From Skaven to God of War

Chapter 279: Rising Intensity of War
The brutal knights did not show even a single sign of fear or retreat until the moment they were completely annihilated.

Loud noises appeared in the human army, accompanied by angry roars.

That was the last struggle of the deformed giant rat. Huge losses occurred, unexpected losses for the human side and for the commander hidden in the coalition of nobles.

The exploding scarlet flesh and blood infected a large number of magic knights and ordinary human warriors. Amid the spread of distortion, death was taking place.

This is what a ferocious knight is like, too strong-willed, or too dull.

The rat raiders began to retreat. Taking advantage of this opportunity, they were not really fighting desperately, nor were they prepared to really fight desperately.

The morale of the rats was encouraged, and the morale that was on the verge of collapse was boosted again after witnessing the black flag appearing.

Even many ordinary ratmen warriors, young ratmen, were more excited and fanatical, and admired the strong. This was a very common situation among the ratmen. It was a pity that even with fanaticism, even with excitement, even if they suppressed their fear, what awaited them was still death.

Whether it is the young ratmen or the ratmen warriors, their positioning has always been the same, cannon fodder.

Shuzhan crossed a long distance, about a quarter of the chaotic battlefield, and rushed through the human formation until he came in front of these army mages.

The military mages were not familiar with this situation. Obviously, they had never encountered such a situation before.

That's the power of a hero.

Most of the accompanying mages only had time to cast a round of spells, fireballs, rock spells, icicles, acid, or something else. These things were thrown onto the chaotic battlefield, without much need to aim, just find a general direction and throw it out. That was about it. The ratmen were too dense, so dense that every time a mage fell, he could clear out the ratmen in a small area.

But the effect is not great. Soon, the rats will come back again and there will be no noticeable reduction.

Chaotic sounds echoed in my ears, coming from sharp screams, fearful cries, desperate wails, excited roars, and pious whispers. These messy sounds came together to make up this noisy sound.

Amid the noise, Shuzhan rushed in front of the military mage.

Most of the mages accompanying the army did not react. They received the order to retreat, but the transmission of the order seemed to be much slow.

These military mages were not integrated into the command system of the noble coalition.

By the time they got the news, it was already too late.

The violent guy had torn through the last line of defense and arrived in front of them.

He was not so frightened that he could not do anything. Instead, he cast all kinds of spells at Shu Zhan. The messy and mottled spells filled the sky in an instant.

But it didn't have any particularly big effect, a dark flag fluttered.

All the spells were intercepted.

A brutal killing began.

At the beginning of this war, the Fierce Knights and most of the accompanying mages were consumed like pawns.

After burying all the brutal knights, the human side freed up their hands. In the large-scale troop mobilization, a large number of human troops were mobilized to prepare to encircle and kill the arrogant guy Shuzhan.

Shu Zhan couldn't be as reckless as he was just now, and although he was arrogant, he was not stupid.

The retreat began.

At this time, the role of the Royal Guards was reflected. Although this group of guys who followed Shu Zhan into the depths of the human army did not catch up with Shu Zhan in the end, they were able to support the most solid passage when Shu Zhan needed to retreat.

Rat Zhan walked away and retreated deep into the rat army.

The first battle between the two sides ended like this.

Afterwards, the Eastern Expeditionary Force and the noble coalition fought for three consecutive days in the wilderness, and it ended with neither side being able to do anything to the other.

The rats retreated in large numbers, leaving behind corpses everywhere. The bright light that served as a node of the battlefield also dimmed as a magic knight collapsed to the ground.

The rat war must be taken more seriously.

These guys are more troublesome than you might think.

Yanlian Province.

The reason why the nobles were so concerned was not only the threat posed by the ratmen, but also the unsophisticated knights who had recently arrived at the rear of Lianyan Province along the river.

The Lianyan family made a decision quickly and bowed down in front of the prince.

This made all the nobles a little more anxious.

It's time to start fighting for a title. Since the prince wants to make a difference in this war, let's see which side can represent more strength.

More supplies and resources began to be put into the front line.

It contains a large number of magical instruments.

The prince also broke into Lianyan Province with his knights and began to expel the rat warlords entrenched in the area.

It seems a bit undermined, but a very embarrassing point has emerged.

We have to admit that the Human Empire, as a complete and huge empire, is to some extent a benchmark for the entire Ratman Empire, and even has a tendency to surpass the Ratman Empire.

One change can be seen from the Rat War.

The rat war began to be micro-managed.

It was no longer a matter of waving flags and all the ratmen swarming forward, but they really began to arrange the battle lines and plan the battlefield.

With outposts, tunnels, and a complex underground network, relying on two occupied human cities, the Rat War began to deploy defense lines.

Head-on conflicts occur every day.

However, the intensity is not that great, controlled in units of tens of thousands. Every day, at least one hundred thousand ratmen will be deployed on the front battlefield to engage in armed fights with the human team.

Without putting all their efforts into it, relying on that magic network and huge ritual, the benefits that could be brought by putting all their efforts into it would be limited. It might be difficult for the human side to hold on, and the Eastern Expeditionary Force would have to start a full-scale rout.

In fact, a total rout is not a big problem. Soon, within a few days, these guys will be gathered together again and be able to attack again.

The key is the window period that will appear after the army’s defeat.

Various teams were divided up, and even the defeated rat warlord in Yancheng was recalled and, after replenishing his troops, deployed to this increasingly lengthening battle front.

Shu Zhan is concerned about a problem.

If the Eastern Expeditionary Force was completely defeated and a window of opportunity appeared, then the human side would be able to drive Rat War back to the Golden Province, or be more radical and bypass the Eastern Expeditionary Force that was regrouping and take over the Golden Province.

Then the problem becomes really serious at this time.

The Rat Warriors might be able to run back, but the Eastern Expeditionary Force might face annihilation again. If they really had to fight hard at this time, the Rat Warriors were not without a chance of winning, and the balance of victory would even be more inclined towards the Rat Warriors.

However, the opponents they have to face are not only the noble coalition in front of them, but also the plateau people on the plateau and the royal knights in Lianyan Province. These are all people that Shuzhan needs to deal with.

Shu Zhan was intentionally avoiding the decisive battle, or perhaps he hoped to increase his chances of winning a little more.

Shu Zhan can indeed be considered an excellent commander. At least he can see through these problems quickly and is not always so reckless.

The commander of the noble coalition made the same decision.

Both sides are avoiding a decisive battle where both sides will be devastated.

The Royal Knights that appeared were indeed like a catfish.

The defeated rat warlords were used as chess pieces and placed beside the noble coalition that broke into this unknown province.

In order to compress its range of activities, the tunnels present a semi-enclosed posture.

The intensity of the war between humans and ratmen suddenly reached its peak since the start of the battle.

The two sides were fighting fiercely for these withered pieces of land and fighting in various tunnels, one side trying to expand its own space for activities, and the other side trying to suppress the other side's space for activities.

Both sides are looking for an opportunity.

After setting up the defense line and formation, look for the opportunity to completely crush the opponent in one fell swoop.

Of course, this does not mean becoming a gambler, although in fact Shuzhan does not mind being a gambler.

That opportunity is more of a cumulative concept.

A mistake, a defeat, a gap in the defense, a disparity in logistics operations, and a continued decline in morale.

Various factors accumulated and then the opportunity appeared. The last straw that broke the camel's back appeared and completely determined the outcome of the battle.

This is the safest kind of competition.

This is also a choice that there is no other choice. If possible, Rat War would definitely prefer to rush forward and tear the enemy to pieces. It's a pity that this vision is difficult to achieve at present.

The rats are not without advantages.

The young ratmen that kept coming from afar, the various equipment that were transported over, and the blood mushrooms that kept sprouting in the blood pool, all of these were advantages.

The deformed and twisted Skaven Empire has devoted everything to war.

In terms of the level of support for the war, the Human Empire cannot match it in any way.

However, there is a prerequisite for these advantages to be successfully brought into play.

That’s a smooth logistical route.

This is why Shu Zhan has laid out his battle line thoroughly. The Eastern Expeditionary Force’s retreat cannot be cut off.

But now there is a problem, a very serious problem.

The Eastern Expeditionary Force pinned the noble coalition forces on the border of this nameless province, but their logistical routes were not stable.

The rat warlords are currently in a state of retreat in Lianyan Province.

He looked so miserable and it seemed like he was about to collapse.

In fact, we cannot entirely blame these rat warlords for the outcome. After all, it was not because they did not try hard, but because their opponents were too powerful.

This group of royal knights charged forward like little suns, shining brightly, with great impact, and able to walk on dangerous terrain as if it were flat ground.

No, they are little suns. In this dim world, these guys covered in golden light are no different from little suns.

Not to mention charging at the second-rate rat army of the rat warlord whose troops mostly had low morale, even if it was just to challenge the Eastern Expeditionary Army under Shu Zhan, it would be no problem to charge back and forth a few times.

Not to mention that there were as many as 20,000 golden knights appearing in front of them at once. The rat warlords who had been abusing Lianyan Province and corrupting the area were dumbfounded and were beaten back repeatedly. One unlucky guy was even sent to see the great god.

Even if the remaining few were not driven out immediately, they still ended up struggling to hold on.

At the current trend, it won't be long before all the rat warlords are driven out of Lianyan Province. It doesn't matter if they are defeated, but if Lianyan Province is occupied by this group of royal knights, then the rat people's rear area on the main continent will be in danger.

The worst case scenario is that the Golden Province falls, the Eastern Expeditionary Force is surrounded and defeated.

Undoubtedly, this is a terrible situation.

But fortunately, in this situation, there will always be people who stand up for themselves.

Yes, not for the Ratman Empire, not for more ratmen, maybe for the great gods, but more for himself.

Qi is one of the last surviving Skaven warlords in Lianyan Province.

It is easy to defeat the ratmen, but it is quite difficult to completely wipe them out.

Often in a charge, these royal knights were able to defeat an army of ratmen and send the ratmen fleeing in all directions.

But as long as you don't kill all these ratmen completely, it won't be long before you see these guys gather together again and show up in this area again.

The rats were hiding here and there, constantly being defeated in this province, but as long as the leading rat warlord was not killed, these guys would always show up again before long.

This is why the rat warlords are always able to survive despite this huge disparity.

These guys don't want to retreat so easily and are desperately seeking more.

Not for any other reason, but because they don't want to be labeled a failure, they are still working hard to clean up the small mountain settlements in this province.

The guy who wants to climb higher always wants to do better and do more.

Reputation is a precious thing to these young Skaven warlords.

It's just that this thing is too easy to get, and the advantage of losing is too easy.

Not to mention them, even Shu Zhan had to take this into consideration. He didn't fight the noble coalition army immediately. Wasn't he also concerned about his own reputation? If he lost and wiped out all his troops, that would be a price that even Shu Zhan could not accept.

What’s more, these are young rat warlords.

Qi was ready to do something. For himself, he had to do something and couldn't just run away in disgrace.

(End of this chapter)