Battle Plan: Advance on Red Maple

The tactical map hung before Gawain's eyes. Every marker, every place name, every river and mudflat had been accurately marked in its proper location.

The Gorgon River, Red Maple City, Boulder City, the boundaries of the war zone, the main position of the Cecil Legion, the direction of their advance... Advanced tactical concepts and convenient means of information transmission had given this map an amount of information that would have left tacticians of this era dumbstruck, while allowing Gawain to calculate most of the variables of a forced march in a short time.

At the Cecil Legion's rate of advance—though it was already extremely fast—Gawain's main force could not reach Boulder City in time. After all, ground troops could not match Maggie, a flying unit, in speed. Even if they reached it within two days through a forced march, an excessively exhausted army would be unable to fight the Crystal Legion, whose combat strength was far from weak. After all, that place was already deep within the Contaminated Zone, and the Crystal Giants entrenched there were all elites.

But he could attack Red Maple directly.

Red Maple lay directly north of the legion's main force. Only a relatively flat riverside plain remained between them, and the situation along the route had already been scouted by reconnaissance units. Moreover, the entire route lay within the artillery support range of Cecil's river fleet. Even Red Maple City itself was relatively close to the Gorgon River. Once the Pioneer reached the river channel west of Red Maple, nearly a third of the entire city would be within range of naval cannon fire.

Considering the Crystal Giants' unique organizational structure, they would place even greater importance on their "command center" than human armies did. Once Red Maple City came under fierce attack, Gawain was