"First, give up your role as the Head Strategist… to ."
"...Yeah, no."
"...Huh? What do you an by no?"
"No, as in, I'll not give you my position."
"B-But I can help!"
"I doubt it."
"Wha- Just give !"
"No."
"Please!!"
"Just no!"
"..."
I was baffled, bewildered, puzzled, confused and literally every other synonym you can think of confused!
Why is she not relinquishing the position of the Head Strategist?!
Our forces are cornered. There's no way we can win from here!
Isn't it worth a shot to give her position if I claim to have a way to get us out of this situation?! Isn't it better than sitting here and watching us lose?!
"So are you just going to sit here and watch us lose?!" I questioned, speaking my mind.
"No, I have a plan of my own." She replied, her eyes, a deep shade of forest green, brimming with determination. "I can do this."
Hearing her response, I shrugged and slumped back on the chair again. "Fine, you'll co to sooner or later anyway."
"Ha! Didn't know you were a drear," letting out a scoff, she sent a radio call to Nero.
Tzz—!
Almost instantly, Nero accepted the call from his side and spoke:
-[What's it, Alia?]
"Nero, I might have a way to get us out of this situation," she inford.
-[...Huh? Are you sure? Tell !]
"I can't tell you since it's a complex plan. Can you trust and hand over the command for now?"
After a mont of pause, Nero confidently replied:
-[Okay, I give you the authority to lead our troops. Tell us what to do.]
A smile ford on Alia's face after hearing the response she had wanted to hear.
She studied the holographic map that was displaying the live location of all of our soldiers in front of us for a mont before barking out instructions:
"Okay, I want you to move what's left of your Squad toward Sector 7!"
We divided the whole Shopping District into 25 blocks and called each block a sector. It was to make things easier when giving out strategic instructions.
-[Roger, Squad 20 moving toward Sector 7]
Beep—!
And the radio call with Nero was cut.
Alia, however, didn't rest. She started making more radio calls to our troops instantly, barking instructions at them and moving them like pawns in a chess ga.
"CN5, go forward and take a right turn!"
-[Roger!]
"C3H, cover CN5 while slowly backing away to cover!"
-[Copy that!]
"Anastasia, move your squad to Sector 7 and rendezvous with Nero's squad there!"
-[Moving Squad 16 towards Sector 7!]
"E18 and GH2, assist Williams' squad!"
[We have enemies on us!]
"Squad 16 is moving towards you, don't worry and back off to assist Williams' squad. Trust !"
[Okay!]
Wow.
Interlocking my fingers, I rested my chin on them. I was genuinely impressed by how effortlessly she was commanding our troops.
It's almost as if she was made for this.
I rember the novel ntioned Alia had a talent for military strategy and tactics, although she never really did anything to hone this talent of hers.
Tch, what a waste.
I rember in the novel, she took charge of the army during their fight against the 5th Abyssal Vampire King when they went Beyond The Border.
Even when being outnumbered 1 to 6 against the vicious Vampire forces, the soldiers of the United Military won because of her being in charge.
However, she never really considered being a strategist as a viable military career option. She wanted to fight on the front lines.
What a psycho. Who in their right mind would willingly put themselves on the frontlines?
Well, anyway, those achievents she had in the novel have not happened yet. She hasn't accomplished anything as of now.
I broke the silence in the room with a question, "What is your intention? What do you hope to achieve by relocating everyone to Sector 7? One misstep and our soldiers will be trapped between the enemy forces in front and behind them."
"I'll be careful not to let that happen," Alia responded in a haughty tone before flicking her hair back and continuing: "As for what I'm trying to accomplish, shouldn't you already know, Mr. Genius?"
Rolling my eyes, I focused my attention back on the live holographic map.
To be honest, I understood precisely what she was attempting to achieve.
The Shopping District comprises multiple malls, restaurants, and marts and can be accessed via four entrances: East, West, North, and South.
It won't take a genius to guess that Class 1-C-8 has likely positioned a squad or two at each entrance to obstruct any escape attempts by our troops.
If they do try to escape regardless, then our soldiers would be trapped between enemy forces from both the front and back.
To tackle that scenario, Alia ca up with a plan.
Located near the North Entrance of the Shopping District, Sector 7 is a comrcial building adjacent to another structure, a giant one at that – Sector 8, which marks the end of Shopping District on that side.
My estimation is that Alia intends to relocate all the soldiers to the Mart complex.
From there, they could traverse to the adjacent building and flee the Shopping District through that route.
Since both north and west entrances are at a significant distance away from Sector 8, the enemy troops guarding those entrances won't be able to co to stop our fleeing soldiers on ti.
In essence, Alia intended to have our soldiers break through the walls of buildings in a straight line rather than use the entrances to escape the Shopping District.
She isn't trying to win. No, rather, she's trying to survive to fight another day – a strategic retreat.
It's a nice plan but I highly doubt it'll work.
Why won't it work? You'll see.
Bzzzt—!
Just when Alia was done giving a haughty look that scread 'I don't need you to win,' her smart bracelet started buzzing.
She quickly picked up the call and answered, "This is the strategic HQ. Anastasia, what's the status report?"
-[2 of my archers have been hit!]
"Remain calm. Abandon the wounded and enter the Sector 7 building. Once inside, offer support to our allies as they join you!"
-[...Roger that!]
There was clear hesitation in Anastasia's voice when she heard Alia telling her to leave her wounded comrades behind, but even she knew there was no other choice aside from that.
After a few minutes, Alia safely managed to navigate all the soldiers to Sector 7. Breaking out and fleeing the Shopping District was only a matter of ti.
-[Alia, they are on our tail! If their forces block our way from the front, we'll be sandwiched!]
Nero contacted Alia, his breathing sounded ragged from all the running and fighting he had done.
"Don't fret!" reassured Alia in a calm tone. "If necessary, destroy the walls and enter the building that's adjacent to the one you're in right now – Sector 8. Once there, break out from that building and make a run for it.
"The enemy troops stationed at the North and West entrances won't be able to catch up with you in ti to block your path. You only need to outrun the enemy chasing from behind!"
-[Roger that!]
After giving her orders, Alia spun around and gave a haughty look once again.
Good lord, what does this girl want from ? Fine, I get it. She's a good leader.
Unfortunately for her, I knew the smirk on her face was about to be wiped out just about… now!
Beep—!
[Alia, you there?!]
It was Nero. His voice scread urgency.
"Yes, I'm here. What's the status report–"
Before Alia could even finish giving her reply, Nero cut her off.
[Sector 8! There's no Sector 8!]
Confused, a frown appeared on Alia's face. "What? What do you an by there's no Sector 8?!"
[When we broke out of Sector 7, we found ourselves out in the open field. We could see the enemy forces on our right, and there's a whole lot of them on our back too! We'll be pincered!]
"Wha… B-But how… The map! On the map, it's–!"
Seeing Alia starting to panic, I figured out this was the best ti to interject myself into the situation.
"The map that the reconnaissance squad made is incorrect. Soone deliberately made the wrong map."
"Wha– but why? Why would soone do that?!" turning her attention back to , Alia focused her shaky eyes on and asked with quivering lips.
Aww, she was panicking like a helpless little girl. So cute.
"There's a traitor among our ranks. They created a false map to sabotage us, and it seems they have been successful. Their goal was to predict what strategy you would deploy in the situation we're currently in and craft a false map to mislead you based on that.
"I don't know if there's an easy way to say this but Alia Black, they read you like a book, and unfortunately, they defeated you long before the real war had even begun."
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