"Lady Edith..." Ferlin whispered a reminder, "That's a loss of over two hundred people. A great victory and all..."

"Two hundred people—that's it," the Pearl of the North interrupted. "What about the devils? Roughly fifty were deployed to the camp, including one High-Rank Devil. The First Army's casualties were almost entirely caused by them! At first glance, fifty versus two hundred, it looks like we took a huge loss, but the main force of the enemy that died in front of the defense line is at least two thousand—and that's just the initial estimate. Those devils blown to pieces during the escape will take days to piece together for a complete count. I'm right, aren't I, Ms. Sylvie?"

"Uh..." Sylvie hesitated. "The enemy corpses seen by the Magic Eye are roughly that number."

"Ms. Agatha, I'm guessing you didn't command a war four hundred years ago, or even personally participate in a major battle, am I correct?" Edith looked at the Ice Witch.

The latter couldn't help but frown. "During the War of Divine Will, fighting devils was a required course for the witches of the Union. Although I was a researcher for the Seekers, I also crossed swords with enemies on the road to exploring ruins..."

"I'm talking about war," Edith leaned forward slightly, her expression aggressive.

"Edith—" Iron Axe spoke up to stop her.

"Why?" Anna suddenly asked, her intervention drawing everyone's attention back. "Why would you think that? As far as I know, you were the commander of the Knights in the Northern Lands, but you haven't experienced a major battle either."

If someone else had asked this question, it would have been adding fuel to the fire, but coming from Anna, everyone felt surprisingly calm, with no hint of argument.

Perhaps it was those pure and earnest eyes that made it impossible for anyone to have other thoughts.

Edith also restrained her imposing manner and replied, placing a hand over her chest, "You're right, I haven't experienced a real major battle, but someone here has..." She paused slightly. "Looking at her expression, you can tell what the result of such a thing really is."

Her?

Everyone followed the Pearl of the North's gaze, only to see Phyllis, the representative from Taqila, sitting at the corner of the long table, lost in thought with a cup of hot tea in her hands. The corners of her mouth were raised, and her eyes were full of smiles. Every now and then, she would lift the teacup and take a sip, as if savoring some delicious beverage. For the witches of Taqila, this was not a common sight—having lost their sense of taste, they only ate to survive and would hardly ever show an expression of enjoyment.

Only now did everyone notice that while they had been discussing so intensely, Phyllis's attention had been completely elsewhere—even now that she had become the focus of attention, she was still daydreaming.

It wasn't until Wendy gently nudged her that Phyllis came back to her senses.

"Oh? Where were you all talking about?" The Divine Punishment Witch coughed twice. "I was just thinking about something important and didn't pay attention to what you were saying. What is it, Your Majesty the Queen, do you have a question you want to ask me?"

"..." The scene was silent.

She was clearly daydreaming, but she could say it was thinking about important matters without changing her expression in front of everyone. It turned out that the ancient witches of four hundred years ago weren't that different from people now in some ways.

"Pfft."

Someone laughed first, and then a series of chuckles rippled through the crowd, and the heavy atmosphere in the room dissipated a lot.

"It seems I don't need to ask anymore," Anna said with an amused shake of her head.

Edith stood up and looked around. "The devils suffered greater losses, the devils were the ones who turned and fled, and we are still standing here, and Site One is safe and sound. How can you talk about failure? His Majesty once said to me, 'Victory or defeat is often measured by whether the set goals have been achieved'—obviously, they didn't get the result they wanted. I can even say that the devil commander made a very serious mistake."

"A mis...take?" The participants seemed a little surprised. This night attack could be said to have been carefully considered in every detail, and it could be called a very successful ambush. It didn't seem like there were any major mistakes. The accurate judgment of magic power was one thing; after all, their previous thousand years of war had revolved around this point.

But the fact that they could make such a quick and effective response to firearms was very shocking. It should be known that the two races had absolutely no communication, and there had only been one formal battle before, at Hope North Slope.

Although no one mentioned it, everyone felt a trace of fear towards the devils—they were different from the enemies in their impressions. Even though the humans of Fertile Plains had been utterly defeated, and the Witch Empire had been destroyed by them, that was, after all, old history. History is something that will become distorted and faded with the passage of time, and it doesn't give people a direct feeling.

It wasn't until this battle broke out that everyone truly touched a corner hidden under the veil of history.

They were definitely not evil beasts rampaging in the wilderness that could be compared to.

Putting aside magic power and strong bodies, they were also a "civilization" with a high degree of intelligence.

Perhaps even better than humans…

When excuses such as "they only rely on the power and magic bestowed by the gods, and if they didn't have these, how could humans fear these barbarians" were torn apart, and when the human's proud mind also paled in comparison, the shock was definitely indescribable.

What followed was self-doubt, so much so that few people thought about the devils' problems. Therefore, hearing Edith say this, everyone couldn't help but feel a sense of curiosity.

"What's the mistake?" Anna asked subconsciously.

"The mistake is that they were too arrogant, Your Majesty," Edith replied decisively. "Creating chaos, seizing the artillery positions, and then using a large army to cover up the attack... if this were a knightly order, or an ancient army, they would have collapsed long ago. However, the First Army is not—they only saw the changes in weapons, but ignored the difference in people. This is the biggest mistake the enemy made!"

Everyone shuddered.

"From beginning to end, the devils they sent in were only fifty or so, which means that the newly emerged means of attack are not easy for the enemy to realize, and they should be put together as much as possible to exert their maximum power. But what did they do? They dispersed these fifty devils into four areas—the barracks, the two lines of trenches, and the artillery positions." The Pearl of the North spoke eloquently. "The devil commander is definitely not a fool, so the reason why he issued this order is very obvious: as long as ten or so devils are thrown in, they can make the human insects collapse. Isn't such undisguised contempt a kind of arrogance?"

Anna vaguely understood what the other party meant, and she couldn't help but clench her fists. "If they hadn't made this mistake... if they had treated humans as equal opponents..."

"Then they wouldn't have expected to rely on these fifty people to capture the camp, but would have pursued as much destruction of the opponent as possible." Edith nodded in affirmation. "Assuming the enemy sent all the devils into the barracks, including a High-Rank Devil, and the army remained motionless, and the Spider Devils attacked and left, what would the situation be like?"

Anna felt a chill run down her spine.

Fifty people were exchanged for two hundred because the forces were dispersed, and the tug-of-war to seize the position gave the reinforcements time to react. If the enemy had initially intended to kill, using the High-Rank Devil as a disposable consumable, then the number of casualties would probably have been several times higher...

"Five hundred, a thousand... or two thousand? Of course, they would eventually be wiped out, and Site One would be preserved, but it would be difficult to determine the outcome." Edith spread her hands. "Unfortunately, arrogance caused them to miss this opportunity, and also taught the First Army a lot—such as the barracks should be built underground, and the top plates, in addition to resisting stone needles, must also withstand the bombardment of machine guns and mortars, and so on. If the enemy hadn't made such a big mistake, we wouldn't have been able to learn these lessons at such a small price, would we?" She paused. "In short, this war has only just begun, my colleagues."