A moment of stagnation ensued just after the Woodsap mech squad stumbled upon the deathborn army.
Fortunately, the latter did not take action for whatever reason.
Its officer figure most definitely noticed the intrusion of human biomechs. He had to be able to do so because the living organic machines were way too conspicuous in the sea of negative energies.
Yet the fact that the deathborn did not proactively dispatch all or just a part of his army to the human intruders seemed unusual.
The Terran mech pilots were not stupid by any means. They all took notice of this and formed a few conclusions.
"The ’officer’ does not enjoy a large degree of autonomy." One test pilot said. "He can only respond when specific conditions are met. I believe that we will come under attack as soon as we launch a strike or come within a certain distance."
"This is proof that the deathborn possess a strict hierarchy where obedience is absolute. This is probably the only way for them to control their unruly and irrational minions. We can deduce the existence of at least one more leader above this officer class."
"This deathborn army’s objective is clear." The Second Elf stated. "It is assigned to guard the central pillar that most definitely acts as the formation pillar for the energy vortex formation that is currently assailling our fleet."
"Great! Now that we have made it this far, we can finally take it out! Let’s open fire, sir! The pillar is completely static. Our ranged armaments can bombard it from this distance with ease!"
"Denied! Hold your fire!"
"What? Why are you hesitating? Let us attack and get this done with, sir!"
"Have you forgotten your mission, Dawson?! Our primary objective is to scout the enemy arrangements around this energy vortex. We have just fulfilled it. The Saint Commander did not oblige us to sabotage the deathborn’s arrangement."
"As much as I look up to the Larkinson Clan’s ace commander, we are Terrans! We have our own judgment and answer to our own chain of command! I see no reason why we would back off when the thing that is making everyone miserable has already been locked on by our targeting systems!’
"Dawson! You fool! Do not be misled by the enemy’s current display. They have already fooled us once. They can easily do it again! I smell a trap here. You may not know how spell arrays work, but I have approached the members of the Red Collective to inquire about this subject in the not-so-distant past. They have told me that every serious qi formation tries its best to hide the formation anchors once they are active. This is a basic necessity as enemies would otherwise be able to target these static objects with ease. There is no reason for the deathborn to openly display this ’formation anchor’ unless it is a decoy or bait!"
The deathborn had already demonstrated their capacity for utilizing strategy and deception on the battlefield.
They were clearly intelligent opponents that still possessed enough foresight and rationality at the top to employ clever tactics and strategies.
Caracalla Shuku therefore believed it was absolutely taboo to look down on his adversary!
They may be aliens, but they were not stupid!
Therefore, a seemingly ’easy’ and ’straightforward’ opportunity to destroy one of the enemy’s formation anchors did not fill him with joy.
It raised his suspicion.
The more he looked at the formation anchor and its guards, the lower his willingness to plunge ahead and take needless risks.
"Turn back. We must return to the fleet and relay our findings."
"For Gaia’s sake! You are making a serious mistake, sir! By the time we return, the deathborn would have already swallowed a quarter or maybe half of our fleet! The more time we waste, the more humans will get killed! We have more than enough firepower to get this done! Those deathborn may look intimidating, but it is all for show. Their bodies are not corporeal and cannot inflict much harm on our living mechs!"
"That is a dangerous assumption. Even if we can fend off the regular deathborn for a time, the enemy officer is different."
"Then we should ignore and keep our distance from the deathborn officer!"
"HOW DARE YOU! I AM YOUR SUPERIOR, AND AND ELF NO LESS! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN YOUR TRAINING!? WE ARE SOLDIERS, NOT BARBARIANS! AS TERRANS, WE HAVE A DUTY TO UPHOLD THE HONOR OF OUR NATION! BOTH OF YOU ARE FAILING TO DO SO BY QUESTIONING YOUR ORDERS IN THE MIDDLE OF A HOSTILE BATTLEFIELD! CEASE YOUR PRATTLING AND FALL IN LINE, OR I WILL PERSONALLY REVOKE YOUR PILOTING QUALIFICATIONS AND HAVE OUR PERSONNEL RECYCLE YOUR PRECIOUS WOODSAP MECHS! I WILL NEVER TOLERATE ANY ACTS OF DISOBEDIENCE AND DEFIANCE FROM THE TROOPS UNDER MY COMMAND!"
"WAIT! We managed to neutralize a single trap earlier, but that does not stop us from falling into another trap! Do you not realize how unusual it is for you to waste so many precious seconds on arguing against your direct superior? Regulations clearly state that such behavior belongs in the conference room, not the battlefield! Snap out of it and back away! We will not launch any attacks when the deathborn are deliberately pushing you to do so for their own purposes!"

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