Chapter 235
Chapter 235
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 235
Chapter Title: Challenge to the Great Domain: Earth
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Kramphus, sitting in the First Conference Room, muttered to himself.
"What? What the hell is going on?"
Eldar, seated beside him, murmured.
"Ah, I had a hunch, and it really happened."
"What are you talking about?"
"It was written on today's situation board. Didn't you see it?"
At some point, the players of the Pantheon had started calling the act of sitting in the conference rooms to monitor the world "situation duty," and fitting names had been assigned accordingly.
For instance, the bulletin board listing the key directives for the day that one saw before starting situation duty was called the situation board. The First Conference Room was now more commonly referred to by its nickname, the Command and Control Room.
As Kramphus made a face like he might have seen it, Eldar continued while manipulating the system interface.
"It said that when Hegemonia gains the right to challenge a Great Domain, to check on Arngart."
The moment Eldar finished speaking and pressed a button, the scenery of Arngart, the capital of the Ronante-Oroban Alliance, appeared.
At the sight, Kramphus and Eldar, who were on situation duty, along with Solongos, let out short sighs.
Eldar checked the system window and said.
"...A lot of our scouting resources have gone up in smoke."
"So Hegemonia attacked? Arngart? Weren't they allies?"
Someone walked into the conference room.
"They were allies."
It was Seong-un.
Seong-un walked in, looked at the image of Arngart that Eldar had displayed, and continued.
"Our operation worked. Hegemonia no longer trusts Suhpyeongari and Vladimir."
"Doesn't trust them? Did they think the two would betray them?"
"Not that. They lost faith in their abilities. Hegemonia became convinced they were utterly useless, so they launched a surprise attack."
"But, big brother."
Seong-un turned to Solongos.
It was a somewhat awkward form of address, but since Seong-un had told them to call him whatever they wanted, it felt odd for him to correct it. In the end, Seong-un had become Solongos's big brother.
"What is it?"
"From what I know, there were four Apostles of Suhpyeongari and Vladimir in Arngart, right? On the other hand, unless our continuous monitoring was wrong, Hegemonia only had three Apostles away from their position until now..."
Seong-un said.
"That's not particularly surprising. Not all Apostles are equal."
It made sense to hide valuable Apostles in key locations, but it wasn't good play.
Apostles grew not only from their own experiences but also through externally recognized achievements.
Even Rakrak had grown much stronger since becoming an Apostle.
On the other hand, keeping Apostles like those of Suhpyeongari and Vladimir hidden deep in the capital palace held little meaning.
'Moreover, it's not recommended to appoint created constructs or divine beasts as Apostles instead of selecting hero units. They might have good initial stats, but their growth potential is low.'
People love hero stories.
They keep adding more stories to those tales.
Created constructs or divine beasts, however, come with a finished story, so they don't provide further narrative fodder.
Kramphus asked.
"So what happens to Suhpyeongari and Vladimir? Have they been enfeoffed?"
Seong-un checked the system window and said.
"Uh... hold on. Yeah. I just checked the calculations Wisdom sent. They've taken a massive hit and dropped to level 10 mid-early range, but both are probably still alive."
If they had used their incarnations to the fullest and still lost, they might have reached the level of enfeoffment.
'So they didn't go all out in the end? Or they figured they couldn't win anyway. Well, it might have been the right call.'
Compared to Seong-un and Hegemonia, both had played relatively poorly.
But Seong-un thought it wasn't necessarily that black-and-white.
Now, Seong-un's Pantheon and Hegemonia would clash in a bigger fight, and one of them was bound to lose.
'Even then, Suhpyeongari and Vladimir will still be around.'
The player who seizes hegemony at that point would likely be the winner, but it might not play out that way.
At the current civilization stage, the probability was low, but mutual destruction was possible.
'We dismiss undeveloped play, but surviving long enough lets you see that many more possibilities.'
Seong-un said.
"...Anyway, the Ronante-Oroban Alliance is basically crippled now. Even without our control, suppressing the revolutionaries scattered everywhere will be tough, and with Arngart destroyed in the Apostles' battle, they can't stop secularism from infiltrating."
There were other possibilities.
"Suhpyeongari and Vladimir are in for harder times. The Ronante land army and Oroban navy might use this crisis to forge an even tighter alliance, but if secularism strengthens, the splintered forces will push harder for separatism. Their alliance symbol, the Heavenly King, is already dead. And there are other nations on the First Continent hostile to the Ronante-Oroban Alliance."
Eldar said.
"Then we just focus on Hegemonia."
"Right."
Seong-un nodded.
"If we hold onto magic like this, we can win."
The state of the war between the Heukrin Empire and the Danri United Kingdom aligned almost exactly with what Seong-un and the Pantheon players had discussed.
The entire Oroban navy had escaped from the Saijin Archipelago, allowing the empire's remaining forces hidden within the Saijin Archipelago to succeed in their ambush.
The empire's navy had suffered almost no losses from the Oroban navy to begin with, so they easily occupied the Saijin Archipelago, turned it into an imperial base, and gained complete control over the seas between the First and Third Continents.
As a result, the United Kingdom had all paths to the Rasdasil ruins for the magic seal blocked, except for sea routes.
Unlike wars on Earth, where heavy losses or anticipated losses lead to cessation, wars in Lost World only end when a player gives up.
But for Hegemonia, it was over if all their ships were destroyed.
No matter how many land forces the United Kingdom had, they were useless if they couldn't set foot on the Third Continent.
Therefore, Hegemonia would want to protect the sea routes from the Fourth and Second Continents to the western coast of the Third Continent, preventing them from opting for all-out war.
The empire had a wider area to defend, but more total naval forces, so even Hegemonia had no guarantee of profiting from naval combat.
That didn't mean the future was bright.
By adopting a strategy of minimizing losses, the empire's navy was steadily whittling away at the United Kingdom's navy.
Wisdom said.
"Then they might be planning a prolonged war. Before our imperial forces join, they could aim for a far-flung port like Maganen, occupy it, and continuously ferry troops."
Seong-un said.
"Possible, but..."
Seong-un pointed north of Maganen on the map.
Wisdom muttered.
"Pladion?"
But Seong-un's finger kept moving.
It crossed rugged mountains and highlands, then passed over the eastern mountain range.
The finger stopped at Rasdasil.
Wisdom said, as if not understanding.
"With their current fleet, they could protect transports and ferry troops multiple times. Wouldn't they need to establish an expeditionary base after landing first?"
"That doesn't make strategic sense."
"Attacking Rasdasil directly? On our defended land? It's not a perfect defensive line, but we've done better than expected. Hegemonia is delayed, while we've been faster."
"Right. If Hegemonia lands troops on the Rasdasil coast, it's not bad for us."
Currently, quite a few troops were deployed to southern cities like Maganen in the imperial peninsula region.
Because they were the closest land to the United Kingdom.
If the United Kingdom's fleet landed at Rasdasil because of that, they'd have to surrender the landing zone helplessly.
'But that's it.'
It might seem risky at first glance, but the hidden fleets in the seas off Rasdasil had now been revealed, and coastal fortresses had been built.
Even though many troops were beyond the mountains, the empire no longer had impassable terrain due to rugged mountains. The roads were well-paved, so if they could just buy a little time on the Rasdasil coast, large-scale forces could quickly assemble at Rasdasil.
Moreover, landing at Rasdasil meant the United Kingdom couldn't secure supply lines. The empire's other naval forces wouldn't just sit idly by.
Hegemonia attacking Rasdasil was like placing a stone in a bad position in Go.
"...Then should we redeploy forces to Pladion now?"
Seong-un shook his head.
"No. If we do that and give up port cities like Maganen, it'll be more troublesome."
Hegemonia was consuming Faith to hide the positions of key forces.
There were no other options besides the eastern coast, but exactly where they'd appear was still unknown.
"And you still think they'll come to Rasdasil?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
Seong-un pondered.
Then slowly opened his mouth.
"Because that's what I'd do."
"Why?"
"Playing by the book leads to drying up and dying. So they'd bet on the side with a bit more chance of victory, even if the risk of defeat is higher."
"I don't get it."
Seong-un said.
"If they thought they could win every battle ahead, they might think like this."
Win every battle.
Then encirclement, supply cuts, or unfavorable situations wouldn't matter.
"Nebula, I don't know if you're underestimating us or if Hegemonia is."
Seong-un shook his head.
"Neither. You can't win a game with that mindset. ...Hegemonia has reason for confidence. They've gathered strong Apostles, secured the unique domain of war, and their troops are high quality. Plus, if they think they can focus all this fragmented play into one decisive battle... they'd be certain of victory."
Wisdom fell silent for a moment.
"Yeah, that makes sense."
It was then.
Runda, in the First Conference Room, contacted Seong-un.
"The United Kingdom fleet has appeared. Coordinates here."
A red dot appeared.
It was the southeastern sea of the Third Continent.
The fleet, already far off after passing the Southern Isles, was heading north.
"Spotted just a bit ago. So the plotted course might not be precise, but the sea routes the United Kingdom fleet uses clearly lead to..."
Runda said.
"Rasdasil. The fleet is heading for the seas off Rasdasil."
Seong-un and Wisdom looked at each other.
In truth, Seong-un still couldn't figure out where to look on Wisdom's star-shaped head, but somehow, they communicated emotions.
And as if scripted, they quickly organized their system windows.
They issued revelations through their assigned priest units to move the troops.
The military priests received revelations in various forms depending on their patron gods: swarms of red butterflies dancing in familiar patterns, silkworms wriggling out of pouches to form letters, or gusts of wind arranging leaves meaningfully.
The military priests interpreted the meanings and informed their unit commanders.
The commanders hurriedly gathered their forces and ordered them to Rasdasil.
Meanwhile, the imperial fleet off Rasdasil began preparations to meet the enemy, and the coastal fortresses halted expansion to switch to reinforcement work.
As they operated, Wisdom said.
"By the way, we haven't heard back on the sanctuary yet. Is that okay? I thought you wanted to confirm it this time."
Seong-un said.
"Well. If it's something I didn't predict, we'd wait, but in Hegemonia's case, I think I was a step ahead."
Wisdom chuckled softly.
"Fair point."
A few days later, eastern coast of the Third Continent.
The United Kingdom fleet appeared off the coast of Poladion.