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Christo also understood the concerns of his subordinates and quickly encouraged them, "Don't overestimate the enemy's terror. Magic is the product of intellect, not the accumulation of power. Especially on the battlefield, no matter how strong the magic is, it cannot change the fact that the elves are few in number and physically weak. As long as we can utilize our advantages effectively, defeating the elven invaders is not an impossible task. Moreover, the elves may not dare to deploy too many elven mages, or else they will face the judgment of forbidden spells."

Hearing the commander's words, the others gradually let go of their worries and expressed their agreement. One of the mercenary leaders said, "The marshal is right. Even if the elves' magical power is strong, the decisive factors in war are the morale and determination of the warriors. The elven population is sparse, and their reproduction is difficult; they simply cannot bear the heavy sacrifices of war. Therefore, as long as we can demonstrate sufficient strength and resolve, making the elves understand that seizing the mainland will come at a painful cost, I believe those timid elves will flee back to their homeland like mice."

Another noble commander also nodded and said, "Exactly. According to ancient historical records, the elves have always feared direct conflicts, preferring to fight using magic, summoned creatures, and elemental beings. This is because the death of a single elf is more severe than the loss of a thousand human warriors. However, this time they certainly won't dare to gather tens of thousands of elven mages. The elves are most adept at summoning elemental creatures, but in the face of our thousands of elven mages' counter-summoning, they will be helpless. As for summoned creatures, although the elven kingdom is rich in them, as long as we employ overwhelming numbers, except for a few phoenixes, there is no summoned creature we cannot defeat. Once the summoned creatures are decimated, the elves will have no choice but to retreat."

After further discussion, they began to formulate their battle plan. The place where the Bayleaf Peninsula connects to the mainland is the Clover Plain. However, to the south of the plain is a mountain peak with an altitude of six to seven hundred meters, and there are two paths leading into the peninsula on either side of the mountain. Currently, the two Golden Tree Fortresses built by the elves are meant to block these two paths. The Golden Tree Fortresses have the ability to grow and repair themselves automatically, and with the enhanced power of the elven mages within, they are nearly impenetrable. If the human army were to launch a direct assault, it would cost at least a million lives to have a chance of success. As for the idea of crossing the mountains to flank the elves from behind, no one would even suggest it. The southern mountains are lush with vegetation, naturally serving as hunting grounds for the elven race, favored by the nature goddess. No matter how many troops are sent, they would not be enough to withstand the elves.

However, both the commander and the generals believed that the elves, breaking a 400-year taboo and setting foot on the mainland again, would not merely aim to seize a 20-square-kilometer Bayleaf Peninsula. Therefore, the real battlefield between the two sides would still be the Clover Plain.

Thus, the Southern Allied Forces continuously sent troops to harass the two Golden Tree Fortresses while constructing fortifications, setting up magic arrays, and improving the coordination among the armies of various nations. They rehearsed all possible tactical scenarios, awaiting the moment when the elves would officially launch their attack. However, the high elves did not seem to be in a hurry to attack. Instead, they used magic to obscure information about the Bayleaf Peninsula, leaving it unclear what they were doing on the island. According to intelligence from the nearby navy, the elves showed no signs of further large-scale reinforcements. On the contrary, the Mage Guild reported that there were frequent large-scale magical disturbances on the peninsula, though they had not yet reached the level of super-combined magic. Faced with this intelligence, the Allied Command ultimately concluded that the elves were practicing and refining their battle strategies for the mainland.

Time quickly moved into early August, and the elven army seemed to have finally completed its integration. An army of 180,000 elves officially set foot on the southern mainland.

The great battle between humans and elves, one million against 180,000, thus began.

The Clover Plain is not a vast plain; in fact, it is only ten square kilometers in size, making it unsuitable for the deployment of large armies. Therefore, while the elven side managed well, even with six layers of formation on the human side, nearly 300,000 troops were unable to step onto the battlefield and were left behind in the rear cities and camps. This was also the reason why the human allied forces had not continued to reinforce in the past half month.

On the human side, heavy infantry formed the front line, with light cavalry on both flanks, archers in the middle, and mages at the rear. Learning from the previous probing battle, they did not send heavy cavalry as the vanguard but instead advanced slowly with a wall of shields and spears. This dense and solid formation would not be easily destroyed by either magic or arrows, and the only thing that could counter it—heavy cavalry charges—was not something the elves could execute. As for close-quarters attrition warfare, the elves would likely avoid it as well.

Indeed, shortly after the battle began, faced with the Southern Allied Forces' relentless advance regardless of casualties, the elven side gradually appeared strained. Only 10,000 elven mages were engaged in the battle, and their offensive magic was insufficient to repel the six-layered million-strong human formation. As for debuffing or weakening spells, they were quickly dispelled by the human mages in the rear. Although the elven archers' volleys caused significant casualties among the humans, compared to the sheer number of human troops, the impact was not decisive. Thus, despite the elves continuously summoning elemental creatures and summoned creatures to resist, about an hour into the battle, the elven vanguard inevitably clashed with the human army.

"Excellent, we have won this battle," all the human generals exclaimed with joy upon seeing the two armies engage in close combat. Although the number of human casualties far exceeded that of the elves, they felt they had already seen the promise of victory.

Compared to the ordinary soldiers of the Southern Allied Forces, the elven warriors were all skilled in combat, with some even mastering the secrets of combat magic. In one-on-one combat, they could easily kill more than ten human soldiers without a scratch. However, in the chaos of large-scale warfare, the physically weak elves ultimately had to face their disadvantage. Even if they could take down ten enemies, they themselves had no chance of survival, and such losses were something the elven leadership was unwilling to accept. In fact, if not for the ongoing protective and restorative spells cast by the mages in the rear on their own warriors, the elven losses would have already forced the commanders to consider retreat.