Greatest Legacy of the Magus Universe

Chapter 1361: One More Day

The battlefield lay in ruins, Goro’s forces devastated far beyond expectation. The fourth day had ended, but the outcome was entirely against the Tsuitsui Clan.

The main battlefield was a wreck of blood and bodies. Mangled corpses lay in uneven heaps, weapons scattered like broken bones across the ravaged earth. The scent of poison and iron mixed into a choking stench that clung to the air.

Cries of dying men still echoed faintly, buried under the weight of silence that followed the retreat. The Tsuitsui survivors moved through the carnage with hollow eyes, many of them too numb to even speak.

Some searched the piles for familiar faces. Some dropped to their knees when they found them. Others simply stared, unable to accept what the day had taken.

More than a thousand Tsuitsui men, far more than all the previous days combined, had fallen today!

Veterans, novices, elites, brothers... all dead.

The loss pressed on the Tsuistsui army like a crushing weight, threatening to bury them alive. Even the strongest among them felt their spirits buckle as they counted the dead.

Yes, they had been outnumbered by the enemy by two to one. Yes, they had managed to slay all of Tiesha Tang’s men in the end.

But the price was steep... far too steep.

It was a horrific day, one that would haunt Goro and the survivors long after the war ended. They were now reduced to fewer than five hundred men, while they were still unsure about the enemy’s true numbers hiding beyond the Wall.

Goro’s eyes scanned the battlefield, his heart churning with tumultuous emotions. At last, his gaze settled on a familiar face, and he couldn’t help but feel a light tremor run through his body.

He remained dazed for a few moments, unable to quite believe what he was witnessing. Finally, he walked up to the corpse and knelt beside it. He looked at the pale face for a long time before gently closing the eyelids.

”Rest now... Yorihiko.”

The Vice General of the Tsuitsui Army had perished on the fourth day of the Battle of Kurogane Pass.

Goro remained kneeling beside his cousin’s corpse for a long time. He soon heard footsteps approaching him. He turned his head ever so slightly and saw the surviving top officers of the Tsuitsui army coming toward him. Their states were bloody and battered, to say the least.

Seishin Tsuitsui, the Chief Strategist, glanced at Yorihiko’s lifeless body and sighed dejectedly. He then muttered in a faint, sorrowful voice:

”Yorihiko fought on the front lines with the rest of our brothers. It was because of him that the survivors of our army managed to... well, survive.”

Goro remained silent, his gaze settling back on Yorihiko’s body, his thoughts a mystery.

Hoshinobu Tsuitsui, the Chief of Logistics, stepped forward and paid his respects to the Yorihiko. Then, he turned to Goro and said in a grim voice:

”Because of the thousand-man army that attacked us from behind, our supply lines have been completely disrupted. It will be a monumental task to get them back running at short notice.”

Goro nodded ever so slightly, still remaining silent.

Jinzo Tsuitsui, the Chief Medical Officer, chimed in, ”Brother, a little more than four hundred of our men have managed to survive today’s battle. But they’re all heavily injured. Our Herbalists are working hard, but even then...”

Goro waved his hand, gesturing to Jinzo to stop. He knew all too well what the man was about to say.

The Tsuitsui forces will not be at their best when the battle resumed the next day. As a result, there would naturally be even more losses.

Day Five... that was the last day the Tsuitsui Clan could sustain this war. If their plan failed, then they’d have to retreat. If their plan succeeded, they will have conquered Kurogane Pass, but the casualties would be immense.

No matter how he saw it, win or lose, a lot of the Tsuitsui Clan’s Magi would die.

At last, Kagenami Tsuitsui, the Chief of Intelligence, stepped forward. Then, he bowed and slammed his head on the ground.

”All these deaths... they’re on me!” He screamed as tears streamed down his face. ”I am to blame for this blunder! If I had known... If I had known our enemy’s true numbers—”

Goro patted Kagenami on the shoulder. ”Don’t be too hard on yourself,” he gently said.

”Han Xun may be our enemy, but I cannot deny he is an excellent military commander,” he added.

Take the earlier battle, for example. Han Xun had deployed a thousand-man army and commanded them to attack the Tsuitsui army’s rear lines. He knew that Goro himself would have to join the battle to prevent the rear lines from collapsing.

Han Xun knew that Goro had no other choice but to protect the army’s rear. So he took advantage of this fact and unleashed another fifteen hundred men from the front and decimated the majority of the Tsuitsui’s forces on the main battlefield.

The man knew how dangerous the Tsuitsui Clan’s poison arts were. The only way he could defeat them was by throwing a large number of men into the bloody battlefield and slowly chipping away at Goro’s army.

And he had done just that. Even though he had lost thousands of men, far more than the Tsuitsui army, in the end, he had managed to dwindle their numbers down to less than five hundred.

Moreover, he still had two thousand more soldiers to spare!

Han Xun was certain that in just another day—two, if he was being excessively cautious—he would completely eradicate Goro Tsuitsui and emerge as the victor of the Battle of the Kurogane Pass.

However, Goro, too, had an ace up his sleeve...

The Venom Dragon’s eyes narrowed as his gaze settled on the Wall beyond the bloody, corpse-filled battlefield.

”Tomorrow’s the day,” he murmured. ”We need to fight for one more day!”

”Brother...” Doubt crept into Kagenami’s heart. ”Do you still think he can do it?”

”It doesn’t matter what I think.” Goro shook his head.

”One way or another... tomorrow, this battle will come to an end.”