Flaws and Plans

Outside the Noren Workshop's defensive line lay a valley enclosed by three low rocky hills.

The Coalition of the Chaos Cult and the Tower of Silence had established a temporary command camp here.

Hundreds of stone platforms, temporarily shaped through sorcery, floated in midair. High-level Wizards attending the meeting stood or sat upon them.

The atmosphere was so oppressive it seemed ready to condense into water.

"I believe there is no need for us to continue launching frontal assaults against the Noren Workshop's defensive line."

The speaker was a tall, gaunt figure wrapped from head to toe in gray burial cloth. His voice was dry, like sandpaper scraping across bone.

He was the Tower of Silence's overall commander in this war, the peak Level 7 Wizard, "Ashes" Saladin.

After Mordiggian's death, Saladin had taken his place as the Coalition's new commander.

As he spoke, the gazes of more than five hundred Level 7 Wizards on the surrounding platforms focused on him.

"The reason is simple." Saladin raised his right hand, wrapped in burial cloth, and drew through the air. A translucent battlefield situation map unfolded before them. "In the first battle, we gathered more than 1.5 million main-force troops and launched a surprise attack before their defensive line had fully taken shape. The result was..."

With a tap of his finger, a string of blood-red figures appeared on the chart:

"Our losses: 3.7 billion cannon fodder units below Level 3, 620 million Level 4 cannon fodder units, 89 million Level 5 cannon fodder units. Level 6 cannon fodder units suffered a 12% loss rate, while Level 7 cannon fodder units suffered a 3% loss rate."

"Wizard casualties: 1,300 Level 3 Wizards, 127 Level 4 Wizards, 344 Level 5 Wizards, 209 Level 6 Wizards, and... one Level 7 Wizard."

That final