Chapter 91: Chapter 90: Academy War (9)
Balto looked at the most core figure in the White Wizard Army and uttered an incredulous sound.
The White Wizard Army split in the middle, clearing a path for their commander, Orey.
“Armed with better equipment than ours, and a larger number of people, yet we only just managed to hold our defense…”
Orey walked up to Balto, and with the sunlight falling behind him, Balto could not clearly see his face, feeling an oppressive pressure suffocating him.
“Is this how your staff conducts warfare?”
Balto opened his mouth to say something in defense, but in the face of the ironclad truth, everything he could say seemed weak and meaningless.
Orey ended the newly created staff department with a single battle and took back power.
“Count the casualties,” Orey said indifferently.
“…Yes,” Balto responded with a bitter echo.
The tally was quickly reported: in this battle, the Black Wizards had lost a hundred men, while nearly four hundred had perished on the White Wizard side.
Including those who had died in previous battles, in just one day, the Secret Keeper Wizard College had lost over half of its apprentices.
Nevertheless, on that very day, the apprentices of the Secret Keeper Wizard College were tempered by blood and fire, and their fears of the cut-and-thrust of battle were no longer as they had been before.
“Perhaps this is why the colleges conduct apprentice wars,” Orey murmured to himself as he looked at the casualty figures in the meeting room.
He remembered his mentor telling him that the initial casualty rate in the White Wizard Army’s first battle was an astonishing fifty percent, which, even after integrating fresh and experienced troops and with the aid of war machines, only dropped to thirty percent.
The high death rate was due not only to the extreme dangers of conquering other planes but also partly to the White Wizards themselves.
Some White Wizards performed exceptionally poorly on the battlefield, showing even less competence in large-scale war than natives.
However, this apprentice war, facilitated by the hands of the Black Wizard Apprentices, had cleared out the deadweight among the White Wizard Apprentices, greatly improving the remaining students’ quality.
At the very least, they wouldn’t wet their pants on the battlefield anymore.
“Let’s take a break, hand all the wounded over to the apprentices of the Undead School for treatment, and those who aren’t injured should repair and fortify our resource points,” Orey ordered.
After a while, the advanced apprentices from the Secret Keeper Wizard College entered the meeting room again.
This time, Orey sat in the main seat at the far end of the room.
“After these two battles, our apprentices have grown. Next, I plan to rest for a while and allow the lower apprentices to absorb what they’ve learned from the two battles,” Orey said, tapping his knuckles on the table.
“Does anyone have any objections?”
Several advanced apprentices looked at each other, but in the end, no one spoke.
“Since there are no objections, then it’s decided.”
Just as Orey’s words fell, the door to the meeting room was knocked on.
Opening the door, a White Wizard Apprentice whispered something to the person who opened it.
“The other two academies have arrived,” said the White Wizard who had opened the door.
“Let’s go meet them then.”
High above in the sky, Wuni kept circling over the White Wizard’s resource point. Using the distortion of light and altitude, the Death Crow remained undetected.
“The White Wizards have started to fight as an army, this is not good news,” Richard muttered to himself.
The trial of war had rapidly accelerated the growth of the White Wizards, and the Black Wizards’ haphazard assaults only hastened this process.
During the attack by the two academies, Richard could clearly see that the Black Wizard Apprentices were fighting independently, while White Wizard Apprentices trended towards group combat.
Even though the Black Wizard Apprentices were powerful individuals, they were troubled when facing several apprentices whose nominal combat power was close to their own.
If Richard were in command, he would have them perform cutting and encircling attacks, colloquially known as “dumpling-making.”
Concentrate superior forces, swiftly cut through the White Wizard Apprentices’ defense, and then surround and annihilate them.
Unfortunately, the other two academy’s leading apprentices did not share Richard’s strategic thought; they could only cut through the defenses and then let the apprentices fight for their own victories.
This approach fit well with the Black Wizard ethos but was ill-suited for war.
“The two new academies, according to the rules, should be the Clear Frost Wizard Academy and Aurora Wizard Academy,” Richard observed the two new groups of White Wizard Apprentices appearing on the ground, speaking to himself.
From the sky, the two groups of White Wizard Apprentices had gathered outside the resource point and seemed to have some minor friction with the apprentices of the Secret Keeper Wizard College.
“Why can’t we go in when we’re all White Wizard Apprentices?” an apprentice shouted loudly at those guarding the resource point entrance.
Looking at the badge on his chest, this was an Aurora Academy apprentice.
“Indeed, we’re allies according to the rules; aren’t we allowed in our own ally’s resource point?” a Clear Frost Wizard Academy apprentice added.
Just now, these two academies had arrived at the resource point fashionably late. Their timing was cunning; almost immediately after the Black Wizard Apprentices departed, this group appeared.
Because of the Black Wizards’ slaughter, the Secret Keeper Wizard College was in a state of sorrow and rage, and the two latecomers were naturally suspected of deliberate timing.
It seemed too coincidental that they arrived just after the other group left. But coincidentally, that’s exactly what happened.