Bab 192: The Situation at Skylark Camp
"Finally, we're here!" Shortly after returning from the Xenia family villa, Jake entered the gaming world. After several days of arduous travel in the game world, the town of Pergamon was finally in sight.
Compared to when he had left, the Pergamon town now had an air of tension. The soldiers at the city gate seemed more serious than when Jake had first arrived.
Has something happened? Jake entered the city with a sense of doubt, accompanied by his team members. In the city, the training ground where Jake and his team had gathered before had many more tents than before. However, compared to before, there seemed to be fewer tents, especially in the camps of other brigades; the number of tents had noticeably decreased.
It's really gone bad! If there were any doubts before, Jake could now almost confirm that Pergamon town, or Skylark Camp, had indeed encountered a crisis.
"Where is Captain Eli?" Jake asked a Skylark Camp soldier with a somewhat downcast look.
This soldier belonged to the Third Brigade and recognized Jake. He seemed a bit excited to see Jake: "Captain Eli is in the tent up ahead, recovering."
"Recovering?" Jake was momentarily stunned, then instructed Brenton and the others to set up camp before heading towards Eli's tent.
Inside the tent, Jake saw Eli, whom he hadn't seen for several days. However, compared to when they had last parted, Eli's complexion was slightly pale, and he seemed a bit weak, with bandages wrapped around his arm.
"Captain Eli, what happened to you?" Jake hurriedly asked as he approached.
"Jake, you're back? That's great!" Eli's face lit up when he saw Jake, and his once pale complexion had a hint of color now.
"I got injured a bit," Eli said eagerly after letting Jake in. "How was your journey? Why did it take so long for you to return?"
Compared to some other places, Pergamon town was relatively close to the wilderness plains. In remote areas, supply convoys might take over a month or even longer to reach the wilderness plains, but Jake's team had only taken a few days.
"When we evacuated from the wilderness plains, we got separated from the main force and lost our way. We took a detour before returning," Jake explained. "On the way, we encountered pursuers from the demon realm, and some of our team members got injured."
"You encountered pursuers from the demon realm too?" Eli asked in shock.
"Yes," Jake replied, glancing at Eli's injuries. He then asked, "Captain, did your team also encounter pursuers from the demon realm?"
"Uh-huh," Eli nodded, his face showing a lingering sense of fear. "After evacuating from the wilderness plains, we were initially ahead of the others. However, because most of our team members couldn't ride horses and couldn't even control wagons, we were caught by the demon realm pursuers halfway. Fortunately, at that time, we had some regular troops who had come down from the wilderness plains to assist us and block some of the attacks. But even so, Skylark Camp suffered heavy losses. The Third Brigade fared a little better, with one-fifth casualties, but the situation is much worse for the other brigades. Some brigades even have half of their members death."
After listening to Eli's words, Jake also understood what had happened. Jake was aware of the strength of the people from the demon realm; his team had experienced it before, and they were indeed extremely ruthless. Jake could fully imagine the disastrous consequences when a ragtag army like Skylark Camp encountered such ruthless demon realm forces. If it weren't for some regular troops accompanying them, it's likely that Skylark Camp would have been completely wiped out, which was not an impossible scenario.
Compared to other brigades, the Third Brigade might not have had significantly greater combat strength, but their discipline was much higher. This was why the Third Brigade suffered the lowest casualties. However, even with that, losing one-fifth of their members was a significant blow.
No wonder Jake had noticed a significant decrease in the number of tents at the camps of various brigades. Now he understood why.
Thinking back to their initial arrival in Pergamon town, it had been so cheerful. Servicemen from various brigades had gathered together, laughing and having a great time. However, it was now a scene of misery. With these thoughts in mind, Jake couldn't help but feel a sense of sorrow.
"What about General Hank's army? What's the situation in the wilderness plains?" Jake asked.
"General Hank's army also suffered heavy losses. You could say that this time, General Hank's forces were betrayed by the other three countries. Those three countries not only didn't attack as agreed with General Hank but also provided information to the demon realm. They even willingly vacated positions to allow the demon realm's army to set up an ambush, resulting in General Hank's disastrous defeat," Eli said with anger in his voice.
It could be said that if it weren't for the betrayal of those three countries, General Hank's army wouldn't have suffered such a defeat, and Skylark Camp wouldn't have been affected either. The significant damage Skylark Camp had suffered was closely tied to the betrayal of those three countries.
"However, those three countries also suffered backlash from the demon realm's forces," Eli continued. "After defeating our country's army, the demon realm's army didn't stop there. They took advantage of the situation to launch surprise attacks on the armies of the other three countries near the city. Those three countries' armies didn't expect that while they were watching our commotion, the demon realm's army would divide their forces and attack them. They were caught off guard and also suffered heavy losses. After this battle, all four major human realms suffered heavy casualties. The demon realm forces, after this victory, have firmly established their presence in the human realm. Many more demon realm beings are expected to come, and it will be very difficult to drive them away. It won't be something that can be achieved in a short time."
As Eli spoke, his face was filled with deep concern. Jake and his team had experienced the brutality of the demon realm forces before, and they knew that dealing with them would be tougher than dealing with the four human realms combined. If the demon realm forces solidified their foothold in the human realm, it would be a significant threat to all the human countries.
"So, will the court send armies to attack the demon realm forces? Do we need to continue transporting food there?" Jake asked.
This was what Jake was most concerned about. He had little interest in military service, especially after learning how ruthless the demon realm forces were. He'd rather focus on farming and making money.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone