166. Stalemate

The two opposing armies glared at each other with intense hostility, yet strangely, neither side made the first move.

As night was about to fall...

Udos could no longer restrain himself. He left the Bear Clan formation and walked over to Mo Fei, who was stationed at the rear of the imperial coalition forces.

"Brother..."

"The time is not right yet. There is no need to rush." Mo Fei naturally knew what Udos wanted to ask. "Their commander doesn't seem very impressive."

"Why aren't we attacking yet? It's going to get dark soon." Udos failed to catch the underlying meaning in Mo Fei's words.

"You know it's getting dark, and yet you'd still have your warriors hacking and slashing blindly in the pitch black?"

"Ah—"

"Our vanguard has already exhausted most of their stamina in the prior battle. The cavalry might still have some fight left in them, but the rest of the infantry are in no condition to do so. To launch a preemptive attack at a time like this—how is that any different from walking to your death?"

*Even if you charge in first, I would still let you fight it out to the death before I made a move,* Mo Fei thought to himself, swallowing those words.

"Oh," Udos muttered, a look of disappointment crossing his face.

"What on earth are you thinking?" Seeing Udos wear such an expression, Mo Fei could not help but flare up in anger. "Judging by that look of yours, do you actually want me to exhaust and wipe out all of these troops? What good would that possibly do for your Bear Clan?"

"Brother..." Udos was utterly shocked. Such a thought had indeed crossed his mind, though his current focus was supposed to be on the two sides joining forces to conquer this continent first.

"Udos, I remember the reason why we united in the first place. I have always abided by what the two of us agreed upon. If I ever find out that you harbor such treacherous thoughts, you had better brace yourself. The Dark Continent is neither the first nor the last world our Empire will conquer."

Faced with Mo Fei's threat, Udos managed only a bitter smile, not knowing how to respond. Given the current situation, it seemed he truly did have something like that on his mind.

"If you throw your grand army against an enemy twice their size, I doubt you'd have the strength left to face another enemy of equal magnitude. Knowing neither the enemy nor yourself—is this how you lead troops into battle?"

"Brother, that is not what I meant!" Udos was forced to speak up.

"Then what *did* you mean?" Mo Fei was currently burning with irritation.

"Brother, Udos just wanted to know when we would attack. He doesn't have any malicious thoughts like that," Irene said, looking at Mo Fei, who seemed on the verge of exploding. She couldn't understand why Mo Fei, who so rarely lost his temper, was acting this way today.

"Of course I know he doesn't have those thoughts, or else would I tolerate them?" Mo Fei's tone remained fierce. "I just feel that he shouldn't be acting like this. We just won a great victory, only to let a favorable situation slip away. Right now, the enemy is waiting for our exhausted troops with superior numbers, and he couldn't even see that. Doesn't he deserve a scolding?"

Based on Udos's past talent, he truly should not have shown such poor judgment today. Mo Fei was annoyed with himself for misjudging the man. However, it was Udos's earlier swift victory with minimal casualties upon landing that had made Mo Fei overly optimistic about the conquest of the Dark Continent.

Mo Fei could be considered a warlike man, but he was no bloodthirsty demon. Had it not been for the ruthless slaughter inflicted by the Dark Continent's armies upon the Imperial Mainland, Mo Fei would never have set his heart on annihilating them.

Among the smaller empires that were subsequently annexed into the Death Empire, near the capital of every single one of them lay no fewer than ten massive burial pits, while countless other corpses had been left abandoned out in the wilderness. Within the imperial coalition forces, some soldiers had transitioned directly from those fallen nations into the imperial training camps. Not a single soldier from those conquered lands was ever eliminated from the training camps; during this amphibious landing operation, those very soldiers fought with the utmost bravery and claimed the highest tally of kills. When the order to attack was given, the ones who charged the fastest and fought the most fiercely were without exception the men hailing from those fallen empires. Although they now served a new empire, the lingering pain of losing their homeland left them with only two paths for release: perishing on the battlefield or avenging their deep grievances.

This was a tragic, irreconcilable obsession.

Mo Fei was well aware of this, which was why he had sent those soldiers from the newly annexed old empires into the imperial training camps. Of course, Mo Fei had never intended for them to simply die on the battlefield. When he originally rallied them, he had spoken only a single sentence: *If you are men, go to the battlefield and take it back. Can your shame be washed away merely by kneeling here and weeping?*

With the exception of the wounded, all the soldiers from those small empires had entered the imperial training camps. There, these men of fallen nations spoke the least, yet trained like desperate madmen. Driven by their example, the imperial training camps were perpetually shrouded in a stern, chilling atmosphere.

Right now, these men with bloodshot eyes and blood-stained bodies were staring fixedly at their prey ahead. At a single command, this upcoming battle would once again culminate in a fight to the bitter end.

Mo Fei had witnessed all of their reactions. He knew that if he did not allow these warriors a chance to rest, the Empire would forever lose these brave, elite, iron-blooded fighters. This was why he grew angry the moment he heard Udos's remarks. A general who did not care for his subordinates was no good general, nor could he ever achieve lasting success in war. Even if such a commander managed to win once or twice, the risk of total annihilation was several times—or even dozens of times—greater than under an ordinary general. The commanders and even the squad leaders leading the Death Empire's forces had inherited this philosophy from Mo Fei. In every major battle, they charged at the very forefront; whenever one fell, another would immediately step up to take over the command. This was the exact reason why the instructors in the imperial training camps all held official military ranks. Among these instructors, the vast majority were frontline commanders, squad leaders, and numerous high-ranking generals.

One only had to look at Kane, who was currently stationed at the very front of the cavalry, to understand this clearly.

Elder Ouve had always opposed Mo Fei's method of leading troops. Yet, even Mo Fei was baffled—hadn't this style of command originated from Ouve's own complaints? When Mo Fei had once retorted with a guilty conscience, Elder Ouve had jumped up in protest: "You may not have said it explicitly, but haven't you always been acting this way? Since you lead by example, they naturally follow suit! If we lose a large batch of outstanding commanders in every major battle, what will happen to the Empire in the future?"

By now, Mo Fei could no longer lead the charge himself, and even Kane had been strictly ordered by Elder Ouve to refrain from charging at the head of the formation. Whenever Kane saw that the young lord dared not talk back to the old man, he naturally kept his mouth shut. Yet, the moment he set foot on the battlefield, he would instinctively rush to the front. When his personal guards reminded him or tried to stop him, he would pull rank as their superior and threaten them: "You little bastards dare try to stop me? Just wait until we get back, I'll show you how I handle insubordination! Besides, if you charge along with me, you'll get a share of the glory."

Once, his guards had adamantly refused to let him advance. As a result, while the fighting at the front was fierce, the commotion at the rear was hardly any less chaotic. After Kane beat those dozen or so guards black and blue one by one, he finally broke through and rushed to the front again. When the battle ended, everyone looked at those dozen guards—who hadn't even engaged the enemy yet were covered in bruises—and burst into hearty laughter. From then on, Kane's guards never tried to stop him again; instead, they simply clung tightly to his heels during every assault. They certainly didn't dare rush ahead of him, for Kane had warned them: "Damn it, are you trying to rush to the front and steal my thunder?"

...

Gazing at the imperial coalition forces, who now looked like a pack of wild beasts, Mo Fei dismissed Udos and said nothing more. He simply issued the command to set up a defensive formation and wait for the enemy to launch their attack.

At this moment, the disparity in cultivation among the mages became apparent. The mages from the Magic Continent had been standing for so long that their bodies were beginning to buckle under the strain, with a few even swaying on their feet. In contrast, the Bear Clan's mages fared somewhat better, having undergone specialized physical training under Mo Fei's guidance. Most composed of all were the sixty Bear Clan mages; they stood as steady as statues, looking precisely as though they were merely practicing their magic in daily cultivation.

"Go on, send water and food to those mages. Have them sit down and rest. They are different from the other warriors and cannot be held to the same physical standards."

Observing the scene, Mo Fei realized that these mages probably had not undergone specialized physical conditioning, which was why they were already struggling after standing for only a short while.

With the exception of those sixty mages, all the other spellcasters sat down heavily on the ground. Maintaining such prolonged stillness was something only imperial warriors could manage; these mages were lagging behind by at least a grade or two.

Meanwhile, those sixty mages did not touch the water and food brought over by the soldiers. They maintained their initial posture, completely motionless.

...

"I wonder when I'll ever be able to be like them?" murmured one of the Bear Clan mages.

"You didn't go to the Death Empire, did you?" asked another mage.

"I didn't go last time, but didn't you?"

"That's right. That's why I'm much stronger than you, though compared to them..." The mage chuckled, "Compared to them, I fall far short."

"We all know that. They are practically on the verge of stepping into the realm of the Witch Gods, while you—you're still miles away, even if you are stronger than me," retorted the first mage, unwilling to lose the exchange.

"If you want to be like them, go to the Death Empire. As long as you can receive even a tiny bit of guidance from Lord Witch God, you will make tremendous progress." The second mage turned his head, casting a complex gaze in Mo Fei's direction. The emotion reflected in his eyes was overwhelmingly one of deep reverence and admiration.

"Lord Witch God is so young..."

"Lord Witch God said that magic is not determined by age, but by individual comprehension. In other words, you also have the chance to become a Witch God on our continent at this age. If you get the chance, work hard."

...

The three armies formed a pincer formation, standing in a quiet stalemate. The commanders on both sides seemed to have issued defensive orders. For Mo Fei, securing rest for his troops was paramount; he paid no heed to anything else.

The sky gradually grew dark...