No one knew if Baiyi would be able to retrieve Grant's soul in time, but they did know that the Church had suffered three heavy blows from the Voidwalkers. One of the blows had been unexpected.
The Pope, who was stationed in the Holy City, was so angry that he almost had a heart attack when he read the three reports. Fortunately, he had enough self-control to vent his anger by smashing things in his room.
A large supply team had been lost, a castle had been smashed, the base camp at the rear had been attacked by terrorists and suffered heavy losses, the nobles' allied army had died, and it was difficult for them to form an organized army … The main point was, they had not even seen the face of the enemy …
The Pope and the other Church leaders were faced with a difficult choice. Should they continue? How? Theoretically, the best course of action was to bide their time and wait for the angel to descend. No matter what tricks the enemy had up their sleeves, the angel's overwhelming power was nothing more than child's play. There were only two days left until the angel's descent, so they could endure it for a while.
However, the angel's descent lasted only three days. Half of the journey from Canningham City to Arfin City would be over. Only one day was left for the battle. Even if the Church's army crumbled at the first blow, would they be able to kill all the demons in one day? What if the demons tried to buy time? Based on the information they had gathered, the demons seemed to be trying to protect the exiled Noirciel, who was still alive. The angel's main target was Noirciel, but no one knew if the demons would give up on the fallen angel. If they retreated, the angel's main goal would be achieved, but what about the Church's? What if the demons retaliated after the angel's departure?
For a moment, the key to the battle was whether or not the demons would attack the angel. It was ironic.
"Anyway, let's dismiss the nobles first. They're no longer a threat," the new High Priest suggested in a low voice.
"Aven knows what to do. He doesn't need you to remind him!" The Pope snapped.
"Also, the Archbishop of Canningham and I have signed a document together. We await your final approval," the Grand Priest said as he handed over a piece of parchment paper filled with blood-red names.
The Pope took it and looked at it for a while. His brows furrowed even tighter as he hesitated. After struggling for a long time, he signed his name and reminded in a low voice, "Do it discreetly and politely. If we don't handle this well, we will become the public enemy …"
"As for our own men, recall them from the frontline. Don't interrogate them. Investigate them thoroughly. As for those in the city, gather them together and keep a close eye on them," the Pope ordered. The Pope continued, "I didn't want to do something like this at a time like this. It could easily shake the morale of the army, but as you said, this is the most necessary strategy for now."
The parchment was filled with names. Some of them were students of Da Xue, some were nobles who had connections with the university, and some were members of the Church, such as the cleric girl who was one of Baiyi's first fans.
Grant had caused so much damage that the nobles who had attached themselves to the Church began to distrust them. An internal investigation was necessary, but it was too risky to do something like this at a time when both sides were at war. It was no different from playing with fire. That was why the Pope did not dare to give a hard order. He could only investigate and monitor the situation.
There might not be a second Grant, but who knew if someone would leak the information to the Church?
As for the outside world, they wanted to get some clues from those who were related to the Church. They wanted to find out how their supply team disappeared and how the castle collapsed. This was something they had to do, but they did not dare to use too forceful methods. They did not dare to arrest or interrogate them. After all, those students, teachers, and nobles all had families and power. Even though the Church had always been strong, they did not dare to offend the public at such a critical moment.
However, how effective would such a gentle method be? The Pope did not have much hope, so he just treated it as a matter of routine.
"I hope there won't be too many conflicts …" The Pope muttered as he watched the High Priest leave.
Fortunately, the news that the Pope had been waiting for was not only bad news, but also an unexpected strong reinforcement.
The sky had just brightened when Old Haydn's grandfather, who had been killed by Grant's self-detonation. He was the current head of the family, the former Vice President of the Sorcerer's Association, and the current Honorary Advisor of the Sorcerer's Association. His name was Old Haydn, and he came to the Pope with a piece of good news.
"Young Haydn was the pride of our family, and the one who had the highest chance of achieving a breakthrough. Now, he was brutally murdered by that mad dog, Grant! Our family will not tolerate this! A debt of blood must be paid in blood!" Old Haydn said with righteous indignation. "Even the legendary Emperor must bear the wrath of our family's vengeance!"
As a family of sorcerers, the Haydn family's influence in the Association was deeply rooted. Otherwise, they would not have been able to promote someone like Haydn to the position of Vice President or even President. Before, it was difficult for them to go all out under Grant's constraints. However, now that Grant was dead, it gave them an excuse to make trouble. Naturally, they had to go all out, even to the extent of staking everything on one throw to get justice for their pride. Moreover, the incident of Grant blowing up the Association's warehouse before his death had caused a lot of dissatisfaction within the Association. Secretly, the Haydn family was given a lot of convenience, even tacitly allowing them to mobilize the Association's mages without permission. More than three hundred mages were mobilized overnight to reinforce Shansa City.
Moreover, it was not a bad thing for the alliance of the nobles to suffer heavy casualties. Without this group of small fries holding them back, the Church's own strength did not suffer too much damage. The entire team became much more capable, and the pressure on defense was greatly reduced.
Haydn's death did not cause the Church to lose the support of the mages. Instead, the Church did not do anything, and the Sorcerer's Association suddenly appeared out of nowhere. This was not something that the nobles could compare to. In other words, the Church was even stronger than before. Deep down, the Pope was probably applauding Young Haydn's death and praising him for dying.
However, there were conditions for this. The Haydn family, who were eager for revenge, did not want to wait for too long. Naturally, the Church could not simply bide their time and wait for the angels to arrive.
This was not a bad thing. The Pope was already wavering between continuing to advance and waiting for reinforcements. He did not want to suffer too many losses, but he also did not want the angels to see him doing nothing. Old Haydn's arrival had actually helped him make a decision.
Thus, the frontline troops, who had just been attacked by the terrorists, were forced to continue their advance and head for Arfin City that very night. Fortunately, they did not have to worry about morale. Faith was something that could be put to good use in situations like this.
The next morning, just two days before the angels' arrival, the Archmage received news of the Church's advance. He could not help but sigh. "Yesterday was like that, and they still dare to advance today? Is this the power of faith? "
This time, the Church did not dare to build a castle and slowly move people into it. Instead, they turned out in full force and formed a long line on the road leading from Shansa City to Arfin City. At the front of the line were the paladins on horseback, and in the middle were the crusaders who guarded the caravans. The paladins patrolled the area, while the mages and priests maintained all kinds of protective spells and divine spells.
"It's been 8012. Who still dares to march like this?" The Thane Walker was amused. "It's not efficient at all. Just how afraid are they of an ambush?"
From the comparison between modern and ancient warfare on Earth, it could be seen that the improvement in technology and tactics could all be summed up as an increase in efficiency. The various spy satellites improved the efficiency of reconnaissance, the global deployment improved the efficiency of troop delivery, and the various sophisticated weapons improved the efficiency of killing.
Compared to the Church, the Void was more efficient in every aspect. This was an absolute advantage brought about by the difference in technology. It was not a problem that the Church could solve by changing their tactics.
"Wait for them to get a little closer, a little closer before we make our move." The Archmage Walker looked at the pale faces of the soldiers on the city wall and ordered. "Aren't they moving a little too slowly?" he muttered to himself in dissatisfaction.
The Church had spent most of the night and the whole of the morning, but they had only appeared in the sight of Arfin City's garrison. Shansa City was only about 20 miles away from Arfin City, so one could only imagine how slow the Church's speed was.
The sea of heads looked intimidating, but it was enough to scare the soldiers on the city wall. The Voidwalkers, who had the ability to strike out of sight, were getting impatient. In order to take care of the soldiers' emotions, the Voidwalkers decided to fight a battle that the soldiers could see and understand.
Otherwise, with the Church's tortoise speed, half of them would have died before they could reach Arfin City's walls.
"Oh? They have a lot more sorcerers in their army? "The Archmage asked curiously." Maybe it's a side effect of Grant? "
At noon, the army of the Church had finally advanced to a suitable distance. The supply caravan began to set up camp under strict protection and set up the siege weapons they had brought. The soldiers regrouped after a simple rest. They did not intend to attack the city, but they wanted to get closer to the city walls to show off their military might and raise their morale.
The sorcerers, on the other hand, had arrived at a suitable distance to attack. They were ready to use long-range firepower to exhaust the enemy's strength. This was the first step in their revenge. Of course, they had also taken precautions to prevent the enemy from launching a counterattack.
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.
