The Approaching Nightmare, a Variation

The first line of defense has been breached.

This news did not cause much panic among the people of the United Kingdom. They did not even show surprise, as if it were all perfectly normal. Although the unprecedented release of holy power by the God of Justice gave the people some confidence, the power of the Magic Empire weighed heavily on them. Under the immense pressure from the undead, these people were like slaves trying to rebel against their masters. In their view, a successful rebellion would be cause for celebration, but a failed rebellion would also be expected—after all, the difference in power between the two was simply too great.

Of course, there were some encouraging aspects. According to reports from the front lines, the Scourge Legion was clearly not as invincible as before; on the contrary, the power of the Holy Light had obviously played a role. After resisting for a full three days, the first line of defense finally fell, which obviously bought some time. Of course, the United Kingdom did not know how many soldiers the Scourge Legion had lost, but they were very clear about how many soldiers the enemy had replenished—they only needed to check the number of soldiers on the first line of defense.

However, they still concealed the battle reports from the front lines.

"This matter must absolutely not be leaked."

During the meeting, everyone's faces were ashen. After all, this was the first time the Magic Empire had used flying units, and according to the report, these things were not easy to deal with.

We need more archers and more arrows!

"But these are all limited."

One of the ministers frowned.

Even if we could produce enough arrows, we wouldn't have enough archers!

Archers and swordsmen are quite different. While both require training, even if you know nothing, as long as you pick up a sword, even with poor skills, you can hit your target with training. However, archers are completely different. They need extensive training before they can actually fight. Therefore, they cannot be trained and popularized as easily as swordsmen. Furthermore, archery requires considerable eyesight and arm strength, and it's not something just anyone can do.

The only consolation is that, according to intelligence, those flying monsters aren't as troublesome as the undead; each one that dies is one less, and they don't seem to be replenished... The problem is, nobody knows exactly how many of those damned things there are!? A thousand? Two thousand? Ten thousand? Twenty thousand? Or a hundred thousand? A million? Heaven knows! Moreover, according to reports, these things aren't undead. Holy Light has extremely limited power against them! In other words, dealing with these things isn't like dealing with undead, where you can bombard large groups with Holy Light. You can only honestly shoot arrows; if you can shoot them down, that's best, but if you can't... there's really no other way.

Moreover, according to intelligence, the Magic Empire has clearly used methods they couldn't have imagined. Those enormous flying monsters are actually carrying undead creatures across the defensive line. Although each one carries only a small number, this will still become a major problem. If the enemy were just harassing them from the air, they could simply hide in the city walls and towers and grit their teeth to hold out. As long as they could delay the Scourge Legion from leaving, they wouldn't care about losing some men in the rear. But now it's different. Since the enemy can carry undead directly across the defensive line, they must eliminate these terrifying flying monsters. Otherwise, if they let them throw the undead behind them, everything will be over.

In other words, for the United Kingdom, these flying monsters must be eliminated! There can be no delay!

However, they had no better solution. After all, this "airdrop" attack method was far too unfamiliar, and even seasoned generals couldn't offer any good suggestions to reverse the situation. For now, the only thing they could do was increase the number of archers—but training archers wasn't as simple as training swordsmen. Besides, they couldn't possibly have the entire population as archers; when the undead crawled up, were they expected to fight them with knives and daggers?

But if we don't use archers, how are we going to take down those damned guys?

With the debate proving fruitless, everyone had no choice but to place their hopes on Catherine, hoping that this saintess could come up with some good ideas. After all, when the military intelligence arrived, only this saintess remained remarkably calm, without the slightest panic or confusion. This gave the others a lot of confidence. Since even their saintess was so calm, things probably wouldn't develop in the worst possible way.

However, these people did not expect that Catherine's calmness was not because she had any countermeasures. On the contrary, she also had no way to stop these flying creatures, but for Catherine, this was not a problem.

"Angela is really something."

Setting down the intelligence report, Catherine gave a wry smile, a mixture of helplessness and frustration.

"At least give me some problems I can solve... Even if I had wings, I couldn't possibly fight off so many strange creatures with my bare hands."

"Of course I know she can do it."

Nestled in Li Lin's arms, Angela looked utterly disdainful.

"That's why I did it, Master. Just watch, I guarantee it. Catherine will definitely find a way to deal with, at least superficially, my offensive. Hehehe, giving those lower animals hope is quite an interesting thing, isn't it? You see, you can give them what they want..." As she spoke, Angela opened her palm, revealing a cold and cruel smile. Then she clenched it tightly.

"And just like that, all their hopes were dashed, GAME OVER. Isn't that the best performance?"

"As long as it doesn't affect the plan."

Faced with Angela's answer, Li Lin could only shrug helplessly. In fact, the change in the plan was largely due to Angela's suggestion. Although she could also make everyone completely despair and give up, according to the little guy, that would be too boring. Imagine, when they arrive in the royal city, they are greeted by a lifeless populace who are indifferent to death and suffer even when alive. How could the little guy possibly have the mood to torture and kill them? If a person is shrouded in the shadow of despair and annihilation for a long time, they will naturally give up everything. At that time, apart from their hearts beating, what difference is there between them and the undead of the Scourge Legion? Or rather, at least the undead are angry because of the pain of losing their souls, but these people don't even have such emotions.

Therefore, Angela strongly urged Li Lin to revise the script, at least to create the illusion that the other side was "ready to fight back," allowing them to maintain that sliver of possibility, and then ultimately eliminate all of those possibilities. The little girl longed to see the resentment and fear of those who held onto hope, not the indifference and death utterly consumed by despair. Thus, she began playing a game of "guidance" with Catherine. Angela was responsible for setting the challenges, while Catherine was responsible for solving them, maintaining this delicate balance to protect the last glimmer of hope deep within the hearts of the people from being destroyed.

Li Lin didn't care about Angela's suggestion. He wouldn't object to anything that would cause pain to the Five-Nation Alliance, so naturally he wouldn't refuse if the little guy wanted to do it. Of course, Li Lin didn't forget to remind the little guy to pay attention to the time. The God of Justice was getting closer and closer to the Prime Material Plane. If he didn't have a sense of time, he might be too clever for his own good. It would definitely not be something to be proud of if he fell into the trap he had dug.

So, what method will Catherine use to respond?

"What did you say, Your Highness?"

Upon hearing Catherine's words, everyone stared in astonishment, seemingly unable to believe what they were hearing.

Catapult.

Although Catherine looked somewhat tired (after all, she had expended a lot of energy trying to find a way to Angela's challenge), she still answered with confidence and a gentle smile.

"In terms of power, catapults are more powerful than bows and arrows, and they also have a longer range... Although we don't need to go any further, it's not impossible to shoot them higher by adjusting the altitude."

"However, that's not suitable for attacking living beings."

One officer hesitated before offering his opinion.

"It's somewhat useful against large targets or ground-based targets, but in the air..."

Although he didn't finish his sentence, everyone understood his meaning. Catapults were military equipment of the Xialuo Kingdom, mainly used to breach city walls in siege warfare, and were not suitable for dealing with flying aerial targets. Moreover, catapults used huge stones as ammunition, and using them against flying monsters was simply too overkill.

"We don't need to build very wide barriers."

Catherine shook her head.

"Besides, I don't need those huge stones."

At this point, everyone noticed a confident smile on Catherine's face.

"I have a better way... don't I?"

"You mean...?"

Upon hearing Catherine's words, everyone's eyes lit up. They weren't fools; since Catherine had made it clear that "those heavy, enormous stones weren't needed," even the dumbest person would understand where she intended to begin the modifications.

"All we need are pebbles."

Catherine answered the questions that were lingering in everyone's hearts.

"The red-hot stones should be enough to help us hold off those terrifying monsters in the sky. I think the catapults should be powerful enough to launch them into the air, and once the stones scatter, they will naturally cause area-of-effect damage. This is the method I've adopted for the current situation. Of course, I don't know if it will definitely work, but we always have to try to find out... What do you think?"

With a smug smile, Catherine shared her thoughts.