novelraw Chapter 59
Chapter 59
Chapter 59. Integrated Intelligence and Firepower
“Damn it!”
General Victor slammed his fist onto the sand table.
The wooden edge of the table let out a dull thud, and the small flags representing the legions trembled violently.
“The Demi-Human Empire’s army is pressing at our borders, and what are those parasites in the royal capital doing?”
“Are they trying to hand the Northern Territory over to the enemy?”
“Your Highness, you absolutely must not go!” Grayson also grew anxious.
“This is clearly a trap!”
“The moment you leave Winter City, everything we have just built will collapse immediately!”
“Not go?”
Sylvia let out a soft laugh and asked in return.
“That is an order from the Kingdom Council.”
“Refusing it would mean defying the crown.”
“That would be treason.”
“That is a crime I cannot afford to bear.”
The hearts of everyone in the command room sank.
A wolf in front.
A tiger behind.
This was a deadlock.
Just when everyone believed Sylvia had been driven into a desperate corner, she suddenly laughed.
It was not a bitter laugh.
It was not self-mockery.
It was a cold laugh filled with complete indifference.
“Esmeralda, draft a reply for me.”
She turned and faced the window.
Her voice was not loud, yet every word carried clearly to everyone present.
“Write it exactly like this.”
“To the esteemed Kingdom Council.”
“I, Sylvia Van Astrelia, Acting Governor of the Northern Territory of the Astrelia Kingdom, have received the council’s summons today.”
“However, the nation stands at the brink of war.”
“The Demi-Human Empire’s forty-thousand-strong army now presses against our borders, and battle in the Northern Territory could erupt at any moment.”
“As a member of the royal family and the supreme commander of the Northern Territory, it is my duty to defend the land and protect the kingdom.”
“There is absolutely no reason for me to abandon the battlefield and flee.”
She paused.
Her voice suddenly rose, carrying a chilling killing intent.
“I will answer the council’s questioning.”
“But not now.”
“After I repel the invading army and sever the head of the Demi-Human Empire’s commander, I will return personally to the royal capital with that achievement in hand.”
“I will then explain everything I have done in the Northern Territory to the council and to my royal father.”
“If the honorable members of the council believe that an internal inquiry is more important than the security of the kingdom’s borders, then they may appoint someone more capable to come here and fight the enemy.”
“I, Sylvia, will personally welcome them.”
“Finally, attach the military intelligence report regarding the Demi-Human Empire’s troop deployment.”
“Let them see for themselves what kind of moment this truly is.”
Her words struck the ground like hammer blows.
The entire command room fell silent.
General Victor stared at Sylvia’s back in astonishment.
His body trembled with excitement.
Brilliant.
Absolutely brilliant.
She had seized the moral high ground of national righteousness.
The banner of defending the nation was now firmly in her grasp.
Now the burden had been thrown back to the nobles in the royal capital.
If they continued to demand her return, they would be openly admitting that they cared more about internal political struggles than the safety of the kingdom.
No one could bear such a charge.
Sylvia waved her hand.
“A minor interruption.”
Her tone returned to calm.
“Let us continue discussing the defense of the Dragon Mountain Range.”
Her gaze passed over the gathered officers and finally landed on Logaris, who had not spoken a single word from beginning to end.
“Logaris.”
“For problems that conventional troops cannot solve, what ideas do you have?”
Logaris stepped out from the back of the crowd and stood beside the sand table.
“Conventional troops indeed will not work.”
“Their efficiency is too low, and their coverage is too limited.”
He spoke bluntly.
“Soldiers need to eat.”
“They need rest.”
“They must traverse rugged mountain roads.”
“But my spellworks do not.”
He raised a finger and traced a circle in the air above the vast area of the Dragon Mountain Range.
“I can deploy large-scale magical detection spellworks at key mountain passes, water sources, and every route where infiltration is possible.”
“These spellworks will form an invisible net.”
“Any magical fluctuation, or any life form whose vital signs exceed a preset threshold, will immediately trigger an alarm once it enters the detection range.”
“Their locations will be transmitted back to the command room in real time as spatial coordinates.”
General Victor frowned.
“And then?”
“Even if we know their position, the terrain of the mountains is complicated.”
“By the time our troops arrive, the enemy will already have escaped.”
Logaris glanced at him.
His gaze carried the faint arrogance typical of a researcher.
“Who said our troops needed to go there?”
He paused.
Then he threw out a term that caused everyone’s mind to freeze.
“Have you ever heard of a ‘long-range Magitech Cannon’?”
The command room was filled with blank confusion.
These generals who had spent their lives on the battlefield understood magic mostly through battlefield mages casting fireballs or raising ice walls.
Even though some simple firearms had begun entering the kingdom’s army, the weapon Logaris was describing was still far too advanced for the Northern Territory’s military.
Only Sylvia’s eyes shifted slightly, as if she had remembered something.
Logaris continued.
“It was a design I created during my time at the academy.”
“A very expensive specialized weapon that cannot yet be mass-produced.”
“Its function is simple.”
“It can deliver an ultra-high-energy explosive shell to an extremely distant location using precise spatial coordinates.”
“And then detonate it.”
A faint curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Coincidentally, the reconnaissance spellworks I mentioned earlier are themselves perfect spatial coordinates.”
“The moment a target is detected and the data is transmitted back, my Magitech Cannon will lock onto it.”
“Within three seconds, an explosive shell equivalent to the destructive power of a fifth-tier evocation spell will detonate directly above their heads.”
“Detection means lock-on.”
“Lock-on means destruction.”
“I call this tactic integrated intelligence and firepower.”
He looked at the stunned crowd and added one final sentence.
“Of course, to ensure absolute certainty, we can send an elite squad afterward.”
“For example, Sylvia’s personal guard.”
“They are equipped with the fourth-generation Magitech Armor that I personally created.”
“They can enter the bombarded area afterward and conduct a cleanup operation to ensure that no enemies survive.”
This kind of warfare…
They had never even heard of it.
After a brief silence in the command room, General Victor’s heavy breathing broke the stillness.
He looked at Logaris with eyes full of admiration.
The other officers looked at each other.
The expressions on their faces shifted from shock to fervor.
An entirely new world of warfare had opened before them.
Only Sylvia remained calm.
Within her silver-gray eyes shone a sharp light of complete understanding.
Of course she knew about this weapon.
Back at Saint Arcadia Academy, it had been her who funded Logaris’s idea.
At that time, every instructor had dismissed the design as unrealistic and wasteful.
But she had poured an astronomical amount of funding into it.
Even then, she had believed that one day this ultimate weapon would find its purpose.
She simply had not expected that the first to taste its power would be the army of the Demi-Human Empire.
Now the opportunity had arrived.
“Good!”
Sylvia slammed her hand onto the table.
Her voice was decisive and resolute.
“Then that is what we will do!”