Pivot of the Sky

They waited and waited until midnight when the moon was in the sky, but there was no sign of the Salem Legion. Finally, the scouts reported that the Salem Legion were advancing with torches on the road, looking like a dragon of fire from a distance, but after 10 kilometers out of the city, they suddenly turned around and went back! Felix had waited for most of the night in vain.

The commander beside him asked: “My lord, since they suddenly retreated, they probably sent their scouts and discovered that we are already waiting in formation. Should we chase after them?”

Felix glared and shouted: “How to chase? Do you want me to move in a military formation in the middle of the night and chase 20 kilometers? We will not be able to catch up at this distance, and by the time we reach the city, we will have not rested for a day and a night! Go back to camp and rest, and send out sentries to be on guard at all times.”

……

In the underground hall of the fortress, Raphael was still talking to Lynk through the transmission parangons in the two magical formations, only to hear Lynk laughing: “Felix lined up his troops and stood in the cold wind for most of the night, and finally couldn’t stand it and went back to sleep. It is a bit too far for them to go back to Enlil City, so they retreated three kilometers and set up a big camp.”

Raphael smiled bitterly: “This method of doing battle is quite despicable, it is not a normal way of fighting. Who came up with it? It doesn’t seem like Lord Idu’s style.”

Lynk laughed: “Years ago when I led my tribe in the mountains, this was the method I used when hunting the fierce beasts since it was impossible to fight them head-on.”

El Mar giggled beside Raphael. “I knew it was your idea, not letting people eat properly and rest well.”

Lynk: “No matter what, the fortresses must be held, otherwise everything is empty talk. You guys have a good rest, the second half of the night will be left to me.”

……

It seemed that the Salem Legion had expected Felix to attack the fortresses first and fail to succeed. They left the city early in the morning in military formation, making it as though they were going to battle, but then went back to the city halfway for lunch. When the sun was setting, they did the same thing again, making it as though they were going to attack in the night. Once again, they retreated halfway and went back to sleep, wasting much of the Giant Legion’s time.

The Giant Legion was finally able to take a rest, and Felix sent patrols to take turns on guard duty. In the latter part of the night, everyone was sleeping well when the fortress where Lynk was located suddenly glowed brightly in the distance, the magic formation somehow opened and shot out a huge curtain of light enveloping the surrounding area. When the gates opened, General Wanani led a group of horsemen wearing distinctive armor and rushed out.

Hundreds of other soldiers appeared on the walls, banging war drums and blowing horns, and the chaotic sounds of shouting were deafening. The horsemen that rushed out of the castle was a hundred strong, and they were all armored warriors, not inferior to the giant warriors in terms of combat power. Although not many, they were the elite of the Salem Legion.

The Giant Legions had been on alert, and the wary giant warriors hastily drew their weapons and rushed forward to meet the horsemen in battle. In their haste, some of their horses overturned and their torches were thrown all over the ground. Such a huge commotion certainly alarmed the sleeping soldiers in the camp, and they hurriedly picked up their weapons and wore their armor as they charged out of their tents. Felix quickly gathered a horsemen team and rushed over.

As soon as Wanani saw that the Giant Legion was startled, the horsemen turned around abruptly and sped off towards the fortress. The giant warriors behind chased them outside the castle, but suddenly, countless sharp rays of light in the air shot towards them. That was the counterattack from the magic formation, and it instantly put down dozens of enemies chasing close, while the horsemen fled into the fortress under the cover of the magic formation.

Immediately after the light of the magic formation suddenly disappeared, the fields were dark again. Lynk’s tactics were not to rush over to reinforce Raphael, but purely to keep the Giant Legion from resting well. However, it was also a big risk to go out of the fortress to attack, so the ones sent were elite horsemen. The battle was small, and they had managed to take down more than twenty giant warriors, but Lynk also lost eight horsemen in the process.

Felix was greatly infuriated, but he finally figured out the tactics of Salem, which was to make use of the powerful magic formations of the two fortresses to hold back the attacking Giant Legion and whittle down his combat power here. What was being consumed was not only the siege combat supplies but also the physical strength and morale of the soldiers. Although the giant warriors were strong, they were still made of flesh and blood, and they also needed to rest properly and also needed to be motivated to battle.

The next morning, the leaders of the Giant Legion were in the tent of Felix to discuss the military situation. From yesterday’s battle, the opponent’s style of fighting was dirty, not wanting to decide the outcome on the battlefield, but mainly aiming at defending, disrupting, consuming, and sneak attacks. Transporting additional military supplies across the plateau was too costly, and once the legion was mobilized, the battle had to be finished quickly.

There was a choice before Felix –

One was to continue to attack the fortress where Raphael was located until they achieved their first victory, whittle down the enemy’s combat power, and remove the strategic strongholds of Salem. But the fortress’s defensive strength exceeded the expectations of the Giant Legion, and they failed to take it after an entire day of fierce attacking. It was a small fortress, but not only did it possess a great magic formation presided by a supreme magician, but they could also summon a terrifying monster, and even a girl that appeared on the walls was a supreme warrior!

If too much combat power was consumed in attacking the fortress, they would not be able to continue the attack on Salem within a short period and might even allow the enemy to take advantage of it. The most difficult thing to judge was how much more will it take to break the fortress?

The second option was based on the assumption that if that fortress was filled with the best combatants of Salem, and they happened to encounter the strongest fortress, it may be much easier to attack the other fortress. But what happened in the latter part of last night apparently also proved that the other fortress was also guarded by a magic formation, which was also presided over by a supreme mage. As for how strong its guarding force was, it was impossible to figure out without launching a fierce attack. Perhaps the other fortress was easier to capture, and if successfully captured could also reverse the situation.

The third option was to attack the city of Salem directly. If Salem had placed its most important forces in the two fortresses, the main city’s defenses would be thin. Both Felix and Lucien agreed that Salem could not have the same magic formations as the two fortresses.

If a city like that wanted to construct a magic formation of that scale, it would need a hundred years of planning and countless manpower and material resources. Only a kingdom could afford the consumption of resources from operating such a magic formation at full power during the war, and if there were not enough supreme mages taking turns to preside over the formation, it simply cannot function. Therefore, it might be easier to transfer their sieging firepower to Salem, take a section of the city walls with full force and storm the city than to attack the two fortresses.

The commanders had a discussion about these three options for the whole morning and finally decided to focus on attacking the fortress where Raphael was. The reason was very simple. Since they had already spent a lot of resources attacking it, maybe they just needed a little bit more to succeed. To give up at this time was equivalent to wasting everything they had thrown at it thus far. However, there was a condition that they needed to fulfill if they wanted to continue attacking that fortress, and that was that they could not let that fortress get reinforcements. Felix then developed a battle plan accordingly.

The Giant Legion had horsemen, chariot soldiers, sword and shield soldiers with spears, archers, and stone-throwers. The number of horsemen was small because the giant warriors were too tall, and it was difficult for ordinary war horses to withstand carrying the giant warriors for long distances. Chariot soldiers were their main soldiers in the vanguard, but because Enlil City lacked enough warhorses for pulling the chariots, so the number of chariots was also limited.

Stone throwers were long-range combat forces, mainly used to attack walls and forts, but also to bombard military formations. Archers set up high platforms on chariots to shoot arrows, which was also one of the tactics of sieging. As for the majority of sword and shield soldiers, they could be used in various situations of combat. Giant warriors could pick up heavy shields and wield longswords to fight, and each of them was also equipped with a spear, which could be thrown at long range during battle.

Felix divided the Giant Legion into two parts. More than 1000 horsemen and sword and shield soldiers formed two battle formations between the two fortresses. On one hand, it was to prevent anyone from coming out of Lynk’s fortress to attack, and on the other hand, it was mainly to guard against counterattacks from the direction of Salem. The rest of the archers, charioteers, stone-throwers, and hundreds of elite sword and shield soldiers were concentrated outside Raphael’s fortress, to capture it in one attack.

Felix did not immediately start the battle, and on the next day, the battlefield was calm. Most of the soldiers were resting, with a small portion taking up guard duty. This was because they did not manage to get proper rest the previous day, and many soldiers did not even sleep well.

While the commanders were holding a meeting, the scouts reported that the Salem Legion was out of the city again, this time with more noise than yesterday, advancing in formation outside the city, with war drums beating and shouting, as if they were really at war with someone. They also fired thousands of arrows during the chariot charge, and then sent people to pick back the arrows shot to the ground, and then re-formed. Then the chariots at the rear charged forward with the sword and shield soldiers again, and the entire process repeated.

Felix froze when he heard the news, then slapped the table and cursed: “Damn it, how dare you drill the army at this time! What is the meaning of this? Are you so sure that we won’t attack the city?”

Lucien frowned and said: “For an inexperienced army, this is the best time to drill in formation since everyone is in danger, unlike practising during peacetime. But the commander is pretty bold, isn’t he afraid of engaging in battle with us suddenly?”

Felix cursed: “They have no intention to fight, as soon as our army moves, they will surely retreat to the city. They probably just want to fight a defensive battle relying on the city defenses. Yesterday’s parade was just a pretext to disturb us from resting. Today, they are drilling an army formation outside the city to provoke me to give up the fortress and advance, I won’t fall for this! Pass the order down, as long as they don’t advance to 10 kilometers away from the city, we will ignore them. Our forces will rest today, and we shall continue to attack the fortress tomorrow.”

There was no fighting on this day, and the Giant Legion stayed in place to rest. As Felix expected, Salem’s legion maneuvered outside the city, and when they saw that Felix was not fooled, they retreated to the city at dusk and did not march forward to reinforce the fortress.

In the underground hall of the fortress, Raphael’s expression was solemn and he said to El Mar: “The Giant Legion has not moved at all this day, and just like closing a fist before throwing it, they will definitely launch their fiercest attack tomorrow. This is a critical battle, the casualties will definitely be significant. Tomorrow you need to take the warriors up to the walls, you must be careful.”

El Mar also looked slightly nervous. “If you really can’t hold out, send a signal to Lynk in advance. Lynk and Idu will attack from two directions to cover our escape.”

Raphael shook his head and said: “If that’s the case, the whole battle plan will be ruined, no matter what, we have to do our best to hold tomorrow. I have a batch of parangons here, you give it to the mages who assist in defending the fortress, the magic formation must remain intact.” He reached out his hand and took out a large leather bag from thin air. Opening it, it was a bag full of ordinary parangons.

El Mar marveled. “You hid them quite deeply, even I did not know you had so many parangons!”

Raphael smiled lightly. “These are not from Salem, have you forgotten my origin? I am also one of the heirs of a prominent noble family in the Hittite Kingdom, and these are the majority of my wealth. Part of them was given to me by my teacher, Golier, saying that it may be useful in critical moments. Turns out that he was right. I have been storing them in a spatial ring, and this spatial ring was also given by my teacher.”

El Mar took the leather bag and said: “I will keep it clear, these are your wealth, in the future, when the war is won, I will tell Aesop to pay you back with interest! Now that we have sufficient parangons, I wonder if there are sufficient mages who can hold up the formation?”

Raphael said with his hands behind his back: “War is equally cruel for both sides. Felix used a day to let the attacking soldiers rest, and this day of respite is even more important for our mages. Rest well tonight, and prepare for the vicious battle of life and death tomorrow!”

El Mar looked at him, unable to hide the admiration in her eyes, and said with a smile: “Felix attacked the wrong fortress, he didn’t know you were here. People only know that God Amon is invincible in battle, but they forget that the supreme of the Hittite Kingdom, Golier, uses his troops like a god. You are the most successful disciple of Golier, and you have followed your teacher to participate in many great battles, and now your status is still the high priest of Syah. It is really a waste to let you guard a fortress with your talent, you are completely qualified to be the commander of an entire legion!”

Raphael shook his head. “Don’t praise me so much, I am still far from my teacher, who sent me here to receive training. Since it is training, we must face the difficult and dangerous test. It was me who asked to guard this fortress.”

……

On the third day, one of the worst battles on the Plains of Duc finally broke out. Felix concentrated all their heavy crossbowmen and stone-throwers, and yesterday they urgently transported firestones and a large number of arrows from the city. A direct battle like this was a test of both sides’ wills. The Giant Legion started attacking constantly with firestones since morning, consuming the defensive power of the fortress’ magic formation.

Raphael did not operate the magic formation at full power and only extinguished the flames on the firestones. Countless huge stone balls flew over the walls and smashed into the fortress, and he focused on protecting the weak points of the walls from the firestones. Under the roaring firestones flying in the sky, Lucien commanded the priests to set up a formation to cover the sword and shield soldiers carrying the long ladders to attack the fortress. Giant crossbowmen also stood on top of high platforms pushed forward by chariots, and arrows rained from the air, shooting at the defenders on the walls.

The magical formation defending the fortress remained intact after half a day of fierce fighting, but its power had begun to wane, as the mages assisting Raphael in running the formation were tired after repeated rotations. By the afternoon, finally, some giant warriors rushed up to the walls, and among them was the Giant Legion’s front commander, the seventh level supreme warrior Jufie.

There were six of Amon’s guards in the fortress, who were now generals leading the army in Salem. El Mar led the six generals and all the remaining forces up to the walls for a fierce battle. Raphael could only use the magic formation to try to prevent more reinforcements from rushing to the fortress, while Lucien led the priests of the Giant Legion to attack the magic formation to create a gap.

El Mar transformed into the beast form on the walls, and the hard scales on her body were difficult for the arrows to pierce through, while her sharp claws and long tail served as powerful weapons. Jufie fought with everything he had and was only able to barely hold off El Mar, and the fierce melee battle on the walls lasted until nearly dusk.

Since the attack was at a gap torn in the magic formation, it was impossible to send too many troops. Felix concentrated all their heavy crossbowmen to fire in unison to provide cover, while the sword and shield soldiers attacked in waves. They paid the price of more than two hundred casualties on a section of the wall several hundred feet long. As for the soldiers defending the fortress, more than two hundred people were killed while the rest were wounded. The Giant Legion’s stone throwers used up almost all the firestones in the camp, including the ones brought in from Enlil City yesterday, and there were few arrows left for the crossbowmen.

Why did Felix go to such a great expense? Because by then he could not call off the battle. He always had the idea in his mind that he had fought to this extent, so the fortress must be close to being taken, and just one more wave of attack would be like the last straw needed to crush the camel, but that camel was never crushed.

He thought so in the morning, and he still thought so at noon, and as a result, he fought until dusk, until there were no more firestones and heavy crossbow arrows available. Within the walls of that fortress, all the buildings that were not strong were smashed down, but the fortress walls were still standing. Felix also realized their disadvantageous situation, and if they could not break the magic formation to open a gap in the walls, the sword and shield soldiers would suffer too many casualties if they continued using ladders to rush up the walls.

He tried to reverse this situation but never succeeded. In the end, the power of the fortress’s magic formation had been reduced to the weakest, only barely able to protect the frontal area of the walls. The battle ended with Jufie being swept off the walls by El Mar’s tail, sustaining serious injuries, while all the giant warriors who rushed up to the walls were killed in battle.

The Giant Legion’s plan to capture the fortress failed, but the beast form that El Mar had transformed into was also full of injuries. In the final moments of the battle, four more Ironbacks went up to the walls to help El Mar, and only then did the situation barely stabilized.