Ten months later, somewhere deep inside the south side of the Cassen Country.
At the moment, Roan was on the rear of a mountain as he looked at the map in front of him. On the map, he had the position of every cultivator group and their levels. They were marked with blue carving pieces that looked to have come from chess games.
On the other side, Roan had similar pieces as well, but with red colors. The map also had several other marks with different colors. First, he had yellow colors representing cultivator groups from the other four sects or the royal family. For lend marks, he used brown, purple for traps, and black for danger points.
On Roans' side, one could see a few familiar faces like Rean, Calina, Malaka, and Kentucky. Well, Kentucky was sleeping in a corner, to be more precise. However, there were many more that the twins only came to know later on.
All of a sudden, a small communication formation shone as a stream of information appeared in front of it.
-Liang, Lontis, and Waxae Sect groups, possibly with cultivation varying between Foundation Establishment Late Stage and Core Formation Middle Stage. Moving through sector twelve in the north-west direction. Requesting urgent orders.-
Roan nodded as he used his Spiritual Energy to move the pieces on the map.
"Very well."
Roan then looked at Calina before asking.
"Tell me, what is wrong with this pattern? What are they trying to do? What's the countermeasure to achieve the best results with minimal losses. What will be the repercussions once you lose or win this exchange?"
Rean couldn't help but respond.
"Aren't they trying to-"
"Shut up!"
Roan glared at Rean. Only then did Rean notice that he misspoke. This was supposed to be a test for Calina, not him.
Everyone looked at that and didn't seem that surprised to see this. Obviously, Roan had been asking Calina her opinions about the battlefield for a very long time. Calina was quite frightened at first. But as time passed, she became used to have Roan asking her about what to do on the battlefield.
Not only that, but Roan also spent a lot of time outside battle to teach Calina the arts of war. Rean just happened to be around, so he listened as well. The surprising thing was that Rean seemed to understand it much better than Calina. In fact, he seemed to understand Roan's teaching better than anyone else.
It wasn't just because of the Soul Connection between the two of them. Roan had to admit that Rean was incredibly swift at understanding those things. It wasn't a bad thing, though. The better Rean understood how war strategies and analysis worked, the better it would be for both of them.
Finally, Calina looked deeply at all the positions on the map, the terrain, the allied and enemy forces, as well as the danger zones. She thought about several possibilities and slightly shook her head from time to time. Still, it only took her a few dozen seconds to come up with the answer.
"They are trying to circle through Sector 13 and 9. Most likely, they're aiming for a pincer attack on groups 14, 16, and 17."
Roan nodded.
"Not too bad. Now, what's wrong with the pattern they chose. Why is it not good enough?"
Calina continued to fry her brain as she focused on it.
"Ah! Here, on the Danger Zone near group 14. They aren't timing their attack correctly. The support of the danger zone where their own traps are located won't achieve the maximum effect possible."
Roan nodded again.
"That's one of the issues. What's the next one?"
Calina continued to look at the map. However, she was having difficulty seeing where this other mistake was. She then looked at everyone and had almost given up when, all of a sudden, she noticed Rean's eyes. He didn't say anything, just switching his focus between her and a certain point in the map.
Calina then looked far behind into the enemies' lines and finally noticed the second problem.
"Found it! It is subtle, but I can tell that they're also relying on supporting a higher cultivation level group back in Sector 7. Because of the wrong timing, they will not receive the proper help to eliminate our cultivator's group. Most likely, it would result in quite a few of our forces escaping from their ambush. Of course, things will change our groups here that join the battle later."
Roan looked at Calina, which made her feel a chill on her back. Could it be that she was wrong? Finally, Roan spoke.
"That's correct, however..."
*Pah!*
Roan slapped the back of Rean's head.
*Ouch!*
"Why did you do that?"
Roan snorted in response.
"Do you even need to ask? Next time, see how I pull your eyes out of their sockets. I'll make it so that even your Light Element can't restore it anymore."
Rean didn't seem to care, though.
"Hmph! As if you would do that."
"Wanna try it out?"
"Go ahead, let's see it."
The two were just about to hit each other when they suddenly heard a cough coming from behind.
"Ahem! You two, stop with this mess. Our cultivators are still out there, waiting for your orders."
The one who talked just so happened to be Amanda. For some reason, she was put in the same group as the twins.
Rean and Roan then calmed down.
"Anyway, I just slightly pointed her in the right direction. She understood the whole meaning of the issue as soon as she put her eyes over there. Shouldn't her discernment be praised because of that? I also believe she would sooner or later find it."
Roan immediately answered.
"What's the point of this if she can't understand it by herself?"
Roan then looked at Calina, who seemed ashamed that she relied on Rean's help to find that problem.
"What's done is done. Anyway, you often forget to expand your field of vision because of how rare it is for far away forces to make short time differences. Don't look just where the action is happening. Make sure that the entire battlefield is always inside your mind."
Calina immediately nodded.
"Yes!"
Roan then pointed at the map again before asking.
"Next! What's the best countermeasure?"
This time, Calina answered almost instantly.
"The Danger Zone they want to use against us is the best option. They probably think we are unaware of the traps in that place because of how they are moving. Instead of trying to avoid it, we should have our groups retreat straight inside it. Using the information we have, we can make the timing issue on their side an even bigger problem. Just make the groups pretend that they are running away and enter the Danger Zone. There, we can use the few trap locations to our own advantage to eliminate part of their forces and then break out with minimal losses."
Finally, Roan's expression seemed to soften a little.
"That's quite good. Last but not least, what are the two possible repercussions?"
Calina showed a happy face for a moment. However, she quickly regained her bearings and returned her attention to the map.
"The worst case would be the loss of the entire group. Of course, the repercussion of it would be most felt here, here, and here."
Calina then pointed at three different parts in the map, including one that seemed to be quite far away from where the battle would occur.
"The two near forces need that path that our group is protecting as buffers, so its loss would force them to retreat until the situation is controlled."
"As for the faraway forces, the 24th group, who is not under our command, would miss an attacking chance. After all, the help that the enemies are waiting for would leave a gap behind their own defense perimeter. However, if our group loses, they might need to offer support to the lost zone, making it impossible to realize their attack."
"As for the repercussions of winning, it would obviously be the same one I just mentioned. The 24th group will be able to pierce through the defense line gaps, possibly giving us a chance of taking control of that region."
Roan agreed with Calina.
"That's good enough. You forgot about the supply chain from behind, but that wouldn't be a big issue since there is enough time to retreat with a sudden order. I'll give you 7 out of 10 points for this last analysis."
However, Calina seemed to want to say something.
"Do you have something to say, Illia?"
As one could remember, Calina was using the fake name Illia at this moment.
Calina then looked at Kentucky, who was sleeping in a corner, before saying.
"If Kentucky could fly there and use his defense to help the group, chances are that we would save a lot more of our forces. After all, we know about the danger zone and the traps, but not all of them. His defense is always the best in defensive situations like these."
Roan nodded.
"Very well, just have Nightingale here wake it up."
Roan then turned around and passed his orders.
"Start luring the enemies into the Danger Zone. Tell our forces to remember, their objective is to create a gap for their safe retreat. If everything goes as expected, the enemy groups will lose more than us and still give a chance for the 24th group to attack."
Another cultivator close to the communication formation immediately wrote the orders and sent the message.
Rean then looked at Kentucky before saying.
"Release the Kraken! I mean, the Chicken!"
Roan felt like crying already.