Under the city of Coennas, the siege of the Thorn Army did not slacken, and a tug-of-war negotiation officially began from this day.

At the same time, the third and fourth armies of the Thorn Empire led by General Klee were sweeping south.

In the direction of this army's front, in the southernmost province of Tris, in the city of Dorne, Donner is also making a final effort for this war.

Since the start of the war, he has often been in danger, or simply unconscious, unable to guarantee daily meditation, two months have passed, but the two systems of water and fire have only increased by more than a hundred, and a complete model of high-level apprentice magic has not been established.

After returning to Dorne City, Donner resumed his daily routine, drawing diagrams, meditating, etc., but he also knew that the crisis of war was imminent, and at this time, focusing on the improvement of his own strength would have little impact on the battle situation.

So every day, whenever he has free time, he will go to the Buck family's weapons workshop to check the progress of production, and sometimes come up with ideas to help them improve their efficiency.

Nadia had bought all the dozen or so dwellings near the dwarven laboratory, but she still couldn't accommodate everyone in the Blue Knights and the Young Reserves.

So, the day after Mino and the others came to defect, Sarah occupied the Tris Knight Academy without saying a word. Donner also enjoyed the success, and pulled over the remaining dozen or so members of the youth army such as Mino.

At this time, Donner was actually already the spiritual leader of these dozens of people. Piedro and the others were also in awe of the Iron and Blood of the Young Reserve Army on the Four Wolves Mountain, so when Sarah proposed that the Blue Knights be merged into the Young Reserve Army and obey the unified command of Donner, no one objected. At this very moment, of course, Donner will no longer pass the buck.

Wesley proposed to stop using the weak name of the Young Reserve Army, and change to a more domineering one, such as the Rand Legion named after the island of Lante, Donner thought that there were only a few dozen people, so he called himself the Legion, which was a bit foolish and did not agree. But in fact, led by Wesley and Sarah, intentionally or unintentionally, this team was eventually called the Lante Legion by the outside world.

At this point, the sixteen original Femont Empire Youth Reserve Army (including Donner and Wesley) led by Minoan and Paz, and the seventeen members of the original Blue Knights led by Sarah and Piedro were officially merged to form the Rand Legion composed of eighteen official knights and fifteen middle and high-level magic apprentices. Donner assumed the position of regimental commander, and Sarah served as deputy regimental commander.

The next day, the legion added two more reserve knights, Richard and Kelly, to thirty-five.

I don't know when the news of the Thorn Army's march south reached the city of Dorne, and the streets began to fall under the shadow of war, and all kinds of shops slowly ceased to open, and from time to time you could see citizens fleeing with their families.

"Natia, I see a lot of people leaving, where can they go?" asked Donner as soon as he returned to the lab. He knew that the dwarven gnomes were much better informed than he was.

"Don't you know? The Duke of Celt claimed that the Empire of Thorns had given him the province of Pocona, and that he was taking advantage of this opportunity to recruit the wealthy who had fled from all over the country, and it was said that they could get his refuge if they paid a certain amount of taxes. Natia replied.

Donner sighed, having nothing to say. For most ordinary people, words like loyalty and betrayal seem so insignificant in the face of life and death.

"I've heard that the Thorn Empire has an army of 40,000 men heading south, so you're going to rely on these dozens of men to resist?" asked Natia.

"I've asked Richard and Wesley to take Sarah and them to recruit men, and there should be quite a few students from both houses staying in Dorne. ”

"Did you recruit anyone?" asked Natia with a smile, clearly anticipating the outcome.

Downer shrugged and replied, "Always give it a try." ”

"If you don't speak, it's too late to ......," Natia's eyes were a little teasing.

If you don't consider the factor of height, this dwarf woman actually has a good figure, and her expression at the moment is quite a bit of a sad young woman. However, with Donner's mood at the moment, it is obvious that he will not notice this.

"I always think you've helped too much...... And it's not like you can't meddle in the dirt......"

"Of course we can't meddle. Natia interrupted Donner with a wave of her hand, and continued, "But we haven't paid for all the things you've made in this lab, the Demon King's Light Rail, the various gears, and the machine you've recently invented. ”

"You've already given me a magic gun, but unfortunately the man in black took it......"

"No, no, don't, you haven't figured it out yet, that magic gun is nothing compared to what you've done, and Cynthia is about to pay you a sum, a lot of money. ”

"It's a lot?"

"Yes. Big enough for you to hire a mercenary group in the Knights' Federation. Of course, how you spend this money is your own business...... After all, we can't meddle in the affairs of the Middle East. Natia winked mischievously.

"Recruit a mercenary group, but is it too late?" asked Donner hurriedly.

"Cynthia has a shipment of goods shipped to the south, and has hired a mercenary group for this purpose, and now they seem to be near Dorne City, maybe you can hire them......"

Donner, of course, wasn't stupid enough to believe that such a coincidence happened, and all of this was naturally arranged by Natia in advance.

"You don't have to thank me, it's nothing compared to how much you helped us. By the way, Cynthia has another gift for me to pass on to you......" After Natia finished speaking, she turned and went into her room, and after a while, she walked out with a package.

Donner took the package and opened it carefully, and on a velvet cloth cushion as blue as the night sky lay silently an inconspicuous iron rod.

Cynthia says you're probably going to like something a little more earthy. Natia explained.

Donner picked up the iron rod and examined it carefully.

The iron rod is about a meter long, hollow at one end, and the handle at the other end cannot be pushed or pulled to embed in the ice spear.

On the handle, Donner found a bump and pressed down hard to squeeze a small hole, and once he let go, it immediately returned to its original shape.

"One-way locking valves?" he looked up at Natia quizzically, describing a check valve in the language of the Hulse Continent.

"Yes, so that you don't have to turn it around every time you use it. Natia nodded.

"How do you fill the ice spear?" Donner asked, knowing that Natia must have seen Sister Elliemanda's drawings.

Cynthia found someone to carve three magic circles on it. Natia explained.

"Why aren't there magic fluctuations?" Donner wondered even more.

"Did you know that there's a material called Desperate Gold?"

"The legendary forbidden metal, which can withstand any magical attacks?" Donner asked in shock.

"I don't know if it's against any magical attacks, but at least it's insulating against magical fluctuations. Natia calmly explained, "This magic wand has three layers of magic circles engraved on top of the Mithril material, and it is covered with a layer of desperate gold. ”

Unexpectedly, the inconspicuous magic wand in his hand actually had such a complex structure and used such a rare material, Donner tried to calm down and continued to ask, "Which three magic arrays?"

"Ice spears, silent enchantments, and whirlwinds. The wand can be unscrewed in the middle, and then it can be inlaid with twelve crystals at a time. Natia replied.

Donner immediately understood the role of these three magic arrays, the ice spear is self-reloading, the silent enchantment is equivalent to a silencer, and the whirlwind technique obviously plays the role of a blessing line, the problem is that there are no guns in this world, how could anyone think of adding a whirlwind technique to his magic gun.

"How did Cynthia come up with the idea to add a whirlwind spell to it?" Donner asked.

Natia replied naturally, "The elves have an archery technique that allows the arrows they shoot to spin rapidly, and this kind of arrow can maintain its posture without a feather's tail, and it is more powerful. ”

This time, Donner didn't be polite to Natia again, and directly accepted the improved magic gun. After deciding on the matter of the Knight Mercenary Regiment, he went straight to the Knight Academy's training ground to test the power of the new magic gun.

Whether it's the rate of fire, concealment, or range, this new magic gun is much more powerful than the previous one.

After each launch, a new Ice Spear will be spawned in an instant, so you don't need to fill it yourself, you don't need to wait, you just need to use all your strength to burst the Ice Bead.

Due to the existence of the Silent Enchantment, the magic gun does not have the terrifying thumping sound of the previous one - since the bullet exceeds the speed of sound before it is discharged, the loud noise when breaking the sound barrier is also covered by the silent enchantment.

The Ice Spear, which was driven by the Whirlwind Technique to spin at high speed, did not destroy as much area as before, but its range became longer and its penetrating power was stronger.

After several crucial battles, Donner has slowly developed a dependence on the magic gun, and in the dozens of days since he lost it, he has always felt empty in his hands, and only now has he regained his sense of solidity.

On this night, the remnants of the training legion led by Deves finally returned to the province of Tris, and they did not go to the Tris Academy of Magic, but directly entered Dorne City, for the simple reason that only the walls of Dorne City could barely block the pursuers behind them.

Reunited after the catastrophe, Donner sees Dean Deves excited for the first time, and Professor Victor still complains about the war and the stupid humans after hugging Donner and Wesley.

Also returning to Dorne City included Kane, the head of the Imperial Knight Academy, Kaz, the head of the Crimson Knights, Vivien, the professor of meditation at the Academy of Magic, and Donner's old acquaintance, Mr. Merkel, but they were all still seriously injured and unconscious, and Donner could only ask for a small bottle of the Far North Demon Orange from Natia again and feed them separately.

That night, the remnants of the Legion of the Church and the Sixty or so men joined Donner's team in sealing the gates of Dorne.

The city of Dorn, which has been quiet for more than a thousand years, is about to usher in the battle to defend the city again.