Chapter 011: Ivanlu

“Hmph! That old man—I don’t think he’d do anything honorable. When it comes to taking advantage of others, I doubt Du Fan is even worse than him.” Robb growled angrily at the people in front of him. A whole month had passed since Count Wade’s troops ambushed Du Fan from behind, and Robb was still extremely upset.
Basha smiled at Robb, patted his shoulder to urge him to calm down, and then continued, “I think that old bastard Wade is no simple man. You’ve seen the powerful warriors around him. If he can still be just a count with such strength, then Fisher must be incredibly foolish.”
To help Du Fan, Basha, the dwarf king, hadn’t returned to the Twilight Mountains yet. Along with Moses and Du Fan, he seemed to have returned to the times when he was together with Du Fan.
“Not bad,” Du Fan said softly, squinting ahead. “Fisher must have already realized Wade’s strength. I think only about one-third of Wade’s troops are here to attack us today. If he sent all of them, we’d be hiding somewhere, recuperating, by now.”
Hearing Du Fan’s words, not only Robb let out a surprised cry. To be honest, who could have imagined that a count would have more troops at his disposal than the royal family? Unless he was plotting rebellion, there was no other explanation.
“Hmm, but Fisher probably hasn’t fully recovered yet. If Wade takes advantage of the chaos to rebel now, Fisher might really be overthrown this time.” Basha stroked his chin, deep in thought.
Hearing Basha’s words, everyone fell silent. Indeed, from the start of the war, Du Fan and the others had almost made a grave mistake by ignoring Count Wade. But Fisher probably needed Count Wade’s help right now as well. The Holy Church now had only those two stubborn old men left, along with four cardinal archbishops. For Count Wade, who had been lurking for so many years, it would be easy to take control.
“Report! A group of cavalry is approaching from ten kilometers away.” At that moment, the scouts knelt at the door of the meeting room and began reporting to the powerful figures inside.

“Oh? Does Fischer not want to face the consequences of his injuries, and dares to pull such a stunt at this moment?” Rob looked at Du Fan with delight. Although what he said about himself and Fischer wasn’t true, the fact that Fischer had killed Du Fan’s parents was enough in Rob’s eyes to deserve a thousand deaths for him.
“I don’t think it’s that simple. If that were really the case, Fischer would be too bold.” Basha looked at Rob helplessly, thought for a while, and then slowly said, “What do you think? Could it be Wade who did this? He loves to stab people in the back. I think it might well be him.”
Hearing Basha’s words, Du Fan nodded as well. If it were Fischer, he probably wouldn’t dare to attack his army rashly now. But for Count Wade, the fact that Chenchen had led 450,000 troops to scare him away was enough to fuel his hatred, so a minor attack wouldn’t be much of a concern.
“Let’s go take a look.” Moses also couldn’t sit still. He looked at Du Fan with some doubt, and after seeing Du Fan nod, everyone present excitedly led the Black Panther Knights out.
A month wasn’t very long for these strong warriors, but even they felt restless after a whole month of rest. Fortunately, at this moment, someone had come knocking at their door, so it was understandable that they became impatient.
Du Fan and the others floated in the sky, stepping toward the thousands of cavalry not far away. Meanwhile, over a thousand dwarves on Black Panthers also moved forward slowly, with hundreds of elf archers following closely behind Du Fan and the others.
Under Du Fan’s plan, the original group of over 3,000 Black Panther Knights and several thousand rescue troops split into two groups. One group, led by Du Fan, took a shortcut to confront those cavalry, while the other group, led by Basha and Naixiu, included some Black Panther Knights and griffin squads to encircle and attack the cavalry from flanks.
“Who are you? Why have you come to my territory?” Before the other party could speak, Du Fan, who had just met them, asked curiously, eager to hear their reply.
“Du Fan, we’re from Odinburg. We’ve been sent by Count Wade to capture you, this traitor,” replied a man wearing a silver mask at the forefront of the cavalry.

Hearing the man’s words, Du Fan realized at that moment that this man was also a master of a certain domain. This couldn’t help but surprise Du Fan—he hadn’t expected Count Wade to have as many as five, or even more, domain masters under his command.
“Heh, just one domain, and you dare speak to us like this?” Rob looked down on the man with a stern face in front of him, raising his fist slightly, ready to strike and knock him down at any moment.
“Wait,” Du Fan interrupted Rob, smiling as he spoke to the man with the stern face. “You say you’re acting on Count Wade’s orders. If you’re capable, tell me your true identity. Why hide yourself like this?”
Hearing Du Fan’s words, the man angrily removed his mask, revealing a face covered in stubble and deep wrinkles. He then said, “I am Ivanru, the lord of Odinburg, one of the Three Southern Fortresses.”
Ivanru of Odinburg? Hearing the man’s words, Du Fan began to wonder. Of course, he knew about the Three Southern Fortresses, but he never imagined that one of them was actually Count Wade’s hidden pawn in the south. He also couldn’t help but admire him—after all, an old fox always thinks more than young people do. If Fisher really lost, then it wasn’t entirely his fault.
“So it’s Ivanru. It seems you must be one of that old fox Wade’s lackeys.” Moses looked down on Ivanru with disdain. For a domain master, a single thought could easily turn the tide of battle, and turning defeat into victory had happened more than once. Thus, everyone present could clearly sense that if Ivanru were allowed to return to Count Wade’s side today, it would be like letting a tiger back into the mountains—he would undoubtedly become a formidable enemy in the future.
At that moment, the rear troops led by Basha and Naixiu also blocked the exit from behind Odinburg’s army. Immediately, the Black Panther Knights and the Gryphon Archers stared intently at the soldiers in front of them.
Du Fan didn’t give any orders to attack. Instead, he smiled faintly and asked Ivanru, “I’ve heard that Bluebloods often appear near Odinburg. You must be quite familiar with their movements, right?”
“Hmph,” Ivanru snorted disdainfully at Du Fan’s words before continuing, “So what if I am?”
“Heh,” Du Fan smiled lightly and spoke in a highly tempting tone, “If you tell me the exact location of the Bluebloods, maybe I’ll spare your life today.”

“Daydreaming.” Facing the two aggressive armies pressing in from both sides, Ivanlu showed no signs of tension. Fan seemed indifferent, chatting with his subordinates behind him, showing no intention of fighting. Instead, it seemed he wanted to stall things with Du Fan’s side.

Seeing Ivanlu’s actions, Du Fan remained silent for a moment before recalling all the human warriors and starting to discuss the situation.

“Well, what do you think? Should we figure out a way to deal with him? Stalling like this isn’t a good strategy,” Basha suggested to Du Fan. “How about we retreat first? Let them do whatever they want. We can leave some soldiers behind to guard the area.”

Hearing Basha’s suggestion, Du Fan nodded and smiled darkly at those around him. “I think this would work. We’ll keep asking him questions here for a day. If he refuses to speak, I’ll set up a barrier together with the others.”

“A barrier?” Everyone grew puzzled at Du Fan’s words. Barriers weren’t very useful in war, and it seemed Du Fan intended to trap these enemies. But for these well-trained soldiers, even if trapped, nothing unusual would happen.

“Hehe,” Du Fan smiled faintly, looking triumphant. “That’s exactly what we’ll do. We’ll trap them. Their rations probably aren’t much, so they’ll last a day at most. Their lord can survive by absorbing magical elements, but without solid food, even he’ll struggle. As for those soldiers without food, if we starve them for three days, they’ll probably cry and surrender to us.”

“Hmm,” Basha understood Du Fan’s plan and explained it to the others who were still confused. “What my third brother means is that we’ll set up a barrier together to trap these soldiers, while our army retreats. We’ll send scouting teams every day to check if their rations are gone. Once they’re out of food, we’ll send our Black Panther Knights or elves to have a feast right in front of them—something they can see but not eat. I think it won’t take half a month before they’re starving enough to surrender.”

“That’s right.” At that moment, Naixiu joined in Bashar’s words and began explaining to the people around her, “The most vulnerable aspect of a person is probably their resilience. If the things they rely on for survival suddenly disappear, I’m afraid not only ordinary soldiers but even those powerful warriors might not be able to withstand it. So as long as we keep tempting them over and over again, within a few days, some soldiers will start to lower their guard. If we can keep luring them every day, it won’t take long before they start fighting among themselves. By then, if we take action, it will be as if we’ve effortlessly taken over Odinburg. Of course, when necessary, we’ll also have to provide food for them.”

After hearing Naixiu’s explanation, Du Fan nodded and turned to join the powerful warriors around him to create a barrier. Meanwhile, under the strange looks from the people in Odinburg, the entire army withdrew.

Once all the food carried by the people in Odinburg was exhausted, for several consecutive days, many members of the Black Panther Knights would hold gatherings during lunch and dinner. Though called gatherings, they were actually tests to see if the soldiers of Odinburg could truly endure hunger. In the first three days, no matter how frantically the Black Panther Knights ate, the soldiers of Odinburg remained indifferent and continued chatting among themselves. But starting from the fourth day, whenever the Black Panther Knights gathered for meals, many soldiers from Odinburg would watch them with extreme hunger.

In the following days, almost all the soldiers of Odinburg were attracted by the food prepared by the Black Panther Knights. Moreover, even before the Black Panther Knights started grilling meat, the soldiers of Odinburg’s stomachs would start growling just as regularly.