Chapter 873: Chapter 873 - Taming the Fifth Year - Attrition - 2 Morale was fracturing as soldiers realized they were more likely to be killed by their own commanders’ tactics than by enemy action. "Reform lines!" "Tighten formation!" "Don’t fire unless you have a clear shot!". ♢♢♢♢ Despite devastating initial losses and fractured morale that had seemed to announce their imminent collapse, the enemy army demonstrated adaptation capacity that Arturo recognized with reluctant appreciation. 5,000 tamers were said easily in terms of abstract numbers. But the reality of defeating them when they began operating with appropriate tactics was considerably more complex than early victories had suggested. The scale was staggering when you actually thought about it rather than treating it as an abstract number. The enemy’s Gold-rank leaders, after seeing their offensive approach only resulted in massive friendly fire and systematic elimination by elite cells exploiting superior mobility, had made a decision fundamentally transforming the confrontation’s nature. They’d ordered the army to divide into large cells, groups of approximately 100 tamers each that could maintain internal cohesion while simultaneously having sufficient mass to provide defense in depth. Almost 45 out of the initial 50 cells of around 100 tamers each, having healed and saved a good amount of tamers from Selphira initial attacks. Each cell with its internal command structure. Each cell was capable of operating semi-independently while maintaining some communication with adjacent units. It was the correct response to small-unit harassment. And more critically, they’d switched to absolute defense with harassment strategy instead of attempting to win the battle through direct elimination of Selphira’s forces. No more trying to kill the enemy. Just trying to not die while making the enemy waste resources. It was recognition they couldn’t win in direct exchange but could make victory’s cost high enough that attackers would eventually have to withdraw or risk complete exhaustion. Defensive warfare... Wars of attrition. The kind of combat where raw endurance mattered more than tactical brilliance. ♢♢♢♢ When large cells adopted appropriate defensive formations, effectiveness increased dramatically beyond what had been during the initial disorganized phase. Each cell had a core of wood and earth-affinity tamers generating continuous fortifications, walls and trenches that reformed as they were destroyed. Maybe 15-20 earth specialists per cell. Working in rotation. While 5 built new walls, 10 maintained existing ones, 5 rested and recovered mana. Continuous cycle that never left the position undefended. Not impenetrable but sufficient to block line of sight and absorb most attacks. Destroyed but rebuilt in maybe 1-2 seconds. Air and Water shields also helping when needed... Net result: walls that were effectively permanent as long as defenders had mana. Surrounding that core were those with offensive elements who could launch harassment attacks without dangerously exposing themselves, projectiles launched from protected positions forcing elite cells to maintain distance or risk taking accumulative damage. Maybe 20-25 offensive specialists per cell. Fire and wind. But not too much wind on offense like before, they’d learned that lesson. Just steady, consistent output. And distributed through each large cell were tamers with healing capabilities, those whose beasts had affinities permitting wound healing and restoration. The enemies together in defense were much more effective than when they’d attempted operating in dispersed offensive formation. They were capable of denying attacks that previously would have penetrated without serious resistance by reducing possible target sizes, elemental barriers now overlapping and creating protection exceeding what any individual tamer could destroy in a single blow. Arturo had tested this. Directed his Fire Wolverine to launch a full-power attack at one of the defensive cells. Result: absorbed by overlapping earth and water barriers. Some damage to the outermost layer but core position intact. Defenders repositioned during his attack’s recovery period. Net gain: almost zero. Cost: maybe 5% of his Wolverine’s current mana. Expensive test that confirmed what he’d suspected. And continuous healing cycle meant wounded who would have been permanently out of combat in initial phase could now be restored to partial effectiveness in seconds instead of being incapacitated for hours or days. One of the groups had directed personal assault against one of the cells with their own five-person unit. And after 20 minutes of intense combat, they’d managed to force retreat. But they’d spent significant mana in the process. Maybe 20-25% of total reserves. Victory, technically... But pyrrhic. It was simple mathematics not favoring attackers when projected into the future. If it took considerable resource expenditure to force the retreat of 100 tamers now, then eliminating a complete army of 5,000 would require... Arturo did a quick mental calculation and felt the weight of recognition settling heavily. 50 cells × 20 minutes per cell = 1,000 minutes = 16-17 hours of continuous combat. But that assumed his forces could maintain combat effectiveness continuously, which they couldn’t. They needed mana recovery. Needed healing. Realistically: 30-40 minutes per cell when accounting for recovery periods. 50 cells × 35 minutes average = 1,750 minutes = 29 hours = 1.2 days. Add complications like defensive positions improving over time, morale stabilizing... One day minimum. But most likely two since fighting Orion needed mana too. To reduce the army to a point where it no longer represented an effective threat. This literally would take days of sustained combat. If enemies didn’t receive reinforcements from forces Orion maintained in reserve inside the ruin, and that morale didn’t stabilize as they recognized they could survive by adopting defensive posture instead of trying to actively win. The math was brutal... Victory was possible but would be expensive. Possibly too expensive. "We can’t abuse our mana," Selphira observed with a tone that was pragmatic without being defeatist. "If we spend everything eliminating this army, we won’t have sufficient reserve for the final confrontation with Orion and whatever force he has waiting inside." It was a valid concern Arturo shared completely. Prolonged combat drained not just immediate mana used for active techniques but also deeper reserves taking hours or days to appropriately replenish. Tamers of their caliber had considerable capacity, certainly. But they weren’t carriers of infinite capacity. If Selphira and Arturo arrived at Orion with 30-40% reserves remaining, they’d be fighting fresh opponents at significant disadvantage. "We have to use low mana tactics to save for what comes after," Arturo agreed while watching another of his cells execute probing attacks against a fortified position and being forced to retreat after an inconclusive exchange. "Which means this will take considerable time. Before we’ve worn down enough of their army that we can push toward the ruin without risking being surrounded when we’re inside." It was frustrating prospect considering Victor’s situation’s urgency. Each passing hour was an additional hour where his brother was in enemy hands, potentially being used for purposes Arturo didn’t want to contemplate too specifically. But pushing too quickly and exhausting resources prematurely would only result in completely failing to rescue him, trapped between the exterior army and Orion’s interior forces without capacity to effectively deal with either. Move too fast, fail. Move too slow, fail differently. No good options. Just less bad ones. Selphira looked toward horizon with expression that was difficult to completely read. Something between frustration and resignation. The look of someone who recognized being in a genuinely difficult position without a clear solution. "Perhaps it will be less time when Julius’s group joins us," she offered with tone carrying cautious hope. "If Julius brings Zhao and even ten additional tamers, that would change the balance sufficiently that we could accelerate elimination without spending so much mana individually."