Chapter 654: Iron Triangle

What was my blueprint? Having all countries ally together in front of the demon wave, forming an ironclad alliance where all the members would freely exchange resources and technology with each other, improving everyone’s magic spells and magical engineering technology together, creating a brand-new generation with technology far surpassing the times, thus bringing about a revolution that would kick the Chaos Faction out of the mortal plane… Okay, I admit that I just made all of the above up.

I had mentioned long ago that this was what I had truly believed before. When an entire generation was changing, any individual’s strength would be insignificant, or even ignorable.

“All I can do is plant some seeds, and then hope that these seeds can grow into tall trees that might be able to slightly change the pitiful future.”

I had done my very best to create and then strengthen the Hell Faction. However, this still didn’t mean that the Hell Faction was capable of directly resisting the Chaos Faction. It was simply that the creation of Hell had made it impossible to revive the Creator Goddesses of Order and Chaos’ physical bodies, avoiding the worst possible outcome of total world-ending annihilation.

As for everything else? I never even considered it…

Just think about it, if you were about to be expelled from school, would you still worry about completing tomorrow’s homework?

Okay, perhaps this analogy wasn’t the best one. Then, let’s try another: if you were about to be executed tomorrow, would you still worry about what dinner tonight would be? Well, since I had multiple death experiences already, I would worry whether there was meat for dinner or not, but I felt that most people would be so nervous that they would be unable to eat.

Cough, this wasn’t my fault for not seeing far enough into the future. Creating Hell and breaking the Order and Chaos Factions’ monopoly over the Cycle of Reincarnation was already a miracle considered impossible to achieve. Only after we truly managed to achieve this did we finally have the time to focus on the rest of the future again after our period of excitement.

“The worst possible ending of total annihilation has indeed been averted. However, there’s still no difference in the fact that the Chaos Faction has so much more overwhelming combat strength. Moreover, due to the disappearance of Creator Goddess of Chaos Cynthia, the Chaos Faction will truly have no more restrictions. This means the Chaos Faction will be even more difficult to deal with than in the game’s history…”

Although the game’s history sounded quite scary, it was simply a matter of differing combat strength. To use an analogy, let’s say that—without any other objective conditions—a well-equipped muscular man was attacking a much skinnier man who was completely unarmed. No matter what the latter tried to do, he would still likely be beaten up in the end. That was the overall situation we were facing.

Right now, the Chaos Faction was that well-equipped muscular man, while the mortal plane was the skinny man. Not only that, the mortal plane was still suffering from internal conflicts as people here still schemed against each other without worrying too much about the external enemy. It seemed quite obvious that the only result would be getting beaten quite badly.

Overall combat strength would be one of the most important factors in any war. The fact that the entire Chaos Faction would be participating in this Holy War without any restrictions had made the difference even more evident. Although new magical engineering technologies were indeed a great potential lifesaver, the field of magical engineering still needed time to develop before it would be able to grow into a tall tree. Since the overall situation was that both sides’ overall combat strength hadn’t foundationally changed, no matter how I looked at it, it seemed that the mortal plane would be beaten up quite badly at the beginning of this Holy War.

“Defend until an opportunity arises to counterattack.”

“Fight a battle of attrition.”

“Conduct guerilla warfare behind the enemy lines.”

“Use space to exchange for time.”

Although these strategies all sounded quite solid, the prerequisite for using these strategies would always be because “Fighting a direct battle would make it impossible to win.” That was just the harsh reality, and it couldn’t be helped that the aforementioned strategies would have to be employed.

The mortal plane of Eich did have a chance at victory. Magical engineering, along with the foundational accumulation and potential of the mortal plane, would all truly show their power in the middle and later stages of the Holy War. Back in the game’s history, countless heroes had appeared in this dire situation. However, the early stage of the Holy War would still have most people suddenly waking up to the fearsome and hopeless sight of the cruel reality. Everyone would be beaten up and killed quite badly until they became willing to truly throw 100% of everything they had into this war.

I was no saint. There were things I would be incapable of accomplishing, and neither could I create something from nothing. All so-called strategy and tactics would revolve around manipulating chess pieces along with bluffs and threats against the other player of the chess game. However, if the chess pieces on both sides were so different in strength that it was impossible to play a game of chess, when the enemy only had to autoattack you with all their strength, it would be utterly foolish to try and think of strategies to win. It would be far more practical to consider how to lose as little as possible so that enough seeds could be preserved for a future counterattack.

“The entire Mist Alliance will be an ironclad alliance that can survive the Holy War, and at least stall for time until the entire continent is ready to counterattack… And if there never is an opportunity to counterattack, then just last as long as possible.”

This was an extremely passive and shortsighted strategy. In fact, if I said it out loud, it would also be considered a cowardly strategy. I, who always preferred proactiveness, finally chose this type of strategy in the end. The situation truly forced it on me.

“We’re the weaker side by far. Although just autoattacking with full force will be quite fun, we’ll probably have to type “GG” after having our fun. The most basic part of strategy is to fight the enemy at a location and time that we choose.”

As a veteran mastermind behind the scenes, I didn’t need to tell others about my overall strategy that would surely cause much controversy and disagreement. All I needed to do was make my preparations, and then wait for time to pass and the continent’s situation to keep worsening. The people of the Northlands would then naturally make the decision that I wanted them to.

From what I felt, choosing the Northlands as the final bastion for mortals was indeed the best choice.

Although this land had infertile soil, and was at the border of the world, the flip side was that the better land would be fought over first. Nobody would be interested in such a poor land, especially when this land wouldn’t be that easy to conquer.

This was the extreme north, a land of ice and snow. The great majority of Chaos Abyss demons were naturally of the fire element. While they would be fire resistant, the natural environment here would become the best natural barrier to keep the demons out. It would be difficult for any living creature to be comfortable in this environment, and the low temperature would impair any living creature’s abilities. Only the undead would be able to fight at full power here. Thus, the Northlands’ ice and snow would become one of our best allies against the demon army.

Yet, things were no longer the same as eight years ago. The Northlands were no longer so poor.

The Northlands were no longer the same poor land on the border of the world. The addition of the Northlands elven kingdoms meant adding a fertile plains and forest environment to the Northlands territory. Taming the Northlands beastmen meant that the Northlands had a powerful tundra and combat potential. The alliance with the Underground meant that it would be impossible to cut the Northlands off from the outside world. The northwards movement of the undead Xiluo Empire gave the Northlands the foundational power of a mega empire.

The Xiluo Empire, Underground, and People of the Mist were now the iron triangle of the Northlands Mist Alliance. This iron triangle wasn’t limited to only military and political dimensions.

Large amounts of gray dwarves and goblin engineers had moved into the Northlands. The magical metals and ordinary mining resources in the Northlands had been greatly developed. The addition of the Xiluo Empire had also greatly improved the Northlands’ enchanting and industrial capabilities. Additionally, since the Northlands was the origin of the new field of magical engineering, the arms sales here would be more than anywhere else in the world.

Just the fact that the Hell Gods’ churches had been brought here meant that the Hell Gods were blessing and watching over this land, and in this world of Eich, that represented Divine Concepts as well as the production of high-level job class members working for these churches, bringing more high-level combat strength, which would in turn improve everyone’s morale.

The isolated Northlands human kingdoms were nothing more than people living on the border. The isolated Underground Faction was nothing more than a local ruler acting powerful in their own domain. The isolated Northlands elves were cowards who lacked courage and the desire to progress. The isolated Northlands beastmen were only a group of injured beasts who had their ambition and teeth broken. The isolated undead here were considered the mortal enemies of the world. But when we all allied together and made up for each others’ shortcomings, a self-sustaining mega-powerful faction had begun to mature and show itself.

Some things were quite obvious. Perhaps the Mist Alliance had indeed developed far too well over the past years. Since the other human kingdoms of the world were beginning to pay their respects to the Northlands, the Mist Alliance’s citizens and higher-ups were beginning to become overconfident.

But once a full-out war broke out, and all the mega empires of the continent sunk into bitter battle, the entire Northlands Mist Alliance would act as an ironclad alliance, and things here would surely develop as in my blueprint…

“The entire Northlands shall become isolated from the world, becoming a tremendous fortress of ice and snow. The unending ice and snow here shall become natural walls against any invasion. The powerful industry and magical technology here will become combat potential for war. The courageous Northlanders will be the best warriors in all of Eich. The flag of the Mist shall represent this ‘Land of Protection’, becoming the worst nightmare of the Chaos Faction.”

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There were still many extra factors that I could take advantage of here in the Northlands, which remained unknown to outsiders. These factors could all improve our odds in a defensive battle here, as well as be used to deal with any Gods who dared to invade us.

Of course, this land still had many weaknesses. The most obvious one was the lack of food.

The humans here weren’t even able to plant enough food for themselves. The Northlands beastmen were unable to hunt enough food to keep themselves fed. The elves had some food store, but it would likely soon be insufficient. High-quality food had always been a critical combat resource in the Underground, and the most valuable product of all were all sorts of mushrooms that didn’t require sunlight to grow. As for the undead… okay, let’s forget about them as they didn’t need to eat. Even though I had been spreading Amelia’s new cold-resistant crops in the Northlands, the land was still far too poor to produce enough food to sustain a big faction. It would definitely take far longer to reach that level… even to the point where I really wanted to kidnap some druids and wood elves from the Nature Faction.

I did mention to Amelia before how I would like for her to have some wood spirits immigrate to the Northlands. However, she unhesitatingly rejected, saying that this land was far too cold and poor in quality. Magic forests and magic plants would hate this type of land more than anything. Most magic plants would directly enter hibernation in such an environment where it was difficult for their seeds to even sprout. Amelia would have agreed only if this was a warm and fertile land.

The Northlands elven kingdom’s territory indeed fitted her requirements, and I had subordinates investigate that place for me. However, the problem was that the elves had maintained a permanent spring-like climate there through the use of magic which had even stemmed from the Elven Gods. And now, the Elven Gods were all dead. The natural balance of nature there had completely collapsed. It would be impossible for that land to be acceptable for a magic forest like the Forest of Dreams.

Alright, since it would be impossible to make the Northlands hospitable to the wood spirits for the time being, all I could do for now was to have the Northlands purchase as much food as possible while there was still food available to purchase on the international market.

Another problem was the issue of population.

The Northlands was quite large. However, the terrible natural environment here made it so that the great majority of ordinary citizens would choose to live in relatively safe and warm mid-sized or large cities. Thus, the Northlands was a typical example of a country with large territory but sparse population. In comparison, the human mega empires of Eich would have villages and cities all over their territory, with a tremendous amount of population. The Northlands was far more lacking in population as a resource.

Yet, this problem was actually easy to take care of. Perhaps I should even say that it wasn’t even necessary to deal with this problem. As long as the Holy War kept continuing without end, large numbers of refugees would naturally go to the safest location around. There was plenty of evidence to support this inference of mine. The Mist Alliance’s population was rapidly increasing every year due to refugees. Although the Northlands was a bit colder and poorer than human mega empires, that wouldn’t be a problem at all compared to the dangers of war.

Another weakness the Northlands had was a weak industrial foundation. In this magical world of Eich, there were two types of industry: the magical such as enchanting and alchemy, and the traditional such as smithing and engineering.

Magical industry needed time and experience to accumulate. Skilled smiths would require resources and skilled teachers. Even the tools required in engineering would require large amounts of machines and resources to produce.

The Mist Alliance placed great importance on improving industry. However, this was something that could only be improved with time and resources. Some techniques and magic couldn’t even be purchased with money. I could only hope that so many elves joining us would improve this area… I should also mention that among the elves joining us were also many subordinate forest dwarves as well as large numbers of elven smiths. I was hopeful that gaining the entire elf species as part of the Northlands Elven Empire would bring us the elves’ long and venerated history of experience and accumulated knowledge, which would likely foundationally strengthen and change industry in the Northlands.

The Mist Alliance had expanded far too rapidly, bringing along many internal weaknesses. The most critical weaknesses were lack of population, insufficient food production making self-sustenance impossible, and weak industry. However, all of these could be taken care of.

Of course, even though my strategy was to defend the Northlands at the border of the world, this didn’t mean that I would completely give up on the entire continent. Any isolated fortress would always be eventually conquered. You could only rest assured as long as potential reinforcements existed outside. While the Mist Alliance had its internal iron triangle, I had also helped to establish an international iron triangle alliance with two other countries.

The Mist Alliance, Auland, and Bardi. There was no need for me to introduce any of these three countries. All three had incredibly solid foundations, and most importantly of all, they had no clash of benefits, along with many mutual benefits to be had. All three of us would soon face war, but were all mega empires with the mobility to send reinforcements to allies in the time of need. The alliance contracts between us were more than enough to fill an entire room. This definitely wouldn’t be wasted paper.

It might even have been a good thing for the Auland Empire to have experienced such a long war against the Sea Tribe.

Since they had entered a period of war far before other countries, all of their industries were now fully ready for war. The long battle against the Sea Tribe had helped to greatly develop Auland’s shipbuilding capabilities as well. Auland was already at the peak of the world in shipbuilding before fighting the Sea Tribe, so now that they concentrated even more on it, their achievements in this field were astonishing.

It was said that they were now capable of building 30 large warships and hundreds of medium-sized warships within a period of just two years. Additionally, as floating airship technology became even better, it was only natural that these water-based warships would become upgraded into aerial warships. This had happened far earlier than in the game’s history. Auland now possessed the strongest and most numerous airship fleet in the entire world.

It was to be expected that as long as war didn’t end, Auland’s airship fleet would only become more ridiculous in scale. Considering how Auland was previously almost at a true mega empire’s level with several generations of wealth and national strength, they had imperceptibly become a true mega empire at this time.

Auland’s floating airships had also become the main carriers of food, mineral resources, weapons, and equipment being shipped between our three countries. These highly mobile aerial forces would also be the most reliable reinforcements of all.

The far more ancient Bardi Empire was hardly inferior. Ever since dragon descendant Archduke Halent became the dragon knight Bardi Emperor, the dragons’ relationship with the Bardi Empire improved even more.

This was a coincidence of the times, as well as a wise decision made by Halent’s predecessor, Orloss.

The dragons on the surface made their choice when confronted with the imminent Holy War. They knew that they needed to ally with mortal plane factions in order to team up and survive the upcoming difficult war together. The Bardi Empire was naturally their best choice as so many dragons were already in Bardi.

Currently, the Bardi Empire had the full support of all dragons. It was now common to see dragons in the sky anywhere in Bardi. Halent even became the representative of all dragons. As Orloss was still reviled in Bardi as the most foolish emperor in their entire history, the people of Bardi found it inconceivable how he had managed to pick the best successor possible, one who had been just as inconceivably successful.

Thus, Bardi now had the strongest aerial combat strength in the world with their newly organized dragon knight squadrons.

Not only that, I heard from my own information sources that the Southern Sect even managed to obtain angel combat squadrons… So with angels and dragons combined, Bardi had the strongest aerial mobility of all in our iron triangle alliance.

Of course, the Mist Alliance also had their own aerial forces, but due to the pitiful industrial foundations, the new Borealis squadron was still insufficient in numbers compared to what Bardi could field. The young black dragons and red dragons from the Underground also couldn’t compare to the much older dragons in the Bardi Empire. However, the Aurora Knights and their Frigid Nightmare steeds were still the strongest human aerial knights in existence. As the Ice Elemental Plane constantly strengthened, the Aurora Knights were also rapidly expanding in number.

However, the awkward part about the Aurora Knights was that they would only be at their strongest in environments of ice and snow. But of course, this would make them excellent at fighting defensive battles.

Meanwhile, the Mist Alliance’s strongest mobile fighting power wasn’t a regular force at all. Perhaps I myself, currently calculating everything in the infirmary after casting a forbidden spell, also counted as one of the strongest forces in our iron triangle alliance.

All three of these countries had powerful aerial forces. We would all be considered at the peak of all human countries for aerial forces. This was also the foundational reason why we could have an equal three-way alliance. Any “alliance” between a weak country and a much stronger country would be no different from the latter commanding the former on everything to do. Only when all three sides in this three-way alliance were sufficiently strong on their own, along with having enough mobile aerial forces to support each other, would it bring about a truly equal and reliable alliance.

The Mist Alliance had an internal iron triangle. Of course, now that the Northlands Elven Empire had been established, I suppose it could now be called an iron square. I had also helped to establish an iron triangle diplomatic alliance with two other countries for mutual support and military reinforcements, which would help to protect the Northlands even into the late stages of the Holy War. I had done everything that I could. If the Northlands still couldn’t survive the upcoming calamity, then I would have nothing to say.

Some things were quite obvious for all to see, while other matters were kept secret. However, Reyne’s marriage with Halent’s younger sister had been one of the most critical portions of my plan.

In this feudal generation world, where the ruler of a country reigned supreme, the best representation of an ironclad alliance would be marriage between royalty.

Emperor Halent had his blood-related younger sister get married to another woman, which meant that she would lose royal status in Bardi and become unable to succeed the throne. The Bardi Empire had actually done such a ridiculous and humiliating thing.

This was the best evidence of Emperor Halent’s determination and sincerity towards our alliance. If it wasn’t for the fact that the Auland Emperor had killed off every single other member of the royalty, and that he was so in love with his wife that he adamantly refused to take any concubines, it would have also been a definite that Auland would have arranged a political marriage with us.

Right now, I was smiling quite happily on the surface as I watched Reyne happily chatting with her concubine Avi. Yet, I was actually scheming inside.

‘…Reyne getting married to other women like this means that they can’t actually have any descendants, yet the other party’s still happy with this. Reyne’s truly such a prince on a white horse… so I should help arrange several more political marriages for her! I feel that this is a win-win situation for everyone! Yep, for the sake of the People of the Mist and the Mist Alliance, let’s help her start a hundred-member yuri harem!”