Arknights' Lock of Heaven

"I underestimated you and took war too lightly."

He took a deep breath at this point, "I may have been a little too complacent in the past."

He was very composed.

As it turned out, Boris's intuition was correct, so he readily admitted his mistake.

"Putting everything else aside, your attitude alone is far superior to that good-for-nothing Nikola's," Jonathan laughed. "But a natural disaster... are you sure your men will maintain their morale and continue the attack after they know this news?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Franz frowned and asked. "We all know what the consequences will be if the mission fails. It's just a matter of dying now or suffering a fate worse than death in a few days."

"Moreover, most soldiers are not good at distinguishing between the situation in the camp and a natural disaster, and the few who can are often swayed by others."

"If this ship really falls into the hands of the Patriots, death would probably be a blessing for us."

This disrupted the plans that the dukes had been developing for so long, causing all their efforts to go to waste. No matter how promising he was, he was doomed to die.

The future is promising, but there still needs to be a future.

“Yes, we know, we know it better than anyone,” Jonathan nodded, then said, “but you still don’t know your soldiers well enough.”

"Just because we know doesn't mean they know. Just because we will be purged doesn't mean they will all be killed."

Upon hearing this, Franz's expression stiffened.

"For the soldiers below, the looting we promised is gone, and those who reach out will be executed on the spot. What was supposed to be a false natural disaster has become real, and everyone could die at any moment."

"Where does morale come from in this situation?"

“You wouldn’t normally overlook this kind of problem,” Jonathan shook his head, “but you’re still panicking.”

Franz lowered his head completely.

Even without hearing it in person, just sitting in the command vehicle, he could imagine how his soldiers were feeling.

If they could, they would definitely kill themselves without hesitation.

That was a natural disaster...

“But you can get better with practice,” Jonathan took the communicator from his hand. “As long as you survive, you’ll gain experience.”

“I am Major Jonathan. As you all know, we were fooled by that damned Mayor Cheprini!”

Upon hearing this, Franz looked up in surprise.

"They promised there wouldn't be any natural disasters, but as everyone has seen, the bodies of our brothers in those newly discovered camps are proof!"

"They deceived us!"

"Now, natural disasters could strike at any moment, and we must begin to struggle immediately!"

"To survive, we must take over the ship in front of us!"

"Everyone was wondering why the ship stopped. Now we know."

"They have messengers of natural disasters; they know exactly when and where the disasters will strike! That's why they dare to stay put and wait for the disasters to crush us!"

"In order to survive, we must get close to that ship as quickly as possible, capture it, and rescue our brothers on the warships behind."

"Only in this way can we survive the natural disaster. With the supplies from that ship, we can survive after the disaster and go back to Chepulini to settle this score with that cunning mayor!"

"Therefore, all crews, listen to my command: go full speed ahead and get as close to that ship as possible at all costs! Only by getting there can we survive!"

After delivering his impassioned speech, Jonathan turned off the communicator and tossed it to Franz.

"Kid, you do have a lot of potential, but there are still some things you need to learn."

"The first thing is to never let your subordinates turn their guns on you. Don't fight against your soldiers. You need to find someone to take the blame and let them take the fall for you."

"As for whether the person who took the blame lives or dies, you have to survive first before you can think about that."

"Secondly, soldiers on the battlefield are never rational. Don't expect them to be able to reason like students in school. Under the pressure of life and death, few people have the leisure to reason with you. They just need a leader to tell everyone what to do."

"Third, speeches are very useful, as long as you use them in the right place."

"Fourth, the facts are not important; how you interpret the facts is what matters. We all know that natural disasters cannot be real, but compared to explaining to soldiers an enemy that even we don't understand, natural disasters are more likely to motivate them."

For example, it's true that disaster messengers can predict when disasters will occur, but to be able to pinpoint the exact time and location of the disaster is pure nonsense.

But when faced with the threat of natural disasters, if you say that, everyone has to believe you.

What else? Just wait to die?

"I've learned a lot," Franz nodded upon hearing this, and said sincerely, "It seems that I do have many shortcomings. I hope that you will be willing to guide me in the same way if I make mistakes in the future."

"Hahaha, not bad, not bad," Jonathan laughed loudly, "With this attitude, you're a hundred times better than that piece of trash Nicholas!"

Franz's attitude did indeed make him secretly pleased, after all, his family background and the treatment he received as a rising star were genuine.

It feels really good to have someone like that humble themselves and ask for my advice.

Seeing that the cars outside the window seemed to speed up after Jonathan's words, Franz secretly made up his mind.

There is still a lot I need to learn.

-

"W, say something!"

Orville, deck.

W leaned against the railing, resting his chin on his hand, watching the small black dot gradually approaching from behind the Orville, without saying a word.

The mercenaries behind her were extremely anxious.

"Those two warships have already started moving! Their vanguard is only four kilometers away from us, they'll be right in front of us soon. Where are the Patriots' troops? Where are they?"

"What's the rush?" W turned around and glared at Fariad. "I'm not even in a rush, why are you?"

“If we don’t hurry, we’re going to die here,” Yan Ke said, frowning.

“Don’t you know they don’t? How many times has that person’s plan gone wrong?” W replied, “Just stay here and watch.”

"...So you finally admit it?" Hearing this, Yan Ke's eyes widened as he said, "She's still here, isn't she!"

"That person? Who is he?" Fariad and the mercenaries standing to the side were all stunned.

"Was it the evil spirit of the Tower of Babel who orchestrated this operation?" Yan Ke ignored them and continued to press, "No wonder you've been so secretive."

"What?! That evil spirit is still alive?!"

"It wasn't about being with Princess Theresa..."

"This is a good thing, right? If she's alive and planned this operation, then we should be fine, right?"

The shadow of a tree reflects a person's name; the infamous evil spirit of the Tower of Babel left such a deep impression on the Sarkaz.

The mercenaries fell silent instantly.

With his back to them, W breathed a sigh of relief.

Ha, what bastard did that?

It was all made up by myself.

But if you don't take action soon, I really can't hold on any longer.

-

“We’re almost there,” Xia Yu said, looking at the location of the two warships. She nodded to Froststar and Anton, then reached out and picked up a base plate.

These base plates contain the entire spell of the [Simulated Gaia - Spiritual Particle Environment Modification System], totaling 360 base plates, and the magic circuits have been fully connected.

"Then let their lives lay the foundation for the revival of the snowfield."

"Gaia Simulation - Spiritual Particle Environment Modification System, activated!"

The moment the vast magical power was input into the system, a semi-transparent spherical barrier, visible to the naked eye, suddenly appeared within a four-kilometer radius of the Ural warship.

Of course, this is not a barrier, but simply a procedure initiated to regulate the huge temperature difference between the inside and outside caused by a sudden drop in internal temperature.

It has no defensive capabilities, but it can give you a literal experience of extreme contrasts between fire and ice.

As the spell was activated, the speed of the two warships that were moving at full speed visibly slowed down.

389 were completely wiped out?

Boris was very anxious.

Given his personality, he would never put himself in danger.

However, he ultimately succumbed to greed and accepted the Grand Duke's invitation, rising to become a general in the Sixth Army.

From that point on, he was no longer the Boris who could always escape danger unscathed.

He originally thought that since Ursus couldn't fight any more wars in the next few years, he could become a general in the newly formed Sixth Army, earn a good reputation, and then retire.

But who could have predicted that the situation would change so quickly?

Things are unpredictable.

Take this attack, for example, which should have been a sure thing, but so many unexpected things happened along the way...

Thinking of this, he felt a chill run down his spine, then reached out and wrapped his coat tighter around himself, peering intently through the glass curtain wall of the command room at the distant Orville.

As long as I can get there, as long as I can destroy it... my mission will be accomplished...