Today was another rare, sunny day, bringing a touch of warmth to the frigid Northern Lands.

After Fujero gave the order for the entire army to mobilize for the final, decisive battle against the Wilderness Alliance Army, over six thousand soldiers of the Thorn Corps—excluding logistical staff, the wounded, and the garrison left behind—marched majestically toward the camp of the Wilderness Natives.

The Thorn Corps had a total of over eight thousand men. Discounting cooks and Auxiliary Soldiers, there were about six thousand true soldiers, which was the standard configuration for a large corps in the Northern Territory.

Fulina had taken the Thousand-man Cavalry Corps. Combined with the dead and wounded from the past few days, only a little over four thousand remained.

With the three thousand soldiers that arrived as reinforcements from Bailiu City last night, their numbers jumped to over seven thousand, even after leaving more than a thousand behind to guard the garrison.

In terms of numbers alone, they now surpassed the Wilderness Alliance Army, which had suffered even greater losses.

In the past few battles, they had left behind several thousand corpses, meaning their true combat strength was now likely less than six thousand.

"Sirs, we’ve spotted something up ahead."

Si Kai, clad in fine Cavalry Armor, rode in from a distance. As he neared the column, he dismounted and trotted over.

Reconnaissance missions had always been handled by the Thorn Corps’ cavalry squadrons, but ever since Fulina had taken them all, the highly experienced Scout, Si Kai, was unanimously chosen to take charge of scouting for the Vanguard Army.

They had set out when the horizon was just a sliver of dawn, and now the sun was already blazing high in the sky.

They had been marching for several hours. Based on previous intelligence, they should reach a position five hundred paces from the Wilderness Alliance Camp by around noon.

"Si Kai, what did you find?" The Lord tugged on his reins, and the tall steed beneath him immediately halted. He then swung himself off the horse.

Although High Cliff Castle only had Jackal Wolfman Cavalry, the Lord naturally owned a horse to maintain his noble bearing. Even that kid, Mier, was trailing behind him on a white horse.

"There’s a defensive fortification up ahead built by the Wilderness People. A rough estimate puts their numbers at over a thousand defenders, a mix of Bear Goblins and Lizardmen."

Fujero pulled out a map and spread it over a small folding stool. Si Kai pointed to a small dot on it.

A group of small-fry officers, out in the open, bent over with their butts in the air, held a military conference around a small stool with a map spread on it.

"A thousand defenders, and just Giant Goblins and Lizardmen..." Fujero mused for a moment. "Could these Wilderness People have some other plan?"

Based on their past impression of this ragtag Wilderness band, a garrison of a thousand could be crushed by a five-hundred-man assault team from the Thorn Corps. They’d be more than enough to handle these little punks.

Not to mention they now had nearly seven thousand men. They could just steamroll them.

But after being beaten twice, Fujero no longer dared to underestimate the Wilderness Alliance Army. Perhaps the fruit of final victory would still be theirs, but there was no guarantee they wouldn’t lose a huge chunk of flesh in the process.

He just couldn’t figure out what purpose a garrison at this location could possibly serve. And with so few troops, at that.

Moreover, this stronghold had clearly been constructed in just the last couple of days.

It was hard not to wonder if there was some deeper meaning behind it.

"Is this location an important military strongpoint?" the Lord asked, looking at the spot Si Kai had indicated.

He looked at it from every angle but couldn’t for the life of him see if the position had any natural defensive advantages or if it was some crucial chokepoint.

It got to the point where he began to doubt whether his own military knowledge was too basic to comprehend the profound strategies of these Wilderness bumpkins.

"No." Si Kai shook his head, and it was clear he’d also been puzzled by it. "It’s just a hill with a gentle slope only a few dozen paces long."

"Besides, the enemy has already spotted our Scouts. Whether we attack or go around, we need to make a decision quickly."

"Are there walls?"

It was winter, so all they had to do was pour water on piled-up stones or stacks of weeds to form a natural wall. It would save a lot of time and effort.

If this Wilderness Alliance Army had erected walls high enough, then a thousand defenders, even a bunch of little punks, would be enough to hold off an attack by several thousand men.

The Catapults were still with the main force in the rear. They were the Vanguard Army, and it would take some time to bring the Catapults up, time they clearly didn’t have.

"They’re only three blades high, built by stacking dry wood and grass and then pouring water over them."

"Three blades? Even a Panda is taller than three blades!" the Lord sneered.

A wall like that could probably be kicked down with a single blow. It was more for psychological comfort than any practical purpose.

"Maybe it’s bait set by the enemy? To make us arrogant, or to distract us?" Fujero frowned, still leaning toward caution. "From our last two clashes, it’s clear they have a commander who understands military matters. He has no problem organizing and executing basic tactics."

"Fujero, I have to say, I had some preconceived notions about you. I thought you were eager for military achievements to become a noble, and so you’d be aggressive in your strategy. But the reality is—you’re overly cautious!"

The Lord criticized him mercilessly.

In his view, whether from a tactical or strategic standpoint, setting up a defensive outpost here was pointless.

No, its only use was to serve as a warning for the main Wilderness Alliance Army in the rear, giving them time to prepare.

But for something like that, sending out Scouts as sentries would have been enough. To go through the thankless effort of building a stronghold was truly baffling.

As for Fujero’s speculation, the Lord considered it and concluded that these Wilderness Natives only had a few tricks up their sleeves.

They wouldn’t dare to face them in a direct confrontation, but they would definitely try a sneak attack.

So, this so-called "distraction" was most likely another attempt to set up a sneak attack from the rear or the flank. But the Thorn Corps currently held a crushing advantage in equipment and every other aspect.

A sneak attack would be nothing but suicide.

So the Lord felt that, regardless of their tactical arrangements, they should just send an assault team to take down the stronghold and find out.

After all, all this guessing was a waste of time. Weren’t they going to have to fight anyway?

"No matter how you slice it, they’re just a bunch of Wilderness punks. At worst, it’s the same old sneak-attack trick. Why don’t we just send some men to hit them and see what they’ve got planned?" the Lord finally offered his opinion.

If they were facing a human army, the Lord would never have acted this way. In that case, no amount of caution would be too much.

But this was just a group of Wilderness Natives. And from the previous two clashes, the Lord had already seen through them.

This band of natives was all bark and no bite. Whether it was their night raid or anything else, it all proved their strength was completely insufficient to resist the Thorn Corps, which was why they resorted to these schemes to try and level the playing field.

If these schemes had been executed by disciplined soldiers, they could have achieved unexpected results. Unfortunately, these hastily assembled Wilderness Natives were far from being disciplined.

To be honest, if it weren’t for the weapons and equipment supplied by those Zor Elves, these natives would have been utterly defeated in their very first clash with the Thorn Corps.

"We can give it a try." Fujero was already wavering.

He was torn; he wanted to order an attack but feared that a command error would lead to a mistake and ruin his chance of becoming a noble. Now, he also felt that he was being far too indecisive.

For such a minor engagement, there was no need for the Lord to get involved.

Fujero dispatched an infantry squad to launch a probing attack.

The burly Old People advanced step by step, holding their Steel Shields to fend off the sparse rocks, Javelins, and Arrows thrown from behind the ice wall. The Thorn Corps’ Archers provided covering fire from a distance, their arcing arrows pinning down the natives on the small hill, who didn’t dare to show their heads.

In the end, Panda was the first to lose patience with the sluggish offensive. He led the heavily armored Panda Warriors straight up the hill, kicked a breach in the wall with one foot, and charged in to begin a one-sided slaughter.

When the Lord walked up, all he saw were the bodies of natives strewn across the ground and a group of surrendered Giant Goblins and Lizardmen, who had been herded together and forced to squat.

They looked fearfully at the surrounding Panda Warriors, who stood like iron towers, eyeing them like prey.

These burly Panda People—just a hundred of them—had beaten them so badly they couldn’t even fight back. They were simply too savage.

They trembled, as cowardly as sheep in a meadow.

"They’re weak. They basically fell apart the moment we kicked open the wall."

said Panda, lifting his helmet.

"As expected. After two lost battles, what kind of morale can you expect from a bunch of Wilderness bumpkins?"

The Lord smiled, not at all surprised by this.

After two clashes, the Thorn Corps had lost less than ten percent of its soldiers, while the Wilderness Alliance Army had lost at least thirty percent.

The only reason they hadn’t completely collapsed by now was that this Alliance Army was composed of various united Tribes.

And within these Tribes, they were led by their own chieftains. Naturally, their morale would be higher when led by a chief of their own kind.

This could be considered one of the advantages of the Wilderness Tribes.

After all, the people around them were their kinsmen, and their chiefs were leaders they had lived with for over a decade. It was normal for their morale to be high.

Otherwise, if it were a regular army corps, suffering thirty percent casualties would be unbearable even for the Thorn Corps. Their morale would have shattered.

"Who wants to explain to this lord why your boss sent you here?"

Levi leaned on his Holy Sword and walked before the captives, looking down on them from his superior height.

The anticipated sneak attack never came. They had taken this stronghold so easily.

It all felt a bit unreal, how smoothly everything had gone.

"The first one to speak up, this lord will be magnanimous and spare you from beheading. You’ll go to High Cliff Castle as a slave with food and lodging provided."

Levi said.

"Lord, the Giant Goblins only told us to guard this place well. They said they would deliver food to us regularly."

A Bear Goblin mustered its courage, raised its hand, and replied.

It spoke in broken Common Tongue. Fortunately, having spent some time in the Wilderness, Levi could just about understand it.

’I must be out of my mind, expecting to get information from a bunch of grunts.’

Levi slapped his forehead in exasperation.

Generally speaking, only high-level officers would know about such strategic deployments.

What would a common soldier know about these things?

With a wave of his hand, the Bear Goblin scrambled joyfully out of the line of captives and was led away by two Beastman Guards.

Levi turned and walked away. A short while later, the sound of chopping meat was accompanied by a chorus of wails and pleas for mercy from behind him.

These Wilderness Natives were basically all destined for beheading. Not to mention, since they had opposed the Duke of the North, they would definitely be executed as an example to others.

When dealing with these Alien Races, humans generally held the attitude of "cutting the weeds and pulling out the roots," lest they come south to pillage again the following year.

Levi kept his promise. He said he would spare its life, and he spared its life. However, the rest of its life would be spent toiling for the construction of High Cliff Castle.

After this little interlude, the army set out once more.

The easy victory gave the Thorn Corps’ soldiers a huge morale boost. After all, taking a stronghold of nearly a thousand men with almost no casualties was proof enough that these natives were actually easy to deal with and that the last two times had just been accidents.

As noon approached, the army finally arrived at a position five hundred paces from the Wilderness Alliance Camp.

The Lord stood on high ground, wiped the fogged lenses of his spyglass, and raised it to his eye. But the scene that greeted him the next second left him stunned.

"Damn it all, where is everyone?"

He looked as if he had just seen the Undead.