Thelgrun was notified when Uddroth fell. He dropped to his knees when he heard the notification. He wasn't close to the country guardian. Uddroth was already protecting this country even before he was born. Even so, losing a country guardian not only meant a country lost its strongest battle power, but it also lost its symbol.
He couldn't believe the successive blows suffered by his country. First the rebellion, then the invasion. Now, their country guardian was gone. Was this country doomed? Was this his fate?
The adjutants by Thelgrun's sides panicked after seeing Thelgrun dropped to his knees. They thought something sinister had happened to the president. Perhaps the enemy used some kind of a long-range spell or a special item?
Seeing his followers' responses, Thelgrun quickly steeled himself and stood back up. He told everyone he was all right. He just had a sudden tiredness. At this time, he couldn't afford to show weakness. He kept the country guardian's demise to himself. Otherwise, the army morale would be lowered.
However, even if Thelgrun wanted to keep the incident secret, the enemy had a different thought. Linda had the soldiers, who were still trying to breach the second layer of choke points, shouting about Uddroth's demise.
The defenders didn't believe, at first. But Linda also had someone outside the mountain to record Uddroth's final moment using a recording stone. The stone was then carried by a soldier, going from one choke point to another, showing the image of Uddroth's demise to the defenders.
This lowered the Palgrost army's morale. At the same time, Suzaki's victory increased Liguritudum's army morale.
It was the players instead who tried to rally the native army's morale back. Jeanny continued to shout motivating cries while she valiantly defended the choke points.
The choke points at the second layer were fewer. This allowed them to spare more powerful players or natives at every choke point, which let them mount a better defense. They were doing rather well despite Master again focusing his attack on one choke point. That was until the image of Uddroth's demise started being circulated.
The native soldiers became sluggish due to their reduced morale. This slowly caused the defenses to be overwhelmed.
At the end of the second day, the second layer was breached. The defenders had to retreat again to the third layer. This was the last layer. If this layer was breached, then all that was left was the palace itself.
In the middle of the third day, what they feared the most happened. Only half a day passed, but they lost this last layer already. Everyone retreated into the palace's courtyard. Their only defense left was the massive diamond gate on a gold wall which separated the palace's complex from the rest of the capital.
Fortunately, the rune diagrams of the palace were separate from the ones that protected Mount Sedgebare. When Master used the Greater Dispel to strip the mountain of its protective rune diagrams, it didn't affect the rune diagrams that functioned in the palace.
Both the diamond gate and the gold wall were sturdy. They resisted attacks and they had HP recovery ability, similar to a city's defensive wall.
A dragon-head battering ram was in the process of battering the diamond gate, but the damage it inflicted was not enough. It would take them days to break the gate at this rate. The soldiers also sent their attacks on both the gate and the wall, their attacks were largely diminished.
"Bring the siege weapons here," Master sent Linda a message.
"On the way," Linda informed. "I need to inform you about one other thing. Our scouts had sighted the Themisphere army. They should arrive in a few more hours."
"So soon…?" Master clenched his fist.
He had heard about what happened at Vacharest from Motherboard. After receiving the news that Horatio had ascended to become the new emperor of the Sangrod Empire, he knew then that their ploy to halt the Themisphere army had been foiled. Still, he expected them to conquer Balgadur before that reinforcement arrived. The defenders put on a stronger resistance than he anticipated.
"Prepare our forces to deal with them," Master commanded.
"I already did, but I need more troops to deal with them effectively. I have to pull many soldiers out of the capital," Linda said.
"Take as many as you need," Master replied. "Boron's force will be here to break the gate down. With the siege weapons, they should be able to destroy the gate."
After two and a half days of fighting, both sides suffered casualties. Thelgrun's force which had retreated into the palace courtyard was down to around 1,700,000 troops.
Liguritudum also lost troops due to their aggressive offense to break through the choke points. They lost 200,000 troops and 700,000 zombie units. Additionally, Master also left behind a total of 400,000 troops in Num Maldur Pass and the Palgrost settlements he had defeated. This was to ensure the supply line kept going.
This put the number of Liguritudum troops that were still fighting in Balgadur at 1,600,000 soldiers and 600,000 zombie units.
Boron's force only lost 100,000 troops because he took a reserved approach. He wasn't that forceful in breaking through the choke points. He waited for the Liguritudum army to do the job for him.
Even though it appeared the loss on both sides was almost the same, Master had the Necronomicon. As his force advanced, he went around the battlefield resurrecting both his soldiers and the enemies that had fallen.
He gained fresh troops from this act. His army was bolstered by another 1,100,000 zombie units.
He left these fresh zombie units with Boron to take care of Thelgrun's force once they destroyed the diamond gate. He then brought the remaining of his force outside the mountain. A force that totaled 2,200,000 troops, which consisted of native and zombie soldiers. He prepared himself to battle Jack's incoming 1,500,000 troops.
*
Inside the palace courtyard, Jeanny received a message from Jack informing her that they were approaching. He asked her to endure a little longer.
"How about we go out once the boss arrives? This way, we pin the enemies from two sides," The Man suggested. He wasn't keen on hunkering down here and waited for the gate to break. He preferred they continued fighting until the end.
Jeanny shook her head. "We don't know how many troops that are behind that gate. Even if Jack draws a majority of the enemies away, it is still not a good idea to rush out."
"Why?" The Man asked.
"Look at them," Jeanny said, indicating Palgrost soldiers. They all sat on the ground with defeated expressions. Their morale was very low. "Do you expect them to be able to fight properly?"
