My Goblin System : Levelling up with my SSS Class Devouring skill

Lieutenant Thorne read from a compiled list, his voice shaking slightly: "Total casualties from night operations:

Warehouse infiltration: Three Shadow Corps specialists—two captured, one suicide.

Supply Dump Alpha destroyed: Eight guards killed.

Rest Camp Three raid: Eight officers killed, four soldiers killed pursuing raiders, three raiders killed.

Battle Mage quarters assault: Eight battle mages killed, three enemy infiltrators confirmed dead.

Eastern gate repair teams: Twelve engineers and carpenters killed, eight guards killed.

Various harassment raids: Eleven additional soldiers killed, two healers killed, multiple minor casualties.

Total: Forty-seven dead from night raids. Eight officers, eight battle mages, twelve engineers, nineteen soldiers, two healers."

Thorne paused, then continued: "Additionally, the warehouse infiltration failure means our prisoners have been captured. Assuming they talk under interrogation, the enemy now knows our strategic planning, force deployments, and tactical intentions."

Elric stood silent for a long moment, staring at his tactical maps with the weight of those forty-seven deaths pressing on him.

"They’re conducting professional night operations," he said finally, voice quiet but carrying absolute certainty. "Not random raids—targeted strikes against high-value assets. Supplies, specialists, leadership. This is sophisticated warfare directed by someone with excellent tactical sense."

"Orders, sir?"

"Double the guard on all critical positions. Triple guard on battle mage quarters and command staff tents. All personnel sleep in armor with weapons ready. Increase perimeter patrols to overlapping coverage. And..." He paused, hating what he was about to order. "Pull back non-essential personnel from First Line to safer positions further from Second Line. We can’t defend against infiltrators who own the darkness."

"Sir, that’s admitting we can’t maintain forward positions—"

"That’s admitting reality," Elric interrupted sharply. "They’ve changed the rules. Day combat favors us. Night combat favors them. We adjust accordingly or we bleed specialists we can’t replace."

He studied the updated casualty counts with grim calculation.

"Day One: one hundred fifty-one casualties. Day Two: two hundred twenty casualties. That’s three hundred seventy-one total casualties in two days. We started with approximately four thousand soldiers. We’re down to thirty-six hundred twenty-nine effective fighters."

"That’s a nine percent casualty rate in two days, sir."

"Unsustainable if it continues," Elric agreed. "Which means we need to change our approach. No more patient probing. No more cautious reconnaissance. Tomorrow we commit to breaking Second Line with overwhelming force before they can bleed us further with night raids."

"Full assault, sir?"

"Coordinated assault across all sectors simultaneously. Commit two thousand soldiers—half our remaining force. Battle mages provide maximum magical support despite their reduced numbers. Artillery bombards their walls. We break through Second Line tomorrow or we die trying."

Lieutenant Thorne looked shocked. "Sir, that’s abandoning your doctrine of minimal casualties—"

"My doctrine assumed an enemy who would fight conventionally. These defenders raid our supply lines, assassinate our specialists, and set traps for our infiltrators. Conventional siege tactics won’t work." Elric’s voice hardened with determination. "This war ends in days, not weeks. Tomorrow we find out if Second Line can withstand everything we throw at it."

Hour Twenty-Two: Settlement Assessment

At Second Line, Lyra coordinated the returning raiders and warehouse defenders through Seraphina’s network, compiling the night’s results with cold tactical precision.

"All teams report status."

The responses came flooding back through the telepathic network:

"Serpentfolk Team One - Supply Dump Alpha: dump destroyed, twelve guards killed, zero casualties our side."

"Serpentfolk Team Two - Rest Camp Three: eight officers eliminated, one warrior lost—Siss died in combat—nineteen warriors returning."

"Elite Team Alpha - Battle Mage Quarters: eight battle mages killed, three elite warriors lost."

"Serpentfolk Team Three - Eastern Gate Repair: twenty enemies killed, gate repair sabotaged, zero casualties our side."

"Various harassment teams: thirteen additional enemy casualties, zero casualties our side."

"Warehouse Defense: two infiltrators captured alive, one dead by suicide, eight defenders killed defending the warehouse, four defenders wounded."

Lyra compiled the mathematics with practiced efficiency.

Settlement casualties (night operations): Twelve dead (eight from warehouse trap, three elites from mage raid, one serpentfolk from officer raid), four wounded.

Human casualties (night operations): Forty-seven dead, multiple high-value targets eliminated, significant material damage, two specialists captured.

"Excellent work everyone," Lyra broadcast through the network. "Tonight we showed them that hiding behind walls isn’t our only option. Every night they spend in the field, we’ll make them pay for it. Forty-seven human casualties for twelve of ours—nearly four-to-one in our favor."

Seraphina’s mental presence radiated approval. "This changes the strategic calculus. Elric expected siege warfare to favor him through attrition. Now he has to calculate his own casualties from night raids. Well done, Lyra."

"It’s only one night," Lyra cautioned, refusing to let success create overconfidence. "He’ll adapt. Increase guards, improve defenses, maybe launch night patrols of his own. We’ve bought ourselves an advantage, but it won’t last forever."

"How long do we maintain night raids?"

"Every night until Loki’s reinforcements arrive. Make Elric’s army afraid of darkness. Make them exhausted from constant alertness. Grind down their morale while preserving our own fighters." Lyra studied her tactical map, already planning tomorrow’s operations. "But be ready—Elric won’t stay cautious after tonight. He’ll escalate. Tomorrow’s going to be worse than today."

"How much worse?"

"Today he committed three hundred soldiers to test Second Line’s eastern sector. Tomorrow?" Lyra’s golden eyes reflected lamplight like a predator’s. "Tomorrow he’ll commit everything he has. This is going to be the biggest battle yet."

Jessica’s voice cut in, exhausted but still functioning. "Medical status: tonight’s wounded are stabilized. But we’re running critically low on antibacterial herbs and bandages. If tomorrow is as bloody as I think it’ll be, we’ll be in serious trouble."

"Ration everything. Use only what’s absolutely necessary to keep people alive. Comfort can wait until after this war is over."

"Understood."

"And the prisoners?" Lyra asked Seraphina.

"My corruption specialists are interrogating them now.

"Alright , please pass on the information gotten from them when your corruption specialist have been able to extract information from them" Said Lyra

—-----

In a secured room behind Second Line, Seraphina’s corruption specialists were conducting interrogation of the two captured Royal Shadow Corps infiltrators.

The lead infiltrator—the one Kelvin had disabled with a severed ankle tendon—sat bound to a chair, his face set in professional neutrality. He’d been trained to resist interrogation. Torture wouldn’t break him. Threats wouldn’t work. He was prepared to die rather than betray operational security.