The fierce battle beneath the Sand Capital has already broken out, while hundreds of miles away from this capital, a group of mad dogs of elite soldiers have also stormed into the Great Fortress that was once packed with elite troops and generals.
This ancient, fortified city, once a symbol of unapproachable grandeur, now appears as a fallen mortal, a divine object stripped of its power, utterly powerless to resist.
Coincidentally, the previous battle between [Hard Armor] and the Green Dragon Loxor took place north of the Great Fortress, and the general assigned to the opposite side of the Great Fortress was none other than Alfonso Lange, a rising star in the Imperial military.
Alfonso was initially not very satisfied with this arrangement.
Everyone knows that there is a skeletal councilor inside the Great Fortress.
Even though that person was injured by the Marshal, he did not die.
For Middle Tier, there is absolutely no chance of defeating High Tier as long as they are not dead.
Moreover, how could a mere illegitimate son of a noble family be expected to directly confront a High Tier expert from Great Fortress?
Is it true or false?
Is this really something I should be doing?
Alfonso was torn, but ultimately he couldn't disobey orders and led his now-grown force of over ten thousand men to their new location.
By this time, Alfonso's army had reached a third of his father's, and the name "Little Lange" had begun to spread.
As for his power, it had swelled to the point that the Grand Marshal had to invite him to every meeting.
Because of the existence of the Demon Contract and Demon Servants, the fighting power under his command may already be slightly more than three times that of his father.
So even though his camp was directly opposite four sandcastles of varying sizes and a Great Fortress, Alfonso wasn't overly anxious, because his personal safety was always guaranteed, regardless of victory or defeat.
After all, since reaching some kind of gentleman's agreement, he had completely distanced himself from the front lines, spending his days simply overseeing the scheduling of various logistical supplies and the allocation of personnel.
His rapport with his Demon Servants was gradually improving, and the ample supply of resources greatly satisfied the Soul Returner.
With sufficient logistical support, the players rewarded Alfonso with a 100% win rate, which greatly pleased the second son of the Marquis of Lange.
Trust between the two sides is growing daily and shows no signs of reaching a bottleneck in the near future.
By this time, Alfonso had several thousand Soul Returners under his command. These guys were like catfish in a school of sardines, turning his camp upside down every day.
But this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. As those Demon Servants became lower-ranking officers, their energy quickly infected the soldiers around them.
Alfonso, who was in charge of logistics, was astonished to see that the listless soldiers who used to train only once every three or five days were now training daily under the supervision of these junior officers, and they seemed to have been revitalized.
Feeling incredulous, Alfonso immediately sent people to investigate, and soon obtained the complete account of the incident:
The number of Demon Servants is increasing day by day. There are Demon Servants who like the thrill of battle, and naturally there are Demon Servants who like logistics. And there are also quite a few who like to go deep into the ranks of soldiers and personally train them.
The actions of the Soul Returners naturally drew the ire of many Imperial NPC soldiers.
But the military is perhaps the place in the world where might makes right.
After a powerful uppercut sent the troublesome general flying as high as the second floor, the once lazy and undisciplined Imperial soldiers quickly adopted a new demeanor.
Alfonso had expected this stalemate to last a long time, after all, they had been locked in a stalemate for months at the Skeleton Alliance's first line of defense, and were only able to capture a series of sandcastle fortresses after the enemy took the initiative to retreat.
However, his idea went wrong once again.
One night, the Demon Servant he had met many times and was quite familiar with came to visit him late at night. The servant, named [Great Wei Boxing Champion], said that he had to go to the central army where Grand Marshal Luokenuosuos i was located immediately because he had extremely urgent military information to report.
Although Alfonso didn't understand why this was happening, he still gave the other party his token.
No matter how much he trusts his Demon Servants, these guys must still act like normal soldiers to outsiders.
A normal messenger would not be able to reach the Grand Marshal without any tokens of communication.
That is indeed the case.
[The Great Wei Boxing Champion] used Alfonso's token to pass through many checkpoints, but was ultimately stopped outside the core camp of Luokenuosuos i.
Fortunately, he was already a mature Green Dragon half-dragon. After going through a process similar to "scanning his face" to get his scales, he was able to enter smoothly and synchronize the information transmitted back from [Ginseng Rooster] to Luokenuosuos i.
As the one who controls the imperial military, the Green Dragon's intelligence level is naturally far beyond that of ordinary people.
He immediately sensed something fishy was going on; it seemed someone wanted to use him to create even more chaos within the Skeleton Alliance.
But what does it matter?
With absolute power at his disposal, Luokenuosuos i judged that this military expedition would bring benefits to the empire, and thus made a swift decision.
The Messenger [Great Wei Boxing Champion] left the Imperial Central Army, and a series of military orders followed closely behind.
And so, at the same time that the Skeleton Alliance was withdrawing its elite troops to Sand Capital, the Empire also began to mobilize overnight.
The Green Dragonborn's speed in transmitting information is astonishing; in the modified Middle Ages, where synchronous communication was nonexistent, they managed to complete all necessary information transmission overnight.
At daybreak, Imperial Marshal Luokenuosuos i led his army directly forward in an attack.
Meanwhile, in various locations across the north and south, several imperial generals simultaneously launched major offensives against the second line of defense.
Naturally, [The Great Wei Boxing Champion] also brought back Marshal Luokenuosuos i's military orders to Alfonso.
"Me? I'm attacking Great Fortress? Really?"
Alfonso stared in disbelief at the document bearing the seal in his hand.
"To be precise, it's 'us' who's going to attack the Great Fortress. You, as before, just support us from the rear."
[The Great Wei Boxing Champion] said seriously:
"Besides, there are several small and medium-sized sandcastles before the Great Fortress. Even if we win every battle, it will probably be tomorrow before we reach the Great Fortress."
"All right."
Alfonso waved his hand:
"If you really have confidence, then go for it."
[The Great Wei Boxing Champion] has some doubts:
"We've won so many times already, are you still worried about us?"
"That's Great Fortress."
"Rest assured, the Great Fortress is no problem for the Demon Servants."
"Of course I know."
Alfonso interrupted [the Great Wei Boxing Champion], a mixed expression on his face:
"I'm thinking—what if such a great achievement leads to my official rank and military power surpassing my father's?"