Chapter 304 164: Night Raid on the Vanguard

BLAAARE—

The massive Beast Horn Trumpet sounded. A vast and mighty army stretched as far as the eye could see. With every step, dust billowed into the air, forming a roiling cloud that blotted out the sky.

The army, composed of the Three Races—Goblins, Lizardmen, and the Headhunter Race—marched forward. Shouts, curses, and the sound of war drums filled the air.

In this corner of the Wasteland, it had been many years since such a large-scale troop movement had occurred. Almost all the Tribes had forgotten the terror of a major battle.

The reason the cancerous tumor races were called such was not just because of their tyrannical ways, but also because of their terrifying numbers and combat strength, which kept others from daring to fight back.

At the top of a hill, the Alliance Army's commanders gathered, all looking smug. Their plan had succeeded.

"Hahaha... The main Undead force really did come back."

"Yeah, and here I thought they were supposed to be so tough."

"No matter how tough they are, they can't just abandon their own nest."

"If we'd known, we wouldn't have bothered searching for them. We could've just attacked directly."

Gazing at the Alliance Army below, they were filled with self-satisfaction. They felt as if the battle was already won, that even the Undead feared an army of such terrifying numbers.

If they weren't afraid, why would they have left?

If they hadn't decided to attack the Undead lair, they probably would have hidden for the rest of their lives. What was this about terrifying, legendary Undead? In front of an Alliance Army of hundreds of thousands, they were nothing but a joke, easily wiped out with a wave of a hand.

They even felt they had overreacted. If they had known the Undead were such cowards, they shouldn't have sent so many elites.

The Alliance Army assembled by the Three Races this time was composed entirely of elites drawn from the Gegge Tribe. They were all top fighters; you could say they had gone all out.

Forget the Undead; they'd even dare to take on the races from the Central Zone. The immense Power of the Alliance Army gave them boundless confidence.

Atop the highest peak in the Wraith Mountain Range, high in the branches of a tree.

"Whoa, that's quite a sight." Li Ziyu held onto the tree trunk, gazing at the distant land. A cloud of dust was rising over there as a dark mass of an army moved slowly.

"Wow, it reminds me of Lord of the Rings," Liu Xingxing exclaimed, his eyes full of excitement as he shielded them with his hand.

"The actors in Lord of the Rings weren't this numerous. This is an army of hundreds of thousands. Looks like they'll be here in a day or two. How are we going to fight them?" Zhang Peng said casually, squatting on a branch and smoking a cigarette.

During this time, he and Liu Xingxing had gone out from time to time, taking out a number of scouts. They also periodically provoked and harassed the enemy's Vanguard Army. Although they never engaged in a full-blown battle with the Vanguard Army, they had definitely slowed its advance.

Now the enemy's main force had arrived, making no attempt to conceal themselves. They were just marching over in a vast, imposing wave. It looked like they planned to charge straight for the Wraith Mountain Range and force a decisive battle.

"We move tonight. First, we'll take out their Vanguard Army," Li Ziyu said, his gaze pulling back. "As the art of war says, 'He who strikes first, wins. He who strikes second, suffers.'" Closer to the Wraith Mountain Range was an encampment—the Vanguard Army of the Cancerous Tumor Corps, nearly thirty thousand strong.

"Which art of war manual says that?" Liu Xingxing asked, scratching his head in confusion. 'If you said it was an old saying, that'd be fine, but claiming it's from a military classic is a bit of a stretch.'

"...Sun Tzu?" Li Ziyu said after a moment of silence.

"Which Sun Tzu?" Liu Xingxing pressed, refusing to let it go.

"It's from *A Brief Analysis of the Art of Team Management*," Zhang Peng said quietly from the side.

"'That book is a military classic? It doesn't sound like a military classic at all! It's not even an old book! You can tell from the title it's a modern work.' Liu Xingxing felt that Zhang Peng was messing with him. 'What gives? I was asking with an open mind!'

"How is it not an old book? You've read it," Zhang Peng said calmly, turning to glance at Liu Xingxing.

"Nonsense! I've never read a book like that," Liu Xingxing immediately retorted. He wasn't a management student, so how could he possibly have read *A Brief Analysis of the Art of Team Management*?

"You've never seen *Journey to the West*?" Zhang Peng said with a sly grin.

Liu Xingxing went still.

J-Journey to the West?

'He really had seen it. Not the original book, but he'd watched the '86 TV series several times. But what did *Journey to the West* have to do with *A Brief Analysis of the Art of Team Management*... Uh, actually, it kind of made perfect fucking sense.'

"Even if it is *Journey to the West*, that's still not a military classic!" Liu Xingxing suddenly realized and said to Zhang Peng.

"Xingxing, look down there. Is it high up?" Zhang Peng pointed below them.

The tree they were in was ancient, and the height was definitely enough to kill a person if they fell.

"Yeah, it's high," Liu Xingxing replied, glancing down.

"If you ask any more questions, I'm afraid the boss is going to throw a little brat like you off this tree. You'll 'die before your mission is accomplished'," Zhang Peng said sinisterly.

Uh...

Liu Xingxing shut his mouth. He secretly glanced at Li Ziyu, only to see him staring intently into the distance, and breathed a sigh of relief.

'He finally realized his mistake. It didn't matter whether a military classic actually contained that phrase. What mattered was that Li Ziyu had said it.'

...

「Nightfall.」

The sky sank into Darkness. The stars were gone; it was a dark and windy night.

The Vanguard Army Camp of the Cancerous Tumor Alliance Army was located about five kilometers from the Undead Fortress. Nearly fifty thousand Warriors occupied a large area. Tents of all kinds were scattered about haphazardly, brightly lit by torches, and the sounds of shouting and yelling echoed from within.

Goblins in Armor gathered around bonfires, eating dinner with their Weapons tossed beside them. They roughhoused while they ate, laughing loudly. Every so often, a goblin would suddenly turn hostile and start brawling with those around them, while the other goblins had no intention of breaking up the fight. Instead, they cheered them on, looking as if they feared nothing more than peace and quiet.