Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

"Don't give your promises lightly." Winters sighed long and deep—clearly, Caman possessed information he didn't know, but the latter was unwilling to disclose it at the moment—he said helplessly:

"If there's anything I've learned from my experiences, it's that the more confident a promise is made, the more tortuous its realization process tends to be. Even when the promise is fulfilled, it's often not in the way you originally imagined."

Caman guiltily looked at the ground, avoiding Winters' gaze. After a moment of silence, he cleared his throat, trying to change the subject: "You still haven't told me—who got you into this state?"

Winters' expression involuntarily grew heavy, as if recalling scenes from the battlefield. He forced out an answer with effort: "The New Reclamation Expeditionary Army."

"How could it be?" Caman was increasingly bewildered: "The rebels you fought... did the New Reclamation Expeditionary Army also have high-level mages with them?"

"No." Winters closed his eyes, "They only had some officers who could use the amplification technique."

"Then how did they manage to injure you like this?"

This time, it was Winters' turn to be silent.

Caman wanted to press further but restrained his curiosity. He smiled generously, "It seems we all have some secrets to keep."

Winters opened his eyes, staring directly at Caman. When the latter felt thoroughly uncomfortable under his gaze, Winters suddenly grasped Caman's shoulder, gently uttering a single word:

"Trust."

Caman wanted to push away Winters' arm disdainfully but felt a bit embarrassed, so he awkwardly nodded.

Winters released his grip, sat back in the chair, and patiently narrated the sequence of events: "When Duke Butcher invaded the Mountain Front Territory, there had already been reports of suspected court mages participating in the battle. By the time the Mad Emperor personally led his campaign, court mages were openly deployed in the battlefield."

"At that time, the Alliance had no spellcasters." Winters glanced at Caman, "Nor any priests."

Caman evasively averted his gaze.

"Assassination, ambush, battle formations, beheadings, every combat method you can think of, the court mages had used them all. Heavily fortified salient forts were silently conquered overnight by the enemy, leaving not even a single soldier to escape. Officers brimming with life one day were discovered dead in their sleep the next, without even a cause of death found."

"I can hardly imagine with what determination and courage the people of that era buried the dead and continued to resist."

"But courage and determination alone were not enough. Fortunately, the soldiers of the Allied Army never lacked another thing—wisdom. Over the long course of the war, our forebears gradually identified patterns in the actions of court mages."

"They discovered that the targets of court mages were very deliberate. In most cases, they only targeted units below the scale of a Hundred-Men Squad. Meaning, the 'power' of the court mages wasn't limitless. Given limited 'ammunition,' court mages naturally leaned towards selecting 'high-value' targets."

"Secondly, court mages mostly operated at night. On one hand, it could be interpreted that they were adept at concealing themselves, coming and going without a trace. On the other hand, it indicated their tendency to avoid frontal confrontations."

"Lastly, analyzing the few existing records of court mages participating in field battles, without exception, they were deployed as an elite strike force determining victory or defeat at the most critical moments of battle."

Winters deliberately paused to give Caman some time to digest, and proudly explained, "Based on those deduced patterns, the Allied Army developed a series of counter-strategies. After the war, various counter-strategies were further summarized, ultimately forming the current 'anti-magic tactics.'

"Court mages are like invisible beasts." Seeing Caman's baffled expression, Winters offered a metaphor, "Their actions are exceedingly covert, yet their behaviors are predictable. Therefore, the most effective means to deal with them are traps."

"Through setting up fake high-value targets, we lure the court mages into traps. The entire process is divided into three steps: detection, locking, and destruction..."

Caman finally heard something of interest: "Destruction? How to destroy?"

He skeptically observed Winters' body language: "According to your account, during the counter-insurgency war, the rebels neither identified the mages nor possessed forces matching the mages' prowess."

"Correct." Winters readily admitted, "So we simply didn't bother to identify them."

Feeling a twinge in his side again, he patiently explained, "The full term for 'destruction' is actually 'ensuring destruction.' If it's confirmed that a court mage has entered a tunnel, we would completely fill the tunnel; if they entered a forest, we'd burn the forest down; if they entered a fort, we'd blow the fort sky-high."

"Compared to destruction, detection and locking are actually more critical. Detection involves intelligence gathering and assessment, while locking involves confirming a court mage has entered the trap."

Winters recalled something and added, "In fact, there's another step—concealment. That is, if intelligence shows enemy spellcasters are lurking, then every link in the command chain should conceal itself as much as possible."

Winters remarked with a wry smile, "Just like in the battle of River Valley Village, as soon as I arrived at the battlefield, all officers of the Sixth Legion took off their uniforms, and the military flags were entirely rearranged in misaligned patterns. Even the messengers no longer reported directly to the officers."