The outcome of the battle shocked the entire Jade Sea. Chieftains and shamans from various tribes gathered, discussing the threat from the Great Corridor. Be it gunboats, fire nets, or phalanxes, they were all new things they had never seen before; even the most knowledgeable werewolves had only heard of them in passing.
Under such circumstances, it was natural that no resolution could be reached. Most of the meeting was spent in curses and roars. Gathering the great chieftains and high shamans often took ten to fifteen days to reach a consensus, which was a pace the tribal werewolves were accustomed to.
The tribe was used to dividing the year into two phases: sowing and reaping, hunting and resting. Regardless of the name, the essence could be distinguished by whether there was food or not. The tribal werewolves were also accustomed to doing two things a year, one for each season.
However, before the chieftains and shamans could fully vent their shock and anger, Eskar, the Earl of Gade who had been branded as a wolf traitor, had already demonstrated a decisiveness completely different from tradition. He led his army to sweep through over a dozen werewolf tribes on the outskirts of the Jade Sea, with the number increasing by two to three tribes per day.
Two earl-level chieftains from major tribes, attempting to challenge Eskar, were slain by him and Xu Jingxuan in unison. Eskar was already a formidable warrior, his sniping skills being rare among the Yungland werewolves. He had also received several high-tier weapons from Qian Ye, which thoroughly compensated for his weakness in close combat, significantly boosting his combat power. Ordinary earl-level warriors stood little chance against him.
Under such a threat, the great chieftains and shamans had to set aside tradition and, with unprecedented speed, reached a consensus. They assembled an army of over 200,000 and pressed toward the Great Corridor.
Eskar, however, did not dare to be complacent. He led his troops to pull back the frontline, which had advanced too far, and merged with the 50,000 newly arrived soldiers, forming a nearly 100,000-strong force. They constructed fortifications on the spot and held their ground.
When human engineering and firepower combined with the ferocity of the werewolves, it suddenly became incredibly potent. The Jade Sea werewolves launched several large-scale attacks, leaving behind over 10,000 corpses without making a dent in the Great Corridor’s defenses. One attack didn’t even reach the defensive line before being repelled by a hail of bullets.
The two sides then began a standoff, with reinforcements arriving continuously. Soon, over 300,000 troops gathered on the Jade Sea side, while Eskar’s forces neared 200,000.
No sooner had the armies gathered than the Jade Sea chieftains, unable to contain their impatience, triggered a decisive battle.
The overwhelming numerical advantage finally neutralized the Great Corridor’s firepower. The Jade Sea werewolves rushed to the front lines, engaging in familiar close combat. However, the resilience of the joint human-werewolf defense line still far exceeded the expectations of the Jade Sea werewolves. The human warriors, who should have collapsed, were spurred by the absence of retreat and the fierce battles of their werewolf comrades, igniting their bloodlust and fighting without regard for life or death.
The bloody battle raged from midday to dusk. The strong warriors from both sides fought fiercely in the air and on the battlefield. With Xu Jingxuan and the mercenary generals joining in, the Great Corridor gained an advantage in the battle of the strong. Eskar, with a heart ready to die, was struck by over a dozen blows but managed to single-handedly slay two earl chieftains.
As night fell, the exhausted forces on both sides finally sounded the retreat. The Jade Sea werewolves withdrew to their starting positions, while the Great Corridor werewolves remained on the defensive line.
The area between the two armies was filled with corpses, mostly werewolves. Nearly 100,000 werewolves turned into corpses in the battle, and tens of thousands more were severely wounded and unable to move. Due to the scarcity of healing herbs and the inability to deliver them to the battlefield, they could not be treated and were left to suffer until death.
The battle’s outcome seemed to be a draw, but the Jade Sea’s losses far exceeded those of the enemy. With nearly 100,000 severely wounded and dead, the balance of power shifted to 200,000 against 150,000. The Jade Sea’s numerical advantage was no longer as significant, and the Great Corridor still held the advantage of defensive fortifications.
The chieftains and shamans began to argue, unable to decide whether to launch another attack or wait for reinforcements.
At this moment, the Great Corridor werewolves made a surprising move. They sent out teams to clear the battlefield, transporting the wounded back to their own lines, regardless of whether they belonged to the Great Corridor or the Jade Sea.
Could these wounded still be saved? The chieftains and shamans, shocked, soon noticed that the morale of their own warriors was rapidly declining. Among the chieftains and shamans, there were no lack of wise individuals, and they immediately decided to launch a strong offensive under the cover of night. Night was the domain of the werewolves, and the human warriors of the Great Corridor would be further weakened in the dark.
That night, the bloody battle erupted again, lasting until dawn.
The scale and brutality of this battle surpassed the memory of all werewolves, whether from the Jade Sea or the Great Corridor. Even in the orally transmitted era of the ancestors, such a battle had never occurred.
From daybreak to dawn, over 300,000 werewolves died on this land, along with more than half of the 20,000 human warriors. The surviving Jade Sea werewolves numbered only 100,000, while the Great Corridor alliance still had 80,000 standing. Both sides were utterly exhausted, even the strongest warriors were on the brink of collapse.
As dawn approached, the morning light gradually illuminated the earth. Along with the dawn came a faint tremor of the earth. The tremor came from the direction of the Jade Sea, clear and rhythmic.
One by one, the Great Corridor werewolves stood up, silently gazing into the distance. Eskar, ignoring his half-bandaged wound, pushed away the human medics and struggled to stand. He strode through the crowd, reaching the forefront of the defense line. His brows furrowed, his eyes filled with deep concern and poorly hidden fear.
In the direction of the Jade Sea, billowing dust rose and swept forward. A colossal beast emerged from the dust, like a war monster mistakenly entering the mainland.
It was a battle elephant, towering dozens of meters high, covered in armor made of bones. Countless giant fangs and long horns were embedded in the bone armor, turning the elephant into a terrifying mobile fortress.
Behind the battle elephant was a vast, endless army. Innumerable werewolf warriors ran, their footsteps shaking the earth, but the sound of the elephant’s steps, like ancient war drums, could not be drowned out.
The Jade Sea werewolves suddenly erupted in a deafening roar, many transforming into their combat forms, howling at the sky.
The ancient battle elephant, which had existed for centuries, played a significant role in the history of the Yungland werewolves. In the past three decades, it had appeared for the first time.
This was the mount of the Duke of Bones, a symbol of the Duke. In the hearts of the Jade Sea werewolves, the Duke was a symbol of terror and death, an unstoppable, unresistible force. This memory had persisted for at least three centuries.
Eskar’s mane stood on end, the fear in his eyes disappearing, replaced by a long, defiant roar. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he laughed, “I never thought that one day, we insignificant beings could bring out the Duke of Bones! Even if I die here, it’s worth it!”
Xu Jingxuan, walking beside him, smiled bitterly, “I’m not ready to die yet. My youngest son is only a year old; I want to see him grow.”
Eskar said, “The young will eventually go to war, won’t they?”
“Yes, perhaps one day, he might die at the hands of the Duke of Bones,” Xu Jingxuan said, straightening his chest, his initial fear vanishing.
He glanced at Eskar and said, “I never thought I would fight side by side with a werewolf.”
“Neither did I, to turn a former enemy into a comrade.”
As Xu Jingxuan was about to say something, he suddenly shivered, his face turning pale. Several wounds on his body split open due to the tension, and blood mist stained his armor red once more.
Eskar’s reaction was even stronger. His bones creaked, as if he were carrying a heavy mountain, making it extremely difficult to stand straight. Yet, he stubbornly raised his head, even if it meant shattering into pieces, he would not face the mountain in a kneeling position.
The sky darkened, returning to night. An irresistible pressure silently enveloped the battlefield. The Jade Sea werewolves knelt, loudly praising the Duke of Bones. Most of the Great Corridor werewolves also knelt, gripped by fear, their mutterings neither curses nor pleas for forgiveness.
Centuries of accumulated dread, an unstoppable field of terror, instantly suppressed the entire battlefield, nullifying the blood-soaked victories of Eskar and the Great Corridor werewolves.
This was the King who had ruled the Jade Sea for centuries, the Duke of Bones. His existence made all the struggles of the werewolves meaningless. Generation after generation, the werewolves exiled to the Great Corridor charged towards Zheng, crashing into human steel fortresses with crude wood and metal, rather than daring to return to the Jade Sea.
At this moment, a dazzling ray of dawn suddenly pierced the dark sky, and a massive warship leaped out of the void, flying towards the battlefield.
In the eyes of the werewolves and human warriors, this unprecedentedly huge warship, burning with light and fire, gracefully sliced through the Duke of Bones’ domain, dominating the battlefield.
This was true dominance. Compared to this hundreds-of-meters-long floating warship, the Bone War Elephant looked like a toy, its sharp tusks and spines powerless against the aerial warship, while its fearsome bone armor might not withstand the warship’s main cannons.
The true strong from both sides saw that the light and fire around the warship were merely illusions, a result of the intense collision and friction of the domains as the ship tore through the Duke of Bones’ territory. Such a large-scale domain battle could not be gentle, but it seemed as if the warship effortlessly ripped through the Duke of Bones’ domain.
Regardless of the ease or difficulty, in the domain contest, the Duke of Bones had already lost the first round.
Seeing the faintly familiar figure at the bow of the warship, the Great Corridor warriors erupted in a thunderous cheer. Many werewolves shook off their extreme fear, falling to their knees and shouting, “My King.”
Qian Ye stood at the bow of the warship, overlooking the battlefield below. From his vantage point, he could see a three-story bone palace built on the back of the Bone War Elephant, ornate in style, but with a color scheme so dreary that it exuded a sense of decay from within.
The top-floor door of the palace opened, and the Duke of Bones stepped onto the balcony, looking up at the warship. Despite the beast-bone mask covering most of his face, hatred, anger, and suspicion could be seen in his eyes.
The hoarse, strange voice of the Duke of Bones rang out like waves, spreading across the battlefield: “Who are you, ignorant whelp, to think your meager strength can challenge the Jade Sea? My totem pole on the altar is missing a decoration. I’ll use you to fill that gap!”
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