What rose from the mountains were magical creatures that were sculpted from rocks into flying monsters full of power. They had the head of a goat and the body of a human. They had steel-like claws on their limbs and a wingspan of more than seven meters. Their stony skin shone with a pale green luster under the cold winter sun. They were covered with faintly glowing magic runes, and two ghostly green gems formed the eyes of these magical creatures.
They were not the most primitive gargoyles, but a type of rune golem — rune gargoyles. Brando wanted gargoyles, and Tania, the competent aunt, got him the best one. As he said, these things were nothing to the Bugas, so the craftsmen mages were happy to help Brando as much as possible without crossing their bottom line, so that he could take back the Azure Lance for them.
The Gryphons that soared in the sky of the Empire never thought that they would one day face such a battle. The densely packed gargoyles were rising from the mountains into the sky, and in the blink of an eye, they occupied the sky above the mountains. The screams of these magical creatures came one after another, coming from all directions as if they were surrounded. However, the griffins let out a clear and melodious cry at the same time, as if a kind of pride was urging the brave and fearless birds to spread their snow-white wings and meet their enemy. That was the symbol of the Imperium. They took the initiative to attack the enemy that was dozens of times larger than them. They were like straight silver lines that pierced into the dark clouds, but in the next moment, their wings were scattered and their spears were broken.
The Imperial soldiers looked at the scene in a daze, watching the ferocious birds of prey of the Empire that they were so proud of vanish in an instant. After a while, a dry warning came from the observation room.
"It's … It looks like gargoyles …"
Although there were still a hundred Gryphon Knight on standby in the fortress, everyone's feet were rooted to the ground at this moment. No one ran down the wall to inform the others, because it was too late.
The gargoyles were like a dark cloud in the sky. After swallowing the Gryphons, they spread across half the sky like a flock of migrating birds. When they came over the fortress, the Imperial soldiers still looked up in a daze. It was not until the first rock fell from the sky and smashed the battlements into pieces that they screamed and reacted — a disaster was imminent. Under the preset command, the gargoyles split into three as soon as they entered the sky above the fortress, and three huge arrowheads in the air pointed in different directions. The first arrowhead made up of two hundred gargoyles pointed directly in the direction of the wall, while the second arrowhead made up of three hundred gargoyles pointed to the inner city. The remaining gargoyles made up of the largest arrowhead went straight to the headquarters of the Gryphon Knight in the Black Sword Fortress, as if they already knew where it was.
When the Kirrlutzian knights on the city wall saw the two huge arrows in the sky flying over the city wall without stopping, they understood what was going on.
Their faces were ashen, and only then did they realize that this was definitely a premeditated war.
The inner city was in a state of chaos.
The soldiers who were not on duty in the fortress area were being rushed out of their residences in the inner city, from various places of entertainment such as bars, brothels, and even lovers' houses. Some were even rushing out from the streets in twos and threes. They hurriedly put on their battle robes, put on their helmets, and picked up their weapons. They were either organized or scattered as they rushed towards the direction of the fortress to report. If it was during the Age of Glory, the Age of Chaos, or the half a century before and after the War of Walnut, such a scene would never occur. During that era, even when the Black Sword Fortress was at its most lax, more than two-thirds of the soldiers were on standby at all times.
But now, this fortress had not experienced any war for nearly a hundred years. Even the bandits of Erouine did not dare to commit crimes in the area ruled by the Empire. After a long period of slacking, they had long developed a habit of being arrogant and condescending.
The Empire soldiers were gathering from all directions. Although they were not worth mentioning compared to their predecessors, the last trace of honor and discipline of the Empire soldiers prevented them from completely messing up. Overall, their reaction was much better than the noble soldiers of the South of Erouine. They were even not inferior to the Black Blade Squad and the Coast Guards that Brando had seen in Ampere Seale. These Rogelia soldiers wearing red and white battle robes gathered under the urging of the bugle and were about to enter the fortress area.
It was at this time that they collided head-on with the Gargoyles that were rushing from the sky.
"Look at the sky!"
Someone shouted first, and then the bustling red and white crowd on the street slowly stopped and looked up at the sky. The dense black dots that formed a huge arrowhead were dispersing and then swooping down. In an instant, hundreds of Gargoyles swooped down.
"Gargoyles!"
"Martha above, the Bugas have launched a sneak attack on us!"
The crowd was surprised and stunned at first, then it turned into a commotion and uneasiness. They began to retreat, and finally, under such a shrill scream, it turned into a mad dash.
"Look for cover!"
"These damned, cunning adepts!"
The people of Cruz screamed in panic as they tried to find a place to provide shelter. At this moment, the quality of the Empire soldiers was fully displayed. They did not panic like headless flies, nor did they flee in panic like the noble soldiers of the South of Erouine. Once the Cruz Knights found eaves, low walls, stacked boxes, or other temporary shelter along the street that could provide shelter, they immediately pulled out their weapons and waited for the first wave of attack from the unknown air force before launching a counterattack.
The Empire had a military tradition of more than ten centuries. Their enemies came from all over the world, whether it was the air force, the navy, the monsters, the living, or the returnees. For this army that had been through hundreds of battles and had a profound tradition, it was no surprise. Therefore, after a brief commotion, they immediately calmed down and entered a state of readiness under the command of the nearby Knight captain.
At this moment, if Brando were to see this scene in person, he would be amazed. He would be amazed at the strength of the people of Cruz, and also because this was the same as the Empire's army that he had seen before.
After all, the Empire was the Empire. The eagles of Cruz did not just soar in the sky with pride and arrogance.
However, the tragedy of the Rogelia soldiers came from the same reason — Brando had seen them before, in another era.
Therefore, these soldiers soon saw that the Gargoyles' dive was just an illusion. They immediately began to slow down when they approached the sky above the inner city, and then they landed on the rows of roofs throughout the inner city. "What are they doing!?" The Knight of Cruz looked at this scene with inexplicable amazement. The air force, as the name implied, was their domain in the sky. If these Gargoyles wanted to fight them on the ground, it was obviously impossible.
Their doubts were finally answered when they saw the first wizard in a robe and holding a staff jump down from the back of a Gargoyle.
"Wizard …"
In the nearby streets, every Knight sergeant with command felt a little sour in his teeth when he saw this scene. He immediately understood what the other party wanted to do.
When Mordenkainen jumped down from the back of his Gargoyle with his duck familiar in his arms, he was full of pride when he saw the stunned Cruz Knight. He looked back and saw that almost every roof on the left had three to four wizards ready. It was as if an army of wizards had arrived in the inner city of the Black Sword Fortress in an instant. He looked back again, and at this time, the people of Cruz below seemed to have just recovered from their state of shock. The Knight immediately commanded the soldiers around him to attack the roofs. Although he knew that the other party could not pose any threat to him, he could not help but feel a little nervous. What a bold idea it was to let wizards come to the front line and fight the enemy soldiers face to face.
Not to mention that he had never heard of such a battle before, he had never even thought about it. The so-called wizards naturally wanted to stay as far away from danger as possible.
But although he was nervous and his palms were sweaty, he still raised his staff and began to chant spells at the army of Cruz below. The average strength of the soldiers of the Imperial Frontier Legion was at least above the middle level of Black Iron. The low roofs of the inner city were not too difficult for them. In a short while, some imperial soldiers climbed up the roofs with the help of the terrain. Mordenkainen saw that the nearest soldier was less than twenty feet away from him. He could even see the ferocious face of the other party and the cold gleam of the long sword in his hand. In his heart, he was more than willing to directly throw the spells he had prepared at that guy. But at the last moment, he forcibly shifted his target and raised his staff to cast a spell at the imperial soldiers clustered in the street.
"The Law of Stillness and Stagnation, Imprison!"
Mordenkainen shouted. As if there was an invisible wall descending from the direction he was pointing at, there was a slight vibration in the air. All the imperial soldiers on the street immediately became motionless as if they were possessed. At the same time, out of the hundreds of Magi that descended with the gargoyles, about a third of them completed the same control spell. The other third were too nervous and failed to cast the spell, while the remaining third could not help but cast the spell on the few soldiers closest to them.
But even this one-third success rate caused almost half of the streets in the inner city to be completely controlled by the spell in an instant.
After casting the spell, Mordenkainen turned his head back, sweating profusely. Only then did he see that the soldier who had climbed up had already been slapped down by the gargoyle. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, and a faint sense of pride grew in his heart — because he knew that at least he was the first Wizard to cast a spell under this kind of tactic. Based on this point alone, he could already shake off the identity of an apprentice and step into the ranks of an official Wizard.
The inner city was falling into a special kind of dead silence, as if time had been frozen. The imperial soldiers who had gathered and jammed the streets quickly lost the ability to fight back under the control of the wizards. It was not that they did not think of counterattacking, but the result of such a dense formation exposed to the attack of magic was imaginable. Almost immediately, they lost more than two-thirds of their manpower. Next, the sorcerers only needed to subdue the fish that escaped the net one by one. In the meantime, the Kirrlutz's zero-star organization launched a long-range attack together, but it was almost useless under the protection of spells. The commando team formed by the imperial knights, under the protection of hundreds of gargoyles, also had no effect. Instead, they fell into the trap and became captives.
Of course, the empire also had wizards, but wizards in twos and threes were basically no match for hundreds of wizards gathered together. After sporadic counterattacks, they quickly realized that the situation was hopeless. They either raised their hands and surrendered, or simply found a place to hide and seek self-protection.
It seemed that in just a moment, the Black Sword Fortress had lost most of its backup.
…
The head of the Griffin Knight Regiment, Marial, stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in his office, silently watching the gargoyles in the sky leave. On the other side of his line of sight, the headquarters of the Griffin Knight Regiment had long been in a mess. This Griffin Fortress, which was built about two centuries ago, was tragically not built according to the standards of this era, nor was it built with magic protection. The flight path of the Griffin Cage was directly exposed to the outside according to the air force tradition of about two hundred years ago. This was because everyone knew that the enemy of the Black Sword Fortress was the Erouine people, and the weak air force of the Erouine Knight could not pose any threat to this fortress.
However, it was this traditional understanding that brought about a devastating blow to the fortress.
Marial still had not figured out how those damn gargoyles came about. Originally, he was still sending a messenger to inquire about the loud noise on the other side of the wall, and at the same time, he ordered some of the Knight to prepare to take off. However, he did not expect the attack to come so quickly. Before the first batch of Griffin Knight could release their beloved Griffins from the cages, the black cloud in the sky had already flown over the Knight Regiment. What happened next was simply a nightmare. Before that, Marial had never heard of such an attack.
The gargoyles began to dive and then threw down flashing crystals. Most of these crystals hit the passage of the Griffin Cage, and a small part hit the warehouse of the Knight Regiment. What happened next was what he saw now. The passage of the Griffin Cage had been completely destroyed, and about one hundred and sixty Griffins and more than thirty Knights were trapped inside. It was hard to say how many of them could be saved. As for the warehouse, Marial looked at the two big holes in the ground with a gloomy face.
For a moment, he was speechless.
At this time, outside the ruins of the Knight's Gate, Rovak, who was pointing his sword at Brando, obviously did not know that such a wonderful thing had happened in the fortress behind him. Even so, his face did not look good. Above him, the Empire's soldiers were fiercely fighting with the gargoyles. The wizards in the fortress had already joined the battle, and the longbowmen and crossbowmen had also begun to get into formation. It could be said that the situation was barely stabilized. Behind him, more than a hundred Drake Knights had finished their preparations. These Cruz Knights were wearing heavy armor, and they all raised their spears. The triangular flags on the spears fluttered in the wind, like a fiery red ocean.
The Drake Knights were restlessly adjusting their footsteps, facing the uninvited guests outside the gate. It was as if as long as the order was given, all the knights would come out in full force.
But at this moment, Rovak did not feel safe at all.
This was because in his vision, Brando was approaching him step by step. This count was alone, and he was holding a sword in one hand. However, he did not seem to be at a disadvantage at all. He was only one person, and he was facing the Cruz Knights with a calm face. It was as if these glorious Knights in history did not exist in his eyes. Rovak had seen such a calm look before. When the bear warriors from the Black Crow Principality charged at that man, that man stood proudly on the battlefield with a sword in his hand. Rovak could still see that man standing proudly on the battlefield.
Could it be that in less than sixty years, Erouine had another Sword Saint like that?
Rovak's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and he suddenly thought of another possibility.
Behind Brando, Metisha was looking at her lord's back. She silently summoned her unicorn and mounted it. The White City Vanguard, the Nightsong Tiger, Felaern, and the others were behind her in a charging formation, ready to attack.
But at this moment, Brando turned around and said: "Metisha, go and subdue the Empire's squad and save the refugees."
"My lord."
Brando did not answer her. Instead, he turned to The Shire and said: "The Shire, I'll leave the wall to you."
"No problem."
Brando then turned around and saw Rovak charging at him.
"Dragon Knights, follow me!" Rovak shouted.
But in the next moment, he could no longer make such a bold sound because he saw Brando split into two in front of him.
He was dumbfounded as he watched the two Brando's casually walk past him. The two Brando's raised their swords at the same time. There were no fancy moves. They just raised their swords and walked forward slowly. Even a beginner swordsman would be able to dodge it easily. Rovak also lowered his head to avoid the attack, and at the same time tried to distinguish the real Brendel from the two of them.
But just as he lowered his head, a scene that made his soul fly out of his body happened. He clearly saw that he had dodged the opponent's sword, but when he lowered his head, he saw that the shining blade was still in front of his chest.
"This is impossible!" Just as this thought appeared in Rovak's mind, he felt a slight pain in his chest. There was a long gash in his armor, and he felt his vision go dark. His knees went soft, and he knelt on the ground.
… …
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