Free Web NovelChapter 564: Chapter 482: The Cruel Battlefield
"So..."
Saladin withdrew his finger, "They can only gamble, gambling that their defenses will hold, gambling that we won’t find their hidden location so quickly."
He glanced around the room, the corner of his mouth beneath the shroud of death seemed to curl into a cold arc:
"So, how should we respond to this ’expectation’?"
After a brief silence, a Tier Seven Wizard from the Chaos Secret Sect spoke excitedly:
"Take the initiative, locate their hidden position, and destroy it before they can play their trump card!"
"Correct, but not complete." Saladin slowly shook his head, "Finding the hidden location is necessary, but sending a large army to attack outright is too risky... who knows how many traps and defenses those old foxes have set up at their hiding spots?"
"If we engage in a tough battle there, and the main forces from the Nolun Workshop’s defenses seize the opportunity to launch their own attack, we’ll find ourselves in a dilemma of fighting on two fronts."
He paused and revealed the real plan:
"My suggestion is — dual operations."
"Firstly, deploy some Sixth Level Wizards leading mid and low tier forces to conduct ’harassing attacks’ on the Nolun Workshop’s defenses daily. There are three objectives: one is to draw their attention, make them believe we’re still fixated on breaking through the front; two is to ensure they don’t live too comfortably, continuously draining their energy and resources; three is to constantly observe the internal changes within the defenses, preventing any sneaky troop movements or other tricks from the opposition."
"Secondly, and most importantly: extract elite Fifth and Sixth Level Wizards to form reconnaissance squads, radiating outward from our current position."
Saladin’s finger traced sectors on the battlefield situation map:
"Each sector will be assigned three to five reconnaissance squads, each led by a seasoned Sixth Level Wizard, equipped with four to six Fifth Level Wizards skilled in concealment, tracking, and survival."
"Their mission is to find the hidden trump card emplacement of the Nolun Workshop. But at the same time, they themselves... are ’bait.’"
"Bait?" A wizard muttered quietly, immediately grasping his idea.
"Yes, bait." Saladin’s voice grew colder.
The wizards present mostly understood.
If the Nolun Workshop discovers the Alliance Army is searching for their hiding spot, what would they do?
Without a doubt, they would intercept as far from their center as possible, clearing out reconnaissance squads.
And this gives information to the Alliance Army — by calculating the ’death rate’ and ’lost contact rate’ of reconnaissance squads in each sector, they can reverse-engineer to determine where the Nolun Workshop’s interception forces are concentrated.
The heavier the losses of the reconnaissance squads in a direction, the faster they lose contact, indicating the Nolun Workshop has invested most of their intercepting forces in that direction.
And why intercept heavily in that direction?
Because... that direction is close to their true hiding place.
Understanding this plan brightened the eyes of the wizards present.
Simple, yet effective.
"Of course, the cost of doing this is..." Saladin’s voice remained steady, "Even with us Tier Seven Wizards stationed at the back, ready to support at any moment, the death rate for those Fifth Level Wizards acting as ’bait’ could skyrocket to a grim extent."
He paused and added:
"It is conservatively estimated that the survival rate of Fifth Level Wizards participating in reconnaissance missions might not exceed ten percent."
Ten percent.
This number caused some wizards from the Chaos Secret Sect to frown.
Such a death rate is approaching that of the first participation in a Plane War.
The problem is that this is not just any random newcomers who show up every few years; rather, genuine elites who have survived through multiple selections.
But Saladin’s next words made their frowns relax:
"However, thinking from another angle—any Fifth Level Wizard surviving such high-intensity reconnaissance battles, no matter their strength, mentality, or luck, will definitely be qualified for promotion to the Sixth Level. This equates to... using the enemy’s strength to help us filter potential seeds."
"Those who survive will be the true elite. Those who perish... consider it a necessary sacrifice for the war."
Cold but rational.
This is the wizard’s way of thinking.
After a short silence, the Tier Seven Wizards present nodded one after another.
"Agreed."
"Can be executed."
"I agree too."
The High Tier Wizards quickly reached a consensus, and orders were promptly summarized and issued.
Three days later.
Nolun Workshop defenses, Fortress Seven.
After seventy-two continuous hours of construction, the entire iron defense line had completely "come to life."
The energy circuits between over a hundred fortresses were fully interconnected, achieving a completeness of 97% for the colossal composite defense array.
The pale golden shield transformed from its original translucency into a solid amber color, increasing in thickness by five times, and the number of runes flowing across its surface reached twenty times that of when the war started.
Viewed from above, this line of defense was like a golden wall stretching across the gray-white wasteland, emitting an energy fluctuation that made hearts shudder.
Inside the fortress, Clark stood in the newly expanded control room, gazing at the three-dimensional projection sandbox that had expanded five times its original size, with a slight frown.
On the sandbox, the golden area representing their defense line was as solid as a mountain.
But beyond the defense line, especially in the ring area ranging from one hundred to five hundred kilometers away, dense red dots, like locusts, constantly emerged, vanished, and re-emerged.
Those were the "harassment units" dispatched by the Chaos Secret Sect and the Tower of Annihilation.
Their numbers were not many, ranging each time from tens of millions to a few billion, predominantly at Tier Three and Four, with a small number mixed in at Tier Five.
Their tactics were disgusting—not to strong assault head-on, but to disperse into dozens of small teams, approaching the defense line from different directions, quickly launching a few rounds of long-range witchcraft upon entering the edge of turret range, then immediately retreating.
By the time the fortress turrets recharge and aim, they have already fled beyond the optimal range.
If pursuers are sent after them, they fight and retreat, leading the chasing units into a pre-set trap zone.
Previously, even a Sixth Level Wizard fell because of this.
The Nolun Workshop intended support, but as soon as reinforcements were prepared, the other side’s High Level Wizards also made their move in sync.
After all, both sides’ Tier Seven Wizards...and a certain somewhat overqualified Sixth Level Wizard were mutually monitored by the opposing Tier Seven Wizards, making it a situation where pulling one strand affects everything.
And although Nolun Workshop had Clark as a powerful force, overall, they remained at a disadvantage.
If they engaged in battle away from the defense line, the victory odds were concerning.
Moreover, the Wizard orders from the workshop were all about delaying as much as possible; initiating the total war in advance was not a rational choice.
Thus, the Seventh Level Wizards could only remain inactive.
But if they ignored the Alliance Army’s Low Level Wizards, they would continue to harass without rest for 24 hours, denying peace to the Wizards on the defense line.
"A classic fatigue warfare."
In the center of the control room, Dionysius Spencer hovered in mid-air, gazing at the red dots on the sandbox, his voice devoid of emotions:
"The enemy knows they can’t overrun us with a direct assault, so they use this exhausting harassment. On one hand, preventing us from constructing in peace, and on the other...I reckon they are testing the response speed of our defense line, seeking possible vulnerabilities."
Clark nodded, but his gaze drifted toward the further outskirts of the sandbox.
There, representing Nolun Workshop’s reconnaissance teams, blue dots were continually clashing, exchanging fire, disappearing with the deep red dots representing enemy reconnaissance units.
The intensity of those battles...was terrifyingly high.
"The reconnaissance battle on the perimeter has been ongoing for two days now." Clark spoke in a low voice, "According to statistics, the encounter frequency of our reconnaissance teams with enemy reconnaissance teams increased by 300% in the past twenty-four hours. Moreover...our combat loss ratio is quite unfavorable."
Dionysius was silent for a few seconds, then slowly said:
"The enemy is searching for our ’hideouts.’"
Clark’s heart tightened.
As one of the core controllers of the fortress defense system, he knew well—that part of the Seventh Level Wizards and five hundred Sixth Level Wizards from Nolun Workshop were not on the defense line.
Where they went was top secret, even the majority of Sixth Level Wizards were not authorized to know.
But everyone could guess that the missing High Tier Wizards were surely involved in crucial "secretive deployment."
And the enemy evidently sensed this and started searching feverishly.
"Our forces are insufficient, with limited units to dispatch. If this continues, even if we prevent them, they can deduce our direction based on the casualties." Clark said in a grave voice.
"Therefore, our dispatched reconnaissance teams have two missions." Dionysius’s voice was calm, "First, to locate a possible enemy ’hideout.’ Second...to intercept and clear enemy search forces as comprehensively as possible, striving to delay their discovery of our hideouts."
"However, this will sharply elevate the intensity of battles in this area."
As if to confirm his words...
At the edge of the sandbox, a blue dot representing one of our reconnaissance teams flickered violently after being besieged by three deep red dots, then...
Went out.
That meant an elite Fifth Level Wizard...had fallen.
Dionysius Spencer turned his head to his seemingly overly composed junior brother: "If I recall correctly, your two students volunteered for the battle, didn’t they? Don’t you worry about them?"
"They’re quite talented; losing them would be a pity."
Clark, expressionless, nodded: "No issue, they all possess revival tools."
Dionysius Spencer, initially intending to console his junior brother, was surprised into silence upon hearing this.
He tried to speak but hesitated, arranging his words...
Finally, he clicked his tongue, overwhelmed with a sour taste, and left the room.
On the sandbox, another blue dot was extinguished within the deep red encirclement.
But immediately, new blue dots flew out from the defense line, resolutely heading toward the bloodstained outskirts.
