Chapter 267: Secondary Defense
As the words faded, Rod glanced again at Emio and Nagran across from him. Both were sitting there in silence, frowning deeply and lost in thought, seemingly pondering his words. The atmosphere grew quiet.
“How confident are you? How long can we hold out?” After a moment, Emio raised his head and asked Rod. Retreating to the secondary defense line was no easy decision. Simply put, it was extremely difficult to implement and carried great risks. Any mistake could have consequences they couldn’t afford—nor could the entire Black Tooth Legion. They had to be cautious; without absolute certainty, such a move was out of the question.
“Sixty percent. If we succeed in retreating, we can hold out for at least ten days,” Rod said after some thought. Then he shook his head with a wry smile. Ten days—Rod wasn’t even sure of that, as new variables had emerged. If it weren’t for the appearance of vampires, werewolves, and demons, retreating to the secondary line would have allowed them to hold out for over a month. After all, that defense line was built to withstand massive monster armies, with all fortifications designed from the monsters’ perspective. Now, the situation had changed drastically. With so many uncertainties, no one could guarantee anything. Rod wasn’t a god either—he wasn’t immune.
Ten days—maybe longer, maybe shorter. It was impossible to say without knowing the actions of the demons and vampires.
If the demons led an army of vampires and werewolves to attack immediately, even three days might be insufficient! That was the biggest variable.
A gloomy atmosphere filled the room, making it hard to breathe. The dire situation and precarious defenses weighed heavily on their minds.
“If the demons appear, we must not abandon the first defense line! At least that way we still have a fallback. We fight fiercely to hold the first line; even if we fail, the second line has our brothers backing us up! We still have a way out!” After a long silence, Nagran voiced his opinion.
Retreating to the secondary line meant betting everything on that option, with no alternative path left. There were only two outcomes: either they succeeded in defense and waited for reinforcements before launching a counterattack—after all, those reinforcements would surely be formidable. The arrival of the demons meant disaster for the entire continent. Under such circumstances, no country or organization could stand by idly; they would surely deploy their greatest strength to aid Iron Bar Town! A counterattack wouldn’t be impossible then!
The second option is failure—once that happens, there’s no way back, and the demons will lead their armies straight into the city. They’ll advance all the way inland, and then true disaster will strike. It is for this reason that Nagran disagrees with Rod’s idea of retreating to the second defense line. “This can be considered, but for now we should focus on the first defense line. Once the fortifications are complete, we can retreat to the second line if necessary. Brado, this is your plan and your idea—you understand the difficulties better than we do. Even retreating isn’t easy. Help me draft a retreat plan; if possible, we must prepare as soon as possible!” Yet Amyo’s words came as a great surprise to Rod and Nagran. Rod had thought he would agree with Nagran and refuse to retreat, and Nagran thought the same—after all, this wasn’t something simple. But his stance seemed to favor Rod’s plan! This left the two stunned. “I’ll deliver the plan to you as soon as possible!” Rod replied quickly after a moment of thought. As Amyo said, retreating also required massive preparations—nothing could be taken lightly. How to cover the rear, how to retreat, how to avoid giving the enemy an opportunity to follow and cause chaos before taking advantage! Everything needed careful planning; otherwise, it would be impossible to succeed. “Well, I’ll be direct. There’s another more important matter why I called you today! Your abilities have been evident to everyone these past days. Without your help, our defenses might have already fallen… As you know, although we have many members—three hundred thousand, maybe even more—we lack capable leaders to handle the current battles! After several days of fighting, your strength has been recognized by all. After some consideration, I plan to…” Amyo said solemnly, looking at Rod. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to finish before Rod interrupted him. “It was just luck. Everyone performed well. I’ve said I can’t do it—I still have some personal matters to attend to! I’m not worthy of your high hopes, Brado!” With a bitter smile, Rod cut off their thoughts. Ridiculous! If these people knew his identity as a demon, they’d chase him down immediately. If he really joined their ranks, wouldn’t that be a huge joke and disaster?
“I knew you’d say that. Don’t worry; we’re not forcing you. We just hope you can do more to expand your Death Scythe Squad by adding members. If you need anyone, we can help you. You can choose any members from the Black Tooth Legion—there’s no point underestimating us. The Black Tooth Legion is full of elite fighters, including Imperial-level warriors and Golden Warriors! You can deploy them as you see fit. Additionally, you can pick reinforcements as well; I’m sure they’d be happy to join your team. If necessary, we can step in too! Your Death Scythe Squad is currently very popular, and its combat strength is terrifyingly powerful—even us old guys are envious.
Take advantage of your current influence to organize the reinforcements! That way, it’ll be easier for us to command them!” In response to Rod’s refusal, Emio seemed to have anticipated it and said with a wry smile, “Yeah, the general is right. Your influence is sufficient, and I believe those reinforcements will obey your commands. As you can see, we still have nearly 20,000 reinforcements here, many of them strong fighters. In this defense battle, we’ve suffered heavy losses, as have the reinforcements. The main reason for such heavy losses is that we didn’t bring out our full strength! Especially the reinforcements—though they’re powerful, I can’t see them using even 60% of their strength; the rest is wasted. Chaos in battle is a big issue—without organization, they can’t maximize their abilities or utilize their individual strengths!
The situation is urgent now, and we can’t let it continue like this. We just hope you can use your influence to organize the reinforcements, train them systematically, and enable them to fight more effectively on the battlefield. What do you think?” Nagran also added at the right moment.
After hearing all this, Rod couldn’t help but lower his head in thought. How could he not be aware of what the two of them were saying? This was indeed a huge problem, quite troublesome! He hadn’t considered this aspect before because he lacked the ambition and idea. But now that they brought it up, it really made Rod consider it.
After last night’s battle, his team, the Death Scythe Squad, originally had less than 60 combatants. After a fierce night of fighting, only 42 remained! Their strength had dropped to less than half of what it was before. If they weren’t replenished, they wouldn’t be able to maintain their strong combat capabilities and continue fighting!
The two’s ideas are indeed appealing, well-thought out, and necessary for implementation. If they can truly be put into practice, it might lead to tremendous development and progress. If the desired results are achieved, overcoming this crisis might not be a problem at all—at the very least, holding out for half a month should be no issue. After all, once this collective force is united like a single rope, its power is unimaginably formidable.
“That’s a good idea, but it’s somewhat difficult. I can give it a try, provided that the two generals, the Black Tooth Legion, and reinforcements offer their full support!” After weighing all the pros and cons, Rod finally agreed. This approach posed no harm to him at all, so of course he wouldn’t refuse—it would be rather unkind to do so.
“Great, kid! We were worried you’d reject even this! It’s good that you agreed. Don’t worry; we’ll handle this. I’ll have a formal announcement issued right away, and Nagran will also go to Zone C to assist you! The two of you working together, in the name of the Empire and the Black Tooth Legion, should have no trouble! I hope you’ll put in a lot of effort!” Rod’s agreement made Emio and Nagran smile broadly—they hadn’t wasted their time and effort after all! It was good that he agreed. As for Brado, though young, his strength was beyond doubt. With him involved, there should be no problems, and the strength of the reinforcements would likely improve significantly in just a few days.
“Starting today, your Death Scythe Squad no longer needs to fight on the front lines. Stay behind to train and lead the troops! We’ll handle the battles ahead; we can hold out for a few days!” After reaching an agreement, Emio also breathed a sigh of relief and spoke boldly.
In the following time, after discussing some detailed matters, Ron took his leave, leaving Emio and Nagran in the camp to work on the official documents and specific plans. Rod simply needed to wait for the documents to be issued!
Leaving the camp, Rod noticed that the vast camp was sparsely populated—most people must be fighting on the front lines. As he headed toward his own camp, the desolate and grim atmosphere made his heart ache; he sighed silently.
In truth, no one could know how complex Rod’s feelings were at this moment. As a demon, he was standing on the side of humans to fight against the demons’ attacks—a complexity beyond description. He had deep feelings for humans, yet a kinship bond with the demons. What could he do? Perhaps even he didn’t know; right now, he himself was filled with hesitation and confusion. What to do became the most troubling question for him. And this hidden issue later turned into the greatest conflict.