Book 5: Volume 1 Chapter 9, Third Battle

Translator: Kazumi

Editor: Silavin

 

After discovering her pregnancy, Collete decided to remain in the Elf village until the birth. Even with Floria and Sylvia’s experience, immediate response to complications wouldn’t be possible from a distance.

 

Furthermore, while Elves and Humans did not differ significantly in physical structure, whether childbirth proceeded the same was uncertain. In the end, they chose the safest option.

 

However, since Kousuke’s presence was already well-known among the Elves, he would not need to hide completely as he had with Floria and Sylvia. He could visit Collete with relative ease, which brought him considerable peace of mind.

 

They quickly summoned Wanri to stay with Collete. Wanri had extensive experience from residing with Floria and Sylvia after their children were born. Kousuke felt confident in entrusting Collete to her care.

 

“Hey, Kousuke. Shouldn’t you be concentrating right now?”

 

During the third battle, Kousuke found himself completely unable to focus on the screen, which earned Shrein’s sharp reprimand.

 

He quickly shook his head, trying to force his attention back to the display, but thoughts of Collete kept intruding.

 

“This is no good. I can’t concentrate at all. And our opponent isn’t making it any easier.”

 

In the third battle, Kousuke had deployed a mix of low and mid level monsters, but his opponent’s momentum showed no signs of slowing. The reason was straightforward, the enemy was now attacking with clear tactical coordination.

 

The opponent’s monsters appeared to be simple summons rather than contracted allies, yet they moved with perfect orchestration.

 

“How are they issuing orders?”

 

Kousuke stared at the screen in bewilderment, unable to determine the answer no matter how hard he tried.

 

Amamiya Tower was currently on the defensive, still summoning monsters but unable to give detailed instructions. As a result, they could not command their forces as effectively as the enemy.

 

The others shared Kousuke’s confusion, shaking their heads in equal puzzlement.

 

Meanwhile, Floria, who had been watching intently, murmured to herself.

 

“Maybe… No, I might be overthinking it.”

 

Kousuke immediately turned to her. “What is it? If you have any ideas, please share them. Even unlikely possibilities would help.”

 

Floria caught his gaze and hesitated before voicing her initial thought.

 

“I don’t think it’s likely, but… I was wondering if they might be intentionally creating stampedes.”

 

The others fell silent. The suggestion carried both doubt and possibility.

 

If stampedes were occurring and leader-type monsters were emerging, it would certainly give them overwhelming advantages over simple swarms.

 

However, the negative consequences of stampedes would also be severe.

 

Recognizing that everyone shared similar doubts, Kousuke shook his head firmly.

 

“No, that won’t work. Too little evidence, and it’s too risky to identify the cause with this little certainty.”

 

“Yes, you’re right.” Floria nodded, as if she’d expected this response.

 

She knew her suggestion was merely a spur-of-the-moment idea. At the very least, the enemy’s movements during the first battle had not shown such coordination. It seemed highly unlikely that leader species would emerge after just two Conquest Battles.

 

“Father, is it possible to zoom in on areas where leader species might appear?”

 

Mia’s question made Kousuke’s expression turn troubled.

 

“There are so many monsters. Even if we can roughly identify potential locations, we can’t confirm if they’re truly leader species.”

 

At close range, he could verify with his left eye, but status information wasn’t visible through screens. Distinguishing leader species by appearance alone was difficult.

 

A scout with extensive monster knowledge might manage it even from screen distance, but unfortunately, Kousuke lacked such expertise. Alternatively, Kouhi might be able to tell, but only at close range. People like Kouhi relied heavily on sensing presence, not just visual appearance.

 

“…But yes, that’s probably the quickest way to confirm.”

 

He would rather not approach every spot that seemed central to monster swarms, but somehow it felt like the most efficient method.

 

That said, he needed to maintain overall awareness as well, so he could not dedicate every screen to a close examination.

 

In the end, since multiple terminals were available, he decided to use some for confirmation while continuing overview monitoring on others.

 

He designated one terminal for general observation and began checking the others systematically. But despite his efforts, by the end of the day’s battle, he had not identified anything definitively recognizable as a leader-type monster.

 

The results were not a complete defeat, but they were disappointing considering his mid level monster deployment. He had planned to observe longer before adjusting strategy, but the outcome was worse than expected, forcing him to reconsider.

 

“Hmm. This is trickier than I thought. They really are taking this seriously.”

 

He had gone to the trouble of having Sylvia deliver his message, so he did not think they were underestimating him. But the difference in experience was clearly showing. Even if this was the current Administrator’s first declaration of war, he seemed to have accumulated considerable strategic knowledge beforehand.

 

“What are you going to do?” Mia, having overheard his muttering, looked at him questioningly.

 

“Well, nothing particularly different from before. I’ll continue with planned losses for now.”

 

He no longer had the luxury of losing gracefully as he had the first two times. But observing the opponent’s evolving strategy still held value. He had already decided to accept four losses.

 

This decision was based on Conquest Battle rules. In the current situation, losing four times would surrender a field area equivalent to exactly one floor.

 

Once that happened, the opponent could claim a floor the same size as Amamiya Tower’s floors, rather than just a quarter. This would let them gain control four times faster than before. If they won the lower floors Kousuke currently offered as battlegrounds four times, they’d have no choice but to offer middle floors.

 

Four more middle floor victories, then two more upper floor victories, and the Conquest Battle would end.

 

In other words, in this specific case, the opponent needed only seven more victories to claim Amamiya Tower.

 

This was one benefit of Conquest Battles. They required fewer total victories.

 

While possible in Amamiya Tower’s case, without the ability to summon high level monsters, winning using only existing floors would be extremely difficult.

 

One could not claim control of an opponent’s Tower without conquering their upper floors.

 

However, Kousuke had no intention of losing that much. He wanted one more loss to observe the opponent’s evolving strategy and understand what would happen if they began attacking actual Tower floors.

 

Kousuke did not believe Amamiya Tower would ultimately lose, even against opponents with superior tactics.