"Stay sharp! Show some spirit! Losing to Marleyans isn't shameful, but if we lose to those Far Eastern barbarians, then we Middle Easterners will never be able to hold our heads up again! Check your equipment and be ready for battle at any moment!" A Middle Eastern officer with a thick beard shouted loudly across the defensive positions outside Hakkar Fortress.
The soldiers under his command were long used to it. None of them looked nervous in the slightest. They casually carried their rifles and equipment toward their assigned positions at a leisurely pace.
Several months ago, when the Far Eastern nations united together and declared war on the entire world, everyone initially treated it as a joke. The world's perception of the Far East was remarkably consistent—people believed all Far Easterners were nothing more than rough-handed hooligans who only knew how to demand strong liquor.
On top of that, the Far East was known for its terrible climate, barren land, scarce resources, and sparse population. Hardly any nation held the Far Eastern countries in high regard, and even among themselves, the Far Eastern nations had no shortage of internal conflicts.
Yet this time, the Far Eastern nations had united with unprecedented solidarity. That did surprise many countries, but nobody took it seriously. Declaring war on the entire world? Even the Eldian Empire, which had dominated the world for a thousand years, had never dared to speak so arrogantly.
Back then, despite possessing the absolute dominance of Titan power, the Eldian Empire had never considered declaring war on the entire world. It certainly had the ability to do so, but if things truly reached that point, then perhaps only Eldians would remain in the world. Without other races, who would there be left to serve the Eldians?
The Eldians once ruled the world because they possessed Titan power. But what did the miserable Far East have? A frozen wasteland where even piss would freeze solid the moment it hit the ground—what gave them the confidence to challenge the world?
Although every nation had intelligence reports stating that during the civil unrest in Marley's capital, Ebson Louis, the noble capable of creating Titan warriors, had fled to the Far East, nobody considered it much of a threat.
Times had changed. The era in which Titan power dominated the world was gradually coming to an end. The Titan power that once terrified every nation was losing its menace. The Middle Eastern Union, which had only recently ended its war with Marley, understood this better than anyone.
Not to mention anti-Titan artillery, which had already become widespread across the world. That war had also served as a major wake-up call for the Middle Easterners. In response to Titan power, they invested enormous effort into further research. With real battlefield data in hand, the Middle Easterners could now proudly pat their chests and declare: Titan power no longer posed any threat whatsoever!
After developing their newest secret weapon against Titan power, the Middle Easterners once again turned their gaze toward Marley. Their defeat in the previous war had not subdued them—if anything, it had only intensified their ambitions.
Especially after Marley itself fell into massive internal turmoil. Their own capital had actually been seized by the Eldians they had always treated as slaves. Marley had completely lost reputation.
But just as the Middle Easterners were growing restless, the Far East suddenly threw itself directly into the line of fire. In only a few short months, the Far Eastern armies conquered dozens of small nations located between the Far East and the Middle East. Their speed left people utterly stunned.
Now, the Far Eastern army had advanced to within less than twenty kilometers of the Middle Eastern border.
Although shocked by the speed of the Far Eastern advance, neither the Middle Easterners nor the rest of the world were overly alarmed. Those dozens of small border nations had always been pitifully weak. The Middle Eastern Union simply hadn't bothered annexing them out of pride and convenience. The weakest among them couldn't even gather ten thousand soldiers.
So it wasn't surprising that those nations lost to the Far East. The only surprising thing was the speed. After all, those countries could still scrape together over a hundred thousand troops in total. They were wiped out in just a few months?
Hakkar Fortress stood at the easternmost edge of the Middle Eastern border and would be the first fortress to face the spearhead of the Far Eastern army. Although the Middle Easterners looked down on the Far Eastern forces, they still stationed over twenty thousand soldiers here. Along the border as a whole, the Middle East had deployed nearly eighty to ninety thousand troops.
These troops were completely different from the armies of those weak border states outside. In terms of combat power, the twenty thousand troops within Hakkar Fortress alone could probably conquer any one of those nations with ease.
The Middle Easterners' arrogance spread from the upper ranks all the way down to ordinary soldiers. From officers to enlisted men, most viewed the Far Eastern army as nothing more than trash. Such overconfidence made the Middle Eastern military increasingly complacent and impatient.
Perhaps some perceptive individuals within the Middle East had already noticed something strange in the intelligence reports coming from the Far Eastern frontlines. The defeat of those dozens of border nations didn't seem to be solely because they were weak. There appeared to be something very wrong with the Far Eastern army itself.
But by the time the Middle Eastern leadership truly realized something was wrong, it was already too late.
"Dammit, Uncle Lalo, just look at this! Those old bastards at the top are completely rotten! They're even embezzling military funds! Look at this rifle—it's so worn out I can barely pull the bolt!" Inside the defensive line, a young Middle Eastern soldier complained while struggling to pull the bolt of his rifle. He spoke to his uncle, an older Middle Eastern soldier beside him.
The older soldier was curled up in the corner of the trench, secretly taking a few puffs from a cigarette. Hearing his nephew complain, he laughed and exhaled a ring of smoke.
"Sibir, quit complaining. You should be grateful the officers at least gave you a rifle. If they handed you a spear and told you to charge, that'd still count as lucky. The good equipment was already used up fighting those Marley bastards a few years ago."
Sibir stubbornly continued yanking the bolt. With a loud snap, he finally managed to pull it open. Seeing the rust lining the chamber, Sibir completely lost hope and collapsed beside his uncle in frustration.
"Uncle Lalo, are the Far Easterners really that weak?" Depressed, Sibir could only ask his uncle the same stories he'd heard countless times before.
Lalo finished the last few puffs of his cigarette and let out a satisfied cloud of smoke before turning toward his worried-looking nephew. Grinning with his yellow teeth exposed, he said:
"Relax. Your uncle here has dealt with plenty of those Far Eastern barbarians before. On the battlefield, they're only invincible when they're stealing booze and women. The rest of the time, they're soft."
Listening to his uncle brag so confidently, Sibir gradually calmed down as well. By the sound of it, those hundreds of thousands of Far Eastern soldiers didn't seem all that frightening after all. Sibir even felt like he could take on a hundred Far Easterners by himself.
Lalo's boasting attracted quite a few nearby Middle Eastern soldiers, but the lively atmosphere didn't last long before a passing officer shouted at them and dispersed the crowd. Amid the angry yelling, Sibir and his uncle were driven back to their posts, where they picked up shovels and prepared to continue reinforcing the trenches.
But just as Sibir raised his shovel, he suddenly heard a strange screeching sound coming from above his head. Having never been on a battlefield before, he was confused.
What was that sound? It sounded strange.
But his uncle reacted first.
As a genuine veteran who had truly seen battle, Lalo immediately recognized the shriek of incoming artillery shells. Without hesitation, he lunged forward and tackled his nephew to the ground.
"Enemy attack!!"
A miserable scream rang out across the defensive line, followed by deafening explosions.