The Invincible Overlord of Heroes

The progress of the cleanup was slower than Xu Lai had imagined.

The demons did indeed set up a large number of ambushes in the Ash Valley, but ambushes are only useful when the enemy is unaware.

Brandi and Eric were originally going to search for these ambushes.

They had long anticipated the ambushes and had deployed the soldiers, so they would not be really frightened.

Even if they were really frightened, which led to a period of chaos, after all, they had too much advantage in numbers and attributes, so they were not to be feared at all.

The main trouble was the terrain transformed by the demons and the traps that would be triggered from time to time.

The complex terrain and the lava flowing everywhere made the troops advance very slowly.

But fortunately, Xu Lai had intermediate pathfinding, which offset most of the difficulties in the terrain.

In most cases, Xu Lai's intermediate pathfinding was enough, and he did not plan to go on an expedition to hell or go to the swamp.

If the intermediate pathfinding could be upgraded to advanced earlier, the impact of the lava terrain on the troops could be completely eliminated.

In addition to the terrain, there are also traps, whether natural or set by demons.

Coupled with the occasional harassment by ambushes, the unsatisfactory advancement speed can be forgiven.

After all, the Qingfeng Corps is composed of new recruits and lacks experience and training.

Not to mention the Xiandeng Camp, there is almost no organization and discipline, and a lot of time is needed for training such as queues.

The fishmen and Naga Guards can be regarded as regular troops, but after all, they have been in the sea for a long time and are actually very unfamiliar with the land.

At this time, Xu Lai couldn't leave and had to stay here.

Without him, he lacked defense, pathfinding and resistance, and he was really a little worried about clearing the hillsides on both sides.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait too long. Good news came from Rena, and the main force of the Qingfeng Corps also advanced to the Pafikes Plain.

If the logistics troops led by Wang Chao are not counted, it is expected that Rena will come to join him within a week.

At that time, Xu Lai can leave the Grey Valley to Rena, and he will run back to Qingfeng City to see the pregnant woman at home.

A week later, Jian Yuan took the lead in completing the cleanup task and cleared the nine magic traps in the valley.

Then, the main force of the Qingfeng Corps led by Reina arrived at Little Gray Castle one day later than expected and stationed outside Little Gray Castle.

Originally, she was supposed to arrive one day in advance, but the demons suddenly sent a large number of winged demons to attack Wang Chao's logistics corps.

Fortunately, Reina did not abandon the logistics troops and always protected the logistics corps within her attack range.

Let Yan Feng lead the archers to intercept, and she led the main force to return to support.

The combat effectiveness of the winged demons is not high. Wang Chao and his logistics corps, who followed Reina and Xu Lai to fight north and south, are already of a high level.

This troop, if placed in other places, can already be regarded as the main force.

However, they are mainly responsible for transportation and are not wearing weapons and equipment. They are still damaged in the hasty attack.

Including Reina's siege in other places, because of the tight time and heavy tasks, damage and sacrifice are inevitable.

Originally, Xu Lai planned to leave after Lena arrived.

But the Qingfeng Corps had been fighting for so long, and Lena's life was not as relaxed as Xu Lai's.

The Qingfeng Corps was mainly composed of infantry. Although there was fleet support and transportation, the logistics and supplies could not be directly provided by Qingfeng City.

Basically, Lena and the Qingfeng Corps had not stopped running for a single day in the past two months, and there was even a record of two battles in one day.

It was not reasonable for Xu Lai to be a hands-off boss at this time.

He first ordered the Qingfeng Corps to rest for three days, and then gave the room he had cleaned up in Little Gray Castle to Lena.

Elvy, Yu Lan, and even Anna were all sent out by him.

It was impossible to bring servants with him to fight, and the only person he could use was Roland.

Anyway, Xu Lai was free, so he cleaned up a few rooms himself.

These rooms had been occupied by demons, and if they were not cleaned up properly, they could not be lived in at all.

Although Lena knew that Xu Lai was trying to sell favors, she couldn't help it. She really fell for it.

She had been imprisoned by Moril for decades, but the elves only searched for her in the beginning, and then there was no news.

But she was treated with great courtesy and trust by Xu Lai from the moment she came out to pledge her loyalty.

Xu Lai could easily hand over the ultimate treasure to a stranger he had just met.

And he handed over all the main armies in his hands to her without saying a word.

And, except for strategic needs, Xu Lai never interfered with her control of the Qingfeng Army.

Although the elves did not pay attention to the principle of dying for their friends, Lena really didn't know how to repay Xu Lai except working for him.

In addition to giving Lena the best room, Xu Lai also took Roland and others, with the wine and meat prepared in Qingfeng City, to the army to entertain the troops in person.

Xu Lai had issued large-scale bounties several times.

Dragon meat is worth a fortune, and these soldiers have eaten it before, and their wives and children at home are well taken care of.

Therefore, although they have been running around and fighting for more than a month, no one will complain after seeing Xu Lai.

Xu Lai warmly shook the hands of the soldiers, handed them a bowl of wine, and whispered "thank you for your hard work".

Even the toughest veterans who shed blood but not tears had to look up at the sky with sobs.

Xu Lai knew that he was putting on a show, and even the soldiers knew it.

But knowing was knowing, the empire had ruled for nearly a thousand years, and had anyone ever seen a king fight with soldiers and toast to ordinary soldiers?

Not to mention the king, even the nobles in the territory always looked down on them from a high position.

Xu Lai was willing to condescend and not despise them, so they were willing to work for Xu Lai.

The morale lost by days of hard work gradually improved with Xu Lai's voices, until it was restored to full value again, or even exceeded.

Xu Lai's reward for the troops took a full three days.

During these three days, Brandy and Eric were unable to completely clear the hillsides on both sides.

After all, the Grey Valley stretches for thousands of miles, and there are countless mountains and ridges bordering it. It would take several more years to clear every inch of the hillside.

However, they have cleared a safe passage that can reach Graycastle directly.

That's enough.

Xu Lai originally wanted to leave the attack on Gray Castle to Reina, and let her and the Qingfeng Legion rest for two more days before setting off.

But just when Xu Lai was recuperating and planning to fly back after filling up his stamina bar, Crimson Bishop Dur sent the latest battle report from Lionheart City.

Lionheart City had been besieged for several months. As long as Xu Lai fought in the Western Empire, Kerrigan had been fighting in Lionheart City.

Thanks to the hell demons constantly summoned by the Gate of Hell, all the catapult ammunition and archers' arrows in Lionheart City were almost consumed.

Although the food reserves were still sufficient, they had run out of ammunition a week ago, and could only allow the demons to bombard Lionheart City.

The commander of Lionheart City at that time, Duke Luwasen, was unwilling to sit and wait for death, and led the most elite Royal Knights of the Imperial Capital to charge the demons.

Specific battles and detailed battle reports could not be transmitted through magic communications.

Anyway, the result obtained by Xu Lai was that the entire Royal Knights, more than 50,000 serious 6th-level knights, plus 5,000 7th-level knights, heroic knights, and Commander Luwasen, were all wiped out in one battle.

By the next day, the walls of Lionheart City were completely lost.

Hundreds of high-level arrow towers, spell towers, and turrets were all flattened.

Under the cover of the Angel Legion, some nobles and troops withdrew into the Holy Angel City, a city within a city.

Although the Holy Angel City is known as a city within a city, it is not a real city after all.

Successive emperors could tolerate the construction of walls in the Holy Angel City, but could not tolerate the construction of high-level arrow towers in the Holy Angel City. At most, there were some watchtowers.

Fortunately, the priests had a strong restraining effect on demons, and coupled with the desperate charge of Luwasen and the Royal Knights, the demons suffered considerable losses.

For the time being, Cregan did not attack the Holy Angel City with all his strength, but personally led the demons to attack the palace of the Supreme King Aled.

Durr told Xu Lai that once Kerrigan completely conquered Lionheart City and found the Castle Heart of Lionheart City.

With a population of one million in Lionheart City, it would take at most three to five days to completely transform into a demon city.

At that time, a castle gate would be built, and the demon army would be able to circulate between Lionheart City and large hell cities such as Briston at any time.

There is no doubt that if Xu Lai failed to conquer Briston before that, he would most likely face Kerrigan directly.

Xu Lai certainly could not leave the unexpected decisive battle to Lena.

And before attacking Briston, they still had the difficult hurdle of Gray Castle to overcome.

Kerrigan had already broken through Lionheart City, and it was only a matter of time before he took down the Royal Palace and Holy Angel City.

And even if Kerrigan could not take down Holy Angel City for the time being, it would not be difficult to take down Lionheart City.

Because there would be no king who would bury the crucial Castle Heart in someone else's home.

The reason why Kerrigan was in a hurry to attack the palace was probably because he thought that the heart of the castle of Lionheart City was buried under the palace.

With the number of demons, it would not take long to take down the palace and dig deep into the ground.

In other words, Xu Lai did not have much time left, unless he gave up the Western Empire.

After Kerrigan took down Lionheart City, in which direction he would expand, Xu Lai could not guess for the time being.

In theory, it would be more profitable to go to the Northern Empire, as the population of the Western Empire was not much left.

The problem was that Xu Lai had such a big grudge with others, and it was impossible to expect them not to retaliate.

Since it would be faced sooner or later, it must be that one's side had the advantage and occupied a favorable position.

No matter what else, even if it was not possible to take down Briston for the time being, to hold the Grey Valley and attack Briston's bridgehead, it must be taken.

At the moment, Xu Lai did not dare to let the Qingfeng Group rest any longer, but directly ordered the two Qingfeng Corps to return to their positions and hand them all over to Rena for command.

Looking at the maps of Gray Valley and Gray Castle drawn by Jian Yuan, Brandi and others, the terrain on the left side of Gray Valley is relatively flat, and a large number of troops can be deployed.

Therefore, the left side of Gray Valley is given to Lena and the Qingfeng Legion, who will become the main attacking force in this battle.

At the same time, Anna will lead all the priests and priests to support the Qingfeng Legion.

The hillside on the right side of Gray Valley is high and steep, and directly borders the wall of Gray Castle.

Xu Lai gave this part to Eric and Emilia to create opportunities for the feint attack troops and the main attack Qingfeng Legion.

Xu Lai led the Knight Legion and the logistics trebuchet troops to launch an attack from the front, which was also a feint attack force.

He no longer expected to rely on the catapult to slowly blast open Gray Castle.

If time was of the essence, he could only give it a try and no longer worry about casualties, except for the Angel Legion.

With two assistants and one main, the pressure on Lena was not ordinary.

However, she only glanced at Xu Lai lightly and firmly accepted the task.

After taking down the Great Gray Castle, Xu Lai and his men could go straight to the Huanglong and attack the Kerrigan's lair, Briston.

As long as they could surround Briston faster than Kerrigan expected.

Then, even if Kerrigan also had the Gate of Time and Space, he would still not be able to return.

At that time, Kerrigan could only rush to help with his troops.

Whether Xu Lai wanted to capture Briston, completely destroy the Gate of the Abyss, and prevent the demons from reinforcing him.

Or to surround the reinforcements and set up an ambush to eat up Kerrigan's main force, it would be up to Xu Lai to decide.

The initiative of the war returned to Xu Lai's hands.

Even if none of them worked, he could still retreat to Gray Castle, not without a way out.

The big move of the human army naturally could not be hidden from the eyes of the demons.

Although Brandi and his team had cleared the area several times, they still could not leave any one behind.

Lena led the Qingfeng Legion, a total of more than 100,000 mid- and high-level troops, and rushed to the direction of Graycastle in a hurry.

There was no need to guess, as long as the demons were not blind, they knew what this army was going to do.

But after knowing the number of human troops, the garrison heroes of Graycastle were not panicked.

He knew the terrain of Graycastle very well, and no matter how many human troops there were, they could not be deployed.

And although he was not as good as Ferris in city defense, he also had the ultimate ballistics.

In his hands, the city defense equipment of Graycastle could exert multiple times the power.

The hillsides on both sides were difficult to walk on, and there were lava everywhere. Even with Xu Lai's speed talent, the speed was still not fast.

On the contrary, Xu Lai and his team, who walked from the valley, were still the first troops to arrive at the gate of Graycastle even if they were dragging heavy catapults.

Xu Lai didn't understand much after hearing his subordinates' reports.

It wasn't until he saw with his own eyes that this huge thing, which was more than 20 meters high, could not help but feel a little desperate.

With a whoosh, a huge crossbow arrow suddenly shot out from the city wall and headed straight for Xu Lai.

Xu Lai frowned. With this range, even with the blessing of ballistics, the power would not be very great.

Sure enough, Roland just knocked the terrifying crossbow arrow lightly with his arm shield, and it was knocked out.

However, this crossbow arrow was not originally used to shoot Xu Lai, but to strike a blow to the morale of the human army.

The ultimate ballistics, plus the only magic crossbow cart with super long range enchantment.

In addition, the towering city walls built by human craftsmen in several years, can give Xu Lai a wake-up call within the terrifying range of several kilometers. (End of this chapter)