What did you do with the dice?

When it was time to use her brain, Rusalka chose to trust her brother unconditionally and did not ask any more questions.

In the past few days, as Rusalka's troops were rushing into the city one after another and the route was very long, Gao Hong took advantage of this "free" guard army and directly sent a large number of baggage trains to transport along the main road, crossing with Rusalka's troops.

The enemy commander was no fool. Although this large baggage train passed slowly under his nose, he would not be so greedy and reckless as to send light cavalry to try to charge the heavy infantry and ordnance regiment behind Rusalka's team, because that was simply a suicidal act of treating the light cavalry squad as disposable items. Even if they could intercept the supplies, they would suffer heavy losses and completely lose control of this area, which was equivalent to losing the strategic goal.

So even though he was unwilling, he could only watch these baggage trains leave the area.

After settling Rusalka's troops, Gao Hong formally invited Rusalka, who had been living in the villa for several days and even had a preference on his pillow, and his generals to hold a formal military combat meeting.

"The Calbes Hills have a straight-line height of 150 meters and an estimated total length of approximately 400 meters. The enemy camp is located 200 meters behind the hill, well beyond the range of the catapults. Because the slope is gentle at the top and steep at the bottom, even if the magic cannons are raised, they won't have a suitable firing angle."

Rusalka: (What is the concept?)

Sani Tower: (According to trigonometric calculations, the average slope is 22 degrees.)

Rusalka: (Doesn't sound steep at all?)

Sani Tower: (However, the slope of this hill is not completely smooth. Instead, it has been artificially filled into a steep, arc-shaped slope that is inconsistent with natural laws. Therefore, the steepest slope at the bottom is about 25-27 degrees. This angle is enough to make your bicycle automatically slide downhill. Even for cavalry, it is already an angle that requires caution when descending.)

Rusalka: (But aren’t we going uphill? Can the car slide uphill?)

Sani Tieta: (That's not possible either. The downhill slide I'm referring to is of course the other team's rolling logs and stacking rocks.)

Sanita: "Does the enemy have sufficient defensive armaments? For example, rolling logs, kerosene, etc."

Gao Hong certainly couldn't lie about this kind of military intelligence, so he nodded decisively: "It looks like they've been prepared for a long time, so it should be very sufficient."

Sanita: "How many soldiers are there in the camp?"

Gao Hong thought for a moment and said, "The entire front should have around 20,000 men combined. However, recent spies report that the enemy seems to have heard about your planned attack, so they've added four new infantry corps to reinforce you. So, the total number of defenders now is 30,000, and the number should be within 5,000."

Sanita frowned: "A quarter of an error?"

Of course, he calculated this based on the original defenders. After all, the number of reinforcements on the road should be clear, unless the spies were not professional enough.

Gao Hong smiled awkwardly. "Our initial intelligence preparations were indeed inadequate. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to deploy military supplies in this location in advance, and the outpost would have already been built by the time we discovered it."

Rusalka had a slight fondness for teammates who were self-aware and willing to admit their poor performance. Sincerely admitting their mistakes was better than those who stubbornly refused to admit their mistakes. "6 versus 3, the advantage is mine!"

Gao Hong smiled and said calmly: "In fact, the intelligence on your side is that there are 200,000 troops. Although the enemy's reconnaissance should be able to see that there are false reports, if you don't take the initiative to attack, a conservative estimate of about 100,000 should still be there. The enemy certainly doesn't have the courage to fight you head-on.

"The enemy's light cavalry is only a legion at best, around 2000 cavalrymen. My defenders aren't strong enough to protect the entire front. But with your reinforcements, things will be different. If you can send your troops to help us protect the baggage train during transportation, then we can avoid attacking this stronghold."

Gao Hong paused, then continued, "As for supplies, you can rest assured. Including your troops, the city can hold out for at least six months even if supplies are cut off from the rear. Not to mention that the rear is very stable now, so there won't be a deficit in the accounts. Your troops can stay as long as they want."

Such amazing logistical capabilities really made Sani Iron Tower look at it with new eyes. No wonder this city was of great strategic significance to the Great Duke Gode. He would rather have his supply lines disrupted than take the initiative to attack. As long as this city was in this position, it could threaten the territory of Grand Duke Oaks to the north and reach the Royal City of Alice to the northeast. It was indeed a perfect transit point for transporting troops.

If we can take down the Kalbes stronghold blocking the north, then the one who will have the headache will be Grand Duke Oaks.

Sanitieta thought that if he put himself in Gao Hong's shoes and commanded Rusalka's army, he would indeed hope that they would be as conservative as possible, so that the city would not be lost and the transportation line of the East-Northwest Avenue would be safe, then the opponent's outpost would basically be meaningless.

It can even delay the opposing defenders, forcing them to be unable to advance or retreat and only waste time, forcing them to open an additional supply line to the Kalbes stronghold. This is comparable to the "arms race" to drag down the opponent's cold war tactics, and it is simply the most perfect tactic that can be thought of at this stage.

But unfortunately, Sanitta couldn't think from Gao Hong's perspective. He was not a member of the great Duke Gaode's family. For Sanitta, taking over the Kalbes stronghold was not just an expression of willingness to cooperate, but he could use the cover of the stronghold itself and the declaration of occupation to make the army "disappear" reasonably.

Even if something unexpected happens in the battle of Alice City and Rusalka's army is trapped here, they can rely on this stronghold to make three choices - attack the Grand Duke Oaks' territory to the north to occupy the city for supplies, attack the Chaudhry City to the south to occupy the city for supplies, and reinforce Alice City to the east.

"By the way, if you insist on attacking Kalbes, there's one more thing you must be careful of." Gao Hong said to Rusalka, "More than a month ago, the city defense forces saw a creature resembling a giant dragon flying from the east to the Kalbes hilly area and directly descending into it. Its whereabouts remain unknown.

Considering the unclear relationship between the Seven Sins Church and the Goddess of Fortune Church, in the worst-case scenario, there might be a dragon guarding this stronghold."

When Rusalka heard the word dragon, she immediately became excited: "What dragon?"

Gao Hong: "According to the report from the sentinels guarding the city, it's a giant red dragon, probably a fire dragon."

Rusalka pounded her fist and slammed the table, startling everyone. "Damn it! Ever since two months ago, the creature I hate most is the fire dragon! It doesn't matter which one it is, there must be some connection between them in the Nine Clans. It's not too much to give him a Nine Clans Elimination Chamber game, right?"

Even the calm and composed heavy-armored knight Gao Hong couldn't help but show a puzzled expression on his face after hearing Rusalka's words with hidden meaning.

Sanitieta took a sip of tea and explained, "Some time ago, a dragon or dragon-born who claimed to be the messenger of the Seven Sins burned down our Pearl Tear town."

The generals around immediately nodded in understanding, and Gao Hong generously said that there were many armor-piercing crossbows in the city. Although they did not have the courage and military strength to hunt dragons outside the city, if Rusalka needed them, they could use them.

In addition, Gao Hong also provided a detailed strategic map of the Kalbes area, which was much more detailed than the one in Sanita's hand, and even the density of the trees was marked.

It can be said that apart from soldiers, he can provide Rusalka's army with everything related to war as much as possible.

With reliable teammates, Sani Iron Tower was naturally efficient. They agreed to lead their troops out of the city and camp at the bottom of the Kalbes Hill in two days, and launch the first wave of exploratory attacks to see the enemy's strength.

Of course, Sanitta said so, but he had reason to suspect that Rusalka would turn the feint attack into a real attack, so he had already made several preparations in advance to defeat the opponent's combat plan in one go.

It's just that it can't be brought up at a military meeting. After all, it's a bit too extreme. The first attack is an all-out offensive with no reservations. It's like formulating a large-scale production and market launch plan for a product that is still in the trial stage, and even the production line has started to move. Any partner who hears this will have their heart skip a beat.

No matter how generous Gao Hong was, if Rusalka jumped up right now, put the teacup on the table, and said, "Don't worry, Lord Gao. I, Rusalka, will go and chop off the enemy commander's head. After leading the army to break through the fortress, I will come back to drink this cup of warm tea," he would probably start to think about whether he should be so selfless in giving away military supplies - it really sounded like he was going to suffer a defeat on purpose.

Watch out, I'll only perform once.

(Please refresh~)

The bright sunshine shone through the window, brightening everything in the bedroom. The girl slowly sat up from the bed, rubbed the corners of her eyes which were still a little sleepy with her fair and tender hands, raised her arms and stretched lazily facing the beautiful blue sky, her suspender dress revealing her smooth and delicate armpits.

She leaned over gently, and touched Rusalka's face, who was in a long rest state, with her red lips, and slowly crawled out of the quilt. First, two beautiful little feet with natural pink nails emerged, followed by two legs like jade carvings stretching out to the edge of the bed. When the naughty crystal toes gently poked the ground, the black panties, followed by the cute belly button, the white tail that swayed restlessly from side to side as if it was suffocated, and finally the upper body that was about to bloom, this perfect and flexible body slid out of the quilt little by little.

When his ears trembled to welcome the fresh air, he quietly completed a set of perfect and smooth movements of getting out of bed.

First, go to the bedside and hang the weapon strap on your thigh and tie it up. Then put on the soft furry slippers on your bare feet, walk slowly to the bathroom, quietly close the door, brush your teeth, wash up, wipe your tail, and wipe your ears.

Then he quietly returned to the room, took a look at Rusalka and the bedside clock, took some soft snacks like dried fruits from the shadow plane, and sat by the side to nibble on them bit by bit like a little squirrel.

The moment Rusalka moved, she threw away the snacks in her hand, rushed to the bed like a white lightning, climbed onto the small hill supported by the bedding, and her golden pupils were close to Rusalka's black pupils.

Rusalka's tone was seven parts helpless and three parts accustomed to it: "Good morning."

Phoenix often would not respond to his good morning. She would choose to directly pull off the quilt along with the fragile clothes on Rusalka, first put out two side dishes that were enough to make Yu Dafu eat two bowls of rice, lure out the garden eel that had just woken up, and wait for the trainer to summon Onix.

According to the duelist Rusalka, an unfair duel was about to begin—it would end 10 minutes before breakfast.

Rusalka was like being held by Chojuro and unable to move. If she wanted to resist, she would feel the ecstasy of having her entire grid sealed bit by bit by Jushe's wrath. Just like Phoenix wanted to play the chemical game of making sodium hydroxide with him, resistance was also part of the game.

What if I don't resist? Roar? Hearing my power, instead of running away, I'm coming towards you? That little kitty won't hold back. A true duelist starts fighting the moment their eyes meet. Duel!

Then Phoenix will directly stack the White Lucky Cat and Rusalka Mermaid, first produce the Eternal King Ohmgund, absorb the Garden Eel card as material, and then quickly freeze it without any pits, fuse it, and super fuse it, directly link123456, and wait until the whole audience is satisfied, then put a "Nightmare Pain" in the backcourt, forcing Rusalka's Blue-Eyes Chaos Extreme Dragon to hit her horizontal little beard hard, causing a huge damage of 8000LP, and the first battle ended like this.

Sent to the graveyard? No problem. Rusalka's lifespan is far greater than 8000, so Phoenix will destroy the equipped card [White Clothes] on her body, allowing Rusalka's Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon, which is currently in the graveyard, to immediately jump out and revive, thus resuming an unfair duel.

However, in this game, in order to be fair, Rusalka usually attacks first. The main reason is that it is time to eat breakfast. Phoenix's deck takes too long to unfold, so Rusalka has no choice but to choose to play a wave of FTK, so that the battle can be ended before breakfast.

Chapter 230: Battle for the Calbes Stronghold (4)

"Lord of Pearl Tears, Rusalka, the Great Knight hand-picked by the kingdom, began his journey to Esdi at the age of eight and returned to Sneidi at the age of twenty-five. After nearly five years of war, he rose from a Baron Great Knight to a Marquis ruling the borderlands. His territory could even be called an Earl. He survived the defeat of the Demon Lord in Hendaria City and remained undefeated throughout his life.

Wow, what an amazing guy."

Gerald, the commander of the Calbes Highland stronghold, flicked the report on Rusalka with his fingers, slapped the paper on the table with an inexplicable laugh, and then picked up Sanitta's report. "Sanitta, the archmage, has always been by Rusalka's side. He is the chief staff member of the Pearl Tear Territory and has the ability to cast top-level magic."

After reading it, he flipped the report over and glanced at it. Then, mockingly, he turned it over, folded it, and stretched it out again before throwing it onto the table. "Have the spies sent by the other side already infiltrated our intelligence department? Hey, a great wizard, how many great wizards are there in the kingdom? And this is just a short sentence of biography? How about I engrave 'Died of Lack of Brains' on their tombstones?"

The staff member beside him lowered his head in embarrassment and said, "Commander-in-Chief, the intelligence department also said that they really can't find any historical information about the mage named 'Sanita'. After all, he is a mage, and mages are mysterious. He may have been in the Mage Tower or somewhere else for hundreds of years."

Gerald waved his hand, signaling him to stop talking, and picked up the third report. "Phoenix, of the Flin clan, was a slave purchased by the previous generation of Baron Pearl Tear from the slave-hunting team. For a hundred years, she served as the head maid of Pearl Tear Territory. Later, she followed the current Pearl Tear Territory Lord, Rusalka, into battle. Now, she has become his legal wife and an assassin skilled in using dark elements."

After he finished reading it, his shoulders couldn't stop shaking. Suddenly he covered his eyes with his hands, and laughed twitchingly at first. Then he suddenly raised his head and laughed for about ten seconds. His face twisted faster than changing his expression. He slammed the paper on the table, then took a step forward and grabbed the collar of a man who was standing behind him with his head down, and lifted him up to his feet off the ground.

Girard pushed aside the staff who tried to dissuade him, grabbed the man in front of him, and shouted at him from close range, his nose almost touching his face: "Just at this time yesterday, our entire light cavalry battalion, 500 people, not only died, but also 28 good men were buried with him!

"The only ones on the other side were Rusalka and that white-haired Filin. Rusalka didn't even bother chasing them, letting that Filin do all the work, killing them one by one. Is this the intel you guys in the intelligence department brought us? You're telling me, those of my men, the elite of the elite, were slaughtered like this by a maid, a Filin maid at that?!"

He pushed the man away, not caring that he knocked over a chair when he fell, and spat on the ground beside him angrily: "Next time you bring me this kind of rubbish information, I will castrate you and send you to be maids. Do you hear me! Go back and investigate again! If I can't find out what their background is, I will go to your house and fuck you... "

The staff member waved his hand in time and interrupted Girard's curse words. It was also to save some face for the spy who had finally climbed up from the ground. It was not possible to always embarrass him. After all, he was just a low-level worker who passed information to the Intelligence Department. Beating him to death would be useless: "Hey, Commander, calm down. The origin of the Filin people is indeed a bit mysterious, and their strength is quite powerful, but it doesn't matter, sir. After all, we have the help of those...

This time, the higher-ups specifically instructed us to lure the enemy into an attack, precisely to eliminate Rusalka, the variable, in one fell swoop. Inaccurate intelligence doesn't matter. This is the king of the sky, his overwhelming strength is clear before him. So what if a small, earthly knight is so powerful? Can he really overthrow him?

"Hmph, I just hate these useless guys. They've even fallen to the point of relying on those guys who aren't even my kind for help. They're really going backwards. Back when our ancestors followed the Oaks family to conquer the frozen lands of the northern part of the kingdom, we had nothing but people and some broken tools..." Girard seemed to have calmed down a bit after hearing this. He waved at the spy who was rubbing his butt at the door and dared not breathe, "What are you still standing there for? Did I give you the face to listen to my story? Get out of here!"

The unfortunate spy limped away quickly as if he had been pardoned.

After seeing the other party run away, Gerald snorted angrily and continued, "Look at these guys living a life of luxury in the rear. If it weren't for the leadership of the Oaks family, I think they would have forgotten how to hold their weapons. How can they fight against the Guardian Knights?"

The staff advised, "Alas, you can't be so pessimistic. To be frank, the Guardian Knights' family is only as powerful as those few knights who have inherited the legacy. In terms of economic strength and military power, they are actually not as strong as us or the neighboring Delai family. However, the Grand Duke of Delai recently passed away, and his son Wangsheng has come to take over. God is on our side, so we still have a good chance of winning."

"What about this Rusalka?" Girard rummaged around on the table and picked up Rusalka's file again. "He's reportedly bringing 20 troops this time. Is he some grand duke who was created from the ground? Can he just send 20 troops?"

The staff waved their hands and said, "That's all false information. At most, there are only 100,000 troops, and there are probably less than 20,000 capable of fighting. This is just a trick played by those nobles. Otherwise, they would still be hiding in that tortoise shell city. If it were me, I would have sent out an army of even 50,000 to test this side long ago..."

Before he could finish his words, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps at the door. A messenger came in breathlessly, knelt on one knee and reported to the staff and Gerald: "Master General, the army under the banner of the Pearl Tears is crossing the 'Little Danube'. It looks like they will reach us in about three days!"

Girard narrowed his eyes slightly and turned to look at the staff member beside him with a questioning look. After a brief moment of stunned silence, the staff member slapped his mouth with his hand and said, "General, there is no need to be so nervous. Even if they really have 10 troops, our reinforcements have already arrived, and we also have the advantage of natural terrain..."

"Shut up! Follow me to the watchtower!"

----

"It's really like trying to reach a mountain and then running to death. From a distance, the hills over there seemed to be just around the corner, but we ended up wasting a day wading across the river. Looking at the map, it would take at least a day for the light cavalry to get there." Rusalka complained. He knew that the Sani Tower was also visible in the private chat channel, and he said this because he wanted to chat with Phoenix in two threads at the same time.

But he sat behind Phoenix and spoke and blew into her ears, which made Phoenix's ears itchy. When Rusalka said something, the little ears on her head would twitch.

The key point was that Rusalka kept chattering the entire time she rode her bird. Even though Phoenix only replied to her every three sentences, Rusalka kept muttering to herself, "Although the water is only about one meter deep and there are rocks on the surface for us to feel our way across, if we build a bridge across the Little Danube, it would greatly speed up the army's crossing. How many times would it take to speed up the march back and forth to make up for the time spent on building the bridge?"

"That's right. We also have to consider durability and maintenance. If the bridge collapses a few times, we have to take that into account as well."

"That's not right. The weapons were carried across the shallows on the other side. If the bridge collapses with just the weight of us men and horses, do we really have to hang the engineers and material suppliers from the flagpole? So that part can't be counted."

Do you think he was actually communicating with Sanita the whole time? Haha, of course not. In fact, Sanita also responded to every three sentences, but Rusalka could talk to himself.

Phoenix really couldn't help it. Annoyance wasn't the main issue. The main issue was that someone was blowing wind behind your ears all the time. Who could stand that?

She hit Rusalka on the chest with her tail and said, "Back off."

Rusalka turned around and glanced behind her. The Chocobo was quite small, so Rusalka sat further back to give Phoenix a wider seat for easier driving. Now there seemed to be no more room behind her. "Further back? Phoenix, are you going to make room for your tail too? If you go any further back, I'll have to chase the bird."

"Face."

"Oh." Rusalka understood and raised her upper body. "This Little Danube is pretty good. The scenery is nice and the river is clean. I just saw a soldier catch a fish when I crossed the river. It was quite big. When we have some free time later, we can consider going fishing and having a picnic nearby. What do you think, Phoenix?"

Sunita: (I think Phoenix finds you annoying.)

Rusalka: (No, how could you think that the cat is as bad as you?)

Phoenix: "We'll talk later. Now, talk less and rest more."

Sanita: (Just look, I'll tell you.)

Rusalka was silent for a moment: (I don't believe it. Are you two secretly creating a small group behind my back?)

Sometimes Sanitieta also thinks that it is better for Tata to drive Rusalka. At least he never talks too much nonsense with the enemy during the battle. Although a large part of the reason is that he discriminates against those who use the names of their moves during the fight and those who open champagne at halftime, so he insists on killing people before taunting them, but at least it can make the private chat channel quiet for a while instead of being flooded with his message records of talking to himself.

They chose to set up camp about 500 meters from the bottom of the slope and set up stakes to build a simple defense line. Sani Iron Tower, under the cover of a team of Esdi Knights, walked to the bottom of the slope, ignited a magic metal in his hand, summoned a red crystal eyeball, and sent it along the slope in front, slowly flying up the ground with the cover of grass and trees.

Rusalka: (What are you doing? Flying sky lanterns?)

Sani Tower: [Eye of True Vision], an advanced spell that controls a magical eyeball with true vision. Sharing vision allows the eyeball to see through units with the same or lower level of invisibility effects. Destroying the eyeball instantly destroys all invisibility effects within a 50-meter radius.

I couldn't see the enemy's stronghold from any angle below. I thought it was there to protect it from magical cannon bombardments, but it clearly had watchtowers or something, otherwise it couldn't have been monitoring our troops' movements for long periods of time. So I suspect a wizard inside had used light-attribute magic to render these high-rise structures invisible from an optical perspective.

After about half an hour, Sani Iron Tower found the top of the watchtower covered by the [Light Refraction Array]. However, when he wanted to get closer, his eyes were shattered by a sudden chain of lightning from the side, and Sani Iron Tower immediately lost his vision.

----

The metal knife gently cuts through the tender and juicy steak, picks it up with a fork and puts it into the little mouth to chew slowly.

On the other side, five sharp claws cut the steak into small pieces, poked it up, and put it directly into the big mouth full of sharp teeth, biting and swallowing it roughly, and then picked up another plate from the side and placed it in front of him.

The red-haired dragonborn Garces had just put down his plate when he looked at the silver-haired dragonborn girl sitting across from him who suddenly stretched out her hand toward the window and released a chain of lightning. He asked in a gentle tone that was completely different from the way he was eating, "What's wrong, Leah? Are you not satisfied with the taste? How about I kill that human chef for you and ask them to replace him with a better one?"

The dragonborn girl next to the young girl, who looked almost identical to her, gently wiped her red lips and replied, "My sister said that there's a human wizard watching this place with a little trick."

The scales on the girl named Leah's hands gradually faded away, turning her hands back into white ones.

Garces sighed, wiped his mouth with a towel beside him, stood up, and spread his wings. "Alas, it's humans again, a bunch of arrogant and rude guys, how dare they disturb the meal of us noble dragons? Letting such creatures occupy so many continents is simply a waste of natural resources. You guys eat first, I'll go and get that mage..."

Leah glanced at him, her gray pupils instantly turning golden, and she said, "No need."

Garces immediately folded his wings and sat down helplessly. "Alas, my kind wife Leah and my beautiful wife Lipa, those ants should be grateful and kneel down to express their gratitude for your mercy."

The three transformed dragons continued to enjoy this quiet lunch.

Chapter 231: Battle for the Calbes Stronghold (5)

Although the spell was destroyed, it was within expectations. Having accomplished his goal, Sanita signaled the knights who were protecting him to follow him back to the camp.

On the way back, he said to Rusalka, who was also riding on a Chocobo and watching the fun, "There's at least one powerful spellcaster in the enemy camp. He discovered my spell and cast a spell from a building in the camp, accurately exploding my eyeball. He used a thin arc-type lightning chain, and the straight-line distance was at least 300 meters. This shows that the opponent's spell control is extremely precise.

My initial assessment is that the opponent's mastery of low- and mid-level spells is already at the pinnacle, comparable to my own. His fundamental skills are very solid."