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The "wise women" appeared in the camp of François's Second Army. They skillfully brewed herbs and applied ointment to the sick.
The sick Brittany soldiers said that they felt much better.
But this group of people was also frightened by the three "wise women."
These wise women were also witches who had mastered magic. But the magic they mastered was different from ice magic. It was a kind of magic similar to shaman magic. They prayed to the oldest "old gods" and obtained the ability to master a small part of magic without being corrupted by Chaos.
Of course, there was a price to pay. The wise women were not completely immune to the corruption of Chaos. They paid the price of their youth and appearance. Every wise woman who stepped on this path would become an old, ugly, and weak old woman in a few days. Only then would Chaos not be interested in them.
For example, this wise woman was brewing medicine for a soldier. Her wrinkled skin set off strands of rotten white hair. Her mouth was full of black teeth. Her limbs were withered and twisted like branches. The wrinkles at the corners of her eyes were denser and denser. Most of the white in her eyes were scarlet. This scared the Brittany soldier so much that he couldn't stop trembling.
"Drink it. Drink it. Drink this. You won't feel uncomfortable anymore." The wise woman's withered, twig-like hands held a bowl of bubbling medicine. The bowl emitted a foul stench and a strange purple light.
The sick knight's face turned green. He took the bowl and looked at it for a long time. He really couldn't drink it.
"Drink it. This is your fate." The wise woman couldn't stop laughing. She opened her mouth, and a strong stench came out from her mouth full of black teeth. "In our land, you outsiders must know how to respect the land and fear it. Only then can you survive here, hehehehe ~"
In the end, the knight could only curse in his heart. He gritted his teeth, pinched his nose, picked up the bowl, and drank it all. To his surprise, the medicine was not bitter in his mouth. Instead, it had the taste of licorice.
After drinking a bowl of medicine, his body felt much better. Even his body temperature had dropped.
At the same time, on the other side, a group of Kislöw Kesa soldiers were wolfing down meat and barley bread. In front of them was a large pot of corn and vegetable soup.
Now that they were starving, François managed to get some food from the army and provided it to Mrs. Kiesler. In order to avoid being searched and looted by the Army of Chaos, these people had been hiding in the camp deep in the forest for the past two to three months. They survived on dry rations and ice water, and rarely dared to make a fire. Occasionally, they would be lucky enough to catch some wild animals.
François asked Vladimir, "Oh my god, I can't imagine how you managed to hide."
"The Army of Chaos did not search carefully. Most of the time, they were just passing by." Vladimir rode on a giant bear. This Essun priest was very strong. He was calm but full of hatred as he said, "We know now."
François nodded slightly. The old man knew that Motekin hated the people of Auster to the core, but he did not feel anything for Mrs. Kiesler. The Army of Chaos had crushed the entire Kislöw border. They did not have much time to burn, kill, and loot before Motekin urged them to advance. In fact, many Kislöw refugees had taken the opportunity to hide in the depths of the forest and mountains and survived.
In the beginning, these people did not plan to leave their hidden camp.
Especially this one called Vladimir. His attitude was very tough. He believed that Mrs. Kiesler did not need anyone's help. He would lead Mrs. Kiesler back to her homeland.
At first, François thought that this young priest Essun priest, who was in his thirties, was joking with him.
But after seeing this person's army, François quickly realized that this person was not simple.
This Essun priest called Vladimir had already established a military organization in the forest. This military organization was made up of these people: retired veterans, Ugor tribesmen, southern Kislöw mountain people and forest hunters, Essun priests, a small number of Kerim guards, and a small group of Kesa warriors.
Under the call of this Essun priest, the leaders and tribal elders in the nearby camps gradually united to form a stronghold for self-protection. They were gradually unified under this guy's command. He already had hundreds of soldiers in his hands.
To put it simply, what this Essun priest meant was: We appreciate your kindness. Thank you, but we don't need it. We can recover our homeland.
However, the cunning François asked two simple questions.
Well said. Then how many years do you plan to recover the entire Kislöw? Also, you let your army spread out to solve the food problem. What about when your army is bigger?
Then, Francois continued, "You don't have to come out now. You can hide in your cozy little nest and enjoy the rare peace and freedom. We, the Bretons, will fight to reclaim Kislev's territory and drive Chaos out of the old world."
"When the time comes, when people ask about you, how will you answer?"
"When Motekin's army swept Kislöw, what were you doing? You were hiding in the forest. "
"When the Empire and Brittany army defeated the Chaos army in Wolfenburg and forced the Eternal Chosen of Chaos to commit suicide, what were you doing? You were hiding in the forest. "
"When the Brittany knights began a northern expedition to help Mrs. Kiesler recover her homeland and drive away evil, what were you doing? You were still hiding in the forest. "
"When our army entered Örengrád …" At this point, Vladimir's face was already ashen. "Enough, you don't have to say anymore. I only need to ask you one thing. Do the Brittany really plan to help us rebuild our country?"
"I swear in the name of the Lady, we really do plan to do so. Although our strength is limited, at least we plan to recover Örengrád. As for the rest, we'll talk about it later."
The priest Essun immediately decided to send out his army.
With the help of the locals, Francois's second army was able to catch a breather. Under the guidance of the hunters, Francois's army found a better place to set up camp. At the same time, the trails and shortcuts in the forest were provided to the Bretons, which made the originally troublesome logistics a little smoother. The local medicine and native methods also helped the sick soldiers in the army.
At the same time, the logistics and equipment transported by the Brittany army were also provided to Mrs. Kiesler. Vladimir received a batch of weapons as he wished, and the two sides quickly established a friendship when they needed each other.
And just as François was about to take a breather and move his camp, the Kislöw hunters who were familiar with the forest brought the most valuable news: an army of Chaos was rushing into the forest.
Something happened to the patrols! François immediately deduced. The Duke immediately ordered the Champion Knights Brotherhood to gather and discuss how to deal with the incoming Army of Chaos.
The Kislöw locals also hated Chaos to the core. Vladimir thought about it and decided to join François's army.
At this time, the vanguard of Chaos was less than twenty kilometers away from François's camp.
A day later, the barbarian chieftain and champion warrior Winnet from Northka led a Northka battle group and approached François's camp first. The other Chaos battle groups and battle groups were five kilometers away from here.
Now, Zetch's Chosen One, Hal, the Eye of Eternity, overestimated his ability and prestige as a commander. Without Motekin, he had to spend a lot of effort to gather an army of 13,000 people, and that was just gathering. When the Champions of Chaos and the Barbarian Chiefs learned about the location of Francois's camp, not many people were willing to listen to Hal's Eye of Eternity's command. They were chaotic and disorderly, competing with each other in speed, rushing into the forest.
Winnet and his battle group were tired, hungry, and thirsty after the rapid march. Yes, in theory, the Chaos Warriors and the Chaos Demons did not need logistics, but some barbarians still craved and needed delicious food and good wine. This made the barbarians happy.
Winnet soon arrived at François's camp. Groups of Northka marauders, led by a few Chaos Warriors, slammed into the camp gate excitedly.
It seemed that the cowardly southerners had all escaped! The camp was filled with the supplies they left behind. What made everyone even more excited was that they found wine in many places!
Wine! Wine brewed by the cowardly southerners! Wow!
Rushing over was the right thing to do!
The barbarian battle group immediately let down their guard. They began to crazily grab all kinds of supplies. Every barbarian crazily put things on themselves, and the elite barbarian champions began to crazily drink the wine. Brittany's red wine had frozen in the snow. Winnet even smashed the glass bottle with his hand and used his tongue to crazily lick the frozen wine.
Now, these barbarians were like wild beasts that had lost their minds.
The hunter had become the prey.
Even crazier beasts followed. In the forest, from all directions, the Brittany army and a small number of Mrs. Kiesler appeared with endless anger.
Francois rode his beloved pegasus, and the Duke descended from the sky to announce the judgment of the Lake Fairy. Chief Nosca did not have enough time to react. He instinctively picked up a spear and stabbed the pegasus's abdomen. Francois, however, only raised his unicorn sword.
An extremely dazzling light burst out from the sword, burning Chieftain Wene's eyes and instantly blinding him. When the Chieftain reached out to cover his eyes, his head and hands had already been cut off by Ryan's father-in-law.
The champion knights of Quinarys then charged into the camp and began to chop vegetables.
Faced with enemies on all sides and the loss of their Chieftain at the start of the battle, Noska's army was reduced to a motley crew. They were trapped in the camp and slaughtered to the last man.
Vladimir rode on a giant bear, the crescent-shaped battle axe in his hand cutting down a Chaos Warrior and six Barbarian Warriors. Priest Esun looked at the Champion Knights Brotherhood of Quinnarius who had slaughtered two hundred Barbarians with only twenty Knights on foot. His expression was complicated. "Today, I truly understand the strength of the Bretons."
"There's no time to talk. We must clean up the battlefield immediately." François sheathed his sword. "This is the first army of Chaos. It's not the end."
An hour later, another army of Chaos was annihilated. The champion of Chaos, Igo Voyager, had his head and chest split open by Jerrold.
Two and a half hours later, the third wave of Army of Chaos was annihilated. Two members of the Winnet's army were blown up into the sky by explosives planted in advance. The Kurgan chief, Vajal, had his legs blown off and was then cut into pieces by Vladimir's axe.
Five hours later, when the Eye of Eternity led the thousands of Army of Chaos he could control and approached the camp, he saw a terrifying and unsettling scene. The camp of the Southerners was littered with barbarian corpses. Crows and vultures were greedily pecking at the corpses of the vanguard Army of Chaos. Hal didn't know how many of the Army of Chaos had died in the camp, but he knew that the situation was bad. He immediately ordered the rear to change to the front and retreat out of the forest.
HAL's reaction was very fast, but the wise and scheming Francois had already set up an ambush on the path of HAL's retreat with the help of Madame Kisler, attacking the rearguard of the remnants of the Chaos army.
A few hours later, the rearguard arranged by Hal was almost defeated. It was not until several Warlocks of Chaos sacrificed their lives to summon an army of Chaos demons that François was forced to retreat temporarily and rescue the rearguard.
Now, the 13,000-strong Army of Chaos was only left with a little over 8,000 people after they escaped from the forest.
Zech ordered the army to retreat to the city of Zorn, which was located on the south bank of the Rinsk River and upstream of the Örengrád River.
Howl's prestige was a huge problem. As soon as the Army of Chaos left the forest, it became chaotic. Many small groups and skirmishers refused to follow Motekin's deputy. They scattered in all directions to look for supplies or follow their own ideas.
Most of the small groups of barbarians encountered the knights and Vladimir's army that were chasing after them. The scattered barbarians were soon caught up and slaughtered. Some were cut down or stabbed, and left bleeding in the snow to wait to freeze to death. Some were simply captured and handed over to Mrs. Kiesler. The angry Mrs. Kiesler cut them into pieces to comfort her dead compatriots and the destroyed homeland.
Four days later, Hal Eternal Eye and his army finally arrived at the ruins of the city of Zorn. Although there were only about 6,000 people left in the army, Eternal Eye still spent a lot of effort to assemble and preserve the organization of the army. He thought that he could stay here for a while, but bad news came one after another, so he had to order a retreat.
The Brittany attacked everywhere. In the east, Berchemund's Third Army had defeated the Champion of Sin, Stika's Army upstream of the city of Zorn. In the west, Laun's First Army had also recovered Scofield Castle. Khorne's Chosen Skar Bloodfury was seriously injured again. His army fled directly to Norsk. The situation was getting worse and worse.
The encirclement was gradually tightening. Worse still, the Knight King, Laing, and the Empire's Lady Emilia's guards were also rapidly approaching.
However, Chosen One Tzeentch had a clear understanding of the situation but lacked decisiveness. He hesitated and stayed in Zorn City for five days until he was sure that he could not get any reinforcements. Only then did he decide to retreat.
How could François let go of this opportunity?
While the Army of Chaos was still in a daze in the ruins of the city of Zorn, his father-in-law's army had moved quickly along the path with the help of the Kislöw natives. They also found a solid enough shoal with the help of the Kislöw fishermen who were familiar with the local geography. They went around to the front of Hal.
When the Army of Chaos tried to retreat to the north bank of the Linsk River, François's 15,000 troops were already waiting for them on the other side.
The Battle of the Linsk River began.
The two sides fought in the knee-deep snow for three days and three nights. In order to cover the retreat of Tzeentch's Chosen, two teams of Tzeentch's warriors who believed in the Eagle God, three teams of barbarian marauder champion warriors, a total of more than four hundred Chaos knights, more than six hundred elite barbarian marauder riders, and three human-skinned wolf gangs, including the notorious "Throat of the Wild" gang, launched a suicidal charge and forced their way into the solid defense line of the Brittanians. In the end, they were almost wiped out.
After three days and three nights, a gap was opened in Francois's solid defense line. The remnants of the Chaos army desperately broke through the blockade line and fled to the northwest. Francois gave up at the last moment because he and his army were extremely exhausted from the heavy snow, the low temperature, and the continuous battles. They were suffering.
Deep in his heart, his father-in-law did not want to fight to the death. He did not want the Brittany army to suffer too many losses.
In the Battle of the Linsk River, both sides suffered heavy casualties. François's army lost more than 2,000 people. Most of them did not die in battle, but died of disease and the cold.
The Army of Chaos's losses were even greater. When Zech's Chosen finally broke through the blockade line and fled into the Grinwald Forest, the original force of more than 6,000 people was only left with around 800 people. They also lost all of their cavalry and most of their monster troops.
Francois had at last achieved the glory of his dreams.
In early April, François's second army and Vladimir's army arrived at the empty Örengrád and officially announced that the city had been retaken from the hands of Chaos!
The heraldic flags of lions, unicorns, and irises fluttered above Erlengrad!
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