Zong Shen had set two goals before setting off for the giant city this time.
The first is to capture the giant city of Lentax.
This is also the core goal of his trip.
Secondly, find a way to subdue the Calamity Raven Church.
At that time, he originally planned to sit back and watch the Calamity Raven Church and the Lancaster family fight to death, and then kidnap Sally and take the beauty back.
But he didn't expect that after he really intervened, it would involve the overt and covert fighting between Grand Duke Jonathan and Grand Duke Chloé, as well as the gaudy Blood Rose inheritance.
So far, most of the goals set by Zong Shen have been achieved.
With the supplement of these two forces, the territory's development in the next few months will not have any bottlenecks, and it can smoothly develop to the giant city level.
At this moment, he beckoned Penny Lancaster to stand with him.
Penny is the key to taking down the giant city of Lentax without any bloodshed.
If anything happens, Zong Shen will have no choice but to ask the apostles of the Calamity Raven Church to take action.
There will definitely be a fierce battle by then.
After the battle, it is unknown how many giant city garrison troops will be left.
Second, the buildings in the first circle will also be greatly damaged.
What Zong Shen wants is the relatively intact giant city of Lentax, not the damaged giant city.
The strategic value of the two is not the same.
So he kept a close eye on the progress of the Apostles' excavation of the ice shell.
As the ice on the ground begins to slowly melt.
The ice cubes absorb heat, causing the surrounding temperature to suddenly drop a lot.
The water vapor that had just melted actually froze again.
Such large-scale environmental changes cannot be easily restored.
Zong Shen deeply believed in this.
Unless a large army of fire spellcasters or dozens of fire magicians are mobilized.
Otherwise, it would be almost impossible to melt the ice and snow here in a short period of time.
Fortunately, the frozen area is mainly concentrated in the original third circle of Lentax and the fields and manors in the suburbs.
The second and first circles, which were directly covered by the ice shell cage, did not have such an outrageous situation.
Although it was very cold inside, there was even snow falling.
But at least there is no terrifying ice layer more than ten meters thick on the ground.
Zong Shen personally stayed at the excavation site.
Watch the excavation progress of the ice shell from the last ten meters to the last meter!
In terms of excavation difficulty alone, ice shells are even more difficult to dig than stone mountains.
These ice layers strengthened by the frost rules not only have extremely high double resistance.
And when it is dug, it will also release a very overbearing cold air.
As long as this kind of cold air comes close to the body, even the physically strong heretic giant warriors will have their limbs numb, making it difficult to maintain normal activities.
Fortunately, there are enough people on site.
The more than two million soldiers of the Apostle Regiment are all ice-digging reserve forces.
Only when teams take turns entering the tunnel to excavate can the ice shell be excavated within a few hours.
As the last mile is cleared.
What followed was a dense barrage of arrows and magic attacks.
The movement here has long been noticed by the garrison inside.
Surrounding this breach, tens of thousands of elite garrison troops have been surrounded outside.
The sudden attack knocked down several of the Apostle Corps soldiers who were walking at the front.
The escaping attack hit the ice shell channel and stirred up a lot of ice debris.
In the case of blocking the opening, unless the apostles continue to charge with their lives.
Otherwise, it would be difficult to break out of the garrison encirclement.
This issue is not stressful for Zong Shen.
He thwarted the apostles' intention to mobilize their best men for a strong attack.
Decided to take Penny Lancaster and use [Fantasy God Flash] to go in directly.
Before the ice shell was broken, it was completely shrouded in the magic power of the frost element, and ordinary short and medium space displacement methods were difficult to achieve.
But now a channel has been dug into the ice shell.
The closed loop of the cage formed by the magic power of the frost element was broken.
His [Fantasy God Flash] can directly bring Penny in.
There was no need to fight to the death, he was going to get Penny and Marquis Henry to have a good talk.
I believe that after experiencing so many weird and bizarre things, he will make a wise choice.
The most important thing is that the great city of Lentax is gone!
This is what everyone knows.
Today's giant city of Lentax has not only lost its third largest circle.
And he also lost the protection of Archduke Jonathan.
The performance of the Lancastrians was disappointing.
If it weren't for the ice shell, I'm afraid the remaining residents in the city would have chosen to abandon the city and flee.
Even some forces within the garrison had a crisis of confidence in Marquis Henry.
It will take many years for the ruling family to cultivate trust within the city.
But it only takes a moment for this trust to collapse.
Now the credibility of the Lancaster family in the city is on the verge of collapse.
It relies entirely on external crises such as the Ice Shell Cage and the Apostles to maintain its rule.
The only good news is that the city's material reserves are quite sufficient.
You won't fall into a situation of running out of ammunition and food.
All in all, the current situation in the Ice Shell Cage is somewhat complicated.
Zong Shen took Penny Lancaster and chose to go straight to the Marquis Castle and flash away.
After almost half a day of being closed and isolated.
The circle under the ice shell cage has long turned into a world of ice and snow.
Drifting snowflakes fell from the sky.
There was knee-deep snow on the ground.
The area covered by this ice shell is large enough to even create its own climate inside.
The enriched frost elemental magic can easily extinguish fire magic below level three.
The newly gathered fire elemental magic will dissipate in an instant.
Even ordinary heating flames will be affected to some extent.
Looking up, sometimes light blue ice swirls will appear in the sky.
These ice swirls appear and disappear, and whenever they appear, a howling cold wind always blows below.
If it touches the ice vortex directly, it will suffer several points of frost magic damage per second.
Both living and dead objects will be quickly frozen under the action of ice vortex.
There are ice ridges of different lengths hanging under the eaves of most buildings.
There is coldness in the air.
The breath exhaled by any living thing can easily freeze into frost.
Ice accumulated on the wall from bottom to top.
Both the ditches on the streets and the sewers were blocked by freezing.
There are very few people walking around on the streets.
Only occasionally one or two groups of garrison knights wearing animal fur coats passed by.
The mixed-breed military horse, whose legs and neck were kept warm, used its iron hooves to make small dents on the icy ground.
Most of the garrison still stayed on the second and first ring tower defense lines.
Battle forts everywhere have also become gathering points.
Braziers and bonfires have become the most common features in the frozen city.
The orange light casts an eerie halo under the blue-white ice.
At this moment, in the defense area under the responsibility of the security army.
On the defensive platform on the roof of one of the large battle forts.
This is a rare commanding height in this area.
Several giant crossbows were set up next to the tooth-shaped wall stacks, and the temporary tent was bent down by the snow. Inside the tent, there were several figures in thick coats warming themselves around the fire.
"Ah sneeze!"
"Count Les, don't be stingy with your good wine, give me another glass!"
The bard England sneezed heavily, and then looked at Count Les Kazan sitting opposite him.
The key point is the storage bracelet in his hand.
England knew that Zong Shen had allowed Earl Rice to retain part of his wealth.
Now that storage bracelet contains all the remaining wealth of the other party.
This includes some wine from the wine cellar.
In the current freezing weather, warming up by the fire and drinking wine have become the only fun.
"Shut up, England."
"No one can tell how long this ice cover will remain in place."
"The security forces have not received any orders for more than six hours."
"And the order given to me by the lord is to stay and wait."
He decisively rejected England's request.
This was the fifth time in an hour that the alcoholic bard had asked for a drink.
But he actually doesn't have much in stock.
Fortunately, there is no shortage of food.
Most of the alcohol in the city was confiscated by the garrison and became strategic supplies.
As night falls outside, the blue-white ice shell dome continues to emit a faint sky-blue light.
Looking up, it seems like there is a layer of aurora covering everyone's heads.
Upon hearing Earl Rice's answer, England curled his lips in disappointment.
At this time, Shuraya Bhutto, the commander of the security forces who was sitting next to them and the childhood friend of Count Rais Kazan, showed a wry smile.
Immediately he took out a mithril flask from his arms.
After unscrewing the screw cap, he handed it to England.
"Just one sip."
"Damn it! Who asked you to drink so much in one gulp!"
England took the flask and took a big gulp of wine.
His cheeks suddenly turned red with satisfaction, and he let out a pleasant burp.
Most of the officers in the security army were gradually intimidated by Zong Shen with the help of Count Rice's social circle.
So here they can mention Zong Shen frankly.
This was originally a precautionary measure to fight for his interests after the final battle between the Lancastrian family and the church.
But now it seems that this measure is probably useless.
Plans cannot keep up with changes.
The bones of the Frost Ancestral Dragon are used as the carrier, and powerful church rituals are used as the wedge to lead.
The projection of the Raven God of Disaster Frost that finally appeared was so powerful that it was terrifying.
Even leaving aside the Apostles, who have superior numbers and combat power.
The projection of God alone is enough to suppress the giant city of Lentax.
In addition, the long-distance transmission channel appears directly in the third circle.
It also made the giant city's outer defense line useless.
More than half of the defenders of the third circle, who originally accounted for the largest proportion, were defeated or captured by the apostles in a very short period of time.
Of course, some of them were captured by evil lords waiting for an opportunity.
These captured garrisons can be quickly conquered as long as they are brought back to the territory for a little training.
These are all ready-made combat capabilities.
The remaining half of the third circle defenders managed to escape back to the second circle tower through various channels.
In fact, the current number of surviving garrison troops is only about 70% of its peak.
The giant city of Lentax has shrunk its defense line, but the number of garrison troops is actually not as large as it was at the beginning.
And the situation in the city is a bit complicated.
I'm afraid there will be some changes as time goes by.
Several legion commanders within the garrison were divided over future strategy.
This is also the reason why until now, the garrison has not been able to organize manpower to break through the designated positions of the ice shell.
Marquis Henry was somewhat depressed.
They did not go out to rectify the team.
If this situation continues, it won't take long for chaos to break out in the city.
When the war broke out, many refugees also poured in from the third circle.
This makes the second circle a bit crowded.
As the cold fell, the garrison opened most of the taverns and major guild buildings to allow the refugees to escape the cold.
Otherwise, these frozen refugees would quickly band together to rob the original residents of the second circle, causing order to collapse.
The only good news in the city right now is that there is still enough food and other supplies.
Thanks to the slightly deformed material reserve system of the indigenous people of the Endless Continent.
The food currently stored in the two circles is enough for them to eat for several years.
As for the materials for making fire, in addition to ordinary wood, there is also a kind of grease from fire monsters.
A piece of fat as big as a baby's fist can burn for more than 8 hours.
In addition, there are special trees that contain the magic power of the fire element.
As a world filled with elemental magic.
Monsters will be born from wild beasts.
Magic trees will also appear among the trees.
Unlike the intelligent tree people, these magic trees are still plants.
It just has certain elemental properties.
In addition, there are many similar reserve materials.
As far as heating alone is concerned, it is not a problem to last for several months.
But in the end, I'm afraid I'll have to burn food to keep warm.
This is the situation, and it is definitely not optimistic.
In comparison, the security forces are relatively peaceful.
The officers in the team strictly abided by the orders left by Zong Shen and always stayed in the defense zone.
England spent an unforgettable time with them.
Taking the flask back from his hand, Shuraya Bhutto took a sip himself, and then handed the flask to others.
The brazier in front of everyone emitted billowing heat, distorting the air above.
It is precisely because of the cold that warmth becomes so valuable.
While they were chatting quietly.
Two figures appeared suddenly.
It was someone from Zong who held Penny's wrist.
"It seems that you are living a very leisurely life."
"Won't you buy me a drink?"
Zong Shen said with a smile.
Hearing this, everyone turned their heads in a hurry, and when they saw it was him, they quickly stood up and saluted.
"grown ups!"
Zong Shen waved his hand, let go of Penny's wrist and sat beside the brazier.
He stretched out his hand and warmed his palm, which was not cold.
His body is strong enough to withstand the low temperature inside the ice shell.
But speaking of it, this also made him lose the fun of warming himself by the fire.
He took the mithril flask and took a sip without caring.
There is nothing more intoxicating than a strong drink shared in the snow and ice.
Putting down the wine bottle, the smile on his face subsided slightly and he spoke in a serious tone.
"I have conquered the Calamity Raven Church."
"Currently a channel has been opened."
"It won't take long, and this city will be under my control."
There were no heroic words, but no one questioned his words.
…
This chapter has been completed!