In a clearing not far away from where the Verremor army was being ambushed, Mistress was sitting on her luxurious lounge chair while enjoying her tea. In front of her was her unique-grade telescopic device that projected the image of a nearby place. The image displayed the clash between her army and the Verremor orcs.
"Hmph. Such an ugly race," Mistress harrumphed. "How dare they come into my land. Make sure to teach them a lesson."
"Hehe, as you wish, my queen," Lead Designer said. He was operating the war table next to Mistress. "They are like headless chickens. They don't even know what has happened. This is too easy. They fall into our trap just like that. Haha!"
"Don't let it get to your head. It's not you who think of this trap," Mistress poured cold water on him.
"I… I know," Lead Designer uttered.
The one who formulated the plan was Linda. Linda knew the way her son thought. She knew John would choose to divide his force and did a simultaneous attack on all fronts. If she knew an attack was coming, it was easy to plan for it.
Like the time when John brought the army crossing through the Jagara region, there was also one most obvious path to be taken in the Dorwin region if one traveled in large numbers from Verremor to Aurebor. This path had fewer obstacles and was infested by less powerful monsters. Hence, Linda knew the most likely spot where the Verremor army would enter Aurebor from. Since she knew the spot, it was a simple task of setting up an ambush.
They chose to wait until Verremor's army entered Aurebor for two reasons. Firstly, a native army that fought in its homeland received a bonus to their morale. Secondly, Aurebor had a country enchantment that gave its soldiers some buffs when fighting within its territory.
With these two bonuses and the ambush that threw the enemy into disarray, they negated the advantage the Verremor army got from their Totem Banner. Additionally, they had a few more advantages on their side.
One of these advantages was their special units. They were tailored to work best in wooded regions.
The units who had been harassing the Verremor army's front line were one of these special units. They were called Wood Hunters. These wood hunters were ranged units specialized in using bows. They gained camouflage ability when they were inside a forest. Enemies would have trouble sighting them even when these wood hunters were already in their line of sight. Additionally, the wood hunters' attack range and speed were increased when inside a forest.
The second special unit of Aurebor was Jungle Specter. These were melee units that gained invisibility when inside a forest. This invisibility was a skill though, not a spell. Their invisibility had no duration. They would remain invisible until they performed an attack or if somehow hit by stray attacks.
They were the ones who spearheaded the ambush on the rear of the Verremor army.
The third special unit was Gamekeeper. These were magical units with healing spells. They could also call animals to help them in combat. Normally, their call animal skill summoned one random beast to their aid. But if the gamekeepers were in a forest, this skill summoned two beasts instead of one.
The gamekeepers' summoned beasts were considered pets. The gamekeepers also had several Beastmaster skills they used in conjunction with these summoned beasts.
These three special units were like fish in the water. They were in their natural terrain. Against the confused orcs. They made short works on them.
Even though the regular soldiers of Aurebor didn't have any tangible bonus fighting in forests like their special units, they were still more experienced in jungle warfare compared to the Verremor army. They expertly utilized the trees around them, using them to their advantage.
Battle in a forest had a short line of sight. An ambush could happen right next to anyone. It's also difficult to know what happened to one's comrades even when they were not that far away. The constant fear that came with jungle warfare was not easy to overcome if one was not accustomed to it.
The Aurebor troops had a far better experience in this department.
Orc officers who could fly did so to escape the confines of the forest, but they met flying opponents that numbered more than them.
The Aurebor army's other advantage was that they outnumbered the Verremor army. The 1,500,000 troops that were originally stationed in Hydrurond had been pulled back without anyone knowing. Linda made sure to keep any of the enemy scouts from sighting these troops' movements. With the ten million zombie army Master had raised, they did not need to keep this army in Hydrurond. It was better to utilize this army as a trap in dealing with the enemy that was coming for Aurebor.
These troops joined the ones that stayed in Aurebor, which had already increased to 1,400,000 troops. With almost three million troops, even their native force already outnumbered Verremor's force. Not to mention Aurebor also had the outworlder force, but this outworlder force was not as many as the outworlders on Verremor's side. Aurebor's outworlders force numbered 300,000. This included the World Ruler members.
"Call the guild armies," Mistress ordered. "I want this to end as quickly as possible."
Mistress heard about Master sieging Messephyria and the battle was still raging after one day of battle. Despite everyone considering she was Master's follower, she didn't have the same opinion. She considered Master as a partner. One who she didn't want to lose to. She wanted to show Master that she could settle the war on her side faster than him.
"Yes, my queen," Lead Designer responded. He turned to one of the guild members standing nearby. "Hey, you! You heard our queen's order. Why are you still dallying about?"
"Ye–Yes, sir!" The World Ruler member, Lead Designer yelled to, snap to attention. He immediately summoned the guild army control platform.
White Death who was there was more responsive. He had his platform at the ready the second Mistress stopped speaking. Mistress originally didn't consider him anyone special. But after Death Associates moved their base into Aurebor, White Death helped her settle many of the issues inside this country.
His guild had even helped defeat three guilds with headquarters and replaced them with guilds that submitted to her rule. Hence, at this moment, she had five guilds with headquarters on her side.
The representatives of these five guilds all summoned their guild armies upon Mistress' order. Their armies bolstered Aurebor's already greater number. Mistress' intention to end this war quickly was not a joke.
