Fungus Fortress Puji Update Log: To give the Imperial army a better combat experience, we have removed the newly added [Combat Intuition] and downgraded some Puji strengths from elite to cannon fodder... The Main Force of over four thousand sent by Duke Eugene is led by a general named Renard, an old Lizardman with Hall Level strength.Renard was not a native Imperial demon, but was born in a tribe. Since his tribe was near the Imperial border, it was often harassed and plundered by the Imperial Border Guards under the guise of military training.Unable to bear the harassment, Renard once led his tribe to resist, even achieving some results.But when they truly caught Duke Eugene's attention, facing the large army surrounding the tribe, they could only choose to surrender.The Duke appreciated his command and combat skills and took him under his wing. Now, thirty years later, the former tribal rebel had long since become one of the Duke's highly placed and powerful confidants.Duke Eugene sent him to command this time also because he valued his greater experience with The North and the tribes.Besides Duke Eugene's troops, the Demonkin also sent a team of eight hundred people.Although the numbers were few, as a warrior race created by the Demon King, the Demonkin relied on the magic sigils engraved at birth and attribute values that were striking even among the Demon Race. It was normal for a Demonkin of the same level to fight two or three other demons, and even more if they were useless Half-Demons.If morale and other factors were also considered, it could be said that these eight hundred Demonkin were not inferior at all to the team under Renard.Due to the issue of command authority, the two sides did not merge their forces but instead maintained a certain distance, advancing side by side.General Renard's face did not look good at this moment; he had just received news that the Vanguard was stalled.After marching for only two days, he caught up with the Vanguard.They were stationed in a strategic position with a steep ice cliff at the back and a frozen river surrounding the front. The fortifications were layered, showing a posture of strict defense; one might think they were the ones being attacked if they didn't know better."Halson, according to the plan, you should be clearing the way for the main army. What are you doing now?" Renard questioned the Vanguard commander who came out to greet him.Halson lowered his head without making an excuse, merely leading the general toward the camp.The scenes along the way were shocking.Most of the soldiers sat silently around campfires, many wrapped in blood-stained bandages, their eyes hollow or filled with lingering fear.The air was thick with the smell of herbs, blood, and a faint scent of corpses.After returning to the commander's tent, Halson finally recounted the Vanguard's encounter.Simply put, a single clash had beaten Halson to the point where he didn't dare move recklessly.The enemy's strength and numbers far exceeded expectations. After a Pyrrhic victory, the soldiers' morale plummeted. Fearing the risk of total annihilation if he continued to penetrate deep alone, he chose to camp here and wait to merge with the Main Force."Hmph," the general snorted coldly, showing obvious dissatisfaction. "The battle turned out like this, and you're still stalled. Do you want those Demonkin to laugh at us? Duke Dean's people are watching not far away!"Despite his dissatisfaction, Renard took Halson's words to heart. He didn't continue to scold him but instead gathered all the officers.After another round of discussion, Renard set aside his disdain for The North and changed the initial deployment.First, he ordered the Main Force and the Vanguard to merge and reorganize. The marching distance between units was shortened, and flank patrols and scout density were increased to ensure that if any point was attacked, adjacent units could quickly react and provide support.Second, he changed the established marching route.He would rather take a half-day detour to avoid several locations potentially suitable for ambushes or surprise attacks.Finally, the most crucial adjustment to the strategic objective.He temporarily set aside the primary task of "searching for the cause of the abnormal cooling in The North," making the top priority "finding and defeating the resistance forces of the Northern tribes."This was to avoid them searching separately and giving the Northern tribes a chance to pick them off one by one, causing heavy losses.After completing the deployment, Renard thought for a moment and sent the details of the skirmish along with a summary of the adjusted marching plan to the commander of the Demonkin troops marching a certain distance away.Although there was secret competition between the two sides, Renard was not a reckless youth who couldn't distinguish between what was important and what was not.Then, in this atmosphere of caution throughout the army, they encountered Pujis again.It was still four thousand Pujis.The Thousand-man Commander who encountered the Pujis immediately assumed a defensive formation and notified other units for support, as requested by Renard.The Pujis rushed forward in a white mass. From the initial clash to gaining the upper hand, the demon troops eventually wiped out all the attacking Pujis.They didn't fall into a hard battle at all; by the time Renard arrived with reinforcements, the fight was already over.This thousand-man unit had suffered only about a dozen casualties.However, all they killed were Pujis. The Puji Masters of those tribes, seeing the unfavorable situation from afar, abandoned the Pujis and fled.Due to Renard's orders, the Thousand-man Commander could only endure and refrain from pursuing.Faced with such results, all the officers couldn't help but glance at Halson, the Vanguard commander. The latter's face flushed red, but he couldn't say a word.In the face of facts, any explanation would seem like a poor excuse.Finally, Renard stepped in to break the tension: "It cannot be ruled out that the enemy is deliberately showing weakness. Those tribes want to resist the Empire, so they must play some tricks. All units continue to remain cautious; don't make any mistakes!"But afterward, they encountered several more Northern Puji units, and the demons' mindset gradually lost its initial caution.To say these Northern Puji units were easily crushed would certainly be wrong.The Pujis were numerous and unafraid of death. As long as they didn't just rush in to die all at once, their combined tactics were still quite annoying for the demon generals.But beyond that, there was nothing else worth mentioning.Especially the individual strength of the Pujis; it was not powerful at all, as Halson had described.The logical explanation, then, was that Halson had made some low-level mistakes in command that led to the Vanguard's Pyrrhic victory. To cover up his own negligence, he had deliberately exaggerated the strength of the Pujis!For a time, everyone's gaze toward Halson was tinged with contempt, and even Renard no longer treated him well.The general could imagine how those Demonkin would mock their incompetence after receiving his warning and then actually fighting a few battles with the Northern Pujis.It was only because they were still marching and fighting; otherwise, he would have definitely punished Halson!However, while the strength of the Pujis was not worth mentioning, their numbers were quite absurd.Looking at the report of the right army once again annihilating over a thousand Pujis and repelling the Puji Masters, Renard frowned.Over the past few days, with all the battles combined, they had almost wiped out twenty thousand Pujis.In this freezing North, just how many Pujis did those tribes have?