This Giant Dragon is So Powerful!

Chapter 165 - 22: Victory; The Situation; Bat Demon Bloodline_2

The majority of the dead monster warriors were some Level 5 mid-level monsters, who were unlucky enough to get their heads pierced by enchanted arrows from the human army, or were focused and killed. Of course, a significant portion of them died during a fierce battle with the Purple Thorn Knight Order. However, the latter suffered even more. The formation, painstakingly assembled over five or six years, was once again devastated and suffered greater losses than the last siege by the Queen of Darkness and the Centaur Hurricane Knight Order.

"This is a great victory." Roy gazed at the monster army, which was collecting bodies and preparing to retreat with prisoners, and couldn’t help but sigh.

Such a formidable monster army was not something a single Human Duchy could resist.

Even the united Yalbit Kingdom, without having Legendary and Master Level figures involved, the outcome of a pure Occupation Professional army battle was still uncertain.

This is assuming they were united, but in reality, the Yalbit Kingdom could not unite at all.

Mid-level Professionals are not amateurs; they have already reached the minimum qualifications to receive a Pioneer Order from major nobles. Once they succeed in pioneering, they automatically advance to become nobles, usually at the lowest level of knight or lord.

...

Crunch.

A metal goblet was crushed flat by a hand.

The owner of the hand sat gloomily upon the throne, and the noble ministers below remained silent.

"Dalton is dead? Only over three hundred of the thousand-strong Purple Thorn Knight Order remain?" muttered the Purple Thorn Duke to himself.

After a long pause, he sighed deeply as if he had suddenly aged ten years,

"Yield the northern frontier, have the remaining troops... all withdrawn."

As soon as this order was issued, some nobles below became anxious, "Duke, how can we let this happen? The Higlind family is merely a Viscount family, on what grounds..."

The Purple Thorn Duke glanced at them calmly, a terrifying aura closing their mouths slowly,

"Enough of this nonsense. You northern nobles, if you cannot bear to part with your land and interests and refuse to retreat, you could always pledge allegiance to the Higlind family.

According to the news I’ve received from the Southern Wasteland, the nobles who have pledged allegiance to the Higlind family are living quite well; you should be aware of this, too."

Saying this, the Purple Thorn Duke cast his gaze over these nobles in the great hall, his expression calm.

These words were already very clear.

The northern nobles, who initially intended to create a fuss, had nothing more to say and went silent.

After all the noble ministers had departed, the Purple Thorn Duke squinted his eyes, lost in thought.

"An army of monsters with numbers in the tens of thousands reaching mid-level... judging from the characteristics and aura of these monsters, they are all Black Dragon lineage creatures... Which Black Dragon has the Higlind family pledged allegiance to?"

首先排除幽暗女王.

The aura is not right. Moreover, the Queen of Darkness’s growth trajectory has been relatively clear and could not suddenly produce such a powerful army.

However, there is also a monster army with a similar aura serving under the Queen of Darkness at the Dark Nest.....

"The consort of the Queen of Darkness?" The Purple Thorn Duke could only speculate in this direction.

This also explained why, after the army’s defeat, instead of personally leading an army for revenge, the Purple Thorn Duke chose to remain stealthy, even planning to voluntarily give up some territorial lands.

In the current turbulent situation—where the Southern Wasteland is occupied by a powerful Black Dragon power suspected to be the Queen of Darkness’s consort, the Central Wasteland is occupied by the Dark Nest led by the Queen of Darkness, and the Northern Wasteland is occupied by a Centaur army led by the King of Centaurs, with hints of collaboration among these three factions to attack and divide.

In this scenario, should the Kas Duchy continue to meddle and willingly plunge into the mire of war to deplete itself against the monster army, the national power would only decline further, ultimately leading to destruction.

On the contrary, at this time, ceding the northern territory of the Duchy to let the Higlind family manage and rule, although it would enlarge their sphere of influence, would also, relatively, drag down their strength.

The nobles in the northern territories of the Duchy, being far from the Capital City for many years, are no longer so loyal to the Purple Thorn Duke, especially under the current circumstances of consecutive defeats for the Duchy, they must have developed dissent.

The Purple Thorn Duke’s current actions amounted to ’abandoning’ a group of dissenting nobles along with their territories, letting these nobles, who are only adept at scheming and plotting, and the Higlind family, entangle and deplete each other.

After the Purple Thorn Duke issued this order, an envoy team rushed overnight to the northern front line to meet the leader of the Higlind family—Roy.

"Yielding Visalia City and over a dozen surrounding towns, plus hundreds of villages?" Roy smiled slightly, sighing, "As expected of the Purple Thorn Duke, he truly has the courage... I agree."

The envoy breathed a sigh of relief, performed a noble gesture, and hurriedly left with the message.

After the envoy from the Duchy left, Roy rubbed the smooth armrest of his chair, deep in contemplation,

"The Purple Thorn Duke can truly endure.... but this suits my intentions just fine."

If the Purple Thorn Duke had chosen a desperate fight-to-the-death, Roy would have been more troubled because he could not be sure if the master would act after the Purple Thorn Duke did... if the master didn’t, the Higlind family would be in dire straits.

However, now there was no need to worry, as the Purple Thorn Duke had already voluntarily retreated.

This result might not be the best, but it was definitely the most secure for the Higlind family.

"Now, let’s first deal with these northern nobles of the Duchy; they must not be allowed to cause trouble, or else the territories that are to be taken over will only become a huge mess." Roy made up his mind.