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Without the Black Crystal Bone Dragon, Enrico, despite his greatly enhanced magical abilities, still lacked the capability to confront the orc sword emperor head-on. However, he had long prepared for this day, and even from behind the scenes, he could still manage to outmaneuver the elite orc punitive forces in various ways.

The orc punitive forces, with their formidable combat strength, were naturally invincible, sweeping through cities and winning every battle effortlessly. In just half a month, they captured seventeen to eighteen towns with almost no casualties. However, the numerical disadvantage of the orc main forces became evident. Within the punitive army, only the over one thousand elite orc warriors could win every battle, while the vassal races and the defected human legions were far less effective. Yet, facing vast territories, sufficient manpower was necessary for garrison and control, so beyond the main battlefield, the orc punitive forces still faced counterattacks from the rebel forces.

The vassal races of the lion clan included many powerful groups such as the leopard clan, tiger clan, and lynx clan, all renowned for their exceptional strength. However, these tribes were even sparser in population than the lion clan, while the more numerous races like the mouse, deer, and antelope clans were only average in combat strength, not much better than humans. As for the vast number of human defectors, not only were they weak in combat, but they were also frequently infiltrated or incited by Enrico, rendering them entirely unreliable for the orc punitive forces. Consequently, when the punitive forces captured the nineteenth town, they received a rear alert: three recently taken cities had been recaptured by the rebels, and the human garrisons in four other towns had mutinied, killing all the stationed orcs and defecting to the rebels.

Thus, the punitive forces had to turn back to reclaim the lost cities, only to be ambushed again, leading to a prolonged tug-of-war. In some areas, the rebels were forced to retreat into the mountains, abandoning the plains and cities, while in others, the orc punitive forces were outmaneuvered by the rebels, achieving little.

However, this stalemate was finally broken when the orc king gritted his teeth and increased the troops again. The doubled number of elite orc warriors, along with large units of flying orc troops, rapidly overran the cities in the northwest and stationed heavy forces in key areas. The organized rebel forces were either defeated or went into hiding in remote places, and for a time, the northwest once again became orc territory.

But this time was different. Even the most arrogant orc generals understood that the northwest was hard to be fully controlled by the orcs anymore. Originally a region contested by the Holy Temple's light forces and the Viking Empire's dark forces, the people here had no clear faith or loyalty, hence even under orc rule, there was little large-scale resistance. However, after being integrated by Enrico's rebel forces, the atmosphere here had completely changed. Even the most obtuse orcs could feel the hostility from the entire human population. The rebel forces had indeed disappeared, but they were not eradicated, nor was their basic structure destroyed. Most importantly, Enrico was nowhere to be found. With him orchestrating behind the scenes, the extent of the orcs' control over this land was far from certain.

But the orc king now had no mind to thoroughly sweep the northwest anymore, because a message from the south shocked the entire continent.

On July 6th, the high elves landed on the southern coast, officially declaring war on humans.

Heroic Werewolf Scroll Chapter 64: Strange Troops Rise in the Southern Sea and Land

The South Sea in July is the season of frequent storms, with almost six or seven hurricanes hitting coastal cities every year.

However, this July, there was an unprecedented great storm, which not only hit the southern coast but also swept through the entire human world, significantly affecting the future of all races on the continent.

A storm named "Elves' Invasion."

The coast where the elves landed was naturally not the busiest Diamond Port, but it was also not some cliff or steep place that humans had not thought of. It was a place relatively close to the elven kingdom, named "Fragrant Leaf Peninsula."

Although previous intelligence from various sources indicated that the elves would not attack humans, the vast human world naturally did not completely abandon vigilance against the high elves, the world's top magical force. Along the long southern coastline, more than a dozen possible landing sites were originally garrisoned by over 1.2 million human defense troops, with more forces ready to support behind them. Stationed at the Fragrant Leaf Coast was the Horn Corps of the Commercial Alliance. This corps, transformed from a mercenary group, though not the main elite of the Commercial Alliance, was rich in combat experience, far above the average local defense corps. In the original plan, this 50,000-strong force, though unable to withstand the strong attack of the elven kingdom, could at least hold out for two days with solid defensive works, allowing nearby city-states to gather at least 300,000 troops for support.

However, from July 2nd, fierce winds began to blow near the Fragrant Leaf Peninsula, with waves so high they could crash onto 20-meter-high cliffs. The subsequent storms and heavy rains grew stronger day by day. The bad weather convinced the Horn Corps that no one could sail in such conditions, so they essentially abandoned normal patrol duties, and even the corps' highest commander sneaked back to his villa in a nearby city to meet his lover, leaving the soldiers to stay inside the fortifications all day.

Yet, the high elves took advantage of such a fierce hurricane to raid this defense line. For the elven army possessing the "Golden Tree Island," the hurricane was not an obstacle to their advance but even facilitated their summoning of wind and water elements. Thus, amidst the pouring rain, faint blue infiltrations entered the human defense works, flowing through various drainage pipes into the soldiers' rooms, then suddenly transforming into numerous large, sticky, glue-like fluid blocks, enveloping human soldiers one by one. This alone caused the humans to lose tens of thousands of soldiers and missed their chance to detect the elves and counterattack in time.

What followed was a one-sided battle. The pouring rain brought abundant water, wind, and lightning magic for the elven mages, and the 20,000 elven mages on the high tree island easily destroyed all human resistance with magic. Not a single human soldier had the chance to escape and report, so it wasn't until two days later that the human side learned the elves had made their move.