"Let's take stock of our remaining combat strength."
In the central command tent, Dorothy wearily ordered the assembled officers.
Both Elashia and Cecilia had fallen unconscious, so now only she, a former ranger, could command the officers.
As a former ranger who had joined the army less than half a year ago, she originally didn't want to personally take on the task of commanding the entire army.
But when the surviving officers assembled at the center of the battlefield as agreed, she discovered—among Elasia's high-ranking officers, the wounded were wounded, the dead were dead, and she was the only high-ranking officer left who could still fight normally...
After completing the assembly, all the officers' gazes turned to her, wearing the white shoulder insignia...
At that moment, she seemed to suddenly understand what that "responsibility" Cecilia always talked about really meant...
So now she had no choice but to personally take on the task of commanding all of Elasia's forces...
Fortunately, having been "specially cared for" by the old director of the orphanage, who once found her extremely averse to boring military studies, she could indeed competently serve as a temporary commander for a few days.
She had never been more grateful to that extremely strict old director...
However, she had also received some good news just now.
As a warrior who had studied human auras to the extreme, when she examined Elashia's body just now, she found that she and Cecilia had been too pessimistic before.
Elashia wasn't dead, her aura had just weakened to an almost undetectable level.
As a ranger who had witnessed countless deaths, she understood very clearly what this situation was.
All vital signs had disappeared, but a thread of weak aura remained.
This condition was called "false death."
Her Majesty Elashia should wake up in just a few days...
The officers quickly dispersed, leaving only Dorothy in the central command tent with Cecilia and Elashia lying on the beds.
Looking at the two unconscious women, Dorothy sighed.
"Sigh..."
Honestly, having her temporarily maintain military order and ensure normal army operations was indeed no problem.
But if the final wave of the beast tide arrived while Her Majesty Elashia and Cecilia were still unconscious, they would truly be finished.
After all, Dorothy had absolutely no experience commanding large-scale military operations.
Without Cecilia's wartime command and Elashia's morale boosting, Elasia's army, already heavily wounded and exhausted, would probably collapse even facing a medium-sized beast tide...
But she had no way to wake these two up right now...
According to Elashia, the next wave of beast tide would have almost the same scale as the current one, and no one knew when it would come...
If the next beast tide arrived while these two were still unconscious, everything would be finished!
"Sigh..."
Dorothy sat in the commander's seat, not knowing what she should do next...
Before long, a bespectacled staff officer walked in.
"Officer Dorothy, the remaining combat strength report has been compiled!"
"Let me see... ah..."
Taking the briefing from the staff officer, Dorothy nearly tore it in half from excitement!
The over forty thousand conscripted soldiers before the battle... were almost completely annihilated?
The twenty-five thousand Imperial Guards now had only a little over ten thousand left?
This... she almost didn't dare look at the high-level combat casualties. Not wanting the staff officer to see her lose composure, Dorothy quickly dismissed him.
"Alright, I've finished reading. You can go out first. I'll notify you after I've arranged the next steps."
"Yes!"
The staff officer saluted her and immediately ran out of the central command tent.
The recent battle had been too exhausting; he just wanted to rush to the dormitory and sleep soundly...
"My god..."
Continuing to read, Dorothy felt her heart bleeding...
Over five hundred low-level knights had already fallen...
Over two hundred mid-level knights had fallen...
Over three hundred mages had fallen...
Even over twenty high-level knights, Elasia's highest combat strength, had fallen...
Now, except for her own Guerrilla Knight regiment, which had suffered almost no casualties due to its mobility, not a single knight regiment remained intact...
Looking at Elashia and Cecilia lying unconscious on the beds, Dorothy showed an extremely pained expression.
Little Shia and Cecilia... had they always been facing these things...
Just looking at one such report made Dorothy feel she'd be distressed for at least several weeks.
After all, behind these numbers wasn't just weakened combat strength, but countless broken families...
Unimaginable how much psychological impact Cecilia and Elashia had endured these past few months...
But... no matter how much Dorothy pitied them, she had to wake them up quickly.
If the final round of beast tide arrived before they woke up... then everything would truly be finished!
With the mindset that it might work, Dorothy went to shake the unconscious Elashia and Cecilia.
But it was completely useless.
Neither of them stirred at all.
"Sigh..."
Now the army had suffered unimaginable trauma, and the two cores who could unite the army's strength were still unconscious...
Things had developed to this point, and even the usually optimistic Dorothy couldn't remain optimistic.
As long as the beast tide arrived now...
Speak of the devil—just as she was pessimistically thinking about the possibility of another beast tide attack, one of her subordinate Guerrilla Knights responsible for reconnaissance suddenly burst into the central command tent!
"Commander! The magical beasts... the magical beasts are coming again!"
Dorothy never expected—how could the second wave of beast tide arrive in less than half a day?
Even before, there had never been a situation where beast tides came twice in one day!
That knight looked extremely panicked.
"Commander! Those magical beasts, for some reason... they're running much faster than before!"
"Some of our reconnaissance personnel even saw some magical beasts collapse and die from exhaustion while maintaining such unimaginable speed..."
"It's almost like... like someone is chasing them!"
"I'm afraid... I'm afraid they'll reach the original city wall position in less than half an hour!"
"What do we do! Commander, we can only listen to your orders now!"
Seeing this subordinate's urgency, Dorothy actually smiled.
Is heaven destroying us?
Uh... it really seems like heaven wants to destroy us.
Thinking this, Dorothy actually laughed out loud.
Although this joke wasn't funny, she felt this would be the last time she could laugh in her lifetime.
With Elasia's army having lost nearly half its combat capability, and both Elashia and Cecilia out of action, what did Elasia have to deal with Natural Disaster-level magical beasts and nearly a hundred thousand ordinary magical beasts?
This less than ten hours of rest wasn't even enough for low-level knights to fully restore their [Qi]!
Moreover, even she, representing the peak of Elasia's remaining combat strength, absolutely couldn't match a Natural Disaster-level magical beast...
However, Dorothy still stood up.
She drew her long sword with a sharp sound and threw the scabbard to the ground with a "clang."
She knew this long sword might never return to its sheath again...
"What else can we do? Kill as many as come."
Dorothy laughed heartily as she walked out of the central command tent.
No matter what, as a ranger, she had to die with style!
However...
Just seconds after Dorothy left the central command tent, Elashia's body suddenly emitted a buzzing vibration sound...