#800 - balance

“Haha!” Harry scratched his head, a little embarrassed. “The situation was really dangerous at the time. I didn't have time to think much. I was casting spells purely on instinct. All I could think about was eliminating that artillery squad.

“In such a critical moment, you have to go all in!” Percy appreciatively patted Harry's head, and also looked at Cedric with satisfaction. “Also, thanks to you for keeping Wood pinned down. It must have been hard to hold on at the time.”

“I just did what I was supposed to do.” Cedric smiled shyly. “Speaking of which, thanks to you for thinking of this trick, bluffing them so much that they were stunned. Actually, the situation was very dangerous at the time. If it had been a minute later, the temporary respawn point would have been cleared.”

“It should be said that everyone's efforts were crucial for the success of this decisive battle!” Percy glanced at the people around him, and then excitedly raised his right hand. “Next, let's take the second phase of the mission steadily in one go!”

“Take it down! Take it down…”

The wizards surrounding him also raised their right hands in response. Obviously, this victory had given them a lot. This feeling of fighting side by side with their comrades was something they had never experienced before.

After a short celebration, Percy had everyone gather around the map to analyze their second phase mission.

“According to the map, the target we need to conquer in the second phase is this checkpoint deep in the valley.” Percy pointed to the middle of the map and introduced, “The entire checkpoint is located between two high mountains, with steep cliffs on both sides.”

“It's about less than 10 minutes away from our current location. Presumably, the defending forces have already teleported inside the checkpoint to deploy their defenses.”

“The structure of the checkpoint is divided into two parts. The first is a nearly 100-meter-long, 8-meter-high, and 5-meter-thick city wall. The second is the gate in the middle of the city wall. The city gate is a double-opening steel structure of unknown thickness, with no moat.”

“What we need to do is to cross this checkpoint, capture the enemy command post in the rear, and occupy it in a similar way to the strongholds. As long as our people stand on it, the progress bar will be pulled.”

“As for our respawn point, it has also been changed to the command post nearly 100 meters in front of the checkpoint. Our knight commander is probably transferred there too.”

This information was all noted by Percy after he received the map. Now, all he is doing is sharing the information completely with everyone.

“So, the second phase is a siege?” Ginny frowned. “This seems much more difficult than attacking the strongholds. Why is the time given less than the first phase?”

“Because there is only one checkpoint, unlike the first phase where you have to occupy three strongholds at the same time, which greatly saves travel time.” Percy smiled, “And the time left over from the first phase can also be inherited to the second phase, so our siege time is actually 50 minutes.”

“Hmm… do you have any ideas about this checkpoint?” Cedric also understood the content of the second phase at this time.

“I don't have many clues before seeing the actual situation of the checkpoint.” Percy shook his head. “However, there are only three ways to attack. Either break through the city gate from the front, or start from the city wall, or consider taking an aerial route and directly bypass the checkpoint to attack the enemy command post.”

“It's probably difficult to strike from the air. Their air defenses are very sharp, and they also have their own air power.” Neville shuddered when he recalled the attacks he encountered when he arrived over the position earlier.

“So I want to conduct a frontal attack first to test the defense strength of the opposite side.” Percy nodded, “And there are also many engineering equipment in the exchange list. The specific situation can be studied in detail when we get there.”

“What are we waiting for then?” Ginny rolled up her sleeves like a boy. “Let's go, I haven't had enough fighting yet!”

……

On the other side, the defending side, who had lost the stronghold and teleported to the checkpoint, were standing there with一脸不甘.

They really didn't expect that they would fail in such a dramatic way when they were defending so well, and even hadn't used their full strength.

“Don't say that, Wood.” Hermione quickly comforted him when she saw this. “Everyone hasn't encountered this situation before, and we are also responsible. If our team could have taken down that temporary respawn point faster, this situation wouldn't have happened.”

“That's right, it can only be said that Percy is too cunning.”

“As long as we learn from the lessons, we may not be able to win the subsequent battles!”

Several captains in the crowd spoke out to cheer up Wood and the team.

And Draco decisively reminded, “Don't think about the previous defeat anymore. What is in front of us now is how to defend the checkpoint in front of us.”

“That's right!” Hermione nodded. “The time left for us is not as abundant as we thought, and perhaps we should try to think about the subsequent defense countermeasures from an overall perspective.”

“What do you mean by… an overall perspective?” Ron frowned in confusion.

Hermione explained, “You should know that the 【Battlefield】副本 has three phases. We may have underestimated the strength of our opponents too much before, and always wanted to completely defeat our opponents by relying on the No. 2 position once and for all.”

“But after the previous battle, the other side also made us see their determination and means. Obviously, this battle of offense and defense is not as simple as everyone thought.”

“So the first thing we have to do is to put away our侥幸心理 and not set the goal of completely stopping the other side in the phase from the very beginning.” Hermione blurted out almost without喘气.

“I think I understand what you mean.” Wood nodded when he heard this. “Indeed, we were a little too taken for granted before. As a result, in order to completely end the game in the first phase, we wasted too many resources on unnecessary places.”

Because of the successful ambush and annihilation of the attacking side once at the beginning, many people, including Percy, had a 侥幸心理 in their hearts, and always wanted to completely suppress the enemy's offensive at the No. 2 position.

As a result, in order to稳固阵地, they used a lot of resources in areas that were actually very low risk, such as the minefield on the rear side of the position. Thinking about it now, it was really a waste. From beginning to end, it only killed Neville alone.

This idea and tactic of trying to be perfect in every aspect, although it looks comprehensive, actually did not concentrate the power on the point.

So in the face of the attacking side, who were牟着一股劲, they were like a piece of牛皮纸 that looked hard but broke with a poke.

In fact, thinking about it now, if the initial strategy was to delay time, the most suitable tactic for them was actually mobile warfare, constantly transferring between several strongholds, and specializing in attacking the enemy's weak positions.

In that case, the risk may be particularly high, and the situation will be more chaotic than before.

But that's better than pressing the defense center all on one stronghold, and losing everything when a problem occurs.

“I understand.” A firm look reappeared in Wood's eyes. “In the next second phase, we will set our goal to delay time as much as possible.”

“And we wasted nearly 20 minutes in vain in the first phase, so at the end of the second phase, we'd better shorten the remaining time to less than 10 minutes.”

“Hmm!” Hermione nodded in agreement, and then苦笑道, “However, our mission in the second phase seems to be similar to our situation in the first phase, which is to hold on to the spot.”

“How can this be similar?” Ron rolled his eyes. “This checkpoint is much stronger than the No. 2 stronghold in terms of terrain. Have you forgotten how many功勋值 we spent to turn it into a fortress before?”

“No.” Wood shook his head. “For us wizards, a mere city wall is really as strong as imagined. With a simple change of perspective, I can think of two ways to cross from the air and directly change the structure of the city wall using transfiguration.”

“Not to mention that the other side can also launch a strong attack in a steady and steady manner. In addition, they have just won the first phase, and they must be in a state of high morale. It is possible that the combat intensity will be pulled very full from the beginning.”

“What's your idea then?” Ron couldn't help but ask after being silent for a long time.

“We have to save as many resources as possible this time!” Wood calmly said, “Now I also understand that this battle is essentially a resource exchange.”

“The personnel configuration of both sides is not much different, and since we occupy the advantage of terrain, then in order to balance, the opponent's resource conversion rate must be higher than ours!”

“So what we have to do is to exchange the opponent's resources with as few resources as possible, just like the scattering cannon corresponds to the flying broom. As long as we can exchange their resources one-to-one, we will make a profit!”

After the battle in the previous stage, Wood's understanding of the 【Battlefield】副本 became more and more profound. He was very strange before, why the other side's people died much more than them, but the military equipment exchanged for功勋 was still离谱.

Presumably, this itself belongs to the internal balance system of the副本. Everyone knows the principle that it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. There is no reason for the defensive side to take all the advantages, so providing the attacking side with inexpensive and high-quality military equipment can well balance the combat power of both sides.

However, the defensive side is not useless. In fact, their defensive materials are not expensive, but since most of them are passive props, such as traps and mines, they need to be spread over a large area to have a good effect.

Therefore, in the actual battlefield, a large part of the military equipment is actually wasted, so Wood, who has woken up, decided to use more resources for active defense, and as far as possible to target the opponent's offensive resources, rather than simply targeting personnel.