John instructed the players to split among them the weapons, materials, and potions. As for the rations, they just took a small portion needed for the native troops that were with them. The rest were burnt.
The supply depot was destroyed just as they finished distributing. Outside the destroyed structure, many ox-like creatures were hitched to several hitching posts. Beside these hitching posts were feed boxes that contained the food for these hitched creatures.
"These creatures must be the ones that pulled the wheeled carts inside the supply depot. This supply depot is also the place for them to rest before they continued their journey," Bowler said. "What should we do with them?"
"Release and chased them away," John replied. "Do it fast, we need to move soon."
"What about the bodies of these soldiers? We need to burn them. It's our custom during wartime," Commander Quintus said.
"Screw that custom! We don't have time for that. We need to move soon," John replied crudely, which earned Quintus' creased brows.
"John! Show some respect!" Jack reprimanded.
After Jack's admonishment, John gave his apology, "I'm sorry, but I stick with what I said. We can't afford to spend the time to deal with these bodies."
"Commander, he has a point. We have people counting on us," Jack supported John.
Quintus acquiesced. He didn't like it but he understood the necessity.
The soldiers cut the ropes that tied the ox-like creatures before chasing them away. Some players suggested killing the creatures for exp or loots. Peniel informed them those creatures were classified as animals, not monsters. They would get only a very tiny sum of exp points and no loots will drop.
Afterward, they all summoned their steeds.
John instructed them to backtrack where they came from. They might have traveled for seven days but they had taken a roundabout route. Their current position was actually just around two days' travel from where the dragon army and Verremor's first army were fighting.
If they continued toward Themisphere, they might get caught by the first army. John had asked to head this way because he wanted to hit the supplies that were en route. Making sure that the enemies lost their supplies as soon as possible.
But he still instructed a squad of ten players and ten natives to head to where the first Army was. He asked them to pay attention to a lone orc soldier that was heading in the same direction. That should be a messenger sent by the guard force they had just defeated to warn Verremor's first army.
He speculated this common soldier should only ride an uncommon steed at best, if not a common one. They, who rode rare-grade steeds, should be able to catch up before this messenger reached the first army.
If possible, John wanted to delay the enemy from sending a hunting party. So, the time they blocked the supplies would be lengthened.
The squad split up while the rest of the shock army backtrack and look to hit the next supply depot or supplies that were on the way. They followed after the tracks and were now heading in the direction of Verremor country.
*
Four days passed since Jack's shock army hit the first supply depot. The fighting between the dragon army and the first army was still going on strong. However, things started to not look good for the first army. They had been in a stalemate with their opponents despite their slightly smaller number, but now that their food consumption was rationed, morale had been dropping.
The outworlders were still fine since they didn't actually require food to survive, but the natives were different. This food rationing told them that something was wrong with the supply line, which caused the overall morale to drop.
Not only that, they were starting to run out of restorative potions as well. All natives below the mythical grade didn't have any self-healing abilities. There were healers to heal them, but the healers ran out of MP as well if they continued using them.
Natives had high HP and MP, but when they were out of combat, the number that was recovered from self-healing was not different from players. This meant the healed number was very small compared to their total HP, and it took a lot of time for the natives to recover by self-healing, especially the high-level and high-grade ones who had tons of HP. Some of such natives might even take days to be fully healed.
That's why restorative potions were important supplies during a battle. Without them, a soldier who had suffered wounds in today's battle might need to fight the next day without a fully-healed HP bar. These put an army that had enough supply of restorative potions at an advantage in the long run against the army that didn't.
Even the healers in the army also healed in a fixed number, which was very small if compared to a native's total HP. Only Peniel's healing spell that healed in percentage and Goddess Serenity's Grace of Tranquility Potion that fully healed one's HP could truly make a huge difference.
Hence, natives required a large number of restorative potions to heal during wartime. A continuous supply was essential to ensure the soldiers were able to continue fighting with full HP.
Now, a portion of the soldiers within the first army no longer get any healing potions. Their HP bar was at fifty to eight percent. Did they have to go out and fight again today with such a condition? They were dissatisfied with this.
Then there were the weapons. Weapons had durability stats. During a war, weapons continued to suffer impacts. Their durability was bound to drop very fast. They either needed new weapons to replace the ones with low durability or had the camp blacksmiths repair the weapons.
But now, the shipment of new weapons and blacksmith's materials were also not arriving. Did their superiors expect them to fight with their current low durability weapons? If their weapons broke during the battle, what were they supposed to fight with? Fists and claws?
"What the hell happened to the supply shipment...?!!" Makubwa roared and slammed the table in front of him. It broke into two.
The supplies were supposed to arrive two days ago, but even now, they hadn't. They had sent a message to the logistics in Verremor. The reply was that there was no delay. All supplies had been sent as scheduled.
One of his aides inside the room said, "I have sent scouts to go check the nearest supply depot. It was two days normal journey from here, but our scouts have the best steeds and I have instructed them to not rest until they report back. It should shorten their travel time by half. They should be back here soon and let us know."
"If something happened, shouldn't the guards have sent a messenger to inform us?" Makubwa grunted. He sat back in his chair. They were just back from another day of fighting. Everyone was resting now, but the current situation didn't look good.
The fact was the messenger had been successfully intercepted by the squad John sent. This squad returned after completing their mission, rejoining with the rest of Jack's shock army.
The Verremor's first army had been on even ground against the human army despite the opponent's superior number, but since yesterday, the scale had started to tip because of the reduced supplies. If this situation continued, it would go from bad to worse.
The second army fared better because the enemy's number was slightly less. They had been winning but he figured that if they didn't get supplies, they would also be in trouble. He had been hoping that the second army would finish the enemy first and then come to their aid but that seemed to not be a certainty now.
The third army was the most useless. They were supposed to take down the two passes that blocked the region before the human reinforcements arrived in the forts there, but they were late. The army should have been led by the war chief stationed there, but instead, the leadership's position was given to a lord chief who was only good at politics. He should have expected this mess to happen.
"Raargghh...!" Makubwa expressed his frustration by kicking one of the table pieces he had broken. The table piece flew and almost hit the aides. They ducked as the table piece flew past them and smashed into the wall.
"Please don't lose your calm," Samuhn, who was sitting in another chair, said. "Probably it is a trick cooked up by the humans. You know how they liked to scheme. We can just wait for our scouts to return and report to us. In the meantime, our armies will continue to fight bravely."
"That's right, War chief! We will continue to fight even if we use our bare hands!" One of the aides uttered.
Makubwa grunted. Fighting spirits were all well and fine, but he knew it took more to win a war.
At this time, an orc grunt rushed in and reported, "Sir, the scouts that were sent to check the supply depot have returned."
"Send him in immediately!" Makubwa ordered.
The grunt bowed and ran out. Soon, another orc entered.
"Reporting sir, the nearest supply depot has been destroyed. Its content is gone. The legion that guards the shipment had all been slain."
Makubwa stood up abruptly upon hearing the report. His head almost hit the ceiling due to his momentum. His face was scowling and his eyes were full of rage. His hands clenched. The aides were worried this war chief would go into a blind rage. The room was too small for that, they had no place to run. They desperately hoped it didn't come to that.
"So, it is true. It is human's scheming," Samuhn said. The staff beside him glowed a wispy green. A breeze blew past the people inside the room, creating a soothing feeling. Everyone felt their anxious feeling greatly lessened. They felt calm. Then they felt strange, this was an enclosed room, where did this breeze come from?
Makubwa also felt his rage diminish somewhat. "Thank you, shaman king," he said and sat back down. "What do you propose?"
"The logistics said that supplies continued being sent. This means if the enemy wanted to continue to prevent us from getting our supplies, they would need to form a blockage. They couldn't hide. We just need to send an army to deal with them."
"But we can't leave," Makubwa said. "The enemy will take back the border town we have conquered. It will not be an easy task to retake it with that large army guarding it. We also can't spare to divide our troops. We are barely hanging on as it is."
"There is one army that hardly fights at the moment, isn't it?" Samuhn asked.
