The Shadow of the Crown of Snow [Western Fantasy]

After Selene's deliberation, the Windblade Legion retreated.

Of course, they didn't completely retreat beyond the national border, nor did they escape, but left from their current field station and headed for a fort that had been abandoned for many years not far away.

When the Cracked Rock Fortress was first established in the Nord Kingdom, it was an insurmountable barrier, and it could be called the gate of the Nord Kingdom.After being abandoned, the fortress that has been in disrepair for a long time has lost the glory of the past, but this has not changed the strength of its city walls, nor has it changed the fact that it stands in front of the national border and is the kingdom's first line of defense.

The reason for retreating to the Cracked Rock Fortress is also very simple.Burke, who was repeatedly frustrated in front of the Windblade Legion, reported the battle situation to Hussein truthfully. He was afraid that he would be severely criticized or even punished. The Windblade Legion's impenetrable defense.

Such crazy attacks are no different from ordinary frontal attacks and sneak attacks, and it is difficult to deal with or avoid them.Regardless of his own gains and losses, Burke tried every means to weaken the Windblade Legion like a moth to a flame, which made Selene wonder whether Burke knew that he was about to receive reinforcements from Nagrand?

Thanks to the experience of entanglement with the half-orcs in the past few years, Selene knows very well that she should not confront a lunatic head-on on the battlefield. It is the best policy to take a step back for the time being, avoid his edge and act safely.

What's more, the current Nord Kingdom doesn't have the capital to take risks on the battlefield. Once it takes a wrong step, it will be doomed.Selene has no great ambition to lead the Nord Kingdom to conquer the entire continent, but she also has no plan to become the king of subjugation.

Selene did not tell anyone about the dire situation except Hecate.

No matter how selfish and partial Selene is, the backwardness of the Nord Kingdom in many aspects cannot be justified. The empty treasury has just saved a little savings and cannot withstand the consumption of war.

The population is sparse, and there are fewer soldiers. Nagrand easily mobilizes an army of tens of thousands, but it has to be pieced together when it is placed in Nord.

Thinking about it in the worst direction, if Hussein still persuades the Church of Light, Burke will not only receive military assistance, but also welcome a group of new senior priests, then the fall of the Cracked Rock Fortress is only a matter of time. Even if the Nord Kingdom has ten more Selene, it will not help.

Selene can only rejoice that Nagrand is not Wilton, and it is impossible to recruit high-ranking priests into the army casually.

Every soldier needs pride, but wars are not won by pride alone.Roy has said this to Selene countless times, and to the young Hecate.

"I believe that the strength of the Holy Church of Wilton has created the prosperity of the Church of Light today, and Nagrand is slowly becoming the second Wilton."

It is said that 2000 years ago, people’s belief in the God of Light was just sprouting. A few young people full of reverence for the gods packed their bags and left their hometowns and became the first missionaries of the Church of Light—in fact, they were also members of the Church of Light. the founder.

The degree of piety of these missionaries is far beyond the imagination of today's people. They not only spread the belief in the God of Light in Hindley Continent, but also made immeasurable contributions to the development of the continent.In Selene's words, if every Illuminati today was like those few missionaries at that time, the entire continent would have belonged to the Holy Church of Wilton long ago, and it is a question of whether other countries can be successfully established. .

When the Holy Church of Wilton was born, the Northlanders were still struggling to survive in the extreme north. Nagrand was just the name of a small city-state, and the first speaker of the Tallis Alliance had not yet been born. It first took root on the vast continent of Hindley, absorbing nutrition wantonly, and its roots became deeper and deeper. Among the subsequent countries, none of them could challenge the status of the Holy Church of Wilton.

Wilton has no royal family, the country is completely ruled by the church, and the pope of the church is also the emperor of the country.The strength of Wilton made the Hindley Continent respect the God of Light, and these newly absorbed believers allowed the Church of Light to continue to flourish.

In Selene's view, the Nagrand Empire has never been feared. What really scares her is the cooperation between Nagrand and Wilton.If Nagrand becomes the second Wilton through Wilton's help and the promotion of the belief in the God of Light, she does not guarantee that she can still choose not to be the king of subjugation by her own will.

The Talis Alliance has also provided assistance to the Nord Kingdom. It is more of an ordinary trade than an aid, and it took Selene a lot of effort to win it over.If she could, she would never want to cooperate with the Talis Alliance in her life. In the process of dealing with them, Selene has already learned what is "in the free and equal Tallis Alliance, you can get more discrimination than you imagined." many".

If it weren't for the fact that the trade agreement was too important to the development of the Nord Kingdom, Selene would really treat them on the spot as a "barbarian from the North".

Sensing the worry on Hecate's face, Selene sighed and said in a low voice, "I will defend the Cracked Rock Fortress and the land left to me by my father and ancestors."

After she finished speaking, she realized that what she said didn't seem like a comfort at all, but a threat.Hecate seemed to understand what she meant. The person who declared that he had no affection for the Nord Kingdom a few months ago was silent for a moment, and rubbed his hair: "I heard that the place with the most people in the North is the Nord Kingdom first. , followed by the slave market of the Nagrand Empire."

There are no complicated races on the Hindley Continent. The entire continent can be regarded as the same race, but there are subtle differences because they live in different places. A Nagrand lives in Wilton. If he doesn’t say , no one will recognize him as an outsider. If you find it troublesome, you can directly refer to them as Hindleys.

The only ones who are really different from the Hindleys are the Northlanders and Penglai people.

Regardless of the Penglai people who were not natives of the mainland, the northerners are often tall, pale-skinned, with blond hair and blue eyes that the Hindley people yearn for but are hard to have. Not to mention the nobles of Nagrand, they serve the God of Light In the Illuminati Church, many people spent a lot of money to buy handsome northern slaves from the slave market and bring them with them to show off.

This situation is gradually decreasing with the development of the Nord Kingdom, but if the Nord Kingdom loses this war, it will not be as simple as seeing northern slaves in the slave market.

Burke came to attack the Cracked Rock Fortress after receiving reinforcements from the Nagrand Empire.

The Scorpion Legion stationed in the northern part of the Nagrand Empire joined the remaining advance cavalry and became the main force to invade the Nord Kingdom. Part archer.

They may also know clearly that in the face-to-face confrontation between infantry and infantry, the Nagrand people have no way to get cheap from the northerners.

Before the battle began, Selene remembered what Hecate had said, and ran to her to ask her: "Can you really shoot down the arrows before they hit you? What if there are many archers?"

Hecate's answer was firm: "As long as the distance is not too close, there is no problem."

This time, Selene did not let Hecate charge forward, but let her stand beside her. After all, a commander who stood on the tower and used divine magic was a living target for the archers.

Using cavalry and ladders to attack the city means that these soldiers who are good at driving horses sprinting on the plain must get off their horses and carry out ladder siege and street fighting that they rarely touch. Burke managed to win reinforcements. It stands to reason that there shouldn't be such an unreasonable move again, and he didn't dare to give such an order lightly. There seems to be only one explanation for the sudden attack of the Scorpion Legion.

Selene sincerely hoped her guess was wrong.

The crescent blade kept colliding with the feathered arrows shot at Selene, some fell to the ground, and some were cut into two pieces. Hecate looked aggrieved, as if he felt that she was placed in This position has wronged her ability.

Using divine magic, she ordered several teams and the snow wolf knights to destroy the archers first, and then Selene turned her gaze to Burke, who was surrounded by shield-holding paladins and sat firmly in a carriage.Or rather, the man who appeared to be Burke wearing a mask and giving orders to the troops.

"Hecate, the Windblade Legion has already dealt with their archers, don't worry about me, go and see what's going on."

Under the eyes of everyone, Hecate nodded, slid down the edge of the city wall, rolled several times on the thick snow layer, stood up as if nothing had happened, and patted the snowflakes on his body.

Like a ray of uncontrollable wind, she got into the local position and rushed towards the commander who was always wearing a mask.

"Hussein!" She saw the green eyes she knew all too well. "It's Hussein!"

The paladin's shield became Hecate's springboard. She stepped on it hard, jumped into the encirclement of the paladin, and stood in front of Hussein.

Before she could do anything, Hussein took off his mask and looked at her with interest.

"Tsk tsk tsk..." Hussein pouted exaggeratedly, "Northern savages are northern savages. After living in Nagrand for 15 years, they still can't change their nature."

The crescent blade hung above his forehead, as long as Hecate swung the blade downward, he would die on the spot without any suspense, but he didn't show any fear or panic at all.This already seemed very strange, but what was even more strange was why Hecate didn't swing his knife for a long time.

"Hecate!" Anxiously afraid that she would miss the opportunity, Selene shouted her name loudly on the city wall, and the voice resounded through the entire battlefield through the power of divine magic, "Hurry up, Hecate!"

Hussein brushed off the robe embroidered with the royal coat of arms of Nagrand, and slowly stood up from his throne. He coughed exaggeratedly twice, stretched out his hand and pushed Hecate's shoulder.

The moment he fell from the carriage, Hecate, who had been silent all this time, let out a scream like a wounded beast from deep in his throat.

Selene, Hussein, and most of the soldiers on the battlefield—Nagrand and Nord—all saw a shocking scene.

A long ice blade, almost transparent under the sunlight, pierced through Hecate's flank, and was being stained red by blood.

Selene supported her body with the scepter, preventing herself from falling to the ground.From her position, the situation on the battlefield can be seen at a glance. Hecate covered the wound with his left hand, and retracted the crescent blade into the scabbard feebly with his right hand. Flexible and agile, she struggled and ran forward like an ordinary person.

As long as Hussein gives an order, any paladin can kill Hecate on the spot at this moment.

But he didn't.He even signaled the paladins to make way for Hecate, and then watched her return to his position, leaving bloodstains all over the ground.