Chapter 82 Dungeon Core: “The Eternal Training Ground”

Even before the official start of the war, there were already aeroplanes in the skies flying a lot higher than they normally did. These were large planes that had, on average, 20 ants on board.

While they did have some placements where ants could use their long-range skills, these aeroplanes were specifically designed for reconnaissance, and because of that, there were ants on board that had skills for seeing immense distances. There were also magical devices that allowed communication so the information could be reported back immediately.

While the technology wasn't the same on both sides, it was similar enough. Of course, squadrons of attack aeroplanes were sent to attack the reconnaissance aeroplanes, but most didn’t have the range to reach them as they were quite high up and flying quite fast.

There are, of course, exceptions, especially with heavy fighters, as they had a lot more ants on board that could keep the skill engines going at their maximum power for a long time. The other exception was ants that were just incredibly powerful and had dedicated their entire life to flying a plane as well as possible.

They started out with a regular service aeroplane, yet over the years, they had made their own modifications or paid someone else to do it. They had skills that were at high ranks, and they did not just rely on the rank to carry their skills that would help operate the aeroplanes; no, they worked with the skills, learning the limits, and then tried to push through them.

Those planes were usually bigger, sometimes smaller, yet all of them had distinctive markings that any ant in the Air Force would recognize.

Usually, these types of planes were flown by two ants, but not these modified ones; just one ant was enough. They supplied the skill engine, controlled the aeroplane, and used their own skills to fire upon the enemy.

Since the Great War, the controls of the planes had also changed from simple levers to more complex systems, allowing for better control and more magical devices to give information to the pilot. They were deadly machines, and even scarier, they had shield devices, the same ones that helped transform their airships into formidable fortresses.

There were many reconnaissance aeroplanes in the sky, but by the end of the first day, over half of them were shot down. Most of them were shot down by the Champion pilots with their modified and truly dangerous aeroplanes.

The reconnaissance planes, however, had done their jobs, and a lot of the crew survived thanks to jumping out of the planes and using magical devices to get safely back to the ground.

The next day, the millions upon millions of ants started to move. It was a pleasure to watch the organization, nothing like in the Great War where soldiers were sent without resources, companies were split apart randomly, and then later on combined with others.

The management was truly horrendous back then, but now, this resembled the ants of old. Yet, they had done the same with only a few thousand soldiers. The scale of what was happening was hard to comprehend, but there were only a few, the high generals, who could follow what was happening beside me.

Strike teams had been developed, and I truly liked the idea of them. Now, no longer were powerful champions sent into battle alone, and they weren’t just sent to stabilize the lines. Now, they were used as strategic hammers to break through in crucial locations.

The support around the powerful champion was mainly focused on defense and covering the main champion's weaknesses. They were like unstoppable machines pushing forward, and to stop them, you needed skills that could punch through those incredible defenses.

Because of this, the static battles of the Great War were no longer the norm, and while there were some of them the battles now were a lot more fluid. I also saw a lot more strategy with purposeful retreats and attempts to surround the enemies.

It was a terribly terrifying yet awe-inspiring display of grand and micro strategy, directed by truly magnificent generals and commanders, and executed by soldiers who had trained most of their lives for this.

In the Great War, many of the soldiers only had a little bit of training, and it showed on the battlefield. The elites of the Great War were now just the regular soldiers in this war, and the elites of this war were truly on another level.

A team like that, with good defensive positions and the resources to keep going, could hold off thousands of enemy soldiers while they only had a dozen. But still, many mistakes were made because this was the first time this kind of war was being fought at this scale.

It also looked like this war was going to take longer than I expected, as they weren’t just charging forward, attacking fortified positions. So many small-scale operations were happening that would affect the larger scale that it was even hard for me to keep up with everything.

This war was happening above the ground, on the ground, and underneath the ground. So much digging was happening, and explosive devices were being used to disrupt the above-ground defenses. The battles on the ground were more like the battles of old, where ants fought mandible to mandible.

The battles in the sky and on the ground were intermixed a lot more than underground battles. That was mainly because of the airships. I had expected them to be used higher up to help defend against the aeroplanes, some were used like that. Mainly, aeroplanes were used to fight aeroplanes.

No, the airships were more used near the ground as moving fortresses to help push the lines forward. It was a terrifying sight for any soldier to be covered by the shadow of an airship, as most of the time it would mean they would need to retreat or die.

This strategy was first used by the weaker side and helped them gain ground by quite a lot, but it didn’t take long for the airships to be modified on the other side. That brief victory helped even the odds.

The war continued with both sides grinding away, gaining and losing ground daily. This was so amazing to watch that I was barely focusing on making complete dungeon rooms for the 18th floor, but I was still building out the frameworks for them as that didn't need a lot of concentration.

Another thing that was different was the win condition. Usually, in these kinds of wars, they would fight for a while, and if there wasn't a direct winner, other nations would review the war and declare the winner.

This time, there wasn't going to be anything like that; if there was, one side would probably not accept it. No, you were either going to win and claim basically all of the land the war was taking place in, or the war wasn’t going to stop.

I suspect this war would have continued to last for years and years if the armies hadn’t been limited to the number of resources they could use. In fact, it seems that both sides were implementing the strategy of exhausting the other's resources.

This, however, started to truly change how war was being fought. At least both sides had agreed not to let any soldier starve. When they were close enough, they would be declared dead and escorted out.

It was truly weird to see so much hate and destruction, yet on the other hand, if the enemy had surrendered, they were even helped before they left the battlefield. I couldn’t hold myself back any longer and started to absorb the information I had purposely kept away from me by segmenting my own mind.

It was a clever plan from the war enforcers to put in those life-saving rules, and from the looks of it, the plan was working brilliantly. The blind hatred was slowly replaced by grudging respect as both sides honored the rules put in place.

Still, many were dead, but they had all signed up for that, and while there was sadness during the funeral back in the nations participating in this war, none were truly mad about what had happened. So, six months after the start of the war, the war ended suddenly when both sides had exhausted their resources.

I had expected them to continue to push forward until only the winner had any soldiers left. That didn’t happen, as both sides still had around 100 million soldiers on the battlefield before the two nations accepted a truce, which surprised every leader of the ant nations.

Of course, their hatred hadn’t ended completely, but they seemed to have come up with another way. From now on, every year their champions would fight, and the losing side would pay reparations for the following year. The reparations weren't that big, but they were still significant enough that these fights would be taken seriously.

Right now, however, both sides would get a year of peace. I know many would think that the soldiers of both sides would feel like they had fought a meaningless battle, yet whenever another asked the soldiers that question or provoked them with that fact, they usually had to visit the healers as they were educated on why they were wrong.