Chapter 143 : Chapter 143
Chapter 143. Once Again (5)
Michael went straight to find Roden after hearing the news that Paul led the Vanguard Battalion to the northwest of the field.
The Main Battalion was currently settled next to a city called Baliran, slightly far from Duren.
To be precise, they were in the middle of settling down.
Since they returned late from Duren yesterday and barely managed to camp before falling asleep, they only now started to properly build the barracks.
Like that, the place Michael found Roden was the conference barrack, the first one completed among several barracks.
“You were here. Did you hear the news?”
“Yes. I heard.”
“Then this is not the time. We should quickly fold up the work and move to the northwest of the field too.”
It was Michael's thought to chase hurriedly and seize the opportunity even if belatedly.
However, Roden shook his head without thinking twice.
“It's too late anyway. And the Hellfire Brigade won't be there.”
“They won't be there? How can you be sure of that?”
“The Hellfire Brigade's goal is to stall time so that the Allied Forces cannot set foot on the Astral Plains. So they won't necessarily proceed with a battle against the pursuing unit. Because just the fact that they pursued already means they achieved their goal.”
“…….”
Michael was at a loss for words after hearing Roden's explanation.
Because it was a completely correct story.
He even felt regretful about why he couldn't think of this himself.
“……I was too impatient and couldn't read the situation properly. You're right. Paul will end up like a dog chasing a chicken and looking at the roof.”
“Yes. So for now, it's better to finish constructing the barracks and predict where the Hellfire Brigade will flee to avoid Paul, then move there.”
“That's right. But I don't know if that will be possible. From what I heard, they seemed to use mobility-type crystal orbs more actively than the Black Bell Corps.”
“That they seem to use them actively probably means they utilize mobility-type crystal orbs frequently for long distances rather than short distances. Rather, if we guess the movement path by focusing on this part, we might be able to meet the Hellfire Brigade.”
“Utilize frequently for long distances, huh……. Okay. I see.”
Michael nodded while listening to Roden's explanation.
Since he had already perfectly set up the plan for the future, it was natural.
At the same time, the thought occurred to him again that Roden's ability wasn't limited only to armed force.
‘Strategy.’
Roden was lightly surpassing Michael even in strategy, which Michael thought was his greatest strength.
No, it was impossible for anyone, not just Michael, to display a strategy superior to Roden.
‘This is why I'm going crazy.’
Michael organized his thoughts and opened his mouth towards Roden.
“Understood. Then I will trust you and wait.”
“Yes. A meeting will start here soon. Please attend then.”
For reference, Roden wasn't simply outstanding only in his own strategy.
He also possessed the ability to listen attentively to other people's opinions.
Because no matter how much diverse knowledge one accumulates and how excellent one's memory is, one person cannot always make the right judgment.
Like this, genius wasn't a word meaning an omnipotent and omniscient god.
It was just a word meaning a person slightly superior to others.
Since Roden knew this fact better than anyone, he always tried to make final decisions through meetings.
Asking Michael to attend the meeting was also for this reason.
Michael, who now understood the person named Roden quite well, read this thought and answered.
“I will.”
***
A few days later.
A conclusion was reached.
Paul failed to pursue the Hellfire Brigade as Roden expected.
However, this was the same for Roden as well.
He predicted the movement path and moved in advance, but what he encountered there was the news that the Hellfire Brigade had appeared elsewhere.
However, Roden wasn't greatly disappointed by such a result.
And Michael also had the same thought.
“Eventually, the Hellfire Brigade appeared in one of the two places you predicted. If I knew this would happen, we should have gone there.”
“Indeed. It's regrettable.”
Because like this, Roden partially succeeded in predicting the location of the Hellfire Brigade.
Of course, in conclusion, he didn't succeed in catching the Hellfire Brigade, but it was a much more positive result than with the Black Bell Corps.
Because back then, it was impossible to even half-guess the movement path of the Black Bell Corps.
“As you said, it seems the Hellfire Brigade aims for big achievements in exchange for actively utilizing mobility-type crystal orbs.”
“Yes. So I think it might be much easier to grasp the next movement path.”
Because the Black Bell Corps was a company-sized unit, they frequently targeted small-scale scout teams or supply units.
For that reason, predicting the movement path was too difficult.
Because the number of scout teams and supply units the Black Bell Corps could ambush was just too many.
On the other hand, in the case of the Hellfire Brigade, they tended to aim for significant achievements while moving long distances.
In other words, it meant they tried to night raid battalion bases rather than target scout teams, and burn down transport battalion food storages rather than target supply units.
This was the direction where they could utilize the advantage that the Hellfire Brigade's scale was at the level of two companies.
“If we continue to chase significant battle zones, we will meet the Hellfire Brigade at least once.”
“Yes. That will be the case. But we must absolutely not let our guard down.”
“Why? With the Main Battalion's combat power, it shouldn't be difficult to deal with the Hellfire Brigade.”
“I think so too and I am confident, but we must not overlook the fact that the Hellfire Brigade moves together with regular units.”
It was true.
In fact, fighting the Hellfire Brigade was almost similar to fighting two battalions.
So no matter how excellent the Main Battalion's combat power was, it was bound to be burdensome.
“……Still, it seems the Main Battalion will win, but receiving quite large damage will be unavoidable. Especially, the Berserker-type crystal orb Paul mentioned bothers me. Did he say it temporarily increases the stage?”
“That part bothered me too. So I intend to prepare.”
“Prepare? How? Don't tell me?”
“That don't tell me will probably be right.”
Michael touched the tip of his chin upon hearing Roden's answer.
Like that, the aspect of the battle was drawn in Michael's mind.
After a while.
Michael asked Roden with a serious expression.
“Will it be okay? If you do that, the burden on you will become too big?”
“It can't be helped. Since that will be the only way to reduce the damage to our allies.”
Like that, Roden and Michael talked about countermeasures for a long time even after that.
As a result, they were able to modify the detailed parts of the operation to be most beneficial to the Main Battalion.
After setting up all the operations, Michael asked Roden.
“So where will the Hellfire Brigade appear this time?”
***
While Roden and Michael were in the middle of talking like this.
Paul, who advanced to the northwest of the field but came up empty, spoke to Lisandro.
“It seems the Infantry Company Commander's hypothesis is correct. It was just lucky that we had a head-on confrontation with the Hellfire Brigade last time, but we won't be able to catch them just by chasing them around like this.”
“Yes. As their goal is to hinder entry into the Astral Plains, the Hellfire Brigade will actively avoid head-on confrontations. Since just the fact that our battalion chased them like this means they achieved their goal.”
Paul wasn't the type with exceptional strategy like Roden.
If one were to be picky, Paul's strategy was at a level far below Michael's.
This was the same for the Vanguard Battalion under Paul.
However, Paul and the Vanguard Battalion had chased the Hellfire Brigade for a long time.
So by now, they were bound to notice.
That the Hellfire Brigade operated troops aiming for significant achievements.
Some might wonder if they only realized this now.
But for Paul and the Vanguard Battalion, it was unavoidable.
Because whenever the Hellfire Brigade appeared, the Imperial Army deliberately caused battles in more than three places.
Because of that, unless they clearly knew the Hellfire Brigade's goal and analyzed their movements, it was difficult to grasp the movement path.
Even, since there were cases where they didn't appear after causing battles in this way, it was bound to be even more confusing.
“Anyway, since we found a way to grasp the Hellfire Brigade's movement path in advance even now, it's fine. Let's move in a hurry.”
“Yes. Understood.”
“So where do you think the Hellfire Brigade will appear next?”
At Paul's question, Lisandro pondered for a moment and answered.
“The places with the highest probability are two. Either attacking the supply unit sending supplies to the Main Battalion……. Or targeting Duren taking advantage of the gap while our battalion is away.”
Hearing Lisandro's story, everyone there made a surprised expression.
They had no choice.
Because they had never thought that the Hellfire Brigade would target Duren.
But if asked if there was no possibility because of that, it wasn't so.
Because Paul's Vanguard Battalion was greatly exhausted from advancing urgently to the northwest of the field.
Above all, the distance between the northwest of the field and Duren was quite far.
It meant that unless they ran hard towards Duren again starting now, it was impossible to arrive before the next attack.
“Predicting that we won't be able to defend Duren if we falter even once and carrying out an attack, huh……. Interesting.”
“…….”
Because Paul muttered with an expression that didn't look interesting at all, everyone became tense.
However, Paul didn't care about this and continued speaking with a chilling smile.
“Let’s return to Duren. If the Hellfire Brigade really raids our base, we will welcome them.”
The Hellfire Brigade and two units pursuing the Hellfire Brigade.
It seemed they would all meet at Duren.
It was a situation where the final victor could not be easily predicted.