The next day, Tie Fu returned to the Cage Mountain headquarters on the Seagull and went straight to the staff headquarters office.

"How was the trip?" Edith was sitting at the mahogany table, leisurely sipping red tea.

Even though everyone had been working themselves to the bone these days, working until dawn was commonplace, she still maintained a refined image, as if she naturally had more energy and time than others. Even Tie Fu couldn't help but admire this ability.

"Morale is good," he replied briefly.

"Then we can proceed with the next phase of the plan." The Pearl of the North smiled slightly. "By the way, just last night, the garrison of Fine Sand City also withdrew from the defense area."

"Then only Sunken Pond Bay remains..." Tie Fu looked at the large map on the wall.

"I suggest they evacuate as soon as possible and send a unit to meet them, without waiting for a breach in the defense line."

Tie Fu nodded, agreeing with this judgment. The demons gathering from west to east probably already numbered over fifty thousand, a number that would easily surround Sunken Pond Bay. Once the army joined forces, the First Army would likely find it difficult to find a suitable time to retreat.

Since their strategic goal was never about one city or one place, abandoning Sunken Pond Bay early to preserve the army was a logical decision.

Since the enemy launched a massive attack, the evacuation had never stopped. The residents and merchants who originally maintained the city's operations were the first to be transferred out of the city, followed by the noble families and aristocrats who had pledged allegiance to Roland. The city was now just a huge empty shell, and the garrison could move immediately upon receiving orders.

"I... I don't understand..." Agatha, who was flipping through the latest battle reports, suddenly murmured.

"Is there a problem?" Tie Fu walked over to her.

"The difference between the number of casualties and the enemy killed... is as much as thirty times. How is this possible?" Since the four cities had all faced the enemy in the past week, and the reports were sent in batches, they needed to be manually summarized. To prevent miscalculation, she repeatedly checked the calculations in her hand, but the answer remained unchanged.

According to the statistics, the four cities had suffered a total of over 1,500 casualties in the fighting so far, but the number of enemies killed was as high as 50,000. This could only be described as incredible.

In the era of the Union, Agatha would have unhesitatingly believed that this was a deliberate fabrication and false reporting of military achievements, but she had fought with the First Army many times, and the possibility of such a problem occurring under the system of multi-party verification was unlikely. Even if one or two percent of error was disregarded, it would not change the essence.

It should be known that the demon army faced by the First Army during the Northern Expedition to the Fertile Plains was only 20,000! At that time, they relied on hundreds of kilometers of railways to establish fortress after fortress, and it took them nearly a year to achieve the victory of the Battle of Taquila.

And this time, the staff headquarters' strategy was simply to retreat constantly, achieving twice the results of the Fertile Plains in just eight days?

Although she was full of confidence in humanity today, this result still shocked her.

Agatha had thought that this war would be a difficult and protracted one.

"I see," Edith chuckled after reading the ice witch's statistics. "To be honest, the effect of this plan slightly exceeded my expectations. But this is not entirely the credit of the First Army. The cooperation of the demons is also very important. Perhaps that ambush injured Heekzord badly, leaving him with no energy to manage the details of the front line."

"Just that reason?" Agatha said in disbelief.

"I know what you're wondering," Edith waved her hand. "It seems that we only exchanged a few withdrawals for such results, and the combat plan is so simple that it can be summarized in one sentence, but that's not actually the case. You often stayed in the rear during the Union era, so it's normal not to understand—in short, only the current First Army can execute this tactic."

"Not even the First Army that expeditioned the Taquila Ruins?"

"At least not better than now." The Pearl of the North explained, "Retreat and rout are often separated by only a hair's breadth. Maintaining order under great pressure is extremely difficult, let alone an orderly retreat. If it were those noble armies, scattering in all directions would probably be the best they could do. If the First Army hadn't been tested by the Taquila night raid and the previous evacuation teams hadn't shown such strong command execution, I wouldn't have dared to risk implementing this plan."

"In addition, the role of new weapons is also very obvious—at least in the streets and alleys of the city, they can rely on the firepower of general-purpose machine guns and field guns to fight the enemy without the support of fortress artillery. And the biggest advantage of firearms is distance. Once the entire army can be mobilized to always hold the advantage, achieving this result is a matter of course."

Speaking of this, Edith paused. "However, the fact that we have lost the outer defense line is also a fact, so what follows is the key to the whole plan. Once the demons take the four cities, they will definitely start planning the next round of attack, and Cage Mountain is both a barrier and a source of Sun's Radiance raw materials, so the tactic of trading land for people cannot be used forever. We must further reduce their strength before the enemy recovers."

"Red Mist..." Agatha whispered.

"That's right, these four cities are all outside the Red Mist zone, and the demons' dependence on supply lines will definitely increase significantly. The Blood Line is also likely to reappear. And the current front line almost spans the entire Wolf Heart. I don't think they can take care of everything."

"Before the Mist Storage Tower is built, the demons can rely on fortress-type mutated beasts equivalent to small obelisks and manual transportation," Tie Fu added. "Their previous attacks from the flanks all started from the mutated beasts, but according to Lightning and Maisie's observations, after losing a large number of Berserk Demons, their protection of the mutated beasts is not as good as before. In addition, when attacking the four cities, the supply lines of the main force of the demons were all hidden in the Red Mist zone, but next, it will be exposed to the eyes of the First Army."

"The problem is that this means we need to take the initiative," Agatha hesitated. "Fortress-type mutated beasts can move autonomously and are not afraid of the air knights' strafing. To destroy them, we can only send ground troops. But we can see the enemy, and the enemy can see us. Even if the protection of the mutated beasts is reduced, they can send temporary reinforcements—counting the round trip, we may lose the advantage of distance. If we are caught up by the demons..."

In an undisguised encounter, even if the First Army can repel the demons, it will inevitably suffer heavy losses.

"So speed is everything," Edith raised the corners of her mouth. "As long as we complete the counterattack before the enemy can react."

But how can this be done? Agatha turned her gaze to the map, trying to find a shortcut from Cage Mountain to the four cities. There were quite a few roads between the two places, including the former trade routes and the paved roads built later to speed up the evacuation. They spread between the four cities and Cage Mountain like a spider web.

However, these roads did not have the ability to shorten the distance. Not to mention that the First Army had no cavalry units at all, even if there were a large number of horses, it was debatable whether they could catch up with the fortress-type mutated beasts. Moreover, the firepower that light cavalry could carry was limited and not suitable for dealing with those huge monsters.

"Of course, not now," the Pearl of the North seemed to see her confusion. "This plan is still missing a key factor. All the conditions will be met after it is in place. But according to the plan, you will see it soon."