Page 659

After much consideration, Sophia could only think of setting traps. Only by luring the enemy into pre-prepared traps could she somewhat compensate for the imbalance in strength between the two sides.

However, since she was not clear on the specific traps the lady would prepare, the Pure White Angel decided to use herself as bait to probe the lady's defenses first.

She brought mostly angels and Elite Holy Knights to form an advance team to face the lady. Even if this elite squad fell into traps, they would not be eliminated during that period, while she arranged the larger Church's mortal armies to stay far behind as backup.

She had already ordered this group of mortal soldiers to wait a while before setting off to meet up with the advance team in the City of Sin.

Thus, even if the lady really had set good traps, this reserve army would become the key to breaking the situation; they could strike from both inside and outside with the advance team, achieving a pincer movement against the lady.

Heh, got you now, lady. I knew you would try to ambush me. I don't believe you can pull out more mechanical armies to form another Eight Trigrams Formation to trap my reinforcements too.

Though relying on numerical superiority was not the kind of victory Sophia was looking for—after all, such a blunt strategy barely required any skill and wouldn't convince the lady of her defeat—it couldn't be helped. The lady's Eight Trigrams Formation was indeed too difficult to break, not to mention the terrifying threat of a single strike. There was no time or opportunity left to break through the formation slowly. Having already lost a duel to the lady once before, would she really allow herself to lose again, even in military strategy? Could she afford to lose face like that?

Anyway, she had to win this time, even if winning meant losing her freedom afterward.

But then...

"Heh, what a coincidence, I'm also waiting for reinforcements."

As another Church reinforcement appeared on the horizon, Dorothy was not surprised at all. She too smiled, and as her smile faded, the gates of the City of Sin suddenly opened, and tens of thousands of Iron Man suits, all decked out in futuristic technology, swarmed out from the city.

Even though the hard faceplates covered the eyes of those inside the Iron Battle Armor, the red lights flickered in the mechanical eyes that were originally devoid of emotion. They stared intently at the Church's large army in the sky. The deep-seated hatred and resentment emanating from them did not need articulation; even blind men could feel the deadly atmosphere clearly.

"Ha, didn't expect this, did you? I had already anticipated that you would guard against my traps. It's quite easy to guess the thoughts of someone as cautious as you."

The Homebody Witch then set aside her nervous heart; after all, she was not entirely sure until now whether the workers of the City of Sin had the courage to stand up, but at that moment, she felt relieved and her face was full of smiles.

On the opposite side, Sophia's previously confident smile froze.

She frowned as she watched the lady smiling joyfully; she couldn't understand how she managed this, wondering how over just a few short months, the lady had managed to train these naturally unmanageable Wicked people to dare stand up and fight against the Church alongside her.

Although the Pure White Angel was aware that these so-called "Wicked people" were merely a bunch of pitiful individuals, they had chosen to flee in the face of the Church initially, proving they lacked the courage to resist. But now, facing the oppression of the Church's grand army, why were they daring to stand out? Where did their courage come from?

Could it be the Iron Battle Armor they were wearing?

Sophia looked closely at the Iron Battle Armor, but no matter how she looked, she could only conclude that the armor was nothing extraordinary.

While these Mechanical Battle Armors indeed gave weak mortals the ability to duck and dive with enhanced defensive power, external strength is still external after all, especially when obtained so suddenly.

Many among the mortals clad in the battle armor clearly hadn't yet mastered operating these complex suits and relying on this group, clearly lacking in combat experience to fight against the Church's well-trained regular army using just suits of armor was utterly unrealistic. Did they really think everyone was like the Divine King with the same innate talent to nullify the same Technique twice? Even with the power, untrained ordinary mortals could not become qualified warriors.

"Heh, witch, you can't really be counting on this rabble of mortals to amount to much, can you? No matter how large a flock of sheep, they are still just sheep, and a pack of wolves only needs a few charges to scatter them into disarray, sending them fleeing in panic."

Sophia looked puzzled at the lady across from her, truly not understanding the intent behind her tactic.

Being capable of devising something as intricate as the Eight Trigrams Formation, the lady well deserved the name of God of War. Then how could she not understand the gap between a ragtag militia and a regular army? This gap existed not just in terms of physical power and equipment but also in psychological endurance, obedience, or rather, morale.

The lady's Mechanical Battle Armor could only enhance the mortals' physical strength to a certain degree, but a timid rabbit couldn't suddenly possess the heart of a lion. Even if the sheep, under the spur of rage, managed to butt a wolf, the retaliation of the wolves, once their fangs coated in sheep's blood again, would disperse the enraged sheep's fury with their innate fear of wolves, as sheep are naturally meek and feeble creatures after all.