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Yet, at dawn that very day, as the night guards were preparing to rest and those who had been sleeping were still in bed, chilling screams suddenly echoed from the direction of the swamp. By the time the alert guards focused their attention, they saw several blood-soaked humans running in their direction. Pursuing them were a pack of giant wolves, as large as warhorses. During their flight, two of the humans stumbled, slowing down, and were swiftly pounced upon by the enormous beasts.

Though the garrisoned mercenaries weren't regular soldiers, their response was swift. They released arrows at the wolves while shouting to rally assistance. Unfortunately, the Fallen City, having never experienced a formal assault, lacked a well-organized system, including any alarm bells. Thus, their reaction was sluggish. Nevertheless, the archers on the walls proved skilled, and their rain of arrows forced the giant wolves to howl in pain and retreat beyond the range of the bows.

By then, the fleeing humans had reached the city gates, crying out desperately.

"Open the gate! Open the gate! The main force has encountered a werewolf army, engaged in battle. Quickly, sound the alarm and prepare for reinforcements!"

Upon recognizing the people below as their fellow mercenaries from the city, the guardians atop the wall began cranking the winch to slowly open the gates.

As the city gates creaked open and mercenaries scrambled within, a massive gray wolf from among those lurking beyond the archers' range bolted forth like a bolt of lightning, moving several times faster than before. The guards on the walls hastily loosed their arrows, but only a few struck the enormous beast, which deflected them effortlessly. The gatekeepers frantically turned the winches to close the gates, only to witness a white blur shoot out from under the wolf's belly, darting through the narrowing gap like a bolt of lightning.

"Enemy attack—!"

The remaining Sapphire mercenary, who had prior military experience, finally sounded the correct alarm, but it was too late. The giant, gray-painted high-level magical beast demonstrated astonishing strength, forcing the gates back open. The Wolf Riders, who had stealthily approached in the pre-dawn darkness, now swarmed in. Mercenaries attempting to reach the gates were frozen by the beast's icy breath, then torn apart by razor-sharp claws. The Werewolves atop the creatures wielded massive black longbows, picking off the archers attempting to fight back from a distance.

By the time the Wolf Riders entered the city, the outcome of the battle was sealed. The "City of Fallen" lacked fortifications, and the few sturdy warehouses were quickly breached by the following Oxmen with their massive waraxes and stakes. The Wolf Riders swept through the entire district with ease. Human warriors, mostly at the Bronze and Black Iron levels, were no match for the hundreds of Wolf Riders whose combat prowess equaled or surpassed that of human Silver or even Gold warriors. They were left with no choice but to surrender or face death.

The "Rebirth" plan unfolded more smoothly than I had anticipated. Many contingency plans we had prepared went unused. In the conflict, we lost only forty riding wolves and suffered ten severely wounded, along with over a hundred lightly wounded. In contrast, we killed over four hundred human mercenaries, captured more than five hundred, and coerced another three hundred smugglers into surrendering.

The remarkable success we achieved was not primarily due to the brilliance of our plan, but rather owed to the season's aid. Normally, up to five thousand warriors remained in the Fallen City, and this year, with the emergence of the swamp passage, the number swelled to eight thousand, excluding the high-ranking bodyguards that some prominent merchants brought along, often including Sword Masters and Mages, formidable characters.

As winter neared, the Red River entered its dry season, making water transport unreliable and even posing challenges for basic drinking water along the route. As a result, most merchants and non-criminal mercenaries left the "Fallen City" to return to the human world, causing the city's combat strength to be less than half in terms of both quantity and quality.

With such thinly spread forces, Lanster forcefully drew away seventy percent, taking away even the solitary Sword Master, Mage, and Priest. The remaining mercenaries were unprepared for battle, and the outcome was predictable.

After the occupation was complete, I dispatched the Vice Commander of the guard, the Heavenly Wolf maiden Oseveli, leading a pack of Wolf Riders to cleanse the human presence at the Red River docks. Meanwhile, I ordered Antar to clear the upstream encampment of the Duchy of Langton's garrison. With the main forces from both locations depleted, we encountered no resistance. Following that, I redeployed the Canine Warriors, initially stationed outside the city for both vigilance and as a reserve force, into the city to utilize their sharper senses to search for any remaining humans. All these tasks were carried out hastily in a race against time.

It wasn't until two days later, five days after Lanster's departure, that all matters were temporarily settled. The time we had to annihilate Lanster's army in the swamp was running short. Thus, I left behind all other responsibilities and set out with the one hundred strongest Wolf Riders from the "Fallen City," abandoning the shortcut and instead following the swamp passage to swiftly pursue Lanster.

After a relentless journey, we finally caught up with Lanster's army ten days later. However, with our current military strength, engaging humans directly was out of the question. To counter the significantly more powerful enemy, I prepared a gift that humans had never seen before.

Following the side path, we surpassed the human forces and entered the chosen battlefield ahead of schedule.

The Devouring Swamp stretched for nearly a thousand miles, a barren land created four centuries ago by the super taboo spell "Dusk of the Gods." It was filled with the terrifying power of the forbidden spell, distorting nature and causing numerous animals, plants, and magical beasts to mutate, forming the impassable Devouring Swamp. Although recent changes in the Red River's waterways had caused parts of it to dry up, creating a passage, there were still many perilous areas along this so-called path before it could be considered safe.

Currently, we found ourselves in a several-mile-wide stretch of the swamp, where green miasma floated in the air and deadly traps lurked beneath the muddy ground. However, these hazards were insufficient to challenge a thousands-strong force, especially when many among them were mercenaries who had once eked out a living in even more treacherous swamps.