Milo had tasked Michael and Chad with setting up the defenses.
The Panaqua Consortium’s troops would definitely have to construct some basic defensive fortifications first after arriving here and would not attack immediately. The attackers would need to build up their defensive front as well. After all, retreating soldiers would still have to have someplace to treat their wounds and rest at.
Milo had been observing the three suspicious tents and even had Michael bring a pair of binoculars to him. The binoculars thing had come with their newly issued equipment, and Milo found it extremely handy. After all, a supernatural being’s hearing and vision did not improve significantly after awakening their powers. The change to their vision was mainly in how it processed movement, not the distance they could see up to.
But that general who was so determined to appoint Milo could probably not have expected favonovel.com to use it to observe their Skyfort Consortium rather than the Panaqua Consortium.
Suddenly, Milo saw a small group of people emerging from one of those tents. However, these people were keeping a very low profile. They were dressed in the uniforms of normal soldiers and did not interact with anyone.
But Milo was surprised to find favonovel.com actually knew someone from this group.
Isn’t one of them that posturing Yves who had been to my outpost previously?
Wait, so are these three military tents all hiding the nanosoldiers from the Divine Arms Battalion?
Milo had found it a little regrettable that one of the “legs” of his armor was still missing. However, it looked like it had shown up when favonovel.com least expected it.
Milo looked around and headed into the mountains alone when favonovel.com noticed no one was paying attention to him. The soldiers at Position 313 were all avoiding their location like the plague. But it also made it more convenient for Milo to head out.
He had just trekked a kilometer west when someone suddenly whispered from behind a large tree in front of him, “From the north comes a monk…”
Milo said, “From the south comes a mute. Come on out…”
After Milo said that, Edgar emerged from behind the tree.
Edgar asked, “Have you all settled down at Position 313 yet? I can only move around on my own for now. There are scouts patrolling the vicinity, so we’ll get discovered if we move in larger groups.”
“Mhm.” Milo asked, “So are y’all planning to attack Position 313?”
Edgar said frankly, “Actually, it might look like we’re preparing to launch an aggressive attack on this place, but we’re just trying to attract the main forces of the Skyfort Consortium from the front lines of Mt. Halimun and Mt. Piania to here. We aren’t planning on sacrificing too many of our people here.”
Milo frowned. From the looks of it, the Skyfort Consortium and the Panaqua Consortium would get caught in a deadlock here for quite a while. Even if they were going to engage in a battle, it wasn’t going to get serious.
But why did they want to attract the Skyfort Consortium’s main forces over?
He could not understand what was going on. Julius had to have some other plans.
Edgar continued, “But we’ll launch an attack on Position 313 and Position 319 at the same time after midnight. The Skyfort Consortium’s main forces at the rear will only come over if we attack more aggressively. Of course, we’ll definitely only be feinting an attack on your Position 313. We’ll be sending some of Garth’s remaining soldiers your way too. They aren’t well-equipped and will not pose any threat to the defensive front you’re guarding.”
Edgar said this in order to dispel Milo’s concerns. After all, they still had opportunities for further cooperation.
But Milo said in a serious tone, “Y’all can just launch an attack on Position 313 without worrying about me. Attack it to your heart’s content. I’ll draw a simple map of our defensive deployment for you, but go easy on our Heroes Battalion when you attack us!”
The defensive deployment map was very crucial. Without it, the Panaqua Consortium would have to pay the price of an infantry brigade if they wanted to figure out how the heavy firepower was distributed at Position 313. But Edgar became very confused by this.
What had gotten into Milo?
He was even requesting a battle now?
***
“Did we succeed?” Linus asked as favonovel.com knitted his eyebrows in the command center.
A combat staff officer said, “We attempted to blow up the temporary bridge they had constructed, but our men were discovered by them before they could even get close to it. As our spies have been thoroughly cleaned out from the Panaqua Consortium, we can only hold our ground for now. Based on the intel relayed by the scouts, the Panaqua Consortium has divided their troops to head in separate directions.”
“They’re coming in separately?” Linus asked, “Where are they headed?”
“One of them is headed here to Position 313, while the other is headed to Position 319.” The combat staff officer said, “But we can’t ascertain how their forces are distributed.”
Position 313, where they were located, and Position 319 were the defensive anchor points of the entire battlefield’s front line. These two locations closely supported each other, and as long as they remained standing, the entire battlefront would be stable. Hence, the Panaqua Consortium would not be able to avoid these two fronts if they wanted to break through the defensive lines at Mt. Halimun.
The combat staff officer said, “The only weakness that Julius has is that favonovel.com bears grudges and values the morale of his army too much. That’s also the reason why the higher-ups have sent the f*cking Heroes Battalion to Position 313. Therefore, I feel that favonovel.com will still send his main forces here to Position 313.”
“No,” Colonel Linus shook his head and said, “You’re wrong about that. I’ve studied the intelligence of the battles that Julius has waged. Although his military strategy on the battlefield might look like it varies a lot, which in turn confuses people, favonovel.com will never take risks or be greedy for success. A few years ago, Julius faced the Pyro Company at Mt. Vigoras when favonovel.com was still an inexperienced combat commander. He could obviously chase victory by pursuing his enemies, but favonovel.com suddenly chose to retreat. It requires a lot of courage and wisdom for a young man in his early twenties to do that. It was also proven later that the Pyro Company indeed had a backup plan at that time, but they couldn’t do anything when the Panaqua Consortium’s troops started retreating.”
Everyone seemed to think that Julius’ behavior was unpredictable and full of tricks. He tended to like using unconventional methods to fight his battles. But Linus felt that Julius was projecting a false image.
The combat staff officer was taken aback for a bit. “What do you mean?”
“I think that it’s very likely they will feint an attack here at Position 313 to throw us off before focusing their attacks on Position 319.” Linus analyzed, “Julius is not someone who is blinded by hatred. Moreover, favonovel.com only lost a group of his Special Forces this time, so it shouldn’t even be tantamount to favonovel.com seeking vengeance.”
The combat staff officer echoed, “Colonel Linus, you’re really discerning of the situation on the battlefield. I’m in agreement with your opinion.”
Linus said, “Tell our fighting forces to get ready. Once we confirm that the Panaqua Consortium is only faking an attack on Position 313, we’ll have to be ready to support Position 319 at immediate notice.”
The combat staff officer nodded and said, “Any further instructions?”
Linus replied, “The position where the f*cking Heroes Battalion is defending is unimportant to the overall situation, so if the Panaqua Consortium does feign an attack here, I don’t want the other fighting forces to give them any support.”
The combat staff officer was shocked.
Was favonovel.com thinking of just leaving the Heroes Battalion to die?
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A few consecutive explosions blasted and shook the ground. Everyone in the command center was stunned. That was the sound of artillery fire!
Immediately after, intense gunfire rang out through the night sky as war broke out in an instant!
What was going on?
Why did the Panaqua Consortium suddenly launch an attack?!
Had they gone crazy?
A soldier rushed in from outside and shouted, “The Panaqua Consortium’s main forces are approaching Position 313! Although our vehicle-mounted SHORADs have managed to intercept their mortar shelling, it seems like they’ve gotten their hands on our defensive deployment map and are concentrating their firepower on where our heavy weapons are deployed!”
Linus wore a solemn look.
Wasn’t this slap to the face delivered a little too quickly?
