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Just when Griphook was wavering, a cardinal suddenly appeared in his house and responded to the confusion and puzzlement in his mind.
Everything he experienced was a test from God. It was because the nobles and subjects of the Kingdom of Hadratha had wavered in their faith in the Lord that such a disaster had occurred...
Chapter 353: These wizards have been bewitched by the devil and their minds have become seriously disturbed!
Lahhu returned home carefully, locked the flimsy door, and then walked into the empty inner room. He prostrated himself on the ground and shouted with great respect.
"Lord Poulson!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a figure in a golden and red robe appeared in front of him. An aura of majesty enveloped the entire room, making it so oppressive that it made people feel breathless.
"No one followed you today, or noticed anything wrong, right?" Purson asked solemnly.
"No, although those wizard minions check very strictly, they will never attack civilians without reason." Griphook answered fearfully.
Purson's tense expression relaxed a little, and he continued to ask, "Did you get any useful information?"
It has been five days since he arrived at the capital through the secret passage, but he has been lying in wait without taking any further action.
This was undoubtedly a correct choice, because after investigation, Pulson found that the security in the royal capital was much stricter than he had expected. There were musketeers guarding each city area, and the two teams looked after each other, making it difficult to defeat and remove these sentries one by one.
Under such circumstances, Pulson didn't even dare to use his magic easily, otherwise he would probably be detected.
Fortunately, they were lucky. Not far from the area connected to the ancient well, they found a more devout believer. After some inspiration, he became their eyes and ears, responsible for gathering news from the outside world.
"Reporting to my lord, according to the information I have obtained, the wizards' minions have captured the five downed griffin knights and are now detaining them in the prison set up in the West City District." Griphook said with his head down.
"It seems that Arno has indeed been caught..." Purson thought to himself. With the opponent's strength, even if he could not escape the lightning net spreading over the royal capital, he would not die on the spot. Since he did not cause any trouble in the royal capital, he was most likely caught.
Purson recalled the map of the royal capital and realized that the prison where he was being held was not far from here.
Although he didn't like the arrogant Arno very much, he was a colleague after all. Saving him would increase his chances of winning the battle in the royal capital.
"And... today when I went to the market, I heard those devil's followers say..." Griphook hesitated, not knowing whether he should speak.
"What did they say?" Purson frowned.
"They say the Bible... the Bible contains many errors." Griphook stammered.
For example, the geocentric theory in the Bible is actually wrong. In fact, the continents beneath their feet are rotating around the sun because of something called gravity.
For example, the continent is actually round, not flat, because when you stand on the sea and look at a distant watchtower, you always see the top of the tower first, and then the tower body... There is also the phenomenon of lunar eclipse, which is when the planet rotates to the center of the sun and the moon. The lunar eclipse they see is the projection of the continent under their feet...
"Those wizards even said that they calculated the circumference of this continent, which is 43,200 kilometers..." Griphook said with a slight tremor.
"How ridiculous!" Purson was immediately amused. These followers of the evil god were simply daydreaming. How could the continent under their feet be round? Wouldn't they all fall off?
And how was the circumference of 43,200 kilometers calculated? Was it measured with a ruler?
Those wizards actually tried to deceive God's believers with such ridiculous words. They are totally out of their mind!
After a pause, Lahkon didn't continue talking, because the other party was doing some strange experiments on the spot to prove these conclusions that sounded counterintuitive.
The kid from the hunter family next door whispered to him that he understood and could even replicate the experiments. The continent under their feet might really be round, but he himself was completely confused the whole time.
"It seems that these wizards have been bewitched by the devil and their minds have become seriously disturbed." Pulson said with a sneer, and then asked about the mansion with the most strict guards.
Purson had a hunch that this place was extraordinary. The guards were tighter than the royal palace, and there must be some unspeakable secret inside.
Griphook shook his head. That place was guarded all the time and there was no way for him to get close.
"In that case, you should go and rest first." Purson had no intention of making things difficult for Griphook. He waved his hand and let him fall asleep.
At the same time, black shadows gradually became real and emerged in this small room. A secret guard in the lead stretched out his hand and handed over a secret order.
Purson took it solemnly, and after reading it, he immediately set it on fire.
The time is tonight!
……
At midnight, on the eastern wall of the royal capital, Ham was standing guard in front of the watchtower with a musket in his hand. Waves of sleepiness kept attacking his brain, making it a little fuzzy.
Although there were shifts every night, and it was even divided into two halves, he was over fifty years old and his energy was not the same as when he was young. He could not hold on after a few hours.
Get some sleep. The enemy won't attack in the middle of the night. Besides, there are other people helping to watch over you. One more or one less won't make much difference.
Such thoughts kept flashing through Ham's mind, but when he thought of his responsibilities, he forced himself to do it again.
Just hold on a little longer, it will be time to change shifts in just a short while...
Hazy and dazed, Ham fell into a state that was half dream and half awake. He vaguely felt that the ground was shaking violently, and the shaking was getting stronger and stronger.
"Wake up everyone, enemy attack!" At this moment, a loud roar came from another lookout tower.
Ham shuddered suddenly and subconsciously placed his musket on the city wall, but it was pitch black in front of him and he could only vaguely see the silhouette of a person in the distance through the fierce bonfire on the lookout tower.
Fortunately, the wizards stationed on the city wall also reacted. Hundreds of dazzling fireballs flew into the sky, and the flames illuminated everything in front.
Ham and the others couldn't help but gasp. In the distance, tens of thousands of enemy troops lined up had crossed the two-kilometer cordon and entered their attack range.
Standing in the front row were priests and bishops dressed in white robes and with solemn expressions. There were more than a thousand of them. They prayed in unison, and the loud hymns could be heard clearly even from two kilometers away.
"Damn it, they are about to launch a general attack!" Sanchez, who was in charge of defense, said with a serious expression.
You have to know that in the battle a few days ago, these priests watched from afar those cannon fodders rushing over to die, but now they actually took action first.
Sanchez immediately realized that this was no small test.
This is... the decisive battle!
Chapter 354 The decisive battle is coming!
The attack came very suddenly. According to the intelligence they had obtained previously, it would take at least half a month to manufacture a new batch of siege equipment, even with the use of divine power.
Under the cover of night, the Vatican's expeditionary force quietly arrived less than two kilometers away from the city gate.
The loud hymn came to an abrupt halt, and a cardinal in the front row of the priests opened his arms, and the light of divine power immediately bloomed outside the city!
[Summon——God’s Kingdom Guardian]
In an instant, the mountains shook and the earth trembled. Seventy huge stone statues, each five meters tall and clad in armor, rose from the ground, holding a solid giant shield in their hands and blocking it in front of them. A powerful roar came from their empty mouths, and then they took heavy steps and crashed into the city wall.
"Hurry up and send someone to notify Dean Lin!" Sanchez shouted loudly, then turned to look at the stunned people and shouted loudly. "What are you waiting for? Get the electromagnetic cannon ready!"
Under the control of several wizards, the seven electromagnetic cannons installed on the city gates immediately emitted several deafening roars.
Seven dazzling streams of light shot out, aiming directly at the huge stone statues. The powerful electromagnetic shells immediately collided with the thick earth shields.
Just like passing through a thin sheet of paper, with a teeth-grinding explosion, the thick earth shield immediately collapsed, and the projectile that was burned into a red color instantly hit the [God's Kingdom Guard] behind it, and then exploded violently, smashing half of the stone statue's body into pieces.
However, almost at the next moment, six of the seven broken stone statues began to repair themselves automatically, and even when only half of the body was left, they did not stop running.
"Attack the abdomen, that's the core!" The sharp-eyed Yolande immediately noticed the problem and reminded loudly. The destroyed stone statue was pierced by the electromagnetic cannon right through the center of the body and directly disintegrated.
The gunners immediately adjusted the trajectory, but it was now late at night and visibility was extremely poor. It was not an easy task to hit the [God's Kingdom Guard] while it was running under the cover of the giant shield and to hit the core accurately.
After five rounds of electromagnetic artillery fire, only ten [God's Kingdom Guards] were killed, and the rest had already rushed into the range of the artillery.
The sound of continuous artillery fire rang out, and nearly a hundred artillery pieces continuously bombarded these huge stone statues. However, the power was much weaker than that of electromagnetic cannons. Even if they hit the front, they could only slightly block the opponent's momentum... At least three to five shells were needed to hit at the same time to knock down or disperse a [Guardian of the Kingdom of God].
Under the protection of a huge stone statue holding a large shield, tens of thousands of the Vatican's expeditionary force also launched a charge!
"Kill these blasphemers!" "For glory! For victory!" "God is with me!"
The war drums sounded like thunder and mad roars resounded throughout the battlefield. In the light of the fire, tens of thousands of the Vatican's expeditionary force rushed to the front line like a black tide. The towering and majestic city walls in front of them seemed like an isolated island drifting in the sea, as if they would be submerged in an instant.
Ham and others on the city wall felt their scalps tingling, and the muskets in their hands never stopped for a moment, constantly firing, reloading, aiming, and firing again in an endless cycle.
However, due to the poor vision at night, most people could only shoot randomly in the direction where the enemy was rushing, which obviously could not stop the punitive army blessed with divine magic.
Soon, the huge stone statue in the front row and the more than 20,000 noble coalition forces in the back were less than 200 meters away from the city gate!
The situation has reached an extremely critical moment...
At this moment, two hundred official wizards suddenly stepped forward and cast spells together. The coalition soldiers who were about to rush to the city wall immediately felt the solid ground under their feet collapse, revealing a dark abyss below, and the sharp spikes at the bottom could be vaguely seen.
The width is as wide as twenty meters and the depth is over fifteen meters!
This is the third-ring magic——【Earth Sinking Technique】!
However, this magic alone is obviously not enough to create pits surrounding the entire city wall. These traps were dug long ago, and then the elemental wizards created a not-so-thick layer of earth and rocks on top to cover them.
During the last battle, due to the limited intensity of the war, they had been holding back from using this trap, just for this moment to come!
The more than 2,000 coalition soldiers who rushed to the front all fell down, and some were killed on the spot, or had their bodies pierced by sharp objects. Those huge [God's Kingdom Guards] were no exception. Nearly half of them were trapped in the pit and could not climb out for a long time.
The traps set in advance effectively blocked the offensive of the punitive army and also gave the defenders on the city wall a chance to breathe. But before Sanchez and others could breathe a sigh of relief, the pit caused by the ground sinking technique was broken.
Green branches emerged from the ground, emitting the light of magic. They were entangled with each other like vines, forming dozens of magical bridges that were sturdy enough to withstand artillery fire for a short period of time.
But it was the bishops who took action!
Not only that, countless flashing points of light lit up on the dark battlefield, gathering together to form an extremely terrifying energy wave that rushed towards them. Under the extremely fierce explosion and energy impact, the magic barrier protecting the defenders on the city wall was broken...
Whether it is the large number of [God's Kingdom Guards] or the fierce attack of the expeditionary army, there is only one purpose, that is to cover the bishops entering the attack range of divine magic!
Sanchez, realizing this, immediately understood that the most difficult moment had arrived. Fortunately, the time they had bought was not in vain. The guards on the city wall had been reinforced from the original 8,000 to 25,000, half of whom were musketeers and the other half were royal guards.
But even so, they need more support!
Because the griffin knights in the sky were already in position, the rain of fire fell from the sky again!
……
At the same time as the frontal offensive began, Purson, who had already infiltrated the capital, had also begun to move.
A large number of secret guards took advantage of the chaos and cover of night to start removing the guards on the streets, and then under Pulson's order, they were divided into two parts.
Some of them went to the prison to rescue the captured Arno, while others quietly went to the Alchemy Research Institute, which was the most heavily guarded in the royal capital!
Not only that, the elite of the Church, a large number of God's Punishment Army also arrived in the royal capital through secret passages, and Edelweir led the army personally, intending to break through from the inside and decide the outcome in one battle!
Chapter 355: Internal and external difficulties, the capital is in crisis!
The sound of artillery fire that echoed throughout the capital woke the generals and people from their sleep. After five days, the fear of war once again filled everyone's heart.