Three Thousand Against One Hundred Thousand: The Trap is Sprung!

Du Chen quietly observed Dud, then glanced at his Second Legion. Suddenly, he pointed at Dud, roaring, "Preposterous! Are you trying to lead my people to their doom!? Dud, organize the legion for an immediate breakout!"

Dud remained silent. Just then, a figure stepped forward from the battle array, wearing an oversized military helmet and standard black Lotus Battle Armor. It was Porter. "Francis," Porter urged, "this is no time for tantrums. What's done is irreversible. Just let Dud proceed with his plan!"

Porter tugged Du Chen closer, leaning on tiptoes to whisper into his ear, "Whatever Dud has set in motion, it was with my full approval. Once the beastmen are routed, I will confess my transgressions to you! Now, consider: do we flee in blind panic, or do we stand our ground with meticulous preparation...? I trust you'll make the wisest choice."

From within the formation, a soldier growled, "My Lord treats us as kin, a truth etched into every brother's heart! Yet, we are soldiers, and we refuse to be dismissed by our comrades as mere Quartermasters! Commander Dud taught us a fundamental truth: a soldier's honor is forged from the bones of his enemies! Please, My Lord, grant us permission to engage!"

"Please, My Lord, grant us permission to engage!" the three thousand roared in unison!

Du Chen vehemently rubbed his nose, snorting, "Fine, fine! What more can I possibly say!? Dud, these three thousand brothers—if even one is lost, do not dare show your face to me again!" He flung his sleeve, turning away, his hand clamped firmly around Porter, dragging the slender man, who stumbled, struggling to keep pace. "Porter, you're with me into the underground tunnels. Deboning, you remain here and heed Dud's every command! And Aliza... where is Aliza!?"

A faint, cold smile played on Dud's lips beneath his impassive mask. "My Godfather," he stated, "Commander Aliza is currently executing his mission!" With that, he abruptly raised his halberd high. "Second Legion, heed my command! In a quarter-hour, all personnel will enter the underground tunnels and retreat along the passages... Retreat!"

***

General Hamley, Commander-in-Chief of McAllen's Third Legion and one of the most brilliant generals of the royal lion-tribe lineage among the beastmen, sat regally atop a colossal Kodo Beast. Gazing at the surging iron torrent of his army charging towards the Lanning Command Post, he pounded his chest and howled in unbridled excitement!

His chief of staff, Brigadier General Leto of the fox-tribe, also sat upon a Kodo Beast, smiling faintly. "General," Leto purred, "this time, His Majesty has commanded one hundred thousand troops to fight under your banner, bestowing upon you the most elite Golden Behemoth Battle Array and even the potent Earth-Battering Cannons... Heh heh, once we breach the Lanning Command Post, this subordinate will likely be addressing you as Marshal!"

Hamley waved a heavy hand, exhaling a long, frosty breath from his nostrils. "Marshal? Hmph! What I truly desire is Arges!" He drew his ceremonial sword and raised it high. "Eighteen years ago, Arges breached my lines and defeated us! Today, I shall force him to pray to the Supreme Father God, Orbach! All legions, heed my command! Quicken your pace! Kill!!"

"Kill!" "Roar!"

The beastmen roared, surging forward in a frenzy. Moments later, the Gryphon Corps reported from above, "General Hamley, the Golden Behemoth Battle Array has shattered Lanning's final line of defense, and the enemy's command post lies directly before us! Furthermore, the Second Army from Star River has successfully linked with our main forces, completing the encirclement of the Lanning Command Post!"

"Hahaha, excellent!" He licked his lips with a sinister grin, his eyes blazing blood-red with excitement, yet he gave his orders with an eerie clarity. "Tell the vanguard to capture Arges alive for me! He *must* be alive! Also, instruct the Golden Behemoth Battle Array to mind their advance speed, ensuring they do not become separated from the main force, and to coordinate perfectly with the Second Army along the Star River—we must maintain an ironclad formation, allowing not a single Lanning citizen to escape!"

Leto of the fox-tribe chimed in, "The General is truly wise! I genuinely wonder why humans perpetually underestimate the intelligence of us beastmen! But today, General, you shall, with your glorious victory over Arges, Lanning's foremost general, demonstrate to all of humanity that we beastmen are the *true* intelligent race!"

Hamley gave an arrogant laugh, yet his bloodshot eyes remained fixed intently on the front. "Our wisdom is not for flattery, Leto. Until Arges is bound and brought before me, we have not achieved ultimate victory!"

A Gryphon soaring down from the sky conveniently covered Leto's slight awkwardness. "General!" the rider reported, "Massive unmanned fortifications and ice walls have appeared on the outskirts of the Lanning Command Post! The Golden Behemoth Battle Array's advance has been severely delayed, and frontline generals have already ordered the Behemoths to smash open a path!"

Hamley suppressed his surging excitement, a frown creasing his brow. "Unmanned fortifications!?" he growled. "Issue orders! We no longer need to capture Arges alive. Have the Golden Behemoth Battle Array bombard it with their Earth-Battering Cannons! Level the Lanning Command Post to the ground!"

Leto exclaimed in surprise, "General, capturing Arges alive would bring far greater merit than merely finding a shattered corpse!"

Hamley shook his head. "Humans have always been cunning," he stated. "The sudden appearance of so many unmanned fortifications on the front lines likely conceals some stratagem. Our primary objective is to dismantle Lanning's command system for the Empire, not merely to sate my personal vengeance!" He swung his ceremonial sword with renewed force. "Immediately amend my orders! Concentrate the Sacred Artifact Cannons at the front and launch a saturation attack on the Lanning Command Post!"

Dark yellow light flashed repeatedly, illuminating the snowy depths of the vast prairie as if it were day. The beastmen cheered wildly, yet the Lanning Command Post remained eerily silent, devoid of any sign of life...

Just then, the Kodo Beast beneath Hamley suddenly let out a startled howl, its colossal body swaying precariously.

BOOM!

It wasn't the Kodo Beast swaying; the very earth itself was trembling!

Hamley was startled. He ordered his Kodo Beast to steady itself, then looked up to question the Gryphon Corps. "General!" they reported. "The Lanning Command Post, and the entire ten li radius around it, had been honeycombed with vast underground hollows! Just now, with a single Sacred Artifact Cannon blast, the earth across that ten li radius began to collapse!"

In truth, there was no need for words; Hamley had witnessed it himself. The entire ten li radius, moments after his concentrated Sacred Artifact Cannon bombardment, had begun to collapse, instantly transforming into a vast, sunken depression!

The one hundred thousand beastmen army, which had encircled the Lanning Command Post, suddenly plummeted, all of them, into that vast depression!

Hamley's expression changed drastically. "Damn it!" he roared. "A trap! It's a trap! All legions, maintain calm!"

No sooner had he spoken than two Gryphons flew in from the west, their riders already wailing. "General!" one cried, "Just after the Second Army from Star River landed, a contingent of Lanning troops suddenly emerged from underground on the other side of the riverbank! They didn't engage us directly, but instead used two Sacred Artifact Cannons to bombard the riverbank! Now..."

"What's happening now!?"

"The riverbank has collapsed, and floodwaters are now rushing into the depression formed by the earlier tremors! Now, now our brothers are submerged in nearly freezing river water, and it's snowing from above... Many of the weaker ones have already been... frozen into unconsciousness!"

Hamley swayed violently, almost toppling from his Kodo Beast. Leto, beside him, frantically shouted, "Marshal, quickly, quickly devise a plan for retreat!"

On the vast prairie, one hundred thousand beastmen had encircled the command post, then bombarded it with Sacred Artifact Cannons, only to unexpectedly blast themselves into the depression, plunging into utter chaos! Immediately afterward, the azure river water, mixed with ice shards, poured into the depression, granting those beastmen a taste of zero-degree icy torment...

Meanwhile, in an underground tunnel far from the command post, Porter pointed at a map. "See, it's just like this!" he explained. "With Aliza, ambushed beneath the Star River, suddenly appearing to collapse the already-rigged riverbank, the beastmen are now like a pot of icy porridge!"

Du Chen rubbed his nose. "So, because Dud convinced you this plan was foolproof, you approved it—and kept me completely in the dark!?" He glared coldly at Porter.

Porter playfully stuck out his tongue, then crouched into a corner, covering his ears with his hands. His large military helmet obscured half his face as he muttered, "If I had told you, you surely wouldn't have allowed your people to take such risks, so I had no choice but to hide it from you... Francis, don't look at me like that!" He shrunk his neck. "Approving Dud's plan without My Lord's explicit consent, risking the territory's soldiers... Porter confesses! How... how do you plan to punish me!?"

Du Chen shot Porter another withering glare. "We'll discuss this after the battle!" His gaze was fixed intently on the map. "The beastman army has disintegrated, but they still have many Masters among them, and their ordinary soldiers who haven't frozen to death far outnumber us... What does Dud intend to do next?"

Porter, sticking out his tongue again, said, "That guy said... at this moment, his Godfather would surely dispatch Deboning to intercept any beastman Masters attempting to flee into the sky. Then... heh heh, with Deboning's support, he'd unleash those two Sacred Artifact Cannons, one of ice and one of fire, to deliver a grand feast to the beastmen trapped in the icy water, a feast named... the Dual Ordeal of Ice and Fire!"

On the surface, the beastmen were utterly devoid of order. Their shattered army was worse than even organized Militiamen!

Hamley exerted all his strength, desperately attempting to salvage the collapsing situation. Yet he saw that when the beastman Masters tried to ascend into the sky, a swirling black mist began to freely slaughter them. Simultaneously, dozens of Lanning squads emerged from underground, like reapers harvesting wheat, gleefully dispatching the ordinary soldiers who had miraculously escaped the icy water, now scrambling for their lives and shivering violently...

With no path to the heavens and no door to the earth, such was Hamley's predicament. Submerged in the icy water, his body felt colder than the frigid depths themselves!

He was deeply disappointed, yet he maintained a chilling composure! Relying on his years of military experience, Hamley keenly observed that the enemy forces were not numerous. If merely three to five thousand beastmen from the one hundred thousand-strong army could regain their composure, they could absolutely overcome the enemy! "Golden Behemoth Battle Array! You are the Empire's most elite warriors! Maintain calm! Use your formidable stature, trample through the icy water, and carve out a bloody path! All other brothers, follow the Golden Behemoths!"

"Roar! Follow us! Haul the Earth-Battering Cannons out of the icy water and blast them!" A golden giant beast roared, and slowly, the beastmen began to gather around him, a degree of order returning to their ranks!

From the moment the earth collapsed, everything happened in the blink of an eye. In a mere dozen seconds, the beastman army had endured ground collapse, flash floods, and sudden military strikes. Yet, even under such dire circumstances, the Golden Behemoth stood out with unwavering composure, truly living up to its reputation as the 'First Soldier of the Beastmen'!

But just then, a Sacred Artifact Cannon, a Level Seven—neither remarkably strong nor remarkably weak—fired from an unknown location. Yet, it was targeting the surging zero-degree floodwaters, and it was of the Frost attribute...

A Level Seven Sacred Artifact Frost Cannon was insufficient to annihilate an army of one hundred thousand, its attack range not even enough to cover the entire ten li depression. Yet, it possessed the power to make the already zero-degree floodwaters just a little bit colder... enough to turn them into solid ice! The final straw that breaks the camel's back needs not be heavy, nor does the Frost Cannon needed to freeze a ten li expanse of water need to be incredibly powerful—all it had to do was borrow the power of nature and then enhance it just a little...