But they waited and waited until midnight when the moon was in the sky, and they still did not see the shadow of the Salem army. At last the scouts returned, and the Salem legion advanced all the way and lit torches on the road, looking like a fiery dragon from afar, but after thirty miles out of the city, it suddenly turned around and went back! The Philistines waited for most of the night.

The general beside him asked: "Legion Commander, they suddenly retreated at night, maybe they sent scouts to find that we were waiting in formation, and they didn't dare to engage in battle, to chase or not to chase?"

The Philistines glared and shouted, "How can you chase me? Do you want me to set up an army in the middle of the night and chase fifty miles? This distance is just too much to catch up, and when we reach the city, we will have no rest for a day and a night! ”

...... In the underground hall of the fortress, Raphael was still talking to Link through the communication stones in the two magic arrays, only to hear Link laugh and say: "The Philistines lined up in formation, stood in the cold wind for most of the night, and finally couldn't stay up and went to sleep. The road was a bit far, and it was inconvenient for them to return to the city of Enriel, so they retreated three miles and set up camp. ”

Raphael smiled bitterly: "This battle is quite immoral, it is by no means a formal method of warfare, who made the battle plan? It is not like the style of Lord George." ”

Link laughed and said, "I led my people in the mountains to hunt those fierce beasts many years ago, and that's what I did, I can't fight those beasts." ”

Yun Meng sneered beside Raphael: "I know it's your idea, don't let people eat well, don't let people sleep well." ”

Link: "Either way, the fortress can be defended, otherwise it's all empty talk." Rest well, and I'll leave it to me in the middle of the night. ”

...... The Salem legions seemed to have expected that the Philistines would attack the fortress first on the road, and that they would not be able to take it in a day, so they went out of the city early in the morning to line up for battle, and then gathered their troops and went back to eat. When it was almost time to fall, they marched out of the city in a row, and put up a frame to reinforce the fortress at night, and then collected their troops and went back to sleep halfway through, tossing the Philistines enough.

The soldiers of the Giants, who had been tired for a long day, finally rested, and the Philistines sent out patrols to take turns on the guard. In the second half of the night, everyone was sleeping soundly, and the fortress where Link was in the distance suddenly shone brightly, and the magic array opened inexplicably and shot out a huge light curtain to envelop the surroundings, a city gate opened, and General Warani led a team of brightly armored cavalry to rush out.

Hundreds of soldiers also appeared on the city walls, sounding war drums and blowing horns, and the chaotic shouts of killing soared into the sky and deafened. Rushing out of the castle was a hundred-strong cavalry, led by Amon's personal guard General Vanani, all armored warriors, no less than the giant warriors in terms of combat effectiveness, although the number was small, but it was the elite of the Salem legion.

The Giant Legion had already been on guard, and the Philistines had ordered to keep an eye on the fortress, and the vigilant Giant warriors hurriedly drew their weapons and rushed forward to engage in battle. Such a great movement of course alarmed the sleeping soldiers in the large camp, and they took up their weapons, put on their armor and got out of the tents, and the Philistines urgently gathered a cavalry team and rushed over.

When Warani saw that the group was alarmed, they turned their horses and galloped towards the fortress. The giant warriors behind chased them outside the castle, and suddenly countless sharp lights shot out in the air, which was a counterattack launched by the Divine Array, instantly bringing down dozens of enemies who had chased to the front, and the cavalry who had left the city had fled into the fortress under the cover of the Divine Array.

Immediately after that, the light of the large array suddenly disappeared, and the four fields were dark again. Link's tactic was not to rush over to reinforce Raphael, it was purely to prevent the giant army from sleeping well, but it was also a big adventure to go out of the city and harass it, so all the elite cavalry was sent. The scale of this battle was not large, and the sudden charge killed more than twenty enemies, and Link also lost eight cavalry, and then closed the door.

The Philistine's nose was almost crooked, and he finally figured out a little bit of the tactics of Salem City, which was to use the powerful magic array protection of these two fortresses to contain and harass the Giant Legion, so that he could consume his combat power here. What is consumed is not only the siege materials, but also the physical strength and morale of the soldiers. Although the giant warrior is strong, it is not an iron fight after all, and it needs to rest and recuperate, and it needs the encouragement of victory, and it cannot be constantly restrained and disturbed.

The next morning, the generals of the Giant Legion were in the Philistine's tent to discuss the military situation, judging from yesterday's battle, the opponent's style of play was very scoundrel, and they did not want to set up a battle formation to fight the winner, the main purpose was to hold, contain, attrition, and harassment. However, the Philistines aimed to capture and conquer the city of Salem, and the logistical supply of the Assyrian kingdom to the Plains was too costly, and once a large army was launched, it was necessary to fight quickly.

The Philistines had three options before them - one was to continue the attack on Raphael's fortress, march step by step to achieve the first victory, eat away at the enemy's living forces, and uproot the strategic stronghold of Salem. But the strength of the guards of the fortress was beyond the expectations of the giant legion, and the day's onslaught was not taken, and such a magic array was built in a small fortress, which was not only presided over by a great magician, but also summoned terrifying monsters, and even a girl who jumped out of the city wall was actually a great samurai, which seemed unfathomable!

If too much combat power is consumed in the attack on the fortress, it will not be able to continue the attack on Salem City in a short period of time, and even give the enemy a chance to take advantage of it, the most difficult thing to judge at present is how much it will cost to break through that fortress?

The second option is based on the assumption that it would be much easier to attack another fortress, assuming that the fortress was filled with the best of Salem's best and that they happened to encounter the strongest fortress. But what happened in the middle of the night yesterday obviously proved that another fortress was also guarded by a great divine array, and one of them was also presided over by a great divine magician. As for how strong its defenders were, it is impossible to figure out without launching an onslaught, and perhaps another fortress would be better to attack, and if it was successfully captured, it could also turn the strategic situation around.

The third option was to attack the city of Salem directly. If the city of Salem had placed its best forces in two fortresses, the main city would have been weakly defended. Both the Philistines and Luson agreed that there could be no such divine array in the city of Salem as these two fortresses.

If such a city-state wants to build a divine magic array of that scale, it will take a hundred years of operation and countless manpower, material and financial resources. The consumption of full force in wartime can only be borne by one kingdom, and if there are not enough great sorcerers and priests to take turns to preside over the big array, it will not work at all. Therefore, it may be easier to transfer the siege fire to the city of Salem, and to capture a section of the wall with all its might and storm the city than to storm these two fortresses.

The generals discussed these three options for a long time, and finally decided to concentrate on storming Raphael's fortress. The reason is very simple, they have already spent a lot of money, maybe they can only break the divine magic array in the fortress, and giving up at this time is equivalent to giving up all their previous achievements. The assault on the fortress was conditional on reinforcements, and the Philistines immediately devised a battle plan.

The Giants' Legion includes cavalry, charioteers, sword and shield soldiers with pike spears, crossbowmen, and slingers. Their cavalry was not very numerous, because the Giant Warriors were too tall for ordinary horses to withstand the long gallops of the Giant Warriors. Charioteers were the main type of troops they charged in formation, and the number of chariots was limited because the city lacked enough horses to pull carts.

Slingers are a ranged combat force that is mainly used to attack walls and fortresses, but can also bombard military formations. Crossbowmen erect high platforms on chariots to fire arrows, which is also one of the siege tactics. As for the large number of sword and shield soldiers that can be used in battle, the giant warriors can pick up heavy shields and wield long knives to fight, and each is equipped with a shuttle gun, which can be thrown from a distance in battle.

The Philistines divided the Giant Legion into two parts, with more than 1,000 cavalry and sword and shield soldiers in two battle formations between the two fortresses, on the one hand, to prevent Link's fortress from being attacked by anyone, and on the other hand, mainly to guard against the counterattack in the direction of the city of Salem. The remaining crossbowmen, charioteers, slingers, and hundreds of elite sword and shield men were gathered outside Raphael's fortress to break it down in one fell swoop.

The Philistines did not immediately start the battle, and the next day the battlefield was calm, and he sent his soldiers to take turns on guard, while most of the rest rested in place, and had been tossing and turning for a day and a night, and many of the soldiers did not even sleep well.

Just as the generals were meeting, the scouts reported that the Salem legion was out of the city again, this time much more than yesterday's, and they marched forward in formation outside the city, and the drums of war were beating in unison and shouting and killing, as if they were really fighting with someone. They also fired ten thousand arrows when the chariot charged, and then sent people to pick up the arrows that had been shot on the ground, and re-arrayed them, and the chariots behind them rushed out again with swords and shields.

The Philistines were stunned when they heard the news, and then slapped the table and scolded: "Damn, why did you go there at this time?

Lu Sien frowned and said: "For the rabble, the effect of the formation at this time is the best, the soldiers are in danger of everyone, and it is not like serving hard labor in the air in peacetime." It's just that the coach is bold enough, isn't he afraid of a hasty battle with us?"

The Philistines scolded: "They have no intention of engaging in battle at all, as long as our army moves, they will definitely collect their troops and return to the city, just to fight a defensive battle relying on the fortified city." Yesterday the queue out of the city was a pretense to disturb us from resting. Today's military exercise outside the city is to provoke me to abandon the fortress and move forward, and I don't want to be fooled by this! I will give the order that as long as they do not advance thirty miles away from the city, we will ignore it, and the whole army will rest and recuperate today, and continue to attack that fortress tomorrow. ”

There was no fighting that day, and the Legion of Giants stood by to rest. As expected, the Salem legion was outside the city, and seeing that the Philistines were not deceived, they collected their troops and returned to the city at dusk, and did not march forward to reinforce the fortress.

In the underground hall of the fortress, Raphael's face sank like water, and he said to Yun Meng: "The Giant Legion has not made any movement this day, just like you have to close your fist before you punch, and tomorrow you will inevitably launch the most fierce attack." This is a crucial battle, the casualties must be not small, tomorrow you need to take the samurai to the city wall, you must be careful. ”

Yun Meng's expression was also a little nervous: "If you really can't stand it, send a signal to Link in advance, and Link and George will attack from two directions to cover our breakthrough." ”

Rafael shook his head and said: "If that's the case, the entire battle plan will be ruined, no matter what, you have to do your best to defend it tomorrow, I have a batch of divine stones here, you give it to the magician who assists in defending the city, and the big array must remain intact." He stretched out his hand and grabbed it out of thin air, took out a large leather bag, and when he opened it, he saw that it was a bag full of ordinary divine stones.

Yun Meng exclaimed: "You are in such a deep ambush, you have hidden so many divine stones, even I don't know?"

Raphael smiled faintly: "This is not from the city-state of Salem, have you forgotten my origin? I am also one of the heirs of the prominent noble family of the Hati Kingdom, and this is most of my property." There is also a part of it that was handed over to me by the teacher Ge Lie, saying that it might be useful at a critical moment, and he really let the old man say it. I've been storing it in the space ring, and this space ring was also given by the teacher. ”

Yun Meng took the leather bag and said: "I will definitely make it clear, these are your private wealth, and in the future, when the war is won, I want Aesop to pay you back even the interest!

Raphael said with his hands behind his back: "War is the same cruelty for both sides, the Philistines spent a day to rest the siege soldiers, and this day's respite is more important for our magicians, recuperate well tonight, and prepare for a life-and-death battle tomorrow!"

Yun Meng looked at him, his eyes couldn't hide his admiration, and he suddenly smiled toothily: "The Philistine really attacked the wrong fortress, he doesn't know that you are here." People only know that Amun is invincible, but they forget that the great sorcerer of the Hati Kingdom, Gere, is like a god, and his old man is just not as lucky as Amun. You are the most proud disciple of Ge Lie, and you have participated in many great battles with your teacher, and now you are still the high priest of the city-state of Syria. It's too condescending for you to hold a fortress, and with your talent, you can be the commander of a large army!"

Raphael shook his head: "Don't praise me so much, I'm still too far from the teacher, and the teacher sent me here to receive training." Since it is an experience, I have to face a difficult test, and I took the initiative to ask to defend this fortress. ”

...... On the third day, one of the worst battles on the plains of Duk finally broke out. The Philistines gathered all their crossbowmen and catapults, and yesterday they urgently dispatched siege stones and a large number of arrows from the city-state. This kind of hard-fought offensive and defensive battle is to test the will of both sides, and the giant army began to attack with flint and steel in the morning, consuming the defensive power of the fortress magic array.

Raphael did not run the large array with all his strength to resist, but only extinguished the flames on the stone balls, and countless huge stone balls crossed the city wall and smashed into the fortress, and he did his best to protect the weak points of the city wall from collapsing by the flint. Under the flint flying in the sky, Lu Sien commanded the priests to set up a formation, covering the sword and shield soldiers to attack the city on a long ladder. The giant crossbowmen also stood on the high platform, pushed forward by the chariots, and the arrows rained down on the walls.

Although the magic array defending the city remained intact after a fierce battle, its strength had begun to weaken, because the magicians who assisted Raphael in running the array were tired after repeated rotations. In the afternoon, a giant sword and shield soldier finally rushed to the city wall, and the first to bear the brunt was the commander of the front line of the giant legion, the seventh-level great warrior Ju Fei.

There were six of Amun's personal guards in the fortress, and now they are the generals who led the troops in the city of Salem, and Yun Meng led the six generals and all the reserve forces in the city to rush to the city wall and fight fiercely. Raphael could only launch a large array to try his best to prevent more reinforcements from rushing to the city, while Lu Sien led the priests of the Giant Legion to also attack the divine array and break through the siege gap.

Yun Meng took on the original form of an ironclad beast on the city wall, and the hard scales and arrows all over his body were difficult to penetrate, and the sharp claws and long tail swept through him. Ju Fei fought desperately to barely resist Yunmeng, and a melee formed on the city wall, and this fierce battle lasted until it was close to dusk.

Since it was a breach in the protective magic array that was torn apart, it was impossible to deploy too many troops, so the Philistines concentrated all their crossbowmen to cover with a salvo, and the sword and shield soldiers attacked in turn, and on a section of the city wall of hundreds of feet, they paid the price of more than 200 casualties. As for the soldiers defending the city, more than 200 people were killed, and the rest were wounded, only slightly or severely. The catapults of the Giants used up almost all the flints in the camp, including the arrows of the Giants' crossbowmen, which had just been brought from Enriel yesterday, and had become a hand-to-hand battle for the priests to cover the sword and shield men rushing into the city.

Why did the Philistines have to pay such a great price, because by then he had already been unable to ride a tiger. There was always an idea in his heart that if he had fought to this extent, the fortress would be taken soon, and as long as there was another wave of attacks, it would be like the last straw that crushed the camel, but the camel could not be crushed.

He thought so in the morning, and at noon, until dusk, when there were no flint or heavy bolts to spare. Within the walls of that fortress, all the impregnable buildings had been crushed, but the walls remained. The Philistines also saw their disadvantage, if they couldn't break the magic array and open a gap in the city wall, the sword and shield soldiers would be very expensive to charge the city with a long ladder.

He tried to reverse this disadvantage but never succeeded, and in the end, the strength of the fortress magic array had been reduced to the weakest, and he only connected the front defense of the city wall as a whole, protecting the city wall to the death. This offensive and defensive battle finally ended with Ju Fei being swept off the city by Yun Meng's tail, and the commander of the front was seriously injured and all the giant warriors who rushed to the city wall were killed.

The Giant Legion's plan to capture the fortress failed, and the ironclad beast that Yunmeng turned into was also scarred. At the last moment of the fierce battle, four more big ironclad beasts went up to the city wall to assist Yunmeng in the battle, and they barely stabilized the situation.

**

(To be continued)