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Yeah, I mean even the one he took down before was enough to take down a city without breath! It’s been demonstrated repeatedly how absurd Van’s gear is
Okiraku Ryoushu no Tanoshii Ryouchi Bouei ~Seisan-kei Majutsu de Na mo na Kimura wo Saikyou no Jousai Toshi ni~ - Vol. 9 Ch. 45.1 - A Great Victory -…
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Thanks for the batch, and catching up to the raws! You rock!
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Thank you for bringing us up to date! It's absolutely lovely to get updates again that aren't from UTOON.
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I'm guessing they don't have the view that we have in the cover page to see the fort is basically done. At this point they might as well retreat and see if Yelene want to pay for the wall before staging another assault just to pass the repair cost to whoever's defending.
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A hundred thanks for this massive release...
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@PotatoZero
A fortress' usefulness is primarily based on it's location. Not whether or not it can be taken. You have real historical battles being fought over the same locations again and again. Jerusalem, Rome, Athens, Istanbul (Not Constantinople). The limiting factor in between the battles over locations has always been logistics. You need to train and arm troops, you need to get food, and you need to get all those things ready.
When this fortress was mentioned in chapter 37, it's said that this is a restart of their annual harassment campaign against it(I think this is hyperbole, but still it happens often enough that it's a thing they have to worry about). So that means they're close enough to get there easily and that they don't have an open ended source of resources to do it. And the way the story mentions it, what usually happens is they break the siege. I would guess, Yelinetta loses about 10% of their siege troops if they have a smart leader that can order a retreat. So, acceptable losses that let you try again. Not a Rout that ruins you for a generation.
Chapter 37, page 9 says, the fort should be impossible to take down in 1-2 months, normally. So that means they've been sieging the fortress for at least 4 weeks. It wasn't an instant win. The bombs, might have been the deciding factor, but it still wasn't an instant win. The Dragon is a separate matter. Yelinetta spent a tremendous amount of resources just getting it to be a weapon they could control. It doesn't seem likely that it's a thing they can just use willy nilly. If it was, they would have used it during the initial assault, not the wyverns. So that's more like saying you got hit by Godzilla/Act of God. It doesn't even factor into the strategic value of a fortress.
And remember, this is a border fort. This is how they project their own power and maintain their control of the nation's border. You ALWAYS have to have it there. Unless they push further into the Yelinetta Kingdom and start taking territory, this place has a purpose. (If that happens, this place still becomes a logistics hub to store and transport supplies/people)
So, let's say 10-20% of the Outer Wall is toast, the inner castle part is still functional. Without Van, you get an earth mage to pile rubble blocking the hole and just station troops as lookout in back, not a full strength wall, but enough to deter simple incursions. Same for the gate, use earthenworks and station a serious regiment. That easily gets you a defensible fort. Not a Great position, but this also means it's not a prime target. Considering their invasion probably took more than a year's worth of planning and resources, they're not rushing back to try to retake a fortress that damaged. So Usable, but not great.
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It does make the whole convo from readers in the reveal chapter not understanding why Van would attempt to hit flying wyverns accurately with a trebuchet a bit funny.
Also, love that the dragon, while "easily" felled, was still a devastating threat. We love non-jobber dragons in our fantasy media.
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It does make the premise a bit absurd since things like strategic locations matter and Van can create years worth of fortification in like a week.
@DrunkinDonut @UncannyLuck
Indeed, it is helpful to think of wars as a different sort of economic contest. I will preface this by saying I am but an armchair amateur in this discussion 😅.
In ancient times, the strategic location of a fort was strong enough compared to the weapons of the era such that the cost to take such a fort was beyond the total resources of the opposing nation. Now, our weapons are so efficient at destruction that no fort is impregnable; however, we still build forts and military bases in strategic locations because they still incur a significant cost to take them. It incurs an even greater cost to constantly hold such positions, yet depending on a location, an opposing force has no choice but to take those positions to maintain safe flow of supplies if they wish to make any progress. These heavy costs act as a deterrent against an opposing force.
Van's abilities and inventions will completely revolutionize warfare in that world because his abilities dramatically shift the cost/performance of weapons compared to what is available in that era. Powerful mages are rare and expensive to recruit and train, yet up until that point, their power in relative terms were above the other weapons and defenses of the era that the cost/performance were worth it. Wyverns in that world would presumably take many years to produce, raise, and train, making them expensive, but with the new bomb weapons, their performance were boosted enough that they can overcome defensive emplacements with relative ease, and their cost/performance were boosted. But now Van's weaponry have countered the wyverns so hard with such low cost that the only way to overcome Van's weaponry with wyverns would be to overwhelm them with a saturation attack (think trench warfare in WW1), which is far too costly and would result in a loss for the opposing side.
Indeed, it is helpful to think of wars as a different sort of economic contest. I will preface this by saying I am but an armchair amateur in this discussion 😅.
In ancient times, the strategic location of a fort was strong enough compared to the weapons of the era such that the cost to take such a fort was beyond the total resources of the opposing nation. Now, our weapons are so efficient at destruction that no fort is impregnable; however, we still build forts and military bases in strategic locations because they still incur a significant cost to take them. It incurs an even greater cost to constantly hold such positions, yet depending on a location, an opposing force has no choice but to take those positions to maintain safe flow of supplies if they wish to make any progress. These heavy costs act as a deterrent against an opposing force.
Van's abilities and inventions will completely revolutionize warfare in that world because his abilities dramatically shift the cost/performance of weapons compared to what is available in that era. Powerful mages are rare and expensive to recruit and train, yet up until that point, their power in relative terms were above the other weapons and defenses of the era that the cost/performance were worth it. Wyverns in that world would presumably take many years to produce, raise, and train, making them expensive, but with the new bomb weapons, their performance were boosted enough that they can overcome defensive emplacements with relative ease, and their cost/performance were boosted. But now Van's weaponry have countered the wyverns so hard with such low cost that the only way to overcome Van's weaponry with wyverns would be to overwhelm them with a saturation attack (think trench warfare in WW1), which is far too costly and would result in a loss for the opposing side.
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Van can, not all the others ones in the world
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Most of the walls are still intact. Don't think it can be utilised as a fortress without some major repairs but said repairs would be relatively fast since the walls still exist.
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