"Hah... hah..."
"Finally... is it over again..."
After confirming this battle had finally ended, the soldiers didn't cheer for this momentary victory, nor did they grieve for departed comrades.
They didn't even have time for despair—quite a few soldiers were so exhausted they collapsed directly to the ground.
Some even fell asleep right on the battlefield, snoring like thunder.
Too tired. In battles where they could die in the next fight at any moment, no one relaxed their nerves.
This prolonged combat was not only a test of strength for the Elasians, but also a test of endurance.
A week had passed, and the entire area around Elasia's northern Great Wall had become blood-soaked land.
Almost every day, considerable numbers of beast tides attacked Elasia's northern Great Wall.
Each beast tide attack included at least thousands of [Crushing]-level giant beasts, dozens of [Calamity]-level super giant beasts, and nearly ten thousand ordinary magical beasts.
To eliminate these astonishing numbers of magical beasts, Elasia had to pay the price of at least a thousand lives.
Over this week, the number of soldiers killed and missing reached nearly ten thousand...
Physical strength and courage had been consumed to the limit. No one knew if they could hold on tomorrow...
Perhaps tomorrow would be the day Elasia fell...
...
"Lord Cecilia, go sleep for a while."
This battle had finally ended. Elashia, with dark circles under her eyes, came to Cecilia's side, advising her to rest first.
The soldiers were already exhausted to the extreme in such prolonged combat, while the commanders were even more fatigued than the soldiers.
After battles ended, soldiers could at least rest for a while, even if they couldn't sleep due to fear.
But commanders couldn't.
After battles, they had to compile casualty statistics and prepare action plans for the next battle.
As the commander of the entire battle, Cecilia hadn't closed her eyes for four full days.
Elashia knew that no matter what, she had to let Cecilia rest for a while now.
If she collapsed, everything would be finished.
However, Cecilia didn't want to rest. She wanted to quickly know this battle's casualty situation so she could prepare to deploy combat strength for the next magical beast attack.
"Thank you for the reminder, Your Majesty, but I still need to conduct casualty statistics first."
Cecilia took out a towel already stained with quite a bit of blood from her clothes, wiped the blood from her body and face clean, then walked toward the center of the battlefield.
Elashia knew—Cecilia's mental state must be very poor now.
Otherwise, she couldn't possibly walk toward the battlefield immediately after speaking to her.
Cecilia must have already entered a somewhat dazed state.
So Elashia clearly understood—no matter what, she had to make Cecilia rest first!
If Cecilia collapsed, there would be no one to command the army!
So Elashia used a stern voice she had never used before to shout loudly at Cecilia, who was preparing to walk toward the battlefield center:
"Cecilia! I command you! Rest!"
Cecilia's steps paused upon hearing Elashia's voice.
She turned back to look at Elashia.
That expression of extreme exhaustion made Elashia's heart tremble...
"Your Majesty... I... cannot rest."
She had to compile casualty statistics, make battle plans, fight desperately...
Elashia's heart was shocked.
Normally, as long as she issued stern commands, Cecilia would obey no matter what...
Why was Cecilia contradicting her orders...
Cecilia was actually equally surprised by her recent statement.
"Your Majesty... I..."
"Don't say anything, rest well..."
Elashia walked toward Cecilia, without question gently lifting her up and flying toward the central command tent.
Cecilia didn't struggle, just let Elashia hold her.
She knew that at critical moments, Elashia would become extremely reliable...
Although holding Cecilia, who was nearly twenty centimeters taller than herself, was quite strenuous, Elashia persisted.
So many warriors including Cecilia persisted in fighting with their lives—what was it for her to persist in holding Cecilia while flying for a while?
"Phew..."
Before long, she could clearly hear Cecilia's steady breathing.
Looking at the sleeping Cecilia in her arms, Elashia's heart ached terribly.
Actually, Cecilia wasn't that old either—she was only in her twenties.
About the same age as her previous life.
But having entered the military camp at twelve, she had become so resilient...
Falling asleep directly in her arms while she was still flying... how exhausted was she...
"Sigh..."
Finally reaching the central command tent, after placing Cecilia on the bed, Elashia tiptoed out of the tent.
Flying into mid-air to observe below, the scene below made Elashia's already aching heart even heavier.
Whether alive or dead, soldiers lay in pools of blood with their eyes tightly closed.
Too tired... really too tired...
How long had they been fighting... how much longer would they have to fight...
Despair spread across the battlefield like a virus, expanding...
Elashia wanted to use her speech skills to say something to boost the soldiers' morale, but ultimately gave up.
Let the soldiers rest well for now...
Who knew when the next beast tide would come...
At this moment, officers' voices rang out from the battlefield center.
"Where is General Cecilia?"
"Casualty statistics are almost complete!"
"..."
Elashia knew that now was when she was needed...
Although she truly didn't understand even a bit of military affairs, with her [Struggling Me] passive skill, she wouldn't be looked down upon by officers due to her girlish petite stature.
Plus her empress status, she could completely take over Cecilia's work temporarily.
"I have ordered General Cecilia to rest. Military affairs are now personally handled by me!"
Elashia forced herself to show a serious and solemn expression, landing among the officers.
Seeing Elashia, the officers finally found their pillar of support.
"Your Majesty... our legion's casualties have exceeded half..."
"Your Majesty... the knight order's casualties this time are truly too severe..."
"Your Majesty... the Third Militia Corps has been almost completely annihilated..."
"Your Majesty..."
Hearing the generals' reports, while Elashia's heart sank, she was somewhat grateful for her earlier decision to force Cecilia to rest.
If Cecilia had heard these things, she probably wouldn't be able to sleep at all...
Fortunately, Elashia had memorized military configurations for each time period when playing the game previously.
So now, even with Cecilia resting under her orders, Elashia could still fulfill some of Cecilia's original functions.
Trying hard to recall the troop configurations after one week of beast tides from previous strategy guides, Elashia used the most stable voice she could manage:
"Next, the Third, Fourth, and Seventh Militia Corps withdraw from the front lines to rest in the rear for three days..."
"The First, Second, and Eighth Militia Corps take their positions in sequence..."
"The First, Second, and Seventh Imperial Guard Corps combine into one temporary corps, commanded by Siris..."
"Arrange for seriously wounded knights to rest in the rear first, while knights not seriously injured must continue fighting on the front lines..."
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
"I'll execute the orders immediately!"
The officers hadn't expected that this empress, who normally didn't participate in military affairs at all, could make such reasonable and specific arrangements so quickly based on casualty situations at this critical moment!
Indeed, Her Majesty's "I don't understand military affairs" was just encouragement to let subordinates act freely!
Elashia's rapid arrangements at this moment instantly reignited the officers' confidence!
After the officers dispersed, Elashia let out a long breath.
Sigh, if she hadn't memorized beast tide strategy guides due to always dying in beast tides when playing games previously, she would be finished now.
But... how long could this strategy guide help...
Whether in games or reality, Elasia could probably only hold out for at most two or three more weeks before being unable to withstand it...