The Hunt Beyond Fear

The victory against Monk did not bring peace to Paradox's army. It only reminded them how quickly a hunt could spiral into disaster. When a single miscalculation could jeopardise the invasion. The wounded from the last assault had barely recovered, and the gold reserves were still bleeding. But the wars don't wait. The fear of fighting in the enemy's territory had not fully faded.

Paradox had learned on K489 that reckless hunts create graves, but careful invasion creates fear. This time, he would not march blindly into the enemy's territory by the momentum or pride. Every scout report matters; every movement should be cautious. Everything would be studied deeply before the first blade was drawn.

Yet despite all this caution, one truth remained unhinged.

Paradox was a hunter.

And hunters do not stay still for long.

🔥Chapter 1(Discovery of target)

A few days after the hunter visited the monk's kingdom, silence settled around Paradox's castle once again. The wounded from the last invasion were fresh, the drained gold reserves, and the disaster in the enemy's territory had left a mark not only on the invader's army, but on Hunter himself.

For the first time in a long while, Paradox was hesitant before the invasion.

But he knew if this fear and hesitation remained untouched. It will grow stronger and slowly render his army helpless in future hunts. Another invasion was necessary, not for glory or pride. But to regain the confidence and morale that had faded away in the last invasion. His army needed victory and assurance.

So once again, his eyes turned towards the kingdoms beyond the horizon, searching for the next battlefront. After a long search and effort. He was able to discover a target in K457 without a bubble.

But not like last time, when Paradox immediately started hitting the target, without any proper investigation of his defence. This time, when he entered the enemy's Kingdom. Paradox had already ordered his scouts to look for even the smallest details about the target, including his formation, troop numbers, and lastly, the reason why he was being so careless. The transfer scroll cost for that kingdom was quite high, so the invader needed assurance that the target was either worthy of chase or not. After a brief moment of waiting, Paradox received the reports. To not repeat the mistakes like the monk's hunt.

He studied the reports thoroughly.

The target was in expedition gear and was offline at that moment, which also helped me to study the reports easily. The target had a mix commanders setup on the wall, which was in favour of Paradox, with 8 million troops defending the walls. When the hunter saw those loopholes in the defence. He was overjoyed, but in all this excitement, he forgot to completely read the scout report about which tier of troops were in high quantity. This mistake would show Paradox why he still has a long for becoming a cautious hunter. He gave orders to his army to prepare for the first hit on the target.

🔥Chapter 2(first hit and reason for carelessness)

After studying the report, Paradox gave his orders to prepare for the first hit on the target. This hit was to understand the enemy's mindset and to see if the unbubbled castle was a trap to capture the hunters. Paradox launched its first assault, his military stealthily moved toward the walls of the enemy's fortress.

Invader was waiting for the scouts to get the reason for the target's negligence during his first march toward the target. Paradox was still fearful about how the first hit would unfold. He wanted a good start to build morale of his military, who were already doubtful about the hunt. The first hit clashed with the fortress walls. The troops clashed with each other, and the troops started falling on both sides. But the shift was in Paradox's military. FangThane had a durable wall, which took the brunt of the first clash, which helped him to hold his ground against the hunter's military. He also dealt a good amount of damage to Paradox. The report came to Paradox, he saw the report, and his heart fell. He thought that his military would at least destroy the wall on the first hit. But they were unable to even make cracks in the wall. The first hit was a disaster for Paradox.

The results of the first hit showed why it was important to completely observe the scouting report.

After the report, Paradox again opened the scouting report; his hands were trembling from the costly victory, where he lost more than he gained. When he observed the report again, he saw the reason. FangThane had 3 million tier 1 infantry troops on the front, shielding the high-tier troops in back. When he saw the 3 million low-tier defending troops. He started doubting whether he should continue or not. Then, the scout came with the reason for FANGTHANE's carelessness. He said:

"Sire! The reason for his carelessness is the presence of players from the NBE alliance on K457, and he has NAP with them"

This sentence struck Paradox like a nail in the heart.

He knew NBE would defend the kingdom if they had NAP with the Royal Alliance. Now the Invader had to make a decision. Now, after all those variables. Paradox was thinking, what should he do? If he stops the hunt now. This would break the morale of his military, which would make them stagnant for future fights, but if he continues, there is a risk of being zeroed out by the NBE alliance.

🔥Chapter 3(Second hit and wall Break)

When Paradox was thinking, what should he do?

His commander, Sinara, requested an audience. Paradox allowed it. She Said:

"King! We should continue the hunt and should be quick in dismantling the defence wall. I have a suggestion, if we can't break the wall on the second hit. We shall stop the hunt"

When Paradox hears that, He hesitantly calls for a meeting, and he asks Sinara to explain her suggestion to everyone to clear the air of doubt lingering in the atmosphere. When everyone heard her, they agreed to try the second hit.

After hearing this, King ordered his commanders to launch the second assault quickly, because there was already a long delay in the attack. This could give his alliance the ability to prepare the trap countering Paradox.

The second wave started marching towards Fangthane's fortress when his military appeared outside the enemy's castle. Paradox was observing the battle and was very fearful, and thinking;

"Did I do the right thing by trusting my commander's words?"

But this worry vanished the moment his military clashed with the wall of the opponent's castle. The first hit had made the defending troops a little arrogant, and they didn't fix the wall. They were laughing when Paradox's military again appeared in front of their castle.

But this time, they were prepared to destroy the wall. FangThane's military negligence became a beacon of hope for Paradox's military, and they were able to break the wall on the second hit. This dealt a significant blow to Fangthane. Paradox also lost troops in the second, but broke the wall. This increased the morale of his army, and they were ready for the third hit.

🔥Chapter 4(Raven of Death)

After the victory in the second hit, Paradox kept the morale high and launched the third assault immediately, without giving Fangthane time to call for reinforcement or tower drop. The third attack landed on the fortress with brutal efficiency and was able to deal a great amount of damage to Fangthane, nearly killing half of his troops in the third strike.

But Paradox thought that this was very smooth, even though in the last attack, his presence was known to everyone in the kingdom. So by the third hit, someone should have started to trap Paradox. The report came to Paradox's camp.

Paradox's fear became reality after the third hit landed, and a raven appeared in the hunter's camp with a message tied to one of his feet.

This message was inscribed on the letter:

"Stop hitting Fangthane, one more hit from you would be considered a wrong omen, and we shall hunt you down.

Regards: (NBE)."

When Paradox received this letter, he, for a split second, thought that he should stop the hunt and stay off the radar until his fervor ends. Fangthane became carefree, because he thought that Paradox would stop the hunt because of the message and didn't use his bubble.

Paradox launched the fourth assault and sped it up to reach the walls very quickly, not giving time to Fangthane to use bubble. It would also help Paradox to quickly port away, not revealing his location. The fourth wave was so brutal because Fangthane started gathering with lower-tier troops after the raven was sent to the Hunter. It left him vulnerable, as he couldn't port away to save his remaining troops

in time, he lost his troops completely in the fourth assault.

After the fourth hit, Paradox was left with only one task: to keep his castle off the radar so as not to get caught by the NBE alliance. Paradox ported away the moment his military retured, but there was a little delay in the relocation, which gave the PHX alliance to use track rally on Paradox. Due to this rally, Paradox's location was continuously shared in world chat. Paradox was continuously using random porting for 5 minutes until the timer for the track rally ended, then Paradox would hide his castle and wait for his ferver to end. After continuously porting, Paradox was able to save his castle from the horror of NBE alliance members.

🔥Conclusion:

Paradox learned that reckless hunts end in ruins, while careful invasions create fear. A true hunter does not study only the target, but the entire battlefield. Every detail in the scouting report can change the outcome of the hunt. Strength alone is not enough for survival on the battlefield.