Inside the large tent, the air was so thick it felt like it could crush a person.
Shattered cups, spilled wine, frozen dances—everything was suspended in Yang Di’s roar, filled with despair and murderous intent:
“Zhang Bo! You traitor, who bites the hand that feeds him and seeks glory by betraying his master!”
“No! General Yang! Song Ge! It’s not like that!” Zhang Bo’s face was completely drained of color, and his body trembled violently from extreme fear and grievance.
He screamed with all his might, his voice cracking and changing pitch from fear, pointing at the chaos outside, where flames shot into the sky, and despairingly shouted, “It’s them! It’s Shen Mu! They never trusted me! Today’s negotiation was a trap! They never intended to negotiate from the start!”
“What? What do they mean by that? Shen Mu never trusted him? What exactly happened?”
“Zhang Bo is a spy?! Zhang Bo is Green Leaf Group’s spy?! Zhang Bo is that spy?!”
“How is this possible, how is this possible, how is this possible?”
Sun Zhiru and the ten Negotiation Experts from Deherim, their panic instantly replaced by immense shock.
They looked as if they had been struck by lightning, gazing in disbelief at the Prophecy-type Mage who had just been speaking eloquently on behalf of Shen Mu, now spouting such insane words without restraint.
“Director Zhang… you… what did you say?” Sun Zhiru’s voice was distorted: “Green Leaf… Green Leaf Group’s spy?!” He looked at Zhang Bo with a gaze filled with the anger and absurdity of being fooled.
They had always believed Zhang Bo was one of Shen Mu’s most trusted confidants, a representative of Deherim’s “Blue Star Civilization” project, and the guide leading them in “peace negotiations”!
Now, they were being told that he was actually a spy planted by the enemy?!
The other Negotiation Experts turned pale, too horrified to speak.
They felt their entire world collapsing; not only had the negotiations become a joke, but even their safest guarantee—Zhang Bo—had instantly transformed into their most dangerous enemy!
No wonder the Kujit guards left so quickly and forcefully!
It all made sense now!
Fear quickly replaced shock.
“Explain?!”
Yang Di’s eyes were bloodshot, and he sharply pointed his saber at Zhang Bo, its tip trembling violently with rage: “I spent countless efforts, even sacrificing my elite personal guards, to plant you! How much hope, how many resources did I give you?! Tell me, why did the ‘Great Plan’ fail completely?! Why did every step precisely fall into Shen Mu’s trap?!”
He utterly disbelieved Zhang Bo’s current defense, only convinced that he was the culprit behind tonight’s destruction, his rage threatening to consume his reason.
“And all that nonsense you told me this afternoon about how good and benevolent Deherim was, wasn’t that just to lull me into a false sense of security? Wasn’t that just to create an opportunity for Shen Mu’s sneak attack?!” Yang Di pressed closer, his eyes burning with the towering flames of complete betrayal and ruin.
Zhang Song, standing nearby, was relatively calmer, but his gaze was equally as chilling as an ice pick. He took a deep breath, his voice carrying an extreme, suppressed coldness, and logically began to enumerate the Great Plan’s fatal failures, each question directly targeting Zhang Bo’s decisions at the time:
“Alright, Zhang Bo, since you say you’re not a traitor, then explain the failure of the Great Plan clearly!! You very well warned about the crisis at the city wall, and even said the wall was very dangerous! You directly told Shen Mu, ‘The wall is collapsing, it’s dangerous!’”
Zhang Song mimicked Zhang Bo’s tone at the time:
“You pulled Shen Mu into the Castle District’s main building, ‘prophesying’ it was the safest place. What happened? Deherim’s troops were already ambushed outside the library! Our most elite decapitation unit teleported out and was immediately surrounded there! That safe place was precisely where you led us to walk into a trap! Why would the safe place you prophesied be an ambush site meticulously designed by the enemy? Didn’t you leak the secret of our teleportation point to Shen Mu?”
Zhang Bo’s face was ashen.
He recalled the situation at the time; he had indeed suggested going to the Castle District’s main building to execute the Great Plan, to lure Shen Mu away from the dangerous area for the decapitation. How could he have known it was precisely a trap?
The coincidence was so absurd it made him want to cry!
Zhang Song gave him no chance to breathe, continuing his interrogation:
“You also prophesied a crisis on the east city wall, ‘There’s a terrifying aura there, a great disaster!’ You frantically urged Shen Mu to send the troops from the Castle District’s main building to support it, saying it was more dangerous there. What happened? The Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty legion we invited was blocked at the city wall, and the terrifying aura you ‘prophesied,’ which you yourself couldn’t clearly define as a ‘great disaster,’ just happened to become their perfect excuse to mobilize troops and block defensive loopholes?!”
Zhang Bo trembled all over. This incident was the greatest pain and confusion in his heart!
He had fabricated it on the spot, only wanting the core defense forces of the Castle District to be drawn away, to facilitate the Wood Elf troops’ decapitation strike!
Who would have known that Shen Mu would use these diverted forces to precisely deploy them on the east side to deal with the Skeleton Giant, and that the Castle District’s main building would genuinely appear to have a usable opening?!
Zhang Bo was truly speechless now; he couldn’t say anything. Everything was just too coincidental.
So coincidental that even he didn’t believe it.
But Zhang Song was still speaking:
“You also prophesied an unknown crisis, ‘The entire Castle District has danger coalescing, soldiers must disperse to guard the nodes!’ — This was your final and most crucial ‘warning’! As a result, Shen Mu completely believed it and dispersed all his guard forces to various walls and towers throughout the Castle District! How interesting! Now you tell me!”
Zhang Song’s voice suddenly rose, filled with oppressive force: “How is this any different from preemptively withdrawing defensive forces and opening the door wide for our surprise decapitation unit?! You made Shen Mu actively remove all close-range protection, wasn’t that so our assault team could execute the decapitation mission without hindrance?! Why did your meticulously prepared ‘prophecies’ precisely clear the obstacles for Shen Mu’s trap at every step?!”
“No! That’s not right! It’s not like that! I don’t know! I really didn’t know it would turn out this way!”
Zhang Bo felt like he was suffocating.
Zhang Song’s logic was terrifying; every sentence was like a heavy iron hammer striking his heart, nailing him to the traitor’s cross.
“I… I was indeed worried the Skeleton attack would be too fierce, that’s why… that’s why I suggested that… I wanted the main force to resist the real danger… to have fewer people around Shen Mu…”
His defense was pale and weak, sounding like a foolish attempt to cover up after the fact.
“You don’t know?”
Yang Di laughed in extreme anger, his laughter filled with bitter mockery and despair: “My people in Deherim reported it to me clearly! You should know, Zhang Bo, I don’t only have you reporting to me from Deherim! They reported it clearly! Shen Mu himself said it! These reinforcements, if even one link was missing, he would have been finished! Why did all the reinforcements appear precisely on time? Why did every step of our plan seem to be calculated to hit his strongest point?! How could he know the future?! If it wasn’t you tipping him off, could he really be a fortune-teller?!”
Yang Di’s questioning went straight to the core—that “interlocking chain” that even Shen Mu himself, when replaying the events, felt lingering fear about and considered indispensable!
Zhang Bo was completely speechless.
Yes, why did those damned reinforcements appear exactly when they were most needed?
This was something he, as a Prophecy-type Mage, couldn’t explain at all!
It was like divine, precise intervention, completely beyond Zhang Bo’s comprehension!
He couldn’t explain it even with a hundred mouths!
This was Shen Mu’s highest secret, yet it was the final straw that completely crushed Zhang Bo!
He didn’t know about the Mount & Blade System, much less that it was the “targeted rewards” from the System that disrupted everything!
In the eyes of Yang Di and Zhang Song, in the face of the Deherim reinforcements appearing like divine soldiers from the sky, the only logical explanation was Zhang Bo’s betrayal!
His tipping off!
“I… I don’t know what trump card that Shen Mu… he has… He seems… seems to really have the ability to know the future…” Zhang Bo’s voice was tearful, filled with despair and collapse, but even he felt his words sounded ridiculously stupid.
“Know the future? Hahahahaha!”
Yang Di let out a burst of wild laughter, mixed with blood and tears: “Good, good, a Prophecy-type Mage who knows the future! So you not only prophesied that we had a ‘Great Plan,’ but also ‘prophesied’ that we would definitely fail, so you sold us out in advance to gain your new position in front of Shen Mu! Zhang Bo! I was truly blind!”
“It wasn’t me! It really wasn’t me who leaked it!” Zhang Bo desperately screamed. He knew any defense was utterly pale in the face of the destructive reality before him.
Just then, a sharp whooshing sound pierced the air!
Accompanied by the violent tearing of the tent!
“Pfft!”
A bodkin arrow shot through the tent’s curtain and directly embedded itself in the banquet table, sinking deep into the surface, with only its fletching still buzzing and trembling violently from the force of the shot.
“My lord! Lord! Those Deherim human cavalry are about to charge through! We can’t hold them off! We must retreat quickly!”
Outside, a Wood Elf Sword Dancer, covered in blood with several bodkin arrows still stuck in his body, waist, and back, rushed in, crying out mournfully, “We must retreat quickly!”
As the thud of the bodkin arrow embedding itself in the wooden table still echoed inside the tent, the Wood Elf Sword Dancer’s blood-soaked warning was like a splash of ice water. The anger in Yang Di’s eyes instantly transformed into a ruthless resolve. He grabbed the ashen-faced Zhang Bo and simultaneously roared to Zhang Song, “Seize them! Take them all! To the Sacred Treehouse!”
However, as Yang Di and Zhang Song, restraining Zhang Bo and attempting to control the terrified Sun Zhiru and the ten Deherim Negotiation Experts, rushed out of the large tent, a hellish scene instantly engulfed them.
Outside the tent, everything had already been turned upside down.
The entire Wood Elf Village had become a burning slaughterhouse.
The mournful sound of war horns still shrieked in the night sky, but even more piercing were the ceaseless clangs of blades and spears, the thundering neighs of warhorses, the dying screams of the wounded, and the crackling explosions of burning houses.
The once peaceful and serene village was now ablaze with towering flames and rolling thick smoke, illuminating countless twisted, fleeing figures and coldly swinging sharp blades.
The Swadia heavy cavalry cluster led by Lezalit was rampaging through the narrow village paths like a steel torrent.
Heavily armored warhorses, carrying unparalleled Shock force, their giant hooves covered with steel horseshoes, trampled over fragile wooden fences and muddy ground, crushing anyone who dared to block them—
Whether it was the easily overwhelmed Wood Elf elderly and weak, or hastily organized remnants of soldiers, they were sent flying and crushed like scarecrows!
The knights’ long lances extended like venomous dragons, each thrust bringing a spray of blood.
They formed a tight wedge formation, leaving behind only a path paved with flesh and blood and raging, burning ruins in their wake.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the village, the Kujit heavy horse archers commanded by Bestour were carrying out an even more brutal and efficient massacre.
They did not charge directly into the enemy lines but circled like vultures, expertly maneuvering and flanking at high speed among the burning houses, relying on their superb horsemanship.
Kujit scimitars cut bright silver arcs in the firelight, precisely reaping the lives of those fleeing, often decapitating them with a single strike.
Even more deadly were the arrows they shot like swarming locusts, which had astonishing penetrating power at close range, mercilessly piercing survivors hiding in corners or behind trees.
They moved around, setting fire to unburned thatched roofs with precision, causing the entire core of the village to be engulfed in flames.
Yang Di and Zhang Song understood instantly.
Negotiation Experts, prisoner plans—all became luxuries in the face of Deherim’s overwhelming offensive.
This scene before them was the cruel execution of Shen Mu’s equivalent retaliation!
Zhang Bo witnessed the bloody slaughter, his body went limp, and beyond his fear, an boundless sense of injustice and despair surged within him—Yang Di and Zhang Song’s accusations echoed in his ears, and he was utterly powerless to prove his innocence, nor did he know how Shen Mu had managed to launch this deadly attack, evading his prophetic senses.
The messenger Wood Elf Sword Dancer pointed into the distance, at an ancient, colossal tree that required dozens of people to encircle, its winding wooden structures faintly visible on its trunk. That was the soul of the village, the direction of the “Great Treehouse,” and their theoretical last stronghold.
“Hurry!”
The Sword Dancer screamed, swinging his blade again to deflect a flying arrow, but another feathered arrow grazed him, adding a new wound to his body.
“Go! To the Great Treehouse!”
Zhang Song violently pulled Yang Di, his gaze sweeping over Zhang Bo, Sun Zhiru, and the others, who were being held captive and looked deathly pale.
At this moment, they were not just prisoners but also burdens and hostages in the chaos.
In this hellish confusion, the goal of breaking through had been downgraded to, no matter what, first reaching that giant treehouse, using its terrain for a final desperate stand, or, praying for a miracle.
“I still have one last trump card!” Yang Di gritted his teeth, no longer looking at Zhang Bo’s face, which he detested.
Leading the few remaining loyal Wood Elf Sword Dancers, escorting the Deherim Negotiation Experts, they stumbled desperately through the burning village amidst a rain of arrows and towering flames, towards the only towering, hope-symbolizing ancient tree.
The destruction of the Wood Elf Village was happening now.
Green Leaf Group’s doomsday was mercilessly descending with the sound of war horns and iron hooves. (End of Chapter)
