Chapter 450: The Sealed City Gate!

"That really is a bit tragic!"

At the same time, Gervas, who was still thirty li from the border, recalled the day's intelligence in his mind and could not help but observe a minute of silence for the main army.

With their supplies burned and reduced to eating tree bark and grass roots, the kingdom's army had truly reached the end of its rope.

Given the current situation, within a week—no, within three days—if the kingdom's army could still hold on, then he'd call it impressive!

As for the reinforcements the kingdom's army was waiting for, the system had also given its judgment.

Although the emergency order authorizing troop reinforcements had already left the royal palace,

the journey from the royal capital all the way to Black Dragon City, then to Red Stone City, and then the army setting out and marching to reach Lindongcheng City would take at least ten days or more.

If the supplies had not been burned, the kingdom's army would still have had plenty of time.

But under the current circumstances, the army would probably have been wiped out by the orcs before the reinforcements were even halfway there.

What's more, by then, after the orcs had dealt with the kingdom's army inside Lindongcheng City, they could easily launch a surprise attack against the kingdom's reinforcements out on the wasteland and swallow them up in one gulp as well.

If that really happened, then for a time the entire northern border would have no force left to oppose the orcs, and the orcs could march straight in and take the whole northern border.

"The orcs really do have a good scheme!"

Gervas had finally seen clearly the Beast King's plan from the very beginning.

Although the middle part had been disrupted somewhat by his own appearance, the betrayals of those two brainless fellows, Minister Weilade and Wei La De, had set things back on track.

Of course, thoughts were one thing—right now Gervas had no way to help the kingdom's army.

Because he himself was still in the midst of an uncertain crisis.

The latest intelligence had also been delivered today.

Because the fall of the fortress had caught Moral off guard, it had taught him a harsh lesson.

This made Moral dare not underestimate Gervas any longer.

So, disregarding the safety of the main army, he sent all twenty Bloodthirsty Bat Riders the Beast King had given him to Snowfield City.

Besides reinforcing Snowfield City, this was also to inform Snowfield City of Gervas's exact situation.

To prevent Snowfield City from suffering the same fate as the orcs in the fortress.

Twenty Bloodthirsty Bat Riders were definitely a major threat to the Storm Legion, which had only five Griffin Riders and ten Swift Eagles.

So the coming battle for Snowfield City would probably be many times harder than the assault on that previous fortress.

Of course, no matter how hard it was, if he wanted to survive, Gervas would have to gnaw his way through Snowfield City too!

……

"My lord, look quickly—a city has appeared ahead. That should be our target this time, Snowfield City, right?"

Several hours later, Knight Mi Gen, who was responsible for scouting ahead, cried out in surprise, because rounding a hill, a vast stretch of flat plain came into view ahead.

On this flat plain stood an earthen city that barely reached medium scale.

This earthen city was Snowfield City.

Because the surrounding area lacked a source of stone, Snowfield City had been built mainly from rammed earth.

Even so, the sturdy earthen walls, rising fifteen meters high, still possessed considerable defensive strength.

At this moment, fluttering atop those walls were the banners of the beastfolk.

"That's right! That's Snowfield City!"

Clang clang clang!

The moment Gervas and the others saw Snowfield City, the orcs, who had long been on guard, spotted these uninvited guests at the first instant.

The urgent alarm bells suddenly rang out, echoing continuously inside and outside Snowfield City.

Before long, twenty aerial riders took off one after another from within Snowfield City.

Needless to say, these were clearly the Bloodthirsty Bat Riders Moral had sent to reinforce the city!

……

"Roar! Human noble, are you the Gervas the Great Chieftain Moral spoke of?"

"That's right, green-skins. Since you know it's me, why aren't you surrendering? If you surrender, then I, Gervas, treat prisoners well—I could consider giving you a quick end!"

Good heavens! Knight Mi Gen and the others could only exclaim at how outrageous that was!

Was their lord really trying to persuade them to surrender?

Only an idiot orc inside Snowfield City would choose to surrender, right?

Gervas of course knew the orcs inside the city would not surrender, so this was purely meant to provoke them.

Sure enough, the orc leader was furious. "Damned two-legged sheep noble! You think I don't know? You're trying to anger me so I'll leave the city and fight you!"

"Hmph, I won't fall for it. The Bloodthirsty Bat Riders have told me everything about you!"

"So I will hold this city fast with my six-thousand-strong army and wait for the Great Chieftain Moral's arrival!"

"Is that so? I didn't expect you to see right through me!"

Gervas was utterly impressed by the orc leader's look that screamed 'look how clever I am.'

To think he could guess his 'motive.'

So Gervas held back no longer.

"Ballistae!"

Swish swish swish!

Thud thud thud!

At Gervas's command, twenty ballistae fired simultaneously.

This was clearly something the orc leader had not anticipated.

Although the Bloodthirsty Bat Riders had told him about Gervas's strength, they had not personally witnessed Gervas's assault on the fortress, so this orc leader had no defense prepared at all.

In an instant, forty to fifty orcs and conscript soldiers crowded along the battlements to watch the spectacle were caught completely off guard, skewered together like a string of gourds by the massive bolts, and collapsed into a pool of blood.

"Damn it!"

The beastfolk leader flew into a rage.

Of course.

Gervas paid him no further attention and instead looked toward the artillery squad.

As expected, Gervas intended to replicate the method he had used to take the fortress earlier and use it to capture this Snowfield City.

After all, even when facing a beastman army of two thousand before, he had not been willing to launch a forced frontal assault; now that the city held fifteen hundred beastmen and forty-five hundred thrall soldiers, that was even less possible.

"Artillery! Fire!"

The next instant, all three cannons fired in unison.

The shells' impact points were the same as before: one aimed at the city wall, two at the city gates.

The cannon aimed at the city wall soon scored a hit—several beastmen who had assumed they were safe crouching behind the battlements were blasted into a bloody pulp.

However, the two shots aimed at the gate ran into an unexpected problem.

It wasn't that they failed to penetrate the gate.

Rather, they did penetrate the gate, only to find the space behind it already completely blocked off by the beastmen.

Such a situation would have been absolutely impossible in the past.

The beastmen's confidence meant they rarely chose to seal their gates shut.

Because they always kept themselves ready to sally out of the city at any moment and rout the humans.

Therefore, the arrangement of Winter's Approach City's gates was clearly a deliberate measure against Gervas.

The facts bore this out.

Although Morall had not personally witnessed Gervas taking the fortress,

from the battered, breached, and toppled gate, it was evident that Gervas had entered the fortress by blasting through the gate.

Therefore, besides instructing the beastman leader of Snowfield City to treat Gervas with caution, he had also ordered the gates to be sealed off completely.

Not giving Gervas even the slightest chance to breach Snowfield City.

"Hahaha, humans! Great Leader Morall already told us—you lot are very likely to use some bizarre magic to destroy the gates!"

"So I long ago had people tear down the city's only few stone houses and use them all to block up the gate passage!"

"Now, even if you break through the gate, you won't be able to clear the passage in any short amount of time!"

"Hahaha, just wait to die! Great Leader Morall will arrive in less than half a day, and then it'll be the end for you two-legged sheep!"