Once the guerrillas arrived, they quickly dispersed inside the fortress.

According to the original plan, their combat mission was to remove the siege equipment at various commanding heights under the leadership of their respective demon hunter leaders, creating conditions for Saskia and Kelturis to wreak havoc.

The interior of the fortress had been completely disrupted by the red dragon at this moment, and there was no manpower to be allocated to stop these small and highly mobile elite troops.

With the help of Triss and Yennefer's magic, occasional long-range support or simply using portals to help the guerrillas increase their mobility, the threat on the battlements was quickly eliminated.

Lann also frequently appeared around the siege crossbows and giant catapults, but his purpose was not to kill.

…

There was a flash of golden light, and Lann landed on the ground, still holding his Sword of the Lady of the Lake tightly in his hand.

After the "blood recovery" help from the demon hunters, his body functions have returned to their peak again.

"Lannister!"

The crossbowmen saw their companions on the surrounding commanding heights being killed one by one, and some of them immediately dropped the siege crossbows they were operating and ran away; but there were also some stubborn ones who drew their weapons and rushed towards Lann.

Lane treats both types of people equally.

The golden light of the rune sword flickered, and arcs of light were drawn in the air. Lann walked among the Nilfgaardians with the steps of a civet cat. Whether it was the warriors rushing towards him or the deserters who turned around and left, they were all enveloped by his sword light.

"Puff" sounds were heard intermittently, and blood splashed in the air like a fountain and then fell down one after another.

All the crossbowmen were turned into corpses.

Lann shook off the remaining blood on the sword and slapped the giant siege crossbow with his left hand. Then the device disappeared from the area as if it had been wiped out from space, leaving only a slightly concave mark on the ground.

He raised his eyebrows with satisfaction. This was the tenth siege crossbow that Lann had put into his [Inventory]. In addition, there were eight giant Nilfgaardian catapults.

The combined cost of these giant beasts made of huge trees and steel is equivalent to that of several manors, and the technological value contained in them is even more immeasurable.

As mentioned before, the war between Nilfgaard and the North was not of the same era. This was reflected not only in tactics and war concepts, but also in technology.

The range and power of these siege engines are several times greater than those currently available in the North. This can be seen from the fact that the catapults used in the sneak attack on Earl Thorgeir in Skellige almost destroyed an ancient castle with three volleys.

Knowing yourself and your enemy, you can fight a hundred battles without danger. Moreover, after taking these siege weapons back and breaking down their technology, they can also greatly improve Cintra's strength.

At this time, Lann looked around again and found that Nilfgaard's air control means had basically been eliminated.

The two giant dragons had no more scruples and began to swoop down frequently at low altitudes, indiscriminately spewing flames at the people in the castle.

It's time for them to withdraw.

Suddenly, Lann raised his hand as if he had sensed something, and at the other end of his sight was the flag of Nilfgaard.

"Oh."

…

"Sir, all the siege crossbows and catapults have been destroyed. We have no way to deal with those two dragons!"

The adjutant reported to Duke Witte with a pale face, cold sweat of fear and hot sweat from the flames flowing together, and the whole person looked like he had just been fished out of the Yaruga River.

"I saw..."

At this point, Duke Witte has calmed down.

He looked at the blond knight in silver and black armor at the end of his sight.

From the moment Lann flashed into the city, the only information in Duke Witte's mind was that Duke Darcy of the Eastern Army had been killed and his flag captured, so he immediately summoned all the guards to surround him and protect himself.

This chaotic command was also one of the reasons why Lann's guerrillas could enter the fortress as if no one was there and destroy equipment at will.

But even though the banner was right there, Lannister seemed to ignore it on purpose. Not only Lannister, but also the guerrillas that were summoned, and even the flames from the two giant dragons in the sky, deliberately avoided him.

At this point, the tower under Duke Witte's feet is actually the most peaceful place in the entire fortress.

Duke White vaguely had a sense that the Lannisters did not want his life.

With a "boom", a column of fire brushed past the tower under Duke Witte's feet and sprayed into an arrow tower next to it.

The flames seeped into the building through the windows and every crack, and then with a violent explosion, the entire arrow tower was blown into pieces.

"My lord, we, we may have to retreat!"

The adjutant threw Duke Witte to the ground, dodged the bricks and stones that were flying up into the sky and smashing towards this side, and anxiously gave Duke Witte advice.

"Retreat? Retreat under these circumstances?"

Duke Witte jumped up and pointed fiercely at the Cintra cavalry in the distance and the dragon in the sky, and then pointed at his own infantry which had almost become a defeated army.

"In this case, we are asked to leave the fortress and retreat to the wild?"

The adjutant's eyes were red and he was breathing heavily without saying a word.

After yelling at his adjutant for a while, Duke Witte quickly calmed down and said dejectedly:

"We really should withdraw."

There was another "boom" and the entire south wall collapsed, revealing a huge gap, as if telling Duke Witte that he could escape from there.

Looking around, more than one-fifth of the entire Ortaga Fortress had collapsed. The fortress, which was originally used for city defense, had now become a cage, making it impossible for the Nilfgaardian soldiers to avoid the dragon flames that fell from the sky, killing most of the most elite black soldiers.

At this moment, the troops lined up outside the fortress still maintained most of their combat effectiveness.

"A giant dragon that can be defeated by a few hundred people... or even dozens of people, can such a result be achieved by using this kind of tactics on the battlefield..."

Duke Witte muttered to himself as he looked at Lann not far away.

At this moment, the guerrillas had regrouped around him, and the warlocks had opened a portal to help with the evacuation. Duke Witte could only watch helplessly as these people came and went in his fortress as if it were an empty place, but he was powerless to do anything.

With a "boom", another pillar of fire fell. From Duke Witte's perspective, the flames spread behind Lann, as if to bring an action that would shock the continent to a close.

Just at this moment, he saw Lannister's gaze directed towards him, and he smiled.

The next second, the Lion of Cintra and the remaining witchers disappeared in a flash of bright emerald.

"Sir!" The adjutant's urging voice came to my ears again.

The dragon was still roaring, the Nilfgaardians were still screaming, and the surroundings looked like the end of the world.

Duke Witte gritted his teeth and ordered harshly:

"Collect the guards, we're retreating!"

The only remaining cavalry in the city mounted their horses as quickly as possible, escorting the commander of the East Group and rushing towards the gap in the city wall that had been blasted out by the giant dragon. As expected, the journey was smooth and peaceful, and such a big commotion did not attract the attention of the giant dragon in the sky.

But when Duke Witte tried to gather the remaining troops and take more soldiers, dragon fire immediately descended from the sky, turning the Nilfgaardians who thought they had a glimmer of hope into charcoal.

By the time Duke Witte left Otaga Fortress, he was only accompanied by a hundred cavalrymen.

On the other side of the fortress, shouts and screams were deafening.

The dragons had already ignored the ruined fortress and began to wreak havoc on the infantry formations outside the city. The Cintra cavalry also decisively broke in after the infantry phalanx was defeated, and entered the mode of chasing and killing the defeated soldiers from the first moment of close combat.

"Sir, should we…"

"No, leave them all behind to cover our retreat." Duke Witte gritted his teeth and said, "They have no choice but to stay."

The commander of Army Group West looked back at his troops for the last time.

"The legendary Lannister that the people of Cintra talked about... turned out to be real."

"Western Army Group, it's over!"

…

Half a day later.

Inside the Otaga Fortress, Lann sat in the study in the only main building that had not been washed by dragon flames—which was where Duke Witte had been before.

Dear teacher, I am writing to you:

It has been a long time since I last greeted you. Because the war in the north is urgent and Nilfgaard is eyeing us covetously, I have been running around looking for reliable allies and it is difficult to find time to ask you for advice.

Fortunately, everything was finally resolved. Now I have almost driven out all the enemies entrenched in Cintra, and the restoration of the country is imminent. When everything is settled, we can finally put the reconstruction of the Demon Hunter Cult into progress...】

He was using the Griffin School Contact Notes to write a letter to Geron in Kell Siren.

Since Geron had promised to help Lann in times of crisis, and another master of the Griffin School, Kelda, had already gone north with Mossak to seek help from the Kingdom of Kovir, Lann no longer used his previous tricks of saying something cryptic and implicitly begging his mentor to come down the mountain.

The letters he wrote now were mostly just to simply communicate with Jeron about his recent situation, enhance their relationship, and bring warmth to the empty-nesters of Kyle Siren.

Of course, it is not ruled out that Lann is not satisfied with the help at the level of "help in times of crisis" and wants to bring the two Griffin Masters to Cintra to stay permanently.

With a "creak", the door of the study was suddenly pushed open before Lan had finished writing the letter.

This made Lann raise an eyebrow.

In the whole of Cintra, there is only one person who dared to walk in without knocking even though he knew he was already in the room, and who also managed to let the guards at the door not inform him in advance.

Sure enough, a familiar clear "Lan!" call came into my ears immediately.

When he looked up, he saw Ciri running into the study wearing the same white armor that Calanthe wore when he was alive. Then she jumped into his arms and looked curiously at the notes spread out on his desk.

"Is this the magic tool that your Griffin School uses to communicate with each other? Can I see it?"

The Destiny Girl of the Wolf Clan asked curiously.

"Do I still have room to say 'no'?" Lann chuckled and touched Ciri's head, then asked in confusion, "Why are you here? You should stay in Brokilon. This is the front line."

"It's not the front line anymore." When she said this, Ciri's eyes were moist and shining, "This is 'home' again!"

Hearing this, Lan En's smile widened.

"You do have a point, Princess." His right hand touched the silver-gray haired head with muscle memory, "But how did you get here?"

A voice sounded outside the door:

"It's me."

Old advisor Mossak came in from outside, followed by Marshal Vissekid.

"Ciri has been begging me long before I set out." The druid watched the interaction between Lann and Ciri, and couldn't suppress the smile on his face. "After the recovery of the Otaga Fortress and the defeat of the Western Army, I think I need to send a signal to the warriors of Cintra."

When he said this, Mossak took a deep breath, and Marshal Vissekid behind him also blushed.

"Cintra can be considered to have been liberated at this point," said Mossak. "Under such circumstances, having the princess and the duke appear before the warriors, making declarations to them, and rewarding them is enough to go down in history."

This is indeed the case. Lann and his men have basically achieved their strategic goals in Cintra.

If it weren't for the need to leave a passage for ambush for the Central Army Group in the future, Cintra could have started the process of recovering the entire territory now.

And success will come soon.

"Indeed." This reason convinced Lann, "It has been two years since the Nilfgaardians first entered the country. Everyone is looking forward to it..."

"After we have cleaned up the Otaga Fortress, we will gather all the soldiers together. We really need to reward them at this moment of staged victory."

"But we still have a decisive battle ahead, so the soldiers cannot relax." Lann warned, "I still need the Marshal to help me control this aspect."

"Don't worry, Lan." The spirit in the marshal's eyes was not like that of an old man with gray hair and beard. There seemed to be a fire burning in his eyes. "Everyone's morale is unprecedentedly high - after all, this is the recovery of the Otaga Fortress."

"This is the last stretch of the road to dawn. From now on, we will all die on the battlefield without a single complaint."

These were not words spoken by the marshal on behalf of the soldiers, but his true feelings.

Lan's expression became serious, and he said solemnly: "I don't want everyone to die in the last battle. My efforts all along - whether it's finding allies everywhere, improving my own strength, or the dragons flying outside and the giants that have not yet appeared - are all to keep as many people alive as possible, and to witness the three lion flags rising again in the capital of Cintra with us."

"What's more," Lann laughed, "I still need your help to rebuild Cintra. If they all fall, where can I find people?"

The room suddenly began to be filled with a relaxed atmosphere.

Lann quickly raised a new question: "How is the battlefield cleanup going? You two definitely didn't come here just to send Ciri here, right?"

Speaking of cleaning up the battlefield, Mossak's face suddenly turned complaining.

In the previous battle with the dragon on their face, Saskia and Keltulis breathed fire until their throats were almost burned. Although they succeeded in defeating the Nilfgaardian army, they also almost shattered the border fortress of Ortaga.

Apart from anything else, just to put out the fire and provide a temporary shelter for the soldiers to rest, Lan personally flashed everywhere and used [Freezing] to cool down, and after his magic power was exhausted, he hid in the study; then the two old druids, Mossak and Fetov, used their old bones to pray for rain, and finally cooled down the scorching fortress.

"Most of the city was destroyed, one side of the city wall collapsed, and no one can stand on the other three sides. We can only take a temporary rest here, and then we will withdraw." Such an Otaga Fortress had obviously lost its strategic value before reconstruction.

“But those half-melted towers may be preserved to commemorate today’s battle.” Mossak began to enjoy the post-war period. “This will become a colorful chapter in history.”

Lan nodded.

The marshal began to report the casualties of both the enemy and us: "The enemy had already been defeated before our cavalry arrived, so there were no deaths among the Cintra cavalry, only a dozen or so lightly injured."

"This is also because of the Kovir Free Corps who were at the forefront. They lost more than a hundred people, and the exact number and the number of wounded are still being counted."

The troops brought this time were 3,000 elite Cintra cavalry and 3,000 free army mercenaries. The average quality of the mercenaries was very high, and each of them could fight immediately and be used as cavalry.

However, they are much worse than the people of Sintra in terms of organization and discipline. The number of people with minor injuries has been counted here, but the number of deaths over there is not even accurate yet.

Lann said nothing: "This is the value of the mercenary group. However, the treatment should not be too different from that of our own people, and the wounded should be treated with all our strength. After the decisive battle is over, some or even most of them will become Cintra people."

"I know." The Marshal nodded.

"What about the Nilfgaardians? How many have we killed and how many have we taken captive?"

This question made the marshal look embarrassed. "It's hard to calculate the number of casualties. We can only roughly estimate between 10,000 and 15,000 people. After all, most of them were burned to ashes. Many more were buried under the collapsed buildings and have not been dug out yet."

Lan nodded, "I understand." Even if the numbers are unclear, this result is enough to go down in history.

Every soldier who fights in the war will see himself in the poetry.

"Where are the prisoners?"

"No prisoners," said the marshal.

Lann paused slightly and said nothing.

Even Ciri's expression didn't change.

"The main force of the Western Army is here, but there must be scattered troops around, and there must be many fleeing defeated troops in this battle. Let our people continue to clear them out. I will also let the Red Dragon continue to patrol in the air, and let the soldiers cooperate with her more."

"Ten days. No matter what the outcome, we must regroup our troops," Lann decided. "Then we will march to Soden and prepare for the decisive battle we have planned."

The marshal knocked his shin guards, gave a solemn standard military salute, and used the honorific: "Your will!"

…

Square, Blochelon Town.

A portal suddenly opened and a strong wind blew.

The warlock Radcliffe, the royal advisor to Aedirn, stumbled out and saw a tall troll covered in rocks rumbling towards him.

Radcliffe's already pale face turned even paler. Fortunately, he looked around and soon saw the three lions flag fluttering on the side.

"I am the royal advisor of Aedirn! I come to Lord Lannister on the orders of His Majesty King Demave III!"

"I'm here for help!!"