Chapter 482
Flaws and Plans
Chapter 482 Flaws and Plans
Outside the Norren Workshop defense line, in a valley surrounded by three low rocky hills.
The allied forces of the Chaos Cult and the Tower of Annihilation established a temporary command camp here.
Hundreds of stone platforms, temporarily created using witchcraft, floated in mid-air, with high-ranking wizards standing or sitting on them to participate in the meeting.
The atmosphere was so oppressive it felt like water was about to freeze.
"I think there is no need to launch a direct assault on the defenses of the Norren Workshop any further."
The speaker was a tall, thin figure completely wrapped in a gray shroud, his voice dry and hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing against bones.
He was the commander-in-chief of the Tower of Annihilation in this war, a level seven peak wizard, "Ashes" Saladin.
After Mordigian's death, Saladin succeeded him as the new commander of the allied forces.
As he spoke, the eyes of more than five hundred level-seven wizards on the surrounding platform all turned to him.
“The reason is simple.” Saladin raised his right hand, which was wrapped in a shroud, and drew a line in the air. A semi-transparent battlefield map unfolded. “In the first battle, we amassed over 1.5 million main forces and launched a surprise attack before the enemy's defenses were fully formed. The result…”
He pointed his finger, and a string of blood-red numbers appeared on the chart:
"Our losses: 3.7 billion for cannon fodder units below level 3, 620 million for level 4, and 89 million for level 5. The loss rate for level 6 cannon fodder units is 12%, and the loss rate for level 7 cannon fodder units is 3%."
"The number of wizards lost is as follows: 1,300 level 3 wizards, 127 level 4 wizards, 344 level 5 wizards, 209 level 6 wizards, and 1 level 7 wizard."
The final number made the faces of all the wizards present even more somber.
A level seven wizard is an absolute high-end combat force in any faction.
Training a level seven wizard takes thousands of years and consumes enough resources to build a new plane.
In what should have been a "probing attack," they actually lost a level seven Mordigian, who was also one of their commanders!
"And what about the enemy's losses?" Saladin continued scrolling through the charts. "According to battlefield monitoring and curse feedback statistics, the Noren Workshop's losses of cannon fodder below level three were about 60% of ours, level four cannon fodder about 50%, and level five cannon fodder about 40%. As for the losses of the wizards themselves... seventeen level six wizards, not to mention level five and below."
“In other words,” Saladin withdrew his hand, his eyes beneath the shroud scanning the entire scene, “we fought a battle with even greater casualties that achieved no tactical objectives—we failed to break through their lines, cripple their manpower, or even delay their construction progress.”
He paused, his voice growing even colder:
"Currently, the Norren Workshop's defensive lines and super-massive composite magic array are over 45% complete, and are continuing to improve at a rate of approximately 0.8% per hour. What do you all think our losses would be if we launched a second or third frontal assault? And what would we gain in return?"
silence.
A suppressed silence.
A few seconds later, a level seven wizard from the Chaos Cult broke the silence. His body was covered in writhing tumors, and his voice sounded like multiple voices overlapping:
"Lord Saladin is right. But have you considered... why is Norren Workshop going to such lengths to delay?"
He stood up and pointed in the direction of the Norren Workshop defense line on the situation map:
"Such a frantic construction of defensive lines, such a meticulous organization of defenses, and even the acceleration of construction speed after our retreat! This is clearly buying time for some 'long-term preparation' contingency plan!"
"If we stop attacking now, it's tantamount to letting the other side play their trump card. When they reveal their true colors, won't we be even more passive?"
These words resonated with many wizards.
"That's right! The other side is stalling for time, they must be preparing some kind of powerful strategic witchcraft, or setting up a super-large ritual array!"
We cannot stand idly by!
"We must maintain pressure and prevent their preparations from proceeding smoothly!"
But dissenting voices immediately arose:
"Continue to apply pressure? With what means? By using the lives of us wizards to fill the void?"
A level seven wizard from the Tower of Annihilation retorted coldly:
"Gentlemen, war is not a matter of venting anger. If we rashly launch a continuous offensive without knowing what the enemy's trump cards are, how powerful they are, or when they can be completed, we will only continue to deplete our own strength."
"Moreover..." he emphasized, "Don't forget, both of our factions have their own 'trump cards' in the works. Norren Workshop has a trump card, so why don't we?"
"Once both sides have revealed their cards, it will be two against one! I refuse to believe that we can lose when two against one!"
"Indeed, with the trump cards we've prepared, if we succeed, the fortress complex will be nothing to worry about!"
"Does a two-on-one situation guarantee a win?"
Another voice broke in, this time from a female sorceress of the Chaos Cult. Half of her face was as beautiful as an angel's, while the other half was rotting to the bone: "How can you make a 'two-on-one' judgment without knowing what their trump card is? What if Norren Workshop is preparing some kind of forbidden magic that can instantly change the course of the battlefield? What if their trump card is completed faster than ours? What if..."
"enough."
Saladin's hoarse voice interrupted the increasingly heated argument.
He slowly stood up, his gray eyes beneath the shroud sweeping over every wizard present.
"Gentlemen, arguing won't solve anything."
He raised his hand and unfolded a more detailed battlefield analysis map in the air.
This presentation showcases the energy fluctuation distribution map of a high-level wizard from the Norn Workshop.
“I’ve been observing throughout the battle just now.” Saladin’s finger traced several areas on the map. “The Norren Workshop sent a total of 388 level-7 wizards. But according to pre-battle intelligence, the total number of level-7 wizards they entered this plane should be 417.”
"That means twenty-nine level seven wizards... have disappeared."
His finger then moved to the sixth-level wizard's data panel:
"Similarly, there are about 6,600 level-6 wizards participating in the battle, but the total number of those entering should be around 7,100—about 500 fewer."
This data caused all the wizards present to squint.
"At first, I thought these missing high-ranking wizards were hiding inside the fortress complex, responsible for manipulating some large defensive arrays, or preparing some contingency plan that required high secrecy."
Saladin's voice was calm and unwavering:
"But after the battle began, I specifically used 'wide-range soul detection' and 'existence scanning' to scan the entire Norren Workshop defense area seven times."
He paused, then slowly said:
"The results are confirmed—those missing high-ranking wizards are not inside the defensive line."
Dead silence.
Then came a gasp of realization.
Those present were all level seven wizards, whose wisdom and experience far surpassed that of ordinary people.
Having heard Saladin speak to this point, they fully understood the meaning behind his words.
“Not within the defensive line…” a wizard from the Chaos Cult murmured, “It seems our failure to break through the defenses was also beyond their expectations…”
“That’s right!” A wizard from the Tower of Annihilation sneered. “These wizards must have left the main force beforehand and are hiding in some corner of this abandoned plane, carrying out some kind of ‘trump card deployment’ that can only be safely implemented far from the main battlefield!”
"No wonder Norren Workshop is so desperately stalling for time! Their real main force isn't even on the defensive line! Those fortifications, those turrets, those cannon fodder troops... are all just a 'decorative' tactic to buy time for their real main force!"
"This also explains why Norren Workshop was so 'aggressive' in building its defenses... They probably didn't even expect the defenses to hold so well. The original plan was for the defenses to only delay us for a few days before being breached. But now, due to various unforeseen circumstances, the defenses have held, disrupting their plans..."
The wizards analyzed the situation rapidly, their eyes growing brighter and brighter.
Saladin nodded, confirming their speculation:
“That’s right. The high-level wizards who disappeared from Norren Workshop never intended to participate in the frontal defense from the beginning. They left the main force and hid in other areas to carry out preparations that required a long time and could not be disturbed.”
"And now, because the defenses have unexpectedly held, they face a dilemma..."
He held up one finger:
"First, interrupt the deployment, immediately return to the defensive line, participate in the defense, and at the same time deploy new trump cards inside the defensive line. But the cost of doing so is that all the previous preparations will be in vain."
He then raised his second finger:
"Second, we'll grit our teeth and continue setting up, gambling that the defense line can hold out until they finish."
"What do you all think those old foxes at Norren Workshop will choose?"
The answer is self-evident.
The reason why Norren Workshop, Chaos Cult, and Tower of Annihilation were able to come together was because the three wizarding forces were roughly at the same level in high-level technology.
This means that even if the opponent has unique trump cards, their preparation time won't be much faster than ours.
In such a race against time, the sudden loss of so much time, especially the crucial preliminary setup time, could even lead to a hasty interruption of the setup, potentially damaging the materials used in the ritual or magic array.
With such a high cost, the other party's choice doesn't even require much thought.
“They will continue,” a wizard from the Chaos Cult said in a deep voice. “This level of trump card deployment cannot be easily interrupted once it begins. Moreover, we are also deploying our own trump cards, and we are all working in sync. If they stop now, it would be tantamount to voluntarily giving up this trump card, and they will be at a significant disadvantage in the subsequent decisive battle.”
(End of this chapter)