"The Yasurs have not yet come. Lord Maeglin straightened up at the table, his eyes staring viciously at the faces of each of his subordinates. "Does anyone know what's going on?!!!?"

The subordinates looked at each other, and no one dared to say anything. Not only them, but now the whole army clearly felt the uneasy atmosphere. They had been waiting for six days on the path of the Azuls.

On the first and second days, the Azuls did not appear. This is exactly what was expected. So the Dark Elves used the precious time of these two days to arrange a cordon to ensure that every section of the river was in the sentinel's field of vision, and set up a fortified camp along the river.

On the third day, the Azuls still did not appear. Of course, this is not outrageous. They spent the day preparing some fortifications to block the landing, preparing for a blocking battle.

On the fourth day, the Azuls still did not appear, and although there were some signs that things were wrong, they remained calm. The dark elves began to laugh at the incompetence of these stupid and lazy cousins. However, the top management sent a small number of scouts to the other side to reconnoiter the enemy's situation. The previous scouts had been lost in reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance operations with the Azuls.

But on the fifth day, even Lord Megrin felt uneasy. The Azuls are stupid, lazy, weak, and incompetent, but they should have come. But for now, not to mention seeing the Azurs by the river, even the scouts who crossed the river to reconnoiter found nothing. The Azuls seemed to have vanished into thin air. Did they get on the boat again and evacuate, or did they stop halfway through? Or something else happened?

"Master," finally one of his subordinates suggested. "We must send more scouts across the river, and we must expand the search area to find vanished enemies. It's impossible for our stupid cousins to fly away. ”

Lord Maeglin's face was clouded, condensing the impending thunder. He looked at the subordinate who spoke with a cruel gaze, and saw that the other party's whole body was numb. Still, he nodded his head at the end of the day.

"It's impossible for our stupid cousins to fly away. He said. "They are not familiar with the nearby terrain and can only cross the river from here...... But I think...... Are we overlooking some of the key factors?"

Over this time, through magical communication, Lord Megrin has come to know his rival, the mysterious Prince Ashrufat. The prince appeared out of nowhere, and then used a battle plan to get the approval of the Jade Queen, and then formed the expeditionary force with her help. That was about all there was to it, but he still sensed as if something very important was being overlooked.

No, it can't be. It is impossible to hide the actions of an army in the tens of thousands. Scouts will soon find the enemy, and they will judge the direction of their advance by following the trails left by the army...... That's how it should be......

"Wait a minute, Your Excellency. One of his subordinates spoke suddenly. "If Prince Ashrufat had accepted the help of the Emerald Queen, then he might ...... It's not necessarily ignorant of the nearby terrain. For example, the route he chose. He continued. "According to the intelligence, he chose a route that no one knows. The landing site was in a location that even we were not very familiar with. No one can directly discover a suitable route by imagination or luck. In other words, Prince Ashrufat must have known the route from somewhere before he set out. ”

"Where will he know a route?!" Lord Murrin's expression looked like he wanted to swallow the one who spoke directly.

"There is only one possibility: ancient books. The subordinate had some courage and said all his words in one go. "Now that he had dug up this long-forgotten route from an ancient book, it is possible that he had also found an ancient map...... An unknown but existential expedition map left over from ancient times, detailing the terrain of the area, and perhaps even a ......"

"A crossing of a river in the mountains!" Lord Metlin said with a forceful expression, as if spitting out a mouthful of poison from his tongue. He turned his head and yelled at the others, "Send ...... immediately"

Before he could finish his sentence, a dark elf with a slightly panicked expression rushed into the room. Normally, the guy who makes such a move will soon disappear from this world completely. This time, though, before Lord Megrin's anger could turn into action, the reckless guy screamed.

"Master, there are enemy troops under the city of Ampriglis!"

......

"Quick, the whole army picks up, and the heads of the laggards will be hung on the heads of the city of Amplöglis!" Lord Megrin ordered the troops loudly as he urged his mount.

No, it's not that bad, it's still too late!, he comforted himself in his heart. He left behind an army, and while he was sure that the remaining force would probably not last long, it would be a difficult challenge to take Ampulglis in three or five days. If it had been a stealthy raid, the stupid Azuls might have had a chance of breaking the city in one fell swoop. But now that he had received the magic communication, it meant that the defenders of the city had begun to organize a defense in time.

He hasn't lost yet, as long as he can rush back, he can fight the Yasurs under the city!

But he had a vague feeling that things might not be as rosy as he expected. Now that the Azurs have carefully planned this tactic of a roundabout raid, they may have a backhand. By the way, it's slaves! It must be this! The Azurs must have sent people to lurk in the city, and at the moment of the siege, once the slaves in the city start a riot/rebellion, then the already insufficient defenders will not be able to deal with it......

Thinking of this, Lord Megrin felt anxious. He desperately urged the army to hurry, desperate to get back to Ampulglis as soon as possible. However, it seemed that his doom had not ended, and the sea was filled with fog, which forced the march to slow down a little.

There are already sea cliffs ahead. Lord Maeglin suddenly noticed that the front army had stopped. This made him furious, and he drove his mount forward.

"Who stopped. ”

"Your Excellency, Lord. The general in charge of commanding the striker sensed his anger. "But there's already a sea cliff ahead. ”

"So what?" asked Lord Metrin, loudly.

"We must send scouts to search the mountain......" Seeing Lord Megrin's angry face, the voice of his subordinates was a little unconfident.

"The Azuls are attacking my city right now!" Lord Megrin said through gritted teeth. "What enemy is here? Don't you see the tide? By the time the scouts are done, we'll have to wait for the tide to recede!" he didn't even have a chance to explain. "Pass my orders, and pass through the sea cliffs at once!"

The fog from the seamounts had already covered the area at this time. The dark elves had been on their way to what seemed to be calm, but when they had almost all entered the treacherous terrain, a low, ominous horn sounded suddenly. For a brief moment of astonishment, arrows rained down from the hillside. Hit by this sudden blow, the Dark Elves fled like headless flies to avoid the rain of arrows. Unfortunately, this is a beach, and there is no cover from the rain of arrows.

The trumpets ceased, and with a roar of rage, elven warriors with spears in hand emerged from the mist, forming themselves in a neat phalanx and charging at the disorganized and long lines of the enemy.

......

“...... If you want to ambush Duruzzi's army, this is a good battlefield for one in a hundred. The prince decided to set up an ambush on the sea cliffs. He placed the dragon prince's cavalry and the white lion's chariot at the end of the road, let the knights of the silver helmet hide sideways at the junction, and ordered them to attack at the sound of the trumpet to cut off the enemy's retreat. He himself personally led all the infantry and occupied various points in the mountains parallel to the coast. ”

"In order to lure the enemy over, the prince ordered the hussars to go to Ampulis, and he made a special request for them to make a great fanfare, so that the ranks were far larger than they seemed. As the prince had predicted, as soon as the lord of Maeglin heard that his city was under siege, he immediately rushed back with his army. He even lost the prudence of a normal situation and rushed straight into this path of death. Luckily, there was a mist on the sea at the moment, so that the ambush could better hide ......"

“...... The Duruszy were stunned, they had no idea that they would be ambushed here. Under the blows of bows and arrows, the Duruszi were scattered in formation, and their hearts were full of fear. They were unable to dislodge a normal combat phalanx, so their combat effectiveness and confidence were significantly reduced. They fought in a panic, then were cut down by spears, tomahawks, and greatswords. Their crossbowers lost the chance to shoot almost as soon as they fired the first arrow. On the contrary, our archers, because they occupy good positions, are able to shoot farther and aim more accurately. It was later confirmed that Lord Megrin had died from an arrow through his neck, and it was inferred that he must have been subjected to concentrated fire during the first wave of arrows, so the enemy lost command altogether. ”

“...... When the dragon prince's cavalry charged, crushing the enemy's only and last attempt to break through, the battle had become nothing suspenseful. The scattered and frightened Truzy were driven out into the sea. The tide began to rise, and the Truuzy men soon lost their combat ability under the joint blow of the sea and our army, and a large number of them were swept away by the sea and floated and struggled on the sea. When the mist cleared, I was pleasantly surprised to find that several of our fast warships (presumably the detachment responsible for perimeter reconnaissance) happened to be not far away. They soon joined the fray, and the Marines were on the boat, shooting the Duruszy floating on the sea as if they were targets......"

"At dusk, I accompanied the prince on his tour of the battlefield. The tide had receded, the beach was littered with weapons of all kinds, and most of the bodies of the dead Duruszy had been swept away by the waves...... But the sea is a terrible scene...... The corpses of our evil cousins were floating everywhere, as well as vultures and other birds that had heard the news and had come to eat. The setting sun reflected in the distance, reflecting the sea in a blood-red color, as if the entire sea was covered with blood...... This may be a miserable picture for a poet like me, but it is a pleasing sight for the rest of our army. Everyone was in a good mood. The only exception was Prince Ashrufat: he ordered the capture of a number of prisoners who could be interrogated, an order that ultimately failed because not a single Duruszy survived the massacre......"

“...... The ensuing siege battle had no suspense at all. When the Duruzi saw the head of their lord, they lost the will to fight and the confidence to hold on. They found an opportunity to abandon the city and flee, but the prince had already prepared. Under the blockade of the Knights and Chariots in front of the Silver Helmet, there were very few lucky people who managed to escape......"

"However, for the prince, perhaps what happened next was more difficult than fighting......"

—Excerpt from "The Long March: Chapter 2: The Capture of Ann Foglis"