“What exactly is going on?”
Inside the central command tent, the atmosphere was noticeably heavy. Chief Commander Tie Fu stared at the map on the long table, his brows furrowed into a deep ravine. "No red line, no warning signs—did these devils just materialize out of thin air?"
Despite the immediate sounding of the alarm and the First Army's combat units taking their positions, a sense of confusion and unease permeated the group.
This was happening under Sylvie's vigilance. If not for the witches, would there even be a fight? If the enemy could suddenly appear kilometers away, wouldn't they next appear directly inside the camp?
Until this question was resolved, no one could truly relax.
Outside the tent, the fortress cannons, silent for half the evening, roared back to life with earth-shattering booms, their firing rate pushed to its peak—there was no need to conserve ammunition now; the most important thing was to reduce the enemy's manpower as quickly as possible.
"Materializing is impossible," Agatha stated definitively. "Red mist is essential for the devils' survival; that hasn't changed. Otherwise, they would have swept across the entire world long ago. With nearly ten thousand enemies, without a supply red line, they couldn't even operate, let alone fight. Just running here would kill them!"
"According to previous intelligence, the outpost could only support, at most, a thousand devils," Tie Fu mused for a moment. "So, you're saying there's a supply point nearby that the Magic Eye hasn't detected?"
"That's the only explanation—"
"No, there's another possibility," Edith interrupted. "If we can make supply lines disappear from the surface, the devils might have thought of it too."
"Digging a tunnel from the Taquila ruins?" Agatha shook her head repeatedly. "Even if they had acquired Worm carriers, the tunnel required to move ten thousand devils wouldn't be a small project, and it wouldn't match when they first appeared in Taquila. Besides, Sylvie would have noticed such a large disturbance."
"I'm not talking about starting from your hometown," Edith leaned forward and tapped a target marked with an 'X' on the map. "What if they only started from the outpost?"
"What do you mean?" Tie Fu asked in a low voice.
"Don't you find the location of the devils' appearance... a bit peculiar?" She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Think about it; if we were a regular army—human nobles or Witch Empire forces—what would the situation be now?"
At the Northern Pearl's question, everyone in the tent focused on the map.
Anyone allowed into the central command tent was either a staff officer, a military commander, or an Allied Forces representative—none of them were slow to react. It didn't take long for them to realize the implication.
A collective gasp filled the tent.
However, the commotion was quickly drowned out by the thunderous cannon fire outside—amidst the earth's tremors, everyone saw surprise in each other's eyes.
When the artillery fire subsided slightly, Dawnlight Morningbreak broke the silence. "Are you saying... the outpost was a bait set by the devils?"
According to conventional military doctrine, destroying the outpost would require a close-quarters siege, which meant they would be exposing their rear to the devils. If the devils reappeared at that moment, they would form a natural encirclement with the Taquila ruins, and the First Army's fate would be sealed under a pincer attack.
The two-kilometer battlefield was just large enough to accommodate both sides of the battle. From the map, the formation looked like a giant pocket.
"It was certain that we would come?" Tie Fu asked.
Edith didn't answer, instead looking at the representative of the ancient witches—Zoe.
Compared to most people, Zoe's expression had barely changed, her face seemingly forever wearing a mask of indifference. "If it were the Union, they would have taken action. Letting the devils establish an outpost is equivalent to ignoring the expansion of the Bloodline, which is suicide for witches—the fall of a city always begins with the inability to stop the enemy's expansion." She paused. "However, they've never done this before."
"Times are changing," the Northern Pearl spread her hands. "In that case, it can explain a lot of things. The devils didn't think mortals could completely wipe out the Ferocious Beast squad that threatened them, so Winter City must be a witch city. That's why they set this trap, hoping to wipe out all the combat witches who left the city. To lure us into the ambush, the devils not only abandoned the mid-way attacks, but also actively narrowed the scope of their reconnaissance for the moment the pocket closed. What do you think of this hypothesis?"
"Even if that's the case, how did the devils avoid detection by Sylvie Miss?" Sir Silt asked, puzzled.
"You may not know, her abilities aren't omniscient," Edith replied. "If I remember correctly, there's a considerable difference between her observation range and her penetrating vision range. Combined with the presence of the Ferocious Beasts, she usually only initiates observations at the maximum range. In that case, the Magic Eye probably missed a large area."
Hearing this, the crowd had vaguely guessed the answer.
"Of course, I'm not blaming Sylvie Miss," Edith sighed softly, "but we've become too reliant on her."
Magic has always been a problem that witches can't ignore. To grasp the enemy's movements as much as possible, Sylvie needs to stay vigilant every moment, carefully using every bit of magic. Penetrating the strata consumes a lot of magic, and the same goes for long-distance bird's-eye view from the sky, so it's impossible to dig three feet into the entire Fertile Plains.
According to the principle that devils can only lurk in the red mist area, she should have only scanned the strata around the outpost—and limited by the visual range, the depth of the estimate wouldn't be too great.
Agatha frowned, "We can verify this now." Then, she activated the Listening Rune. "Sylvie, can you see what's beneath the ground of the devil army?"
"Underground?" Sylvie, who was guiding the artillery fire, was slightly startled. "I can try, but the magic power..."
"It's okay."
"I see." The voice from the rune was silent for a few seconds, then everyone heard her exclamation, "Strange... The Magic Eye's vision is blocked—I can't see anything, it's all pitch black below!"
Everyone couldn't help but fell silent. This result was indirectly confirmed Edith’s guess.
The feeling of being calculated by the enemy was obviously not good.
For a time, only the roar of artillery remained in the camp.
"Clap, clap, clap."
At this time, Tie Fu suddenly clapped his hands.
"Lord?" Dawnlight Morningbreak said.
"I see, this puts my mind at ease." He slowly grinned. "Who is the prey in the end will be determined by this tough battle."
"You're absolutely right, Commander-in-Chief," Edith smiled. "Although they guessed the wrong opponent, the result is in line with their intentions. It can only be said that the luck of both sides is not bad. Or rather, ours is even better—isn't fighting the enemy head-on in a pre-set battlefield the battle we hoped for? The artillery fire in the evening prevented them from taking action immediately, and now the devils have not only lost their bait, but also have to face well-prepared blockers. No matter how you look at it, it's a good start."
The Northern Pearl paused for a moment, "In fact, as I said at the beginning, we don't have to pay attention to the enemy's intentions. No matter what they want to do, just kill all those who dare to show their heads—and this is what the First Army is good at, isn't it?"
At the same time, the piercing alarm sounded again in the camp, but this time it was much more urgent.
「Air raid warning.」
Everyone knew—they were coming.
The Ferocious Beast swarm, as the vanguard, had already broken into the First Army's range.