Repeated failures had taught the demons that subjugating Winterdraw was a long shot.

It wasn’t impossible for a desperate offensive to crack what they’d seen of the human fortifications. But what would be the point? What came after that?

They would lose half their forefathers in the process, or more.

Could the remaining half kill the island’s defenders? Could they conquer the human domain? That was nothing but a pipe dream!

Out of the elites the demons had initially brought to the continent, less than two tenths were still alive, as well as roughly one-third of the forefather-level cultivators. It was too puny a force for...