Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1458 Have we finally waited for you?
The dawn light pierced through the dissipating smoke, casting pale, long shadows across the scorched earth. At the edge of Black Iron Town, where the Blackblade Legion's camp once stood, only twisted metal wreckage, collapsed fortifications, and embers flickering in the wind remained. The acrid smell of sulfur, gunpowder, and the heavy stench of blood permeated the wasteland, occasionally punctuated by the muffled groans of the wounded or the flapping wings of crows pecking at corpses. Silent soldiers of the Holy War Army moved through the ruins, collecting weapons, gathering prisoners, and extinguishing the remaining fires.

Commander Kailo stood on a slightly elevated slope on the outskirts of the camp, the wind whipping his dust-covered outer robe. He looked down at the ravaged battlefield, his gaze sweeping over the twisted corpses of winged serpents, then over the defensive fortifications torn apart by explosions, and finally settling on the distant horizon—where the silhouette of the Cloud Whale Sky Island was gradually disappearing into the bright light, leaving only a few wisps of thin clouds.

The plan was executed almost perfectly: the air power of the Spellbreaker phalanx was destroyed by Miss Alice's mech force, the Armybreakers were suppressed to the edge of the battlefield by the Cloud Whales, and the Citybreakers were never able to set foot on the main battlefield. The Black Blade Legion, like a caged beast with its claws removed, struggled helplessly in his carefully woven net, ultimately unable to escape death.

The only flaw in this battle was the failure to capture a key enemy figure, depriving the Holy War Army of a crucial bargaining chip. The Black Blade Legion's commander, Pharos, was nothing more than a sycophantic opportunist with mediocre military skills, but a keen sense for escape. Even before the battle was over, he had already fled in panic under the cover of his trusted troops. To the very end, he probably couldn't understand why he, who had marched with such high spirits, intending to wipe out the Imperial Army's major threat in the Atoliga province, had been defeated by a lowly army of mining slaves.

But he would never understand the unwavering light burning in the eyes of these warriors, born of miners, farmers, slaves, and even wanderers, as they fought—a fire that had never been tamed in the blood of the Atorica. It was this fire that had allowed them to hold back the empire's iron hooves in the pioneering wars centuries ago, to drive away the imperial army in the Assyrian holy war a century ago, and to tear through the enemy's defenses tonight.

However, the war of expansion ultimately failed to prevent the land of Atoliga from becoming a new province of the empire. The Assyrian Holy War was merely a difficult search for a ray of light in the darkness. In the final analysis, all the problems stemmed from a lack of sustained momentum. Equipment, weaponry, supplies, and training levels all require years of accumulation, but no matter how much the Holy War army accumulated, it could never catch up with Yaras, a nation that had existed for over a thousand years.

It's a truly disheartening gap.

Just as losing one Blackblade Legion doesn't preclude the Lionheart and Dragonfang Legions; the Imperials are always inexhaustible, like a storm.

Commander Kylo silently calculated the losses and gains of this battle, weighing the next course of action. Before the battle, Cheryl's order was to completely incapacitate the Blackblade Legion, removing a tooth from the Empire's defenses. He had achieved that, and logically, a retreat to the Feather Mine for defense would have been the best course of action. However, Kylo was not satisfied with this gain. He was considering whether he could press his advantage. Even if he couldn't catch up with the remnants of Pharos's army, he should at least capture a few strongholds near Black Iron Town, pushing the front line into the Rocky Mountains. Only in this way could his forces have greater strategic depth in subsequent defensive operations.

But there was one person whose ideas were even more radical than his.

"Lord Carol!"

An excited voice came from not far away. The commander looked up and saw one of the heroes of this war walking towards him, his face beaming with anticipation: "What a resounding victory! I haven't fought this well in a long time! By the way, Commander, should we press our advantage? Let's just wipe out that Lionheart Legion and Dragon Fang Legion too! That way, we'll only have to face the Axis forces, wouldn't the pressure be much less?"

This is a route that even the most optimistic person wouldn't have dared to imagine.

Commander Kailo sighed silently. If the person who made this suggestion had been one of his officers, he would have certainly sent him to mine for two months to sober up. But facing a guest, the taciturn soldier could only patiently explain: "Miss Alice, I understand your feelings, but the Lionheart Legion and Dragon Fang Legion are not comparable to the Black Blade Legion we are facing in this battle. They are the true elite forces of the Yalas Empire, and it is difficult to inflict effective damage through mere ambushes and sneak attacks. In addition, there is another point we must pay attention to."

"Oh? In what way?" Alice's strength lay in her composure; even when contradicted, she didn't get angry or embarrassed, but instead humbly sought guidance. Of course, this was from the commander's perspective. In reality, the genius player simply lacked such cunning; she detested intrigue and backstabbing.

Kylo said, “Every legion in the Imperial Army with an independent number is commanded by a demigod or higher. Elite units like the Lionheart Legion and the Dragon Fang Legion might have two or three; while the Black Blade Legion, though stationed on the border and not highly regarded, should still have at least one. However, I didn’t see that demigod participate in this battle, so it’s impossible that he deserted. Therefore, his current whereabouts is a question that we cannot ignore.”

In fact, Commander Kylo's pre-battle strategic deployment of Cloud Whale Sky Island, besides suppressing the enemy's Breaker formation, also included promptly engaging the enemy after the demigod joined the battle to prevent him from influencing the overall situation. However, this arrangement clearly failed, and Kylo did not feel relieved as a result; instead, he felt quite uneasy.

A demigod's status in the legion is roughly equal to or even slightly higher than that of the legion's commander. They are not allowed to leave their assigned area easily. What reason could possibly lead to him abandoning his post? Or rather, it's not actually abandoning his post, but rather... there's another arrangement?

Alice didn't think the disappearance of a demigod was that serious. Perhaps it was because she had been in contact with the young queen so much that she felt that demigods weren't really that great? The demigod progenitor of Bloodfang, Valenhild, was an old woman who liked to read all kinds of sentimental youth literature. She just couldn't say such things out loud, but everyone on Cloud Whale Sky Island knew it.

Fortunately, after all the hardships and wanderings along the way, the once extremely self-centered and arrogant genius player had finally learned something, such as caution and restraint. Since Commander Kylo had said so, although she was somewhat unwilling, she decided to respect the professional's opinion: "So, we're going to retreat?"

exactly.

Kylo had been considering pushing the battle line into the Rocky Mountain area to gain greater strategic depth for subsequent defensive strategies. This plan required the assistance of the Cloud Whale Sky Island and the mech units. Leaving aside the Sky Island for now, Alice was the commander of the mech units. Perhaps due to her talent, her ability to pilot the new mechs surpassed that of seasoned veterans, and she possessed a keen sense of... or perhaps intuition, in combat. Although relying on intuition to decide strategies was unwise, Kylo still wanted to hear her opinion.

He was about to speak when his expression suddenly froze, a hint of surprise flashing across his usually composed face. Alice blinked, somewhat bewildered, wondering what had caused this commander to lose his composure like this.
In reality, Kylo's experience was far more miraculous than that. Because he heard a voice, not coming from anywhere, but... directly in his mind.

"Please do not be surprised, Lord Kylo."

The voice spoke softly yet firmly: "I am Ovira, Alice's companion, and I am speaking to you now through the power of the Nibelungs."

……

The exit of the sea is just ahead.

If we were to mention the most desolate and uninhabited places in the province of Atoliga, the Dark Cloud Abyss would undoubtedly be the first to come to mind, followed by the Burial Grounds, and then this barren ocean. The name "Interstellar Sea" comes from its ancient memories. Legend has it that after this ocean dried up, the once-mighty deep-sea monsters not only survived but adapted to the terrestrial environment. Their shells hardened like iron, allowing them to burrow through rock formations and become predatory creatures that hunted life in the land-based sea. And this is only one reason why it inspires such fear.

Withered saline surfaces, bottomless rift valleys, towering weathered rock pillars, natural canyons left behind after underwater volcanoes lost their activity, and fierce storms carrying crystalline dust that can corrode metal and even possess magic... Such places are indeed, as rumored, forbidden zones for life.

For centuries, it has stood in the southeastern part of the Atoligarchy landmass, a protective barrier. Those who attempted to cross it, whether small groups of merchants or massive armies, ultimately met only a gruesome end. During the warlord era, an army attempted to march through the inter-sea region and strike at the enemy's rear. In the end, all 30,000 men were swept away by the wind, their bodies solidified by the corrosive salt. To this day, when the sun shines brightly, their statues can still be seen shimmering in the ocean.

Centuries later, another army attempted to repeat history, but not to repeat the mistakes of their predecessors, and they were convinced that they would not suffer the same fate, because they possessed technology far ahead of their time, enough to accomplish this astonishing feat.

Airship formations conducted saturation bombing, clearing all monster hordes and large threat targets along the predetermined route; large-caliber magic cannon arrays were used to physically reshape complex terrain, flattening rock pillars and collapsing the edges of fissures to create passageways for personnel and vehicles; engineering units laid temporary magic-guided tracks, bridging those impenetrable abysses; and heavy transport airship fleets directly transported organized troops, mech units, and even large magic devices to the landing site on the other side of the interstellar sea…

Faced with such a cost-insensitive investment, the Axis Eighth and Eleventh Armies successfully completed the orders issued by the operational command: to complete the assembly and landing of troops within seven operational unit days, deploy formations on the other side of the inter-sea, and then await the signal to be ready to launch an attack on the target at any time.

This was a victory of Western Continent's magical technology over the barbaric and primitive system of the Eastern Continent. If the news reached their homeland, this landing operation would undoubtedly be touted by newspapers and media outlets such as the *Western Continent Times*, the *Lenweting Daily*, or the *Imperial Military Gazette* as the greatest military operation of the new century. This thrilled many officers, but also filled them with doubt: having already accomplished this seemingly impossible landing and established a foothold in the weakest point of the enemy's defenses, why not seize the opportunity to launch an attack instead of waiting for a signal? What exactly was this so-called signal? What was its necessity? More importantly… who initiated it?
The operations command never mentioned it, and most of those in the know remained tight-lipped, with only junior and middle-ranking officers and their soldiers kept in the dark.

But this had nothing to do with Perec, because she had merely informed the operations command of her operational plan. Subsequent operational strategies, including concealing the true objective of the operation from junior officers, were decisions made by the operations command after careful consideration. The Plague Witch disliked war and hated the military even more, so she wouldn't offer any opinions on these matters, as long as the ultimate goal was achieved.

Isn't this a kind of cruelty?
Perhaps she was inherently a cold-hearted person, Perec couldn't help but think. Even her hatred of war and the military wasn't due to an inability to adapt; quite the opposite, it was because she was too accustomed to them, hence her deliberate avoidance. Who was more capable than her of orchestrating a war, overthrowing a civilization, or even orchestrating a massacre that wiped out all life? Her teacher had long seen through her true nature; perhaps that's why she said those things back then?
Survival, competition, mutual destruction, and then elimination... how cruel and ugly they are.

"You must feel the same way, right?" she suddenly spoke, her voice drifting across the vast salt sea, where a patch of greyish-white crystals shimmered in the sunlight. "You hate war too, don't you, Miss Hino Chin Gostaff, descendant of the White Knight?"

"Maybe so."

Beyond the outlet of the sea lay endless sand dunes formed by saline gravel and dried bones. The young knight of the Gostaff family, holding a holy lance and riding her beloved horse, slowly walked towards the army of ten thousand men, her aura as if she were already invincible, even her tone so nonchalant: "But if necessary, I will not run from the war."

"That's why I'm here, it must be different from your reason for being here, right?"

"The Plague Witch of the Witches' Society, the Emerald Hermit of the Garden of Hermits, the vanguard officer of the Eighth and Eleventh Legions, and the culprit behind the fall of the Mikkelsen Corridor—"

The gun blade pointed out, its sharpness chilling: "Miss Perec."

Give me some cats