Chapter 335: Inciting Conflict

“Insectoid tide?” Wu Qingsong was a bit surprised. He hadn’t heard anything about this from the desert bandits or their trade contacts.

“That’s right,” Red Moon nodded. “Since it happened in a mountainous region, the damage wasn’t as severe as in Esola, so it didn’t cause much of a stir. But from what we’ve gathered, a large number of insectoids surfaced this time. Instead of laying siege to towns, they spread out rapidly in all directions, making them difficult to deal with. More than half of the troops Marquis Osaga had stationed in Norwei have been deployed to handle this crisis, and even he has remained there personally.”

Ram let out a deep breath. For them, this was the best news possible.

Wu Qingsong, however, pulled out a map and had Red Moon point to the affected location. He felt a vague sense of unease, though he couldn’t pinpoint why.

The timing of this insect tide was simply too coincidental, almost as if it had been orchestrated specifically for them.

“Do you have any more details about this insectoid tide?” he asked. “Does anyone know where these insectoids came from or who they serve?”

Were they under the Crimson Demon Lord? Or the Flame Demon Lord? If it was the Crimson Demon Lord, was it planning another operation?

“Do you think anyone can actually understand the insectoids’ language?” Red Moon countered. “If people could communicate with those creatures, things wouldn’t be nearly as troublesome.”

“Were insect tides this frequent in the past?” Wu Qingsong asked the others.

The answer was a resounding no. Even Harold, the oldest among them, had rarely heard of insectoid tides occurring far from the Gate of Calamity in all his years of adventuring.

“Why are you so concerned about this?” Red Moon asked, puzzled.

Wu Qingsong shook his head. “It’s nothing, I just… never mind. Maybe it’s just a coincidence.”

“And what about Sentalus?” Red Moon’s information had put Ram in a much better mood, softening her attitude without her even realizing it. “Are they still locked in a standoff with the Yagata?”

“That’s actually what I was getting to,” Red Moon said. “We’ve put a lot of effort into keeping that conflict heated, but it’s been a long time since there was a large-scale battle or the death of any high-ranking officers. With the neutral faction and the royal court mediating, there are signs of a peace agreement being reached.”

“So that’s why you came?” Wu Qingsong finally understood.

“That’s right,” Red Moon confirmed. “We could certainly escalate things further, but with just our people, it would be difficult to intensify the conflict without exposing all the groundwork we’ve laid. That’s why we need your help, Lady Ram. And yours as well, Wu Qingsong.”

“Spring is about to arrive on the Ice Sea,” Ram said. “We have a lot of work to do.”

“We can provide you with a team of experienced prospectors, miners, and blacksmiths. If you need more, we can also supply stonemasons, carpenters, tanners, shipwrights, bricklayers, and other skilled craftsmen. In at most two months, we can safely transport them to Nagrand, just in time for summer. With these people, Nagrand’s development should accelerate quite a bit, don’t you think?”

That’s what she had been investigating these past few days.

Ram glanced at Wu Qingsong. This offer struck directly at their greatest weakness. Skilled craftsmen were nearly impossible to find in these lands, and they had no means of recruiting them on their own.

As Red Moon said, even if they only received one or two masters in each trade, it would be a huge leap forward for Nagrand. Even if some turned out to be spies, the knowledge they could extract from them would make the risk worthwhile.

Besides, keeping the internal conflicts among the elves alive was very much in their interest.

“When do we make our move?” Wu Qingsong asked.

“As soon as you agree,” Red Moon said. “With Ling’s help, it won’t take you long at all. Isn’t that wonderful?”

***

Nagrand was fifteen hundred li from Mesthebes, but Ling was now capable of crafting a flying machine that could carry four people without requiring additional components. For her, the journey was only four hours.

Red Moon had seen Wu Qingsong’s early designs back on Gale Island, giving her a deeper understanding of the potential of this technology. As one of the leaders of a quasi-criminal organization, she naturally envisioned many ways Ling’s abilities could benefit illicit activities.

Her only regret was that they had no chance of taking Ling away from Wu Qingsong.

They followed the mountain ranges and hills along the northern edge of the Batiz Desert, then used the Saint Fayel Mountains to the east as a landmark. Soon, they reached their destination—the stretch of Gobi Desert under Sentalus military control, though legally still part of Mesthebes’ territory.

Wu Qingsong had considered searching for the skeletal army he had buried beneath the dunes, but after more than a year, the landscape had shifted significantly. The wind-sculpted terrain and endless dunes all looked the same now—there was no way to locate the original hiding spot.

Dark Moon’s plan was simple. They quickly found a Sentalus patrol, which Wu Qingsong eliminated. Then, using his necromantic abilities, he raised them as undead and sent them deep into contested territory, where they ambushed a Yagata supply camp.

After killing some of the guards, they set fire to most of the supply stockpiles and ensured that the surviving Yagata soldiers witnessed Ram’s illusion of a Saintars frontline commander leading the attack.

Then, they repeated the process. After eliminating a Yagata patrol, they had the undead soldiers attack a Sentalus logistics convoy, once again leaving enough witnesses to confirm the identity of their attackers.

Before either side could properly respond, these two highly effective strike teams continued their relentless assaults on the weakest points of both battle lines, based on Dark Moon’s prior reconnaissance.

Each time, Ram’s illusions depicted enemy commanders personally leading the assaults, ensuring that any survivors were convinced of what they saw.

Finally, at a point dangerously close to the standoff lines, the two undead teams “accidentally” crossed paths and engaged in a brutal battle. Both groups sent runners back to their respective camps for reinforcements.

The field commanders, already overwhelmed by a series of attacks, misjudged the situation and dispatched troops to rescue their own men. But instead, they found themselves locked in a fierce battle with the other side, escalating the conflict even further.

As they struggled to extract their soldiers from the chaotic skirmish, both sides were forced to commit more troops. In the end, the battle erupted into a full-scale engagement, entirely unauthorized by their superiors.

By the end of the day-long bloodbath, both sides had lost hundreds of regular troops.

When they finally tried to investigate the cause of the conflict, they discovered—much to their regret—that the original patrol squads, the ones who had fought most valiantly and triggered the entire battle, had all perished in action.