The two groups of flas in the east and west eventually dissipated, but the Staff Departnt and even the entire army beca busy.
As more and more reconnaissance forces were dispatched, more and more information was relayed back. In the staff departnt tent, a group of people slowly identified so clues.
Noel, the gray-eyed senior staff mber, quickly reported to Soron: "The explosions did indeed occur at Akra Pass and Loxs Pass. The dispatched cavalry conducted a detailed inspection, and the top of the mountains at the passes collapsed, completely blocking the passes. These two main routes are almost impossible to reopen. As for so secondary narrow paths, even if they are passable, according to the accompanying wizard’s report, there are obvious traces of the Shalin army near these narrow paths.
Furthermore, the left and right flank armies urgently reported that they were successively attacked by the Shalin army. The battles are very intense, preventing them from withdrawing and naturally unable to turn back and assist us from outside the mountains."
After a pause, a look of pain flashed across Noel’s face as he said in a low voice, "General, looking at everything, your previous concerns were correct. My blind confidence seems sowhat foolish—we are indeed trapped here now. Except for a very few wizards who can force their way out, the vast majority of the army can’t get out, and reinforcents can’t co in, not to ntion food and supplies. Based on the current stock of food we have, it can last at most three more days."
Upon hearing this severe situation, the staff in the military tent fell into silence, their expressions slightly anxious.
However, Soron maintained his usual calm deanor, glanced around the people in the military tent, and said, "It seems the bad news is indeed plenty, but then again... there isn’t absolutely no good news—at least we finally understand Shalin’s operational objectives.
Shalin continually sends out small units of Black Knight infiltrations to delay our central route’s march speed, aiming to trap the central army and rear support forces in the Chaotic Mountain Range. This strategy effectively traps more than half of Reef Rock Castle’s elite forces, giving them a significant advantage."
"General, what do you think Shalin’s next move is?" a young staff mber asked.
"Shalin’s next action?" Soron raised an eyebrow, "No need to guess, they’ll undoubtedly inform us proactively."
"Ah?"
...
Just as Soron predicted.
At dawn, a wizard from the Shalin side ca as an envoy and delivered a letter to Soron.
"This letter is personally written by Lord Richard, hoping that General Soron will read it and, after careful consideration, make a rational decision," the envoy wizard seriously handed over the letter.
Soron took the letter, glanced at the cover, and straightforwardly asked, "I assu this is to persuade to surrender, correct?"
The envoy wizard gave a mysterious smile, neither confirming nor denying.
"I want to ask, if I persist in not surrendering, what will you do? Use the weapon that blasted the pass last night to kill and slaughter my entire army?"
In response to Soron’s question, the envoy wizard continued to smile.
Soron didn’t get angry, only took a deep breath and said, "If possible, I’d like an honest answer to a question."
"What question, General, please speak."
"Since you have the ans to quietly blow up the pass and trap my army here, why not just launch a direct attack on my army?" Soron looked at the envoy wizard, "If you had done so from the beginning, it wouldn’t have been necessary for you to sacrifice so many Black Knights, would it?"
The envoy wizard pondered for a few seconds, choosing words carefully, saying, "I’m sorry, General, so matters are beyond my knowledge. Perhaps if the General makes a wise choice and ets Lord Richard face to face, you can ask him directly."
"Alright, General, I’ll be waiting for your reply." The envoy wizard said, handing over a crystal ball, "Whenever you make your decision, have your subordinate wizard activate this crystal ball. I’ll sense it and arrive as quickly as possible. I hope that ti isn’t too far off."
After speaking, the envoy wizard walked out of the tent and left the camp.
Watching the back of the envoy wizard, Soron held the letter and the crystal ball, staying silent for a mont, while the expressions of the staff in the tent varied.
...
Sowhere in the Shalin underground, Black Sun Fortress.
Dawn broke, but within Black Sun Fortress, there was no distinct difference between day and night, only the distinction between rest and work.
In one corner of Black Sun Fortress, on a bed in a lounge, Adolf Sis awoke from a dream, fumbled for a protruding button on the wall, and pressed it. A milky white light imdiately stread down from the ceiling, illuminating the small room of less than ten square ters where he was.
Sis rubbed his eyes, sat on the bed in confusion for about a second, waiting to fully wake up.
Then, as if suddenly rembering sothing, his entire body reacted as if electrocuted; he leapt from the bed without even putting on shoes, disregarding the rest period, and rushed into the observation area of the work zone.
"Fermi, Fermi!" Adolf Sis shouted, grabbing the arm of his colleague on duty, and quickly asked, "Has the data from yesterday’s attack been compiled? How many enemies were eliminated? Fifty thousand? One hundred thousand? Or all of them?"
Several hours ago, as an interdiate Black Sun mber, Sis had personally participated in Black Sun Fortress’s first live attack, full of excitent throughout. However, after the attack, the results data needed to be collected on-site by other Shalin personnel and took a long ti to be completely relayed back. Unable to endure a continuous twenty-four-hour duty, he went to rest; now, after a short nap, he eagerly inquired about the situation.
John Fermi, whose shoulder was gripped, glanced at Sis and calmly replied, "Zero."
"What?" Adolf Sis was taken aback, seeming not to understand, "What?"
"Zero," Fermi sighed, explaining earnestly, "Under the guidance of the Star Spirit Mirror, both attacks hit the preset targets quite successfully, but... they did not cause any casualties to the enemy. Or even if there were casualties, they were very few, not within effective statistics, and can be ignored."
"This..." Sis’s eyes widened, not comprehending, and he exclaid, "Why? Why didn’t we kill anyone? This... this shouldn’t be, there’s a problem! If we didn’t kill anyone, then what was the point of launching an attack..."
"Shh, keep your voice down, or else if Mr. Albert or others hear it, you won’t have a good outco," Fermi couldn’t help but remind him.
"But there is a problem indeed." Sis still felt indignant, frowning deeply, "This must be a mistake, this has to be a mistake..."
Midway through his sentence, Sis’s voice abruptly stopped as he saw a figure enter the room.
It wasn’t Robert Albert as Fermi had ntioned; in fact, it was worse—it was Arthur Osheir—whom almost everyone knew as the most stern manager of Black Sun Fortress.
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