The collapse of the Green Leaf Group side actually did not attract Lord Shen Mu's attention; his current attention was entirely focused on the east side of the city wall.
The battle was still ongoing.
But the number of Mount & Blade Soldiers who had arrived at the east side of the city wall was already quite large.
Therefore, no matter how many Skeletons rushed up the ramp outside the city wall, trying to compete with him for control of the east city wall, they still did not succeed.
The Holy Tree Knights, Swadian Sergeants, and Swadian Infantry stationed here, along with the Lake Rat Gang Destroyers, plus the assistance of the Holy Tree Spearmen, Holy Tree Swordsmen, and Swadian Light Infantry, had already firmly controlled the east city wall.
No matter how the Undead Legion composed of Skeletons outside attacked the city wall, they still could not step onto the city wall even a single step.
Moreover, just at this moment, the Skeleton archers outside seemed to have exhausted their rotten arrows.
The dense rain of arrows had disappeared.
This also indicated that the Skeleton Legion of the Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty had reached a bottleneck.
"Things are looking a bit bad." Lord Shen Mu, standing on the third-floor balcony and looking at the stalemate on the east city wall, furrowed his brows even tighter.
He had been waiting for the attack of the Skeleton Legion's Commander Vanguard from the eighth stage, but up until now, the Undead Legions were still continuously attacking, but it was just thunder without rain.
The Vanguard Commander of the Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty, whom Lord Shen Mu was secretly wary of, he had not yet seen.
This was the situation Lord Shen Mu was most worried about right now.
The opponent was like a venomous snake, hidden in the dark, observing him, and would only strike once a fatal weakness was found. If no fatal opportunity was found, the opponent would remain hidden in the darkness, lurking and staring covetously at him.
This was the most troublesome opponent.
"Lord Shen Mu, Mr. James has arrived and wishes to request a meeting with you." At this moment, behind Lord Shen Mu, a Holy Tree Knight quickly walked over, acting as a messenger to report to him.
"Then let him come up." Lord Shen Mu nodded, agreeing to the meeting.
"Lord, everything is very normal. The enemies who were inside the Holy White Council's Holy Light Torch Tower library have all left here through the portal they opened."
James walked over from the spiral staircase and came to the balcony. He first bowed respectfully to Lord Shen Mu before beginning his report: "However, before leaving, those Wood Elves did not kill the 20 EttinGard Believers we left in the library. This is indeed somewhat unexpected; they were actually quite merciful."
"Merciful." Lord Shen Mu merely showed a mocking smile, noncommittal to the word. His peripheral vision glanced at Zhang Bo, who was still facing away from him and looking down. His tone was very flat: "It seems our former verbal ally realized they truly had no way to contend with our Deherim, so in their helplessness, they left room for peace talks."
After all, Lord Shen Mu had experienced a lot, including interpersonal communication, business negotiations, and this kind of trailing blank space; he understood the opponent's intentions very well.
This was a signal the opponent left, indicating a desire for peace talks.
It could also be said to be a signal of surrender.
If the opponent wanted to completely break ties, then killing these EttinGard Believers would have left a deep impression on Lord Shen Mu.
After all, although Lord Shen Mu knew that a sneak attack might happen, he truly didn't expect those Wood Elves from the Green Leaf Group would actually come directly into his Castle District through a portal and launch a direct assault, and the place they occupied was the Holy White Council's Holy Light Torch Tower, a magical building quite important to him.
However, Lord Shen Mu did feel good, the reason being that those guys from the Green Leaf Group did not kill all of his 20 EttinGard Believers.
After all, the extraordinary power he relied on was only these 20 Devotees from Eden Garde.
If these Devotees were killed, Lord Shen Mu would definitely be quite furious. These were the mage units he had painstakingly acquired with great difficulty. Among the mount & blade units of Deherim, which now numbered seven to eight thousand, only these 20 guys were spellcasters.
Just because of a negligence and a battle, all these 20 EttinGard Believers were killed.
Then Lord Shen Mu would truly be enraged.
"Forget it, let's not think about this. Since the other party left me a relatively good impression, I don't mind giving them a chance for peace talks." Lord Shen Mu said to James calmly, with a smile on his lips: "Go down and check on those EttinGard Believers, see if they are injured or if they are emotionally unstable due to excessive fear. Go and comfort them."
"There are no issues. I came back after comforting them." James smiled, as he had already moved to the city wall's tower when the battle began.
The original reason was that as a General, he was also responsible for the defense of the district's city walls, going there to supervise and check for any hidden dangers.
After confirming there were no problems, just as he was about to return to the library in the Torch Tower, the portal had already opened.
The Wood Elf Sword Dancers inside rushed out.
They began attacking the city wall towers and the main castle building, which was quite sudden and swift, scaring James a little.
Fortunately, the troops Lord Shen Mu summoned directly appeared in the main castle building and in these city walls and towers, firmly defending the stairs leading up and the spiral staircases in the towers, making it impossible for those Wood Elf Sword Dancers to break through their defense.
They could only be forced to attack the main castle building.
And then, in the open inner and outer courtyards, they became moving targets for the archers and Crossbowmen on the city walls and towers.
Just like now, they left behind bodies all over the ground.
All were filled with feathered arrows and crossbow bolts.
It was a mess.
It was like a overgrown death prairie.
"Those Wood Elves really suffered heavy losses. Lord Shen Mu, your arrangements were excellent; you are truly too wise." James sincerely said at this moment, praising Lord Shen Mu's arrangements.
"I just vaguely felt a warning from the unseen, saying that an enemy was launching an attack on my Deherim." Of course, Lord Shen Mu couldn't reveal the real reason at this moment, especially since Zhang Bo was still here. He just casually said: "Then I deployed some troops, I just didn't expect that the ones who came to attack me would be our allies, the Wood Elves of the Green Leaf Group."
As he spoke, Lord Shen Mu's voice also carried some regret: "I originally wanted to get along well with them, I really didn't expect them to attack me first."
"Ah, it's truly a pity, but there are no eternal friends, no eternal friends, only eternal interests. Perhaps those Wood Elves from the Green Leaf Group attacked us because of a conflict of interest." After all, James was also a General from Calradia. Although he specialized in medicine and theology, he also understood political struggles.
After all, the dirty dealings between nobles and between countries on Calradia were simply commonplace.
There was nothing noble or ignoble.
Betrayal was originally a quite popular word; as long as the benefits offered by the other party were large enough, even a marshal under the king could betray and go to another country.
Of course, it was not common for someone like King Harlaus of Swadia to be quite stingy with his nobles and Lords, to the extent that those nobles had secretly linked up to resist King Harlaus's rule and orders, and had effectively started to sideline the King's own rule of the Swadian Kingdom.
"After this battle ends, I will send an envoy to the Green Leaf Group to have a good talk with them and ask what they mean." Lord Shen Mu snorted coldly: "It's only because my soldiers didn't suffer significant casualties, and the other side also suffered heavy losses. If my side had truly suffered heavy losses, then I absolutely would not let those guys from the Green Leaf Group off the hook and would not give them a chance for peace talks."
"Lord, are you still going to have peace talks with them?" James was slightly stunned at this moment. He didn't understand why Lord Shen Mu would say such a thing. After all, considering the heavy losses of the Green Leaf Group's Wood Elf Village, it meant their military strength was depleted, and they could no longer contend with Deherim.
Now, as long as troops were sent to attack, the Green Leaf Group would definitely be annihilated directly.
In that case, why bother sending an envoy for negotiations?
And peace talks at that.
James really didn't understand.
"Alright, James, I'm not a person who likes war. After all, the Blue Star World is so big, and Long City is also so big, why must we have such a big conflict with the Wood Elves?"
Lord Shen Mu slowly spoke at this moment, as if refuting James's impression of him: "It's easier to resolve enmity than to form it. Furthermore, the Green Leaf Group has a powerful Wood Elf Plane behind it; it is a very powerful force. We cannot just look at the present and not the future."
As he spoke, Lord Shen Mu also glanced out of the corner of his eye at Zhang Bo, who was still facing away from them, had stopped crying, and seemed to be secretly listening to their conversation.
Lord Shen Mu was also saying it deliberately for him to hear.
"You are merciful, Respected Lord Shen Mu." James saw Lord Shen Mu's gaze at this moment, understood, and lowered his head, placing his hand on his chest and bowing respectfully, appearing quite admiring of Lord Shen Mu.
"Alright, there's nothing for you here, James. Go and arrange the work at the Holy White Council's Holy Light Torch Tower." Lord Shen Mu waved his hand and said: "Also, arrange for people to clean up the battlefield. I'll leave this task to you."
"Understood." James responded, again bowed with his hand on his chest, and then left the third-floor balcony.
And after James left.
Lord Shen Mu seemed to have discovered something and looked at Zhang Bo, who was still in the corner of the balcony, reaching out and peering through the gap in the railing, and said with a questioning tone: "Mr. Zhang Bo, you seem to still be in a very bad state. Is it because this is your first time experiencing such a fierce battle, and you haven't recovered yet?"
This was, of course, an excuse from Lord Shen Mu, an excuse he personally gave to Zhang Bo.
"No, no, Lord Shen Mu, I've pretty much recovered now." Zhang Bo, however, vigorously wiped the tears and snot from his face with his sleeve and showed a smile, sincerely saying to Lord Shen Mu with emotion: "Although this is the first time I've seen such a fierce battle, I can still feel that everything is getting better."
"Everything is getting better?"
Lord Shen Mu feigned confusion and furrowed his brows, as if he didn't understand what Zhang Bo meant. He said with a slightly complex tone: "Up until now, I'm still facing the attacks of those Undead Legions, and I've also had acts of war with my verbal ally, the Green Leaf Group. The other party shamefully attacked without warning and launched a sneak attack on me. Can you still say everything is getting better now?"
"Yes, yes, I feel it. Everything is getting better. I don't know why, but when I heard you say you wanted to have peace talks with the Wood Elf Village, which is the Green Leaf Group, I suddenly felt a lot of relaxed emotion in my heart."
Zhang Bo said with a smile on his face at this moment, sincerely: "You know, I am a Divination mage. If I sense a future prediction where everything is getting better, then my emotions will also become very relaxed."
"So you mean if I have peace talks with the Green Leaf Group," Lord Shen Mu said thoughtfully, "something good will happen?"
"Exactly, exactly, that's how I feel." Zhang Bo nodded repeatedly at this moment.
And in his heart, Zhang Bo also breathed a sigh of relief. When he discovered Lord Shen Mu had the intention for peace talks, he wanted to use this intention to prevent Deherim from directly annihilating the Green Leaf Group, completely destroying the Green Leaf Group just like the Diesel Company was destroyed.
So Zhang Bo planned to seize this opportunity.
In this way, as long as he could leave a seed of hope for the Green Leaf Group, it would be an opportunity for him to atone for his mistakes.
This crushing defeat did indeed severely damage the Green Leaf Group, but thinking about it, it's understandable that even without launching this sneak attack, once Deherim became strong, their Green Leaf Group and their Wood Elf Village would also be quite awkward, and war would definitely happen then too.
It would be better to take this opportunity to take a gamble, a gamble to turn a bicycle into a motorcycle.
Of course.
Now the gamble had failed.
So, accept reality, quickly shake off the shadow of failure, and allow the Green Leaf Group to barely survive.
This was the only thing Zhang Bo could do.
'Boom!'
But just as the two were still talking, a loud noise suddenly came from the east city wall.
It directly interrupted their conversation.
At this moment, Lord Shen Mu directly turned his head to look over there, his pupils slightly contracted, and his face suddenly became solemn.
"He's here!" he murmured.
Because just outside the east city wall, within the black mist that had suddenly thickened, a massive giant Skeleton frame appeared there.
It was obvious.
The Vanguard Commander of the Black Arrow Tower Seventh Dynasty from the eighth stage.
Had appeared!
The objective of the eighth stage mission had also finally arrived at Deherim's city wall at this moment.
And began attacking the city wall! (End of this chapter)
