Whether out of fear or intimidated by Su Yue's killing of Cedric Charles and the dragon knight leader Spencer, the 20,000+ human imperial rebels who lost their leader became even more valiant.
He knew very well what this meant: the morale of the rebels of the human empire was rapidly crumbling.
In the long history of human civilization, there is a saying that things will turn around when they reach their extreme. In Su Yue's eyes, the group of imperial rebels in front of him was on the verge of a final burst of energy and a complete collapse of morale.
The imperial rebels, waving flags and wielding long swords, launched a seemingly fierce attack on Canaanite territory.
They even went to great lengths to present a posture of surrounding Su Yue, the Canaanite lord, in a high-ranking manner.
Shouting loudly to vent one's arrogance only creates a sense of outward bravado but inner weakness.
"boom!!"
The little griffin from Soth swooped down, and Su Yue's white horse, Sleipnir, like a nimble horse leaping over mountains, quickly retreated under the attack of the Son of Sigmar and the Imperial Musketeers.
"Stop him!!"
"Don't let him get away."
In the eyes of the imperial rebels, exchanging one for one with Cedric Charles, the shepherd leader, didn't seem like an unacceptable price. But when they watched Su Yue's figure quickly retreat from the front line...
Morale finally saw its first turning point.
Lord's Log: "You have successfully defeated an enemy general in battle, reducing enemy morale by 15."
The Imperial Silver Bullet Musketeers fired barrages of bullets at Su Yue's retreating figure, but the scene seemed somewhat futile.
The bullets were fired at Su Yue, but they were all blocked by the broad wings of the Sos Star Griffin.
The imperial rebels swarmed towards the walls of the Canaanite territory like black locusts.
The image of corpses strewn across the field and blood splattering everywhere flashed before Su Yue's eyes.
Andy Arelford immediately took command of the Imperial Rebels after the death of Cedric the Shepherd, which prevented the Imperial Rebels from collapsing directly due to the loss of their leader.
But another problem arose: the retreat of the Canaanite lords caused their morale to collapse completely.
Andy Arellfornan said, "We must capture the walls of Canaan as soon as possible, or our morale will collapse. Haywood, immediately mobilize all the catapults to attack the southern towns. Intelligence indicates that their men have already moved to Chiwell in large numbers overnight."
"..."
Andy Arellforin was a very clever fellow. He was not frightened by the death of Cedric the shepherd. Instead, he realized that Su Yue's decision to attack was far from conventional. According to the White Horse Lord's past habits, he would not have used such a proactive attack to kill the enemy general to gain the defensive advantage.
Andy Arellfornan's eyes narrowed dangerously as he said, "There should only be one correct answer: the Canaanite territory is empty; they don't have many troops left."
"...Otherwise, why would he take the initiative and risk such a move?"
To boost morale, Andy Arelford immediately issued generous rewards to his troops.
"Lord Andy Arelfonan has issued a bounty: whoever kills Su Yue, the Lord of Canaan, will be rewarded with 100,000 gold."
"Kill...kill him!!"
Upon hearing the news, a large number of imperial rebels cried out.
The morale of Andy Arelfonn's imperial rebel army began to rise, and his voice echoed throughout the woodlands beyond Canaan: "The reason the enemy White Horse Lords attacked their generals is because their troop reserves are running low. Now is the best time to crush them! Soldiers, don't be intimidated! The men before you, Canaan itself, are doomed. And we have victory in our hands! Victory and honor are hard-won, but they are within our grasp. Kill them!"
"!!!"
"kill!!"
The 20,000 Imperial cavalry, a dark, slow-moving torrent of iron, were inspired by Andy Arellfon's sermon and moved their siege ladders toward Canaan.
The siege ladders tilted forward, and the sounds of arrows and catapults whistling through the air came from afar. A dozen soldiers supporting imperial weapons were instantly blasted into a cloud of blood mist...
Su Yue frowned as he watched the morale of the imperial rebels rise:
"The leader of the Eastern Expedition is probably no pushover either. I've already killed a general, yet he's managed to rebuild morale?"
Europa said from the side, "Should I go and kill him?"
Su Yue shook his head and laughed, "We do indeed lack manpower, and our troops are all ragtag units, but who says that ragtag units can't withstand the attacks of the imperial rebels? In ancient times, there were heroic acts of a hundred warriors defending a city for seven or eight days, and Sparta could defend a city with three hundred men... So what are we lacking?"
Su Yue asked, "How many militia members can be mobilized?"
Eric, standing next to him, laughed and said, "It should be over 3,000 people."
Su Yue immediately mobilized a large number of second-tier blind warriors, wolf warriors, and jackals to block the north entrance of the city wall... His gaze leaped to a high place, to the catapult positions. On each tower, the catapults had their own exclusive high positions, and dwarf soldiers were dragging boulders.
Su Yue aimed at the position of the imperial rebel leader and launched a volley of catapults.
Cave dwellers and big-eared monsters quickly spread out horizontally before him, like long, steel dragons. Su Yue laughed. In this defensive battle, he immediately picked up his bow and arrows and began to aim and fire at the creatures below.
"Let the militiamen also take up bows and arrows and shoot. We lack everything, but we don't lack money."
Even if their shooting accuracy was not high enough, they could still inflict some casualties on the enemy. At the same time, Su Yue arranged for defensive resources such as oil and rolling stones to be thrown down the city like crazy.
The vanguard of the imperial rebels had already pressed against the city walls. Those who had not experienced siege warfare could not understand the fear and terror of life and death being so close at hand.
Su Yue felt a chill run down his spine as the oil burned beneath the city wall.
The distant positions of the imperial rebels roared towards them, and the entire city wall seemed to shake and tremble. Numerous catapults and trebuchets cast ever-expanding shadows of massive stones onto the city wall and into the Canaanite territory.
"boom!!"
More than forty cave dwellers were killed instantly by the explosion.
Su Yue immediately realized that he had to deal with their catapult positions, but the problem was that his air force—the number of griffins and pegasus troops—was probably insufficient to attack the enemy's catapult positions.
Napoleon's favorite pastime was artillery bombardment, and he personally took control of the artillery positions.
In that crucial battle.
With 240 cannons, they launched an offensive against the enemy's 180 cannons, creating a suppressive effect. The catapults and artillery were of equal strength on the battlefield of the Turin World. Because they were positioned on high ground, Su Yue immediately dispatched 23 Tier 6 Deepsea Marine Heavy Artillerymen to the highest point of the fortress to bombard the Imperial troops in the distance.
Thanks to Frederick's global advisor bonus, the "Soldier King +35% Attack" effect resulted in terrifyingly high damage output, yielding remarkable results!
"What is that??"
"Artillery fire..."
"It's the Empire's heavy artillery."
"No...I've seen the Empire's heavy artillery, but none of it possessed such terrifying power..."
Hundreds of men were blasted to pieces by the dense barrage of level 6 Innsmouth vine cannons, leaving them mangled beyond recognition... The Imperial cavalry had just dismounted when they turned around to find their herd of horses behind them exploding in bloody rings. Terrifying iron ball cannonballs, infused with poison, landed not far from them, kicking up huge plumes of smoke and dust.
155 Tier 1 Spear Clan Rats, 375 Tier 2 Storm Rats, 94 Tier 3 Plague Rats... were arranged by Su Yue on the right flank. A small number of Imperial Cavalry Attendants were also recruited by Su Yue and followed the Tier 5 Imperial Cavalry Instructor Walter, frantically throwing logs and stones down the city wall.
Bai Yue said, "Boss, we're here too."
Lord's Log: "Elise is transferring command of 275 human Empire soldiers to you. Do you accept?"
Su Yue laughed... His territory did indeed lack troops, but he had the Chosen One players behind him.
Zhou Zhuo's Dark Elf forces began to provide support to Su Yue's Canaan territory; when one is in trouble, help comes from all sides.
Bai Yue, Zhan Ji, Sun Zhao, Mi Beier, Gu Yu, and other players from the Canaan Alliance brought nearly 1,500 fresh troops to join the city defense battle of Canaan...
"Holy crap... so many imperial rebels, and they're fighting this fiercely so early in the morning?"
Bai Yue was utterly shocked. As a lord-level player specializing in repairs, he started running south when a loud "boom" came from beneath his feet—a large section of the city wall had collapsed. "Damn it, they have too many catapults... If they keep bombarding like this, the situation is probably going to be bad..."
Ruins appeared in parts of the city wall, and Jin Xiuer mobilized a large number of farmers to begin their traditional craft—repairing while fighting.
"Charge...charge forward!! Defeat Canaan, and the Eastern Expedition will completely liberate the entire Bathorian Empire!!"
The imperial rebel forces, howling and snarling, had erected more than a dozen siege ladders, and the first batch of troops had already begun to climb up to the city walls... Large numbers of corpses fell to the ground from all sides of the ladders, and many of the powerful imperial free militia members were able to get up and continue fighting after falling.
"Swish, swish, swish..."
Despite being positioned at low altitudes, the Imperial rebels' long-range firepower still suppressed the Canaanite army's ranged units. No matter how much Su Yue hoped his troops' ranged capabilities were strong enough, they were a motley crew, and even with the support of the player lords, it seemed to be of little use.
The only bright spot was the second-tier investigators from Innsmouth. They held single-shot muskets, raised their right arms, and fired shot after shot at the ground. Despite wearing light armor, they were the only ranged unit that was not suppressed by the Imperial rebels.
"My Cthulhu army is still the most reliable."
"Battle Flag: The military expenses of your Cthulhu God units will be permanently reduced by 70%."
"Outer God Lord: The combat strength of your Cthulhu pantheon soldiers has increased by 40%."
Su Yue felt the pervasive atmosphere of gunpowder smoke. Countless Imperial spearmen were the first to scale the city walls, only to be driven back down, leaving the city locked in a tense stalemate of siege and defense.
Europa stood beside Su Yue without making a move. She knew that the lord was currently deep in thought. His profile was very handsome, and Europa was captivated by him.
Based on past experience, the higher the city wall and the more unique the terrain, the easier it is to defend and the harder it is to attack. In the face of fierce resistance from the enemy, the best option is to cut off their food supply, besiege them without attacking, and wait for the city to collapse. In ancient times, such a siege without attack could last for one or two months.
The intensity of Su Yue's offensive in defeating the northern fortress was, after all, only a minority.
Anxiety is the norm on the battlefield.
At this moment, the siege of Canaan had reached a stalemate.
Andy Arellafnan was initially skeptical that the soldiers under Canaan Lord Su Yue were all incredibly powerful. He hid in the dense forest, fearing that Su Yue would discover him and lead to another scenario where the leader is captured first.
But he never expected that a ragtag group of first and second-tier troops could actually withstand the attack of the Empire's elite Iron Guards?
"Why would he treat a second-tier ragtag, non-human force as an elite unit? That level of strength is beyond the normal range..."
"Their second-tier blind warrior actually managed to stop the fourth-tier Imperial Sigmar's Son??"
The sight of elite troops clashing with ragtag forces, fighting tooth and nail for every inch of the city walls, shocked Andy Arellfornan and everyone in the Imperial rebels.
Moreover, there was no sign of any individual retreat or defeat.
In war, there are always individuals who want to retreat, desert on the battlefield, or make hesitant or slow actions. At this time, the supervisory team needs to reprimand them, or even execute or motivate them. However, the Canaan troops give people a sense of calm like a deadly army of undead... In the eyes of each ragtag monster, under the thick clouds and the pitch-black smoke, they are like hard rocks honed in the riverbank, which will not fall even if tsunamis, torrential rain, and the ebb and flow of the tide are washed away.
A look of terror constantly appeared in the eyes of the imperial soldiers.
Despite Andy Arelfonn's morale-boosting efforts, when they discovered that the Canaanian resistance was slower than expected, and that the army was "a ragtag bunch" with victory seemingly within their grasp, their morale, hunger, exhaustion, and injuries began to dominate the battlefield.
"...Damn Canaan...aren't they...aren't they just a bunch of ragtag bunch??"
"They actually managed to block our imperial elite! This...this is impossible!!!"
Su Yue appears to be in a state of anxiety, which is normal.
This had a tremendous psychological impact on the Imperial rebels, and specifically on their leader, Andy Arelforin.
"The Imperial cavalry in the forest can no longer remain hidden; they must attack immediately!!"
"clear……"
At Andy Arelfonian's front, a large number of soldiers were raising white flags. He gritted his teeth and said, "For the glory of Innocent IV, for glorious revenge... for worldly rule, we must crush the Canaanite lands."
The name of Innocent IV was invoked, but the morale increase was limited. A large number of elite imperial cavalry nobles appeared in the forest, and it was only then that Andy Arelfonn stabilized the morale at the front.
The impact was like waves, one after another, one wave after another. Before the previous wave had subsided, the next wave could not surpass it and could only crawl like worms, forced to pile up under the city wall, forming a cruel mass of people waiting to die, neither fully dead nor fully alive.
"Catapult!!"
"boom!!"
Four towering ancient trees were smashed down by catapults from the distant Canaanite territory.
Andy Arelford was a mess, a twig had pierced his ear, and blood was streaming down his right cheek... yet he remained unmoved, intently gazing into the distance...
"Canaan must be conquered before today... otherwise, the death of Cedric Charles, the high priest and shepherd, will be difficult to explain..."
"Your Excellency, the enemy is putting up fierce resistance. We...we may need to think of another way."
Andy Arelfonian said, "We're launching an attack on the west side of the city, and we have far too many of them on the north side of the city."
"clear."
Andy Arellforin understood that the Canaanite garrison was not as numerous as they were, and to achieve numerical superiority, they had to launch attacks from multiple directions to dilute the enemy's total strength.
"They headed towards the west city."
Su Yue laughed and said, "What a troublesome fellow."
A massive number of Imperial Tier 4 Sigmar's Sons and Imperial Greatsword Warriors appeared in the western city region, launching a fierce attack on Canaan's territory.
A large number of vultures suddenly appeared in the sky, eager to scavenge the countless corpses of soldiers on the ground and take them back to their nests for a feast. However, due to the Canaanite griffins and the Pegasus army, and the threat of war, they could only watch helplessly as thousands of pieces of food were scattered haphazardly on the battlefield, anxiously letting out cries.
The more difficult the battle, the less Su Yue used his two S-rank subordinates, Europa and Abraham, as trump cards. Instead, he wanted to see where the limits of his troops lay.
————————————
"Attack! Crush them!!!"
Malekith's frenzied voice echoed outside the city... A large number of high elf troops stared in utter shock at the "human lord" in the distance...
"The Empire still has the resources and troops to stop us from invading Qiweier City??"
"This is not normal..."
Under Malekith's influence, advanced tactics and master-level leadership brought confidence and hope to the city lord Austin and his people as soon as the 5,500+ Imperial troops arrived in Chiwell.
Thranmar Rigond, the archer lord of the high elves, watched the troops of Chivel in the distance with suspicion… They had declared war on the Bathor Empire immediately after the death of Tyrone Zorr.
However, less than two hours after the declaration of war, the city of Chiwell became incredibly heavily fortified.
A massive number of Imperial troops appeared on the city walls. In addition to the human fishermen in the nearby fishing villages and towns beginning to evacuate, they were also attacked not only on the sea by strange Canaanite demonic creatures (Cthulhu Insmouths).
Furthermore, their troops suffered a setback and defeat in both the forest and on land.
The vanguard consists of several units with over 1000 soldiers each.
The repeated defeats by the enemy were utterly unacceptable to the proud Thranmar Rigond. He immediately launched an attack on Chivel, but was ambushed by the enemy lord in open battle…
"Who exactly is the enemy's lord?"
"No name."
"He looks like a general from the Bato Empire, fully armored and masked..."
"???"
Malekith's image was described.
Thranmar Rigonde was puzzled.
An elite force consisting of 853 Tier 3 Matheran's Heirs Heavy Guards, 525 Tier 3 Tar Archers, and 267 Tier 5 High Elf Hoth Sword Saints was nearly brought to the brink of collapse by the enemy's flanking maneuvers.
In particular, the knight lord in full armor, leading the empire's cavalry, hunters, and militia, launched a surprise attack on them with such speed, ruthlessness, and decisiveness that his textbook-perfect combat skills were so awe-inspiring that they left people speechless.
Before they could even react, the enemy had already retreated in an orderly fashion, as if mocking Thranmar Ragon, the high elf. What terrified and puzzled him even more was...
The enemy seemed to have a deep understanding of their actions and the preparations for their military formation.
The timing of their attack coincided with the High Elf forces' preparations, a time when the troops were in disarray... This led Thranmar Regond to even suspect that there was a traitor within their ranks.
What he didn't know was...
Malekith was a strong contender for the High Elf Phoenix King before betraying the High Elf Empire. He was the High Elf crown prince, from the perspective of one of his own.
Would he not understand the traditions and status of the High Elves' forces?
Every military unit has its own traditions.
Malekith, the former ruler of the High Elves and now the Dark Elf High Priest-King, an S-rank Terror Hero, taught Thranmar Ragon a lesson in his first attack, inflicting nearly 3,000 casualties—an astonishing number. He even managed to rout three elven vanguard legions that attacked from the High Elf Remiel and the "Munishni" forest, while the Imperial forces suffered fewer than 200 casualties.
Thranmar Ragon suddenly sensed that something was amiss...
“Canaan…”
"A lone army, actually launching an attack on the Elven Empire??"
When capable individuals occupy high positions, the tide of power inevitably forms. Whether it's Huntington in the northern fortress or Malekith in Chiwell outside Barayamakan in the southwest, they are monsters unimaginable to the dwarves and the empire...
The opponents of the northern fortress, the southern elves, and the rebels within the empire are respectively the empire against Su Yue; the high elves against Malekith, the former high elf crown prince and now a traitor; and the dwarves of the northern Golden Goblet tribe against the resurrected Huntington William Frederick II, the chaotic human high king.
Judging from their lineup alone, Canaan seems to have already secured an invincible position.
But is it really that simple?
That very day, Malekith received crucial military intelligence from scouts near Chivel: the Wood Elf forces had bypassed Chivel and were heading towards the Canaanite territory.
Malekith roared, "Send the message to the Suja king immediately, now!!" The griffins swiftly traversed 50 kilometers, then 100 kilometers, to deliver the message to Canaan...
Large numbers of wood elves secretly launched a surprise attack on Canaan from the distant forests of Monishni... The High Elf Empire displayed overwhelming and terrifying pressure from the very beginning...
"Boss...this is trouble!!"
"The Wood Elves, the Wood Elves have also launched an attack on us... 18,000 Wood Elf troops have appeared behind Qiwell City."
Su Yue's face turned green upon hearing the news.
The Wood Elves are rumored to worship the magical goddess Aisha… and possess special units such as Tier 4 Eternal Guardians, Tier 3 to 6 Treants, Tier 4 Giant Eagles, Tier 4 War Dancers, and Tier 5 Wilderness Rangers. He is currently locked in a stalemate with the Imperial rebels, and it seems the only answer points to one objective.
Su Yue: "We must finish this quickly and eliminate the imperial rebels before we can calmly face the Wood Elf's large-scale attack..."
Europa asked, "What should we do?"
Su Yue said, "Their morale is currently their biggest weakness and flaw. Once the Imperial rebels' morale collapses, their troops will all become our prisoners. My prisoners and subordinates are absolutely loyal. We can use this to create a window of opportunity, or even feign weakness to annihilate the entire Wood Elf army..."
"We need to take the initiative and launch an attack."
"clear."
Su Yue immediately adjusted his tactics. He absolutely could not continue the stalemate, otherwise, if attacked from both sides, he would also be doomed. He was not prepared to follow the script of abandoning Canaan's territory and retreating to the northern dwarven fortress or Qiweier City to reclaim the lost land. Canaan absolutely could not fall.
——————————
A vast number of enormous tree spirits, trudging heavily, were surrounded by vines and thorns. These third-tier vicious tree spirits, covered in purple spores, released toxins as they walked. They were the elders of the High Elf Kingdom of Krado, a species even longer-lived than the High Elves.
Wood Elves have an absolute advantage in lifespan compared to High Elves, and even across the entire continent. Their towering trees have given rise to many spirits, who, influenced by the magical winds of the elves, have become the dominant force in Wood Elf society and race. Their disadvantage lies in their slow movement, but the speed of their giant eagles, manticores, and vanguard troops is normal.
Their reason for intending to attack Canaan was naturally because "the Kingdom of Krado High Elves had previously issued a declaration of war against the Barto Empire." As a group of wood elves, if they wanted to expand, they naturally needed to conquer the territories of other races, which, in the eyes of this lord named Durson Los, was an excellent opportunity.
A large force of elk, riding on the backs of giant stags with long antlers, including Tier 4 woodland cavalry, Tier 5 giant stag knights, and even Tier 6 Kunos Wild Hunt cavalry, were following the Wood Elf Lord Durson Los on his march toward Canaan.
"Where has Lord Beltran arrived?"
Lord Beltran was the lord of the Wood Elf fleet that had escaped from Barayamakan, and he was also the one who initiated the attack plan and proposed the offensive against Canaan.
"They also launched a flanking maneuver with subsequent troops, numbering over 6,000."
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