Chapter 181: The Plan
He analyzed every possible strategy to break into the prison, however, despite thinking for hours, he couldn't come up with a good plan.
The underground prison system was almost impossible to penetrate. Freeing a prisoner from even the first level seemed unfeasible without sending a whole army.
There were thousands of guards just on the first level, constantly patrolling the narrow corridors which made the concept of sneaking into the second level next to impossible as there was not a single thief or assassin in the world that could move past thousands of guards undetected.
This meant that fighting through was the only way to the second level of the prison, however, the choice to fight through was also not without its own set of risks.
To push through the first floor of the prison, Karna estimated the need to send somewhere between 15,000 to 20,000 troops.
Even then, the fight would likely drag on for hours because the narrow corridors would negate the advantage of having more troops.
Under such circumstances, if the main army above sent reinforcements to deal with the trouble below, the fight would become a two-way death trap, making the situation even more dangerous.
Hence, Karna found himself in a strategic dilemma as he could not figure out how to penetrate the prison.
"Hey Neatwit, take a look at this…. What do you think?" Karna said, as he showed Neatwit the 3D render of the underground prison that the elites had constructed based off Rocky's Intel, as after looking at it for a while, Neatwit provided his insights into the situation.
"I think the idea of sending thousands of troops into the underground prison is wrong, because, I don't see how even if we successfully storm the first floor, can those troops help us on the second floor or the third.
Even if we do reach the third floor, there is a risk of a guard teleporting out with Riva and running away, so I don't think sending more number of troops is a solution here" Neatwit said, as he judged the situation to be a more nuanced problem than one that could just be solved with numerical superiority.
"I think we should free and arm the floor one prisoners themselves and start an armed rebellion.
It's a prison…I'm sure the prisoners hate their guards with a vengeance. Let's use it to our advantage and free them, causing a riot to start so that our stronger units can slip into floor two" Neatwit suggested as he explained his rough idea on how he planned to send only a single robust unit into floor one of the prison.
A unit that would free all the prisoners they can and use them to incite rebellion.
It was a slightly risky plan, since they were counting on the help of the prisoners to deal with the guards, however, it was a logical plan since the hatred that prisoners had for their guards was almost universal.
If suddenly given the chance to escape and fight back, the prisoners would likely leap at the opportunity, driven by their intense hatred for their captors.
"Hmm…"
Karna mulled over Neatwit's suggestion, realizing it had potential. The key to this strategy's success depended on the selection of the right unit to infiltrate the first floor.
This unit needed individuals skilled enough to navigate the treacherous environment of the prison and also capable of inciting a rebellion.
"We need good talkers…. Someone who can play with the emotions of the crowd, as we simply can't rely on the hatred of the prisoners, we need to incite a fire of rebellion inside them too.
Perhaps we could use some of our more charismatic warriors, those who can rally the prisoners to our cause. If we can successfully start a riot, the guards will be too occupied dealing with the chaos to notice our main force slipping through to the lower levels." Karna said, as when he thought about good orators, two distinct gentlemen popped into his head.
Neatwit nodded listening to Karna's words as he said, "Exactly. If we play our cards right, we can turn the prison's own population into a weapon against itself.
The confusion and disorder caused by a full-scale riot would be the perfect cover for our more experienced operatives to move deeper into the prison, where once inside the second level they can try to sneak into the third floor with minimal bloodshed"
Karna felt a surge of hope. This plan, though risky, could work.
While it was highly unconventional, relying on the chaos and unpredictability of a prison uprising, it offered a glimmer of a solution where brute force alone might have failed.
"We need to start planning immediately. Let's gather our best strategists and put this plan into motion
This whole fight is for the sole purpose of saving Riva, so there's no point in us winning the war if we fail to save her in the end, " Karna said, as he reminded himself and Neatwit that the primary goal of this war was to rescue Riva and not seize control of floor21 itself.
"Also, I think the secret tunnel can be used to help a unit infiltrate inside the palace and bust open the outer wall gates for our army…." Neatwit pointed out, as Karna nodded immediately.
The entrance into the prison wasn't only useful to penetrate the prison, but also for infiltrating the palace, which could add a layer of surprise and unpredictability in the fight.
"We need bombs…. And lots of them… but I think we have a fair shot of successfully completing this raid.
If the Gemini Gods are with us, we can even claim the floor21 for ourselves" Neatwit said, as he dared to dream beyond just saving Riva to actually winning the administrative rights to a floor.
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/// A/N - Bonus chapter 1 of 3 for the day, this is in addition to the 5 chapter privilege update that will be done later. ///