31: Winning hearts and minds is paramount; a righteous and benevolent army earns a good reputation (Part 2)

Grak struck out in fury, channeling the leyline magma to form a Molten Lava Torrent dozens of meters wide. The scorching heat distorted the air like a roaring fire dragon as it lunged straight at the coalition positions! This was no longer a power that an ordinary army could withstand!

"All troops retreat! Maintain formation!" Elwin remained calm in the face of danger and immediately gave the order. The coalition was well-prepared and retreated quickly, avoiding the main impact of the lava flow. However, the blistering heat still caused the front-line warriors to break out in sweat and their skin to burn with pain.

"Hahaha! Do you see that? This is the power of the Clan Chief! You traitors and invaders have only one path: death!" Seeing this, the officers on the city walls became arrogant again, commanding the defenders to fire even more vigorously.

However, Elwin's strategy of attacking the heart was not without effect.

Just as the Molten Lava Torrent raged and the defenders' morale seemed to recover, a mutation occurred!

On a section of the wall at the side of Furnace Fortress, a small-scale riot suddenly broke out! Dozens of Gray Dwarf soldiers, seemingly unwilling to fire at the retreating coalition, clashed with the supervising officers!

"Why are we still fighting? What they said makes sense!"

"Grak only cares about himself; when has he ever cared about our lives?"

"Open the gates and welcome the coalition!"

In the chaos, some officers were even pushed off the walls by angry soldiers! Although the riot was quickly suppressed by the loyalist troops near Grak, that brief chaos and the shouts echoing across the battlefield were like a loud slap across the faces of Grak and all the hardline defenders!

The art of attacking the heart had taken effect! The army's morale was already wavering!

"Bastards! A bunch of ungrateful white-eyed wolves!" Grak let out an increasingly furious roar from the spire. He could feel his control over the army declining. This made him feel more anger and... a hint of unease than the threat of the coalition outside the city.

Lin Zhou hovered in the air, calmly observing everything. He knew the first step of attacking the heart had succeeded, tearing a hole in the enemy's internal unity. But Grak's individual martial power was still a massive threat that had to be dealt with.

"Elwin," Lin Zhou's Divine Thought transmitted, "Grak's power originates from the Furnace Fortress leylines. Though his momentum is fierce, it must have a limit and is difficult to sustain. Avoid his edge and exhaust his spirit. Meanwhile, order the Underground Gnomes to intensify their actions, find his energy core, and pull the rug out from under him!"

"As you command, my god!"

Elwin immediately adjusted her tactics. "All troops disperse! Using squads as units, engage in mobile attacks to harass the enemy and avoid frontal collisions with the lava and the enemy's main force! Catapults, aim at the weak points of the walls and energy nodes, attack intermittently to distract their attention!"

The coalition broke into smaller groups, acting like a flexible pack of wolves as they began harassment operations around Furnace Fortress. Cold arrows from the Elves shot from unexpected angles from time to time, taking the lives of defenders on the walls. Dwarves and Blackrock Clan Warriors relied on the terrain to block small groups of enemies trying to leave the city to drive them away. The Siege Towers were temporarily pulled back to a safe area.

This tactic greatly reduced the effectiveness of Grak's large-scale attack methods like the Molten Lava Torrent, making it feel like punching cotton with nowhere to land his strength. And every time he mobilized his power, he could feel the intense consumption of leyline energy.

Meanwhile, underground, the Deep Tunnel Stalkers and Gnome Engineers led by Glick accelerated their actions, taking advantage of the chaos on the frontal battlefield and Grak being distracted. They dug toward the depths of Furnace Fortress along the previously destroyed geothermal pipe nodes, attempting to find the core furnace that provided energy for Grak and the entire castle.

The battlefield fell into a strange stalemate. The coalition no longer launched strong attacks but instead constantly harassed, divided, and exhausted the enemy. The Furnace Fortress defenders huddled inside the city, relying on the walls and Grak's intermittent outbursts for defense, but internal conflicts and panic continued to spread.

What annoyed Grak even more was that under Elwin's command, the coalition began to consciously "perform."

When Gray Dwarf soldiers were wounded and fell from the walls, as long as they didn't die immediately, the coalition's Law Fishmen would brave the arrows to quickly drag them back to their positions, where Lightforged Gnomes would perform emergency treatment. Although the methods were simple, the gesture of providing aid even to an "enemy" formed a sharp contrast with the harsh hierarchy and indifference toward wounded soldiers inside Furnace Fortress.

When the coalition retreated, they would intentionally or unintentionally "leave behind" some food and clean drinking water on the battlefield. For the Furnace Fortress defenders, whose resources were starting to get tight, these things were undoubtedly a huge temptation. Although officers strictly forbade picking them up, in the dead of night, there were always people who took the risk.

Elwin even had the Elf Scribe use arrows to fire parchment into the city, inscribed with slogans like "Abandon the darkness for the light, share in peace and prosperity" and "Kill the tyrant and be a hero."

These seemingly small actions were constantly eroding the will of the Furnace Fortress defenders, subtly changing their perception of the coalition. They began to feel that this group outside the city was indeed different from the legendary "invaders"... they seemed to be... more "reasonable," more humane?

The reputation of an "Army of Benevolence and Righteousness" began to spread quietly like an undercurrent within Furnace Fortress.

After a few days (Divine Domain time), the morale of the Furnace Fortress defenders dropped at a visible rate. The desire to strike out grew lower and lower, and more and more loopholes appeared in the defenses on the walls. Even some middle-ranking officers began to slack off, their eyes darting about.

Grak flew into a rage in the spire but was helpless. He couldn't personally go out to hunt down every straggler, as that would only exhaust his power faster. He felt like a trapped beast in a cage, possessing power but being bound tighter and tighter by invisible ropes.

And just then, the Underground Gnome Glick finally sent back crucial news!

"Found it! We've found the Secondary Energy Pipe for the core furnace! It's deep underground on the east side of the castle! The defense there is relatively weak; there's a chance to destroy it!"

At the same time, the Elf Ranger who had been responsible for monitoring the periphery of the battlefield also brought a new piece of intelligence:

"Report! A small team has been spotted approaching from the southwest. Judging by their banners and energy fluctuations... they seem to be... Followers of the Moon God Divine Domain? They appear to be observing us."

Moon God Divine Domain? Su Yueyao?

Lin Zhou's heart stirred. She had indeed been drawn here by the commotion.

The situation seemed to have become more complex, and... more interesting.

The strategy of attacking the heart had shown results. The conditions for internal disintegration and external surprise attack were gradually maturing. And the appearance of a potential, special-status "observer" might bring new variables to this war of conquest.