When Gu Xi was studying and traveling, the bone dragon’s battle experienced some changes.
The Nidans began preparing for Plan No. 3.
This group of forty thousand men became useful as bait.
They couldn’t all die at the hands of the bone dragons.
So after receiving the latest orders, this troops actually started to counterattack.
This is the information Gu Xi received.
Certainly, during their counterattack, they did not kill many bone dragons.
After all, bone dragons are part of the flying team, and to attract Gu Xi’s army, these forty thousand were all cannon fodder.
Their team contained very few shooters and magic corps.
Given that shooters and magic corps are precious resources, they couldn’t be used as cannon fodder here.
When the bone dragons landed on the ground, they could swarm and attack the bone dragons.
But as long as the bone dragons flew, their attacks couldn’t reach the bone dragons.
No matter how high they jump, they can’t fly.
At this time, the Nidan forces could only watch helplessly.
Under such circumstances, the Nidan forces retreated promptly.
The bone dragons came to deal with these forty thousand people.
Seeing that the Nidan forces no longer attacked them, naturally they would descend from the sky to strike.
At that moment, the Nidan forces would proactively jump up and attack the few bone dragons.
In this tug-of-war, some bone dragons would inevitably be killed by the Nidan forces.
But the number of dead dragons wasn’t rational for the Nidans.
They often had to sacrifice ten to fifteen soldiers to kill a single bone dragon.
For this reason, the bone dragons felt they fought this battle quite smoothly.
So, from time to time they would fly into the air, clear off enemies clinging to them, then dive down again.
They didn’t notice that the Nidan forces were luring them onto another path.
Meanwhile, Gu Xi’s stone golems started fighting with Nicki’s horned flying monkey team in the air.
These horned flying monkeys, under Nicki, held the same status as Gu Xi’s stone golems; they were all scouts and communication soldiers.
Their levels ranged from Level 7 to Level 9, making them evenly matched with the previous stone golem squad.
Their numbers, however, were relatively fewer.
Nicki had never deployed the horned flying monkeys to battle against the stone golems.
But this time was different.
Gu Xi had no appropriate stone golems left and had to deploy newly trained little fellows of only Level 3.
This made it easy for the horned flying monkeys.
Once sent out, they directly overwhelmed the stone golems.
Gu Xi’s group of over a thousand stone golems lasted less than twenty minutes before being wiped out.
The thieves who came along with the stone golems saw the situation, glanced at the giant bats they were riding, and then turned their gaze to the horned flying monkeys, quickly fleeing along the way they came.
They knew too well that it was suicidal for such a non-flying unit to fight against horned flying monkeys in the air.
Hence their action was quite straightforward.
They assessed the surrounding conditions, confirmed the enemy’s direction and numbers, and flew back to deliver the news to Gu Xi.
Whether the stone golems perished wasn’t their concern.
Even if all the stone golems died, it wouldn’t affect the thieves’ role.
Determining the number of enemies wasn’t something they had to do one by one.
Considering the fifty-something thieves flying, they just needed a glance to ascertain the enemy’s strength.
This information was enough to bring back to Gu Xi.
The horned flying monkeys, killing stone golems mid-air, also noticed this.
Startled, they hesitated whether to chase them.
As they hesitated, the thieves had already escaped over a thousand meters, flying quickly back along their previous path.
In such a situation, the horned flying monkeys had to ignore this event and returned to report after killing the stone golems in the sky.
At this time, Nicki’s Nidans were arranging their troops.
Seeing the horned flying monkeys return, Nicki nodded in satisfaction.
The horned flying monkeys were indeed useful.
At least in intelligence gathering, they never failed him.
As the horned flying monkeys descended, Nicki loudly said, "Well done, go down and rest, there will be more use for you later."
Unexpectedly, the horned flying monkeys started squeaking.
After listening for a moment, Nicki’s face turned somber.
"Did some flying units escape?"
Squeak, squeak, squeak.
"It seems we underestimated the enemy, pass my orders for quicker action.
I sense that guy is tough to deal with."
Hearing this, the horned flying monkeys scattered, seemingly to transmit orders.
Meanwhile, Nicki resumed commanding his troops.
It seemed he was arranging for people to make up for the horned flying monkeys’ earlier lapse.
Meanwhile, the thieves riding giant bats arrived before Gu Xi.
Though thieves had various issues compared to stone golems, they had many advantages.
At least one thing surpassed the stone golems, thieves specialized in intelligence.
Once they arrived, they organized their information well.
Upon meeting Gu Xi, they immediately began detailing everything they had seen.
However, Gu Xi’s desired information wasn’t uncovered.
Behind the battlefield, they saw a valley surrounded by mountains but didn’t explore further, only confirming there was iron ore and an ambush of a large force.
The troops numbered around 150,000.
Beyond this, they didn’t bring back any new information.
Only 150,000?
Gu Xi pondered seriously.
If Gu Xi’s 500,000 troops were drawn into it, 150,000 couldn’t shut the door.
As long as Gu Xi moves his force in one direction, 150,000 couldn’t block him.
So there must be other arrangements within it.
Additionally, the thieves brought news that their stone golems were killed by horned flying monkeys.
The thieves themselves narrowly escaped capture.
So they hurried back and didn’t inspect closer, missing several nearby places.
Surely there were ambushes nearby, but the specifics of the enemy’s ambush remained unclear.
Gu Xi thoughtfully considered the current information.
His gaze constantly shifted back and forth between the map and sand table.
He mentally placed himself in the enemy’s position.
If his plan to trap them in the pocket array failed, what his next move would be.
Gradually, Gu Xi focused on a particular point.
"Check where the bone dragon corps is and have them retreat."