Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons novel Chapter 873

Chapter 873: Chapter 873 - Taming the Fifth Year - Attrition - 2

Morale was fracturing as soldiers realized they were more likely to be killed by their own commanders’ tactics than by enemy action.

"Reform lines!" "Tighten formation!" "Don’t fire unless you have a clear shot!".

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Despite devastating initial losses and fractured morale that had seemed to announce their imminent collapse, the enemy army demonstrated adaptation capacity that Arturo recognized with reluctant appreciation.

5,000 tamers were said easily in terms of abstract numbers. But the reality of defeating them when they began operating with appropriate tactics was considerably more complex than early victories had suggested.

The scale was staggering when you actually thought about it rather than treating it as an abstract number.

The enemy’s Gold-rank leaders, after seeing their offensive approach only resulted in massive friendly fire and systematic elimination by elite cells exploiting superior mobility, had made a decision fundamentally transforming the confrontation’s nature.

They’d ordered the army to divide into large cells, groups of approximately 100 tamers each that could maintain internal cohesion while simultaneously having sufficient mass to provide defense in depth.

Almost 45 out of the initial 50 cells of around 100 tamers each, having healed and saved a good amount of tamers from Selphira initial attacks. Each cell with its internal command structure.

Each cell was capable of operating semi-independently while maintaining some communication with adjacent units.

It was the correct response to small-unit harassment.

And more critically, they’d switched to absolute defense with harassment strategy instead of attempting to win the battle through direct elimination of Selphira’s forces.

No more trying to kill the enemy. Just trying to not die while making the enemy waste resources.

It was recognition they couldn’t win in direct exchange but could make victory’s cost high enough that attackers would eventually have to withdraw or risk complete exhaustion.

Defensive warfare... Wars of attrition.

The kind of combat where raw endurance mattered more than tactical brilliance.

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When large cells adopted appropriate defensive formations, effectiveness increased dramatically beyond what had been during the initial disorganized phase.

Each cell had a core of wood and earth-affinity tamers generating continuous fortifications, walls and trenches that reformed as they were destroyed.

Maybe 15-20 earth specialists per cell. Working in rotation. While 5 built new walls, 10 maintained existing ones, 5 rested and recovered mana. Continuous cycle that never left the position undefended.

Not impenetrable but sufficient to block line of sight and absorb most attacks. Destroyed but rebuilt in maybe 1-2 seconds. Air and Water shields also helping when needed...

Net result: walls that were effectively permanent as long as defenders had mana.

Surrounding that core were those with offensive elements who could launch harassment attacks without dangerously exposing themselves, projectiles launched from protected positions forcing elite cells to maintain distance or risk taking accumulative damage.

Maybe 20-25 offensive specialists per cell. Fire and wind. But not too much wind on offense like before, they’d learned that lesson. Just steady, consistent output.

And distributed through each large cell were tamers with healing capabilities, those whose beasts had affinities permitting wound healing and restoration.

The enemies together in defense were much more effective than when they’d attempted operating in dispersed offensive formation.

They were capable of denying attacks that previously would have penetrated without serious resistance by reducing possible target sizes, elemental barriers now overlapping and creating protection exceeding what any individual tamer could destroy in a single blow.

Arturo had tested this. Directed his Fire Wolverine to launch a full-power attack at one of the defensive cells.

Result: absorbed by overlapping earth and water barriers. Some damage to the outermost layer but core position intact. Defenders repositioned during his attack’s recovery period. Net gain: almost zero.

Cost: maybe 5% of his Wolverine’s current mana. Expensive test that confirmed what he’d suspected.

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