The Martial Unity

"Of course." The old man nodded, seemingly having expected that. "You will disguise yourself amongst our soldiers at the vanguard of our formation and only act when the Hlorn weapon is brought out, which according to our predictions based on previous assaults is presumed to be anywhere between five and seven minutes depending on multiple factors such as preparation, alertness, and, of course, luck."

Rui nodded memorizing those details, they made perfect sense.

"The assault will begin as soon as we approach the boundary of guaranteed detection." The old man stated. "This is the boundary beyond which, no matter what, we are unable to avoid detection from the surveillance of the Britannian battalion occupying the fort. The Martial Apprentice engaging in surveillance in this section of the fort will detect us about one hundred meters from the fort, and from there we will immediately accelerate while the long-range squads of our army will begin launching explosive arrows once we reach fifty meters away from the fort in order cause as many casualties in the Britannian battalion as possible as well as much as chaos as possible and slow down their preparation."

He paused before continuing. "Once we reach the fort, our offensive Martial Apprentices will immediately begin launching coordinated attacks on the fort wall and work to pierce through it and form an opening for the army to infiltrate the castle. We've tried variants of similar strategies before, however, we incur too much damage for us to continue, due to the Hlorn being fully operational at this point in time. This is where you come in."

"I see..." Rui nodded.

It was a rational plan that had a clear goal and made the best of the resources available to them. Using the darkness in this particular circumstance made sense, and the change in their approach once surveillance once they were inevitably detected also made perfect sense, the goal of wanting to infiltrate the fort was also quite logical as seizing back the fort would be an impossible task otherwise. However, there were certain holes that made Rui concerned.

"If your goal in approaching the fort is to infiltrate it, then why not go for the actual transit entrance gate instead of trying to forcefully create an opening in the middle of the fort wall?" Rui asked. "Doesn't it make more sense to go for a strategy that creates an asymmetrical warfare where you focus on gaining control over the gate covertly or forcefully one way or another and then simply opening it when the time comes?"

"Your proposal is what we would ideally desire, but there are issues with trying to accomplish that." The old man sighed. "The gate is actually the most secure point of the entire fort. Furthermore, it is extensively locked with multiple fail-safes when dusk arrives, meaning gaining control and opening it for when we launch an attack will be a time-consuming task. Combining the power of ten offensive Martial Artists who have trained specifically for this task to coordinate their attacks efficiently to blast a hole in the fort is actually less time-consuming. Ten Martial Apprentices when combining their power can effectively yield an output that surpasses the Apprentice Realm greatly."

Rui nodded. "It is a simpler plan, that is for sure."

"Simplicity is ideal. Trying to open the gates would require a degree of complexity that increases the likelihood of a mistake being committed or some other variable going wrong or unexpected which can botch our whole plan. If we do not get into the fort in time, then we have to immediately retreat down the steeper and quicker side of the mountain lest we get blown to hell by the Hlorn weapon."

Rui nodded. It was true that the greater the complexity and sophistication of a plan, the greater the likelihood of a mistake or unexpected outcome occurring and the greater the likelihood that said mistakes and outcomes would cause too much of a deviation from the projected plan.

Simpler plans had fewer variables, meaning there were fewer things that could go wrong. In the case of this plan, unless one of the offensive Martial Apprentices got taken out very early, or continuously blundered, there wasn't much that could go genuinely wrong conceptually.

In the heat of battle, it was best to keep things simple. Although it was tempting to pull off incredibly sophisticated and complicated operations as one might see in the Mission Impossible franchise, anyone who had ever been in a large-scale battle knew that it was best to keep things simple.

"Once I destroy the Hlorn, I will immediately leave, I will have completed my mission, and I'll immediately leave, clear?" Rui glanced at him, observing his reactions carefully.

"Of course."

His tone, expressions, micro-expressions, and demeanor were impeccable, yet something told Rui he was missing something.

('The Hlorn is not a recently transferred weapon to the Britannian battalion.') Rui noted. ('Yet the old man never commissioned a Martial Squire. Even though the weapon's power is immense, it is a somewhat large unwieldy cannon that is quite inflexible, and slow with limited effective range, accuracy, and precision. It also cannot be used if the army is inside the fort or too close. The window for which the Hlorn is at its most devastating is in the time period between their detection a hundred meters away and reaching the fort walls, once they stick to the walls, there isn't too much the Hlorn can do otherwise the fort walls will also take damage from the cannon.')

Rui's sharp mind furiously computed and analyzed the motive behind his commission both from an empirical standpoint with the data he had available as well a personal evaluation of the former general of the Zurtun Fort. The man was not a fool, if the Hlorn had been around for years and the rebel army was still not only alive and kicking but also in a position to launch attacks with a reasonable chance of victory, then spending funds accumulated across years to commission destroying the Hlorn weapon was clearly not something worth doing.

His eyes narrowed as he eyed the man. ('Just what are you up to old man?')