Chapter 459: Burning Tristram

Outside the city of Tristram, the air was filled with smoke.

The self-detonation of the evil orcs brought great trouble to the defenders. The energy consumption of the protective magic circle was very large. Judging from the consumption rate, the reserve energy could only last for one month at most.

As a last resort, Vasek ordered to open the gaps reserved in the magic circle, allowing some enemies to enter the city and besiege and annihilate them, and evil orcs and fire zombies swarmed in.

The consumption of the magic circle's reserve energy decreased, but the number of casualties among the defenders suddenly increased.

At the foot of the city wall, Vasek threw out the shield in his hand, and several evil orcs that rushed over were knocked away in an instant. They were torn into pieces in the air and exploded into bloody flesh and blood residue.

The shield drew a bloody arc in the air and finally returned to its owner's hands.

This outcome was not caused by him, but by the evil orcs who launched a self-destruction. However, they were not close enough to him and did not cause much effective casualties.

Vasek panted tiredly. After a night of fighting, he felt that breathing was a burden.

The sun rose, and the gray fog above the sky gradually dissipated. He looked around and saw corpses all over the ground, some of which were on fire.

The face of a Crusader was completely corroded, leaving a scar the size of a bowl.

Next to him, a priest had half of his face smashed by a blunt object, and next to the priest's flail, a headless fire zombie lay. The smell of burning and stench mixed together, making people want to vomit.

Hamidi came closer, his armor covered with burn marks and dark green corrosion marks: "Archbishop, please retreat first, we will hold out for a while.

I found that there were only a few enemy suicide orcs left, and the fire zombie troops were retreating. We resisted the enemy's attack!"

There were only a few enemies left who were deliberately allowed into the city, and the defenders welcomed the dawn of victory.

Vasek gave a smile that was uglier than crying, retreated to the edge of the city wall, and slowly slid down to sit down with his back against the wall.

The last stubbornness of the gray fog was annihilated by the sun, and the sunlight shone upon the earth. The remaining fire zombies retreated several kilometers and set up camp in the burned woodland.

Human troops began to clean up the battlefield and treat the surviving wounded, and reconnaissance airships descended from the sky.

Vasek and Hamidi had just returned to the temporary command post in the church and sat down to catch their breath when the guard came in and reported:

"Archbishop, airship captain Marcus is waiting outside."

Vasek put down the glass and said hoarsely, "Please come in."

After the guards received the order and left, Marcus, with a white beard on his cheeks, walked into the room. He was wearing a starched, whitish priest robe, and his temples were also stained with frost.

"Archbishop, Your Excellency Hamit, Marcus is here to report!"

He saluted respectfully, and then continued:

"I just conducted a close reconnaissance of the city of Bly and discovered that a large number of green-skinned orcs had come out and were heading towards Tristram. I estimated there were at least five thousand of them.

The number of bombs carried by the airship was too small, and the bombing was not very fruitful. "

Hamidi nodded slightly and said:

"We understand, thank you for your information, it's hard work.

Go back and rest. Tristram still needs you to fly the airship to provide information support."

"This is what I should do, for the church, for the Lord of Fire!"

Marcus bowed slightly and turned to leave.

Vasek stared at the other man's slightly hunched back and said, "Marcus has served the church for more than 40 years. I wonder what he would feel when facing the ruins of Bly City.

Fortunately, he was strong enough and still had faith in our Lord, otherwise."

He didn't continue talking and let out a long sigh.

After a brief silence, Hamidi said:

“Based on the situation of last night’s battle, if the enemy continues to send troops to attack, we won’t be able to hold out for more than a month.

Archbishop, prepare to retreat, otherwise when the Crusaders in the city are exhausted, all the believers in the city will become spoils of war for the enemy."

The city's protective magic circle is only of the fifth level, which is far from comparable to the magic circle of the Holy See.

In addition, due to its geographical proximity to the city of Bly, the crusader forces in Tristram are smaller than those in other dioceses, making it difficult to cope with successive bloody battles.

“I know, but it’s bad for the morale of the army if we announce our retreat right after the war begins.

If we hold on for a few more days and the intensity of the war gradually increases, it will become much easier to retreat.

In addition, I need you to go to the nearby cities and try to get as many airships as possible, no matter what method you use.

It would be best if we could requisition the Chamber of Commerce’s large transport boat, price is not an issue.”

Vasek leaned forward, approached his deputy who had followed him for many years, and said in a low voice:

"You should first move our bishop's family and valuables to Dalong County. One or two days will be enough for us to finish the move.

At that time, the decision to withdraw will be announced.”

Hamidi opened his mouth, hesitated, and finally lowered his eyes:

“Okay, I’ll do it right away.

The enemy's attack will inevitably continue, Archbishop, please take care of yourself."

What could he say?! Now he understood the Archbishop's thoughts. If he announced the order to retreat, the airship would be fought over by everyone. Even if they were the decision-makers of the city, they could not suppress the gossips, and they would have to leave some of their families and property behind.

He could not bear to see his believers die in the enemy's attack, and he could not bear to see his relatives die in front of him.

"I'm confident in your work. I've already told a few trusted bishops to try to pack as little as possible, so that the families can squeeze in and move everything out at once."

Vasek patted his deputy on the shoulder and said:

"After our families have been relocated, we can focus on fighting the enemy without fear of life or death."

Three hours later, eight airships took off from Tristram and flew in a row toward the northwest.

Vasek watched the airship go away, and felt a little relieved.

The roar gradually faded away, but the deafening drums of war sounded, and a large number of evil orcs, driven by the fire zombies, once again launched an attack on the city of Tristram.

The wild roar was like a whistling wind, plugging the eardrums.

Vasek's face changed slightly. According to their intelligence, fire zombies rarely move under the scorching sun during the day. Now it was noon, and these fire zombies should be hiding in the shadows to rest.

The damage caused by the green-skinned orcs' self-destruction is not low. If it self-destructs at close range, it can cause third-order peak-level damage.

He hurried back to the command center, put on his armor with the help of the guards, and ran to the city wall.

When he reached the city wall, he saw green-skinned orcs all over the mountains with bloody red light on their chests, rushing towards the city like a broken dam.

He took a quick glance and his heart sank. The number of orcs was definitely more than five thousand. It seemed that the enemy had sent reinforcements while the airship was resting.

In the "tide" of green-skinned orcs, there were also several even larger and more bloated orcs. These orcs were as tall as a floor, and their bodies were scarlet, making them extremely conspicuous.

At this time, the evil beasts had already begun a suicide attack, and patches of dark green bloomed on the light shield of the protective magic circle.

The tall red orc crashed into the protective magic circle. Scarlet flowers bloomed on the dark green background. Amid the roar, the light shield of the magic circle began to shake.

As more evil orcs attacked the protective formation, the light shield shook more violently.

Vasek was panicking. He knew very well that the defensive power of the magic circle had its limit. This kind of performance would only occur when it was subjected to continuous attacks of the fifth level.

Through last night's battle, he understood that ordinary green-skinned orcs could not cause such strong damage, so only those new orcs could cause such huge damage.

However, the enemy was able to launch such a powerful attack that even if he led his troops out to fight, he would definitely not be their match.

He was only a fourth-level transcendent, and facing an enemy who could launch fifth-level attacks, he was completely not on the same level.

'what to do?'

Vasek asked himself in his heart, and only then did he understand that the enemy's attack last night was not powerful at all. Judging from the current attack density, it would be good if the protective magic circle could last for three or four days.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

Just when he was feeling uneasy, he suddenly felt a terrifying force approaching rapidly. Even though there was a magic circle between them, he still felt his soul trembling.

He raised his head and saw a stream of black and red fire falling from the sky and hitting the light shield of the magic circle head-on.

Heaven and earth fell silent, the light shield of the magic circle shattered into a sky full of spiritual light, and was then engulfed by a stream of black and red fire, falling from the sky.

A torrent of flames composed of the laws of mutation fell in the center of the city. Amidst the dull and huge sound of impact, St. Martin's Cathedral was wiped out in an instant, and the huge shock wave stirred up smoke and dust more than ten meters high that spread outward.

The buildings closest to the center of the explosion were like castles piled on the beach, which were scattered into yellow sand by the strong wind.

"It's over," Vasek turned around and saw a scene that terrified him, and realized that the game was over.

The city's protective array was broken, the church was destroyed, and the pitiful dream that humans wanted to hold on to was shattered into debris.

Escape, there is an airship in the parking lot, there is still a glimmer of hope if we leave now.

Vasek forced himself to calm himself, turned around, and ran towards the parking lot with trembling legs, completely ignoring the calls of the guards behind him.

The airship is on standby with a full crew and is ready to take off at any time.

After the huge change occurred, wails were heard in the city.

Vasek ran wildly among the rubble, knocking aside anyone who blocked his way. The parking lot was in the northwest of the city, quite far from the center of the explosion, so it would not be greatly affected.

When he ran to the parking lot, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the airship was still there and was not damaged.

This is his only hope. The enemy who sent out a attack to break the defense of the protective magic circle may attack again at any time. Every second he stays here will increase the danger.

As for his duties as an archbishop, he had thrown them out of his mind. He was facing a fatal threat and had no time to care about anything else!

He ran towards the airship at the fastest speed in his life, and when he entered the airship, he was furious:

"You're saying that the airship captain did not follow the church's orders and left his post without permission?!"

His eyes seemed to be able to spit fire, and anger was burning in his chest.

“Archbishop, the captain’s family lives near St. Martin’s Cathedral. When he looked down from the high tower of the parking lot, he saw that it was under attack. The captain was concerned about his family’s safety, so he rushed back.

The airship captain said he would be gone for no more than an hour and would come back as quickly as possible."

The person who answered was the captain's assistant, a young man of about twenty-three or twenty-four years old.

"How long has he been gone?"

Vasek was both angry and anxious. St. Martin's Cathedral was under a powerful attack of laws. With the cathedral as the center, the surrounding area within a few hundred meters became a ruin.

The captain's family must have already become ghosts. Even if they are still alive, they must have suffered serious injuries.

Without waiting for others to answer, Vasek continued:

"Let me ask, among those who are still injured in the airship, who can still fly the airship?"

The enemy must have already entered the city by now, and by the time the airship captain returns, it will be a question whether he can escape.

"I," the young man who had just spoken raised his hand and continued:

“My name is Harry, and I have been an assistant to the captain of an airship for nine years. I also have more than twenty hours of actual piloting experience.

The airship captain has promised to focus on training me next year so that I can become the next airship captain."

"Okay, it's you. Now start the airship immediately. We will take off and head to Dalong County."

"Not waiting for the airship to grow?" Harry was a little anxious and explained, "I don't have much piloting experience. If I encounter an emergency, I may not be able to safely fly the airship."

Novice pilots did not have much confidence in flying the airship, let alone performing a flight mission without the on-site command of the airship captain.

His flying experience was all gained under the supervision of the airship captain, and he himself had no experience in flying alone.

Now I was asked to fly the airship alone, and I felt inexplicably panicked.

It's too late. If we leave later, we may have to stay here forever. Vasek shook his head and said solemnly: "Harry, as the Cardinal of Tristram, I order you to start the airship and take off immediately.

Just do it with confidence. If you don’t try to do something yourself, you will never learn it.

I believe you are capable enough to fly an airship, you just lacked an opportunity before."

At his instigation, Harry started to fly alone. The young man was really capable. The airship took off smoothly, adjusted its direction, and flew out of Tristram.

Vasek patted the airship assistant on the shoulder and smiled, "Harry, you did it, I'm proud of you!"

"Thank you Archbishop for your encouragement. If"

Before he could finish his words, Vasek's face suddenly changed. His spiritual sense was frantically warning him that something life-threatening was about to happen.

In the city of Tristram, many people witnessed a huge flaming spear striking the sky and hitting an airship that was launched from the parking lot.

The airship instantly turned into a huge fireball, and then exploded violently, and countless parts fell on the city like flowers from the sky.

In the camp of the flame zombies, Hasut looked at the huge "fireball" falling from the sky and smiled contemptuously. It was impossible to escape from this city! That's right, the attack that just destroyed the airship was this one.

It looked down at the followers below and said:

"Charge in and kill as much as you want. I want to bathe the entire kingdom in my exploding flames and spread my fame throughout the kingdom."

As night fell, the city of Tristram was burning. The heat wave dispersed the gray fog in the sky and dyed the night sky red, just like the city of Bly under the red moon that night.

(End of this chapter)