Eventually, about four hours later, the Kingdom Army drove to the clearing of the plain outside the North City Gate.

"It's Koster up ahead. ”

From a distance, the mighty army looks like a black sail on a yellow ground, which looks very vivid in the scorching sun. They stopped about a kilometer away from Koster, and the leader turned around on his horse, nodded at Grant, and reported respectfully.

Red and white flags fluttered above their heads, each embroidered with a replica of the cross.

"Rune Defense Array......" Grant rode on the horse covered by the silver helmet, wearing papal robes, and looked at Koster, slowly squinting his eyes.

The general immediately responded: "Yes, we got this information a few days ago. This group of rebels had already set up a rune defense array on the night of the occupation of Koster, so we also transferred all the Holy Light cannons in our inventory as much as possible for this expedition. ”

Hearing this, Grant turned his head and said with no joy or anger: "General Presie, what is your battle plan?"

Preston felt the pressure skyrocket.

Before attacking Ikor, they suffered a big loss on this thing, and after returning home from defeat, he almost didn't even save his life as a general. However, after a series of infighting in the Kingdom of Hori, there are no more people left who can lead troops to fight, and because of this, he can survive, and this time as the main general to recapture Kost, he was entrusted with a heavy task.

Although he was honored, he still felt more trepidation.

In case it wasn't captured this time, with the Pope's temper...... Preece didn't dare to think about it any further.

"My plan is to storm it. He took a deep breath, pretending to be confident, and said, "The rune defense array must be broken with a single blow." After a long march, we camped and rested, pretending to attack tomorrow, but in fact launched a surprise attack late this night to catch them by surprise!"

After listening to this, Grant looked at his expression...... I don't know if I'm satisfied, but after a moment of silence, at least I nodded.

Preece also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He hurriedly waved his hand, gave the order to the army behind him, and began to set up camp on this plain. The scouting priest hovered above at this moment, and tents with crosses painted on their tops emerged like fungi after rain, occupying the entire main road and cutting off the main path between Koster and the outside world.

And at the same time.

Standing at the head of Koster City, Benjamin looked at the large tent of the Kingdom Army with a solemn expression.

Although I had known for a long time that the Kingdom Army would arrive, I ...... He had just rushed back to Koster on the front foot, and as soon as he had stabilized the morale of the army, the enemy came at him on the back foot. Therefore, even if he was mentally prepared, he still felt that everything was happening too fast, and full of pressure came to his heart.

"How much of them have you detected?" he asked suddenly, towards the system.

"It's so far away that I can only estimate their number by analyzing the area and graphs. The system was silent for a while, and then replied helplessly, "50,000 people, the number of priests is not clear, it may be about the same as yours." ”

Benjamin nodded.

On paper, the disparity is not so serious, the question is what hole cards are prepared on the side of the church.

After observing the enemy for a few more moments, he nodded to the guards at the head of the city, turned and left, returning to the city. The city has been completely under martial law, with doors and windows closed, and the streets lined with barricades made of sacks and antlers. Both the Black Nightmare Army and the Mages are stationed near the city gate at this moment, ready for battle at any time.

Benjamin went straight back to City Hall.

Today, the town hall has become their command center. The strongest of the academy's mages gathered here, and the knights of the six noble families as commanders of the Black Nightmare army also gathered here, waiting for the army to call the shots, the actual and nominal owner, Benjamin.

"My lord, the kingdom's army has arrived, and I think we should strike at once, and take the enemy by surprise while they are still settled!" said Benjamin, as soon as he entered, several knights of the clan ran up and suppressed their grief.

Benjamin looked at them, shook his head, and sighed.

"I understand your feelings, several adults have been killed by the church, and I want to avenge them. "But...... We don't have any advantage in taking the initiative. You know how to fight better than I do, so you know that, right?"

When the knights heard this, they bowed their heads in silence.

Benjamin continued: "We can't afford to lose in order to fulfill their legacy, can we?"

“...... Master Mage is right. ”

The knights sighed, showed a look of helplessness, nodded, and retreated.

The others gathered, and Benjamin walked to the center of the town hall to open the military meeting. Everyone's faces are not very good-looking, the prestige of the kingdom army, the huge number of priests, and the powerful armament...... Aside from the defensive advantage, it is almost impossible to find any adjustment in their favor.

Thankfully, though, no one was afraid.

"With the Rune Defense Array, we can delay a lot of time. The church is already unpopular, and the longer it drags on, the better it will be for us. There are also uprisings in the north of the kingdom from time to time, and if they drag on any longer, they will themselves be on fire in their backyards and will have to withdraw their troops!"

"The enemy may choose to attack, and we should use all the elemental enchantments we have in reserve to strengthen our defenses as much as possible. ”

"We also have the Holy Light Cannon, which can be used to fire a sneak attack when the enemy is not looking......"

Unlike the situation when he was guarding Ikor in the first place, there was no one to sing down, and there was no so-called "Lord and Peace". Everyone is actively trying to figure out a way, draining their brains, and they are coming up with an endless stream of strategies. Although there were not many people attending this meeting, Benjamin heard nearly a hundred proposals, and the town hall did not have a moment of silence.

Eventually, the discussion ended temporarily after two hours, and they came up with a very detailed plan for the defense, and each turned around and went back to arrange the queue of soldiers and the grouping of mages.

And Benjamin also walked into the room that originally belonged to the mayor.

"We need to make a statement to the whole country of Hori. Looking at the person in charge of the dark department in the room, he slowly spoke, "The truth about the origin of the Black Nightmares, about the collapse around Lake Pearl, about the death of the king, and so on...... We are already an independent force, and we want the whole country to know what is really going on. ”

- Although they are caught in the war, this matter cannot be postponed.

At the moment, people seem to have lost some faith in the Black Nightmares, and even the inhabitants of Koster do not think they can hold back the Church's attack. Therefore, they must stabilize the people's hearts, and at the same time take this opportunity to increase the pressure of public opinion on the church again and cut them off.

The Academy's Dark Division still has people all over the kingdom, and the members of the Nightmare Society are also operating underground, and they can complete this task.

"No problem. The person in charge nodded and said, "We can print an additional issue of Pravda and put our statement on it." The church's attention is all on Kost, and they won't have the time to do that. ”

"That's it!"

Benjamin immediately nodded in agreement.

With that, the person in charge turned away and took care of the matter, and Benjamin took a deep breath. This is no longer just a simple war, not just a sword, a carnage, and artillery fire...... While all this is going on, the struggle without the smoke of gunpowder will never stop.

They had to muster everything they could to win the war.