129. Frenzied Military Expansion

Following this great battle, the "imperial elites" of the continent witnessed that under the leadership of the Death Empire, there was no such thing as an invincible enemy force. With a mere 120,000 cavalry and a small contingent of infantry, the Death Empire had annihilated nearly a million invading troops—a result that turned heads everywhere. Realizing that if they did not join in quickly, they might miss out on all the spoils, these empires rushed to act. They had observed the comprehensive support and cooperation the Gold-Stone Empire received from the Death Empire; the high profitability and strong market demand for goods brought back from Demon Island were clear to all. They also knew that the Death Empire had shared half of these profits with the Gold-Stone Empire simply because the latter had provided timely assistance when the Death Empire was in need. In contrast, the Gold-Stone Empire had contributed little more than gold coins, while the Death Empire had shouldered the burden during the war that nearly wiped the Gold-Stone Empire off the map. Ultimately, the Gold-Stone Empire gained far more from the Death Empire than it had ever given in return.

Before long, armies from every empire on the continent began streaming toward the Death Empire, with the Flying Dragon Empire being the most conspicuous.

"Last time, the Death Empire helped us; now, they need our help," declared the Emperor of the Flying Dragon Empire. "We have received too much grace from them, and it is time for us to give back."

Since the previous war, the Flying Dragon Empire had abandoned its conservative defensive stance. After a massive expansion, their total troop strength reached over 600,000. Because the enemy had arrived by sea, they were forced to keep the majority of their forces stationed along the coast for security, yet they still sent 200,000 elite Flying Dragon warriors to the Death Empire. It could be said that the Flying Dragon Empire sent their troops without any ulterior motives, unlike other empires that were, to some extent, hoping Mo Fei would grant them benefits after the war.

The Dragon Rock Empire, an ally of both the Death and Gold-Stone Empires, had provided all logistics while the Death Empire's main force moved to support the Gold-Stone Empire. Now, having received Mo Fei's order for an all-out retaliatory offensive, they dispatched another 200,000 troops. Long ago, this army had acquired a full set of the Death Empire’s standard-issue equipment at a very low cost, and their training was often guided by instructors sent by the Death Empire. Consequently, this force was the most likely to be integrated into the Death Empire's command structure. Other empires, at best, could only serve as reserve or defensive forces; their different organizational structures, combat capabilities, and tactics meant they could not keep pace with the Death Empire’s army and might even become a liability.

The Flying Dragon Empire’s 200,000 troops arrived first and were deployed by Mo Fei at the border between the Death Forest and the Gold-Stone Empire. Mo Fei dispatched several Berserker commanders to coordinate their actions, entrusting them with the critical task of flanking the enemy during the upcoming offensive.

As for the Dragon Rock Empire’s 200,000 troops, because their training and equipment were identical to those of the Death Empire, Mo Fei deployed them to the front lines, where an infantry division was currently locked in a standoff with the enemy's vanguard.

Mo Fei’s current troop strength was still far from what was needed for an all-out offensive. From the reports of his scouts, he had accurate counts of the enemy's numbers and equipment. Although nearly a million of them had been wiped out, the enemy was continuously reinforcing their ranks. Currently, in the Doma Empire alone, they held an army of 3.5 million, and if they were to pull in troops from other occupied coastal regions, that number would be even higher.

If Mo Fei wanted to launch a full-scale retaliatory strike, he needed to ensure his force was not too vastly outnumbered; otherwise, the offensive would be useless and risk the danger of being encircled by the enemy.

The Elf Kingdom’s 25,000 archers arrived alongside the Elf Queen when she reached the capital of the Death Empire. Mo Fei’s total force now stood at only 1.7 million, less than half of the enemy's current strength, which continued to grow. Mo Fei had already incorporated all Berserker reserve units into active duty. The 20,000 new magical beast mounts returned from the Demon Continent had long since been integrated into Kane’s cavalry division. However, the empire's cavalry had only increased by those 20,000, bringing the total of Death Cavalry—including those left behind to guard the empire—to only 150,000, far short of the 250,000 Mo Fei required.

Cavalry is not like infantry, where you can simply slot people into place. Cavalry requires both high-quality magical beast mounts and Berserkers. The 30,000-plus Elf cavalrymen had all yielded their mounts, meaning the current 150,000-strong cavalry was composed entirely of Berserkers, which significantly boosted their combat effectiveness.

After the last batch of 6,000 beasts was delivered from Storm City, no more arrived. The Dwarf and Elf beast-tamers had done their best; training such a large number of beasts in just a few months since receiving the order was a remarkable feat.

Finally, by pushing through an extra training session at the Death Forest’s Beast Training Camp, the imperial Death Cavalry barely reached 200,000. Any further increase was impossible.

To turn these new mounts and Berserkers into a viable fighting force, they needed time to synchronize. Kane was currently training his Death Iron Cavalry day and night, experimenting with new combat formations.

To Mo Fei's surprise, shortly after the Magic-Martial Empire announced it would send troops to the Death Empire, a mixed force of magical beasts arrived.

The Magic-Martial Empire had sent a combined magical beast army. These beasts, only slightly smaller than the original mounts of the Death Cavalry, were wild and could only be handled by the strange warriors of the Magic-Martial Empire. To prevent the beasts from bolting during combat as they had in the past, Mo Fei instructed Elder Aofu to outfit them in iron armor. Protected by this plating, the likelihood of the beasts being injured and fleeing was greatly reduced. Under the emergency coordination of Elder Aofu’s logistics system, this mixed beast army was led by Berserker commanders to another border region facing the enemy.

Now, the force standing on the front lines against the enemy had reached nearly a million. Kane’s Death Cavalry were still undergoing synchronization training, with no sign of being ready for the field.

As the various imperial armies fully arrived, Mo Fei learned from his scouts that the enemy’s total strength had reached a staggering 4.4 million. In terms of troop ratios, Mo Fei’s side was once again at a disadvantage, and this time, the gap was even wider.

Fortunately, the battle line was stretched out in a long, thin formation, making it impossible for millions of troops to be packed together for combat. Yet, because the line was so thin, it was easier to coordinate reinforcements or supplies—a double-edged sword.

However, bolstered by the previous victory where they had annihilated nearly a million enemy troops despite being outnumbered, the morale of the Continental Coalition was incredibly high. They had seen, through the warriors of the Death Empire, an unshakable confidence in their ability to defeat the enemy.

Everything revolved around the coming battle. Elder Aofu was busier than ever. He no longer had time for crafting diamonds or jewelry; he had to supervise the construction of the Invincible warships at the imperial shipyards while managing all of the empire's logistics. Every weapon, piece of equipment, and especially the improvement and production of war chariots, required his oversight. Weide was also stretched to his limit. Although the empire had stockpiled many military supplies over the years, the sudden expansion of nearly a million troops and the need to feed the new coalition forces had him dizzy with work. Fortunately, when the Dragon Rock Empire’s army set out, they had sent nearly 500,000 logistics troops with grain and supplies; otherwise, Weide would have been truly overwhelmed.

After catching its breath, the Gold-Stone Empire began scouring the continent for military supplies. It wasn't just the citizens of the Gold-Stone Empire; when the empire's procurement teams arrived, citizens of other nations scrambled to sell their grain and iron goods to them, all for the sake of the Gold-Stone Empire's vast wealth.

Soon, these supplies and military materials, transported via the Dragon Rock Empire, filled the warehouses of the Death Empire, finally allowing Weide to breathe a sigh of relief.

While the Death Empire expanded, the invading forces also continued to funnel troops into the standoff zone. Both sides were reinforced, but it was clear that the enemy, being foreign, faced severe supply issues. Having lost nearly a million men in the previous battle, they dared not split their forces to raid other empires. Last time, they had been crushed despite holding a five-to-one advantage; now, with only a three-to-one ratio, they dared not pull troops away. Perhaps their commander had forgotten that his million lost troops were consumed in waves, not in the five-to-one ratio he now imagined. This single oversight would lead to a result he would deeply regret.

Had it not been for Mo Fei's order for a retaliatory counter-landing, they would have fled this hellish continent long ago. If they had known the Death Empire’s war potential was so great, they would have chosen another continent to invade. Now, it was too late for regrets.

The enemy commander had arrived at the front lines to personally direct the deployment. Watching the endless stream of troops arriving across the field, joined by those strange war chariots, his heart sank. How could he have the audacity to launch an offensive now? In this terrain, where troops could not fully deploy, he had no choice but to remain on the defensive. He had chosen this narrow, easily defended, and hard-to-attack area to prevent the Death Empire from reinforcing the Gold-Stone Empire; now, this location had become his greatest pain. Despite having nearly triple the troops of his enemy, he could not bring them to bear, leaving him utterly frustrated.

To retreat would mean falling back to the plains of the Doma Empire, and having heard from routed soldiers about the prowess of the enemy’s heavy cavalry, he had no desire to face them on open ground.

Mo Fei arrived at the front lines with 3,000 mages of the Bear Clan. The all-out retaliatory offensive was about to begin.