stirring things up, the internal disputes within the Alliance decreased significantly all at once.

Everyone had discretion, very clear that if the prominent powers above stopped making a fuss, causing trouble during this time would be like setting oneself on fire.

If one unfortunately became the focus of the power struggle among the great powers, that would mean having to take a stand.

There may not be any trouble in the short term, but it would be hard to say once the war is over.

The number of powers declining due to standing with the wrong side were countless in human history.

With so many lessons of the past, it was natural to learn from them.

The Clergy settled down, but Hudson was flabbergasted.

He had originally thought that when Blake came to cause trouble, he would be prepared, but now it seemed it was just a whim.

Vaguely, he felt as though he had dug a pit for the Clergy again.

Originally, in order to sell the “Blood Moon Horn” for a good price, he backstabbed the Necromancer Grand Magician, not expecting the people of the Clergy to really believe him.

Thinking about it, he couldn’t help but feel speechless.

For such an important matter, they didn’t consider confirming it before launching the plan.

However, with his current status, it would seem very difficult for the Clergy to verify it.

Unless at some gathering, normally it would be difficult for anyone from the Clergy to get close to him.

For some reason, Hudson always felt uneasy.

Even if the identity of the Necromancer Grand Magician was true, revealing it didn’t have much destructive power.

The reputation of a Necromancer might be repulsive, but aside from the Clergy yelling for their execution, other powers weren’t that hostile.

Since the break with the Clergy, Necromancers have been openly appearing in the Kingdom Mage Team.

Even the Arcanists and Wizards, who the Clergy considered blasphemous, showed their faces publicly in the Alpha Kingdom.

In an instant, Hudson realized the truth.

The Clergy’s move was not to take his life, but to target the military power in his hands.

The identity of a necromancer is too off-putting.

It may not warrant a death sentence, but job discrimination still exists.

Once his identity is confirmed, Hudson’s position as the Commander in Chief would be untenable.

If he steps down now, the ones who have a chance to take his place are Marquis James and Duke Cavadia, and one of them is colluding with the Clergy!

After drawing this conclusion, Hudson was completely disheartened.

The Alpha Kingdom could not be brought down by external enemies, but internal trouble was a different story.

Whoever was colluding with the Clergy meant that the Clergy’s tentacles have already stretched into the kingdom in the dark.

The disputes between the Kingdom and the Clergy didn’t worry Hudson too much, as they had fought each other for so many years and probably tried every possible strategy.

But dragging him into it was unacceptable.

If he doesn’t find out the enemies hidden within and sever their tentacles, wouldn’t that imply that he’s easy to bully?

Unfortunately, he had no leads at present.

With Blake’s status, Hudson could not possibly arrest him for interrogation.

Without any leads, finding the traitor in the team would be extremely difficult.

After this failure, the enemy’s next move was likely to become more secretive.

Without any clues, Hudson viewed everyone as a traitor.

His actions had become much more cautious and wary.

…

Time flies, and half a year had passed in the blink of an eye.

During the past months, the front line was generally peaceful.

In the Alliance, the major powers occasionally had verbal clashes, offering something to talk about in the mundane life, but nothing major happened.

The Orcs initially tried invading and causing destruction, but after being hit hard a few times, even the Hawkmen learned their lesson and no longer foolishly attacked.

Even when ordered by the Imperial Court, it was mostly perfunctory.

They were forced to improve their efficiency and the first to arrive on the battlefield was the Air Force.

Despite only having a fraction of the forces, yet when over a hundred smaller forces joined together, they managed to assemble an Air Force of more than 20,000 soldiers.

The pressure instantly transferred onto the Hawkmen.

Even in a head-on battle, the human Air Force would not be at a disadvantage.

Nevertheless, these human forces, with no respect for martial ethics, equipped their Air Force with magic crossbows to better combat the Hawkmen.

In comparison to the wealthy humans, the performance of the Orc Empire was much more lackluster, and they could only make do with bows and arrows.

High-end items like magic crossbows had always been of low production and high cost in the Orc Empire.

Especially since the outbreak of the war, the Alpha Kingdom blocked all trade routes, causing the Orc Empire to directly lose their production capacity.

Without the precision parts from the Dwarf Race, the magic crossbows that the Orc Empire managed to produce themselves were all huge.

Even the smallest magic crossbow weighed around 500-600 pounds.

It was passable when given to the infantry to use, but if it was given to the Hawkman soldiers to use, they might have to carry it with the help of two or three others.

Exchanging blows using bows and arrows against magic crossbows, the sight of it brought Hudson to tears.

Slaughter!

A blatant slaughter!

With intensive firepower, oftentimes just one encounter was enough to inflict heavy losses on the Hawkman Air Force.

Apart from a few strong Hawkmen who could charge forward and engage in close combat, ordinary Hawkman soldiers often died before they even reached the enemy.

The battlefield was the best teacher.

Logic told Hudson that the next phase would likely herald the era of magic crossbows.

If the production cost of the magic crossbows could be lowered, it would undoubtedly rewrite the pattern of the continental war that was coming.

Not to mention the lowest-ranking soldiers, even ordinary knights would have little resistance against magic crossbows.

Even the Sky Knights would not last long under the pressure of dense volleys of magic crossbows.

Once the power of the Seed of Life within their bodies was exhausted, their only option would be to retreat.

It had to be admitted that weapons related to warfare always developed and spread rapidly.

The exact birth date of the magic crossbow was hard to determine, but the portable miniature magic crossbow only came into existence about forty or fifty years ago.

Due to cost constraints, it hadn’t been widely equipped.

However, research in the related fields never ceased.

Just by looking at the myriad designs of magic crossbows people held, it was clear that these were the fruits of years of research by different alchemists, representing the advancements of various powers.

What rendered Hudson speechless was that these achievements were not the results of deliberate collaborative research, but merely the side businesses of alchemists for profit-making.

…

“This can’t go on.

The Human Race is displaying a strength much greater than during the last continental war,”

“Especially, the enemy’s air forces, more than a third of them are equipped with miniature magic crossbows.

The shortest range is over a hundred meters while some can reach as far as three or four hundred meters.

In combat situations, our soldiers often suffer heavy losses even before they can get close enough to engage.

In the past six months, we’ve lost a total of seven thousand Hawkman warriors on the battlefield.

And the casualties we’ve inflicted on the enemy are definitely less than three thousand, and this count includes their ground forces.

Unless we can mass-produce magic crossbows, we can’t carry on this war!”

The Hawkman Emperor said with a grim face.

He had originally thought that disrupting the enemy and launching aerial raids would be an easy task, but he hadn’t expected such heavy losses.

What worried him most was the development speed of the Human Race.

If things continued this way, the survival environment of the Orc Empire in Aslante would only continue to worsen.

“Hawkman King, please calm down.

We’ve almost quashed the rebellion within our borders and it’s time for our final battle with the human race.

From the current situation, it’s clear that the Empire’s power is insufficient to defeat the enemy head-on.

The danger of magic crossbows must indeed be considered seriously, but it’s not a problem without a solution.

This crisis has spread, and it’s not just us who need to step forward, every race on the continent must reconsider the threat of the Human Race.

Record the scenes of the magic crossbow in combat and send it to the Dwarf Race.

They will know what to do.

Next, as usual, exchange space for time, resist every step, and slowly consume the Human Race’s strength.

You all don’t need too worry too much.

When united, the Human Race is invincible on the continent, but the Human Alliance has long been split.

What we face are hundreds of Human forces, not a unified Human Race.

Just internal competition consumes at least half or more of their strength.

If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold.

As long as the rulers of various races on the continent aren’t fools, they would not watch the Human Race wipe us out.

As the Empire’s situation worsens, the various races will inevitably put pressure on the Human Race.

If nothing unexpected happens, as long as we can drag this out for a while and find mediators to concede to the Human Race, the war should end.”

Alex tried to comfort them.

The tragic fate of the Hawkman Clan was just the beginning.

As the war deepened, many more races would face the same situation.

Deep down, Alex couldn’t help feeling somewhat glad.

Finally, there was someone to act as a shield.

It’s no longer just their Bimon Tribe that’s unlucky.

“Hawkman King, King Bimon makes sense.

What we need to do now is to hold on.

The Human Race is indeed strong, but other races on the continent aren’t weak.

Mainly, this war was initiated in such a hurry that we did not have time to coordinate relationships with other races.

Otherwise, we wouldn’t be so passive.

We’ve learned our lesson from this loss.

As long as we can take this lesson to heart, we will still have opportunities in the future.

For instance, the miniature magic crossbows in the Human Army.

As long as we can cultivate a good relationship with the Dwarf Race, the production of parts is no longer a problem.

We also have the possibility of large-scale equipment.

If necessary, we can develop sea transport, negotiate trade with the Dwarf Race via sea routes, and completely break the blockade of the Alpha Kingdom!”

The Lionman King said with spirit.

From his calm and composed tone, it was impossible to tell that he was the instigator of this war, nor did he show a shred of guilt.

All one could say was that it was different being the leader.

Even though his power hadn’t increased much, his thickness of face had undoubtedly developed beforehand.

The way he spoke and acted was so similar to the late Old King Bimon that it couldn’t simply be said that they were alike.

They were practically identical.