Listen to Aphrodite say that the peak is most likely a dead World Tree.

Surdak wanted to cross the arch bridges and take a look at the other side of the lake.

Originally, it was planned to set up a crossbow and a catapult on the stone bridge, and then blast it all the way over.

After a night's rest, the Surdak army gathered under the stone bridge, and thousands of ghost-patterned red ants also gathered on the stone bridge, these red ants crowded on the stone bridge, constantly hissing towards the army under the bridge, and countless red ants opened their tentacles to demonstrate against the army.

Surdak waved his hand and pushed the thirty bed crossbows that had been assembled overnight to the front, and the eighteen armed thunder rhinos were also lined up at this moment, and all the bed crossbows were aimed at the ghost-patterned red ants on the bridge.

When these ghost-patterned red ants saw that the army had set up a bed crossbow, they actually retreated one after another.

Although they were crowded on the bridge, they retreated quickly, and in a blink of an eye, they were a kilometer away.

Such a long distance has exceeded the maximum range of the bed crossbow, and even if the giant crossbow arrow can fly there, it will not be able to break through the hard armor of the ghost red ant.

Surdak gave the order to let the cavalry move forward.

……

The ghostly soldiers stood out of the range of their bed crossbows, and when they saw the cavalry stepping onto the stone bridge, they immediately rushed towards the mouth of the stone bridge, and strangled with Andrew and the dozens of hundreds of cavalry who dismounted and fought on foot.

The bridge was not wide, and almost all the cavalry dismounted, wearing heavy armor and fighting with the ghost-patterned soldiers.

Although Andrew and Gulit were in front, these ghostly red ants could crawl freely from under the stone bridge, attacking the cavalry from the left and right sides of the stone bridge, which immediately made the cavalry on the flanks scramble.

The cavalry who lost their horses completely gave up their speed advantage, and they were forced to retreat in the acid and rotten venom frequently sprayed by the soldiers.

Cavalry caught in infantry combat will not perform much better than heavy armored infantry.

Fortunately, with their strong armor and strengthened by magic patterns, their strength is not inferior to that of ghost pattern soldiers, and the cavalry everyone has a magic weapon in their hands, even if they retreat, they don't look embarrassed.

The cavalry kept retreating, luring the ghostly soldiers into the range of the bed crossbow.

The bed crossbows surrounding the bridgehead shot angrily at the same time, and a large number of ghost-patterned soldiers and ants were hit by arrows one after another, and many red ants were planted directly into the lake from the bridge.

A tug-of-war ensued, and a battle unfolded on the stone arch deck.

Because the ghost red ants are limited by the terrain, they can't use their numerical advantage to suppress the cavalry, and the cavalry abandons the horse and fights on foot, which is also giving up their biggest advantage, pulling back and forth, basically letting the crossbowmen pick up the cheap.

The archers also gathered around the lake, shooting a rain of arrows at the ghost-patterned soldiers.

Even Surdak didn't expect that just in the battle of the bridgehead, a steady stream of ghost-patterned soldiers and ants rushed out, so that the army fought here for more than half a month, and the cavalry and indigenous warriors took turns to fight.

Supplies and supplies were coming in from behind, and Surdak's marching tent was set up on top of the earthen slope at the bridgehead, and he even built a few rafts by the lake to catch the ghostly ants that had fallen into the lake.

However, as the weather gets colder, the ice on the lake becomes thicker and thicker, and the ice must be broken to paddle the rafts onto the lake.

But you can't do without these rafts, and the three-centimeter-thick ice can't hold people at all.

Due to the ghost-patterned soldier ants blocking the stone bridge to death, Surdak can only slowly consume the living power of the ghost-patterned red ants in this way.

During this period, the combined forces of the adventure group and the mercenary group harvested a batch of magic herbs in the area near the lake, and some adventure groups specialized in digging those millipede poisonous insects on the poison swamp, and the adventure group and mercenary group that first went north with the Surdak army made money.

With this batch of magical herbs entering the trading market in Dodan Town, the entire White Forest Plane knew about this northern expedition.

As soon as the beast tide subsided, Surdak, the new lord of the White Forest Plane, gathered 10,000 troops to attack the Dark Worm Valley, which simply shocked the jaws of many Wilkes.

The beast tide hasn't hit enough, and it's actually hitting people's lair......

What's even more annoying is that after breaking through the poisonous swamp, the natural barrier of the Dark Worm Valley, they actually harvested a large amount of magic herbs, and almost all the adventure groups and mercenary groups that came with them actually gained benefits.

At this moment, the rest of the adventure groups and mercenary groups in Wilkes City couldn't sit still, of course, they also wanted to walk around the lake to pick up precious magic herbs, and they also wanted to dig in the swamp to get the poisonous insects in a frozen state.

Even many of the minor lords of Wilkes have been running to the military headquarters to inquire about this news these days, wondering if the lord of Surdak has any conscription plans in the near future, but they have some well-trained troops in their hands.

The response given by the military department was that this northern expedition was completely the personal behavior of Viscount Surdak, and all armaments, materials and troops were borne by him personally, and the military department did not give any explanation for this, nor did it assume any responsibility, If you want to know if Viscount Surdak has a conscription plan, you have to go to the northern front line of Invercargil Forest and ask Viscount Surdak in person.

Adventure groups and mercenary groups are more flexible, they say they can go, and many adventure groups leave Wilkes City that day.

There were also some merchants in Wilkes who were going to collect some supplies and go to Dodan to reap the benefits.

However, instead of going to Dodan at this time, the clever merchant ran to Malacombe and offered to partner in the business with him, and well-informed people knew that Malacombe was the only supplier of supplies to Viscount Surdak.

……

The battle at the southern end of the stone bridge lasted for more than half a month, and although a lot of supplies were consumed, a large number of ghost red ants were also hunted.

The daily expenses are not small, but the gains are also enough.

For Surdak, at least, the balance of payments is still balanced.

But he also realized that in such a stalemate, once this winter passed, he probably couldn't withdraw his troops even if he didn't want to.

Originally, it was intended to be blasted all the way with bed crossbows and catapults, but then the cavalry and tribal warriors took turns to fight, and it was obvious that this would not take the stone bridge.

So in the third week, Samira, who was already extremely irritated by the boring tug-of-war at the head of the city, pushed three ballistae onto the stone bridge, and the crossbow arrows she brought to the stone bridge this time were all bursting crossbow arrows tied to explosives.

Behind the bed crossbow was a group of infantry ready for battle, followed by two catapults.

Just as the ghost-patterned soldier ants on the opposite side were charging, Samira shot three bursting giant crossbow arrows at the opposite side very unskillfully.

Giant bolts exploded across the arched deck, shattering the ghostly ants' thirst for victory.

As the catapults behind them threw explosives and exploded on the stone bridge one after another, the ghost-patterned soldiers and ants fell from the bridge into the ice lake.

The stalemate was broken by these bursting arrows.