Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1311

On the fifth day of the siege of Suarez, the situation entered a stalemate.

Taking advantage of the rebels' lack of air superiority, Major General Andrei and his adjutant, Krisius, dispatched a hastily assembled airship legion, hoping to halt the enemy's advance and hold out until reinforcements arrived. However, a rock whale, suspected to be a secret weapon of the rebels, suddenly appeared on the battlefield and, in a manner hardly worthy of being called a battle, destroyed all the airships, rendering the Seventeenth Legion's counterattack futile.

Having witnessed the annihilation of the airship force, Major General Andrei displayed astonishing decisiveness, immediately ordering the remaining troops to withdraw from the battlefield and return to defend Suarez, abandoning both the third and second lines of defense outside the city. The insurgents, their morale soaring, launched a fearless assault on the nearby capital of Gray Hill, ultimately halting their advance beyond the high, sturdy city walls.

The closer one gets to the core defense zone, the more heavily fortified the enemy's defenses become. Magic-powered turrets are mounted on the city walls, and rapid-fire magic machine guns are hidden in the towers and bastions. The cold barrels of magic cannons gleam in the firing ports of the crenellations, ready to fire. All these weapons are incredibly efficient killing machines, reaping lives faster than a sickle harvesting wheat during the busy farming season. In addition, the four force field devices that cover the entire city of Suarez also form an invisible wall, indirectly but more effectively resisting the rebel army's offensive through weakening, amplifying, interfering with, and detecting attacks.

The Dark Knights, Pale Knights, Mountain Falcon Knights, and Scorching Flame Mage Order all suffered heavy casualties in the protracted battle of the past few days. General Franzand's few remaining established legions with extraordinary power consist only of the Iron Guards as heavy armor units, the hastily assembled unified forces, and the Ice Curtain and Wind Howl mage orders.

The Iron Guardians are too cumbersome and better suited for frontal assaults and small-scale skirmishes; no one would use them for conquering cities and territories. The Unified Forces are temporary units drawn from the Liberator Front, Adventurers' Guild, mercenaries, and even church believers, drawn from units with extraordinary abilities to carry out special missions. Even their commander is temporary—the mysterious Miss Neville, who calls herself a vampire countess. Although they are not weak in combat, they lack teamwork and are lucky if they can even cooperate to complete missions; don't expect too much from them. As for the Ice Curtain and Wind Howling Mage Corps, their elemental magic, inherited from shamanistic doctrine, is incredibly destructive and might be able to shake the defenses of the field device, but only if they can cast spells covertly without being interrupted.

The reason the Scorching Flame Mage Corps was able to successfully cast spells earlier was because the battlefield was still on the outskirts, not yet deep within the core area covered by the force field devices. Moreover, even if they had detected it, aside from the construct units, the enemy had no other long-range ability to interfere with spellcasting. However, within the sensitive area near the city walls, the force field devices operate much more efficiently. Once the intense magical fluctuations generated by the mage corps' spellcasting are detected, both magic turrets and magic cannons can instantly interrupt them with overwhelming fire, potentially putting both mage corps in danger. This is hardly a worthwhile trade for the rebels.

Thus, the war turned into a brutal war of attrition. Major General Andrei was betting that the insurgents would be unable to break through the defenses of the force field in a short time, and that their morale would be low, forcing them to retreat or stall until reinforcements arrived. General Franzson was betting that the resources in Suarez were not sufficient to support the four force field devices operating at full capacity 24 hours a day. His opponents were maintaining the situation in a dangerous, tightrope-walking manner, and once the balance was lost, any small accident could become a decisive breakthrough: perhaps it was just a soldier's drowsiness, a craftsman's negligence, or even the growing unease and panic among the city's residents...

Human life is the stake, and victory is the wager.

……

Today, Hino didn't go to help at the field hospital. Instead, he stood alone on a high ground overlooking Suarez City, silently watching the rebel army launch another attack on the towering city walls. This wasn't a decisive charge, merely a routine harassment. Perhaps accustomed to the dominant role of supernatural power in wars between nations, the Eastern Continent's siege tactics were unbelievably backward. Even though frequent battles with the Western Continent had exposed them to modern warfare concepts, their siege tactics and weaponry gave Hino the illusion of being transported back to the era of Joan of Arc.

Square formations, muskets, shield carts, makeshift ladders, explosives, trenches, makeshift positions… these weapons and tactics, which looked utterly outdated to Hino, constituted the main force of the rebel army's siege. Soldiers, in dense ranks, charged towards the scorched earth and the invisible barrier at the officers' commands, assaulting the massive, gray wall. Infantrymen, wielding outdated muskets already obsolete in the Western Army, attempted to close the distance to effective firing range under the cover of their comrades, trying to kill the enemy forces deployed in the fortresses and bastions. However, the firepower unleashed by the enemy soldiers' repeating magic machine guns suppressed them completely.

The most advanced weapons available to the rebel soldiers were magical tanks and magic rifles captured from the enemy. As for the few manipulators that weren't completely destroyed after crashing, they were abandoned because their complex designs meant no one knew how to operate them. In the end, they simply removed the small magic cannons from their shoulders and used them as artillery. The remaining parts were scattered and used either as temporary components for magic rifles, to repair damage to tanks, or simply melted down and recast.

In terms of tactics, strategy, and weaponry, it was a one-sided rout. Yet, the rebels managed to maintain a stalemate with the defenders, even breaching weak points in the city walls at one point. Brotherhood miners, armed with gunpowder, attempted to blast the walls with alchemical fire, at least creating a breach. However, the presence of the ethereal defensive position meant they were doomed to failure. The alchemical fire, capable of splitting mountains and splitting rocks with unparalleled force, only left their own men covered in soot and failed to deliver the astonishing effect it had when bombarding mines. If Earl Greyhill, far away in the capital, knew the outcome of this battle, one wonders if he regretted having forged the walls so sturdily with dark-patterned stone and alloyed steel. But the predicament he faced, having inherited this territory through dishonorable means, was strikingly similar to that of the Seventeenth Legion—both were worried about popular resistance, with all imagined enemies coming not only from the outside but also from within.

Another probing attack failed, and the officer ordered the flag bearers to sound the retreat. The defenders on the city walls, unwilling to let this opportunity to inflict casualties slip by, unleashed their magic-powered turrets, magic cannons, and rapid-fire magic machine guns at maximum power, the resulting barrage enough to flatten a small hill. However, a long, resonant whale cry echoed overhead, and a solemn, imposing shadow suddenly enveloped half the sky above Suarez City. Its fins whipped up a fierce gust of wind, completely extinguishing the enemy's offensive. Moreover, the storm continued its advance, threatening to topple this section of the city wall.

Even though they had witnessed the whale's existence several days prior, the defenders on the city walls were still filled with astonishment and panic. Some cowards even dropped their weapons, crying and fleeing their posts, unwilling to face this colossal creature that only existed in myths and legends. But those who abandoned their weapons and fled, even if they escaped fear, could not escape death; they were executed by the military police stationed at the rear as a warning to others. At the same time, the magical interference field, shaped like a crystal tower, released huge, translucent, ripple-like star-blue energy waves that collided with the storm stirred up by the whale, canceling each other out. It seemed as if nothing had happened; only the billowing dust and the groaning city walls testified to what had just occurred.

The cloud whale was unaware that its single attack had depleted at least a double-digit number of magic crystals in the control room of the magic-powered interference field. Perhaps it knew, but that was its purpose. Having achieved its objective and successfully covered the retreat of its allies, it lingered. Under the shocked or awe-inspiring gazes of the rebel soldiers, it calmly increased its altitude and flew back into the clouds, avoiding the next volley of fire from the magic-powered turrets.

Since arriving at the battlefield, the Cloud Whale Sky Island has remained, hovering high in the sky as a deterrent. Its presence prevented Major General Andrei from recklessly dispatching machine gun and tank units for harassment as he had before. He even had to keep these decimated and hastily replenished units in hand, in case the whale suddenly attacked and his side was unable to provide reinforcements. At this moment, it was the 17th Army Corps that had lost air superiority.

It's no exaggeration to say that this giant whale in the clouds alone tied up at least a third of the city's defenses, allowing the rebel forces to launch wave after wave of probing attacks. Therefore, even though it didn't directly participate in the battle like it had against the airships, the rebel soldiers still felt a sense of pride and gratitude towards it—especially towards the mysterious controller on its back. Hino remained standing on the high ground, silently watching this scene. This attack was over, but the next one wouldn't be far off. According to General Franz Sand's plan, the rebel offensive should be like a tidal wave, wave after wave, giving the enemy no respite. Only by maintaining this intense pressure could they break the enemy's taut nerves, shatter their fighting spirit, and ultimately conquer this fortified city from within.

This is the safest, most efficient, and most controllable tactic in terms of casualties.

However, manageable casualties do not mean there are no casualties. Even with Ietta controlling the Cloud Whale Sky Island to provide cover and intercept, some soldiers still succumb to a bullet, a shell, or even just a misstep. Yet, we all know, and Hino certainly knows, that casualties are not an inevitable consequence of war, but rather a price determined long before it begins. In a sense, without this price, the war would never have started.

This is from a rational perspective.

But the knight of the Gostaff family was a sentimental person. So, when she saw wounded soldiers being carried in and out of the field hospital; when she stood on the high ground and watched the rebels' offensives repeatedly fail; and even when she lay in bed at night, tossing and turning, unable to sleep... she still thought about those faces she had never met. They had never appeared in her memory, yet they were gradually leaving.

Everyone is emotional, but unfortunately, reality is an idealist.

So, that's why there are times when we have to compromise and back down...?

"He's here overseeing the battle again, Hino?"

A slightly teasing voice came from behind. The girl turned around, her snow-white ponytail tracing a graceful arc in the wind, like the moonlight appearing prematurely after dusk. The person in front of her also had long, flowing white hair, but that white was more like a pale white, as if it hadn't been exposed to sunlight for a long time. In the world's stereotypes, vampires—or rather, the vampires of popular legend—naturally abhor and even fear the sun, but who would have known that this countess's one of her few hobbies was sunbathing?

“Miss Neville,” Hino nodded slightly and greeted the newcomer, “You’re back. How did the battle go today?”

She wasn't asking about the siege forces' situation, since that was obvious and clear at a glance.

"Not good." The countess's answer was the same as yesterday, but her face wore an indifferent expression, as if good or bad had nothing to do with her. She was merely accepting a friend's request and doing her bit; as for the outcome of the war, it truly had nothing to do with her. "We were discovered halfway through the infiltration. That so-called magic detection field is really annoying. I didn't even use any power exceeding demigod level, and it locked onto my location beforehand. What a sensitive behemoth. Besides, the team's coordination wasn't very good either; they even argued during the mission, really..."

The Countess chuckled, but refrained from uttering her subsequent assessment, perhaps because it was too harsh. Hino had long heard that at the Gandalf gathering, she had utterly disparaged numerous prominent leaders of the Void Root Swamp, and no one dared to refute her. The Silver-Eyed Countess's confidence stemmed not only from her strength but also from the experience and wisdom accumulated over the years.

"Arguing? Why?" Hino asked curiously.

"What else could it be? It's nothing more than that trivial matter." The countess shrugged rather inelegantly. "When we sneaked into the city from the eastern highlands, we could see the dome of the Gray Hill Cathedral. A member of the Adventurers' Guild, for various well-known reasons, was probably quite dissatisfied with the Church of the Night, so he said a few very unpleasant things. Coincidentally, there was another member of the Church of the Night in the group, and even more coincidentally, he was an extremely devout believer. As for whether he was devout to the church, devout to his faith, or devout to the God of the Night, I don't know. Anyway, they started arguing as expected, and almost came to blows... It's just such a boring little thing, isn't it ridiculous?"

She actually laughed twice, her laughter tinged with contempt and anger. Those who knew the countess well knew that she wasn't as nonchalant and indifferent as she appeared on the surface.

Xinuo remained silent for a long while, then nodded quietly: "It is indeed ridiculous."

Give me some cats