The holy mages spread out, scanning ground with deep-penetration detection magic. They found two more corruption pits—one near the central gates, one near the western wall. Both were purified before any soldiers died in them.
But the trap had cost the humans twenty minutes of time and one hundred fifty soldiers.
At Third Line, Lyra watched the human advance halt and smiled grimly.
"The trap worked. One hundred fifty casualties, and we've bought twenty minutes of time."
"They're purifying everything now," Seraphina reported. "Scanning for deep-buried traps. They won't find any more—we only had resources to prepare three corruption pits."
"But they don't know that. Elric will assume we have more. He'll spend time checking every yard of ground." Lyra's strategic thinking showed. "Twenty minutes bought, zero casualties on our side, and we've made them more cautious for the rest of the assault."
"But now they're purifying everything. We won't be able to use corruption magic again."
