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The Unification of the Eastern Desert
The battle that will go down as a legend.
The blood became a river and the moans rang through the heavens.
Book 5-4. 1
Pareia's warriors quickly took over the Shuarei's oasis that was defended by 5, 000 warriors.
But what Runa wanted to do was not to take an oasis, but to pressure Venersis. That was why Runa did not leave many warriors at the oasis before heading on to the next oasis.
By the time the messenger warrior arrived, Runa was outside the second oasis. To be specific, he was ready to attack an oasis that was not far away from the first oasis they lost to the Shuarei in this war.
"What did you say?"
Runa doubted his ears and asked the messenger warrior once more, but the response was the same.
"Currently, Pere-nim has retreated to the Thick Bushed oasis and is preparing his defenses."
Runa almost fell over. He had come here because he wanted to make sure they did not get pushed back to the Thick Bushed oasis. He had come here to pressure Venersis before it got to that point.
"What happened? How did he end up being pushed back? Did the enemy increase in number or something?"
Once the messenger warrior explained the recent battle, Runa jumped up and down while shouting in anger.
"I had told him multiple times to make sure to not fight him head on and just defend!"
They had been pushed back somewhere that they should never have been pushed back until. The Thick Bushed oasis needed to remain in Pareia's hands.
It mattered that it was the strategic crossroad between the two tribes, but most importantly, it was the port for the Desert Runner.
It wasn't that it would be impossible to transport warriors without a port, but the necessary tasks that needed to happen to transport warriors needed a port to take place. That was why the use of the quicksand river will diminish significantly if they lost the oasis.
The absolutely necessary and only possible to do at port task was of course the maintenance of the Desert Runner.
Sandstorms blew across the quicksand river whenever and wherever. These sandstorms did not consist only of sand; they also had small rocks mixed in with it. Furthremore, the strong force of the wind caused extra damage to the ship, requiring routine maintenance.
But if they lost the port to do their maintenance, they needed to use the small port up at the end of the north of the quicksand river that the Desert Runner 0 used to use in the past. If that happened, things would slow down significantly.
Seeing Runa continuing to jump up and down in anger, the messenger warrior took out a roll of lamb skin before handing it to Runa.
"This is the information Pere-nim wanted to send to Runa-nim."
Most messages were verbal to prevent interception if the messenger warrior was captured, but Pere's desire to thoroughly explain the situation and the fact that the quicksand river was completely dominated by Pareia allowed Pareia to describe the details of the battle and the current situation for Runa to read.
"Mm......"
Runa let out a long moan after reading the content. Described on the lamb skin was the information about the terrain of the battlefield drawn out, as well as how they moved throughout the battle. It also included information about the current situation.
'There was a terrain like this?'
Runa stared intensely at the image drawn on the lamb skin before falling deep into thought. It was a line that he had not discovered. That was why he was disappointed. If Pere had discovered that line when he was there, he felt like he could have perfectly captured Venersis.
'I guess a War God really does get the help of the heavens. '
Runa knew that the battle was already over but could not stop staring at the lamb skin with disappointment. After that, he stopped blaming Pere for what happened. He did go against his order, but with a method like this, it was definitely worth a try.
However, regardless of all of that, Runa could not help but worry. He could not decide whether to return to the Thick Bushed oasis to lead the defense or continue to push forward and pressure Venersis.
There were only about 30 to 40, 000 warriors left in the Shuarei, so if he really wanted to, he could focus on the defense of the oasis by the quicksand river and hold off until Yulian returned. However, that was only possible if the Thick Bushed oasis remained firmly under Pareia's control.
Right now, he needed to decide whether to return or charge forward.
If he could take that oasis in front of him, and then take back the oasis that was lost in the first oasis, he could cut off the supply route for Venersis and attack Venersis from both sides.
At the same time, it would also cut his supply route off and it was possible for him to be attacked by the remaining Shuarei warriors and Venersis at the same time.
'If the Glow was here, we could just charge forward the the Shuarei's largest oasis and capture the enemy Glow. '
Runa was filled with disappointment once more, but he needed to focus on the matter at hand right now.
Return or charge.
After debating it for a long time, Runa decided on charging forward. The amount of time it would take for him to return to the Thick Bushed oasis would be similar to the amount of time it would take him to take over two oasis. In addition, he believed that Yulian would soon return to Pareia after receiving his earlier message.
Runa informed the messenger warrior to tell Pere to not fight Venersis head on this time even if the heavens crashed down, as well as to gather all of the reserver warriors in the center to focus on defense. He then started to sharply glare at the oasis in front of him.
***
There was so much blood soaked into the ground by the Thick Bushed oasis that they were worried it might seep into the oasis. The Shuarei was doing everything they could to take it over, while Pareia was doing everything it could to protect it. Every single skirmish was extremely severe.
Pere did not respond to any of the Shuarei's taunts, and continued to develop traps and set up wooden fences to wait until the Shuarei tried to invade to fight.
You had to give credit to Pere and the remaining Greatest Warriors. They were doing well defending against that Venersis.
The Shuarei could not get through Pareia that was only defending, and the only method Pareia had to push the enemy back was the flow of time. Because of that, there were only a lot of small skirmishes and the amount of spilled blood just continued to grow.
In addition, hearing that Runa was attacking the Sunlit oasis made them feel more rushed.
5, 000 warriors had arrived as reinforcement not too long ago. Where else would these 5, 000 warriors have come from? They came from the nearby oases. That meant that it would be even easier for Pareia to take the other oases behind them.
That was why Venersis started to rush a bit more.
'We don't have any more time. We need to somehow take over this oasis and develop our defenses before we pincer that warrior named Runa and capture him. If we can do that, we will win this war. '
Venersis made up his mind to definitely take over the oasis this time and called over his Greatest Warriors and lead warriors.
Venersis remained silent even after all of them had gathered in his paoe as he took a good look at all of them.
"Everybody has gathered."
Once Buchord announced that everyone had gathered, Venersis stood up from his seat and looked around at the gathered warriors.
Venersis took a long time to look around without saying anything. The moment everybody had looks of confusion, Venersis finally started to speak.
"We do not have time."
"...... ?"
The silence continued once more.
Everyone who gathered here were lead warriors and Greatest Warriors. They were well-informed about how this war was going. That was why they were able to guess what Venersis meant when he said there was no time. However, what was the meaning of this silence?
"We will attack once more in three days. In that battle, we will not retreat even if we are completely obliterated.
The warriors felt their bodies shake at Venersis's continued words. This was the reason their great Commanding Warrior had remained silent. He had remained silent because he needed to ask for their lives.
In the middle of this complete silence where even the sound of breathing could not be heard, only Venersis's voice filled the void.
"It was difficult to get here, and we do not know if we will get another opportunity like this in the future. We will head out in the morning in three days, so give the warriors plenty of food and rest during this time. Lead warriors, let the veteran warriors under your command know about the plan."
'The warriors might revolt. '
That is what one of the warriors might have wanted to say. Where would they find a war with only the option to push forward? Wasn't this War God in front of them the person who was best at balancing charging forward and strategically retreating?
However, all of them got rid of such idea at Venersis's continued words.
"I do not believe that our Shuarei warriors are cowards."
"Gasp."
Someone let out a gasp.
"Trust me. We will be victorious."
All of them knew it was impossible, but they they accepted it.
The War God always kept the things he said. If he said they were going to be victorious, they were going to be victorious.
An odd intensity filled the paoe.
"We will definitely be victorious."
All of them clenched their fists at Venersis's one more confirmation.
'We will be victorious in the next battle and take over the oasis. '
That was the only thought in all of their minds as if they had been brainwashed.
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