The Natural Empire of the Oceanic Dragon

Actually, it's still because the Frost Giants are even more foolish than Artilan anticipated. The correct term should be 'ignorant,' considering that Frost Giants have an intelligence above 9, and their brains are relatively well-developed.

It's just that such advanced tactics like guerrilla warfare have never appeared in the Frost Giants' war skills, even if they had encountered enemies using such methods before.

But it's their fault for not having the habit of recording history, and for not caring about cultivating the younger generation. At most, they would bring young giants along to observe during hunts.

This was already a rare inheritance of experience. More often, they barbarically eliminated weak and underdeveloped cubs through life-and-death struggles.

Only the strongest cubs would be kept by the Frost Giants. Most weak Frost Giant cubs would be directly abandoned, unless the giant tribe had so much food they couldn't finish it.

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Otherwise, the savage Frost Giants wouldn't waste food on raising weak cubs.

The Frost Giants weren't completely stupid. Of the two hundred or so lured out by the Centaurs, only half were killed or wounded. The remaining giants, covered in arrows, fled back to their camp and holed up.

Artilan had originally thought he could use guerrilla tactics to divide the Frost Giants into small groups of twenty or thirty, then concentrate his forces and use numerical superiority to wipe them out.

But although the Frost Giants were provoked by the Centaurs' taunts, their escape speed exceeded his expectations. Or rather, the true nature of the Frost Giants was to flee decisively.

Their previous confidence and arrogance came from the iron and leather armor given to them by the Fire Giants. With protective gear and iron weapons,

even the most heavily armored Dwarven infantry were just slightly tougher cans of meat to them. One axe strike, and the can would be split in two.

And it was difficult for the Dwarves to break through their defenses.

Dwarven Gryphon Knights had also tried throwing battle axes and javelins from the air, but their accuracy was insufficient, and the projectiles were too large and slow. Most of the Frost Giants managed to block them, resulting in poor damage.

Unlike the Centaurs' and Elves' arrows, which were very fast and accurate. Armor that worked well against Dwarves was useless against them.

Before dying, the Frost Giant squad leader who had chased the furthest released an ice ball into the sky. The brilliant light after it exploded made the remaining Frost Giants decisively abandon the chase.

They turned around and ran without hesitation.

Even though Artilan immediately organized the army to pursue, they only managed to kill about twenty Frost Giants. To block the Frost Giants as much as possible, the Dwarves hiding in the mines voluntarily came out and formed a line on the Frost Giants' escape route.

Trying to use their iron wall to stop the fleeing Frost Giants.

The result was self-evident. They didn't stop the Frost Giants for very long.

The Dwarf King listened to the Iron Guard Commander's report with a dark face.

"Seven Frost Giants killed, nearly three hundred Dwarven Iron Guards lost. Why didn't you stay in the mines as instructed? Who told you to come out!"

The Iron Guard Commander stammered, not knowing what to say for a moment.

"So many Iron Guards died, why are you still alive!"

Artilan came out with a smile to smooth things over.

"This general's strength is still quite good, but his views on the war against the Frost Giants are a bit outdated. With some training, he might not be a talent."

The Dwarf King kicked him in anger.

"Get out!"

The brother-in-law got up from the ground. He knew he had done something stupid, causing the death of three hundred brothers. It was right for him to be kicked.

He just didn't understand why the Centaurs and Elves fought the Frost Giants so easily, while he was intercepting a group of fleeing Frost Giants and was instead routed.

The Dwarf King wanted to cry but had no tears. He could only say to Artilan with a mournful face:

"Dragon Lord, please command the next battle. Every Dwarf life is precious and cannot be lost like this."

Including these three hundred, the Dwarves had lost over four thousand warriors. Adding those who didn't have time to escape and were brutally killed by the Frost Giants, the Dwarves' losses were close to ten thousand.

Damn Fire Giants, without their help, the Frost Giants wouldn't have easily crossed their western border defenses.

"Don't worry, but Dwarf King, you need to prepare for a prolonged war. There are over two hundred here, and the other two Frost Giant warbands have over three hundred and four hundred respectively."

"The number of Frost Giants adds up to over a thousand, right? Can these continuous snow peaks support so many Frost Giants?"

The Dwarf King said with a dark face:

"In the past, the number of Frost Giants we fought was at most five hundred, and they were very scattered. They wouldn't be concentrated like this, because they couldn't provide food for so many mouths at the same time."

"Each time, after dozens or hundreds of old and weak were killed, they would retreat on their own initiative. But this time, we killed a hundred Frost Giants at once, and they just retreated back to their camp."

"They don't have any intention of escaping, and these thousand Frost Giants all seem to be young and strong. In the past, they always brought the old and children with them."

"Unusual, there's definitely a big problem hidden. It looks like someone is specially raising these Frost Giants, just waiting for them to play a role at a critical moment."

According to the Dwarf King's understanding, the higher snow peaks in the northwestern part of the mountain range, where the Frost Giants live, are indeed one or two times larger than the Dwarf Kingdom, but it's a problem to support a thousand old and weak Frost Giants.

Not to mention supporting a thousand young and strong ones.

Artilan was wondering, who would raise a group of Frost Giants?

From an individual strength perspective, Frost Giants are indeed considered powerful, but they are not quality soldiers. They are individualistic, accustomed to swarming, or launching attacks in a disorganized manner.

And this group of Frost Giants has very obvious traces of artificial training.

"Never mind, as long as we defeat the Frost Giants, we will know who the mastermind is."

The Dwarf King nodded and asked:

"Dragon Lord, what should we do next?"

"Go back to sleep and come out to greet these Frost Giants again at night. By the way, what are the Frost Giants in the other two cities doing? They can't all be eating meat and sleeping in their camps, right?"

The Dwarf King said somewhat awkwardly:

"That's how it was originally, but just now, a few Frost Giants fled in the direction of those two cities. It's likely that they will receive news of this camp being attacked by us tomorrow."

Artilan took a deep breath of cold air to keep his brain clear.

"Order the Dwarves in the other two cities to launch harassment attacks on the Frost Giants tonight. They can throw battle axes and javelins at the giants' camps, shout loudly, but don't actually rush in."

"Gryphon Knights can drop fire oil from the sky to ignite the Frost Giants' camps. In short, don't let the Frost Giants sleep peacefully, but control the degree so that you don't really fight them."

Artilan glanced at the Dwarven Iron Guards who hadn't been cleaned up on the ground.

"You've seen the outcome. In short, let them remember this sentence: 'When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy camps, we harass; when the enemy is tired, we attack; when the enemy retreats, we pursue.' They must act strictly in accordance with the instructions."

After hesitating, the Dwarf King still said awkwardly:

"This... I'm afraid they won't understand."

Even though Artilan had tried his best to translate the sixteen-character motto of guerrilla warfare into common language for the Dwarf King to understand, guerrilla warfare seemed simple, but it was quite complicated to implement.

The Dwarf King praised him to the skies, but Artilan was still not satisfied with the results. He was still too impatient. He should have harassed them first, exhausting and injuring the Frost Giants as much as possible.

If the Frost Giants hadn't had so much stamina, they wouldn't have been able to run away so many.

"I'll let the Elves and Centaurs go over and lead them for a few days. I think they will understand how to apply this tactic."

The Centaur Swiftwind came to report the battle situation. From his stern face, Artilan knew that the situation might be worse than he thought.

"Dragon Lord, according to the reports from the warriors, we should have killed 112 Frost Giants, but when cleaning the battlefield, according to the corpses of the Frost Giants, there were only 97."

After the battle, the soldiers were cleaning up the battlefield and discovered that many of the Frost Giant corpses that had been lying on the ground had mysteriously disappeared.

Atilan said with a mocking smile:

"What do you mean the corpses disappeared? Those Frost Giants weren't dead at all. They were just playing dead to trick us. We were too busy chasing the ones who were running away to check if they were really all dead."

Atilan originally thought that the Frost Giants had tenacious vitality, and the attacks of the Centaurs and Elves had not directly killed them. Many Giants did die in this way, constantly losing their lives.

But there were also some who, relying on the Frost Giants' innate ability to control frost, feigned death to get away with it. After the Centaurs and Elves left, they crawled up from the ground in a sorry state and fled towards the other two camps.

If they wanted to take down this camp with the remaining hundred Frost Giants by force, the Dwarves' casualties would be at least over three thousand. Although this camp's walls were frozen together with stones and ice by the Frost Giants, they were still sturdy and durable.

It shouldn't be difficult for Giants of the same size to destroy this kind of ice-stone wall, but if Atilan wanted to destroy the wall, he would need some extra methods.

Atilan would be crazy to actually attack the city.

"Keep harassing them and force the Frost Giants to actively abandon this camp and run away."

Even if he charged in, this group of Frost Giants could chop him into mincemeat with their axes. This is not an exaggeration. The Fire Giants' axes and the Frost Giants' strength can exert such a great effect.

Atilan's dragon scales have strong defensive power, but a battle axe as big as a door panel could chop off his head with one blow.

Reality is not a game. An axe hitting the neck doesn't just reduce health; there's a greater chance of it being severed by the blade.

"Yes!"

Chase Wind went down to make arrangements. The Dwarf King's brother-in-law had just washed his face and, upon hearing the news of the mission tonight, insisted that Chase Wind must take him along.

The Dwarf King heard his loud voice and went over with his axe.

"Brother-in-law, you're not going to chop me, are you?"

The Dwarf King directly chopped down with his axe. Fortunately, the brother-in-law reacted quickly and, because he wasn't wearing armor, rolled away on the ground in a sorry state. Taking advantage of the Dwarf King pulling the axe out of the ground, the brother-in-law hurriedly ran towards Atilan.

"Dragon Lord, save me!"

"Don't think you can find the Dragon Lord; I won't punish you today."

Atilan quickly stopped the Dwarf King.

"Dwarf King, your brother-in-law is just hot-blooded. With some good training, he can still become an excellent general. Although it's seven to three hundred, this kill-death ratio is about the same when the Frost Giants aren't wearing armor, right?"

The Dwarf King was silent. If he hadn't seen Atilan commanding the troops, with only a few unfortunate ones falling off cliffs and dying, or breaking their legs and arms, the battle damage would have been less than ten people.

Adding them all up, it was less than fifty people, yet they had killed sixty Frost Giants. His reaction wouldn't have been so great.

Don't think Atilan is being kind. Someone like the Dwarf King's brother-in-law is indeed a brave general, but he doesn't like to use his brain. This kind of enemy is the easiest to deal with.

He doesn't use his brain, doesn't have cunning ideas, and just fights hard. This kind of fool is the easiest to deal with.

Moreover, he is the Dwarf King's brother-in-law. Promoting him can better alienate the lower-level people from the Dwarf King. It is just right for Silver Ring, this commoner, to win over the people's hearts.

Atilan didn't let Silver Ring participate in the frontal battlefield in this war. His task was to accurately distribute a batch of materials drawn from the kingdom to every Dwarf woman and child who was suffering from the war and starving.

Note that he had to personally hand the supplies to them, coupled with a few heartwarming words. With Silver Ring's rhetoric, it would be enough to warm them for a lifetime.

Winning the support of the upper-level nobles is impossible for Silver Ring.

The lower-level people are Silver Ring's target, or rather, Atilan's target, because he doesn't need a Dwarf King who sits firmly on the throne with the help of nobles, but a Silver Ring who sits firmly on the throne with his support!

Without him providing money and food, how could Silver Ring win over the people?

When Silver Ring stands with the people, it means he stands against the nobles.

After three days of harassment, the Frost Giants, who were already restless due to the loss of half their forces, finally broke through.

"Remember, kill as many Frost Giants as possible, but don't stubbornly prevent them from escaping."

"Understood!"

The brother-in-law, his eyes shining, replied to Atilan while riding a griffin.

Atilan really wanted to slap him. Understood? He understood my ass. This kid is impervious to reason, making Atilan even more convinced that his choice was right.

Just keep causing trouble. The more Dwarf elites die, the more stable your position will be, and the greater the people's resentment towards you will be, making you a perfect target for eliminating treacherous officials.

It's strange. Three days have passed, and the other two camps should have received the news from here long ago, but they haven't moved at all.

I really don't know where this group of Frost Giants received their military education. When allies are in trouble, they remain unmoved. Tsk, tsk, tsk~

"Let's go, let's see how many supplies the Frost Giants have left us."

Because they were eager to escape, the Frost Giants did not take all the wealth they had collected from plundering the Dwarf villages. The camp they built after destroying the Dwarf city, using stones, was also almost completely preserved.

"Reinforce it. This can also be used as our stronghold. The temperature here determines that this ice castle will not easily collapse."

Suddenly, the cry of a baby came from a tent in the center of the camp.

"How is there still a child?"

Atilan was quite surprised.

The Dwarf King said:

"It should be because there has been enough food recently. The Frost Giants just gave birth to a child. Not bringing it means the child's body is not strong enough and was abandoned by its parents."

Atilan nodded and thought, that's right. For many races, warriors don't distinguish between men and women, only whether they can fight. It is now common for pregnant women to go to the battlefield.

"Let's go take a look."

A weak Frost Giant cub abandoned after the war. Atilan suddenly found it very interesting.

Sure enough, what appeared before them was a thin, blue-white skinned, small and shriveled Frost Giant cub. Its cries quickly became weak.

Although it wasn't particularly loud to begin with.

The Dwarf King raised his axe to kill the cub.

Atilan quickly stopped him and said:

"As a Druid, I think this weak Frost Giant cub must have considerable research value for my companions in the forest. So, Dwarf King, can you hand it over to me to deal with?"

The Dwarf King was very generous.

"Since the Dragon Lord wants it, then I'll hand it over to you to deal with."

In the Dwarf King's mind, this was just a slave, even if it was a Giant.

Moreover, the Druid can guarantee that it will grow up safely, but that doesn't mean that such a weak cub will become a powerful Frost Giant when it grows up.

Atilan picked up the cub and placed it in the palm of his left hand. Out of a sense of mischief, he decided to give this Frost Giant cub a resounding name.

"Loki, from now on, you will be called Loki!"

It just so happens that they are both Frost Giants, both abandoned by their parents after defeat due to physical weakness, and both adopted by top-notch powerhouses.

Atilan also hopes that this Loki can achieve such outstanding achievements as that God of Mischief.

Of course, not the Loki in mythology, but the movie Atilan used to watch.

A faint, glowing green light enveloped Loki's body. Feeling the power of the Light of Life, Loki stopped crying, and even a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Atilan dripped a few drops of the Water of Life from his claw tips, and Loki immediately giggled.

The Water of Life is not to restore Loki's physical strength, but Atilan wants to reshape Loki's body, at least not let him wear this blue-white skin that symbolizes the Frost Giants.

As the glowing green light flickered, Atilan's slightly accomplished Life Mastery Shapeshifting technique began to work on Loki. The blue in Loki's skin gradually faded, and white took over.

Loki's hair also turned into jet-black, shiny black hair, and his size further shrank, becoming almost the same size as a human baby.

Don't think Atilan is really adopting Loki out of a sense of mischief. This weak Frost Giant cub is indeed the experimental product Atilan wants.

Mount Tai's Titan Power very much needs a Giant-type life to assist from the side.

From today onwards, Tai Shan needs to start learning to be a nanny.