Count Miles nodded. Looking at the scene, the enemy had begun setting up defensive measures at least half a month ago; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to spread them this far. He was a true Count of military merit, having survived countless major battles throughout his life.
He had originally intended to retire and hand over everything in the army to his eldest son. However, he received tragic news: his eldest son, who lived in the central headquarters of the army, had died in an attack initiated by a Blood Demon where the enemy detonated the ammunition depot. This left him grief-stricken while he desperately searched for the culprit.
As for the official narrative, he didn't believe a word of it. After all, if the Sarkaz really wanted to take action against Ursus, they wouldn't have sent just one person without any follow-up actions. Later, news came that a Blood Demon had appeared in Lungmen, closely matching the description of the person who raided the military camp. He felt very regretful at the time, as it would be too difficult to seek revenge if the opponent was in Lungmen.
Now, he suddenly received news that the target had abruptly appeared within Ursus territory, inside an Infected organization called the Reunion Movement, making him ecstatic. Without hesitation, he summoned the elites of the Fourth Regiment of the Fourth Army Group, which had once been under his command, preparing to crush the Reunion Movement in one fell swoop and kill the Blood Demon who murdered his son in the process.
The high command of the Army Group chose to turn a blind eye to his actions. Because if he succeeded, they could even use this excuse to openly challenge Lungmen. One must understand that they wanted to fight abroad but were being held back by the current Emperor, who used the lack of war as an excuse to prevent them from seeking military glory outside.
Now, a legitimate reason was right before them. As long as Count Miles succeeded, they could seize the momentum to strike at Lungmen and eventually invade the Great Yan, a land they had long coveted. Looking toward the battlefield, Miles saw at a glance that the style of the trenches not far away was very much in the Ursus fashion.
"Is our opponent still that Patriot?" Count Miles asked after waving his finger.
"Correct, but the number of Shield Guards under his command is too small; even with his top-tier strength, it won't help. Just like the Witch King Herkunftshorn who died in the high tower, no matter how powerful one's strength is, they will still die when facing a human wave several times their size."
There was no fear of Patriot Buldrokkas'tee in the staff officer's eyes, but rather a sense of disdain. In his view, Buldrokkas'tee was nothing special. Although he was a legend among the older generation, that was only the older generation. To these young people, once the old fogies' time had passed, they should be swept into the dust of history.
Miles observed the staff officer's expression but didn't react. Young people—if they weren't a bit arrogant, they wouldn't be young. As for staff officers, as long as they were clever enough to provide decisions and plans when things happened, nothing else mattered much.
"Then what have you prepared for that one?" Miles pointed to a photo. The photo was very clear, showing a young girl giving a lecture on a screen among skyscrapers. The photo came from Lungmen, and the person in it had been identified by survivors of the battle that winter as the attacker, the true culprit.
One might ask, since the true culprit had appeared in Ursus, why was the Fourth Army Group still fighting to the death with the Sarkaz in Kazdel? Please, if they didn't use up those Infected soldiers in Kazdel, were they supposed to come back and support them? Understand that war is never the goal, but a necessary means to achieve a goal.
After a war, the Old Nobility gains a few more military nobles, the newcomers' combat abilities are trained, and the unstable Infected soldiers are mostly consumed. For them, this is a massive profit. Furthermore, the young Emperor couldn't interfere with a war fought in the name of revenge even if he wanted to. After all, even if you are the Emperor, you can't stop someone from seeking revenge.
As for the target of revenge... between the options of attacking Kazdel or attacking the Great Yan, how do you think the Emperor would choose? So even if he knew the truth, the Emperor would turn a blind eye to the actions of the Old Nobility. Because if they fought Kazdel, he wouldn't have to worry about these Old Nobility at all; whether they won or lost, they wouldn't be counter-attacked once they retreated to Ursus.
But the Great Yan was different. They truly had the strength to fight back. When faced with an invasion from the Great Yan, he would be forced by the Old Nobility to send his personal army to the battlefield.
"Count, in our view, there is only one way for the opponent to defeat us, and that is a decapitation strike. So the enemy will surely look for your location and then arrange for that Blood Demon girl to launch a surprise attack on you. And in their eyes, your most likely location is naturally inside the power ship. Therefore, we plan to use the power ship as bait to lure them in and then kill them. No matter how strong that Blood Demon is, she won't be able to display much power within a structure of steel."
A glint flashed in the staff officer's eyes, looking as if he had seen through the Reunion Movement entirely.
"Very well, then where do you plan to place me?"
"You know me; I will never stand at the very back watching the frontline soldiers fight to the death."
"Of course, that is exactly why we are willing to follow you, Mr. Miles. If you want to witness the destruction of the Reunion Movement with your own eyes, how about going here?" The staff officer pointed to a location.
"Interesting. Fine, let's go with your plan!"
Miles looked at the spot the finger was pointing to: it was the legion's Caster phalanx. The defensive strength here was quite complete, and they would occupy a hilltop not far from the Reunion Movement, conducting long-range bombardment on the Reunion Movement's gathering place from a commanding height. Naturally, he could witness the destruction of the Reunion Movement from there.
The next day, Miles's Fourth Regiment began to slowly advance toward this area. The Reunion Movement stood in formation while waiting for good news from Flandre Scarlet. As for Flandre Scarlet, she had left the Reunion Movement early and flown toward the high-speed battleship. Just as the Ursus army stepped into the Reunion Movement's defensive line, Flandre also arrived outside the high-speed battleship.
"Wow, geez, you're so tall!"
Flandre, transformed into a swarm of blood bats, flew all the way up to the deck. Seeing hundreds of blood bats swarming up and covering the sky, the soldiers guarding the deck shouted "Enemy attack" while swinging their weapons in an attempt to attack. These soldiers who could guard the deck were all elites; the battleaxes in their hands were sharp beyond compare, and the armor on their bodies could block most attacks.
But this time, they encountered the blood bats that Flandre had transformed into. The sharp claws of these blood bats could easily tear through their armor, and their agile speed allowed them to dodge attacks the soldiers thought were fatal. Moreover, the blood bats had a terrifying ability: after tearing a wound in an enemy, they would crawl into the person's body through the wound... ten or so seconds later, that person would explode, and even more blood bats would crawl out of the body.
The scene made the scalps of those monitoring in the command room tingle. The opponent hadn't shown this kind of skill last time. Their model of Flandre was still stuck on the last time she attacked the Fourth Army Group's headquarters.
"Don't be nervous. Continue to lure the target into the interior of the battleship as planned!" Although a trace of sweat also appeared on the staff officer's forehead, his eyes were full of ferocity and madness. In his view, no matter how powerful the opponent was, flesh and blood would still be easily crushed within a true forest of steel.
Flandre looked at the open door not far away, a smile curling at the corners of her mouth.
"Do you want to play a game with Flan?"
"Well then, Flan's coming in!"
The bat swarm converged, and Flandre stepped out from within, then skipped and hopped into the large door. Just as she entered the door, a "thud" was heard from behind. She looked back and saw that the door had dropped down at some point, completely sealing Flandre off from the outside like a dragon-severing gate.
"Hehe, do you think this thing can stop Flan?" Flandre reached out, her eyes flashing across the 'eye' of the door. Then she thought about it; since the other party had prepared a game, it would be too much of a waste not to play, so she withdrew her little hand that was about to crush the door.
"Hey, can you turn on some lights? Although I have night vision, I'm still used to the feeling of things being bright." Flandre shouted as she walked further inside. Unfortunately, perhaps there was nothing here that could receive sound, or perhaps the other party had no intention of responding to her at all, so there wasn't a single sound for a long time after her voice fell.
"Stingy adults!" Flandre pouted unhappily and continued walking forward.
Suddenly, both the front and back directions were blocked by wire mesh, and the surroundings began to be flooded with oil.
"Wow, are you planning to burn Flan to death?" Flandre looked at the gun barrels extending from the front, back, left, and right. In the next second, she split into four Flandres. The four Flandres each grabbed a gun barrel from the four directions. Those gun barrels were easily crushed before they could puff out a single flame.
"Damn it, go to Plan B! Flamethrowers, move in!" The staff officer, who had been watching this closely, slammed his hand on the table and roared into the nearby microphone. He hadn't expected those gun barrels to be instantly disabled just as they extended, and in such a bizarre way—suddenly twisted into a mess of dough. Coupled with the fact that she had easily dealt with the elite squad he had arranged on the deck, her strength was much higher than he had imagined.
Hearing his words, his subordinates immediately arranged for Flamethrowers to appear from both sides of the corridor and charge in. Accompanied by the spray of flames, bursts of screams came from within the mesh.
"Ah, fire, so scary!"
"Help..."
"So hot!"
...The staff officer was initially excited, thinking the plan had succeeded and that the bizarre Blood Demon girl would surely be burned to death in the steel cage. But the shouting inside continued for more than a minute, and besides becoming increasingly full of energy, it showed no sign of disappearing at all.