Chương 369: 369:Ambition to Annex the Misty Swamp

Whether it was the devastating kinetic impact of their charge or the absurd protection of their refined steel armor, Soren had absolute confidence. In close-quarters combat on equal terrain, a single [Armored War Elephant] was more than enough to solo two of the Orcs' Ironclad Earth Dragons and completely dominate them. They could literally use their massive tusks and apocalyptic weight to crush the Earth Dragons into bloody pulp!

"Terrifying..." Kyle swallowed hard, his throat tight.

"My Lord, with monsters like this, if we face the Orc infantry phalanxes on the open plains... all we have to do is let them charge right in, and countless Orcs will be instantly trampled into meat paste!" Hearing Kyle's hopelessly naive tactical vision, Soren chuckled.

"Let them charge the lines entirely alone? What do you think they are?" Soren turned, observing the behemoths as he unveiled the absolute, apex laws of modern warfare:"No matter what kind of biological weapon you possess, deploying it outside of a cohesive tactical formation is sheer, unadulterated stupidity."

"Think about how Warchief Blackstone deployed his Ironclad Earth Dragons. Like a bunch of uncultured savages! They completely wasted their combat potential by blindly driving the Earth Dragons into human fortress walls and Mage Corps without a single ounce of coordination!"

"An assault like that, completely devoid of infantry cover, facing a sky choked with enchanted arrows and concentrated magical bombardment, turns them into nothing more than massive, passive meat targets! No matter how absurdly thick their armor is, there will come a moment when it is eventually worn down and burned straight through!" Soren strode up to one of the Armored War Elephants—which was currently, docilely lowering its colossal head toward him—and firmly patted its refined steel armor.

"In my army, ultra-heavy shock units like this will absolutely never be treated as disposable, isolated cannon fodder."

"If you want to truly unleash the apocalyptic destructive power of a heavily armored behemoth, you absolutely must provide it with airtight, layered cover!" In Soren's mind, he was already meticulously mapping out a doctrine perfectly fusing modern infantry-tank synergy tactics.

"These behemoths are my absolute core armor, meant to shatter every single line of defense!"

"Our infantry will advance by closely tailing the massive frames of these war beasts, utilizing them as mobile, impenetrable cover!"

"The behemoths will rely on their apocalyptic tonnage to violently bulldoze and crush the enemy's barricades and heavy armor phalanxes."

"Meanwhile, the magic rangers and heavy repeating crossbowmen tailing them—or stationed directly inside the howdahs on the elephants' backs—will utilize heavy ranged firepower to execute precision snipes on any enemy anti-armor units attempting to close in with spells or pikes!"

"Obscene armor thickness, flawlessly combined with a 3D, interwoven network of infantry suppressive fire... THAT is what you call an absolutely unblockable offense!" Once Soren's tactical mind opened up, he didn't hesitate for a microsecond. In that exact moment, he made an incredibly bold, domineering decision.

"Kyle!"

"Here!"

"Go to the logistics department immediately and issue a deployment order! Take those sixteen Kodo beasts we seized from Warchief Blackstone's pavilion and across the battlefield—the ones originally used as draft animals—and completely separate them from the transport pool!"

"They are colossally massive, draconic sub-species. While they lack heavy plating, their sheer tonnage grants them devastating destructive potential."

"Tell Luger to utilize our massive stockpile of black steel and forge a custom set of heavy plate armor for every single one of those sixteen Kodo beasts!"

"Furthermore, select a detachment of absolute elites to serve as their dedicated handlers and close-quarter infantry escorts!" Soren pointed fiercely at the two towering Armored War Elephants behind him.

"Using these two Armored War Elephants as the absolute core vanguard spearhead, and backing them up with those sixteen heavy-armor Kodo beasts... right here, right now, I am officially establishing Greywater Village's very first Siege Behemoth Battalion!" When Kyle sprinted through the camp to deliver this absolute order, every single general in Greywater Village—even the Macedonian Phalanx soldiers in the middle of their drills—froze in place, utterly, completely shocked.

Because when eighteen colossally massive siege behemoths were lined up in a breathtaking, earth-shattering charge formation on the open grounds of Greywater Village, the thick plumes of hot steam violently snorting from their snouts instantly cloaked the area. In that moment, every single person profoundly realized an absolutely absurd, logic-defying reality. This was the border frontlines! A place deemed an absolute, barren wasteland by the thirty-plus nations of the Erythian Continent!

Forget the desperately under-supplied border outposts; even the so-called "elite" mainline defensive forces of the Holy Halycon Empire and the Silvermoon Kingdom—legions stationed in the absolute core of the Capital, gorging on oceans of tax revenue—their supreme commanders would be hard-pressed to secure even a single mid-sized heavy siege beast! They had to rely entirely on warhorses and standard infantry phalanxes! Yet, right here, right now, in this rotten mudhole deep within the Misty Swamp...

Soren, a Deputy Border Commander leading a mere two thousand troops, a man intentionally, maliciously suppressed by the Royal Capital! The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Not only had he outfitted his entire army in [Dark Silver Armor] boasting enchantment-level defense... Not only did he possess forbidden-tier spell scrolls...

Now, in these desperately impoverished conditions, he had brute-forced the creation of an actual [Light Siege Behemoth Cluster] comprised of exactly eighteen titanic war beasts!

"Praise Lord Soren! Just how many more mind-bending, reality-shattering miracles is he going to bring us...?" A second-line pikeman, tilting his head back to stare at the towering elephant phalanx that literally blotted out the sun, let out a trembling sigh, his legs violently shaking. Out in the open grounds, the eighteen massive siege behemoths continued to unleash deep, rumbling growls. Soren had already returned to the stilted wooden command post overlooking Greywater Village.

His mind was coldly, ruthlessly calculating the board.

"With Warchief Blackstone dead and thirty thousand elite core troops annihilated, our short-term existential crisis is absolutely resolved."

"But winning a single campaign and physically occupying a territory are two entirely different beasts."

"If I don't exploit this precise window of opportunity—while the Orcs' command structure is completely paralyzed—to convert this battlefield victory into absolute territorial dominance... then in six months, the moment the Blood Province elects a new Warchief, they will still possess the capital to muster another army and launch a massive counter-offensive." Soren reached out, pulling a brass oil lamp to the edge of the desk and turning up the wick.

Then, he drew a thick parchment scroll from his coat—a highly classified document seized directly from Warchief Blackstone's Royal Pavilion. SWISH. He violently unrolled the heavy parchment across the desk, using paperweights to pin down the four corners. It was a highly detailed, comprehensive [Complete Military Map of the Misty Swamp]. The tactical lines and strategic markers, drawn with a mix of ink and beast blood, still carried a faint, metallic stench of gore.

With this map in his possession, every single topographical detail of the thousand-mile Misty Swamp was laid bare before Soren's eyes. Right at that moment, the heavy wooden doors of the command post were pushed open. Intelligence Captain Meyer, Half-Elf Commander Ilya, and the two generals who had just finished settling their troops, Buck and Talon, filed into the room. The commanders immediately dropped their casual demeanors, marching solemnly up to the tactical desk.

"My Lord, do you have new strategic deployments?" Meyer asked, instantly sensing the heavy shift in atmosphere.

"Meyer, give me the latest intel from our perimeter scouts," Soren commanded, not even looking up as his eyes traced the ink lines on the parchment.

"Yes, my Lord!" Meyer stepped forward, his voice crisp and professional.

"Following your orders, after the defensive line was fully secured, I scattered my Goblin scout battalions deep into the swamp to conduct a massive, wide-area recon sweep."

"The ten-thousand-strong Minotaur army has completely lost cohesion. They are scattering wildly in all directions. Not only have they shown zero intent of launching a southern counter-offensive, but they are in a state of total, panicked rout toward the North!"

"Exactly as I predicted." Soren straightened his spine, his piercing gaze sweeping over his core commanders.

"Gentlemen. From this second forward, our core strategic objective is no longer how to merely survive and defend Greywater Village." Soren spoke with absolute, domineering authority: "It is how we are going to physically occupy, and comprehensively annex, the entirety of this thousand-mile expanse known as the Misty Swamp!" Hearing the words comprehensively annex the Misty Swamp, the hearts of the generals violently seized in their chests, their breathing instantly turning ragged with pure hype.

Soren's finger planted firmly onto the northern sector of the map.

"Look here."

"This is the Orc Alliance's northern stronghold, Bloodfang Fortress."

"Currently, within the Misty Swamp, there are still numerous scattered, independent Orc remnant units and minor tribes."

"But now that I have personally executed their supreme commander, Warchief Blackstone, with a single arrow... once the news of their vanguard's apocalyptic annihilation completely spreads..."

"This race of beasts, who only know how to bow to absolute strength, will suffer a total, catastrophic psychological collapse." Soren's finger traced from the southern border of the Misty Swamp, aggressively sliding upward in a sweeping, bulldozer-like motion straight through the central sector:"With that level of apocalyptic terror spreading like a plague, they will absolutely not dare to linger anywhere near our line of sight."

"These Orc remnants will inevitably execute a massive, panicked withdrawal from the entire southern and central regions of the Misty Swamp." Finally, Soren's finger slammed hard onto Bloodfang Fortress in the North.

"Desperate for sanctuary, they will completely abandon their territory and shrink back entirely behind the northern defensive lines of the Misty Swamp." Soren looked up, delivering an absolute, epoch-defining strategic conclusion:"What this means is that for the next six months—perhaps even longer—across the entire central and southern sectors of the Misty Swamp, there will essentially be zero cohesive enemy forces left to block our advance!"