I, the Villain, Want to Save Myself, But the Yandere Heroines Disagree-Chapter 7 - Scheming

“Chieftain, at this rate, we can’t leave at all...” In the beastman army, a beastman military officer was complaining to Balu.

The great fire had burned for three consecutive days before, and the beastman army had slowly advanced through the mountains for three days, following the wildfires.

Then, with the torrential downpour, the beastmen encountered a historical problem.

Firstly, their provisions. Because no measures had been taken to protect them from moisture, they were simply piled up and covered, unable to withstand the wind and rain. A lot of the grain had spoiled due to moisture and was no longer edible. The remaining grain was only enough for the current beastman army to eat for ten days. The beastman army had to retreat to find supplies again.

And this was not the most important problem.

The soil quality here was very strange. After the beastmen salvaged the remaining grain, the land behind them had become muddy. Coupled with the beastmen’s naturally large and sturdy bodies, the road on their way back was much more difficult to traverse than when they were advancing. The valley they could originally pass through in a day still couldn’t be exited by the beastman army after two days of slowly moving.

The most important point was yet to come.

The heavy rain continued for two consecutive days without stopping. During this time, because the forest in the valley behind was burned down, the trees that used to hold the soil in place were gone. Under the washing of the rain, mudslides and landslides occurred.

Massive mudslides blocked the beastman army’s path of retreat to the north. It became practically impossible for the beastmen to quickly withdraw from here.

Balu watched the beastmen in the distance continuously moving large rocks away from the blockage formed by the landslide debris, attempting to clear a path that could allow the baggage train to pass.

His army of over fifty thousand men took this valley, which was the largest and easiest path. In addition, Balu had ordered other commanders to split their forces and advance through other valleys. Each of these detached army groups also numbered around ten to twenty thousand. Now, due to the mudslides and torrential rain, the separated beastmen in the valleys could only communicate using trained Griffins.

However, also due to the heavy rain, Griffins were very prone to getting lost in the rain, and many Griffins were even unwilling to risk flying in the downpour.

It wasn’t until today, when the rain subsided slightly, that communication between the various beastmen armies was finally restored.

This group of beastmen under Balu was responsible for the main attack. Outside the battlefield, there were still around one hundred thousand beastmen responsible for pinning down the enemy. Communication between this group of beastmen and the central army had been cut off for two full days, causing widespread panic among the troops.

Unfortunately, the human army responsible for defending against this group of beastmen did not detect the abnormality. They thought it was a beastman tactic and therefore remained in place.

“How much longer do you estimate it will take to clear the blocked road ahead?” Balu asked his deputy.

“About three to four more days...” The beastman military officer beside him replied.

“...” Balu’s furrowed brow relaxed slightly. Then, he continued to ask, “Tell me, is it possible for humans to attack us during this heavy rain?”

“Probably not. If we find it muddy, those human soldiers wearing heavy armor would definitely find it even muddier. Those people are not as tough as our warriors. There’s no way they would come.”

“Hmm, let’s hope so.” Balu nodded upon hearing this.

Just then, a dark shadow appeared in the distance. A Griffin flew over and slowly descended after circling for a while over their heads.

A bundle of parchment was tied to its leg. Balu opened the parchment and revealed a look of surprise. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

“How is that possible!”

“Chieftain, what happened?”

“Something has happened with the Bloodfire Clan’s army. They have been attacked by humans and need our support...”

“Ah?!” The deputy also showed a surprised expression upon hearing this.

According to the intelligence provided in the parchment, approximately thirty thousand human soldiers had launched an attack on the Bloodfire Clan’s army. The Bloodfire Clan’s army only numbered a little over ten thousand. Coupled with the muddy terrain from the heavy rain, it was difficult for the beastmen to utilize their combat effectiveness in the mud.

Currently, the sky was gray and it was impossible to tell the time.

From the time the letter was written, the Bloodfire Clan’s army had already lost over a thousand well-trained warriors. Although they also inflicted heavy damage on the humans, the humans possessed several times the ranged firepower of the beastmen, constantly wearing down the beastmen from a distance. And if the beastmen wanted to counterattack, they couldn’t catch up to the humans and would easily get stuck in the mud.

Balu looked at the parchment in his hand and angrily threw it to the ground.

“Chieftain, what should we do now? If the Bloodfire Clan doesn’t receive support, they might be completely annihilated...”

“...” Balu thought for a moment, then said, “Order the Bloodfire Clan to retreat. Retreat to the rear. Don’t bring provisions and baggage trains. Traverse the mountains lightly.”

“Alright.” The deputy nodded upon hearing this, then turned and walked into the military tent, beginning to draft the letter to the Bloodfire Clan.

There was nothing else they could do. In the current situation, the beastmen were essentially trapped in the mountains and being picked off by the humans.

They couldn’t charge out, and they couldn’t retreat with their provisions and baggage trains.

To preserve their fighting strength, they could only order the beastmen to retreat with light loads.

But saying it was a retreat, given the beastmen’s discipline, this order could basically be considered ordering the troops to flee in disarray.

As the order was issued, Balu’s sense of unease also grew.

In four or five more days, the valley behind would be cleared enough for the baggage train to retreat. Would the humans just let their troops run away?

That shouldn’t be possible, right?

Thinking this, Balu looked at the mountains behind him and shook his head.

His army here was large enough. The valley terrain was narrow. Even if the enemy chose to attack, he could manage to have one unit hold them back while another cleared a path.

...

On the other side, the Bloodfire Clan’s army.

This army was composed of numerous beastmen tribes, but because the Bloodfire Clan was the largest, with two thousand warriors, the Bloodfire Clan became the leader of this army, and the army was named after the Bloodfire Clan.

At this moment, the battle had been going on for a full half-day.

During this half-day, the human army had maintained a safe distance from the beastmen, a distance where humans could attack the beastmen but the beastmen couldn’t retaliate.

It wasn’t that the beastmen didn’t have ranged weapons, but the beastmen’s ranged weapons, such as spears and bows, the former couldn’t be thrown too far due to their weight, and the latter couldn’t shoot too far due to the beastmen’s craftsmanship.

On the human side, their ranged weapons, composite bows, and heavy crossbows, both in terms of range and lethality, were significantly better than the beastmen’s weapons. There was also magical support and enhancements from mages.

Therefore, in terms of ranged attrition alone, the humans could be described as having a dimensionality advantage over the beastmen.

Normally, on the battlefield, faced with the beastmen’s charge, humans might not be able to escape. But now, in the muddy terrain, the movement speed of the strong beastmen was actually slower.

Unable to outshoot them, and unable to chase them down, the beastmen were filled with frustration with nowhere to vent.

Some beastmen had tried to charge out and pursue, but those who left their defensive formations fell even faster.

As time passed, the beastmen who had come to terms with the situation could only passively endure the attacks from behind cover.

Swin, the chieftain of the Bloodfire Clan, received Balu’s reply. Upon learning that other military groups were also trapped by mudslides and could not provide support, his mood instantly plummeted.

Subsequently, he ordered the beastman warriors to stop clearing the path and instead pile up baggage trains and other items at the rear of the formation.

Then, as night fell and the humans could no longer pursue, he gathered all the minor chieftains together.

“You should have realized by now, Chieftain Balu’s reply, their situation is also quite difficult. It seems they cannot support us.”

As he finished speaking, the minor chieftains present were either understanding or surprised.

“So, now for the sake of our warriors’ lives, we can only retreat with light loads. Otherwise, we can only be harassed to death by the humans here.”

The baggage carried by the beastmen mainly consisted of provisions, spare weapons, armor, and siege equipment. However, in the current situation, let alone laying siege, it would be fortunate if they could even retreat to the rear.

The minor chieftains could also understand Swin’s meaning. After arranging the retreat order, they went back to prepare.

...

“Even if we have them trapped like turtles in a jar, we still need to be careful of a cornered dog jumping over the wall.” Inside Phenix City, Orson looked at the intelligence in his hands.

It had been nearly a week since he took over as the front-line commander-in-chief. In this week, the battle situation had changed rapidly.

“So, Orson, are you just going to let this group of beastmen go back?” Litte sat beside Orson, asking curiously.

These past few days, she had learned a lot about military matters by Orson’s side. Orson’s combat experience, at least on a strategic level, was at least one Carlisle ahead of the instructors in the academy.

According to the current battle reports, the beastmen had already left behind many corpses on their path of advance, but the losses of the Antica Duchy’s direct army were negligible, almost ignorable.

“Attacking the city is superior, attacking the heart is inferior,” Orson said with a smile. “Once a group reaches a certain size, it means the group will not always remain united.”

“There will definitely be some things that divide individuals within this group into several factions. These factions will unite under certain circumstances due to common interests, but this does not mean absolute unity.”

“We just need to give them a small push, and we can dismantle the enemy from within. Isn’t it very interesting to watch the enemy tear each other apart?” Orson said this.

As someone well-versed in the history of the Empire, he naturally knew the common pattern in the numerous beastmen invasions: that the beastmen would often voluntarily retreat in the end.

While the Empire’s army played a role in this, it was also significantly related to the beastmen’s own internal conflicts.

What Orson needed to do was to bring about the beastmen’s internal conflicts earlier, and then, according to his arrangements, resolve the beastmen problem once and for all.

Of course, this strategic approach of his would only be explained so directly in front of Litte.

“All we need to do now is wait for the right moment. Once that time passes, the beastmen side will naturally retreat. We will retake our lost land without shedding blood.”

“And...” Orson said this, his gaze shifting to the direction of the Empire’s border line on the map.

“New land.”