Volume 2 Spread Wings Chapter 209 Ash Ridge Town
After confirming Levi's name and identity, Michaela became obviously more enthusiastic. She quickly and proactively stated that she would bring the things back as soon as possible for the Acting Lord to personally check, and would inform him immediately of any results.
Levi had no objection, so he followed the other party to Ashridge Town.
After chatting for a while on the way, he learned that the high elves have now established magic outposts in many places outside the town. Once there is a large fluctuation of fire magic, they will immediately go out to investigate.
This was mainly because most demons were good at fire magic. Ashridge had suffered several similar attacks before. Later, the acting lord decided to activate magic outposts to snipe the enemy outside the town as much as possible.
But soon Michaela said proudly that these outposts had not been triggered for several days. As time went by, reinforcements from various kingdoms had arrived one after another, and the wood elves also lent a hand, so the offensive and defensive momentum of both sides had been reversed, and more often they were on the attack and the demons on the defense.
Soon afterwards, she also said with some annoyance that it was a pity that because the demons had desecrated the dragon's cemetery and summoned many bone dragons and ghost dragons, coupled with the almost endless number of demon armies, her many large-scale attacks had all been in vain.
So after several failed attempts, the High Elves had to temporarily change their battle strategy, which was to fight on a daily basis, while trying to attack the Black Castle, to kill as many demons as possible to prevent them from attacking other surrounding villages.
However, because the demon army can not only pass through the teleportation array, but also fly out directly through the abyss rift, its advance direction is difficult to predict, so the current battle situation can only be said to be favorable to our side, but it has not gained a decisive advantage.
After introducing some basic situations, they were almost at the town of Ashridge. Michaela said hello to Levi and led the troops away.
After taking a look around, he found that the town was unexpectedly large. It stretched as far as the eye could see. It was a large settlement that could accommodate at least hundreds of thousands of people.
The defensive force here is also extremely strong. The pure white city wall is two stories high and seems to be made of marble. There is a faint magical light flickering on it.
Moreover, the city wall was very wide. Levi could see at least several hundred spearmen, archers, Lothern Marine Guards and Silver Guards patrolling and guarding on it.
More than a dozen flying beasts such as giant eagles and griffins were lazily basking in the sun. There were more than fifty crossbows next to them, and several high elves who looked like commanders were organizing personnel to debug them.
Next came a series of densely packed arrow towers, all of which were four or five meters in radius and several dozen meters high. Rather than being called arrow towers, they were actually more like independent small buildings, and were not at the same level as those arrow towers in Bitao Village.
There are also numerous shooting holes on it. At a glance, these arrow towers should be able to hide three to five hundred people without any problem.
Just seeing these things made Levi very surprised. This was just daily defense. If a real battle took place, he would not be too surprised if the number of defenders was 10 times more.
The scene after entering the city becomes even more obvious. Along the road that is more than ten meters wide, there are all kinds of shops and special buildings.
Looking around, he could easily find the library, weapons training center, tavern, military camp, magic tower, etc. according to the signs, and there were at least a dozen temples from different elven gods. This place was obviously much more prosperous than the small villages he had visited before.
Although it was a time of war, the atmosphere here was not particularly tense, and most of the indigenous people had smiles on their faces.
Even though he couldn't see it with his naked eyes, he could sense waves of energy emanating from somewhere in the city, constantly scanning something, most likely confirming his camp and race. After dozens of seconds, it seemed to have completed a thorough investigation before it slowly stopped.
It's already so strong, and this is just a town? The defense is much stronger than other races' small cities!
Then, after walking a few steps, he saw a huge signboard at first glance, which listed more than a dozen taboos in Ashridge Town.
These included prohibiting the random casting of spells, prohibiting fighting in places other than the arena, and prohibiting breaking into other people's homes without invitation or permission, and even more strictly prohibiting rummaging through other people's houses...
The more Levi read, the more outrageous it seemed to him, because he felt that any normal person would be unlikely to break these rules. They were probably for the chosen heroes, especially the thieves among them, right?
This really made him speechless...
At this time, the guild member came over with a smile and said, "Vice President, I am White War Song. You have seen me before in Bitao Village."
Levi nodded slightly: "Yes, I remember you, are the Lightforgers in town?"
"No, no, they are now divided into two groups. One group is going to recruit a hero, and the other group has already headed to the border to fight those green-skinned God-chosen heroes."
Levi immediately became interested: "There are many heroes in this town?"
Although he already has Donna and Leonidas under his command, and it is only a matter of time before Diva joins his team, he still wants more. After all, as his strength increases, his leadership has always been stretched. He doesn't mind even if it is a hero of gray quality.
White War Song couldn't help but frown. "Originally, there were about a dozen heroes from different races. We thought this would be our chance. After all, under the leadership of several bosses, our guild members have been doing well."
He was not entirely flattering. For example, the fact that Levi had asked them to meet the incoming reinforcements in advance and recruited a large number of subordinates at the first opportunity had already distanced them from others.
Then he changed the subject: "But we soon discovered that we had overlooked a problem, because our competitors are not only other God-chosen heroes, but the natives of the town will also extend an olive branch to them in order to strengthen their fighting power."
"And they are very generous this time. They have given us lots of gold coins and equipment, and they will even confer military titles on the spot. Human heroes will be promoted directly to sergeants, and half-elves will be promoted to non-commissioned officers. Are we going to compete with them?"
Levi was speechless. That's right. If even the indigenous people took action, many people would probably rush over even if they had to pay money. After all, the hard power of the colony was there.
As for the one that the Lightforged is busy with now, he was probably the one left over by the high elves. It is estimated that either he is not capable enough, or his race or appearance does not meet their standards.
As elves, they still care a lot about appearance.
"Anything left in the tavern?"
White Warsong spread his hands and said, "Forget heroes. We don't even have soldiers anymore. I'm following Mage Mikaela around all day doing patrols and guard duties. Another brother spends most of his time in the tavern just to recruit available soldiers as soon as possible."
Well, now Levi has a clearer understanding of the cruelty of battle.
It's no wonder that the Lightforged decided to send people to fight the greenskinned chosen heroes, because with such a shortage of manpower, it was obvious that they could not fight a war of attrition with the demons.
But it’s different when fighting the greenskins. Everyone is a hero chosen by God, and the troops are hard-earned. Even if you want to kill the opponent, you generally won’t just start fighting to the death.
After asking for some more relevant information, Levi and White War Song separated. The other also had to complete a mission, while he went to the military camp and the tavern respectively and accepted some tasks such as killing a specific number of demons, collecting specific materials, etc.
Although the system did not issue large-scale regional missions like the previous crusade against the gnolls in the Stoney Highlands due to the massive invasion of demons this time, he can still accept various missions on his own initiative, and will still have military merit points, which can still be used to improve his military rank or exchange for certain items.
At the same time, he also found that the quartermaster in the barracks expressed regretfully that in order to ensure the defense of the town, there were no remaining recruitment vacancies until the next reinforcement arrived.
As expected, the tavern seemed a little empty. Most of the natives who usually loved to stay here to drink, chat and brag were probably recruited by other God-chosen heroes and went out to participate in various battles.
In addition to some ordinary townspeople, there are two special guys who are suspected to be heroes.
After seeing their appearance, Levi seemed to understand why they were not recruited by the natives, because one of them was a dwarf and the other was a catman.
The former is fine, the elves just don't like them or are a little annoyed with them.
But for the latter, the high elves were actually very generous in allowing him to walk into the town alive.
Cat people are a smaller branch of the barbaric faction. Most of their camps are chaotic neutral or evil, and are hated by the high elves. However, since he can sit here peacefully, he should be considered a heretic in his own race.
Although he was a little curious, Levi just looked at them because each of these two guys was surrounded by at least four or five God-chosen heroes. Their attitudes were very eager. Among them was a member of the guild, who was probably a younger brother sent by the Lightforger to stay behind. So he was too lazy to compete anymore.
After leaving the tavern, he replenished his arrows and various supplies. Then he planned to visit other major temples one by one to see if there were any opportunities to recruit soldiers or buy some special items. At the same time, he would also go to other taverns to look for Lisadilan.
It seemed that the other party had his residence taken back and had no choice but to live in a tavern. Unfortunately, there was more than one tavern in the town, and the one he just went to was only the largest one. Michaela didn't know which tavern to find the other party.
Then he planned to stop by the Temple of the Moon Bow Goddess and the base of the Red Brotherhood. He had no other intention, just to show his face and tell the other party that he was here.
Then he was very surprised to find that, probably because of his legendary status and military rank, he was warmly received every time he visited a temple.
But unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about the types of troops, because they all said that the temple's manpower had basically supported the regular army. He could only replenish some consumable scrolls and small items such as holy water from various temples.
His luck was good next, and he successfully found Lisadilan in the third tavern.
However, when they actually saw each other, no one could connect this untidy bearded, drunken guy, with some unknown filth on his body, with the warrior who had dared to launch a charge against an army of demons that was several times larger than his own.
Michaela had said before that Risadiran’s condition was not good, but Levi had never expected that the other party was in such a serious condition.
Even when Levi, Donna, Julia and others came in one after another, Lisa Dilan didn't pay any attention to them at all, and just kept pouring wine into his mouth.
Levi couldn't help but look at the Avalon girl guards next to him: "What's going on? Why is he so drunk? Don't you do anything about it?"
Could it be that he failed in his fight for the girl? But didn't he say a few days ago that the girl happily accepted his gift of the flaming war goose?
Several Avalons sighed and smiled bitterly. They had tried to stop it before, but it was of no use at all!
Perhaps recognizing Levi's voice, Lisa Dillan reluctantly opened his hazy drunken eyes: "Ah, it's Levi. I'm sorry to have to see me like this."
Levi pulled a chair and motioned for his other subordinates to find a place to sit down first.
"What's going on? Were you dumped?"
Lisa Dilan couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Yes, but not completely."
After a few brief conversations, Levi finally realized that the girl that Lisadilan had her eyes on had many suitors, and Lisadilan was just one of them.
And because he had recently participated in several major battles and gave the girl a gift she liked, and his status in Ashridge Town and his own strength had improved significantly, his self-confidence increased rapidly.
So he invited another strongest competitor to go to the wild for a man-to-man duel to decide whether he had the right to continue pursuing the girl. The losing party would give up immediately.
This is actually a bit of a violation, because infighting is strictly prohibited among the high elves. Even if a duel is really necessary for honor or other reasons, it must be witnessed by local nobles and priests. This is mainly to avoid any unexpected situations.
But because the matter involved a girl, both parties were a little impulsive, and the other party agreed to him without hesitation.
Then the two of them had a one-on-one duel, which ended with Lisa Dilan's narrow victory. Although the opponent was very unwilling and helpless, he finally agreed to withdraw voluntarily.
Everything was actually good up to here, but after Lisa Dilan left, something unexpected happened.
A group of green-skinned God-chosen heroes passed by with their team, and then found the seriously injured high elf on the side of the road.
When they saw that there was such a good thing, they immediately rushed over and killed the unlucky guy.
Later, when the nearby patrol team discovered the traces of a large group of greenskins, they only found the bodies of the greenskins and Lisadilan, who also felt something was wrong and turned back .
What was even more coincidental was that the leader of the patrol was the deceased's father, a Caledo noble who held considerable power in the colony and was also one of the most powerful figures in the colony second only to the acting lord.
Although Lisadilan hated the other party for competing with him, this competition was far from rising to the level of hatred. He didn't want the other party to really die, so he told the whole story, and under the detection of magic, he couldn't lie.
Even if he didn't say it, Levi and others could easily guess what happened next.
Of course, the noble who lost his beloved son arrested him immediately and stripped him of all his military positions and merits. By the time the acting lord who was fighting the devil and Reiner who rushed over after hearing the news arrived, the matter had already been settled.
And to be honest, even if Reiner pleaded for him, it would hardly work.
On the one hand, it was because Lisadilan did violate the ban. On the other hand, the deceased and his father both had the surname Caledo. Reiner was a new hero and his status here was far inferior to that of the other.
So he used all his strength, and in the end he could only get the nobles to withdraw the order to completely expel Lisadilan from the country, but he could not join the battle as a soldier for three months.
This time may not sound very long, but everyone knows that the current situation where they need to fight against the greenskins and demons at the same time is the best opportunity for promotion.
If he missed this opportunity, even if he rejoined the army, he could only start from the lowest level soldier. It was unknown how long it would take him to climb up to the position of lieutenant.
What's more, since he had offended that noble, the other party would probably never give him another chance to make merit.
Apart from anything else, if he was given an order to storm the Black Castle, he probably wouldn't survive even half a day.
Helpless, Reiner could only say a few words of comfort and decided to find an opportunity to reuse him after three months. Then he hurried to the front line to fight against the greenskins.
Next, the noble used his authority to forbid the girl from interacting with him. The girl even wanted to return the Flame War Goose to him, but he refused to take it.
But despite this, after suffering this series of blows, all kinds of negative emotions such as regret, anger and unwillingness have filled his heart, and he can only drink to get by.
After hearing this, everyone couldn't help but feel indignant. Although Sadilan was indeed at fault in this matter, the punishment for him wasn't necessarily too harsh, right?
But Levi did not feel particularly surprised. This was mainly because of the overwhelming gap in strength between the two sides. Since Lisadilan did make a mistake, the other party's treatment, although a bit harsh, was definitely not a violation.
He even had some doubts. If the gods were not watching above, the noble might have secretly killed him and then put the blame on the greenskin's head.
Regardless of whether others are willing to believe it or not, as long as we just fool them a little bit, I'm sure that no one except Reiner will be willing to find out the truth.
In comparison, the fact that Lisa Dilan is still alive is a blessing in disguise.
Moreover, although he felt a little reluctant, Levi knew that he was actually secretly happy deep down in his heart. Now that the other party was in this state, didn't he have a chance?
Not only is Lisadilan a Tier 5 elite himself, the Avalons who follow him are at least Tier 4 elites. If they can join his team, it will be of great benefit to his own strength.
So after comforting the other party for a few words, he said directly: "In this case, why don't you follow me to fight for a while?"
"I can give you some of my troops, help you investigate the intelligence of those greenskins, and then take revenge on them. I can even introduce you to a beautiful sister."
As he said this, he looked sideways at Julia.
Although there is no definite evidence yet, Julia has praised Risa Dillan in front of her many times before, so at least she should not refuse.
What's more, I just said I would introduce them. Whether it can be successful depends on their own fate.
Julia blushed immediately after noticing Levi's gaze and the slightly mischievous looks of Donna and Cindy beside her. However, she did not dodge, but bravely looked directly at Lisa Dillan.
After hearing this and looking at Julia's appearance, Lisa Dillan, who was still about 60% drunk, suddenly became much more sober.
He subconsciously wanted to refuse. After his pursuit failed, he immediately changed his target. What was he then?
But after thinking about it, he still didn't say it: "Levi, thank you very much for lending me a hand at this time. I am willing to join your team temporarily, but I need to think about other things."
Levi immediately smiled and stretched out his hand: "Of course, no problem."
The meat is already in the pot, so what if we eat it a few days later?
Then several Avalon guards spoke up one after another. There was no doubt that they were all willing to continue following Risadilan.
At this time, the system prompt sounded. Levi took a quick look and found that their current status was almost exactly the same as Donna's at the beginning. They all joined temporarily, so their attributes and skills could not be seen clearly.
But even without these, he had already deduced the opponent's combat effectiveness. After all, they had fought side by side more than once.
The Avalon Girl Guards only have additional riding skills and mounted shooting skills, and are almost identical to ordinary Avalon Sisters in other aspects.
Risadilan is a more powerful version of them, except that his gender has changed.
However, Lisadiran quickly corrected himself, saying that they actually had different professions, he was a noble knight-errant, and the Sisters of Avalon or the Girls of Avalon would never recruit any males.
The reason why his attack method looks very similar to that of other Avalons is because he deliberately found the magic bow used by the Avalons and learned a special skill called Moon Fire from the Temple of Lilith.
Yes, not only does he have a good relationship with the temples of Lilith and Moonbow, but he is also a shallow believer of the two goddesses.
Since the elven pantheon is very united, it is very common to worship multiple different elven gods at the same time.
Of course, this only applies to general believers and shallow believers. If you are a true believer at a higher level, you must believe in one god exclusively.
Levi didn't care too much about it. Except for a few professions like priests and paladins, whether other professions believed in gods actually didn't have much impact. At most, they could just gain some insignificant skills.
This is especially true for the heroes chosen by God. Although he has not yet believed in any gods, no matter which temple he goes to, he will be warmly received.
However, now that Risadilan has joined the team, Levi must face the problem that has not yet been solved, that is, the lack of cavalry units. He can't just let him take a few Avalons out to do horse archery, right?
After a slight hesitation, Lisadilan said somewhat embarrassedly that this problem could actually be left to him. He could not guarantee more people, but he was confident that he could handle a dozen or twenty people.
However, his military position has been demoted to the lowest level, and he may not be able to command any troops normally. They still need to be under Levi's command, so part of the military expenses also need to be paid.
Apart from a little money for wine, he really had nothing extra. The nobleman whose son had died had confiscated his house and assets, which were originally given to him by the town for temporary use.
Levi didn't say anything. He directly handed the remaining dozens of gold coins to the other party and told him to recruit as many as possible. He would go and get more gold coins.
After building the Bitao Village and recruiting a large number of troops, his wallet was almost empty. This time, the balance was simply cleared. But it was not a big problem. He would go to the Red Brotherhood later and get some emergency funds.
Lianhua had told him before that in addition to buying and selling prisoners and acting as mercenary brokers, they could occasionally lend some money to acquaintances.
However, considering the dangers of this world, ordinary people might die just half a quarter of an hour after leaving the village, and naturally the money could not be recovered, so they usually only lend money to acquaintances whose strength they recognize, and usually nine out of ten people go out and thirteen return.
But if it was Levi, she promised to give a slight discount.
After confirming some details, Lisadilan left with several Avalons. Although he was still disheveled, his spirit was many times better than before because he had found a new direction to work towards.
Putting aside his military position and the like, he must at least kill those culprits who caused him to fall into such a predicament, and kill those green-skinned God-chosen heroes!
