While the army was charging at the front lines,
Thor stared at Sagittarius for a long while. Then,
[Player has demonstrated strategic war abilities +10 Relationship with God Thor]
"You really never fail to amaze us," he then spurred his horse, leading the refugees in combat against the front lines with a loud crash!
Sagittarius smiled slightly. After all, the game was designed to be played seriously. Compliments towards a prideful god only slightly increased the relationship points, but showcasing extraordinary real skills gained much more.
This plan would not be possible if it weren't for the area reset system. Common areas like roads within forests or between cities, which didn't belong to any specific city lord, would revert to their normal state after being damaged by characters, thanks to the automatic reset system.
But there was an exception in the case of disputes or wars between cities, guilds, or between guilds and cities, where characters had to fight and use the terrain strategically.
Sagittarius looked up at the sky, praising the game company. He vividly remembered the game announcement: The Dwarf Empire declared war on humanity, meaning all of Midgard—or all of the map on that server—was considered a battlefield against the dwarves, fitting the exception rule that had been programmed into the game.
He created pits as a strategy to slow down the enemy's movement, making it harder for their tanks to maneuver, simplifying the task of attacking them and preventing their retreat.
Indeed, Sagittarius' army surrounded from the front, back, left, and right, leaving no escape for the enemy.
As always, war is an investment. This time, Sagittarius did not have any players to share the investment benefits with, all characters involved were NPCs. The items obtained from this dwarf battalion were his alone.
However, there was one player in the group. Melon-chan had just finished her work and logged into the game, witnessing Thor smashing at enemy tanks with his small hammer.
Since she was traveling with Sagittarius' group back to Chandra City and couldn't join her work in time, she had to log out and work from home in the real world before logging back in.
Upon logging back in, she was a bit confused.
Melon-chan stepped out of the carriage filled with NPC villagers and walked towards the nearly decimated front lines. Everywhere she passed was filled with wreckage of tanks, marked with familiar small hammer blows.
The dwarf battalion had only one tank left, surrounded by Sagittarius' army.
She saw a dwarf emerge from the tank's hatch, pointing and shouting a challenge at a default-faced man at the front—surely, that was Sagittarius.
But he is… Sagittarius, not a Spartan, nor an ancient honor-bound general. Sagittarius squinted and asked, "Why should I fight? I'm sure to win anyway, and you only have one tank left."
Melon-chan, who was waiting to see the young man accept the challenge and perform some heroic moves, was momentarily stunned at his words, then shook her head with a dry laugh.
She had expected too much of him.
Sagittarius made news again, not about the quest to build the great god temple, but by relocating refugee NPCs from eight cities around Sirius to Chandra City, and at the same time, wiping out the dwarf battalion that was attacking the refugees.
Guhai Wubian cleared the temporary stage screen and said to Guinevere 28, "Sagittarius is really diligent."
Guinevere 28 nodded, pointing to Tuguria City and said, "We must thank him. The main dwarf force is heading southeast, capturing key cities along the way, seeking revenge on Sagittarius who annihilated their entire battalion with no survivors returning to Sirius. It makes capturing Tuguria City for us much easier."
The temporary stage was set outside Tuguria City, elevated to offer a view of the surrounding area, a basic strategy for commanders to oversee their troops. Guhai Wubian smiled, saying, "Whether intentional or not, we should thank bro Sagi later. It significantly reduces our pressure. It's just that an internal conflict will likely not happen during our capture of the city..." He glanced meaningfully at Guinevere 28.
Guinevere 28 smiled as well, "If it were me, I would wait for the moment we are most exhausted."
"Which will be after we successfully capture the city. Which will be after we successfully capture the city," they said simultaneously, looking at each other and laughing, "Haha/Haha."
Sagittarius' actions reduced the backup forces of the dwarves from Sirius to the surrounding eight cities, making it easier to capture Tuguria City from the front. The undercover faction wouldn't act out, seizing the moment during the chaos between the dwarf forces from Sirius and Tuguria City supporting each other. That faction would wait for the right moment to "eliminate" Golem and destroy the armies of the two metropolitan city lords when they were the most weakened and relaxed, which is right after they successfully captured the city.
But even foreseeing the plan, their battle was still tougher compared to Sagittarius and Mewku Mewku.
That's because they wouldn't know which players might betray them.
Guhai Wubian ordered a full attack. A small city like Tuguria City, compared to the combined forces of himself and Guinevere 28, totaling up to 400,000 troops, was not difficult to overwhelm.
Moreover, Guhai Wubian was not naive like Blazing knight, who only charged forward. He had a strategy to use long-range weapons first.
Boom boom!
Magical cannons were rolled out, set up in a line, and continuously fired to destroy the gun turrets on the walls before proceeding with the attack.
Ben, in the form of an extremely handsome male character with a great physique, stood beside Blazing Knight in front of the fifty-thousand-strong Templar Knight guild forces.
It could be said that almost the entire guild had gathered.
Ben rolled his eyes. He was the strategist for this large guild, so he had plenty of experience and ability in warfare. The last time Blazing Knight was defeated, it was because Ben wanted him to lose. Today, with the resources and funding that Ben and his allies had, they had the potential to claim at least one major city as their own.
Today, if he could decimate the forces of the two city lords and seize the golems to study and replicate their designs using the dwarf items they had purchased from the market, ensuring another army of golems, Camelot and Chang'an would surely belong to him and his allies!
The ownership of a city is vastly different from merely being an ally of a city lord like Guinevere 28, where the Templar Knight guild had based their operations.
Ben knew well the scale of the mobilization and was confident that Tuguria would fall, despite any obstacles. The main dwarf forces had moved toward Chandra for revenge, meaning they wouldn't have enough troops to help this small town.
But that wasn't actually the case.
Ben gave a cold smile and looked not toward Tuguria but eastward, where the dwarf fortress Sirius was located.
Let's not forget that Ben had a spy close to the Dwarf King of the Iron Mines.
The spy would do her job well. Hence, the "forces" that weren't supposed to be diverted had appeared on the horizon and were moving swiftly!
Sagittarius could devise complex plans,
and so could Ben.
He aimed for these four hundred thousand troops to have their levels reduced and be left in shambles, with less than fifty thousand ready to fight after this battle.
Compared to the forces Ben had prepared for Guinevere 28 to attack Camelot, conquering the major city was inevitable, after which they could continue their onslaught.
This way, Chang'an and Camelot would be theirs!
The extremely handsome man gave a slight smile as Blazing Knight was about to order the guild members to move to intercept the approaching dwarf reinforcements. Ben held him back and said, "Wait for Gwen to beg you first! Make yourself valuable; don't let them see you as expendable."
The reason Ben stopped him was not out of goodwill to make the guild leader appear valuable in front of Camelot's lord but because if the knights were sent out now, the battlefront would be split into two: one at Tuguria and the other against the eastern reinforcements. This would minimize the damage to the four hundred thousand troops.
One second of delay in the major forces' movement meant another portion of damage.
War is a matter of timing, opportunity, and chance.
Guhai Wubian and Guinevere 28 both knew this well.
Asking if they never expected reinforcements to come... well, they did!
Guhai Wubian and Guinevere 28 guessed that those lurking in the shadows, staring with intent to pounce on them, would have to find a way to deal with them. An attack from the outer circle was inevitable.
But what they did not expect was that it was a dwarf army, choosing to attack from the outside at this time, not after they had entered the city and were in a state of extreme exhaustion.
Which also made sense: if it was a dwarf army, they would have to attack now, before the vassal city of Tuguria fell.
Troops to the east of Guhai Wubian were already in place. He turned to the AI assistant and told them to send out the ready signal.
On Guinevere 28's side, she was very pleased. She smiled, "The Templar Knight guild has the duty to defend the eastern front of this battle. If they don't move out, there must be a traitor or the entire guild is being disloyal." From Ben not allowing the Blazing Knights to move out, it might benefit by causing more damage to the two lords' forces, but it also revealed a hint to the two metropolitan lords.
Guhai Wubian scratched his head, troubled by the word "betrayal" or something like that. "The Templar Knight guild has fifty thousand knights. If they all decide to oppose us, that's over ten percent of the total forces. We will be strained immediately."
Guinevere 28 agreed, "We should not break ties with them now. Since they have not shown their true intentions, we should use them while we can." She jumped off the platform and ran to the area where the Templar Knight guild's army was stationed, figuring out how to get these fifty thousand to intercept the dwarf reinforcements.
As for Guhai Wubian, he raised his hand to instruct the AI assistant not to take action yet. If Guinevere 28 could get the Templar Knight guild to move, those lurking in the northeast should ambush after the small golem tanks have clashed with the Templar Knight guild. Then, attacking the enemy's right wing would quickly rout the reinforcements.
Two fronts emerged. Phakin, who had logged out to eat Mina's homemade noodles, was watching the TV with interest.
He put down his chopsticks and analyzed the situation scene by scene. "Currently, the main force of each of the city lords is about 300,000 soldiers, plus or minus thirty percent. But these two brought only 100,000 each and left the remaining 200,000 in the city. It's true that Tuguria is a very small town, giving the impression that the city can be subdued without mobilizing many forces. Both global viewers and 'those people' must think this way."
"In reality, both Li Wei and Lilian are not confident about how many of their 300,000 soldiers they can actually trust. More than half of those selected are the ones they genuinely trust. The remaining nearly 300,000 soldiers were called in specifically for testing."
"If it were me, I would hide another portion of trusted forces to be the key to winning this battle. This would also reduce the suspicion of 'those people' by showing that they have played their trump card and have no other forces left, instilling confidence in them, which would lead them to make mistakes."
And indeed, right after Phakin finished speaking, the hidden forces in the northeast appeared.
Phakin nodded repeatedly as he watched the live broadcast of the battle. Mina, not understanding, asked because her processing could not find an answer to how the city lords would handle the traitors in their armies after winning the battle, potentially leading to a civil war within Tuguria.
Phakin smiled and said, "There is a way. Since Li Wei and Lilian confidently set forth with their armies, they must have the same thought as I do... Mina, try searching for any prominent news about Tuguria recently." Mina searched for a few seconds and then smiled in understanding. Her AI brain had finished processing it. She bowed to her master with admiration.
The creativity of humans is boundless, truly beyond what an AI like her can achieve.
After finishing his speech, Phakin put the bowl in the dishwasher and walked towards the wardrobe. He inspected and asked, "Mina, have you selected a ceremonial outfit for me?"
Mina's 3D image moved to the wardrobe room, extending her hand towards the left closet. The closet door automatically opened.
Sagittarius would not interfere with Guhai Wubian and Guinevere 28 's operations in Tuguria anytime soon, as he was about to attend a wedding."
Mentioning both Guhai Wubian and Guinevere 28, they chose the town of Tuguria for a really important reason.
Mina didn't look into the history of this town at all, just looked at the news that happened recently and understood.
The town of Tuguria may be small, but it now has significant support from a major hidden force, which can definitely help Guhai Wubian and Guinevere 28 in battle.