Chapter 115: The Order to Advance

Chapter 115: The Order to Advance

Six planetary months passed after Noah issued the mandate calling three million additional soldiers from Varkesh, Skargrim, and Luminous.

On his own planet and on Edras, half a year of movement, preparation, and military organization unfolded while barely half a day passed for Noah in the God Civilization.

During that time, the Gate Beyond Heaven remained active almost continuously, turning the surrounding region into the busiest military passage his world had ever known.

The mobilization was still far from complete. Of the three million soldiers ordered to join the Divine War, approximately one and a half million had successfully crossed into Edras.

The remaining half continued moving through Viridian territory, crossing the ocean from Luminous, marching south from Skargrim, traveling from Varkesh, waiting inside staging grounds, or standing in organized formations for their assigned turn through the Gate.

Varkesh had transferred the greatest proportion of its promised troops because its location allowed its armies to reach Viridian without crossing the sea.

Hundreds of thousands had already entered Edras, although long military columns still stretched across the roads of the central continent.

Skargrim continued sending formations down from the north through several established routes, while Luminous remained the slowest because every soldier, wagon, weapon, and supply shipment first had to cross the western ocean before beginning the final journey toward Viridian.

The deployment had become a continuous process rather than a single event. New formations entered Edras every day while officers on Noah’s home planet moved fresh units into the staging grounds vacated by those who had already crossed.

Wagons arrived behind infantry, engineers followed siege crews, and support personnel moved according to schedules designed months earlier.

On Edras, the effect of that movement was impossible to ignore. Viridian had already deployed roughly one million soldiers before Noah called the other empires into the war, and another one and a half million had now joined them.

The total goblin military presence therefore approached two and a half million soldiers, although a significant portion remained assigned to garrisons, logistics, engineering, transportation, medical work, and occupation duties rather than standing together as one field army.

The five conquered eastern provinces had changed dramatically to support that force.

Eastwatch remained the primary receiving region because of its connection to the Gate, while Northwatch, Valemar, Redhaven, and Stoneford absorbed the steady flow of soldiers moving away from the portal.

Military camps surrounded towns that had once hosted only modest provincial garrisons, and warehouses that had originally supported the first Viridian invasion were expanded repeatedly as new armies arrived.

Roads carried military traffic at nearly every hour. Supply wagons moved west with grain, preserved meat, arrows, weapons, tools, replacement equipment, and siege materials, while engineers repaired bridges and reinforced roads damaged by the constant movement of soldiers.

Civilian trade continued, but local administrators increasingly scheduled it around military convoys so that the eastern provinces could function without allowing the roads to become unusable.

Grand Marshal Rakhar Veyr spent most of the six months turning the reinforcements into something that could actually fight together.

Varkesh, Skargrim, and Luminous had brought their own officers, ranks, battlefield traditions, and methods of organizing units, and Rakhar made no attempt to erase those differences.

Instead, he imposed common procedures where cooperation between the four empires was essential.

Maps were standardized, messenger routes received common markings, supply depots were assigned clear responsibilities, and commanders were informed of nearby allied formations before any large army approached the frontier.

Siege specialists from the different empires trained alongside Viridian crews, while quartermasters learned which roads could support massive formations without exhausting the surrounding settlements.

Viridian veterans became particularly useful during that process. They explained how Caldris infantry formed around fortifications, how human cavalry exploited open terrain, how provincial armies reacted when their supply lines were threatened, and how major cities prepared for sieges.

Varkesh, Skargrim, and Luminous soldiers arrived with extensive military experience from wars on Noah’s planet, but only Viridian had fought Caldris continuously for more than a planetary year.

Rakhar also refused to let the size of the army tempt him into careless concentration. Two and a half million soldiers could become a burden if they overload the same roads, camps, and depots, so large formations were spread throughout the eastern provinces according to their expected future roles.

Northwatch received forces likely to support advances toward the former northern sector.

Valemar and Stoneford became major staging regions for central and southern operations, while Redhaven accumulated some of the largest mobile formations because its western approaches led more directly toward the interior of Caldris. Eastwatch remained essential for receiving troops, but newly arrived formations were moved onward as soon as their equipment and officers were accounted for.

Noah observed the continuing process through his connection to both worlds. The remaining one and a half million soldiers had not stopped moving evenbthou lgh half of the expected troops had already reached Edras, and there was no reason to delay the campaign until every final formation crossed the Gate.

Varkesh columns still filled roads across the central continent, Skargrim armies continued marching through southern routes, and Luminous ports remained crowded with soldiers waiting to board ships.

Each unit that crossed into Edras created room for another formation to move forward, which meant Noah could begin the next phase of the war while fresh reserves continued arriving behind the first armies.

During those same six months, the other four planetary gods completed their withdrawals.

Mira’s retreat remained the most difficult because the Burrowkin had established underground positions across several central provinces.

Many formations had been separated when Caldris shattered the tunnel network, forcing surviving units to move toward their secured invasion corridor through deeper passages while collapsing routes behind them.

Some distant underground positions had to be abandoned when rescuing them would have required another major battle.

Other formations survived long enough to withdraw before Caldris secured the surrounding surface, allowing Mira to preserve most of her important mobile forces even though the network her civilization had spent eighteen months building was effectively lost.

The northern, southern, and western withdrawals proceeded more smoothly because those fronts had not been collapsing when Garran ordered them back.

Each god evacuated the province they had fully conquered along with whatever additional towns, roads, and forts remained under their control.

Their armies removed movable supplies, recovered siege equipment where possible, evacuated wounded soldiers, and damaged certain fortifications before leaving them behind.

Garran had already made clear that preserving their remaining military strength took priority over defending territory they were no longer expected to hold.

Caldris reacted cautiously at first. Royal and provincial forces entered the abandoned areas expecting ambushes or temporary withdrawals, but as days became weeks the absence of the invaders became impossible to deny.

Towns were reoccupied, roads reopened, and surviving local administrators returned wherever enough authority remained to restore basic government.

News of the retreats spread through the kingdom as evidence that Caldris had survived four invasion fronts. Soldiers who had spent more than a year fighting defensive campaigns began speaking of victory, while nobles in recovered regions celebrated the disappearance of armies that had once threatened their capitals.

The kingdom’s interpretation was understandable, but incomplete. Caldris had recovered territory after losing enormous numbers of soldiers during nearly two years of warfare, and the central counterattack against Mira had consumed additional royal reserves that could not be replaced quickly.

More importantly, the kingdom still had little understanding of the horde gathering behind the eastern frontier.

Once Garran received confirmation that the final organized allied formations had cleared the former operational zones, he summoned the five planetary gods into another shared consciousness meeting.

The atmosphere differed from the previous emergency gathering because the major strategic decision had already been made, leaving only confirmation and authorization.

The map of Caldris appeared between them with the four abandoned invasion sectors gradually returning to kingdom control.

Only the five eastern provinces remained firmly marked as conquered territory, and behind that border sat the largest foreign military concentration Caldris had faced during the entire war.

Mira confirmed that her principal Burrowkin formations had reached the secured corridor and that no major mobile army remained trapped in the central sector. The northern, southern, and western gods provided similar confirmations, reporting that their organized forces had cleared the areas Noah would eventually need to enter.

Garran acknowledged the reports without reopening old arguments or criticizing their campaigns. The purpose of the withdrawal had been to preserve their forces, and that objective had been achieved.

Their role in the active conquest of Caldris was now finished unless circumstances later required them elsewhere.

Attention then shifted toward Noah.

He gave a concise report on the six-month buildup. Approximately one and a half million of the newly mandated soldiers had crossed into Edras, bringing the total goblin military presence to roughly two and a half million before accounting for casualties and the numerous formations committed to occupation and support duties.

Another one and a half million remained in transit and would continue entering the world while the campaign advanced.

Garran studied the troop concentrations marked throughout the eastern provinces. Noah possessed experienced Viridian commanders, five secure provincial bases, established supply networks, massive reserves, and armies from three additional empires that were still growing in strength.

The old sector divisions were the final issue to be resolved. Noah asked whether Rakhar would be permitted to ignore them completely once the offensive began and move according to roads, fortifications, supply routes, and strategic targets rather than the previous assignments of the five planetary gods.

Garran confirmed that the former boundaries no longer carried operational authority. Noah could advance through the north, south, west, or center according to whatever campaign plan Rakhar developed, while the withdrawn gods retained no exclusive claim over the regions they had previously attacked.

Mira and the others remained quiet as the old sector markings faded from the map. There was no repeat of the anger that had dominated the earlier meeting, because each of them had already completed the retreat and understood that the next phase of the campaign would proceed without their armies.

Garran waited until the final withdrawal confirmations were displayed before turning his full attention toward Noah.

The corridors were clear, Caldris had begun reoccupying the abandoned fronts, and Rakhar’s forces had spent six months gathering supplies, integrating reinforcements, and preparing for a kingdom-wide offensive.

The waiting period had served its purpose, and there was no longer any strategic reason to delay.

Garran formally removed the final restriction and authorized Noah to begin offensive operations across the kingdom.

His order was brief because every other detail had already been settled during the previous months: "Your armies are clear to advance. Begin the conquest."

Noah shifted his attention toward Edras, where roughly two and a half million goblin soldiers were spread across the five eastern provinces while another one and a half million continued marching toward the Gate Beyond Heaven.

Rakhar had the roads, supplies, reserves, commanders, and manpower required to begin, and the withdrawal of the other gods meant no allied force remained in his path.

After six planetary months of preparation, the goblin armies finally had permission to cross the eastern frontier and carry the war into the rest of Caldris.