「On March seventh,」

while the Moon Elves remained completely unaware, pre-war supplies for the southern and eastern fronts had been delivered to their designated locations. With the help of Dwarf engineering teams and Elf logistics teams, the corresponding military camps were being established.

「On March eighth,」

the Moon Elves in the Main City discovered that the scouts dispatched from the two Elf Cities east of their Main City had failed to return on schedule. Something felt off.

「On March ninth,」

the Dark Elf Scouts sent to find the previous, possibly "missing," scouts also failed to return after an entire night. Something was very wrong! The Moon Elf Elder flew into a rage during a meeting that day, berating the other elves. He demanded the other cities dispatch search parties. "Bring them back, dead or alive!" At the same time, the Moon Elf Elder ordered the other Elf Cities to heighten their security and prepare for battle!

「In the pre-dawn hours of March eleventh,」

the Elf Soldiers dispatched by the Moon Elf Elder to contact the other cities finally discovered the truth! The very Elf Corps they had been hesitating to attack had seized the initiative, launching a simultaneous assault on the four other Elf Cities, leaving only the Moon Elf Main City untouched! The cities, once under Moon Elf control, were now besieged, their inhabitants unable to leave.

Meanwhile, the Elf Corps under Zhang Yi’s command seized this golden opportunity. They erected a massive Sound Insulation Barrier and a Scent Elimination Barrier in a thirty-kilometer radius around the Moon Elf Main City, completely enveloping it. As long as nothing crossed this boundary, the Moon Elves, no matter what methods they employed, would remain oblivious to the events unfolding outside!

As for the Elf Soldiers previously sent by the Moon Elf Elder to deliver messages, they had traveled beyond this thirty-kilometer range and discovered that something was amiss. But when they tried to turn back, they were spotted by Elf Scouts from the Elf Corps guarding the barrier at the thirty-kilometer mark and were killed before they could return.

In fact, a day before the Moon Elf Main City sent elves to notify the other four cities—on March tenth—the Elf Corps on the eastern and southern fronts, under the command of Elf Corps Commander Feiyana, had launched a simultaneous attack on the four Elf Cities.

Had the messengers from the Main City, dispatched by the Moon Elf Elder, succeeded in reaching the other four Elf Cities, the situation might have been better. But unfortunately, all the Elf Soldiers sent as couriers were killed by Zhang Yi’s Elf Corps. And so, when the eastern and southern divisions of Zhang Yi’s Elf Corps launched their simultaneous assault on these four Elf Cities, they caught them all completely by surprise!

The elves in these four Elf Cities could never have imagined that now, with the Moon Elves as the dominant power in the entire Moonlight Forest, other elves would actually dare to resist them—and act on it! In their view, siding with the Moon Elves was the only correct choice!

It was precisely because of this arrogant mindset that, even though the Guard Armies of the four Elf Cities reacted immediately, reaching the walls to mount a defense, they were utterly routed by the new Magic Equipment from Zhang Yi’s Elf Corps.

It was the same old three-step tactic. First, launch the Incendiary Bullets, followed by Smoke Bombs, and finally, Stone Bombs. And, just as Zhang Yi had predicted, when the battle began, the Elf Guard Armies in these four Elf Cities, though more numerous than the Elf Guards of the former Neutral Elf City, were unable to press their advantage. Instead, unfamiliar with the new Magic Equipment, they had let their guard down. So, when the Magic Stone-Throwing Cannons launched the first wave of Incendiary Bullets, the Elf Guard Army in each city failed to intercept the initial volley.

And unlike the previous battle, they weren’t as lucky as the Neutral Elf City had been. The first wave of Incendiary Bullets launched by the Elf Corps luckily struck the granaries in each Elf City, starting massive fires! The blazes quickly spread to the armories and residential areas! Though these zones had various forms of Magic Defense capable of repelling a Magic Attack, they had no way of stopping the spread of ordinary, mundane fire. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Thus, at the end of the first day of fighting, although the four Elf Cities appeared to have suffered no major losses on the surface, the reality was that after the inferno, the grain, medicine, and military equipment they managed to salvage amounted to less than 30% of their original stockpiles. Their ability to wage a sustained war was drastically weakened, and the pressure on their Logistics reserves grew immense!

Then, on March eleventh, the second day of fighting across the eastern and southern fronts, casualties among the Elf Guard Armies in the four Elf Cities increased dramatically! After a winter of training under Zhang Yi, the Elf Alliance now possessed a total of eight thousand Elf Soldiers, forming eight Elf Corps. This represented an increase of three Elf Corps since the capture of the Neutral Elf City. For this battle, Zhang Yi had committed his entire army. Consequently, by March twelfth, two of the four Elf Cities were on the verge of collapse.

「On March thirteenth,」

the sixth day since the Moon Elf Main City had first realized something was amiss, as a large force was dispatched from the Main City, they finally discovered the enormous Magic Barrier that enveloped the Moon Elf Main City.