Typhon declared war.

Maryland stood in the room of the tallest tower of the Wind Fortress, his eyes looking in the direction of Typhon's empire through the crystal glass window, his face tense, and he didn't say a word for a long time.

Orders from the imperial capital and declarations of war from Typhon were placed at his disposal.

A huge vortex has been formed, and it doesn't matter whether it was the gods or Typhon's main battle faction that stirred the vortex, and the important thing is that when a huge vortex began to exert its power, everyone in it didn't seem to have much choice - maybe it was really driven by the crazy runaway belief in the god of war, but it didn't make a difference to Cecil's soldiers, the enemies on the orders of the emperor and the enemies on the orders of the gods were enemies, and the enemy was in the direction of Winterwolf.

Intelligence shows that the Winterwolf Castle defense line has been undergoing large-scale military movements since last night, a large main force is being assembled, and even the Black Flag Battle Mage Regiment of Wintercastle is moving towards the border, and there are reports from within Typhon that there may be several reserve regiments that have also received orders from Aldnan, although this last piece of information is very vague, but it is enough to support the war intentions of the Typhonians.

Now Cecil's advantage is the speed of military operations.

Maryland lowered his head, and on the table in front of him, he spread out a tactical map of the Longwind-Winterwolf Castle area, Fort Covenant was prominently located in the buffer zone in the center of the area, and next to this fortress symbolizing peace between the two countries, several blue flags with Cecil markings were planted on the map.

……

In the open ground next to Fort Treaty, a mechanized force of hundreds of tanks, multi-purpose infantry fighting vehicles, and personnel carriers stood in the cold wind, and Cecil's blue-on-gold banner fluttered high in the winter sky...... I probably haven't figured out what's going on yet.

Inside an armored command vehicle, Philip exhaled slightly, and his expression gradually became cold and solemn.

A staff officer entered the command car, wrapped in cold air from outside, he quickly walked to Philip's side and asked in a low voice: "General, the next ......"

"A lightning raid on Winterwolf before dusk - heavy artillery onslaught, advance in clusters, don't skimp on ammunition, our mission is to destroy the core of the Typhon's border defenses before their main forces have completed their mobilization and build-up - as for the specific action, it will be carried out according to the second set of plans that have been finalized before."

"Yes, General!"

In the cold wind, the surging power of the magic engine was released one after another, the bearings rotated, the connecting rods operated, the tracks crushed the hard and barren earth, and the chariots let out a low roar and began to move in the direction of the Typhon Line.

……

The Cecil is coming.

Several magical flames rose in the hilly area to the northwest, and in the next few minutes, flashes of flames and explosions began to rise from that direction, and after a short delay, a faint roar could be heard from the walls of Winterwolf Castle from afar, and those low and faint roars made the soldiers slightly nervous, and made Andessa's face even more gloomy.

After the young wolf general left the window and returned to the long table with the large tactical map, she looked at one of the senior officers in the castle: "Our mobile unit set up on the small triangle slope has engaged the Cecil. ”

The officer was looking away from the tactical map, he looked into Andessa's eyes, and his face was very serious: "It's not close from Fort Clojo to the small triangle slope, and it will take two hours for the knights to march at high speed - the Cecilians are faster than we thought. ”

"They rely primarily on chariots as a means of movement—all sorts of chariots," Andesa said, looking at her men, "as a vehicle, as a weapon, and as a strong fortress." ”

"According to the available information, unless the knight forces charge up in advance and destroy the Cecil's 'steel advance tactics' with the help of the combined shield and thermal cones at once, the regular troops will be in a great disadvantage when fighting those vehicles head-on in any case - on the other hand, the mechanized battle mage units can fight against those vehicles through flexible tactics and long-range attacks, but it is only a confrontation, and there is no obvious advantage, we need to ......"

At this moment, a rush of footsteps suddenly came from outside the door, and the voice of the herald sounded, interrupting the officer's speech: "General! The Earls of Winterhold and the Black Flag Wizards have arrived! The Count is out there now. ”

Andesa immediately looked up: "Let Count Winterhold come in!" ”

With a steady and powerful footsteps, Count Parin Winterburg, dressed in a dark blue starry robe, with a jeweled staff and a black magic book around his waist, stepped into the room, and after seeing this familiar elder, Andessa clearly showed a look of relief, she got up and stepped forward: "Count Wintercastle - we have been waiting for you. ”

"I hope I haven't missed anything," Count Winterhold nodded, "I've heard that the Cecils have begun to attack. ”

"Yes, the offensive has begun, and I'm afraid it won't be long before we reach the Winterwolf Castle defenses," Andesa said calmly, "and now our mobile forces in the area of the Little Triangle have made contact with them. ”

Parin Winterburg snorted and asked, "What other troops are in place besides the Black Flag?" ”

"The Seventeenth and Twenty-second Regiments of the National Knights from the direction of Brown Valley have arrived at Winterwolf Castle before noon, and then your Black Flag Mage Regiment - the rest of the troops are still on the way, and they may not arrive until this time tomorrow at the earliest."

"Then the Cecils will definitely try to storm Winterwolf Castle before this evening in order to break down this line of defense in advance," Parin Wintercastle said immediately, "Winterwolf Castle is the only gateway to the northwest into the territory of the Empire, and the Cecilians will not want to see it turn into a solid stone ......"

Several officers in the room couldn't help but whisper a few words, but the room quickly fell silent again.

Storming and destroying a fortified fortress with shields and enchanted walls in a single day and night was almost unthinkable in the old order of war, but the people sitting here were not unheard of country folks, each of them had studied the various pieces of information that had come from Cecil, so they knew very well that the Cecilians had not only done so, but had succeeded more than once.

A series of plan deductions quickly flashed in Andesa's mind, and at the same time, she couldn't help frowning and sighing: "All this is too much beyond expectations, we are not fully prepared......

"It's not just more than we expected – I'm sure it's the same for Cecil," Parin Wintercastle said lightly, "it's a war for which no one is prepared, everybody is on the same starting line, and when the vortex is formed, everybody will be caught up in it irresistibly, so we can be cautious and serious, but we can be less pessimistic." ”

Andesa exhaled and nodded, "That's true. The Cecil men are menacing, but ......"

She was halfway through her sentence when she suddenly stopped, as if sensing something, and the officers in the room looked at each other for a moment, not knowing what was happening, but soon someone reacted, and they told everyone to be quiet, and in the silence, Andesa and her adjutant held their breath together, listening carefully to the noise outside.

The dense explosions in the direction of the small triangle slope are rapidly thinning out.

"In less than half an hour," the adjutant on the side looked gloomy, "faster than we expected......"

An officer couldn't help but mutter, "If there is the Iron River Knights and the Priests, the high-level war blessing combined with the strategic magic of the Battle Mage Regiment, we can stop the enemy's offensive in the northwest direction......"

Andesa glanced at the officer, then retracted her gaze: "We don't have the Iron River Knights anymore, and we don't have the Priests—only the main force of the Winter Wolf Knights and the three support armies, and this fortress. Ladies and gentlemen, think about what to do with those Cecils, that's the way to face reality. ”

Andesa still maintained a stern expression and a categorical tone, as if she had not wavered in the slightest, but as an elder who knew her well, Parin Dongburg could sense the frustration and regret hidden in the young wolf general's heart.

But he couldn't think of words of relief, and he knew that most of the people here were probably in the same mood, and even he himself was not optimistic at the moment.

And this repression did not come from the Cecil, nor from the fear of battle—the soldiers of the Empire were never afraid of war, and it was Typhon's cloudy future that really shook them.

The mutated Church of the God of War, the out-of-control Ace Knights, the pollution that hides around and will suddenly erupt at any time, these things are tried not to be discussed in this kind of place, but everyone knows that they are really pressed in front of everyone, and even a large number of officers will have an even more terrible worry after being exposed to a deeper level of intelligence-

The Iron River Knights are out of control under the influence of spiritual pollution, and they are believers in the god of war...... So as a believer in the God of War or more or less in contact with the God of War belief, will he suddenly fall into madness? Even...... Is the thing you are thinking about at this moment, the tactics you are arranging, really out of your own free will?

The soldiers of the empire are also human beings - these terrible pressures are shaking everyone's morale no matter what.

"We've set up a massive arcane stress field on the west side of the line," Andesa suddenly broke the silence after a brief silence, "This is a targeted trap for the various characteristics of the Magic Engine and the Magic Web Substrate, and they should be quite effective - if they succeed in stopping the enemy's advance, the Black Flag Mage's strategic spell strike will be even more effective." ”

Parin Dongbao raised an eyebrow: "Arcane Stress Field? That's the result of the Royal Society of Mages...... Have you put them into practice? ”

"It's barely usable," Andesa nodded, "It's mainly that the arrangement time is not enough, but it can still play a certain effect......"

It was only after letting Count Parin Wintercastle go to rest for a while that Andesa let out a long breath, she was a little lighter than before, but only a little.

"Aren't we still in a position to connect with the Cecil?" She suddenly turned her head to look at the lieutenant beside her, who had been following her for years.

"All attempts have failed," replied the adjutant straightening up at once, "we tried to call the alternate lines of the Fortress of the Wind with a teleportation device, but there was no response, and we sent three waves of messengers, but none of them came back alive - it seems that the Cecils have been thoroughly enraged, and they probably won't negotiate with us until the winner is decided." ”

"Damn it......" Andesa gritted her teeth, "aren't their brains messed up too......"

The adjutant glanced at his commander with some concern, and after hesitating for a moment, the young man who had followed Andresa for many years couldn't help but speak: "General, do you still think that this war can be stopped?" Both of us have already used force substantively...... With all due respect, I think it's useless to try to contact the Cecil and try to explain the misunderstanding......"

"But the truth is, it wasn't supposed to happen!" Andesa stared at her lieutenant, trying to keep her tone calm, "This war is bad for the Empire, bad for everyone, only the tainted madmen can get some false satisfaction from it—listen, contact again, it's an order." ”

The adjutant met Andelsa's gaze, and after two seconds bowed his head and accepted the order: "Yes, General, I'll go to the Transmission Tower again." ”

The adjutant left, and Andrisa stayed here, with a heavier and heavier heart, facing the catastrophe that was gradually crushing.

As time passed, more and more information began to gather in front of her.

It was the intelligence gathered by the scouts who were out and about, and the griffons of the skies risked their lives - and in the messages one by one, the Cecil's "steel advance tactics" were finally presented to the defenders of Winterwolf, about the performance of those vehicles, about the way Cecil fought, about the comparison of the combat capabilities and tactics of the two sides......

And along with the intelligence, there is also the advancing Iron Legion.

Before the sun went down, the last outpost on the western border of Winterwolf Castle saw the Cecil's army - steel chariots approaching from the direction of the plain, and the tracks of the chariots easily tore through the outpost's defenses amid the roar of artillery fire, and the soldiers who had been lucky enough to evacuate before brought the news that Winterwolf would be within range of the enemy in ten minutes.

This is the last piece of information.

At the same time, the lieutenant also brought the final bad news - the direction of the Long Wind Fortress still did not respond to the contact of Winterwolf Castle.

Andesa stood on the towering and sturdy city wall, the energy shield above the fortress was gradually increasing the charge level, and the enchanted wall beneath her feet resonated with the magic as a result, and there was an occasional slight tremor from some of the stone bricks, but these rising protection levels did not calm her mind in the slightest.

There are many things that can only be understood after the actual face, and no amount of pre-deduction can be as profound as reality - Andesa clearly sees the shortcomings of Typhon's army.

The Cecil's magical technology changed the times, and a change in the times meant that everything had to change with it—both the way of life and everything on the battlefield.

The Typhonians were a step slower, and this slow step was manifested on the battlefield by the fact that there were not enough units in the Typhon army that could be "equal" to the Cecil's new weaponry.

In the face of the steel chariot known as the "tank", the Empire's Iron River Knights are absent, and the Priests' Order is no longer available, leaving only the recently upgraded battle mages who can use the magic guide car to fight against them, but the latter has a serious numerical shortcoming, and they are far less experienced than Cecil's army in this new type of battlefield, which has experienced civil wars and catastrophes.

After some comparison, Andessa finally found that when Cecil's chariot drove onto the battlefield, her men couldn't find many troops to step out of Winterwolf Castle and fight the enemy head-on on the frontal battlefield!

From Fort Treaty to Castle Winterwolf, this has been fully demonstrated by several mobile units that have lost in succession along the way.

In fact, even if the Iron River Knights and the Clerics were not absent, this dilemma of "no soldiers available" would not have improved much, for the simple reason that the Knights of the Iron River and the Priests were the elite of Typhon's elite and precious trump cards that were difficult to train, but the Cecil's army was ...... All of them are machines that can be mass-produced and ordinary people who can train very fast!

Before today, Andesa had seen information about the training speed of Cecil's army and the advantages and disadvantages of magic weapons from various intelligences, and she had also thought that this was a new type of army that was easy to mass-produce, easy to train, rapid to protogulate, and rapid to grow, and she had also made a lot of suggestions to the imperial capital in this regard, and thought of a lot of plans to improve the existing army of the empire, but now she realized that her imagination ...... After all, it was a little poorer.

Far away on the west side of the battlefield, there was a faint glow of smoke and magic shining brightly, and in the light of the sinking giant sun, it seemed to be real and illusory, and it was difficult to distinguish between reality and fiction.

Today, Andesa finally realizes what she missed on that rainy night, on the Paramel Heights.