Chapter 019: Changes

“Big brother, don’t do this suddenly,” Du Fan said, feeling extremely troubled.
Even with Du Fan’s imagination, he never expected Nayixiu to become the Elf King!
And even if she became the Elf King, it shouldn’t happen so quickly!
Also, his own big brother, Moses, stubbornly knelt on the ground, insisting on calling his wife the Elf King! He kept saying he would protect her safety at all costs.
“Big brother, please get up,” Nayixiu finally spoke up. As Du Fan’s woman, she naturally referred to Moses as big brother as well.
Hearing Nayixiu’s voice, Moses finally stood up.
“Big brother, stop doing this. It’s putting me in an awkward situation,” Du Fan said.
“Third brother, I don’t want to either, but according to our elf tribe’s rules, whoever possesses the Elf King’s Ring becomes the ruler of our tribe—the Elf King,” Moses explained.
“Moreover, our Ancient Tree tribe is directly under the Elf King’s rule,” he added.
“Big brother, we’ve decided to explore the Bilu tribe. Will you still stop us?” Du Fan asked with a smile.
“If that’s the case, I’ll go with you,” Moses said after thinking for a moment.
“Alright then,” Du Fan replied helplessly.
As the three set off and flew toward the Bilu tribe, Du Fan kept wondering: Would his big brother have to follow him and Nayixiu 24/7 from now on?
If so, wouldn’t it be very difficult for him to go hunting with Nayixiu after administering medicine?
At the thought of this, Du Fan felt extremely frustrated.
The speed at which the three traveled was like three trails of mist; the people of the Bilu tribe couldn’t detect their presence at all. Moreover, in the Twilight Mountains, there were many powerful beings and speed-based magical beasts, so even if they saw three fast-moving objects in the sky, they wouldn’t find it strange.
Another thing was that the area they were flying over was merely the outskirts of the Bilu tribe!
As they gradually flew deeper into the interior, they would discover large armies gathering there! These armies were so dense that they looked like a sea of darkness at a glance!

The three of them floated high in the air. Naixiu activated her Eagle Eye technique, and through its vision, she quickly estimated the number of troops gathered there.
“There are already a hundred thousand infantry, and forty thousand cavalry!” Naixiu whispered.
That meant Karu’s forces now numbered one hundred and forty thousand!
“According to the intelligence sent by Leibao, Karu should have only added twenty thousand cavalry. How could there be so many more soldiers all of a sudden?” Moses exclaimed in surprise upon hearing Naixiu’s words.
“That’s exactly why Naixiu and I came to scout—gathering first-hand information about the enemy is extremely important!” Du Fan said.
“Where could that mountain giant be?” Moses asked doubtfully.
“He must be there!” Du Fan pointed.
In the distance, a tall tent stood out—more than two meters taller than ordinary tents!
“Are you sure? Are you sure it’s the mountain giant inside, not the leader’s residence?” Moses asked.
“Brother, if it were just a bit bigger, I might think it’s the leader’s home. But look at the size of that tent—even if the dwarf leader wanted to show himself apart from the others, there’s no need to make it this tall! Do the dwarves consider it a temple?” Du Fan said.
As if to prove Du Fan’s point, a mountain giant climbed out of that huge tent. Seeing this, Du Fan gave Moses a proud look.
“Ahem, third brother, you’re really smart,” Moses said, a bit embarrassed.
“Brother, don’t say that,” Du Fan replied with a smile.
“Du Fan, what should we do next?” Naixiu asked.
“What else? We go back, of course,” Du Fan said.
“Shouldn’t we go down and give them some gifts?” Moses wondered. Leaving after just a quick look didn’t seem like Du Fan’s style.
“What else can we do? Just those ten mountain giants on their side are enough to give us trouble. Do you really think the three of us can fight against an army of nearly two hundred thousand? Besides, even ordinary dwarfs are excellent fighters once they pick up an axe,” Du Fan said.
“Then let’s go back,” Moses said quickly.
Du Fan gave Moses another puzzled look. Why did this brother change his mind so fast?

Moshe, looking at Du Fan in that way, smiled shyly.
“Actually, I’m worried that something might happen to the Prince of the Elves,” Moshe thought while smiling.
Indeed, in Moshe’s mind, the safety of the new Prince of the Elves was surely more important than the incident that had previously brought disaster to the Bilu tribe.
“Then let’s go,” Du Fan said hurriedly.
Soon, the three of them used the speed of those skilled in domain magic. With Du Fan’s wind-based spells constantly enhancing them, they moved like three meteors, racing toward the Black Panther Knight Corps.
Inside the Black Panther Knight Corps, several senior commanders were listening carefully to Du Fan and Naixiu’s explanations.
The sudden increase in troops made them extremely cautious. According to previous intelligence, the remaining warriors of the Bilu tribe numbered around forty thousand, plus twenty thousand cavalry, totaling about sixty thousand. But now, the Bilu forces had suddenly increased to one hundred and forty thousand!
Such a sudden increase of eighty thousand troops was beyond their expectations!
How to deal with these extra eighty thousand troops was a crucial issue. In many battles, the outcome was determined by small details, so this situation needed to be analyzed carefully.
What was even more critical was that if they could suddenly add eighty thousand troops, could they add another eighty thousand?
That was the most important question.
Given this, Naixiu and Leibao issued an order at the same time: using Black Panther knights and elf archers to form reconnaissance teams that would patrol around the Black Panther Knight Corps’ base 24/7, covering a range of over 120 miles!
Within this area, any movement would be quickly reported to the commanders of the Black Panther Knight Corps.
On the third day, the reconnaissance teams sent ahead reported that enemy forces had been spotted!
The enemy forces ahead consisted entirely of cavalry—forty thousand Armadillo Knights, all mobilized! Following closely behind were fifty thousand dwarf warriors!
Ten Mountain Giants marched among the fifty thousand dwarf knights, with another seventy thousand dwarf warriors behind them. The total number of troops sent this time to Karu had reached one hundred and sixty thousand!

Of course, in addition to the troops sent by Karu to provide support, the Bilu tribe also conscripted hundreds of thousands of soldiers secretly! From a tribe of three hundred fifty thousand people, they managed to gather one hundred twenty thousand soldiers using such methods! Of these one hundred sixty thousand soldiers, only sixty thousand were sent by Karu as support, while another sixty thousand were recruited by Komhan from within the tribe. Adding to this the twenty thousand who were annihilated by Basha last time, the Bilu tribe, with a population of three hundred fifty thousand, managed to muster one hundred twenty thousand soldiers! Such a conscription rate could only be described as insane! However, this conscription by the Bilu tribe was not forced by Komhan. Initially, over ten thousand people died during the siege of Moses, and another twenty thousand died in the battle against Basha in the Kama Valley. As a result, one in ten people in the Bilu tribe had died, and such a high death rate meant that every family wore mourning clothes and cried night after night! Originally, Komhan intended to surrender, but he never expected that his people would become so determined to fight to the death against Basha’s army. Moreover, the arrival of Karu’s troops greatly boosted the morale of the Bilu tribe, prompting these dwarves to demand a decisive battle with Basha. Aside from women, children, and the very old who could no longer fight, almost all the other dwarves picked up weapons and rushed to the battlefield. These Bilu dwarves were resolved to avenge their dead relatives. As these dwarves marched in large numbers toward the Black Panther Knights’ base, Basha was also busy. Facing one hundred sixty thousand soldiers indeed gave Basha and his allies a shock! One hundred sixty thousand soldiers was indeed an astonishing number for the dwarf race—after all, when the Dwarf King founded the Black Panther Knights, it started with only ten thousand members! Yet, Basha was also at a significant disadvantage. As his messengers continued to send messages to various dwarf tribes, reinforcements from those tribes kept arriving near the Black Panther Knights’ base!

The warriors gathered from these various tribes also numbered over 60,000! By the time the warriors of the Bilu tribe entered the territory of the Black Panther Knights, Basha’s forces had reached a considerable size as well. There were over 63,000 dwarf warriors, 10,000 regular members of the Black Panther Knights, over 12,000 reserve troops of the Black Panther Knights, and 2,000 elf archers.

In total, Basha’s army numbered over 80,000 troops—a number that was roughly half that of the Bilu tribe. However, Basha’s army planned to adopt a defensive strategy. Moreover, Basha’s elite force, the Black Panther Knights, and even their reserve troops were far more formidable than ordinary dwarf warriors!

There were also 2,000 elf archers! All of these 2,000 elf archers were at level 7, and with proper use of their skills, they could become a decisive force in determining the outcome of a war. Elf archers at level 7 could even unleash various archery techniques. If all 2,000 of them used their skills together, it would constitute a devastating strike!