The Situation

By evening that day, Cecil Legion ground troops had established a second artillery position on the southern plains of Saint Suniel, preliminarily completing their fire coverage over the royal capital's front-line defenses.

The battle was not yet over. Large numbers of Crystal Giants remained active in the south and the Eastern Territory. Driven by their instinct for destruction, these monsters would continue attacking areas dense with Magic Reactions and life signatures—much like the completely mutated Aberrants of the Gondor Wasteland. But one thing was certain: Saint Suniel's crisis had been temporarily resolved.

Over the next twenty hours, Gawain did not blindly expand the ground troops' positions. Instead, while maintaining fire superiority, he steadily reduced the number of Crystal Legion forces in the open areas south of the royal capital, while calling upon the armored cargo ships on the Gorgon River to send a group of engineers to the battlefield.

Under the cover of superior firepower and with the aid of numerous engineering Magical Devices, the engineers worked through the night to establish the first interception lines and temporary fortifications in the southern part of the battlefield. Before noon on the seventh day, Magic Power Combat Soldier units carrying individual flamethrowers were deployed into those fortifications in squads of seven, while key positions were held by more powerful White Knights armed with heavy flamethrowers.

This line of defense would be used to intercept the Crystal Giants spreading from the Holy Spirit Plain. Crosswise-arranged flame bunkers, Barbed Wire, and stopping posts were the most effective weapons against those monsters' mass charges. Before the battle ended, the engineers would continue their work, filling the plains with interception fortifications and firepower bunkers until more than half the supplies carried by the transport fleet had been consumed. Afterward, the ground troops would shift to a