Lightning Is the Only Way

The war raged on for many minutes. Typically, such a battle would take longer, but the Land Camp was only interested in blood right now. They attacked with reckless abandon, overwhelming the defensive hyenas.

By now, around 25 of the 60 beasts from the Land Camp had died. Yet, the losses on the side of the hyenas were way more devastating. They fell from around 100 beasts to just 30. The hyenas' morale had utterly vanished by now. They were killing their enemies, but, in turn, they were completely slaughtered.

"RAAAAAA!"

And that was the straw that broke the camel's back. The panther that had ambushed the general had triumphed. The panther was injured all over its body, and even a leg was missing, but it stood triumphantly over the general's corpse.

The hyenas grew panicked and started to concentrate more on defending than attacking. This only made their situation even worse. On top of that, around a third of them had started scattering in all directions.

Another third realized what was happening and started laying down in submission. It was better to join a new Tribe than to die.

"Kill them," Silva ordered atop another two corpses.

The beasts were all shocked for a bit. This was unlike Silva. He usually accepted the surrender and included the enemy into their Tribe to strengthen it. Yet, on this day, he decided against that.

The beasts immediately continued the slaughter crazily. They hadn't expected such a command from their commander, but that didn't mean that they didn't like it. In actuality, they preferred killing their enemy.

In nearly no time at all, nearly every hyena was dead. Only a number in the single digits managed to flee. After that, silence fell upon the land. The beasts were exhausted and laid down to treat their injuries.

Meanwhile, Silva looked at the remaining beasts of his Land Camp. "33," he said as he finished counting. Together with the 14 hyenas still in the River Tribe and the couple of land beasts keeping watch over the other borders, the land camp only had a total of about 55 beasts left.

Silva sighed as he realized that a lot of his companions had died. Yet, this was what everyone wanted. He was giving his camp the freedom to decide their own future. Most of the relatively weak beasts had died, while most of the stronger beasts survived. The Land Camp's total strength had been reduced, but the average strength of the members had increased.

on his mind as he looked deeper into the territory of the Hyena Tribe. The powerful Matriarch hadn't shown up, even though her entire

walked to Silva's side. "Including our own dead tribesmen, we have over 120 corpses

keep track of

Isn't that a good thing?" Orthar

sighed again. "I didn't sigh because it's a bad thing. I have won several battles and wars in the past. We always gained new companions, and the Tribe grew bigger. Yet, my army had never produced

of a new member over the value of a corpse. Yet, that might not always be the correct path. I have followed our Leader's advice one time, and my camp has become as powerful as

the difference between mindsets. By accepting new recruits, you increase the quantity of your army, but not the quality. In a fight with equal

take a step forward. Your old way had stability in mind. Your goal was to not lose because winning can cost a lot. This time, you fought to win. Your camp has paid

he was listening to Orthar. "You know," he said. "I could have created a distraction at the front. Then, all their firepower would concentrate there. After that, I would have had

won this battle with less than ten casualties while integrating over 50% of the enemy's army into our ranks. In theory, this result sounds way better. Instead of having

goal," Orthar said. "You consider Lords as leaders, not as soldiers. Yet, if the commanders are level two Lords, why wouldn't it be possible

wasn't able to completely agree to it. That was because he

to see the Sand Kingdom. He was still rather young, and the Sand Tribe had already deteriorated before he joined the army. Yet, after listening to Orthar's

sigh. "Thank you for your guidance,

"No problem. After all, that's my job." Then, Orthar looked deeper into the

looked at Orthar with determined eyes. "I

bit. "Don't let

could ask. "In the case that I

able to keep another Lord in check couldn't be simple. There

the contributions to Silva. After that, he started hovering and shot towards the core of the

his destination. In front of him was a high-rank Spirit Plant. This was the tree that the Matriarch always used as a resting place. Below the tree, as usual, laid the