A Plan That Astonished the Bishop

The Oak Door slowly closed behind us, the hinges making a low, muffled thud.

It blocked out the sounds of the wind, the hammering, and the groans from the Wounded Soldiers' Camp outside the tower.

There were only two people in the secret room.

Castian sat in the main seat, his eyes revealing unconcealed fatigue, yet his back remained ramrod straight, as if he could rise and throw himself into battle at any moment.

Shien walked to the table, knelt on one knee, and placed his right hand on his chest, his movements perfectly precise.

"Stand up and speak," Castian said first.

"Yes." Shien propped himself up on his kneecaps, but as soon as he left the ground, his foot wobbled slightly, and he turned his head and coughed softly.

Two drops of dark red blood fell onto the edge of the table with a soft thud, slowly seeping along the wood grain.

Castian's gaze lingered on the two spots of blood for a moment, but he remained silent.

Shien lowered his head, his breathing still a little heavy, but he tried to keep his voice steady. "Under the protection of the Most Holy, the Sacred Flame still burns."

Castian placed the Holy Silver Scepter against the panoramic Sand Table, then gently touched the chess piece representing Blackpine Fief in the center of the Sand Table with his hand.

"Without high-level divine magic, and without a Knight Legion of Third Tier or higher, they managed to shatter the Ghoul Legion and severely injure a Fourth Tier monster with just a hodgepodge of warriors. It's nothing short of a miracle."

Castian raised his eyes, his greyish-white gaze fixed on Shien's face, as if trying to see something.

Shien bowed his head humbly and said, "This is just what I should do."

No, you have no idea what you did.

97

Castian shook his head, his finger landing on the flag on the Blackpine Fief, then slowly drawing a long line along the right flank of the defense.

"The Graymist Defense Zone is the right flank wedge of the entire Tear Knight Defense Line. The four territories around you have already fallen. If Blackpine Fief collapses as well, this section of the Eternal Night Wall will be completely torn apart."

His finger continued swiping backward, stopping at several locations marked with the Legion and supply nodes.

"The Magic Creature will rush in through the gap, cutting off the Third Holy Knight Legion's rear support line."

"At that point, not only the Graymist Defense Zone, but several adjacent Defense Zone will also be unable to hold out until the end of the Blood Moon Season. The entire right flank will descend into chaos."

Castian withdrew his hand and looked at Shien: "So what you've protected isn't just Blackpine Fief Territory."

The room fell silent for a moment.

Shien's face was still pale, his lips were bloodless, and he looked like he was about to collapse.

While his weakened appearance was somewhat acted out, it wasn't entirely feigned; the exhaustion from the previous battle had left him with a splitting headache.

Shien pulled a piece of linen from his sleeve and slowly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth: "I was just protecting myself—"

Castian raised his right hand, cutting off Shien's next words. "Stop with that humility, your defenses have held the line for the Graymist Defense Zone."

Shien didn't say anything more, but pushed a battle report that still smelled of blood forward a bit, to the center of the Sand Table.

"But now, Blackpine Fief's defenses are 90% destroyed, its Arsenal is empty, and without a well-organized elite force to replace it, Blackpine Fief definitely won't survive the next Blood Moon."

Upon hearing this, Castian considered it carefully for a moment, then shook his head. "My main force cannot remain here. There are several strongholds in the Gray Fog that are almost out of control. I must take the main force to rescue them. As for Blackpine Fief, I can only offer you one trump card."

After saying that, he raised his hand and unfastened a Black Iron Sacred Flame badge wrapped with silver thorns from the cloak buckle, and handed it to Shien.

"One hundred and fifty-two Tier Third Tier Mobile Holy Knight will remain in Blackpine Fief. From now on, this force is directly under your command and will not be returned after the Blood Moon Season ends."

Shien reached out and took the Thorn Holy Emblem, his face showing no outward change.

As the cold, Black Iron pressed into his palm, he had already mentally reviewed the numbers.

One hundred and fifty-two Third Tier Church Knight, divided into several sections, were crammed into the newly constructed defensive line, enough to support the thinnest layer of the Blackpine Fief's framework.

As long as the main force of Ghoul and the Werewolf army are not present, relying on the craters, trenches, Caltrops, and the remains of Dark Bunker, Blackpine Fief will at least not stand on that precarious line of death for the next half of the Blood Moon Season.

Moreover, these hundred-plus Knight don't need to be returned after the Blood Moon Season; it's as if they were given to us. You have to understand how rare Third Tier Knight is, let alone Church Knight is twice as strong as an ordinary Knight.

Shien knew that this was the most help the bishop could give him at the moment.

But that's not enough, far from enough!

After all, anything can happen during the Blood Moon Season. What if a large Legion of Werewolf attacks Blackpine Fief?

We must find other ways to further improve the defensive capabilities of Blackpine Fief.

Shien put the Thorn Holy Emblem into his palm, then turned and walked towards the panoramic Sand Table.

Castian didn't know what he was going to do; he just watched as Castian focused his gaze on the terrain model of the entire Graymist Defense Zone.

"Sir, are there still a few Sacred Flame burning in the Graymist Defense Zone?"

Castian reached out and traced a path along the left wing of the Sand Table, and the once continuous Sacred Flame belt suddenly collapsed into a depression forty miles deep.

"Ten Sacred Flame have been extinguished." Castian stared at the breach, his brow furrowed. "The breach is forty miles long. According to conventional tactics, we can only continue to send troops to White Fang Fief and Grasshawk Fief on the flanks, holding out and slowly wearing them down."

He paused here, then continued, "But we don't have enough people. If we keep dragging this out, we'll all just rot inside."

Upon hearing this, Shien immediately reached into the Sand Table and removed several pieces that connected the lost territories.

Castian's self-illuminating light followed his hand, but he still couldn't understand it.

As he worked, Shien said, "I have a somewhat immature idea, please consider it, my lord." Shien raised his hand and pointed to the gap.

A defensive line doesn't necessarily have to have every territory lit up with Sacred Flame; as long as it can still stop Magic Creature, then it's a qualified defensive line.

Under the bishop's questioning gaze, all the black sand representing the Magic Creature was pushed to the north side of the Sand Table.

"My idea is to avoid a direct confrontation along the entire line. Release the outer perimeter where possible, leaving only a few routes that we can block."

Immediately afterwards, Shien picked up a cup of tea and poured it directly onto the low-lying area to the west.

The tea water spread along the ditch, instantly washing away the muddy path that was barely passable.

"Flood the west, turning the lowlands into mud pits, then mix in some Holy Silver Powder so that they won't want to linger in the mud and will only be able to squeeze into the hard ground to the east."

The water flowed slowly along the west side of the Sand Table, and the black sand was indeed forced to slide eastward little by little.

Shien then carved two more deep trenches on the east side, quickly revealing the outline of the Blackiron Canyon.

"The Blackiron Canyon isn't completely blocked off; a path is left, but this path must be narrow and long enough, and it must always be right under our noses. They'll press in from the wide side, eventually squeezing into a single line."

The longer the line stretches out, the harder it is to turn around and to support those in front and behind. Once the charge starts during the Blood Moon Season, if the front wants to stop, the back can't hold them back; it just gets more and more chaotic.

As he spoke, he casually pushed the patch of black sand into the newly formed canyon.

The narrow terrain squeezed the enemy model, which was originally scattered, and immediately compressed it into a thin black line.

Castian stared at the black line, his gaze slowly darkening.

Shien then took a few more platinum chess pieces from the edge of the Sand Table and placed them in the locations of several abandoned territories in the canyon.

"Leave a few abandoned territories deep inside as bait to maintain the Sacred Flame at a minimum level."

During the Blood Moon Season, Magic Creature are most sensitive to the Sacred Flame. As long as there is still a heat source or embers of the Sacred Flame fire in that area, most of the nearby Magic Creature will try to crawl in.

As soon as the platinum flag was raised, a striking bright spot immediately appeared at the end of the valley.

The black sand and tea water mixed together and slowly flowed down the valley.

"The worst-case scenario is that the vanguard enters the ruined city, and the main force fills the canyon as well. In that case, we'll detonate the Source Furnace."

"Bang!"

Shien slammed his fist down, splashing mud and water everywhere, and the black sand in the middle of the canyon was forcibly cut off.

"Once the ruined city is bombed, the underlying mines and old geological strata will collapse, cutting the entire formation in half. At that point, the Holy Knight on the ridge only need to seal the entrance and block the last escape route."

Shien then grabbed a handful of silver chess pieces representing the Mobile Holy Knight and placed them horizontally along the ridgelines on both sides.

"The Holy Knight only need to have them move back and forth along the ridges on both sides of the mountain, following the Magic Creature, and occasionally launch surprise attacks to deplete the Magic Creature, which can achieve the fastest support."

The Magic Creature below will squeeze through the valley for thirty miles, while our people can cross it in ten miles by walking along the rocky ridge. This way, we don't need to spread out our forces, and we won't be led along the same route by them.

They expend their energy at the bottom of the valley, while we conserve our energy at the top. They move forward, and we follow. They stop, and we stop too.

Once they've been stretched and tangled, we'll press them down from both sides, cut off the heads and tails, and seal them.

At this point, Shien took a larger, deep white chess piece from the center of the Sand Table and placed it steadily on the Blackpine Fief.

Castian's gaze then fell upon them.

Shien's voice wasn't loud, but it was unusually firm. "If those abandoned territories are decoys, then Blackpine Fief is the anchor point."

Holy Knight, messengers, supplies, wounded retrieval, horse replacement and regrouping—all require a point that can truly ignite the Sacred Flame and control the inside game.

The Blood Moon Season doesn't happen overnight; even Holy Knight can't sustain high-intensity combat for long.

Without this fulcrum, maneuvering on the ridge is like a headless fly; with this fulcrum, the people and horses on the ridge become a knife swinging back and forth.

Moreover, this place can also serve as the last line of defense. Even if the first line of defense fails to completely close the gap, the remaining enemies will only be able to run into the Blackpine Fief's Sacred Flame fire zone and inner fortifications, leading to certain death!

Shien withdrew his hand and concluded, "Turn the wide front into a narrow corridor, use a few abandoned territories as bait to lure them in, and stretch them into a long snake."

We don't engage them in direct combat; instead, we use our Holy Knight to slice them apart and cut them into pieces when they are at their most chaotic and weakest.

Blackpine Fief served as a supply depot and the last line of defense.

As soon as he finished speaking, the only sound in the secret room was the soft dripping of water from the valley floor.