Dense arrows and devastating magical glows bombarded the massive body of the heavy-armor Puchi in succession, with fragments of hard rock armor constantly shattering and flying off.
Finally, another arrow struck the heavy-armor Puchi's riddled body. It swayed in place for two moments, accompanied by a muffled thud, and crashed heavily to the ground.
However, the death of the heavy-armor Puchi was merely the beginning.
A large number of self-destruct Puchi swarmed out from the heavy-armor Puchi's wreckage, charging toward the demon army's position.
Although they endured layers of arrow rain and magic bombardment, a few lucky ones still successfully broke through the fire net and plunged headlong into the mage array.
“My lord!” Seeing casualties starting to appear in the rear, the adjutant looked back at Sigmund with some anxiety.
His left arm hung unnaturally, the price paid earlier for covering the blood knights' retreat.
“Calm down!” Sigmund rebuked. “Panicking like this, how do you cope with the ever-changing battlefield?”
He quite recognized this adjutant's abilities and loyalty, but the other party clearly still needed more tempering to learn to remain calm at all times.
Sigmund's gaze remained locked on the battlefield, analyzing the Puchi's nearly mad tactics.
This kind of combat method that completely disregarded its own losses and took self-destruction as the ultimate purpose was something even he, as a seasoned veteran, was seeing for the first time.
And the casualties paid by the demon soldiers in exchange were often just the elimination of some "magical pets"!
Although he didn't know the replenishment speed of these mushroom monsters, judging by their vast numbers, it probably wasn't slow.
This extreme imbalance in consumption made him feel utterly nauseous.
However, the situation was still under control.
He swiftly issued new orders, redirecting part of the mages' firepower to the flanks. The target was not Lin Jun's tricky elite Puchi, but the miscellaneous Puchi controlled by the Puchi Handlers.
These mages cast large-area coverage attacks. Even if the power was slightly weaker, it didn't matter. Even friendly fire was acceptable—those fragile miscellaneous Puchi would fall before his own soldiers.
After easily suppressing the miscellaneous Puchi on both flanks, Sigmund reallocated troops and focused on dealing with the tougher elite Puchi.
His tactics weren't flashy, but the entire army became orderly and efficient under his seasoned command.
Although Lin Jun's Puchi still occasionally inflicted damage, they couldn't tear open the demon line and found it difficult to expand local victories.
Under Sigmund's steady and solid approach, both sides fell into a war of attrition.
However, the battle had been going on for quite a while, and the Puchi Handlers on both sides were on the verge of collapse. Why did these Puchi seem to have suffered few losses?
…
At this moment, the number of elite Puchi directly controlled by Lin Jun on the battlefield remained around eight thousand three hundred.
It was truly too uncomfortable to fight.
This feeling of being tied hand and foot made Lin Jun feel suffocated. He couldn't help but squeeze out a few hundred more slots from the rear. New Puchi continuously emerged from the creep in the center of the main formation, quickly filling into the front lines.
Lin Jun was indeed frustrated. His first away game had caught him off guard.
The temporary underground tunnels dug were far from sufficient. They couldn't allow Puchi to burst out from all directions for surprise attacks like in his Northern Territory lair.
Meanwhile, the demon army under Sigmund's command was like an old turtle retracted into its hard shell.
After much difficulty using self-destruct Puchi or elite breakthroughs to open a small gap, it was immediately filled seamlessly by follow-up troops. The entire line was solid enough to drive the mushroom to despair.
If it were pure consumption, he could indeed win, since Puchi could be replenished almost infinitely.
But that would be openly telling Sigmund that he was cheating!
Most critically, Lin Jun clearly had a grasp of Sigmund's troop movements and overall deployment, but in actual combat, he couldn't gain the slightest advantage. If not for continuously consuming mana to replenish Puchi and maintain the line, he would probably already show signs of defeat.
This made Lin Jun, who had originally been full of confidence and planned to replicate the Northern Territory crushing scenario, completely unable to feel happy.
Why was this happening?
After thinking it over, the humble Lin Jun felt that he perhaps needed a bit of "professional advice" to properly examine where the problem lay.
…
"Stay hidden! Keep moving, don't stop!"
A group of Mushroom Fort soldiers, under Louisa's stern scolding, continuously shifted positions quickly between cover, advancing forward.
"On the battlefield, you who command Puchi squads are the most conspicuous targets in the enemy's eyes! If you don't want to die without knowing why, learn to survive in complex environments!"
Under Louisa's merciless training, the half-demons, lizardmen, and humans present all complained bitterly, but thinking of the generous contribution point rewards, they could only grit their teeth and persist.
Suddenly, Louisa stopped the scolding and, contrary to her usual style, announced: "Training ends here for today! Assemble one hour early tomorrow!"
Although they had to get up even earlier tomorrow, seeing the training abruptly dismissed halfway through, the soldiers nearly cheered!
Of course, after this devil instructor turned and left.
Louisa quickly walked to an unoccupied corner and respectfully inquired through the fungal network: "Boss, you suddenly contacting me—is there something urgent?"
"Of course there's something. Little Pig, come help me take a look. Where's the problem? Why can't I make it satisfying?"
While complaining, Lin Jun stuffed the real-time footage of the frontline battlefield into Louisa's mind through the fungal network all at once.
The moment she saw those images, Louisa's breathing suddenly grew heavy, and a hint of excitement crept into her thoughts: "Boss, this is... ?!"
"A little friction with your old boss in the south. Don't worry about that. Quickly analyze for me—why can't I tear open the opponent's defense line?"
"Understood!"
Louisa quickly reined in her mind, rapidly scanning those battlefield images. Her brain operated at full speed, analyzing the ever-changing situation.
She didn't keep Lin Jun waiting long. Soon she pointed out a demon troop.
It was a demon brigade that had just suffered heavy casualties after fierce fighting with the storm elementals and was retreating to rotate with other brigades.
"Here's the opportunity! Have the fastest self-destruct Puchi charge this brigade at all costs to disrupt them! Heavy-armor Puchi follow up to push, cannon Puchi right behind, fire support!"
Immediately after, she quickly pointed out several other subtle weaknesses and gave a series of specific tactical adjustment suggestions...
"Oh? Oh! Good! Do it like that! Oh, he's reinforcing this side." Lin Jun let out a sigh of sudden realization while hurriedly following Louisa's suggestions, and at the same time immediately provided Sigmund's latest orders...
…
On the battlefield, Sigmund watched that Third Brigade remnant, which had been ambushed during retreat and completely collapsed, his brow tightly furrowed.
An accident? How could they suddenly seize this fleeting weakness?
(End of Chapter)
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