However, because the Northern Council was counting on the tribe to hold out and share the Greenskin fire for the North, they temporarily set aside the discussion regarding the Estalian refugees in the Piña Forest resisting the draft and converting to the tribe in mass numbers.
For now, the great cause of resisting the Green Tide was the priority. Everything else was a secondary conflict.
Hearing that a Greenskin force of at least fifty thousand intended to clash with the tribe first, the Northern Council repeatedly praised the Goddess's protection.
To strengthen their ally and prevent the tribe from being quickly crushed by the Greenskins, the people of Bilbali specifically sent a supply train into the Piña Forest.
They gave the tribe some surplus supplies and ordnance that they didn't have much use for.
Although the quality wasn't great, for a tribe with low smelting levels, it was excellent equipment.
Armor bestowed by blessings wasn't something everyone could receive. A large amount of the weapons and armor equipped by the Khorngors was only slightly better than what the Greenskins defeated at the walls of Veling had.
Only after rescuing the Magus refugees and purging Cerebrio did Al finally have a surplus of ordnance in his hands.
Al wanted to open the beacons a few more times to beg for more from the Bloodmother, but the anchor point communicating between the mortal realm and Chaos had entered a cooldown period. He didn't know when his next "gacha pull" would be available.
Al accepted all the support sent by the Northerners. He wasn't in a position to be picky or disdainful.
Currently, although there were slight flaws between the two sides due to the refugee incident, the broad direction was to stand together.
While each had their own ulterior motives, both hoping the Greenskins would weaken their ally more, the fact of being allies was mutually recognized by both sides.
Because he absolutely had to win this battle, Al exercised extreme self-restraint during this period.
Forget about doing this or that with his harem; even when going to bed at night, he simply embraced his adoptive mother or the goat mom and fell straight to sleep.
The Paladin Claudia, who was trending toward becoming a nymphomaniac, was also strictly constrained by Al.
He forbade her from conducting night raids or giving the boy a "Good Morning Blowjob."
The Paladin, somewhat grumbling and dissatisfied about this, vented her excess energy on her teammate—the red-haired Ann, the swordswoman whose limbs were still mostly bound.
This resulted in the palace frequently being filled with the latter's curses and breathy moans.
Al ordered it to stop several times.
The boy deeply realized that he could not lose this battle. He had to win, and win cleanly—an epic advantage, a total victory.
Eating the Greenskin vanguard and dealing them a heavy blow would give his allies an explanation.
At the same time, the blood sacrifice of thirty thousand enemies was the prerequisite for Lileath to bestow her blessing: shrouding the Piña Forest in mist and protecting it.
This wasn't like before when he led his units in a fast strike to "liberate/kidnap" the population.
At that time, Al estimated the worst-case scenario was running into the Greenskin main force and returning with a Pyrrhic victory or a narrow defeat.
But even then, he still had enough reserve troops. Relying on the forest terrain to fight a guerrilla war against the Greenskins would have been no problem.
But if this campaign failed, Al would have only two paths:
Run north with his whole tribe and live under someone else's roof. Not only would he have to spit out everything he had worked so hard to consume, but they would likely be used as mercenary cannon fodder to continue fighting the Greenskins to the death.
Or migrate east and hide in the Inara Mountains. The Greenskins would likely retreat after a brief pursuit, as their main target was the North.
But if that happened, a year's worth of growth and development would all go down the drain.
The Greenskins would absolutely destroy everything they could, leaving ruins full of stench and Greenskin spores.
By the time Al fought his way back into the forest, he would have to face continuously spawning Forest Greenskins.
"I hope you all fight the enemy with all your might to console our fallen compatriots who have sacrificed themselves since the disaster! Do not fail the teachings of the Four Mothers!"
Al inspected the state of the Auxilia legions several times. Toward these mortal legions—whose morale was passable but training was severely lacking and equipment was mediocre—he still held high expectations.
In the military council, the tribal side passed the strategy of holding key points to attract the Greenskin main force for a siege.
And as for the units undertaking this task of key-point defense, blunting the Greenskin momentum, and attracting enemy fire...
Al intended to push all of the Mortal Auxilia forward.
The old six-thousand-man establishment plus the two thousand newly expanded—a total of eight thousand men—along with five thousand Khorngor soldiers as the backbone.
The Vanguard Legion, whose morale was concerning, was undergoing intense training and morale-boosting under Al's hints and manipulation, set to join the battle as the first reinforcements.
There was also support from the massive Monster Legion.
Al believed that while it might be slightly difficult to have the Mortal Auxilia coordinate an offensive given their current strength, they should be able to perform well in defense and holding their ground.
The old Tercio legions of the Estalian Kingdom had been repeatedly pounded by the Greenskins for four reasons:
First, it was indeed a case of "swords in the warehouse and horses in the southern mountains" for a hundred and fifty years. Long peace had led to civilian complacency and military laxity. Military development had stagnated because their only wars involved beating New World natives.
Second, the Goddess Myrmidia had vanished and gave no response to the mortal realm. Most terrifying was that the priests had lost the ability to use divine magic. This allowed the Greenskins, boosted by Shamans and the Great WAAAAAGH!, to fearlessly shatter the Estalian pike squares while the Estalians lacked the means to counter them.
Third, Magritta was besieged and severed from the outside, losing unified and efficient command. The loyalist armies formed by local self-defense forces in the early stages were wasted for nothing. Later, politics and "correctness" forced the military's hand, leading to rash attempts at a decisive battle.
And finally, the various assists from the Skaven.
Al, having learned the sequence of events from the knights, was still unclear on the Skaven's purpose for inciting and joining this war, but it certainly wasn't anything good.
He had always been wary of this race of "Beastman offshoots" with their treacherous, vicious, and despicable nature.
However, after the Fleur-de-lis and Grail Knights launched their crusade, killing their way in and out seven times and burning the Skaven's Undercity, the rat-men seemed to have kept a low profile.
Even though the Scholar Council had been secretly scouting for Al, they hadn't obtained much useful information.
These were the four reasons for defeat Al summarized for the Estalians. His Mortal Auxilia had also basically completely abandoned the old Tercio tactics.
They lacked the support of ranged fire and simply couldn't use them.
Instead, after discussion and improvement by the Blood Oath Brotherhood's officer corps, they first implemented the common infantry regiment tactics used on a large scale in the Old World.
With sword and shield as the core, and spears as support.
The primary goal was to be able to counter and delay a Greenskin offensive of equal scale in woodland defense.
Furthermore, due to the long-term need for continuous hunting to gather resources, a hunter unit had been trained within the mortal army. They were adapted to forest terrain and adept with bows, crossbows, blades, and spears.
Al believed the Mortal Legion was capable of a fight.
At the very least, achieving the minimum goal—holding out against a Greenskin offensive of equal scale—should be no problem.
That was under the conditions of having several major advantages: magical support, terrain, and the quality of their comrades.
And there was the threat that one step back meant their families and homes would be directly exposed to the Greenskins' butcher blades.
Al believed this eight-thousand-man mortal legion would not let him down.
At the same time, the massive Greenskin infiltration and offensive had already begun.