Second World

After the battle was over, both sides reviewed their losses.

Although it could be said a victory for the reinforcement army, the outworlder force didn't exactly come out unscathed. There were many high-level officers aside from Arther in the battle. The players had taken the brunt of their might. Out of 40,000 players under John's command, more than half were killed. They had already fallen into a chaotic situation when Arther received the order to retreat. Despite his calm exterior, John was already having a cold sweat when the horn sounded.

Luckily, players were immortal. They did lose a level, though. And half of the ones who perished opted to not join the war anymore. They figured that they would just be satisfied with their current war contribution rather than sacrificing another Amulet of Rebirth.

The others who were still willing to rejoin went to work on another Amulet of Rebirth before rejoining on the next day. The player army was now down to around 30.000 players.

Arther's 30,000 troops that had clashed with John's army lost less than 5,000 soldiers. The majority of the loss was from the rear attack executed by the guilds' trained soldiers. The players themselves were too busy trying to stay alive to mount any decent attacks.

There was not much loss for guilds' trained soldiers, but the guilds would have to wait one week before they could summon these troops again.

While on Armstrong and Therribus' sides, both lost no more than 3,000 soldiers. The two armies mostly just fought with reservation. They both weren't committed to doing an all-out attack just yet.

The biggest casualties were from the encircling army. Jack's ambush had reaped around 8,000 casualties despite only bringing 3,000 soldiers with him. Jack's regiment itself lost less than 500 soldiers.

White Death lost three-fourths of his player army. Their guilds' trained soldiers also suffered lots of casualties. They were the side that lost the most in the battle. Many opted to leave or just stayed at the side. They would only join if an opportunity arose for them to score some war contribution points. The ones that were still willing to return and be commanded by White Death were reduced to only 7,000 players.

In the end, aside from the player force, the native armies didn't suffer many casualties. Therribus's army still vastly outnumbered the reinforcement's native army. If he didn't have to spare a sufficient number to encircle the fort, he would have been able to crush the reinforcement army easily.

Therribus no longer underestimated the reinforcement army. He now returned his troops to reinforce the encircling army while keeping a decent number to watch the reinforcement army's movement. The two sides ended up just watching one another in the following days.

A day after the battle, a war meeting was again held in the reinforcement army camp. This time, John was formally invited aside from Jack.

When the two outworlders arrived, Armstrong gave his praise. "I'm impressed by your achievement yesterday. It truly open my eyes."

"I'm also wondering. If we have lost during the battle, what will you have done?" Jack asked. "Arther's army will rejoin Therribus' army and they will outnumber you."

"If we see your army is about to lose, we would have gone all out to break through Therribus' army and saved Prince Alonzo before attempting an escape," Ahab said. "We were just about to do that before we saw Storm's regiment suddenly come out of the blue and struck the encircling army. Then we decided to continue to stay and watch."

"There is no need to explain, I know you want to see if we are worth it to be included in your army," John said with his usual nonchalant expression. "So, are we worthy now?"

"You are," Armstrong said.

"I must also admit that I might be a bit hasty in my judgment," Ahab said.

"In that case, will you be agreeing to my proposal of not taking any more aggressive action for now?" John asked.

"For another nine to eleven days?" Armstrong asked.

"Give or take," John answered.

"The supplies inside the fortress might not last that long," Ahab warned.

"As long as they rationed the supplies, they should last a few more days than the time we need to set up our last confrontation."

"Will your strategy surely work on the enemy?" Armstrong asked.

"There is no certainty in war," John replied.

"Then let me rephrase my question, are you that confident of your strategy?"

"I am."

"Although I still have my doubts, I will follow our supreme commander's decision," Ahab said. "However, even if we decide to wait, how sure are you that our enemy will do the same?"

"They have been doing it for the past week. No sense for them to change their approach now, even more so that we are here. They are simply waiting for the supplies inside Fort Garadhor to run out," John said. "Once the force inside the fort is forced out of hiding, they will then converge all their troops. When that time comes, their superior number will easily take all of us down."

"I think they should know the rule where we can't summon our guild troops for one week," Jack said. "We have also exhausted many of our tools. Won't they take this chance to attack us?"

"I don't think it's likely," John said. "Destroying the reinforcement army is never their primary target. All they want is Prince Alonzo. As long as we don't make a move, I don't think they will risk taking an action against us as well."

"I dislike waiting, but I agree with this outworlder's thought," Ahab said.

"But even so, there is nothing wrong with being prepared," John said. "Supreme commander Armstrong, I would like to request permission to intergrade our armies."

"Intergrade?" Armstrong asked. They had thought about this idea before they departed from Thereath, but that idea was scrapped because they weren't sure if the mixed troops could function well. After seeing how the outworlder carried out their formations yesterday, Armstrong now thought differently.

John nodded. "Our outworlders army has the number, but we lack the quality. If we can combine our two forces together, it will reduce our weakness and allow us to better content against the enemy's high-level officers in case we clash again. Currently, both our armies are almost equal in number, rather than having our outworlder troops as a separate army, let us mix them with your army. So, each squad will have an equal number of natives and outworlders. When in battle, during each squad confrontation, your native troops will take care of the high-level officers while our outworlders provide support. This way, we can cover each other weaknesses, your loss in number and our low level."

"Hm… How about the chains of command?" Ahab asked.

"We can maintain our current setup with the same leaders. Four armies, the center, right-wing, left-wing, and reserve. The difference is a portion of our outworlder troops go to your three armies while a portion of your native troops joins our reserve army."

"Will those outworlders that join us listen to our orders?" Ahab asked.

"They will. They might be unruly but they are pretty much good at listening to orders when needed, as you have seen our display yesterday. I have also talked to them. They will have no problem with this arrangement."

"So, you have come here prepared with this proposal," Armstrong said. "All right. Let's reorganize our army as you proposed."

"I will like to propose something as well," Duke Alfredo said. "I'm never a military type. Leading an army is not my forte. I suggest we just keep our setup into three armies instead of four. Mister Storm and Mister John here can take over the control of my left-wing army. I will be by their sides to assist."

Armstrong raised his brows. "You are truly okay with this?" He asked.

"I am," Duke Alfredo replied.

"All right, then let us reorganize following this discussion."

Out of the remaining 26,500 native army and the 30,000 outworlder army. Both were reshuffled into a mixed force of 56,500 troops. Armstrong commanded the central army of 20,000 troops. Ahab's right-wing army had 19,000 troops. Left-wing that had been taken over by Jack and John numbered 17,500. Jack had been named the commander of this left-wing while John and Duke Alfredo as his co-leaders. Jack wasn't sure how this would affect the exp distribution, he was just glad he had gained more underlings to collect exp for him.

*

It took around one day to reorganize everyone. They also did daily drills to have both natives and outworlders familiarize themselves with each other. All under the watchful eyes of Therribus' army.

"They seemed to be very active. They are probably planning something," Garland said after hearing the report.

"As long as they didn't attack, there is no need to bother ourselves with them," Therribus said. He then turned to Rayne. "Do you see any suspicious behaviors from them?"

"No, Your Highness, they simply did normal drill. However, their forces now seemed to be a mix between outworlders and natives," Rayne answered. Rayne, who was originally Rhemos' subordinate, had been chosen by Therribus to scout the enemy's camp. This was because Rayne had the zoom vision ability as well as the Hide skill that turned himself invisible so he could scout near the enemy's camp. He couldn't enter though, because the Hide skill would deactivate if anyone came too close. Additionally, there was normally detection spells cast inside military camps.

"Hmph, petty tricks," Garland mocked. "All they do is weaken their native army."

"They are just trying to reduce their inferiority. There is no need to mind them," Therribus said and turned to Claudius. "How much longer before the siege weapons arrive?"

"They should be here in one week, Your Highness," Claudius answered.