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The final battle is drawing closer.

Main Text, Chapter 99: The River's Tides are Stained with Blood and Echo with Desperate Cries

The Yunsi River campaign is only a small part of the orc reclamation war, but even this small part involves the lives and deaths of over a million individuals.

If the humans were to gather all their warriors and engage in a massive battle with our forces, the sheer attrition would put our numerically inferior orc army in a difficult position. After all, while one orc may be able to defeat five humans, it doesn’t mean that 200,000 orcs can similarly defeat 1,000,000 humans. The expansion of numbers causes a dramatic shift in combat effectiveness. However, a battle of that scale would likely require a battlefield the size of an entire province to allow all units to operate effectively. Even with the most advanced magical communication, no commander could efficiently direct so many soldiers. The result would be chaos on the battlefield. Regardless of victory or defeat, the losses would be unbearable for both commanders. Although both sides frequently maneuver their troops, daily battles remain limited to tens of thousands of soldiers. Both sides' generals are actively seeking an opportunity to strike and crush their opponent in one fell swoop.

Gilliet City, a large city in the middle reaches of the Yunsi River, is conveniently located for both water and land transportation. With a permanent population of several hundred thousand, the city has now become one of the important strongholds of the human defense line along the Yunsi River. Nearly 300,000 troops are stationed here, including an elite heavy knight brigade of 40,000 and a mage regiment of 300. Of course, there are also plenty of Light God priests dispatched by the Temple. The distance to the other three garrison cities is less than a day's journey. Even if the orcs were to attack with all their might, it would be difficult to capture this city, let alone hold it during the humans' subsequent counterattack.

Fifteen kilometers south of Gilliet City, on a vast plain, a battle is taking place. On one side are 120,000 elite human troops, with 30,000 knights as the main force, 40,000 heavy infantry as the backbone, and 40,000 skirmishing greatswords supported by 10,000 archers on the wings. Mages and priests provide support from the rear, forming the entire human legion's combat system. The orc side is much simpler: 8,000 Minotaur warriors of the Yak clan, dressed in heavy armor and wielding giant axes, use their massive totem poles to form the "Minotaur Labyrinth Formation." 4,000 Snow Wolf Knights are spread across the wings, facing the human forces with a tenth of their numbers.

The battle opened with a fierce exchange of arrows, and the orcs quickly gained the upper hand. Although only the Snow Wolf Knights were equipped with bows, their numbers were just 40% of the human archers. However, the werewolves, having mastered the Nine Yin supreme technique "Sunset Heaven Bow," used their superior strength and exquisite archery skills to kill over 10,000 human soldiers in just a few volleys. When the human mages prepared their spells and began their attacks, the Snow Wolf Knights immediately retreated behind the Minotaur warriors who had set up their formation. The "Meteor Shower" raining down from the sky was completely blocked by the "Labyrinth Formation."

The giant totem poles held by the Minotaur warriors were forged from the enchanted soil of the Swamp of Devourment, containing the power of forbidden spells. Not only are they as hard as metal, but they are also excellent anti-magic materials. Later, after being personally designed by the King of the Undead, my "Eight Trigram Magic Formation" was integrated into them. The Minotaur warriors' "Labyrinth Formation" was originally derived from the Eight Trigrams. Now, as long as the Minotaur warriors arrange themselves according to the formation and activate the totems with their racial talents, it immediately forms a magic array-like effect. It continuously absorbs the surrounding natural magic, as well as the enemy's attack magic and negative divine arts, generating various auxiliary abilities to help the arrayed Minotaur warriors overcome their enemies.

Legend has it that Zhuge Liang, with only stone formations, once trapped 100,000 troops from the Eastern Wu in his Eight Trigram Array. While I don’t entirely believe this legend, with this magical version of the "Labyrinth Formation," I am confident that 8,000 Minotaur warriors can hold their own against 40,000 equally strong Yak warriors, let alone humans.

Although the human army had heard of our Fontainebleau-exclusive Minotaur battle formation, they could not possibly comprehend the profound changes of ancient divination principles. Relying on their numerical superiority, they intended to force their way through and initially sent 20,000 heavy knights, divided into five battle sequences, charging down the slope of a previously occupied high ground with tremendous momentum toward the "Labyrinth Formation."

In terms of physique, the average Minotaur stands about 2.6 to 2.7 meters tall, each as strong as a mountain. A human knight on horseback can only look eye-to-eye with them, and their strength is vastly different. However, even a knight in heavy armor, with only the front half of their body covered in armor and wielding a long spear and heavy shield, carries a considerable amount of weight. When they charge down a sloped hill, the combination of speed and strength generates enough impact to pierce through the tough bodies of the Minotaur and kill them in one strike. It is said that 400 years ago, this tactic was the only way for humans to keep casualties even. Today, humans seem to want to relive that past glory.

Unfortunately for them, the Minotaur warriors they now face possess a battle tactic never before seen on this continent. When the first wave of 4,000 heavy knights reached the front of the "Labyrinth Formation," they neither killed any enemies nor met any resistance. The Minotaur warriors simply changed the formation pattern and effortlessly absorbed these humans into the encirclement of the array. Then came the second wave of knights, followed by the third and fourth waves, all of which were silently absorbed by the "Minotaur Labyrinth Formation" like a sponge absorbing water. Only the last group of knights, who were ordered to stop their charge before beginning due to their commander noticing the issue, were preserved. The other 16,000 elite heavy knights vanished entirely, as if the strange workings of the array were a giant, terrifying beast that devoured all these humans.

It was eerie, extremely eerie. The entire human army on the battlefield was struck with fear and doubt by this unexpected turn of events, leading to a momentary silence.

Although the Minotaur warriors are massive, they shouldn’t be able to completely hide the situation inside the array. However, with the magical and divine enhancements on the tall totem poles, the magic lights and orc figures sealed off the internal view of the array. Due to the magical effects, even the sounds from inside could not escape, creating this peculiar and eerie effect. Many years later, a knight who had entered the "Labyrinth Formation," survived with serious injuries, and lived to tell the tale after being captured, recalled: "An endless maze of towering pillars, where my comrades vanished without a trace. I couldn’t find any path. Behind each pillar was a Minotaur, terrifyingly wielding a round table-like giant axe. Enemies were everywhere, but I couldn’t locate their positions. All I could do was keep dodging..."