Chapter 148 Frontal Battle
The surrounding area is a gray-red flat stone land, divided into many pieces by canyons and faults, scattered with piles of stones and strange-shaped boulders.
High above this rocky land, there hangs a blazing, huge golden sun, dyeing the entire sky yellow.
The scorching sunlight distorts vision and makes the air shimmer.
Brian stood on a boulder, facing the dazzling light, looking at the enemy troops raising dust in the distance, and quickly recalled information about the enemy in his mind.
Decades of living in the Shadow Plane have taught the Wraiths that the only way to survive is if everyone in this society understands the role they play and works hard as a unit for the city's development.
Therefore, although the hierarchy of Shade City is very strict, it attaches great importance to talents.
Everyone hopes to fight for the safety and survival of society to the best of his or her ability. When every free citizen reaches the age of promotion (13 years old), he will undergo a specific set of tests to determine his ability.
Once a wraith's potential is discovered, he is trained to enhance those potentials until he reaches adulthood (age 18), at which point he begins to pursue this as a full-time career.
Occasionally, over time, some wraiths will show surprising development in other skills. At this time, the decider will test him a second time, sometimes changing the characteristics of these people. Initial selection.
But this situation is extremely rare, because the testing methods for magic and divine talents are extremely precise and accurate.
Among the social classes of Shade City, only those with magical and divine talents can gain a respected position in the city's army.
The authority and importance of spellcasters, although they are below the city lord, are far above ordinary people.
The name Arcanist of Shade City comes from the ancient Netherese name for wizards and warlocks. They and the priests of Shar are the backbone of this city.
Responsible for various academic institutions, training talented people, and following the orders of princes to support various tasks.
There are about 2,000 arcane mages and priests in the city, of which about 500 are transformed wraiths.
A spellcaster with a distinguished status will not commit the death penalty even if he kills ordinary citizens at will. At most, he will only be replaced by a hefty fine and free 996 labor.
However, if a spell caster is involved in deliberately killing the familiars of other spell casters, in serious cases, he may even be sentenced to death by the Spiral Court of the Floating City, a trial institution specifically for spell casters, or Imprison the soul.
Obviously, ordinary citizens are not even as good as a familiar in the Shadow Empire.
So far, these ghost arcane masters and priests are a relatively powerful part of this group, and have the highest authority in the institutions organized by various arcanists and priests.
If ordinary people without magical talents want to join the army, most of them can only start as low-level soldiers, but for those with ability and intelligence, there are plenty of opportunities to be promoted to officers.
After all, during its long stay in the Shadow Plane, Shadow City has been attacked countless times by various hostile creatures, and the army has been troubled by these attacks.
Now that the City of Shadows has returned to the main material world, the Supreme King has already issued an order, ordering the army to expand as quickly as possible to prepare for war.
In Brian's impression, the regular army of Shade City has about 6,000 soldiers, most of whom are descendants of Netheril, and about 500 are truly transformed Shade people (including All officers above lieutenant).
Although the High King is the overall commander of the army, the army is divided into small groups, commanded by twelve ghost princes and Hajhorna, Hand of the High King.
Among the countries on the mainland, the number of 6,000 troops may not be impressive in the eyes of these rulers, but when you know that in the strict system of Yinhun City, the professional level of every official soldier born is at least level 3. , you will understand their true horror.
A typical ordinary soldier in Shade City is around level 3, a lieutenant is above level 5, and a captain is around level 8. Starting from the captain, they have the advanced profession Shar's Dark Guard.
The army of Ghost City is getting closer and closer, and Brian can even see the polished bone bows, the iron tips of the spears and the flags fluttering in the wind of the slaves who serve as the vanguard.
Obviously the Shadow Empire also inherited the slavery system from the Netheril era.
Some of these slaves are civilians without any useful skills or talents, while others are criminal citizens with non-capital crimes, but the main source is humanoid slaves, the most typical of which are orcs. slave.
Apart from their slavery system, Brian felt that the Magic Selection of the Shadow Empire was worth learning from.
So, when the assassin of the Shadow Guard, Krishanna, failed to assassinate him, the reason why he let him go was not only to break the alliance between Desud and Hajhorna, but his real purpose was to win over these assassins. A prince of ghosts.
This is a very long plan, and he is not confident that it will succeed.
However, it can be seen from the current situation that he has successfully planted a seed in the heart of the ghost prince.
As for whether it will sprout or not, just leave it to chance.
After all, he killed Desude's little daughter. Even if his long life has made this ruthless father no longer have so-called family affection, it does not mean that the other party will not have any grudges.
Then, Brian stopped thinking about it and began to go all out to face the army of Ghost City.
Because today's well-prepared battle will determine whether he can fully establish a foothold in the Eno Oak Desert in the future.
"General Obert, prepare to fight!" Brian looked down at the Purple Dragon Knights who were waiting in formation.
“Understood!”
Purple Dragon Knight Obert had a solemn expression, bowed his head slightly and saluted him, then pulled out the sword from his waist and shouted to the 500 Purple Dragon Guards: "Soldiers, the time for bloody struggle has come!"
" Ahead is the army from the City of Shadows, who want to invade the territory of the Kingdom of Cormyr, spread evil beliefs, and attempt to make our people fear and die under the shadow of the evil god!"
"The Purple Dragon Knight is the Kingdom of Cormyr! The sharpest sword, under the banner of the Purple Dragon, tell me, what should I do now?”
Under the passionate declaration, Brian immediately activated the encouragement ability of the Purple Dragon Seal Ring.
A magical light flashed.
A purple flag transformed by magic fluttered in the wind together with the flags raised by the flag bearers, making a hunting sound.
The flag fluttered in the wind, flying on the long pole, and the purple dragon seemed to spread its wings on the flag.
"Sweep away all evil!" "Fight for Mokou Town!"
"Fight for the honor of the Kingdom of Cormyr!"
The 500 Purple Dragon Guards waved their swords to the sky and shouted in unison.
Sweat ran down the soldiers' sun-baked cheeks, and burning passion spread in the queue. They seemed to feel the glory of the past rolling past them, enveloping them.
——"Supernatural ability: boost morale!"
——"Supernatural ability: ultimate resistance!"
A sharp sword pointed at the entire The sky was dyed golden and the sun's scorching rays shone directly on the Purple Dragon Knights and their distinctive armors. With these high-spirited words, even Brian felt an inspiring force.
[Boost morale (professional ability): Starting from level 2, the Purple Dragon Knight can give an inspiring speech to inspire nearby allies. Each affected ally, including the Purple Dragon Knight himself, will resist charm and fear effects. , gain +2 morale saving throws, attack and weapon damage increased by 10%. 】
[Ultimate Resistance (Professional Ability): Starting from level 5, the Purple Dragon Knight can use high-spirited words to inspire his army to be heroic. After using this ability, driven by the desire to fight, the Knight His own physical strength will be greatly improved, and so will his allies. 】
…………
It can be seen from this that the Purple Dragon Knights are perfect battle leaders. They stand on the front line with weapons in hand and give orders, and know how to motivate the army to win the battle. victory.
At the same time, furious war songs sounded. In the center of the army, war singers from the Church of the God of Knowledge, dressed in silver-white full-body armor, sang high-spirited war songs with the help of powerful professional abilities.
——"Supernatural Ability: The Song of Tenacity!"
——"Supernatural Ability: The Song of Violence!"
In an instant, the sound of murderous howls, death screams and... The battle cry surges across the battlefield like a raging storm, drawing allies and enemies alike into the raging waves of song.
War Songer, the advanced profession of the bard, is an elite leader who completely gives up the ability to cast spells and focuses all his thinking on the military.
As the furious music was activated by the War Songer, everyone around seemed to have forgotten all the pain and fear. Facing the surging enemies, endless fighting spirit burst out in their eyes.
"Woooooooo!"
The bugle sounded, passionate and long, like the hot wind coming from the desert, making people's blood surge.
When the sound of the trumpets died down, the echoes of bowstrings filled the void.
The archers who had been ambushed on both sides of the road released a shower of arrows, and the slaves, mainly orcs, began to run desperately, roaring as they ran.
The sharp arrows and crossbows were fired at them like hailstones, hundreds, thousands, countless in an instant.
At this moment, the spellcasters, mainly war mages and priests from the Church of the God of Knowledge, took out their magic items and scrolls, and released prepared attack spells and divine spells.
——"Spider Web Technique!"
——"Grease Technique!"
——"Fireball Technique!"
——"Thunder Summoning Technique ! ”
——"Death Cloud Technique!"
…………
Along with the emergence of spells of light.
Large areas of greasy grease and cobwebs emerged on the ground. The moment the charging slaves stepped in, their speed quickly slowed down.
Immediately afterwards, thunderclouds condensed in the bright sky, and shining arcs of electricity combined with the scorching fireballs among the enemy group, bursting out into brilliant balls of lightning.
An arcane storm of fire and lightning wreaks havoc on all enemies within range.
Finally, a thick fog-like death cloud, coerced by the wind-making technique, covered it and harvested the few remaining enemies.
The first wave of probing attacks by slaves in Yinhun City was completely wiped out. They could not even rush within fifty meters of their opponents, and fell to spell attacks one after another.
The short-term advantage did not make Brian feel any relaxed.
Because he knew that this was just a slave used by his opponent to test their strength and consume their magic at the same time.
Ghost mages, black guards and constructs are their biggest threats.
Fortunately, he was fully prepared for this battle, even buying many three-ring magic scrolls at all costs.
The other side of the battlefield.
Dark Guard Garen looked at the slaves who had been cleaned up in a large area. There was no wave on his cold face. He drew out a black rune giant sword and ordered:
"The test is over. , release all the constructed golems and gargoyles, and attack with the whole army!”
With an order, more than 200 stone golems, flesh golems, and more than 500 gargoyles were all activated.
The eyes of this group of constructed creatures flashed a strange red light at the same time. The black gargoyles flew into the sky, and the constructed golems formed a torrent of steel, covering the black knights and ghost mages behind them. They rushed towards the army in Mokou Town.
Looking around, it looks like a giant black beast is opening its mouth to swallow its prey.
(End of this chapter)