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At this time, the entire Fragrant Leaf Peninsula had become a combat base for the elves, with nearly 200,000 elven warriors having completed their landing. They even moved two tree islands ashore, establishing two massive Golden Tree Fortresses, completely blocking the human access routes to the peninsula.

Of course, simultaneously, the human counterattack followed closely.

Since it was impossible to confirm whether the high elves' magical forces had also landed on the Fragrant Leaf Peninsula, launching forbidden spells recklessly would be highly unwise. After all, there were only two forbidden spell casters that humans could mobilize at the moment. If they did not join forces, they might be defeated one by one by the concentrated elven magical army. If both casters acted together and failed to capture the main force of the elven mages, after the two forbidden spell casters perished, humans would have to resist the elven super combined magic with sheer manpower.

Therefore, before the situation was clear, the southern nations could only request the two forbidden spell casters to remain on alert while gathering a large army, along with the forces of the Mage Guild, to launch a recapture operation on the Fragrant Leaf Peninsula.

Twenty-four top-tier mercenary groups from the Commercial Alliance and nine knight orders from the Sixteen-Nation Alliance, totaling 1.4 million troops, gathered around the Fragrant Leaf Peninsula within a short half-month, forming a tight formation and vowing to drive the high elven army back into the sea. In fact, if the southern nations' navies had not repeatedly tested and failed to shake the naval superiority of the elven kingdom, this strategic goal would have been to annihilate the elven invaders.

Late at night, at the front line, in the main camp of the Southern Allied Forces, generals from various nations gathered to hold a military meeting.

The commander of the allied forces was a middle-aged knight with a thick beard.

This knight, named Christo, was neither from the Commercial Alliance nor the Sixteen-Nation Alliance. In fact, he was the leader of the Mage Guild's Magic Knight Order, possessing dual identities as both a mage and a knight. It was precisely because of this that he was elected as the leader of the allied forces amidst the mutual distrust between the Commercial Alliance and the Sixteen-Nation Alliance.

Marshal Christo (acting) was currently sitting in front of a large map sand table, surrounded by a dozen or so generals and nobles of various attire. A young adjutant, dressed as a staff officer, was holding a stack of documents and briefing everyone on the enemy's situation.

"...On the fifth day after the elves landed, we once organized a probing attack, dispatching troops including 50,000 armored heavy infantry, 50,000 light infantry, 20,000 light cavalry, 5,000 heavy cavalry, and 10,000 archers. They encountered a vanguard of 20,000 high elves on the Four-Leaf Clover Plain in front of the Fragrant Leaf Peninsula." The adjutant pointed to the location on the map where the peninsula connected to the mainland and continued, "Although the number of elves was only one-sixth of ours, their combat power was astonishing. At the beginning of the battle, our heavy infantry and heavy cavalry were subjected to a gravity spell cast by several thousand elven mages, losing their mobility. Then, the enemy deployed a flying archer formation of 5,000 gryphon riders, forcing us to withdraw our archers behind the heavy infantry. After that, we deployed light cavalry to flank the enemy, causing some casualties. However, on the front battlefield, the elves sent about a hundred unicorns to charge, directly breaking through our defensive positions and killing our commander, so we quickly began to retreat."

The difference in individual combat power between elves and human warriors was quite significant, which everyone present understood, so they were not surprised by the failure of the probing battle. However, someone still asked, "A single vanguard unit was equipped with a hundred level nine unicorns? Is the elven army's magical beast power so abundant?"

A level nine magical beast could basically withstand the power of a human sword emperor, especially on the battlefield, where it was even more formidable when combined with level nine magic. Unicorns, as rare light and electric dual-element magical beasts, were at least mid-tier level nine magical beasts. If the elves could deploy thousands of them, the current battle could basically be conceded.

Fortunately, the adjutant immediately explained, "According to later observations, out of the hundred unicorns on the elven side, only ten were true magical beasts, while the other ninety were transformed by elven druids."

This explanation immediately relieved the officers and nobles present. Even if some did not understand the difference, others quickly explained in a low voice: although druids had the ability to transform into magical beasts or even dragons, gaining powerful combat abilities, this transformation continuously consumed their magic power. Therefore, not only was the time limited, but the transformed magical beasts could not recklessly expend magic power like true magical beasts. Moreover, the terror of level nine magical beasts lay in their strong physique and astonishing recovery ability, but the druids' transformation time was limited. Once they reverted to their elven form, they could no longer maintain the recovery ability of the magical beasts. Therefore, a druid-transformed unicorn's threat was at most equivalent to an upper-tier level eight magical beast, still within a level that everyone could handle.

After inquiring about some more intelligence, the topic shifted to their own side. A noble from the Sixteen-Nation Alliance turned to the commander and asked, "Marshal Christo, how many grand mages from the Mage Guild are willing to come this time?"

Christo solemnly replied, "This war is also the guild's responsibility. So far, 2,647 mages have responded to the guild's call, including twelve grand mages and eighty-seven level ten mages. This already accounts for nearly sixty percent of the southern magical forces."

Is this number considered large or small?

The people in the tent felt a moment of awkwardness, uncertain how to respond.

The total number of human mages was less than 10,000, so 2,647 mages was an extremely terrifying number in the human world. Even wealthy nations like the Yellow Dragon Empire and the Mercenary Empire had never mobilized such a luxurious magical lineup. Christo's statement was not wrong. But now they were facing the high elves, and compared to the elven mage group of over 100,000, this number was truly disheartening.