"No reinforcements are coming," Alex said, standing in the fortress's courtyard before the organized lines of all the soldiers.

"I am ordered to destroy the teleportation array and then defend the fortress as long as possible, but leave the moment I feel any threat to my life,"

"All of you will die if we do as ordered, and I do not doubt that the majority of you will see dying in service to your kingdom as an honor, but I believe that is nothing but foolish pride," Alex declared, his voice unwavering as he addressed the soldiers.

"I will not let any of you be blinded by the allure of glory in death, but instead, make sure that we fight with all our strength and cunning to ensure that we live to see another day, to continue our service to our kingdom and our people."

"Our true honor lies in our resilience, our adaptability, and our commitment to persevere against all odds,"

"So we will battle to live and not die," Alex said, but from the array of reactions he received, he determined that most soldiers regarded his words as mere rhetoric, a familiar tactic they knew nobles use to boost morals so soldiers could fight till the last breath.

"Chazaqian and Sedrah, you two come to my chamber, as we need to discuss the plan of action," Alex said after a moment of silence, then turned around and left back toward his chamber.

"Young Master, it was a nice speech," Ordamion, one of his attendants, spoke, only heard by Alex and his other attendant by his side.

"I will fight till the last man standing, but you two are welcome to leave if you feel the threat of death," Alex said, his mind overgoing the few plans he had thought of taking on the army of a thousand approaching his fortress.

Alex knew that the army battalion coming for his fortress had numbers surpassing a thousand, with all of them being fourth Rank and above, and they were being led by a battalion captain who was a high-stage Sixth Rank, and accompanying him were two early-stage Sixth Rank Lieutenants.

Alex couldn't go against the battalion captain because both his Dragon might and summon skills were on cooldown, so the only way to win was through brains and not brawns.Alex had looked at the fortress surrounding, spending close to a hundred thousand points to get hidden details, and had considered all the best attack strategies he could think of, knowing that he could only win by eliminating the enemy.

Alex could not use guerrilla warfare by first leaving the fortress because time was of the essence, and he also could not use flanking or similar strategies because of their low number and inferior strength, leaving him with few options.

"Young Master, the enemy will be led by at least a captain, who alone could take on our entire force, not to mention the unknown number of soldiers following him,"

"What you are trying to do is not bravery but foolishness, and your actions are against the orders of the clan and our kingdom, so while I respect your courage, I will not allow you to go through with anything you have planned," Ordamion said, after staying silent for a few seconds, and he shut the room door behind him, leaving the two Lieutenants out.

"Cleutos, do you have the same opinion," Alex said, shifting his focus to the cloaked figure silently standing to his right.

Ordamion was a giant of a man, a berserker who was his attendant but a loyal servant to the family patriarch, whereas Cleutos was an assassin and a personal servant of his who had served him for all his life.

"Master, I agree that it is foolish to risk your life for small purposes defending just a few soldiers, who are destined to die in the growing chaos of the unification war,"

"However, I will stand with you until the very last moment, but I will not hesitate to escape with you if I feel your life is in danger," Cleutos responded before he shifted his cold gaze toward the berserker.

"I hope you can understand the situation once the enemy forces arrive and make your decision before it's too late," Ordamion said, with a slight bow before he opened the door for the two Lieutenants.

"Sir Captain, do you have a strategy of action, or were your words just to raise the morale of the soldiers?" Chazaqian questioned as he read the situation that something was not right.

"I'll show you on the map," Alex stated as he moved next to his desk.

"The fortress is located in the ice mountain range, with no habitat land in tens of surrounding kilometers, and as the terrain is rough to traverse because of towering mountains, no permanent paths through the mountains, and constant storms and blizzards, there are a few ways to cross this area,"

"The first one is space magic, but as this area is close to the Frostdawn Lake and the Grimmarsh kingdom know that they can't hope to take that area without a serious battle, so they wouldn't send a high-rank space magician,"

"So their goal will be to capture this fortress to take away this area for its ice-based resources, which hold real value in their desert kingdom,"

"So they will want to capture it even at a cost, but as this is not the only place of value, they will just send a small battalion of no more than a thousand soldiers led by a captain and few Lieutenants at worst," Alex said and stopped as he was interrupted by Ordamion's comment.

"Young master, are you also going to explain the rules of the unification war," Ordamion said, sounding irritated.

The lore behind the third stage was that the event of the unification war was hosted every decade, where five kingdoms went to defense, and five went on offense, and these roles switched every decade.

The rule was that the defending kingdom could only attack to retake their lost territory and could not launch an invasion on any of the other kingdoms.

If they failed to reclaim their lost territory in seven days, which the event lasted, the attacking kingdom would keep the conquered territory until the time it was taken back, which would be no sooner than a decade before the next unification war.

So, the war was pretty intense, yet it was still just a controlled way to claim land without getting plunged into a chaotic war, and it was also a very entertaining event for the nobles of both sides.

"So, with my deduction, if we go head-on against the enemy, we are doomed, and as we can't use the method of trapping them and then flanking them because of our low number, the only method to win is through outside help,"

"The help will be the Ice Trolls clan that lives a few kilometers in the north," Alex said, and the looks he received from the four figures were dismissive, tinged with surprise as if they thought the idea was utterly foolish.

"The trolls will attack not because I will convince them but because I will force them to engage the attackers, but that is the final part, and you do not need to worry about it, as I will be responsible for it,"

"The war had started with the sunrise that was no more than an hour ago, so we still have around two to three hours before the enemy reaches our doorsteps, and we will need to work hard to complete the preparation," Alex said, ignoring the looks and continue to explain the plan.

Alex told them the routes the enemy would use to travel, eliminating all but a few that were safe and easy to traverse, and began telling what choke points and areas would be best to set traps and what traps they were going to use.

Alex spent three hundred thousand on trap materials, ranging from magic mines, explosives that could be triggered remotely, miasmic bombs, pulse bombs to create minor avalanches, and beast attracter sents to take advantage of the terrain and roaming beast to thin down the number of enemies.

Alex made the lie, saying that he got the materials from a friend of his father, which he secured in private to be prepared for the upcoming war.

If, at first, they saw his plan as foolish with no chance of success after the preparation and learning the details and scenarios he considered, both Lieutenants who were ready to make a sacrifice of their men to defend the pride of their kingdom were quick to get on board.