Chapter 1321 — Focal Point
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
"There is also a branch off the Klin Mountain Road extending southeast. That road leads to Red Jade City—the orcs' main city, and the largest city in the central region apart from Stronghelm. East of Red Jade City lies the orcs' 'holy land,' the Red Jade Forest Sea. Beyond the Red Jade Forest Sea is the Ogure Tribal Nation's primary depth defense zone facing the wasteland, composed of several lines—Wolf Ridge-Echo Valley, Darkshade Pass-Wind Erosion Valley, the Mountain Barrier, and others—formed from natural ridges and mountain paths along with extensive tunnel and cave systems. The main border between Ogure and the Gondor Wasteland lies at the easternmost edge of this depth defense zone. Guarding it are Big Cat and her companions..."
"Big Cat?" Duke Boyu blinked and asked instinctively.
"Ah, forgive me, I'm a bit muddled," Wenna immediately patted her forehead, as if just realizing that the man before her was Duke Boyu Franklin. "I meant the orc Great Chieftain, one of the 'Five Kings,' Lady Camilla—Big Cat is her nickname. It is what I call her in private. Please do not mind."
"Oh, I see—I have heard of that valiant Great Chieftain," Boyu nodded. "So what comes next? What else?"
"I do not know how many days Camilla and her mountain warriors can hold that line... but if Red Jade City still stands, then this place can serve as a pivot," Wenna continued. "We can reconstruct the defense system here, then push eastward from there...
"...From here westward, one can reach Mingcen Peak. Stella, Queen of the Fae, and her golem legion have guarded the sacred mountain for generations; it is also the homeland of the spirit race. The entire sacred mountain is easy to defend and hard to attack, and Stronghelm lies further west of it. Even if Camilla's line has already collapsed, those monsters cannot possibly reach Stronghelm now..."
Wenna's expression was grave as she laid out in exhaustive detail all the intelligence she knew and all she had deduced over the past two days. Duke Boyu listened with extraordinary seriousness, not missing a single word, until the grey elf leader before him finished speaking. Only then did he say thoughtfully, "It sounds as though the terrain on Ogure's eastern side is inherently very well suited to defense..."
"Yes, a natural barrier. Those layer upon layer of mountains—even if the mutants came crawling, they would die of exhaustion on the way. Over the centuries we gradually grew accustomed to this 'blessing from the mountains'—no one ever imagined what astonishing scale of monsters would come pouring out once the Grand Wall was breached," Wenna shook her head with a sigh. "A single splash may not break through the gullies in the sand, but when a great wave comes crashing in, it cares nothing for how many ridges and hollows lie in its path—and what is more, now there is someone commanding that wave from behind..."
In the grey elf lady's tone there was self-mockery and frustration she could hardly conceal, yet the complex thoughts in her heart at that moment were difficult to voice to others—what frustrated her was not only the decline that centuries of peace had brought upon the Ogure Tribal Nation.
When Cecil rose swiftly in the north of the continent, when the two human empires underwent earth-shaking changes under the competition and pressure of a new era, when elves, dragonborn, and even dragons appeared one after another on the stage of the continent, the Ogure in their mountains remained as sluggish as ever. Yet amid that sluggishness, the grey elves had not been without reaction—nor had the humans and fae of Ogure been without reaction. She and the other "Kings" had begun importing technology, purchasing advanced equipment from the northern empire, studying modern military organization and tactical manuals. They had joined the Alliance, then the transcontinental shipping route and the land-based multinational trade network...