Gacha Kingdom Building-Chapter 292: Burning Bridge

Around two hundred men were sent to reinforce the bridge, bringing the total to more than three hundred.

Compared to the Kingdom, that was nearly half of my available force, though my citizens were far stronger than the average soldier.

Still, watching the assault, I was reminded of the sheer strength of numbers.

The cratered asphalt was being repaired and destroyed in real time.

The roles were reversed.

To hold the line, the city’s defenders focused purely on halting the advance, regardless of the cost.

But the rebellious factions were undeterred.

They charged through the magic and the bullets, returning fire with triple the power. To them, the bridge was just the most convenient path.

The water down below was its own battlefield.

The river became a source of armor and spears. Until they made landfall, the water mages reigned supreme.

Alex: "...You know it’s not a good thing to disclose your Gift’s potential, right?"

As a trailblazer, Alex had seen many battles inside and outside the Dungeons.

Yet, he could barely hide how incredulous he was.

Or rather, he made no effort to do so.

Miwen: "Yeah?"

I learned that lesson from Piper’s tragedy.

Although Alex’s shadowy ways also influenced me.

He was among the few trailblazers who truly enjoyed a peaceful life, which he attributed to his wise discretion.

Alex: "Well, kid. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I can do much here. So... On a scale from one to ten, how confident are you in stopping them?"

Miwen: "Eleven. Thirteen, maybe."

Alex: "Ha! Really?"

I was happy to see him excited, thinking we had it in the bag.

Unfortunately, things weren’t so simple.

Elizabeth and her pet dragon could force a thousand men to retreat, no doubt.

However, not before killing a hundred or two men and fully bringing down the bridge.

While the army was keen on giving the bridge more holes than Swiss cheese, they wouldn’t allow it to fall either.

Bridges represented both opportunity and liability, depending entirely on the moment.

At the moment, it was a liability to us.

In the future, if there was any hope of reclaiming the lost neighboring city, it was an essential opportunity.

This also ruled out Claire and Anna, since one was definitely burning down the bridge, and the other would probably find a way to shake it to the ground.

Breaking past the scales this time wasn’t a reason to celebrate.

It was a case of too much of a good thing.

Alex: "So... Why are we waiting here, then?"

Instead of fighting at the bridge, we stood on the rooftop of a nearby building.

Watching from above, I could view the flow of the battle.

Like watching a sports match, it helped me see through the chaos in a way I simply couldn’t at ground level.

Miwen: "I’m assessing the situation..."

Alex: "Ah... Choosing the best tool for the job?"

Miwen: "Choosing if it’s a job worth doing."

Clampett was a mid-sized city.

In its pre-war days, the population hovered around two hundred fifty thousand.

Since the war began, its internal instability alone was enough to push every institution to the edge of its breaking point.

Victory today wouldn’t be decisive.

At best, it would delay the AOTG’s advances for a week.

Alex: "You’re thinking of turning tail? C’mon, kid..."

Not every battle had to be fought.

The best way to deal with this without destruction was to even the numbers.

However, I wouldn’t put the Snow White Wolves at risk just for that. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

It’d be ridiculous to trade even a single one of their lives for time.

And yet, buying time was essential in this war.

Abandoning Clampett, then, wasn’t the wisest choice either.

Miwen: "Let’s see... If it’s about making it even..."

There was only one person in the Kingdom who could do that without risking any lives.

I sent her an invite to join me, and, used to having those answered immediately, I snapped my fingers.

Alex looked at me, confused. Nothing happened.

I sent her another one.

Same thing.

Fed up with me after the fourth failed snapping, Alex groaned and went ahead by himself, exclaiming he was going to find a faster way to end the battle.

Having lost all patience, I decided to send Licia a message, asking her to enter the Kingdom and wake up Marin’s ass.

Five minutes later, the Kingdom’s fleet admiral finally graced me with her booze-reeking presence.

She stuttered nonsensical half-hearted apologies while trying to fix her disheveled clothes in a vain attempt to preserve a shred of a dignified appearance.

I was bothered that she didn’t accept the invitation to join me immediately, but I never scolded her for her appearance or her ways.

I hired her knowing she was like this, and I had no intention of asking her to change.

Well, maybe this part about not answering immediately would be better gone.

But other than that, I was more than happy to let her indulge.

Miwen: "Guess I’ll be going too. I’ll leave the river to you."

Marin: "Aye!"

In the blink of an eye, dozens of ghost ships appeared, floating in the air before the building.

As they approached the bridge, a barrage of magic came their way.

With Marin at the forefront, the ghost fleet fired back, reclaiming the shores and fighting for control of the river.

On the bridge itself, the situation was dire.

Its narrow nature favored the defending side, but we were being suppressed by the enemy’s superior firepower, making that advantage null and void.

Slowly, the army lost its ground.

Only a few meters of straight corridor remained, and once taken, the enemies would flood in.

At that point, their endless numbers would become too overwhelming to contain.

Furious soldier: "...And where the hell did Alpha Team go?"

Frustrated soldier: "We drew the short straw. They sent the weakest one and a kid!"

With each step retreated, the mood worsened.

I thought Alex had joined the fray, but he was nowhere to be seen.

He left it up to me to change the soldiers’ opinion.

Words wouldn’t do any good.

I needed to show them how wrong they were.

Without going overboard.

After all, one minute in that police station was enough for me to empathize with their frustration.

Turning the tides with my own magic was impossible. I could stop one magic barrage, maybe two, and then it would take hours for me to recover my mana through Elizabeth.

The only option to push them back was for me to join the frontlines personally.

With Cassandra in hand, I was untouchable.

But the support the army offered the frontlines was too... lacking.

They were weak and imprecise.

Distracting.

I had to pay too much attention not to be hit from behind by my own allies.

It was like being surrounded, and even with Cassandra correcting my movements, it quickly became too much for me to handle.

I fell back and summoned some help.

Bea to coordinate our magic, and Ellie to handle our bullets.

And to ensure we would push the frontline, some muscle.

Mia: "So you think I can’t bring this down?"

Upon hearing me explain why I called her instead of Anna, Mia pressed the palm of one hand against the other’s knuckles, popping them one by one.

She sounded offended, looking me directly in the eyes, waiting for a bad answer.

Miwen: "Well... I’m sure you could. I just thought you’d have more control?"

Mia: "Uh-huh?"

Miwen: "And I thought you’d like fighting side by side with me since it’s been a while?"

For just a second, her lips formed into a smile.

She hid it when she noticed it, but by then, it was too late.

Knowing I had seen it, she turned her back to me, and spoke under her breath...

Mia: "That would be nice... But you’d better save energy and time for me tonight..."

Before I could answer her, she had already jumped ahead.

Even without any support, Mia could hold an entire lane on her own.

With the two of us fighting together and a more coordinated effort from our backline, we cut through the enemy ranks faster than they could fill the gaps.

Slowly, one step at a time, we pushed them back, reclaiming the ground lost by the troops.

It wasn’t easy, though.

We had to move from one enemy to another in one or at most two hits; otherwise, we’d be overrun.

The men attacking the bridge varied in level, but many were mid-tier adventurers.

Each time I swung Cassandra, I had to put most of my strength into it.

Even then, not everyone was cut down in a single slash.

Some were intent on defying death itself, their hearts forcing them to stand even after their deaths.

The tragedy made what was a tiresome task on the body tiresome on the mind.

Miwen: "We are stopping here, Mia."

Mia: "Are you sure? If I tap into my Beast-"

Miwen: "I need to rest."

I had no doubts Mia could still push further.

But I’d fall behind.

And while I believed in her strength, I didn’t want to let her go alone.

In a couple of hours of fighting, we had taken half of the bridge back under control.

It caused a tremendous morale boost on our side, and predictably, frustration set in on the enemy’s side.

Using my [Ice Magic], I created a barricade for us to hide behind.

Mia reinforced it with her own magic.

Compared to helping us spearhead, the army had a much easier time maintaining this type of position.

I recognized the familiar face of a soldier reinforcing us.

He did too, and amid the celebratory mood, apologized for his earlier words.

Bea: "You seem happy, but... You realize this is unsustainable, right?"

Of course, the evil witch had to water down all the joy permeating the air.

She wasn’t wrong, though.

A quick glimpse below told me everything I needed to know.

Despite starting the battle with her entire fleet, Marin was still fighting.

Normally, this would be impossible. She didn’t have enough mana to maintain every single ship for hours.

She only lasted this long thanks to our enemies destroying them one by one.

Down to her last six ships, soon, it’d be too dangerous to have her stay.

Our opponent didn’t miss this, and the pressure on the river had increased.

I was starting to worry.

No matter how many times I asked her to retreat, she didn’t answer.

Mia: "What do we do now?"

Miwen: "...Call your tribe’s second in command. Have her reinforce this barricade with all of her magic. Send her back to the Kingdom and call the next wolf."

Instead of having the Snow White Wolves fight, I was simply going to use them as an "engineer" corps.

I didn’t need their brawl, just their mana.

They were all fairly strong, and with hundreds of them, we could turn the barricade into an impenetrable wall.

Calling them one by one also ensured we’d suffer little to no risk of losing them.

More importantly, once they were done, I’d be free to help Marin.

Or so I thought.

My plan was flawed.

The number of men waiting on the other side of the bridge easily shadowed the men attacking it.

Our barricade was just within sight for them.

We couldn’t reinforce it fast enough.

It started to crumble.

Bullets and magic once again oppressed the soldiers.

Somehow, the enemy was reinvigorated.

Miwen: "It’s no use wasting our mana here. Let’s fall back."

It was frustrating.

We’d probably lose most, if not all, of our progress.

The army couldn’t hold them by itself...

But I had already exhausted the safe options.

Our only option left was to engage in this back and forth.

I stood up, prepared to leave.

The soldier who just celebrated me had only disappointment in his eyes.

He knew I was about to use them as expendable units.

I cared not.

But then...

Something strange happened.

Despite the reversal in morale, the rate of attacks halted.

Their power diminished, faded.

The men on the bridge quietly disappeared back into their city.

Even though I didn’t understand it, I used this chance to finally force Marin to fall back with an [Order].

I was prepared to scold her again, but seeing the injury in her head, I didn’t have the heart to.

Marin: "Sorry, boy. I couldn’t afford a second out there..."

Miwen: "No... I’m the one who should apologize. It must’ve been distracting."

I regretted not trusting her more.

She was a seasoned fighter; I should’ve let her decide when it was time to retreat instead of spamming her mind with notifications.

Miwen: "Go to the clinic and have Agatha take a look, alright? No drinking today."

Marin: "Ugh... Why... Are you trying to kill me?"

It was the opposite.

Miwen: "Marin."

Marin: "Fine... But only for today..."

Even though I was caring for her, she groaned at the thought, making it seem like a punishment.

Still, I was serious.

The cut on her head wasn’t deep, but in that area, anything could be life-threatening.

While nowhere near as bad as Lana’s condition, I planned on giving Marin a couple of days to rest.

Miwen: "...So? Explanations?"

Alex: "I took a look around. Discovered that the factions inside that city agreed with an AOTG member to divide this one... I pierced his heart. Made it seem like it was one of them... All hell broke loose..."

As he said, Alex’s ability to phase through things wasn’t the strongest in a direct confrontation.

But no one knew that better than him.

He didn’t survive so long by misinterpreting his Gift.

He knew how to use it well.

Despite making it seem like a coincidental stroll, paired with the government’s intelligence, he was a lethal weapon.

Anyone who’d doubt it was an idiot.

Miwen: "Mission accomplished then. Good work out there."

Alex: "You too, kid! Let’s go back and show off."

Mia: "Ahem!"

Oh, yeah...

I never got the chance to talk about our battle that night.