17 Will we have reinforcements?

"Alista, he is the pride of the White Shield Akayi family."

Standing on the wall of the "Black Gate" at the northern border gate of Spreite, Alista Akay looked at the military camp of the Kingdom of Yusid in the distance, and there was a burst of fear in his heart, it was obvious that more than a dozen tents had been added to the rear of the barracks, and the enemy's reinforcements were constantly arriving, and soon they would break through 20,000 men, and his defenders had been reduced from the original 8,000 to 6,000. Even if you have walls to rely on on on your side, the outcome of the battle still depends on the number of people - especially when there are a large number of siege engines on the opposite side, and the role of your own defenses will be discounted.

After three months of unsuccessful tentative attacks in September, the Yusid army changed its strategy and bombarded the walls and inside of the Black Gate with siege engines day and night. It was already a cold winter, and the morale of the army of the Kingdom of Sprelet was low, and they were scorched by the stones of the trebuchets every day, and they would be burned by the burning tar rubble, and although there was no shortage of supplies, they could not rest sufficiently, resulting in more and more non-combat attrition.

"General, hasn't Your Majesty sent reinforcements yet?" An adjutant asked Alista, "We have just recruited more than a hundred volunteers from a nearby village, but ...... We need real soldiers to hold this place. ”

Alista sighed, tried his best to hide the fear in his heart, and said: "Arrange the volunteers in the rear, take care of logistics or something, and let the regular army come to the front." The adjutant saluted and carried out the order.

There is a warning carved on the wall: "If the war is stopped, prepare for the war". This slogan is applicable in any era, but in Alista's eyes, it has become a kind of irony, and there are even more frightening things on this side of the wall.

The bodyguard noticed Alista's fear, and he asked euphemistically, "Do you feel cold?" General, I see you're shaking. ”

"No, no," Alista hastily denied, "I can hold on, and so can the soldiers of Sprett." With that, he patted the family crest on his chest - a white shield printed on a red background.

"But this battle has completely subverted everything we are familiar with, and we must think of a way." The guards were still worried about the general's state, glancing at the general's fingers and face from time to time to see if he was still calm.

"You mean magic?" Alista knew exactly what the guards were trying to say-

With the popularity of Pala Dax's new form of magic, more and more people are able to use elementary magic, and they can use the corresponding magic to light a fire or water a flower in their daily lives - including attacking city defenses with fireballs. When the Spreet defenders were defending against the siege of the Kingdom of Yusted, they had found that many fireball magic and lightning magic would also attack along with the stones, and even experienced veterans could not cope with these new combat methods, causing great trouble to the defenders.

On the other hand, the trebuchets of the Yusted Kingdom Army were always able to accurately smash at important targets and weak points within the city walls, including the general's tents, trebuchets, blacksmith stoves, and armament depots. At first, the Sprite defenders thought that the enemy had hit by mistake, but later found out that the flying birds in the sky were actually enemy magicians using transformation magic, and Alista had to arrange someone to shoot all the birds in the sky above him with bows and arrows, but with little success, and could not achieve all-weather defense, resulting in his own defensive position being exposed to the enemy all the time.

"I've already written to the Devil's Court in the capital, and Tucker is also an old friend of mine, so he will definitely bring someone to help us." Alista said confidently, giving the guards - also a reassurance to himself.

Suddenly, a sharp wind whistled from afar - "Stone Throwing!" Take cover! Alista shouted loudly on the walls, and the defenders inside the walls immediately threw themselves into disarray, looking for cover.

"Be careful! Checkmate! The guard shoved Alista away, pushing him far away, almost falling off the wall, and in an instant, where he had been standing, was struck by a boulder, which shattered and the guard fell in a pool of blood...... Immediately after that, more than a dozen boulders were smashed one after another......

After this wave of stone-throwing sieges, General Alysta lost another loyal guard. The adjutant who had just gone to the rear to arrange the affairs of the Volunteers rushed back, and he was slightly relieved to see that the general was safe and sound, but he again asked the question that had knocked Alista in the heart countless times and tormented the defenders countless times: "General, will we have reinforcements?" ”

Fear and helplessness pervade the Black Gate.

As Alista said, he can still hold on. In early December, he awarded medals to many soldiers and used all his money to support the families of the fallen soldiers in order to boost the morale of the defenders. This worked, and the defenders repelled several attacks by the Kingdom of Just, and even with a numerical inferiority, the attackers did not taste any sweetness. The defenders held out for nearly half a month, forcing the other side to return to the step of bombarding the city defenses with siege engines.

It was at this time that Dean Tucker and the apprentices of the Demon Court arrived, but this did not make Alista any happier. Anyone can see that this team of more than thirty people will not have a huge impact on the battle situation, but Alista pays more attention to the other side-

"Why! Don't you know what this place is? Alista thundered and roared at Dean Tucker, "You're ...... Actually brought the female apprentice to the battlefield! Are you still human? "It was the first time for the defenders to see the general so angry, but they all looked at the general with approval—they all knew that a woman could not stay away from war, but it was better to stay away from the battlefield.

In complete contrast to the irascible general was Dean Tucker, who appeared calm and confident, and in the face of Alista's curses, he just asked a few apprentices to recite the incantation together, and after a while, several white clouds slowly appeared over the defenders' camp, and finally formed a six-pointed star magic array. It took a lot of time to summon the magic array, but Alysta was still scolding.

"There!" One of the apprentices of the Demon Court pointed to a battlement on the city wall and said, and the soldiers followed the sound and saw a small bird in it, which was difficult to notice unless they looked closely. But there is something unusual about this bird: it has a pale blue glow. Even the soldiers who didn't know much about magic understood that the bird was the enemy's magician! When everyone just reacted, a female apprentice had already turned into a giant eagle and flew towards the battlements at high speed, and when the other party didn't react at all, she grabbed the "bird" and flew back to its original place.

The female apprentice turned back and pressed the "bird" to the ground with her hands, which made Alista finally stop cursing and craned her neck to look over.

"Change me back into a human form, or kill you directly!" The female apprentice shouted, and the defenders surrounded her.

The "bird" opened its mouth wide and its eyes widened, and suddenly its size increased several times, and it suddenly regained its human form - the magician of the Kingdom of Justid in a magic robe, probably afraid that the defenders would kill him, he shouted "Don't kill me, I will say anything, I say, I say!" Then he knelt down and begged for mercy from those around him.

"Look, my old friend," Dean Tucker finally replied to Alista, "I scratched your tongue when I first came, thank me." ”

The angry defenders took away the enemy magician, and thanked the female apprentice, and the other apprentices of the Demon Court also praised her: "Wind chimes, well done!" ”

Seeing this, Alista lost his temper and had to thank his old friend - but did not apologize.

"What's that in the sky?" Alista asked, pointing to the six-pointed star circle.

"Detecting the magic circle, you can find the people who use magic nearby, the magician just now used transformation magic, so there is a blue light on his body, and it will appear very clear." Tucker replied.

"Look, General, I also have blue light on me, because I just turned into a giant eagle." Wind Chime added, spreading out his hand for Alista to see, hoping that the general would understand the importance of this magic array through examples. Sure enough, a faint blue light was also emitted from the outside of her robe.

However, Alista still said angrily: "Female apprentices still have to pay attention to safety on the battlefield, it's too dangerous here!" Boulders will come at any time, so you'd better not stay on the front line, saving your life is the most important thing! "Although he had a bad temper at the time, his concern for women and the vulnerable was appreciated by the defenders and the apprentices of the Demon Court." Oh yes! Alista added, "Thank you for helping us catch the enemy, well done!" He thanked the wind chimes and left.

The support forces of the Demon Court have won the first battle, and the morale of the Splett defenders has been greatly boosted! But that same night, they were attacked by the siege engines of the Kingdom of Yusted, and what was even more heartbreaking was that one of the apprentices of the Demon Court was killed in the attack, which was the last thing the general wanted to see - the deceased was a female apprentice.

The morale that had just been raised fell again, so completely.

"See? This is the battlefield! Alista snarled at Tucker again, and this time, instead of showing any confidence or composure, he was sweating profusely and turning pale - he also became nervous and frightened. In less than a day, these pampered apprentices of the Demon Court realized that death was imminent - this was a battlefield, wounded, bleeding, and dead, not the familiar, comfortable hotbed of the castle, but a human purgatory full of brutal slaughter.

……

The attack of the Yused Kingdom Army continued, and it was more than ten days of continuous bombardment, and the city defense facilities suffered huge losses again. During this time, Abbot Tucker ignored Alista's dissuasion and insisted on sending apprentices from the Demon Court to use transformation magic to probe the enemy's military camp, resulting in heavy losses. After that, the few remaining apprentices of the Demon Court created magical shields for the defenders when the enemy threw stones, but in the end, they were unable to defeat the powerful falling rocks, and there were casualties.

Standing on the city wall, looking at the growing number of enemy camps in the distance, he made a rough calculation - the number of the army of the Kingdom of Yusd had reached 30,000, and the defenders on this side were only a pitiful 5,000 men.

Dean Tucker, who had long since lost his self-confidence and despair, his face no longer had the anger he had when he first arrived, and he asked Alista the question that had tormented all the defenders countless times:

"We ...... Will there be reinforcements? ”

The answer is obvious –

"We don't have reinforcements."