Our family is in decline

Boudica's crazy killing attracted the attention of the cultists, and indirectly helped Barristan and the others rescue them.

Under the continuous gunfire, the cultists also felt that there was no chance of winning and retreated.

"Hurry and save people!"

Because the situation ahead was unclear and they were worried that the tiger had been lured away from the mountain, the soldiers did not pursue him, but chose to save others.

A dozen or so people can support twice as many cultists, and they are already very strong if they can support their teammates.

But injuries are inevitable, and some of them are even serious.

"Don't worry my friends, the Holy Light protects you."

Junia walked out of the crowd of people who came to support her, holding the holy scripture in one hand and the steel torch in the other.

When she came to the seriously injured soldiers, Junia raised the [Saints' Torch] and prayed devoutly in her heart. The holy power turned into light spots and merged into the seriously injured soldiers with the movement of her will.

Divine solace!

This move was not too obvious, or could be called an immediate effect, but it brought some soldiers back from the brink of death.

Compared with the exaggerated effect of Alhazred's destiny reconstruction, Junia's magical power, although weaker in healing ability, is much more stable. At least it will not cause harm even if it fails.

Moreover, there are not so many restrictions on how to use it. Otherwise, where would the church have so many pastors?

The low threshold is the reason why the church can grow rapidly. If the effect is not good once, just try it a few times.

Of course, Lance's flesh-and-blood reconstruction that makes no sense as long as there is enough spiritual consumption is not within the scope of discussion.

And what’s interesting is that out of curiosity, Lance and Junia also conducted in-depth research on these magical arts and discovered something very interesting.

It even overturned the hasty conclusion that Lance had made while observing the magical treatment.

I don’t know if Junia’s ability to enlighten the saints has improved by holding the torch every day, or if her own understanding of flesh and blood has improved.

Lance found that the effect of magical treatment did not seem to overdraw his vitality. The process was not simply stimulating the healing of flesh and blood, but the complex principle of the divine power acting on the body was confusing even to Lance.

It's a pity that he doesn't have so much time to study it slowly. He can only discuss it in depth with Junia when he has the opportunity, and use it if he can use it now.

Junia seemed a little tired from the continuous use of the healing spell, but the lives of those soldiers were saved, but the weakness caused by serious injuries could not be recovered in a short time.

"Damn! Things are not right up front."

At this moment, Disma's figure emerged from the wilderness, cursing and saying something.

You must know that this direction is the direction in which the cultists retreated just now. It is obvious that he is chasing after them.

He is the only one who has the courage and ability. What's more, he is the only one who can leave the army without following the army's system, because they are not part of the same system.

But there's no time for that now.

"I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to win the second goal."

The words coming out of Disma's mouth speak for themselves.

But difficulty is no excuse. The tasks assigned by the lord must be completed.

Barristan didn't care so much, and hurriedly organized his team and headed that way. After seeing the target's situation, he understood why Disma would say this.

This is actually a sentry post. The bricks and stones are covered with moss, and large vines with green leaves are climbing all over the outer wall. There are even small trees growing on the wall, with roots spreading along the gaps and branches and leaves stretching toward the sky.

The entire outpost showed a dilapidated and old appearance, which should have been left over from the past. It had even partially collapsed under the engulfment of the wilderness, but the main body was still strong.

Looking at the vaguely visible cultists hiding inside, it was obvious that target No. 2 was inside this outpost. No wonder Disma reacted like that just now. Even someone who didn’t know much about military affairs knew the defensive capabilities of fortifications. .

The men at hand are all light infantry, and if you want to break this place, you will probably have to spend your lives to fill it.

"We can't attack by force. We can't bear too much loss." Barristan couldn't help but shook his head when he looked at the outpost. He still had to lead people to support target No. 3.

"Why do these cultists shrink back?"

Disma looked at the cultists who relied on the buildings and couldn't help but have doubts.

You must know that those cultists in the past would not run away. Even if they knew they would die, they would fight with strange slogans.

But these actually retreat and defend.

"There is a cult priest here controlling those cultists. If it weren't for her, we wouldn't have been in such difficulty just now."

Barristan mentioned a very critical issue. Someone controlled this cultist, which meant that it was difficult to seduce the cultists.

If these cultists and Hamlet's army were just noobs fighting each other before, then after a long confrontation, it is not only Hamlet's army that has grown, but the cultists are also evolving.

The fact that they fought guerrilla warfare before and are now fighting tunnel warfare is enough to show that the cultists are not brainless.

So in the face of the equally well-organized cultists, the losses in a storm would be too great, but a siege would be impractical, because their large forces would have to rush to target No. 3 as soon as possible to support them.

Just when the scene reached a stalemate, there was movement in the wilderness.

"How's the situation?" Patton walked out quickly, and behind him were continuous teams, those pulling artillery convoys.

You must know that the trio of Disma were originally accompanied by Patton's artillery team. Lance arranged this because many of the artillerymen had no combat experience. It was okay to let them fire guns and artillery from a distance, but it would be troublesome if they were attacked by cultists and fell into close combat. .

But maybe it was because Barristan opened a road in front of them to attract them, or because the troubles on the road were cleared, so they went unexpectedly smoothly without encountering any obstacles.

He even caught up with the second team, but when he learned that Barristan was advancing, Barton immediately asked Disma and the others to go ahead to support them, and then rushed over with the large force.

It can be said that if this decision had not been made, the situation would have been more troublesome.

"I already know the situation, leave it to us here." After quickly communicating the current situation, Barton's eyes were set on the outpost dotted with wilderness a hundred yards away.

The structure is certainly not comparable to that of a fortress like an outpost, and the masonry structure will only do so under the erosion of the wilderness and time.

"Set up your position!"

There are seven people in an artillery team, and there are 140 people for twenty cannons.

But in fact, there were only a little over a hundred people, because five of them were spare mortars and there were no dedicated manpower.

This thing is specially used to throw explosive bombs. It cannot be controlled by ordinary gunners, and it cannot be used in general situations.

It is a bit difficult to place these artillery pieces in a wilderness environment, but fortunately there are enough people to perform their duties...

The cultists hiding in the building were also preparing. Several corpses were placed on the ground. These were the cultists who died in the battle just now. They moved them back when they retreated.

Now these corpses form a strange ritual pattern, which is the emblem of the Ascension Sect.

Directly opposite the ceremony was a cult priest without a helmet, showing a young, even somewhat coquettish face.

She is also the leader of the cult that Barristan calls the second target.

The cult saint was originally responsible for the actions of the cultists in the wilderness, but the saint disappeared and she could not be found even after praying to God.

You must know that there is a reason why the Ascension Sect arranged for the saint to be in charge of the wilderness. She can interpret God's meaning and is responsible for delivering orders from above. This is a job that ordinary people cannot do because the saint is the chosen one.

Through the power of God and the flesh-and-blood connection with everyone, other priests can receive her prayers even if they are far apart. This is how she can use the scattered ascended priests to direct the cultists in the wilderness to fight.

But now that the Saint has lost the ability to connect them through divine magic, without the command, the scattered guerrilla tactics have directly turned into a mess.

However, they acted haphazardly and had gaps in their orders, so they didn't pay too much attention to this.

But this gave Lance a chance.

It has to be said that Lance was sneaky and made no movement on the surface, but secretly pushed forward at all costs and took action as quickly as possible to seize this opening.

That's why it seemed at the beginning that the cultists were defeated in one blow and had no ability to resist.

Otherwise, the cultists may not be able to fight head-on with the army when dispatched, at least they will not be defeated one by one like they are now.

Although they do not resist ascension, death for them is simply a return to God.

But not everyone was willing. They wanted to offer more sacrifices to God.

Among these cultists, there are naturally some people who are troubled by the disappearance of the saint. They do not think that they are bad, and they also want to gain deeper attention from God.

It's very simple, just use the flesh and blood of these people to complete the sacrifice.

When other passages were blown down, the cultists who fled back to Target 2 united under the organization of a priest.

They even set up a trap to attract the enemy, but they didn't expect that it was Barristan who attracted them, interrupting their arrangement unexpectedly.

I originally thought of eating these people first.

Unexpectedly, Barristan, a team formed by veterans of the second team, could only be called tough!

These cultists failed to chew it off, but instead had a mouth full of broken teeth, and the priest couldn't even break their will by casting soul-obsessing spells.

But the power brought about by the death and injury gathered around the priest, and she seemed to be able to feel God's eyes gradually looking over.

And just when she was about to make a big move, support arrived, and the other cultists might have fought to the death.

But for the ambitious priest, she had to ensure the strength of her team, so she took her people back to target No. 2, preparing to rely on buildings to resist.

Anyway, there is the passage behind, and she wants to make this the first step to become a new saint!

Then……

With the combined efforts of everyone, two artillery positions were quickly set up, and they formed an angle with each other to lock the second target.

"Did you see the wall swollen and arched by the tree roots? Beat me hard!"

Barton's tall and strong body supported Hamlet's military uniform, and he held the long knife hanging on his waist with one hand. He looked very domineering as he stood there.

And the artillery lined up in front of him is even more domineering!

"Loading completed!"

"Trajectory adjustment completed!"

"Prepare for test firing—ignition!"

"Bang!"

Each team was busy, and then with a sound of artillery that was several times louder than the sound of gunfire, stone bullets the size of fists were fired at a speed beyond ordinary people's vision and hit the wall of the outpost.

The tree roots attached to it instantly eroded, and then made a dull sound. The confrontation between stone and stone ended with stone bullets shattering.

But it also left traces on the wall that was originally twisted by tree roots.

A pit with debris, and the vibration of the wall just now shows that this wall is not as strong as it looks.

"Free Fire!"

With a shout, the artillery crew immediately started to fire. They had been training for a long time. This was their first time participating in actual combat, and they were all in the excitement of a novice.

Only in this way can they suppress their tension and shoot out those emotions with the cannonballs.

Perhaps the outpost has blocked countless enemies for Hamlet over a long period of time. Every brick and stone has marks left by swords and axes, which cannot be shaken even by the years.

But now under a round of artillery fire, the wall that was originally arched by tree roots collapsed due to the force, and also dragged down half of the building. The masonry collapsed and stirred up dust all over the sky, covering that part in an instant.

You couldn't even see what was going on inside, you could only hear strange noises.

When Barristan and the others saw that half of the outpost was destroyed by just one shelling, they finally understood why the lord had been reluctant to build a city in Hamlet, preferring to invest money in artillery.

And this is the future king of war in the lord's mouth. The city defense suddenly becomes vulnerable in front of the artillery.

"One group of mortars will advance thirty yards for me to blast inside and drive out the cultists. The other artillery groups will take cover..."

Patton was in control of the situation. He did not need to completely knock down the building. In fact, these light field guns did not have this ability.

The reason for being able to blow down a wall so easily is that it's pretty much the same thing. The cannonballs just speed up the process.

But there are no such obvious flaws in other structures. Now every shell is very important and cannot be wasted on it.

Now all you need to do is throw the cannonball in along the gap and that's it.

After getting the order, a group immediately pulled it out.

The weight of this thing is lighter than the six-pound cannon, but the cannonball is the size of a human head, and the steel shell is filled with gunpowder.

Because it was almost a smooth connection, the smoke and dust at the outpost had not even completely dispersed before it had been pushed forward thirty yards, and the reloading was ready at the same time.

The gunner of this group is Bonaparte, who is the most accurate among the several gunners qualified to operate mortars today.

And Patton's roll call also meant to cultivate him. He naturally wanted to seize this opportunity, but he couldn't slap the leader in the face.

Bonaparte observed the target situation and adjusted the charge and firing angle. There was not much time for him to waste on the battlefield and he gave the order immediately.

"ignition!"

The fuse of the mortar itself was ignited first, followed by the shell...