The opponent's three legions were distributed in an inverted triangle. In theory, the weak points were the two flanks. Pharaoh could not count on the An-Ra Legion to break through the Army of Nanar in the southern border of the Hittite Kingdom. As long as they could form a strategic restraint, Amon would have completed his task. Then the Enlil Legion led by King Lucier would be the most suitable target.
There were two main reasons why Pharaoh decided to raid the Enlil Legion. First, the main purpose of this expedition was to establish a strategic stronghold along the inland lake where there were water sources and pastures. If the Hittite Kingdom was one step ahead, it would be very passive in the future. It was necessary to remove this nail before the Enlil Legion could gain a firm foothold. Second, the King of the opponent was also there. As the saying goes, to capture the followers, one must first capture the king. If the Enlil Legion could be broken up, it would severely damage the morale of the entire Hittite Kingdom. There might even be no need to fight the next battle.
Third … was also very important, because of the water source. According to the distribution of the three legions of the Hittite Kingdom, the places with water sources were blocked behind the front line. There was no water in the desert. The freshwater needed must be transported hundreds of miles from the south to the front line. If the front line of defense could not be breached in a short time, the transportation of freshwater alone would become a heavy logistical burden for the Eygut Army.
Attacking the inland lake and taking the lead in seizing the places with water sources to build camps for the army. The grassland beside the lake could also be grazed, which would greatly reverse the logistical disadvantage. Now that the Enlil Legion was establishing a permanent stronghold, taking this opportunity to launch a surprise attack was the best strategic choice.
Lasith Ii's analysis made even himself admire his wisdom, and his subordinates could not refute it. To be on the safe side, the Horus Legion also sent a group of mages to investigate the enemy by flying artefacts. Even the chief priest, the ninth-level supreme mage Rickard, was personally dispatched. After all, it was to explore the way for Pharaoh.
If there was reconnaissance, there would be counter-reconnaissance. In the sky above the northern end of the desert, there were several unknown battles between mages. Several mages died with their flying artefacts, but some managed to return. High Priest Rickard flew high up in the sky to observe the enemy's camp. He successfully shook off the other party's pursuit and found out the arrangement of the Hittite Kingdom's battle formation. It was exactly the same as the spy's confession.
At that time, the Horus Legion was seven hundred miles away from the Enlil Legion, with the Syah Desert between them. Pharaoh immediately gave the order to attack at full speed. Behind them, there was still the half of the Legion of Sète responsible for logistics and supplies, and the entire elite Legion of Isis. With the power of two and a half elite legions, Lasith Ii was already waiting for victory to beckon to him.
…
Amon received three consecutive intelligence reports during the march. The first one was from Rod-dick, asking him to cooperate with the Pharaoh Army to speed up its advance. The second one was an official order from Pharaoh's frontline headquarters. The content was very detailed, asking Amon to order the logistics fleet to stay away from the enemy's navy to prevent a sneak attack, and to set up a camp on the shore.
At this time, the An-Ra Legion was less than two hundred miles away from the enemy's Army of Nanar, and was already in a position to launch an attack. However, the frontline headquarters ordered Amon not to take the initiative to attack, but to monitor and contain the enemy. If the enemy launched an attack, they must rely on the camp to firmly defend; if they found that the enemy left the coastline to the east to outflank the Pharaoh Army, they must take the opportunity to attack the logistics supply line and contain the main force of the Army of Nanar in place.
After receiving the order, Amon did not delay. He immediately ordered the supplies to go ashore and set up a camp. A temporary dock was set up on the coast behind the camp, and a group of elite soldiers were sent to escort the ships to ensure that the sea route in the rear would not be interrupted. With the current reserves of food and fresh water, even without the fleet, the An-Ra Legion would be able to last for more than a month.
Amon sent scouts to monitor the movements of the Army of Nanar, but found that the enemy did not move. Like him, the enemy had set up a port and camp, and built fortifications along the border. If Amon wanted to attack by force, it was almost impossible for him to win, because he was not only facing a legion, but also the city behind the legion.
The war in the desert should have already started. In the area close to the main battlefield, scouts and spies had long lost their space to move. They could only rely on flying mages to communicate. Occasionally, they could use the detection devices operated by supreme mages to investigate the enemy camp, but it was difficult to find out the exact details of the movements in the enemy camp. Amon felt that he was left on the battlefield, and he could only wait for the outcome of the final battle.
Although there was no official battle, the atmosphere in the camp was already very solemn. The mages and soldiers were on duty day and night, in the most tense state of alert. About ten days later, an accident finally happened. At that time, Amon was sitting in the big tent playing chess with Metatro. Suddenly, he frowned and sensed a faintly discernible fluctuation of magic power approaching from afar. He immediately rushed out of the big tent.
The supreme mage George was also alarmed. He had already flown into the air with his staff in hand. The team of mages set up a magic formation, and the soldiers boarded the semi-circular defensive wall formed by chariots with their weapons in hand. The archers were ready to shoot at any time, and the javelins were also holding their spears in a battle formation.
A black dot appeared in the eastern sky, and it was rapidly approaching. Amon had good eyesight and could see that it was a flying magic device, the Wind Shuttle. The two people on the shuttle looked exhausted. The man in front waved his staff again and again. He had already seen Amon's camp, and he gathered the last of his spirit and sped up. The man in the back, covered in blood, drew his bow and nocked an arrow towards the taboo behind.
George had already received a message from the man on the shuttle. He shouted, "This is the supreme mage Sézanne of the Horus Legion. There are pursuers behind him, let's cover him." Then with a chant, the mages on the ground formed a formation and raised their staffs. Smoke and dust rose from the desert, and the flying sand was rolled into the sky, forming a curtain wall that covered the sky. The curtain wall trembled and buzzed.
The Wind Shuttle passed through the curtain wall without being affected and was directly let in. In the distance, a few more black dots appeared in the sky. They were the pursuers who were following behind. In theory, only eighth-level supreme mages could fly freely without the help of an artifact, but if they had a precious flying magic device, a high-level sixth-level mage could also fly in the sky. In short, the strength of the pursuers must not be weak.
The shuttle landed in the barracks and lost control, plowing a deep trench in the sand. The supreme mage Sézanne, who was driving the shuttle, retracted his magic, and the shuttle turned into a palm-sized artifact. He and the warrior behind him were both thrown out and fell to the ground unconscious. Soldiers had already rushed up to them and carried them to the big tent for treatment.
Sézanne had already entered the safe zone. The flying sand curtain wall that protected the barracks was swept away by the wind. The shock of the sand shot into the air like countless arrowheads, like a burst of yellow smoke, blocking the pursuers flying in the distance. The mages were ready to fight, and the soldiers also raised their bows and arrows, waiting for the enemy to come into range.
At this moment, there was a sound of a bowstring, and a silver light slanted into the sky, hitting a flying shuttle that was chasing after them. There was a sound of an explosion in the air, and a distorted shadow swelled. The magic device had lost control and turned into a palm-sized artifact. Two people fell from the sky and smashed heavily on the sand dunes outside the barracks, motionless.
Commander Amon was already standing on top of a chariot, holding the magic bow made from the tusks and tendons of the two-headed serpent in his hand. What he shot was not a poisonous arrow made from the stinger of a scorpion, but a heavy arrow forged from Damasc steel, plated with heavy silver, and engraved with magic patterns. This kind of arrow was specially prepared for supreme warriors who had undergone the second awakening of power. It required a special strong bow to be effective, and ordinary warriors would not be able to shoot it at all.
The amazing power of this arrow, shot by Amon with the help of magic, was far greater and had a longer range than the arrows shot by ordinary supreme warriors. His magic arts were actually more advanced than his body arts. The magic power contained in the arrow had reached the limit that the magic array engraved on it could bear, and the bow in Amon's hand was much more magical than the strongest battle bow issued by the army.
The pursuers in the air saw that Sézanne had fled into the barracks, and they could not fight against an entire legion. In the face of the counterattack of the magic array, they all flew high into the sky, ready to retreat as soon as they saw the enemy camp clearly. The flying shuttle that Amon shot down was a flying shuttle controlled by a sixth-level mage. The mage had originally flown very high, far away from the range of the long-range weapons in the barracks. He thought that he was safe, but when he turned in the air and was about to fly back, Amon's arrow had already arrived.
No one had expected such an accurate and powerful arrow to be shot in such a short encounter. Even George, who was watching the battle from the main formation in the air, was amazed, and the soldiers burst into thunderous cheers. The pursuers in the air had already turned around and gone far away. They seemed to be frightened by the power of Amon's arrow and did not dare to stay in the air for a moment. The enemy's situation was unclear, and George did not dare to rashly send mages to chase after them.
Including the soldiers, servants, laborers, and logistical teams, a total of more than 20,000 people, they had marched thousands of miles until now, and only one arrow had been shot in the official battle. This arrow was enough to establish Amon's position in the legion, and those who saw him shoot this arrow were all in awe.
But Amon himself was very dissatisfied with this arrow. He thought back to the earth-shattering arrow he had seen shot by the mysterious assassin at the Blessing Ceremony. Now he used his best bow to shoot the heaviest magic arrow with all his strength, but the power was still far from comparable to that arrow, even though he was now a supreme warrior and a supreme sorcerer.
But Amon was very satisfied with his own legion. Although it was only a small scene of five or six enemies flying over, it was the first time this legion had encountered a head-on battle. No one panicked, and even the archers did not shoot indiscriminately. The ranks of the mages and the soldiers were set up in the shortest time possible. Even if a large army attacked, they would be able to calmly resist.
It seemed that after some training and consolidation, this miscellaneous legion had become a fighting force that could not be underestimated. Although it was still not comparable to the elite legions of the Empire, it was definitely not vulnerable.
The pursuers retreated, and the two men who had fled into the camp were unconscious. George had already recognized the other man. He was the captain of His Majesty Pharaoh's personal guards, Vega, a seventh-level supreme warrior. The personnel of the Horus Legion was much better than that of the An-Ra Legion. A seventh-level supreme warrior like Vega was only a captain of Pharaoh's personal guards, while a seventh-level supreme mage like Sézanne was only a captain of the mages under Rickard.
These two men had obviously broken through from the direction of the main battlefield. Did they encounter an emergency situation that forced Pharaoh to send them to the An-Ra Legion? Medanzo found a roll of documents on the unconscious Sézanne. As expected, it was an emergency order from Pharaoh. Amon and George were shocked after reading it.
Eygut's main army was not doing well on the northern edge of the desert. To be more precise, it had suffered a great defeat. The Legion of Sète led by Rod-dick was scattered, while the Legion of Isis led by Ankh was divided into two parts. One part joined Pharaoh's Horus Legion, while the other part was also defeated.
At present, Pharaoh was besieged by the Hittite Army on the edge of the desert and was in a precarious situation. The An-Ra Legion was urgently ordered to leave the coastline and head east for reinforcements to cover Pharaoh's army's breakthrough. The order also specifically emphasized that they should bring enough supplies.
After reading the order, Amon and George looked at each other for a long time. They did not express their opinions first, but asked John, who was sitting beside them, what did he think? The straightforward John slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "What kind of war is this? It's one thing to change the marching plan at a whim, but they left us at the seaside for more than three months, and when the main force is defeated and they need scapegoats, they think of us?"
George advised in a low voice, "General John, now is not the time to vent your personal grievances. No matter how dissatisfied you are, you have to focus on the overall situation. In your opinion, how can we complete Pharaoh's order?"
This question was very skillful. How could an order be completed? Under normal circumstances, it was only necessary to carry it out directly. However, Pharaoh's order to break camp and head east was tantamount to leaving the coastline and being separated from the rear supply fleet. In theory, they could station troops at the seaside, unload the goods from the temporary port, and use the fleet to organize logistics transportation. However, this would easily be cut off by the other party's Army of Nanar, and they would become a lone army deep in the desert.
If they were entangled by the other party in the desert, the entire army would be finished once they ran out of water, not to mention provisions. The Army of Nanar did not even need to fight to the death, they only needed to exhaust them in the desert. Moreover, the overall combat power of the An-Ra Legion was not as good as the Army of Nanar. Pharaoh's order was equivalent to sending this legion to their deaths. It was nothing more than to attract the Hittite Kingdom's troops to cover the main force's breakthrough.
Medanzo, who was standing beside Amon, frowned and said, "Pharaoh also ordered us to bring all the provisions on the spot. Since Rod-dick's logistics legion was scattered in the desert, I think the provisions and arrows in Pharaoh's army must have been almost consumed. If we really do that, our marching speed will be very slow, and we will be easily surrounded in the desert. If we want to rescue Pharaoh, we should raid lightly, but that way we can only bring six days' worth of water at most, which is not in line with Pharaoh's requirements. "
George touched the bracelet on his wrist and added with a bitter smile, "If we use my spatial artifact to carry supplies with all our strength, we can carry at most one more day's worth of provisions and water for the legion's combat troops."
Amon asked again, "The mention of spatial artifacts reminds me that there must be more than one supreme mage in Pharaoh's army. There are two ninth-level supreme mages in the three legions alone. In addition to Sézanne, who broke through the encirclement today to deliver the letter, there are another six supreme mages. They should also have more sophisticated spatial artifacts, how many military supplies can they carry?"
George shook his head and said, "Part of the Legion of Sète and the Legion of Isis have been scattered. Even if all the supreme mages are safe and sound and reunited with Pharaoh, their spatial artifacts are full of military supplies, I am afraid that they can only last for ten days or half a month. Moreover, the spatial artifacts of supreme mages are usually used for other purposes, it is impossible to use them all to carry provisions and water, logistics and military supplies are mainly transported by convoys. "
John touched the back of his head and said, "In your opinion, should we carry out Pharaoh's order?"
George glared at him and said, "How can a military order not be carried out? But this order was not received by us, it was found from the unconscious supreme mage Sézanne, it still needs to be confirmed, we have to wake him up. "
Amon was silent for a long time, finally looked up and said, "Pharaoh's order is that he hopes the An-Ra Legion can help the main force out of danger. As long as we can find a way to complete this task, it will be considered as carrying out the order. There are two urgent matters at hand, one is to ask the chief priest George to hurry up and personally use healing magic to wake up the messenger. In addition, no matter what action the legion carries out, we must clearly investigate the enemy's distribution, this also requires the help of the chief priest George, fly me to the battlefield to see the enemy's arrangement. "
John and Medanzo said in unison, "Are you two going to fly to the battlefield to see the enemy's situation in person? This is too risky. "
Amon also smiled bitterly and said, "Risky? Is there anyone else in our legion who can carry out this task and have the confidence to return safely? At least Lord George and I can escape if we encounter an accident, but if the army acts rashly and falls into a tight encirclement, we won't even be able to escape. "
After the emergency treatment of the priests, the two messengers were out of danger. At midnight, the supreme warrior Vega was the first to wake up and struggled to tell what had happened in the desert.
Pharaoh led the Horus Legion forward without any obstacles along the way, smoothly crossing seven hundred miles of the desert, and was about to launch a sudden attack on the Enlil Legion when the Legion of Sète, which was responsible for logistics, was ambushed.
The ambushers had obviously undergone special targeted training. The soldiers were hidden under the sand in cloaks and did not encounter the Horus Legion, but at night, they inexplicably emerged from the desert on both sides, catching Rod-dick off guard.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
