The Alpha's Regret: Return Of The Betrayed Luna

Chapter 314: Chapter 314 Their Own Psychological Warfare

This was the most information he had gathered so far, but how could he tell Addison any of it? He couldn’t trust anyone right now, not really, except for her and her mates.

That also meant he couldn’t risk sending his findings to her. If a mole got hold of the information, they could erase all their traces, making it far harder for Maxwell and the others to follow the remaining trails their enemies had left behind, and to understand their motives.

”Since you’re of no use, then just die,” Maxwell said, his voice icy. His nails elongated, sharp as blades, and he slit the rogue’s throat in one swift motion.

The rogue’s eyes widened in delayed terror as he stared into Maxwell’s cold, unflinching face before collapsing, blood gushing from the severed carotid artery.

Fresh blood spattered across Maxwell’s face, but he casually wiped it away with his sleeve.

Then he barked a command. ”Cut their heads off. Mount them on stakes around here. And throw the bodies outside, let their allies see what awaits anyone foolish enough to cross us.” Maxwell smirked slightly to himself; he knew this display would play on the minds of their enemies, and that fear would be a weapon of its own.

By placing the rogue’s head at his interrogation spot, deep in the heart of the forest under his control, Maxwell ensured that any new batch of prisoners would come face-to-face with it.

The sight of the severed head would cut straight through the rogues’ mental defenses, triggering fear and activating their survival instincts. The more terrified they became, the more likely they were to spill information.

After all, once captured, they faced only Maxwell or a cliff. Since these rogues were from the Dark Witch’s Faction, they had no real choice but death.

They could, however, choose how they would die: either reveal critical information by speaking certain keywords before the curse on their bodies activated, or have Maxwell personally end their lives.

Although the odds of this plan succeeding were no higher than twenty percent, Maxwell was willing to gamble. After all, a man’s survival instinct was formidable; when it suddenly kicked in, even a single second of life was all Maxwell needed for them to speak.

The mental pressure inflicted by the severed heads would surely make them crumble. While throwing the rogues’ bodies back to where they came from was an unmistakable provocation to their leader, designed to inflame their ego and tempt them into reckless action.

While Maxwell and Zion relied on brutal mental torture to pry at their captured prisoners, Levi didn’t bother. He already knew the two would squeeze out what little information there was to be had.

Knowing Zion as well as he did, Levi was content to leave the interrogation and scheming in their hands.

His own approach was far simpler: when he or his people spotted a rogue probing their defenses or trying to sneak inside, he dealt with them directly. One rogue, two rogues—it didn’t matter.

He cut them down and tossed their bodies outside like garbage. This way, he spared himself the mental strain of plotting against their enemies bound by curses, enemies who would die before revealing anything of real value.

Most of these rogues were death warriors, men who cared nothing for their lives. That was precisely why Maxwell and Zion leaned on psychological warfare to awaken the buried instinct for survival in these people. But Levi knew his limits as a Beta, and so he deliberately chose not to employ the same tactics.

After all, he knew that dealing with immediate threats was far more important, so he could afford some leisure time, enjoying the easiest job among the four of them. Lance, on the other hand, tried to extract information from the captured rogues under his watch.

But unlike Zion, Maxwell, and Levi, who were aware of the Dark Witch’s Faction, Lance was mostly in the dark. He didn’t realize that many of these rogues were only pretending to be rogues, actually belonging to someone else’s pack, while others were under direct control.

And even when they did speak, the curse on their tongues would activate, leading to their death. As a result, every time Lance attempted to interrogate them, the rogues refused to talk, often biting their own tongues rather than risk speaking.

After all, Lance wasn’t as terrifying as the beastly Zion, nor as ruthless and precise as Maxwell. As a result, the rogues’ natural survival instincts weren’t triggered; they could still act rogue-like and unconcerned in his presence, which left Lance increasingly frustrated.

On top of that, while guarding his own section, he also monitored the barrier from time to time. Despite these distractions, he remained effective, keeping his side of the border well-protected.

While the others were focused on gathering as much information as possible, Levi, perhaps being the exception, Addison, on the other hand, was busy checking on the farm animals. Fortunately, despite everyone’s busyness, the animals hadn’t been neglected and were doing well.

Now, Addison and the farm’s leader were documenting the number of animals that needed to be transported. Knowing these numbers was crucial since it would allow Addison to plan how to position the animals in the caravan once they moved them to the temporary shelter Zion had found.

Moving such a large number of animals along the road wouldn’t be easy, so she had to be precise. By understanding the totals, she could decide whether to keep some animals at the back of the caravan or split them into smaller groups, each following a few horse carts.

This way, the guards and warriors could be deployed efficiently to protect the animals and prevent any from being killed by monsters along the route.

Besides, transporting too many animals at once would surely attract monsters from the forest, especially goblins and ogres, which were trickier than most creatures since they usually attacked in numbers.

Thinking this over, Addison scanned the vast expanse of the cattle barn, where the animals were being fed a fodder mix.

The caretakers couldn’t let the animals graze outside their pens or barns because of the locust swarm. With the barrier’s stability uncertain and the preparations for evacuation underway, it was safer to keep the animals contained and calm for now.

That way, when transport began, the animals wouldn’t be too stressed or display aggressive behavior. The workers were fully focused on keeping the animals calm, well-fed, and ready for the journey ahead.

”So, how many do we have?” Addison asked, watching the docile cattle nibble at their fodder.

”Princess, we currently have 850 healthy cattle, 540 dairy cattle, 1,000 pigs, and 4,000 poultry, which includes chickens, turkeys, ducks, and more,” the head of the farm reported.

”And then there are the sheep and several other animals, which could easily add a few thousand more,” he added.

Addison felt her head beginning to throb as a migraine threatened to take hold. There were so many animals, it would be impossible to fit them all in a single transport.

The numbers included the young that had just been born, yet even with that, the total was staggering. Still, it made sense; most of the animals sold in the market came from the West, which had the largest farmlands.