The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 301
5 days after entering the war.
I was confronting the army of Calvern and comprehensively assessing the surrounding situation.
“Sophia…”
The left battlefield is being manipulated by Tetora Anistri’s scheme.
Sophia was trying to fortify the hill stronghold she had occupied and was searching for the enemy’s main camp.
“Master and Gaspar are conducting reconnaissance…”
“Young master, shouldn’t we take some kind of action?”
Yumir carefully speaks, seemingly worried about Gaspar.
“I’m not sure if Sophia will listen to me directly. However, I’ve already taken minimal measures through Ash…”
I was equally worried.
Since the confronting enemy army was not taking any actions, I was focusing on the situations in other battlefields.
It was that night.
“Reporting.”
A soldier began reporting in a calm voice. He was a special operations member of Crossing.
“Minister Pamilion’s operation has been initiated. The initial operation was successful, and he said to leave the subsequent actions to discretion.”
“So this was the operation. I wondered which area they would attack using the fleet.”
Attacking the outer continent.
It was beyond imagination.
No one would have anticipated this. And for good reason – there was a division barrier between the central and outer continents.
Juras had uncovered this.
Within the past year.
He had been researching magical studies and consistently dispatching scouts to observe the barrier.
Although no decisive discovery had been made to implement an action, my encounter with Omeron in the Elrich Mountains became a clue.
It seems he studied the mountain ranges of Elrich to calculate the true form of the barrier.
And where its vulnerable points were.
Both here and on the Ellan Kingdom’s side, they seemingly attacked and temporarily destroyed that part.
He used the gap to extract a fleet of 100 ships outside the barrier and attack the allied territories.
‘He precisely struck the opponent’s weakness.’
The opponent was calculating one thing.
Offsetting the difference in national power through the intervention of external forces – the Alliance.
To achieve this, he disrupted the Elrich Mountains and destroyed its mountain ranges.
Though not completely destroyed, leaving about a year’s grace period, from their perspective, the barrier’s destruction would be a success.
This was natural. If magical world intervention suddenly occurred, the war on this continent would flow in a completely different direction.
Above all, significant chaos would undoubtedly occur. The dream of unification would become distant.
Juras had cut off this bud in advance.
“Truly unbearable.”
I had always thought of him as a monster, but this thoroughly and unexpectedly ingenious.
“My lord.”
Anton whispers.
“Wouldn’t it be good to handle the enemy’s detached forces that are currently plundering our territories, as Lady Sophia judged?”
If Juras handles the external forces, the opponent will be caught in a checkmate.
After the barrier disappears, what comes will be enemy forces, not allied ones.
The urgency is on the opponent’s side. So we can just maintain a solid defense.
“However, I want to first see how Calvern will move.”
If his intentions match my expectations, the battlefield situation in the left forest region will change significantly.
* * *
Meanwhile, the news also reached Calvern’s camp.
“Hahaha!”
Calvern laughed cheerfully.
“Juras Pamilion… What an extraordinary guy. He’s truly remarkable.”
If he had been born during the chaotic era, he might have changed history.
Calvern felt that way.
“…Calvern. What’s with that laughter?”
The man delivering the news was Graham, a close aide to mother goddess from the Alliance.
“Do you think this is a laughing matter now? The Alliance is under attack!”
“Even if we can’t do anything about it, isn’t it better to laugh than cry?”
Currently, the mother goddess was pouring all its efforts into obstructing Ars’ unification in the Central Continent.
Under such circumstances, responding to the external attack was difficult.
Due to Juras’s prior maneuvering towards the Ellan Kingdom, the invasion speed was tremendous.
Crossing’s soldiers controlled the Alliance’s citizens to accelerate occupation, and Ellan Kingdom’s elite forces fought against the Alliance.
“What did mother goddess say?”
“It said nothing. Or more accurately, it couldn’t continue speaking. It just told me to relay this news to you.”
“Does it want to hear my opinion? Then the answer is simple. Tell it we must win this war here since the Alliance is already beyond recovery. This might even be an opportunity.”
“An opportunity?”
“It means Juras is not here right now.”
“…I’ll relay that.”
Graham quickly disappears.
Calvern smiled with a melancholic expression.
“This war is finally entering its main phase.”
If the mother goddess starts moving in earnest, the battlefield will likely shift from this southern region to the central area where Balas is located.
“What are your plans for this battlefield?”
To his aide’s question, Calvern shrugged.
“Well. Tetora Anistri seems motivated… It might be best to leave the conclusion of this battlefield to her.”
Thus, he decides to hand over the initiative of the battlefield to Tetora.
* * *
Sophia was desperately searching for the enemy’s main camp.
From not sleeping, her eyes were bloodshot to the point her killing intent was visible.
“How have you still not found it? Even after Ilya was deployed…!”
Ilya shook her head, feeling ashamed.
“As expected, only master can be called that. Moreover, the level of his subordinates is too high.”
“Even so…!”
Gaspar adds, seemingly defending Ilya.
“Each of them has a sense comparable to mine. If we rashly enter, we might not return alive. It will take more time.”
“Kuk…!”
Sophia inadvertently glanced at the intelligence documents piled beside her. Their contents were about the enemy’s plundering.
The more she saw, the more impatient she became.
“Where is Gunther?”
“He’s resting after being injured in a battle with the enemy reconnaissance unit.”
“An injury!? Is it serious?”
“It’s not severe, but it was dangerous. I could have had my bones split or my internal organs damaged at any moment.”
Sophia felt her heart break.
If she prioritized the mission, civilians would die; if she attacked the enemy’s main base to rescue civilians, her own soldiers would be in danger.
She covered her face with her hands and fell into deep thought.
In the meantime, a report came in.
“Reporting! Svenner’s army, which was stationed on the right plains, is advancing to the Luden Mountain range! His Majesty Elaine’s troops are also following him and advancing westward!”
“To the Luden Mountain range?”
Currently, Olaf is fortifying the Luden Mountain range with 3,000 troops.
As Calvern’s army moved all their troops in that direction, Ars had no choice but to follow suit.
As a result, the enemy’s positions between the mountain ranges were effectively neutralized.
With Sophia occupying the forest area and the enemy retreating from the right side, the enemy’s central position would soon become meaningless.
In this case, Sophia and Tetora’s battle tactics would change.
Since Sophia had achieved her original mission objectives, she could now focus solely on Tetora in planning her operation.
“Crack!” Sophia gritted her teeth and shouted.
“I’ll leave only the minimum number of troops in this stronghold and advance! I’ll completely occupy this entire forest!”
Since the importance of the hill stronghold had disappeared, there was no more hesitation.
Sophia led 40,000 troops and advanced, being cautious of ambushes while trying to locate the enemy’s main base, but this was exactly the form Tetora Anistri was aiming for.
“…They called her the genius princess of Beckavia. What a stupid woman.”
Tetora laughed and drew Sophia’s troops as far as possible before initiating her operation.
“Whoosh!” Flames simultaneously erupted. Tetora used these flames to change the battlefield’s shape and deploy her desired tactics.
“Enemy ambush! The enemy’s hidden troops are attacking from the side!”
“Ugh…! Do not panic! Suppress the fire and maintain our formation!”
But the situation was not in her favor.
The wind had begun to blow strongly towards the Liande army, making the flames uncontrollable.
Sophia bit her lip tightly.
She admitted her own hastiness, but she had not expected the situation to develop like this. Even with an ambush, she believed she could handle it.
‘But why is the wind blowing towards our camp…!‘
However, this was Tetora’s intention.
Tetora knew that during this season, the wind direction would turn northward, and she had prepared work in the forest accordingly.
She had partially deforested trees to make the wind blow more intensely.
This was similar to what Ars had done to her in the past.
Tactical manipulation of terrain.
Tetora was now returning this strategy to Sophia with a vengeance.
This demonstrated her innate talent for warfare.
“Now! Cut off their retreat from behind!”
Tetora deployed 3,000 separate troops towards the mountain range.
Her intention was to circle around and cut off the enemy’s rear. Due to the wall of flames and smoke, Sophia did not notice this.
Tetora smiled with a look of triumph.
“This is the end. I’ll wipe them out completely…!”
But at that moment.
“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!” Consecutive explosive sounds.
Tetora flinched at the sound, like lightning striking.
“Wh-What is this!”
While still bewildered.
“Rumble!” A landslide occurred from the mountain range, and debris began to pour down.
“What…!?”
“R-Run away!”
The pouring earth and rocks engulfed the separate troops attempting to bypass the battlefield.
Not only that, but it also covered the burning trees, extinguishing the fire.
Both Tetora and Sophia watched the scene with wide eyes.
And when the landslide subsided, Ash and Lysithea, leading 2,000 troops, came down the mountain slopes, suppressing the enemy’s separate troops and extinguishing the remaining flames.
Although a wall of flames remained on the right side of the battlefield, the flames on the left had been completely extinguished, making it easier to establish a formation.
“Haaah!”
Ash, sweeping through the separate troops with his spear, shouted to Sophia.
“Organize your formation, Sophia!”
“…!”
Sophia was convinced that Ars had orchestrated this operation.
She felt humiliation because of this, but at the same time, she felt deep respect for Ars, who had planned such a sophisticated strategy.
As Sophia experienced these emotions, Tetora felt the exact opposite.
“M-My strategy was discovered…!?”
The recent landslide was something that required considerable preparation. Preventing its discovery by the reconnaissance unit was even more challenging.
Yet Tetora was completely unaware of this fact.
This was because the reconnaissance unit she led was conducting an information war to hide their main force. It was difficult to deploy reconnaissance personnel to the mountain range.
As if reading this, Ars had planned his strategy in the area with weak reconnaissance.
“Ars Elaine…!!”
Once again caught in a situation where she was made a fool of, Tetora trembled with humiliation and anger.
Her adjutant Casper urged retreat.
“Lady Tetora, we are outnumbered. You must withdraw for now! Before the enemy establishes their formation, hurry!”
“Kuh!”
With separate troops numbering 8,000 operating externally, the main force was bound to be pushed back.
This was why Sophia was trying to find the enemy’s main base, and why Tetora had used fire tactics.
With Ars’s intervention, this plan had come to nothing, and the western forces were now at a numerical disadvantage.
“…We retreat for now! Casper, you will command the withdrawal!”
“Yes!”
The troops retreated, losing control of the forest. Having completely surrendered this key point, the separate troops conducting civilian raids also had no choice but to withdraw.
Sophia had no intention of just watching this unfold.
With her formation established, she began pursuit with all her troops, determined to completely cut off the breath of Tetora Anistri, who had carried out civilian massacres.
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