What did you do with the dice?

Wang Shenggui was very self-aware. He didn't want to take the test to become a great knight, but one day his father said to him, "You go to take the test to become a great knight next Monday." This was an order, not a question, so he went.

He was very nervous when he was "forced" to participate in the challenge that day. If he lost, he would become a laughing stock in the national aristocratic circle. The worst thing was that he had no confidence in winning because he had no idea how he could win.

And then? He won three games inexplicably. It seemed that his opponents were not as strong as he thought. He defeated them by playing steadily and steadily.

Wangsheng did not feel that he was "accumulating strength for a great time", "being assisted by God", or "having reached the required level of strength". Instead, he knew very clearly that he, the great knight, was not very capable, and his opponent was obviously arranged by the family or had been prepared in advance.

Giving himself the title of "Grand Knight" was just to save face for his father, the current Grand Duke Delei, who had only one son (at that time).

Well, as a great knight who had gotten away with it and was very self-aware, when the family was in danger and was once again forced to take the lead, the first thing he thought of was not "It's my turn to save the family from danger, support the collapsing building, and gain some fame", but he immediately called on the other leaders of the entire family to discuss family plans together.

Although this decision seemed a bit embarrassing to Sanita, it was undoubtedly an excellent and wise one, with an intelligence rating of Sanlu (15).

Facing the battle of Alice City, Wangsheng felt that if he came in person, he would surely die without negotiation. With his ability, he could only stand there helplessly and furious when his father was killed by the demon lord and his second prince was intercepted by the elves. How could he lead his family to capture Alice City under the noses of so many forces and become the new king of Sinidi?

Just when he was struggling to decide who to send to this battle, a well-known figure in the family volunteered—yes, it was Dele Luca.

Although he has no talent in fighting, he believes that leading an army into battle does not require a general who can personally fight in the battlefield to be considered excellent. The logic is roughly: making an excellent refrigerator does not require knowing how to cool yourself. The so-called genius who can draw inferences from one instance to another is someone like him. He wants to show his skills to open everyone's eyes and see how he can apply the business philosophy to war and defeat the enemy's group of reckless men who only know how to fight and kill.

At the beginning, Wangsheng didn't quite understand the background of his third uncle. After all, his father rarely mentioned him, which meant that he probably didn't have any great achievements worthy of his father's mention. He was probably just an ordinary person.

But just as he was asking, someone else came up and said: Master, you don’t know, that’s Luca, the person in charge of the economic operations of our Delai family’s territory. Although he doesn’t have the talent to become a knight or a mage, it is said that he supports the economic lifeline of the entire family with his personal wisdom and operations.

Oh? That sounds like a very capable person indeed.

Okay, since our family has such a talented person, and he happens to be a popular and highly respected elder, let him go to Alice City to lead the army to fight. I believe he will be able to convince the people and win the battle.

"But if they refused, then they suddenly extinguished the Alice City Mage Tower, which we had been attacking for so long. This is a deliberate attempt to steal the credit. I think the Lord of Pearl Tears was deliberately waiting for us to deplete their magic power so that he could reap the fruits of victory that should have belonged to us. We did the hard work, and they took the credit. This is truly despicable. Send him a letter, telling them to be aware of their status, to control themselves, and not to cross the line. Alice City is a battleground for our Grand Duke family. How dare he, a mere border lord of Pearl Tears, interfere? And even dare to try to get a piece of the pie?"

Chief of Staff Tanwan Bloom, standing nearby, was momentarily stunned by Luca's remarks before he quickly came to his senses. He quickly explained to the lord what the "Lord of Pearl Tears" meant. "Lord Luca, you're too busy managing trade in the central region to care about these matters. But Lord Pearl Tears is rising to prominence these days. He's no ordinary border lord, but a paladin with divine power. He's risen from a baron in the past five years and has fought countless battles, both large and small, without a single defeat. He commands countless elite soldiers and generals, and already possesses the power of a marquis."

Luca snorted coldly, "He's just a marquis. He's only been fighting on the battlefield for five years. How can he compare to the four generations and three dukes of my Delai family?"

"this......"

What he said is appropriate anywhere, and it is okay when applied to strategy and military strength, but it is completely inapplicable when applied to battlefields and tactics. In today's situation where everyone's level is about the same, they have people like great wizards who can influence the balance of war. Your family will never produce one even if you give birth to such a person at the frequency of mice in several lifetimes. Their tactic is to use the entire army to protect a great wizard and directly cast top-level magic to attack you. How can you use your family foundation to compete in Tian Ji's horse racing - the thing they have on the track is called a BMW, and they won't talk to you.

After a few seconds of reflection, the Chief of Staff concluded that this guy was being overconfident. Afraid that Luca would think he was deliberately provoking him and become upset, he tried to organize his words in the most tactful way possible. "Even a mad rabbit bites painfully, let alone a ferocious dog. Alice City hasn't been taken yet. The alignments of Lord Pearl Tear and the neighboring Great Duke Gode are unknown. I heard he recently dispatched his entire army to eliminate a threat to their rear. We shouldn't antagonize them at this juncture. We should at least have a foolproof plan..."

He actually wanted to say "retreat", but considering the feelings of the airborne leader Luca, he changed his words.

After all, if Rusalka and the Guardian Knight Family form an alliance, once they become enemies with each other now, if the Grand Duke Gode takes over Alice City, the situation of the Delai Family will be precarious. It can be said that there is the Guardian Knight Grand Duke Family in the west, and Rusalka on the border in the east is backed by Esdi to cut off their retreat. These two breads are like cheese sandwiched in one, and if you stab Rusalka with a knife at this time, the effect is like adding fuel to the fire. It will be a fight to the death, and even kowtowing may not be of any use.

As a qualified noble, even if you don't consider yourself, you must consider the future of your family.

Delai Wangsheng ceded territory, paid compensation, and sent supplies along the way, all to prevent Rusalka from causing trouble during their visit to Alice City. Now you send a threatening letter, and all the hard-earned goodwill you've invested in them is wasted? You can't undermine your own family, can you? After all, this is Wangsheng's policy, and he's currently the acting head of the Delai family. Even if you're a genius, you have to play by his rules. Otherwise, if everyone has their own ideas and sets up their own factions, the whole family will be thrown into disarray.

Luca was silent for a while, then nodded, looking convinced. This made Tanwan Bloom breathe a sigh of relief.

But before he could relax, Luca spoke again, making his heart rate rise. "Alright, alright, let's just bear with him for now. Now that the biggest threat, the Mage Tower, has been eliminated, let's commit the entire army to the front lines. Let our mages rush to the front lines to decipher and open that damn barrier. We'll try to scale the walls as quickly as possible and be the first to enter the city. That way, the whole country will know that our Delai family is the most powerful. Even if Wangsheng accidentally lost the Second Prince, since ancient times, the strong have always been respected for their strength, and this is a legitimate claim."

Tan Wan Bloom hesitated and said, "Well, the complete destruction of the Mage Tower at the east gate is indeed a very good opportunity for our army to attack. However, Alice City is known as the 'Unbreakable Capital,' and its defenses should be more than just the Mage Tower and the barrier. After our mage forces cut off the magic supply and close the eastern barrier, if conditions permit, I think we can spend some time to launch a few feints to test its defenses. Then, we can cooperate with the mage forces to attack with all our strength. This way, we can minimize casualties. After all, Alice City still has the inner city defense line."

"To put it bluntly, the inner city's defenses are nothing more than a desperate struggle on the part of the defenders. The Church of the Seven Sins easily took the inner city back then, which shows the Mobius family was exaggerating. Also, we've already overcome the most difficult period, so why are you always saying such discouraging things? Isn't morale in battle just like negotiating prices in trade? Don't try to boost others' morale while undermining your own prestige. If you don't hold firm to your bottom line and keep giving in, you'll only allow the enemy to press further and further."

Tan Wan Bloom wanted to refute that the two were not the same thing at all. If you lose a trade negotiation, you use money to fill the hole, but if you lose a war, you have to fill the hole with human lives.

You can borrow money from others, but you can also refuse to pay it back; you can borrow a life from others, but you can also refuse to die. Can the two be the same?

However, considering that this was just talk and it was actually far from that stage, Tanwan Bloom also stammered and responded to fool around, secretly cursing the son of Grand Duke Delei, wondering what was wrong with him. What was he thinking, sending someone who knew nothing about military affairs to lead Alice, treating war as a child's play. This was simply nonsense!

Forget it. I’m not from the Deleben family anyway, so I’ll just take it one step at a time.

----

Sanitita: (Brother Xiao, the army of the neighboring Delai family sent a spy to deliver a secret letter of recruitment to me. They said that as long as I go over and serve them, the conditions are up to me. They also said that they would make me a baron, and if I perform well, they would give me a city and let me skip to the rank of viscount.)

Rushaka, who was in jail for four hours, laughed: (Thank you, Fei Ge, for telling me jokes while I was in jail. It felt like time passed faster. In this way, you reply to him, "I'm sorry, after careful consideration, we feel that you don't meet the recruitment requirements. However, we have now added you to our talent pool and look forward to the opportunity to cooperate with you in other areas in the future.")

Sanita: (I’m afraid that’s impossible.)

Rusalka: (What's the matter, you're going to agree to this and then run over to offer a series of schemes, Pang Tong?)

Sanitta: (No, I had Phoenix take care of the spy who passed me the message. He also exposed three or four other traitors. Phoenix was very proactive and killed them all. He couldn't reply to the message.)

Rusalka: (6.)

Chapter 269: Fierce Battle Outside the Kingdom's Capital Castle (9)

When Rusalka woke up and opened her eyes, she saw a little kitten's face less than a centimeter away from her, staring at her with its golden eyes and black pupils.

It's cute, but also scary!

He couldn't help but tremble, almost getting goose bumps all over his body. He instinctively stepped back, got out from under Phoenix's hands, and stood up timidly against the headboard: "Cat, what are you doing?!"

"Eight hours."

"You are crazy!"

Phoenix raised her head and pointed at the clock on the wall above the bed. She had already calculated Rusalka's long rest time and could now accurately get up. "Prepare for battle."

Oh, you mean the eight-hour long break? That scared me to death.

Rusalka hurriedly grabbed the outer robe beside her and put it on, waving her hands at Phoenix repeatedly: "No, no, I just rested well. Don't make a fuss, we're going to fight for real soon."

Sanita's voice rang out from the private chat: "What are you talking about? Let's get ready. I've already sent the infantry to the front lines, using a feint to attack the barrier. I'll also have two elves casting some spells over there to draw the Mage Tower's attention. Hurry, get dressed, get your gear ready, and bring Phoenix with you. We're going to seize this opportunity to capture the Mage Tower on the southwest side."

Hearing that a real battle was about to begin, Rusalka's courage suddenly surged. She jumped off the bed, grabbed the bound sword and shield in the air, and fixed them on the sword bag on her back. Then, she pressed Phoenix's head very smoothly: "Cat, start!"

Phoenix's Rage value +1.

----

There was a bright full moon hanging in the sky, and there were no clouds in the sky. It was a bright and beautiful night.

The sound of war drums and iron boots stepping on the earth broke the silence of the night. Torches illuminated the plains and the city walls. The smell of rust on weapons covered the fragrance of grass and soil. Under the dark clouds of war, this gentle grassland was instantly transformed into a grim battlefield.

The sentries on the city walls immediately sounded the alarm, and the sounds of whistles and horns resounded throughout the camp inside the city. Countless guards were awakened from their beds, hurriedly put on their armor, picked up their weapons, and quickly ran up the stairs leading to the top of the city at the command.

"Lord Pearl's army is coming from the south. Quickly gather and guard the south gate wall!"

"Hurry up, hurry up, everyone, run! What are you dragging your feet for? Aren't you still sleepy?"

Compared with the Rusalka army, which had rested well during the day and received advance notice of a night battle, so they were fully prepared, this group of defenders were indeed not fully awake. They had only rested for less than a few hours and were pulled up to fight in the middle of the night. No one could be energetic.

The shouts of the messengers echoed everywhere. The soldiers who had just fought during the day yawned, took heavy steps, and dragged their tired bodies to their respective crossbow positions on the south city wall.

But after a month of continuous warfare, these soldiers no longer felt as fearful as they had been when the enemy first laid siege to their city. The stability of the magic barrier was as reassuring as the weight of a rock. It was like a shield that could last up to 20% of their maximum health and last for 20 seconds. They had completely lost consciousness of their movements and forgotten the sharpness of enemy arrows on the battlefield. "What's there to be afraid of? We still have that barrier."

"Yes, during the daytime at the East Wall, those wizards refused to help, yet they came to the South Wall in the middle of the night, leaving us to defend the city with all our hard work."

The nearby leader heard the two men's complaints and yelled, "Stop talking nonsense! How dare you question the orders of those superiors? Quickly calibrate the crossbows and load the arrows! If you don't take action, I will punish you with military orders for being passive and lazy!"

"Sorry, we'll do it right away. Please be lenient."

The two men were also frightened and immediately bent down to hold the arrow, gripped the handle with both hands, twisted their whole bodies and exerted force to control the direction of the crossbow's rotation.

The heavy armored infantry of the Pearl Tears Territory were arranged into square formations according to the format of the Roman army formation of the Sanitary Tower, using the most classic tower shield formation to defend against bows and arrows and cavalry.

There was almost no gap between the rectangular shields, which were one person wide and 2.25 meters high. Moreover, due to the influence of distance, the power of the crossbow arrows on the top of the city wall was weakened. Even if they hit the shields successfully, they could only stick into the shields and could not penetrate them at all.

If the cavalry were charging, they only needed to leave a gap by crossing the shield and thrust out their spears. For the cavalry flying towards them, it would be a hopeless steel thorn wall that would destroy them. Not to mention that the square formation was extremely stable. Even the dumbest soldiers would understand what the "left and right, front and back" queuing method meant after being taught a few times.

Even after several rows were knocked down, there were comrades standing in three directions around to provide positioning. As long as any one side did not fall, the soldiers' formation would be restored quickly. In this way, the cavalry's role in breaking the formation seemed insignificant.

Although Sanitta really wanted to teach the soldiers some more powerful formation changes, he didn't have this idea until Rusalka walked into the office, looked at him looking through the report, and said, "Doctor, you can't rest now." Then he decisively decided to give up.

Well, they will never learn it.

Alice was very afraid of the magic cannon, so she secretly summoned a thick vine from the ground nearby that looked like a tentacle from "Don't Starve" and kept hammering the barrier, which was considered as a good effort.

Shana, on the other hand, was hiding under the cover of the army formation, constantly using magic arrows to penetrate the barrier and shoot down the crossbow beds on the city wall.

But these insignificant little attacks were not enough to attract the attention of the Mage Tower, because the most eye-catching person in the entire army was Hydra. She spread her wings and flew into the sky. With the backdrop of her golden wings, the whole cat shone brightly in the sky in the middle of the night like a high beam. It was hard not to focus on her.

Not only that, she also took out the Ashbringer greatsword and slashed it on the shield. The Ashbringer in her hand glowed with light and competed with the shield. She even caused magical fluctuations in the shield that remained unshaken despite absorbing tons of attacks. This was a legendary weapon, the kind that Rusalka dreamed of getting.

The soldier on the wall rubbed his eyes and muttered to himself, "I must still be dreaming, or maybe I'm hallucinating from exhaustion. I actually saw a Filin creature grow wings and fly in the sky. It even glows! It's so dazzling. Am I about to wake up?"

The soldier in charge of transporting arrows nearby complained, "That doesn't seem to be an illusion. I saw it, but it was too bright, and I couldn't see it clearly. Maybe it was a hobbit?"

"Oh my god, I saw a harpy with a tail and human hands, and cat ears, and even a sword so big I can't even lift it."

There was silence on both sides for a while.

"Should we take care of her then?"

"How can we control it? This crossbow bed can't be raised into the air. You can only shoot scarecrows at a rate of one out of ten, so how can you expect to hit her with a longbow? She's a winged Flying Forest Clan member, so she must be very agile."

"Yeah, there's nothing I can do about it. There's no order from above, so whatever. Let her fight hers, and we fight ours. Haah~ I'm so sleepy. Lord Pearl Tear is a good man, but the army under his command is really worthless. Why are they running here in the middle of the night? Don't they need sleep?"

"Yeah, and they've even set up a shield formation. I don't think they're planning on attacking at all. They're just trying to annoy us. The superiors must have bad eyesight, as they're letting us shoot arrows at the shield formation. It's a waste of arrows, so we might as well go back to sleep."

"How long will this fight last? Are they going to stand here all night, and we have to stay awake all night too?"

"Who knows what the master up there is thinking? Haha~ Anyway, the barrier is still there, let's just shoot a few times and use them sparingly. I'll take a nap first. If the boss comes to inspect, please pat me."

Although most of the defenders on the city wall were passive and lazy, the Zhulei army was not actively attacking either.

"Captain, Lord Hydra is already attacking, and the defenders on the wall seem a little distracted. Their defense is weak, and the intensity of their fire is barely a threat to our heavily armored infantry. Should we just go up and help hammer away at that purple turtle shell?"

"No, Lord Sanita's orders are for us to maintain our formation and stand here. Do not make any changes until we receive his signal."

After staying in Zhulei Territory for a long time, you will realize that there may be no absolute truth in the world - except what Mr. Sanita says.

Just when the two sides were in a stalemate, the Mage Tower on the southwest side seemed to have finally awakened from its slumber. The magic turret slowly turned its direction, aimed at the Hydra in the air, and fired a beam.

Hydra nimbly dodged in the air, and occasionally when he encountered something he couldn't avoid, he would raise the Sun Guardian to block it, relying on his legendary equipment to crush and dominate the airspace.

She not only dodged blindly, but also summoned a golden spear and threw it into the barrier. Since the barrier did not block pure magic power, the spear passed through the barrier smoothly and turned directly into a golden meteor, hitting the muzzle of a magic cannon exposed outside the wizard tower, and directly blew away the wizard apprentice nearby.

When they aimed the magic cannon again, they found that Hydra's flying speed was even faster than before. Before the muzzle locked onto it, she flapped her wings and flew to the other side. It was obvious that she had just deliberately slowed down to attract fire. This made the mages and believers of the Seven Sins Church in the tower furious: "This damn Filin tribe, if the red dragon from the city was still here, how could this little foreign paladin have the chance to show off his power in the sky?"

"Then activate the 'Odin's Wrath' magic circle and draw lightning to strike her! It's a locking spell, I wonder if she can dodge it!"

The Mage Tower immediately deployed a barrier to protect the spellcasting and charging, and a yellow rune array appeared at the top of the tower, and began to light up little by little along the circumference.

At that moment, Sanita opened a portal in front of him and asked Yingjiang to open the portal exit inside the barrier near the southwest wall. He said to Rusalka and Phoenix who had been waiting for a long time, "The key is in, the door is open, hurry in."

Rusalka was confused as to why Sanita had kept her and Phoenix waiting here for so long. "Why wait until now? Did you force quit the dungeon earlier, causing a cooldown?"

After the three of them were teleported, Sanita closed the Arcane Portal and rolled his eyes at him, unable to see them due to their cloaking. "This involves the compatibility of the Mage Tower's magic circuits with the spellcasting. You see, it's now activated the non-targeted 'Protective Shield' and the targeted 'Thunder Ritual Array' spells. This means it's disabled the targeted 'Invisibility Break' and the non-targeted 'Wide Area Scan' functions. We can use the 'Arcane Portal' and 'Shadowless Forest' to sneak in."

"Then Phoenix can enter the Shadow Plane, right? Why not let her hold your familiar and try to help the others?"

Faced with Rusalka's question, Sanita was a bit speechless. But thankfully, the Mage Tower was still some distance away, so a few words wouldn't hurt. "Are you underestimating the Mage Tower's usefulness? If I were to build it, I'd definitely have to lock down the space around it to prevent plane travel and teleportation. So your plan to use 'Pearl Tear Time' to get in was a bit outrageous. You're already over 200 meters away, and the other side is locking down the space. How are you going to teleport?"

What you said does make a lot of sense, brother. But can I bow my head at this moment? No! You can only say that my idea is not perfect, but you can't deny that my idea is creative. What if there happens to be a wizard taking a walk in the shade on the top of the city at that time, and after hearing my speech, he gets angry and casts a "targeted" spell at me. Wouldn't I fly into it?

In response, Sanita said, "The barrier outside isn't immune to magical effects, and you could have gotten in with your Phantom Step anyway. Why not?" "Is it because you didn't think of it, or are you lacking creativity? Oh, is it because your idea isn't perfect?"

Rusalka was silent for two seconds before she stubbornly said, "This is all Phoenix's fault. I was considering whether to go in, but then I thought, if I went in and killed all the Kakas, Phoenix wouldn't be able to absorb their vitality. So I gave up because I wanted to give the cat a good meal. Yes, I took it all on after all. Alas, pity the heartless people in the world, Phoenix. I've sacrificed so much for you. Won't you compensate me well when you go back? To be honest, I've been craving that roasted monster meat lately."

Because of her invisibility, Rusalka couldn't see Phoenix's eyes and expression.

But the anger is +2, and Phoenix made a flag in his heart, promising to "compensate" Rusalka after returning and eat meat to his heart's content.

Sanita was unaffected by his own spell and saw through Phoenix's eyes.

Well, she is going to eat people, so you better take care of yourself, brother.

Chapter 270: Fierce Battle Outside the Kingdom's Capital Castle (10)

Rusalka and his group came to the wall and began to show their skills facing the wall.

Sani Tower directly climbed over the wall using Spider Climb, Rusalka teleported over the wall with Phantom Step, and Phoenix entered the Shadow Plane and came out again to complete the crossing. Everyone has a bright future.

The only downside was that after Rusalka was teleported, she couldn't tell the direction for a moment due to the randomness of the landing point. After landing, she stood in the corner and stared at the two walls beside her. She started gesturing left and right, chanting "up is north, down is south, left is west, right is east", until she was grabbed by Sanita's shoulders and turned half a circle to stand still. There was a wall on the left and a wall behind her. Now she could finally tell which was the west wall and which was the south wall.

"I've left the cabin and feel fine. Don't worry."

"Still using such lame jokes! I think if you keep going like this you'll end up in a wheelchair soon. Hurry and catch up."

When the three of them arrived at the Mage Tower, Hydra was cosplaying as Thor. A thick pillar of lightning fell from the sky, and she held up the Sun Guardian on her head with one hand. Violent electric currents spread along both sides of the shield, and electric arcs kept hitting her surrounding barriers and wings. However, seeing that she looked at ease and the clarity of the barrier on her body, she should be able to deal with this "Wrath of Odin" easily.

However, the enemy would certainly not pin all their hopes on this thunder. As the several layers of the tower slowly rotated, the muzzles of several magic cannons were gradually aiming at the position of Hydra in the air.

Phoenix wanted to enter the shadow plane and travel into the tower, but found that the surrounding space was blocked, so he revealed his figure. It seemed that he could not wait and went in from the inside. He tried to use the power of shadow to climb over the hole near the magic cannon on the outer wall.

Rusalka didn't have the ability to climb walls and jump like Phoenix. He had always been a member of the evil and righteous strategy party (meaning that he could pass the game by following the normal process, map and boss process without any bugs in the ability or combat skills). He simply drew out his greatsword, aimed at the door and slashed it with one sword and one ring.

With the blessing of the [Way of Faith], this sword directly caused devastating damage to the gate, smashing the iron gate into pieces with one blow.

As the door collapsed with a loud bang, the apprentices who were hurriedly moving materials on the ground floor stopped their work and looked at Rusalka standing at the door with their mouths wide open.