The First Magic World War

Chapter 328: 313, Dual Kings Meeting

Charles, Krel, Ebner, and the Army of the Black Phoenix had a fierce battle, each suffering losses, Fars had lost a Sacred Order and annihilated a Knighthood, while the Army of the Black Phoenix had nearly lost the majority of its forces. Neither side initiated a second battle.

Because the Army of the Black Phoenix no longer had common soldiers, it couldn’t hold the frontline and could only slowly retreat.

Charles had originally wanted to separate from the Army of the Black Phoenix and retreat back to Behemoth, but Kreel Brittany could not allow himself to retreat so easily and insisted on persistently pressing forward. Charles eventually had no choice but to reluctantly compromise. After the three Knighthoods re-entered the South Seraph Region, they found that the situation was both much better and much worse than they had anticipated.

The better part was that the Army of the Black Phoenix had lost its lower-ranking soldiers and could no longer defend the previously conquered cities. With every city they retreated from, they took away the soldiers stationed there, abandoning their occupation.

Charles and his forces could take back several cities almost without a fight.

The worse aspect was that South Seraph had started to run out of food.

As Charles withdrew many South Seraphs, he also took away countless supplies. After the Army of the Black Phoenix invaded the South Seraph Region, the difficulty of getting supplies from the rear increased. They could only requisition military provisions and other materials from the locals. The South Seraphs were naturally unwilling to offer up supplies willingly since they too needed to survive. The Army of the Black Phoenix harbored no good feelings towards the South Seraphs and resorted to the most brutal suppression.

With each city Charles liberated, his heart grew heavier. Nearly every city had dozens or hundreds of bodies hanging on the city walls, men and women, old and young alike, all South Seraphs who had resisted handing over their food. Moreover, many people were not refusing to give up their supplies—they genuinely had no food left. Cries could be heard day and night in every city.

Ever since the assassination attempt on Archduke Ferdinand, followed by Grand Duke Joseph’s offence, South Seraph had never ceased being a battlefield, and life was already difficult.

During Charles’s reign, he gave up taxation and vigorously developed commerce, and the lives of the South Seraphs were barely sustainable. But Charles couldn’t make something out of nothing, and he was often absent from South Seraph, fighting on St. Michael Island for his School Sister; hence the dire situation of South Seraph was not reversed.

This incursion by the Army of the Black Phoenix caused the fragile economy of South Seraph and the already tenuous living conditions to completely collapse.

Charles was powerless; he couldn’t possibly send food over, because if the war continued unabated and he kept clashing with the grand armies of the Black Phoenix Dynasty, the situation would grow even more dire. The food brought over would only benefit the Black Phoenix People, and these ordinary South Seraph citizens couldn’t even protect their own rations.

All he could do was promote vigorously those who were willing to retreat with him to Behemoth. The Westwind Knights would be responsible for everything, including food and lodging, as well as allocating land and houses in other cities.

The South Seraphs, who were initially unwilling to leave, were moved by Charles’s promises. His reputation in South Seraph was already impressive, and with the contrast provided by the Army of the Black Phoenix, more and more were willing to leave their homeland.

Charles tried to arrange as many of these people as possible to be resettled in Cappadocia.

Cappadocia City is on Song Spirit Island, which is the second-largest island in the Inglima Empire, with very few inhabitants. Although the island has many mountains, it’s not uninhabitable. These South Seraphs relocating there would at least not have a problem with finding a place to live, and trade is prosperous there, so finding work would be easier.

Soon, the frontline was pushed back to Sedona.

However, this time it was the Army of the Black Phoenix that occupied the city, with Charles’s Westwind Knights, Kreel’s Purple Goldfinch Knights, and Ebner’s Maple Leaf Knights outside the city.@@novelbin@@

Once the Army of the Black Phoenix retreated to Sedona, they no longer continued to fall back, as Sedona had become the largest supply depot with a vast amount of resources, which they could not afford to forsake.

Moreover, they had gathered the troops that occupied South Seraph, once again forming a formidable army, with no more need to retreat.

Both sides engaged in a few probing battles outside the city of Sedona. The duels between Kreel Brittany and Andreas occurred daily, just as frequently as the previous duels between Charles and Chloe.

Charles actually didn’t want to stand off here; he didn’t know when the Black Phoenix Dynasty’s reinforcements would arrive, although he was certain they would, but he was unsure when Fars’s reinforcements would come, if at all, or if there would be no more after that.

“`

But Krel and Ebner were not willing to give up the city they had reclaimed. Both of them had fought in the South Serif, and the last campaign was even named after the Brittany offensive. Krel wanted to redeem his previous defeat and was eager for a decisive battle with the Army of the Black Phoenix.

With no other choice, Charles had to fully cooperate.

What he could do was to quietly withdraw the ordinary soldiers and replace them with Labyrinth Guardians.

The Labyrinth Guardians under his command were partly Beastman warriors and partly pirates, and the proportion of Transcendents among them was not low, rendering their combat strength quite formidable.

Charles even had Dobin, Anatasiya, and others withdrawn to the Behemoth without leaving any of them behind.

The standoff at Sedona continued for more than a dozen days, with Charles on tenterhooks every day, while Krel and Andreas indulged in their new addiction to combat. Whenever Krel returned to camp, he would seclude himself in deep strategic thinking, striving to outperform Andreas comes the next day.

On this day, Krel rose up as usual!

Andreas also soared into the air.

Just as the two prepared to fight as usual, Charles witnessed an unforgettable scene. From the direction of the Black Phoenix Dynasty, the sky suddenly became dotted with numerous layers of clouds, which were very strange and actually alive.

Although ordinary clouds also drifted slowly, when viewed from the ground, they appeared almost stationary, and unless one stared carefully, it would not be evident that clouds move.

But these cloud layers were rapidly transforming, sweeping in, unlike any ordinary clouds.

After watching for a while, Charles exclaimed in surprise, “Those are birds, a tremendous number of birds forming a cloud-like colossal entity!”

“What’s going on?”

Massive bird swarms do occasionally occur on Earth, but they are exceedingly rare phenomena, and Charles did not believe such a thing would appear near the battlefield for no reason.

The Old Leopard Man, with his rich experience, only took one look to utter incredulously, “Those aren’t birds, that’s someone’s Fighting Spirit manifesting, a sign of their arrival!”

Charles was shocked and asked, “Can this person’s Fighting Spirit cover several miles of the sky?”

Tumishen replied, “There’s only one person in the Black Phoenix Dynasty with such formidable power.”

This time it was Charles’s turn to cry out in disbelief, “Viscount Constantine has come?”

“How is that possible? Why would he come here?”

“With such overwhelming Fighting Spirit, aren’t we doomed?”

Charles, after all, was a Transcendent at the peak of the Intermediate rank, so he knew all too well that if those countless birds were the manifestation of Constantine’s Fighting Spirit, it would only mean one thing: Krel, Ebner, Old Goat, and Tumishen together wouldn’t stand a chance against this man.

“`

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