"Your Royal Highness, shall we engage the enemy troops?" Adrian swiftly asked for Zain's instructions.
"All right. Give my order to everyone. We are going to make our stand here. Follow me and kill them
without mercy!" Zain knew that an all-out battle between the two armies was unavoidable. Since he
was confident that his army obviously had the advantage, he deemed that it was the right time to do it.
They had finally come across each other, so Zain grabbed the opportunity to defeat Enoch once and for
all.
Immediately after, Zain, together with three premium-stage Spiritual Emperors, took the lead and
charged towards Enoch's army.
Enoch, however, was not alarmed at all. Although they were at a disadvantage in number, he was
aware that tens of thousands of soldiers in Zain's army were still struggling because of the poison.
Furthermore, he also knew that the royal army had been lacking water for quite a few days now. At this
point, most of the soldiers were already in the brink of dehydration, which would naturally render them
vulnerable. Even though they managed to get a new supply of drinking water, it was still impossible for
them to completely recover in such a short period. On the other hand, Enoch's army managed to rest
well these past few days, so their bodies were in the best condition to fight. With all of these
considerations, Enoch was convinced that they could overcome the royal army despite the evident
disadvantage in number of soldiers.
"Everyone, prepare yourselves! This is going to be a fierce fight. Don't lose focus!" Enoch warned
loudly as soon as he saw Zain's army charging at them.
Finally, the two armies clashed. All sorts of shouts and screams resounded in the field, making the
battle more intense.
Meanwhile, three figures appeared out of thin air on a high ground near the exit of the Red River Valley.
These people were none other than Rocky, Gilbert, and Vivian.
Of course, they couldn't miss such an important battle between the royal army and Enoch's army. If
Enoch won this battle, Rocky's plan would be a complete success, and it would allow him to proceed
and make his next move. However, if Zain somehow prevailed, Rocky's plans and efforts would end in
vain.
In short, Rocky couldn't afford Enoch's defeat in this battle.
"Odin, based on what you can see, will Enoch be able to outdo Zain?" Gilbert asked with a straight
face.
"Well, he has to. Otherwise, things will really go bad. Besides, all our efforts these past few days would
be in vain!" Rocky exclaimed, letting out a sigh afterward.
"But there is still a possibility that Enoch is defeated. What will happen if he lost?" Vivian butted in with
an anxious tone.
"Well, I'm afraid we'll have to run away from here as soon as possible," Rocky replied with a wry smile.
However, he fully believed that the probability of Enoch losing was pretty slim. Of course, it was
because he still had another plan in motion.
"By the way, didn't you say that you put poison in the water of the royal army? Why hasn't it worked
yet?" Vivian asked with furrowed brows.
"That's how it should work. After all, if the effect is seen too soon, it will definitely arouse Prince Zain's
suspicion. Moreover, the battle has just begun. As the battle goes on, they will eventually consume
water and food faster and faster. Since the poison will take effect much later, the result will become
even better." Rocky just smiled, pretty confident that everything would work according to his plan.
"Then, I guess we can only wait and see," Vivian finally said.
Eventually, a day passed.
Because of the royal army's advantage in terms of military force, Enoch's army was at an apparent
disadvantage throughout the battle. Nonetheless, since Enoch was an expert in war tactics, he still
managed to hold the royal army to a draw.
On the second day of the battle, it appeared that the royal army still maintained their lead, putting
Enoch's army in a predicament.
However, the day unexpectedly turned out to be very hot. After noontime, the soldiers of the royal army,
who had fought for the whole morning, could only yearn to drink lots of water to replenish their strength.
Weirdly enough, they somehow noticed that no matter how much they drank, their thirst wasn't
quenched. In fact, it just worsened.
At first, no one really paid attention to it since they did not have the time to focus on such things while
they were in the middle of an intense battle.
Unfortunately, the soldiers eventually felt that the thirst was becoming more terrible to the point that
they couldn't concentrate on fighting at all.
Little by little, the royal army began to lose their upper hand in the battle. Meanwhile, Enoch's army
showed no signs of fatigue since they had access to a good amount of rest, water, and food before the
battle. As a result, the situation started to turn around.
At the end of the day, the royal army had a very tough time dealing with Enoch's army.
Right after the battle, all the commanders of the royal army were summoned to Zain's tent to report the
casualties in their respective troops. It was very evident that the result of the battle was disappointing
on their side.
"How did we lose so many soldiers? What the hell were you doing? Don't you know how to lead your
soldiers to war?" Zain flew into a rage after listening to the report of the commanders. After all, the
advantage of the royal army's military force was crystal clear. Thus, it was simply inconceivable that
they had suffered so many casualties in just a day.
However, the commanders couldn't utter a word since they also didn't know why things suddenly turned
out this way. They could just lower their heads in silence and accept Zain's wrath.
At this moment, a deputy commander suddenly rushed into the tent, panting profusely.
"Your Royal Highness! Grave news! There are so many soldiers surrounding the logistics camp!" the
deputy commander reported at once.
"The logistics camp? What are they doing there? What do they want?" Zain asked, revealing a puzzled
expression.
"Many of them feel terribly thirsty, so they went to the logistics camp asking for water. However, our
supply is limited. Based on the report of the person-in-charge, it will only be enough for another day.
That's why the logistics camp has to limit the amount of water given to our soldiers. As a consequence,
some soldiers surrounded the logistics camp. It seems they wanted to use force to get water," the
deputy commander explained.
Zain felt flurried when he heard this. He stood up and immediately called the commanders. "Let's go so
I can see for myself!"
Shortly after, he arrived at the logistics camp with Adrian and the other commanders.
Sure enough, several thousand soldiers had gathered around the tent. Many others still kept coming.
"Make way for His Royal Highness!" a premium-stage Spiritual Emperor shouted at the crowd.
The soldiers blocking the entrance promptly moved aside to let Zain, Adrian, and the other
commanders pass through.
"Who's in charge here?" Zain asked in a cold voice as soon as he got to the tent.
"That's me, Your Royal Highness. I'm in command here." A man squeezing out of the crowd spoke in
his most respectful voice.
"Can you explain to me what the hell is going on here?" Zain demanded sternly.
"Pardon me, Your Royal Highness, but I myself have no idea either. These soldiers are extremely
thirsty and have a desperate request for drinking water. The problem is that our water supply is only
enough for one more day. If we let them drink their fill, I'm afraid we'll run out of water this night!" It was
evident in his tone and expression that the man was already feeling helpless.
"Please help us, Your Royal Highness. We have been fighting on the battlefield all day and all we ask
right now is a decent amount of water to drink. I think I can speak for everyone here when I say it would
be difficult for us to return to battle in this state!" An elder soldier then walked up and voiced out his
complaint as well.
"What do you mean decent? The water supply is distributed properly on a daily basis. There should be
enough for all of you. Why do you keep demanding for more?" Zain sharply responded.
"Your Royal Highness, it's the truth! We're not sure if it's due to the bad weather, but we have also
noticed that the more we drank, the thirstier we felt. No amount of water could quench our thirst!"
another soldier replied.
"What did you just say?" Zain furrowed his brow. He couldn't wrap his mind around what he had been
hearing, so he hurriedly ordered, "Bring me a bowl of water!"
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