When Maria received word about the numerous losses that her side suffered today, she was really surprised. Her side clearly had the numeral advantage and they also had better weapons. Even though they weren’t the Magitek weapons, the items that the players on her side had equipped were all bought from her Empire’s stores, which were filled to the brim with many great works by her dwarven craftsmen.

The set effects and the quality of the equipment were something that those on the Vanargand continent couldn’t hope to compete against, but funnily enough, her side had experienced quite a bit of losses on the battlefield. Wars weren’t only won through weapons and equipment, Maria knew that much, but at the very least, it should provide her side with the advantage. However, despite having such an advantage, the win-loss ratio of the battles that occurred today were roughly around 65:35. 65 was obviously her side while the 35 was the enemy's side.

Winning over 50 percent of the battles was naturally something worth celebrating, but Maria expected that at least 80 percent of the battles should’ve swung in her favor and not just a measly 60-70 percent. That percentage was too low in her opinion, because that meant her forces only had a moderate win-rate over their enemies when it should've been overwhelming.

Maria was currently in a meeting with her people at the forward base of operations in Rivrend town, or was better known as Rivrend Fortress now, after Maria had her dwarves and soldiers do some remodeling. She read through the report that stated the amount of losses they incurred from just the first day since the war started. This was the second time that she had read through this and she still couldn’t believe the numbers on the report.

“I know that I spread our forces around the Lycan territories perhaps a little too thinly, but I did it so that we could launch simultaneous attacks on those areas and confuse our enemies. With the amount of players and soldiers we have, it shouldn’t matter that much as we wouldn't be put at a disadvantage at all, so how did we lose so many battles? Our players and soldiers have much higher levels and better equipment than the enemy forces! In almost all aspects, our forces are superior!”

Ash stood up at that moment and said, “Our apologies, Your Majesty, for our incompetence.”

“If apologies could bring back the losses, then I’d be willing to hear them. Enough with it, just give me something that’ll justify this horrible outcome!”

Even though Maria had won most of the battles today, she still believed that the results were horrible. She had every reason to be mad though, because, from every aspect, the quantity and qualities of her NPCs and players were obviously above their enemies. The Lycan soldiers couldn’t hold a candle to her forces, while the enemy players lacked the equipment and levels to fight against her faction’s players. Of course, skill and technique could offset that disadvantage somewhat, but it could only do so much.

Maria would understand if the results came out as 70 to 30, but this was almost 60 to 40, which in her opinion, was practically almost even! Most of the battles that were lost today were battles that had mostly players involved. She wondered if her side was just that incompetent, which was why the enemy was able to win this time around.

“Tsk, even with all the advantages I’ve given to them, do they only amount to this much? What a f–”

Before she could completely say her swear, Maria stopped and took a deep breath before turning to Ash after calming herself down, “Is there a more detailed report on what happened? Why did our players lose against theirs?”

“We just received word and this is from Duke Gerald,” Ash replied as he handed Maria a few documents. “Apparently, Your Majesty, the enemy forces have developed some kind of new weapon.”

“An exploding dust ball? What the hell is that?”

“It’s a projectile for the enemies’ long-range trebuchets. It has the appearance of any ordinary boulder, but it’s been enchanted with magic to explode upon contact with anything and release a flammable dust that obscures your vision. Also, it causes those caught within the dusty area to lose their sense of direction…”

Maria frowned when she heard that and Ash continued to explain, “From all the compiled reports, including the one from Duke Gerald himself, the enemy forces are using those enchanted projectiles to hinder our troops’ vision and blow them up. After that, they’d swoop in with cavalry and deal with any survivors and before our troops could even retaliate, the enemy would already be retreating.”

“Tsk, so that’s how it is…”

“Yes, Your Majesty. The enemy forces are compensating for their lack of manpower and firepower with tactics instead… the new Dust Bomb projectile is just a component of their overall strategy, it would seem.”

“Dust Bomb…what a fitting name, but how come I feel like their strategy is strangely...a little familiar?”

Of course Maria would think it was familiar. The use of Earth magic, vision and senses impairing along with explosions–lots and lots of explosions–she experienced something like it not too long ago!

“Dammit, now I remember! It’s that bastard from Hecate’s side!” Maria exclaimed.

“Excuse us, Your Majesty, but what do you mean?” Ash spoke up and asked on behalf of everyone present in the meeting hall.

“It’s the strategy the enemy players are using. Although it wasn’t as bad as how I had it, the enemy forces are using the same tactics that this bastard named Zhuge-something used on me!”

“Hm?”

“Oh?”

“Of course, he didn’t have to use a Dust Bomb or whatever, he instead used formations. However, the strategy’s basic principle of cutting off the enemy’s vision, hindering their senses and destroying them with explosions… it is definitely that bastard’s doing!”

Maria should’ve expected this since she had clashed with that lunatic and her henchmen in Vanargand before. Since those two were on this continent, then it was highly likely that she would face them again in the future.

Hecate still hadn’t shown herself, but Maria was certain that Zhuge Lan was the mastermind behind the losses she incurred today. If her enemies didn’t have that Dust Bomb weapon to use in their strategy and just charged head first or thought about passively defending against her forces’ attacks, then they would lose in the end. However, with Zhuge Lan in the mix, things developed in a rather different direction and her supposedly easy battles were now going to become hard-fought ones.

“Dammit, I thought the PK Alliance were still having their internal strife and those players in the north of the continent wouldn’t be able to participate? Has their conflict ended for now?”

“Should we investigate that, Your Majesty?” Ash asked.

“Of course you should! If the PK Alliance and the players in the north start interfering, then it would make things all the more harder for us! For now, just continue with the attacks!”

“We don’t yet have a counter-plan for their strategy. Is it alright if we just send our people into battle like that?”

“Our soldiers will be just fine. It’s the players that I’m more worried about. Let’s have them attack the low priority targets while our troops aim only for the high priority targets. We can have them secure the victories using the Magitek guns.”

“We will do as you command, Your Majesty.”

Fighting against a person that used various strategies and tactics was just asking for a headache. If she was going to fight against Zhuge Lan using her wit, then she would definitely lose.

Maria had to acknowledge it, but the man Hecate had recruited was much smarter than her. He was extremely talented and had a brilliant mind to back that up. The only thing Maria could rely on to fight against such a brilliant person was the use of overwhelming force. Just like she did before when she quashed Zhuge Lan’s formation, she hadn’t used her smarts or anything. Instead, she just used her magic power and raw strength to break out of the formation she was trapped in.

“Tsk, now that I know that that bastard is here, then that means the lunatic is not too far behind…”

Maria’s deduction was correct because it was indeed Zhuge Lan who was meddling in the war. It didn’t come out as too much of a surprise to her that she’d face him again on the battlefield like this, since he was on the enemy's side. Of course, she didn’t think he’d meddle in the war this early on. Maria thought that she’d only have to worry about those formations until they got closer and closer to the Lycan Kingdom’s capital, but instead, she was already facing the person’s stratagems now.

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Naturally, it wasn’t the formation arrays that Zhuge Lan actually used on her because if it was, Maria believed that the casualties wouldn’t be so low and it was likely that today’s results would’ve ended in her side’s utter defeat. Those formation arrays can’t be underestimated. She had come out of it fine because it was her, but if it was someone else, they would’ve been trapped in the formation until they died from all of the gimmicks the formation array had to offer.

Zhuge Lan’s formation arrays were indeed really powerful, so Maria had already prepared some countermeasures against them. The only thing she didn’t foresee was other players using those formations. What the players used naturally weren’t Zhuge Lan’s formation arrays, but his strategies instead. If you weren’t prepared for them, then it would definitely strike you hard from the get-go.

Maria was convinced that the Dust Ball was a product of Zhuge Lan’s brain and the enemy’s counter attack strategy. She just didn’t believe that there was someone on the enemy’s side who could possibly put her in such a rut if not him. She had to admit that her enemy’s brains and wit were better than hers. She was pretty smart for sure, but not as smart as Zhuge Lan.

“Tsk, we’re fighting against a troublesome enemy. We nearly lost just on the first day and he still hasn’t even used his formations yet, all of this was caused by his strategies instead…” Maria mumbled to herself.

“Pardon, Your Majesty, but do you know who we’re fighting against?” One of the generals in the room raised his hand up and asked.

Maria looked over at the man with a frown and said, “Why are you asking such an obvious question? We’re fighting against the Lycans!”

Ash glared at the general who asked such a dumb question and the man replied in a fluster, “N-No, Your Majesty. I didn’t mean that! I was wondering if you perhaps know of the mastermind behind today’s rather unsavory performance…”

“Mastermind? Why do you think there’s a mastermind behind our enemies?”

“W-Well…”

“Speak your mind, General Xoma,” Maria said.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Let me be frank and say this, but I don’t believe that our enemies could be this organized by themselves and pull off such an intrinsic strategy.”

“What makes you say that?”

“It’s because of how the players are. From my observations, all of the players have little to zero knowledge about following a proper strategy and would just charge head first.”

“...”

“They’re more of the adaptive type, in my opinion,” General Xoma said as he stated the results of his observations of the players. “Instead of following a strategy this…complex, it’d be more logical if they either turtled up behind their fortifications and attacked from there using long-ranged weapons and spells or just charge through the gates to meet us on the battlefield.”

Maria smiled a little before nodding at the general’s statement and said, “Thankfully, one of you is smart enough to notice this. That’s right, according to the tendencies of the players we’ve been observing, they’re more likely to charge into battle than follow a complex strategy like this, but on the other hand, their strategy isn’t too complex.”

She then asked Ash if anyone had a recording of the battles that had taken place today and someone quickly brought a few to her. Maria quickly projected them on top of the meeting table and said, “There are a few battles here, but take a good look, there’s actually only 3 simple steps to their plan. Fire the Dust Bomb from behind the town or city walls, shoot a flaming arrow that’ll trigger the Dust Bomb’s explosion and then charge out through the gates to attack the enemy when they’re disorientated from the attack. If you don’t look at it too deeply, it’s not complex at all.”

“If you look at it that way…then it is pretty simple…”

Zhuge Lan’s plan had more details and steps to it, such as luring in the enemy with fortifications that appeared rather roughshod, planting real and mock traps in the area around the town or city to divert the enemy’s attention from the real threat of the Dust Bombs. One would think that the smokescreen was only there to prevent the attacking players from advancing in fear of accidentally triggering a bomb when, in actuality, it was the smokescreen itself that was the threat.

What Maria said was the simplification of the actual steps of the plan so that other players would be able to follow it without making too many mistakes. She believed that’s what Zhuge Lan did as well, in order to make the counterattack better well coordinated. If there were too many steps to the plan, it would just create confusion among the players and turn the well-thought-out plan into a chaotic scramble of players following this direction and others following another direction.

“The only person I believe who can come up with such a complex strategy and simplify it for the players to follow is someone called Zhuge Lan. I don’t know what his class is, but he uses formation arrays to trap and kill others. He’s also in league with that lunatic woman, Hecate,” Maria said.

Ash’s face darkened as he asked, “The lunatic? Your Majesty, are you perhaps talking about that heretic woman?”

“Yes, Ash, I’m talking about her.”

“Your Majesty, with your permission, I’d like to head into battle if that woman appears…”

“What? No! You’ll only take away my fun! It’s not every day that I can meet someone that can hold their ground against me!”

“...”

“I know what you’re feeling, but don’t think too much about it. I simply just want to have fun and fight her even though her personality is a little slimy and disgusting…”

“That’s what I’m afraid of…she’s obviously stepped far beyond the line of tolerance already. If I could I’d–” Ash took a deep breath and calmed himself before continuing, “Please be careful when you fight against her, Your Majesty.”

“Yup~”

Ash had heard about what happened to Maria when she decided to try and interfere with the players' war in the north of Vanargand from his niece, Alexa. Hearing about what happened really frustrated Ash because if he had been there, he wouldn’t have let that lunatic woman and her cohort entrap Maria like that. Even though he didn’t feel right letting Maria meet and fight against such an unsavory character, he didn’t want to take her fun away. In the end, his master's thoughts were more important than his, so he decided to compromise and leave her be. All he had to do was remain close to her at all times to make sure that no one would interfere in her fun.

“Anyway, since I’m sure about who’s behind this series of failures, I won’t punish anyone for the horrendous outcome. Just be sure to not let it happen again or else I really will start handing down punishments. The first time can be attributed to our lack of intel, but from here on out, we must be cautious!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty, is it time to mobilize our main forces or are we still letting the players fight?”

“We’ll let the players fight. We can use them to gather intel on our enemy’s strategies and plan things out properly. However, don’t make it seem like we’re exploiting the players in order to do this. I want all of you to properly formulate plans when you’re attacking because if we happen to keep on losing or perform this poorly, it’ll undermine our Empire’s authority–my authority,” Maria calmly said.

No one in the meeting hall would let this happen, so they all steeled themselves for the coming battles. In the next few weeks, the Dire and the Lycans fought with each other and they each tried to dig out the flesh and blood of their enemies. The Lycan's good results on the first day were largely attributed to the fact that the allied players and Maria's generals had insufficient intel on them, but after a few more battles, they were able to adapt.

The results were still about the same, however, but at the very least, there were fewer casualties on the side of the Dire, while the enemy players would sometimes fall into a trap when they charged out to attack the players. Reusing the same strategy over and over again wasn't smart, but when the strategy still hadn't been completely broken yet, why would they even need to change it?

The Dust Bombs were really annoying to fight against, but after a few days of fighting, their stocks of those weapons were starting to dwindle and a few small towns who had run out couldn't even use the strategy anymore. Those towns and the area they were located in were quickly conquered and occupied by Maria's forces, so the tides of battle were slowly shifting into the Dire's favor once again.