The armies of the Heavenly Spirit Empire faction were fast approaching the borders of Caroxtel City. Meanwhile, however, in the territories of the Scarlet Demon Army faction, a great battle between the former and the Mu Household faction was drawing to a close.
The territory of the Scarlet Demon Army faction sat northeast of the South Aislan Empire, just below the territory of the Heavenly Spirit Empire faction; they were sandwiched in between the two factions. The total area occupied and controlled by this faction was greater than the combined total of the areas of the Mu Household faction and the Heavenly Spirit Empire faction.
Beyond the coastline to the east lay the Primordial Sea, the world's largest and most ancient water body. The territory of the Scarlet Demon Army faction did not possess a port city, equal in scale to the Éclair or Somei, but rather multiple scattered wharves that allowed them to engage in minimal trade over the sea.
That said, most trading was still done over land for the reason that the waterways accessing this coastline were beyond treacherous and mysteriously dangerous. The non-existence of a clear and well-established route to these seaports and wharves also did not help with popularization.
The Scarlet Demon Army faction's territory also wasn't affluent in terms of mineral wealth. Most deposits of iron, copper, and other magical ores were concentrated in the territories of the Mu Household faction and the Heavenly Spirit Empire faction. So then, what exactly did the Scarlet Demon Army possess in this massive area of land?
The answer to that question was; food. The territory that the Scarlet Demon Army faction controlled was called the 'breadbasket' of the South Aislan Continent. The scale of wheat and cattle produced in this area was unmatched in the entire world! Even the Golden Plains, located in the centre of the Heavenly Spirit Empire, could not come close to matching the total production of this region.
Now, most curious people would ask this question; why did the Scarlet Demon Army occupy this area, instead of going after the mineral and rare ecological resources of the South Aislan Continent like the other factions?
The reason for this lay in the needs of the Scarlet Demon Organization and Demon Sovereign Fang Gu.
The headquarters of the Heavenly Spirit Empire was in the Heavenly Spirit Continent. The headquarters of the Mu Household was in the North Aislan Continent. Finally, the headquarters of the Scarlet Demon Organization, the third Sovereign-level power of this world, was located in the 'Endless Northern Continent.'
Or simply known as: 'The North.'
The North was an extremely hostile continent filled with endless swathes of pitch whiteness. Average temperatures were well below the deep ends of the negatives, and the entire continent was covered in darkness for a whole eight months of a year! This being the case, nothing lived or grew in the north.
It was here, in this extreme barren wasteland of nothingness that the Scarlet Demon Organization had founded their headquarters. It was unknown for what exact reason they had settled in such inhospitable terrain when there were other temperate and resource-rich continents to settle in; however, the Scarlet Demons and their Supreme Overlord, the Demon Sovereign, were extremely firm in their decision.
Due to very obvious reasons, the North wasn't very hospitable to seeds, crops, and frankly, any form of livestock. It was impossible to grow food stock and even more impossible to rear livestock. Therefore, the Scarlet Demon Organization depended heavily and entirely on trade for the acquisition of food and other necessities.
Or at least, that had been the case until their occupation of the South Aislan Continent's breadbasket. After the occupation, the Scarlet Demon Organization had become entirely self-sufficient in their procurement of food and drastically reduced their costs and dependence on trade.
To the other factions warring for hegemony, the South Aislan Continent was simply an extra resource point that would expand their already rich inventories and treasuries. For the Scarlet Demon Organization, however, the South Aislan Continent was a literal 'life-vein.' Apart from the South Aislan Empire, they were the organization with the most stakes in this war.
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Now, upon knowing all this, one would think that the Scarlet Demon Army would display the fiercest showing seeing as to how they had the most to lose amongst all foreign forces gathered in this continent. Strangely though, this had not been the case at all!
In this past year, the Scarlet Demon Army, renowned for their bloodthirstiness and warring spirit, had been strangely reticent and timid in their actions. They withdrew their frontlines and were mostly 'reactive' to the taunts and tests of the Mu Household faction and the Heavenly Spirit Empire faction; both of whom they shared borders with.
These actions, which went against everything that the Scarlet Demons stood for and were known for, greatly puzzled the strategists and 'think tanks' of the world. They simply could not for the life of them understand the motive behind the Scarlet Demon Army, or rather, the Demon Sovereign's choice.
Then again, when they recalled that the Demon Sovereign Fang Gu was known for being the most shameless, immoral, conniving, lying, cheating, traitorous, heartless, untrustworthy, and random person ever known, the Scarlet Demon Army's strange move suddenly made sense.
It definitely had to be another ploy by the Demon Sovereign!
Upon 'realizing' this 'truth,' the various strategists and think tanks of the Mu Household faction and the Heavenly Spirit Empire faction discouraged their people from engaging the Scarlet Demon Army. Even though the latter had voluntarily withdrawn their frontlines, the people belonging to the former group made no moves to advance their frontlines to avoid stepping into the 'trap' laid by the despicable Scarlet Demons!
In this strange situation where one side voluntarily retreated and the other side made no moves to claim the 'abandoned' lands, the war stretched on for a few months. It only changed when the heirs of the Mu Household and the Heavenly Spirit Empire arrived on the continent to take control of their respective factions.
Yuelong conducted ordered his men stationed at the border to conduct a few 'tests,' and when the other party made no response to their examinations; the whole world collectively realized that they had once again been cheated by the devious intellect of the Demon Sovereign.
There were no 'traps,' schemes, or ploys arranged by the Demon Sovereign to entrap them; in fact, there was nothing at all! The Scarlet Demon Army really had retreated and abandoned those areas of their own volition.
For a moment, all strategists and think tanks felt their faces turning red with embarrassment and shame; to think that all of them had been collectively tricked, and so thoroughly in that… they could not bring themselves to raise their heads and continue with their jobs.
Yuelong did not care for what went through the minds of these people. Instead, after multiple war conferences and discussions, he decided to go ahead with attacking and taking over the territories of the Scarlet Demon Army. His opinion was further bolstered when a messenger carrying Feng Tianfei's advice and plans arrived at his war tent.
Having made his decision, he roused the armies of the Mu Household faction and gathered a total of one hundred and fifty-thousand (150,000) men. He then wasted no time and promptly led a campaign to assault and capture the territory of the Scarlet Demon Army faction.
At the start, everything went great. The army functioned without any problems and their progress was also fantastic. In just a week, they captured an entire third of the enemy territory. They did face some resistance during the campaign but it was hardly worth mentioning.
It was starting from the second week that problems started cropping up. Every morning, they would discover that a few of the soldiers had gone missing. At first, they chalked up these disappearances to desertion. However, when the same issue repeated on the second and third day, and this time with much larger numbers, they realized that a much larger issue was at hand.
On the fourth morning, when an entire regiment numbering one thousand men disappeared, the higher-ups finally realized the seriousness of the situation. Yuelong immediately took the helm of the issue. Night watches were organized, patrolmen were posted, and various other measures were taken.
On the fifth morning, three regiments, i.e., three thousand men, went missing. The morale of the army instantly dropped to the abyss. Desertions became commonplace with some soldiers even running away during broad daylight. Yuelong took a few soft and harsh measures to battle this issue but it did not help.
It was said that the oldest emotion known to man was fear, and the oldest and strongest of all fears was the fear of the unknown. Given their current scenario, this was exactly the case.
Taking into consideration the losses during the first week, the disappearances and desertions of the second week, the Mu Household faction's armies numbered just over a hundred thousand (100,000) men. This fact struck another heavy blow to the higher-ups.
On the fifth night, desiring to get to the bottom of this strange situation, Yuelong personally took charge of the night watch and the guard duty. Midnight passed, the third-watch hour passed, and just as dawn was peeking its head over the horizon the next set of disappearances occurred.
Yuelong finally laid his eyes upon the entities responsible for these disappearances; it was a group of extremely strange men wearing animal skin skirts and stone masks.