Alice in the Land of Steam

To everyone's surprise, the first to launch an attack was the 17th Army Corps, which was besieged in the city. A small squad launched a surprise attack while the defenders were off guard, destroying the fortifications under construction before retreating. Subsequently, similar incidents continued to occur, and Major General Andrei unusually displayed a strong aggressiveness, seemingly trying to disrupt the rebels' operations and create an advantage for his side while they were still establishing a foothold.

This was extremely disadvantageous for the insurgents. Although General Franz Sander's original strategy was to wage a war of attrition, he needed to maintain control of the situation. In other words, the insurgents had to decide when to attack, where to attack, and at what frequency, while the 17th Army could only passively respond. Now, the situation was reversed, and the insurgents were now caught in a dilemma.

The fundamental reason was that the Seventeenth Legion relied on the city of Suarez for defense. The towering and sturdy fortress not only served as an insurmountable barrier in itself, but the magical field covering the entire city also made the defenders inherently invincible. Another reason General Franzson chose to postpone the offensive was to find the weakness in the magical field. Only by breaking through the enemy's field device first could a frontal assault be feasible.

Major General Andrei sensed his intentions and responded promptly. Moreover, during the brief period of mutual probing, he made an unexpected decision: to drive the poor people who originally lived in the suburbs towards the rebel army's positions. The influx of a large number of poor people caused a brief period of chaos in the rebel positions. Although people were quickly arranged to resettle them, this was not a task that could be completed in a short time, and the rebel offensive would be delayed for some time.

Driving the old, weak, and disabled out of the city, and even intentionally guiding them to attack enemy positions, was still an extremely dishonorable tactic, even in the feudal and backward Eastern Continent, but it was not invented by humans. Long ago, in the ancient times, many races fought endlessly for the authority of the continent's overlord. In a war between the Dust Elves and the Mirror Elves, the former not only drove the old, weak, and disabled out of the city, but even attempted to use the flesh and blood of their people to fill the sea and create land, building a path to attack the enemy lines; the latter showed no mercy, creating giant waves that submerged all the driven-in old, weak, and disabled, and using the power of storms to sweep the bodies of the dead into the sky, causing them to fall into the enemy's city and demoralize them.

That was undoubtedly the most desperate way to die in the world—abandoned by one's own kind and crushed by the enemy, living like an ant and dying as dust, utterly insignificant. This war also overturned people's conventional understanding of the elven race. When even the noble and elegant elves had to compromise with war, you would understand that so-called humanity was nothing more than the self-righteousness of mortals. They were always determined by external factors, not by their own will.

However, it must be said that this is indeed the best option under the current circumstances. Major General Andrei made a cold-blooded decision based on rationality. The essence of war is an art of resource allocation; therefore, everything that cannot be a resource will be eliminated, including people—or rather, especially people.

These elderly, weak, and sick remnants remaining in the city not only waste resources but also pose the greatest destabilizing factor. They might even be incited by the rebels, creating chaos and causing trouble for the defenders. A leaflet, a slogan, or even a suggestive glance could ignite the fuse of despair. However, Andrei cannot bring himself to slaughter them for something that hasn't even happened yet. Even a group of poor people living on the outskirts could trigger panic and resistance among the city's inhabitants, which would be detrimental to a siege battle requiring the unity of the army and the people.

Therefore, he decided to throw the problem to the enemy, like throwing a hot coal to someone's throat. This was undoubtedly the best solution, and the rebels had no choice but to accept it. Their aim was to liberate the Ansers region and bring freedom and peace to its people. From the very beginning, they had firmly tied their interests to those of the people, thus gaining popular support and prestige. To this day, this remains the rebels' most valuable asset, and as long as they wish to establish a new order after the war, they cannot afford to squander it. Refusing to accept the impoverished people they had driven there and allowing them to become victims of the war would be a huge blow to the rebels' reputation, and could even trigger internal conflicts. Regardless of others, the Eagle of Grayhill absolutely could not afford to ignore this decision.

Andrei didn't care. After all, the rule of the colonizers never relied on popular support or prestige, only on a strong hand. Under the eagle emblem of the empire, only the power of iron and blood was believed.

"It's like he's a completely different person."

After Countess Neville returned, she said to Ling and Xinuo, "I've never seen him use so many methods before. More importantly, he actually dared to use them. It's astonishing."

Commissioned by the Eagle of Gray Hill, she infiltrated enemy territory to conduct reconnaissance, primarily to locate the core of the enemy's magical barrier. Since the two armies engaged in battle, the magical barrier of Suarez City has been operating day and night, with a semi-transparent celestial field centered on Suarez City, covering an area of ​​nearly a hundred kilometers in radius, and even reaching the rebel army's encampment.

This is a defensive system constructed from four large force field devices. The [Ether Defense Force] appears as a thick, solid, liquid-like blue energy beam that shoots upwards from the focuser, spreading outwards like an umbrella hundreds of meters in the air. Countless fine blue energy threads extend from the diffusion point in all directions, making the area covered by the force field resemble a light blue rain. These raindrops are actually visualized magical factors condensed in a high-energy state. Due to the expansion of internal magical power, they have gained the ability to influence physical matter. They primarily weaken or even disintegrate physical attacks from a distance, such as arrows, cannonballs, or catapult-launched projectiles, through energy resonance.

The [Magic Interference Field], shaped like a spire, stands tall in the very center of Suarez City Square, soaring into the clouds. Its main body is constructed from deep blue magical energy, so highly condensed that it appears as transparent and solid as crystal to the naked eye. Low-energy magical energy converges at the spire, forming a deep and twisted vortex. Compared to the abundant energy contained in high-energy magical energy, low-energy magical energy is characterized by settling and solidification. When a large-scale magical energy fluctuation is detected within its range, the low-energy magical energy vortex will attempt to interfere with this magical energy, even converting it into part of itself. This is primarily aimed at demigods and above, and powerful relics. As for the remaining two types of field devices, they are the [Resonance Amplification Field] and the [Magic Detection Field]. These are the semi-transparent domes that cover the entire city of Suarez, visible to the naked eye. Their functions are quite simple. The former mainly amplifies the energy output and stability of one's own forces. Within the field's range, all magically powered machinery, including magical machine guns, magical turrets, constructs, and magical vehicles, will have their energy frequencies increased by one to two levels. The increase may not be significant for individuals, but it is undoubtedly a terrifying boost when viewed as a whole. The latter, as the name suggests, detects and investigates abnormal magical fluctuations within the field's range, ensuring that no high-threat target can infiltrate one's own camp to carry out a decapitation strike. It also has another hidden effect: by stimulating spirituality, it amplifies the mental defense capabilities of all humanoid individuals within the range to resist mind control, illusions, and mental attacks from the outside world.

This was a lesson learned from past experience. In the early stages of the colonial wars, due to a lack of understanding of superhumans, the Axis powers' war plans against them were based on the mages of the Western Continent. However, compared to mages, superhumans were not only physically stronger, but their supernatural abilities were also far more unpredictable and difficult to defend against. Therefore, there were frequent cases of demigods or higher-level superhumans using their immense power to infiltrate Axis forces, decapitate key targets, and then casually leave. Furthermore, some superhumans and relics possessed abilities targeting the mind and spirit, which was the Axis forces' greatest weakness, difficult to compensate for with armor and fortresses. Historically, there have even been instances of entire armies being controlled by strange mental abilities, turning on each other and resulting in total annihilation. Since then, protection against the mind and spirit has become an essential part of the Axis forces' operations.

It's worth noting that the extraordinary individual who used psychic abilities to control the army belonged to Sequence 2 of the [Poet] pathway, the [Psychic Writer], ranking among the Angels. The Psychic Writer's extraordinary ability, [Opening], allows them to designate an emotion, such as fear, anger, or sadness, to create a script. Those within range most susceptible to this emotion are more likely to act according to the script. Combined with the [Emotional Resonance] trait gained upon reaching demigod status through the Poet pathway, this not only allows them to manipulate their own emotions at will but also to influence others with them. These two abilities complement each other, making this ability virtually impossible to defend against.

But perhaps the creators' thought processes are unconventional. After committing this massacre, the angel not only failed to keep a low profile but also openly provoked the cult alliance. Her arrogant behavior attracted the attention of a saint within the alliance, who dispatched a large army to annihilate her. Not long after, news of her demise arrived. This was the first high-sequence transcendent to fall since the outbreak of the colonial war. From then on, those demigods who thought their sequence level was high enough to be unaffected by mortal wars realized that the Axis powers' armies indeed possessed the power to kill them. They retreated to command from behind the scenes, and no one dared to appear on the front lines. This was one of the reasons why the Allied forces had suffered repeated defeats for many years.

However, these are all digressions. Currently, no one in the rebel army possesses any mental abilities. Therefore, the most troublesome aspect of this [Magic Detection Field] is its detection capability. As the ruler of the night and the race most adept at stealth operations, Countess Neville was discovered as soon as she got a little closer. If she hadn't run fast enough, she might have already become a sitting duck for the magic turrets on the city wall. Even a demigod-level vampire would not fare well against the bombardment of more than a dozen magic turrets.

In addition, the physical weakening of the [Ether Defense Field], the magical interference of the [Magic Interference Field], and the power amplification of the [Resonance Amplification Field] are all absolute weapons of war. Under the defense of these four field devices, Suarei City, while not indestructible, is at least strong enough to withstand enemies several times its size. The only drawback is that maintaining the operation of all four field devices simultaneously requires a massive amount of magic power. It's unknown how many magic crystals Suarei City has stored to support such a level of consumption.

However, considering that the original duty of the 17th Legion stationed in the Ansers region was to supply the central battlefield, and now that the supply channels have been cut off by the rebels, those supplies cannot be transported out and are piling up in the warehouses of Suarez City. It must be a considerable amount. Hoping that the enemy's magic crystal reserves will run out and the force field device will collapse on its own is still somewhat idealistic.

No wonder General Franz Sand adopted a conservative strategy, prioritizing probing and reconnaissance in the early stages to pinpoint the location of the enemy's core force field device. He was well aware that without eliminating the magical force field enveloping Suarez, the war was far from secure, and even if victory was ultimately achieved, it would likely be a Pyrrhic one. Conversely, eliminating even just one of the force field devices would trigger a chain reaction, infinitely expanding their advantage and leaving the enemy with no chance to resist.

It is likely that Major General Andrei in Suarez understood this principle better than General Franz Sand, which is why he took the initiative to attack, contrary to usual practice.

“If he had done this sooner, he wouldn’t have been forced into this situation.” Neville commented on the major general: “It’s a common human failing that people only change when they are driven to desperation.”

Ling and Xinuo exchanged a glance, thinking that perhaps not. Major General Andrei might not have been driven to desperation, but rather, he might have seen hope, which was why he made the change. Whether it was sending men to attack the rebels' still-under-construction fortifications, driving away the old, weak, and disabled to delay the rebels' advance, or operating the magic barrier at full power 24 hours a day despite the enormous magical energy consumption... all these decisions subtly reflected one fact: he was stalling for time.

Can delaying the inevitable lead to victory? Or, under what circumstances can delaying the inevitable lead to victory?
The answer is already obvious. (End of Chapter)