Chapter 32: Steady as an Old Dog
Flames burned atop the city wall. The front of the nearly hundred-meter-high wall was covered in claw marks and pits, traces left by the Wolf Cavalry as they climbed. That's right, this was the Crescent Fortress, which had already been breached by the Wolf Cavalry Legion.
Crescent Fortress was located between the Ancient Tree Fortress and the Elven Great Forest, primarily serving as a buffer zone. Although it wasn't a strategically vital location, it was an important transit point.
Demon Flame Dragon Barbatos flew overhead, and Su Xiao stood on its back. His main purpose in leading the army to attack Crescent Fortress was to lure out the Elf Elder Ruth, who was stationed inside the Ancient Tree Fortress.
Earlier, he had ordered the Wolf Cavalry to march toward the Elven Great Forest. At the same time, he had Baha closely monitor the situation at the Ancient Tree Fortress.
Ruth was steady. Whether it was the breach of Crescent Fortress or Su Xiao's army advancing toward the Elven Great Forest, that old bastard remained motionless in the Ancient Tree Fortress. It could be said that the Elf Queen's decision to have Ruth guard the Ancient Tree Fortress was a very wise one.
Looking down at the burning fortress city, Su Xiao began laying out his subsequent plans. First, he absolutely could not head straight for the Elven Great Forest at this moment.
The Ancient Tree Fortress behind him was like a nail, firmly stuck in place. Leaving such a hidden danger in the rear meant that if Su Xiao's attack on the Elven Great Forest went poorly, Ruth could cut off his retreat.
If the Wolf Cavalry Legion were caught in a pincer attack, their advantage as cavalry would be mostly lost. Therefore, to attack the Elven Great Forest, the threat of the Ancient Tree Fortress had to be eliminated first.
For now, setting aside the two major powers of the Duoyin Empire and the Northern Territory, the situation was clear and simple: first break the Ancient Tree Fortress, then capture the Elven Great Forest.
Ahead lay the powerful enemy of the Duoyin Empire, so during the battle with the Elven race, the Wolf Cavalry couldn't suffer too many casualties; otherwise, they would lose the qualification to go to war with the Duoyin Empire.
Su Xiao checked the notification. After capturing Crescent Fortress, he had obtained three four-star titles: Soul of the Brave (★★★★), Fortress Breaker (★★★★), and Lunar Eclipse (★★★★).
Checking his current titles, he still needed two four-star titles and two five-star titles before the War Lord could perform title refinement.
At present, directly assaulting the Ancient Tree Fortress was a very unwise decision. The garrison there numbered 600,000, with 300,000 of them being archers.
Once battle commenced, the Wolf Cavalry would be blocked by the Elven troops around the Ancient Tree Fortress, leading to a melee at the base of the wall. Meanwhile, the top of the wall would be packed with Elves, unleashing a relentless rain of arrows on the Wolf Cavalry.
Furthermore, the Ancient Tree Fortress itself was a war weapon. Its walls were like thick, intertwined tree roots. Once enemy forces approached the wall, these roots would spread out, entangle the enemy, and absorb their life force.
In Su Xiao's view, this was a weakness. If the fortress were a stone structure with engraved runes, a lifeless object, then a direct assault would be the only option. But this fortress was a living thing.
This task required Bubu Wang to do. He could infiltrate the Ancient Tree Fortress. To affect this colossal living fortress, its weakness had to be found first.
On the dragon's back, Su Xiao's gaze fell on Bubu Wang, and he explained what Bubu needed to do next.
"If the Ancient Tree Fortress has a core or center, proceed with the plan. If not, retreat."
"Woof."
Bubu Wang barked once, then looked at Baha, indicating for Baha to give him a ride.
"Sit tight."
"Woof?"
"Here you go."
"Woof howl (Don't touch me)."
Baha grabbed Bubu Wang by his two hind legs and quickly flew away. High in the sky, Bubu Wang was upside down, flying rapidly.
After controlling the Demon Flame Dragon Barbatos to land, Su Xiao ordered the 480,000 Wolf Cavalry to stand by. The previous plains battles had boosted the Wolf Cavalry's morale significantly.
After waiting about half an hour, Bubu Wang arrived near the Ancient Tree Fortress, while Baha and Amu were positioned between Su Xiao and Bubu Wang.
The reason was that the communication range of the team channel was limited. Su Xiao, Amu, Baha, and Bubu Wang were at four points, forming a straight line. This greatly increased the communication distance of the team channel, allowing Su Xiao to decide when to dispatch the main army based on real-time messages.
The Ancient Tree Fortress was on high alert, maintaining its previous formation. Because the fortress was a living thing, Bubu Wang couldn't use the ability attached to [Sacred Traveler] to penetrate the wall. Instead, he took a different approach, choosing to dig a U-shaped tunnel underground.
After two hours, Bubu Wang successfully bypassed the tangled underground roots and entered the fortress.
It had just rained, so the stone slabs inside the fortress were washed clean. A stone slab next to a tree house was suddenly pushed up, creating a gap.
The stone slab was lifted very slowly. Bubu Wang, with the slab on his head, looked around. After confirming there were no Elven warriors nearby, he crawled out of the hole, shook his fur to get rid of the dirt, and didn't forget to cover the stone slab behind him. Steady as an old dog.
Finding the core of the Ancient Tree Fortress wasn't easy, but Bubu Wang was experienced in this. He went to a high place, took a deep breath, and gathered his emotions.
"Woo howl!"
Bubu Wang let out a long howl, then immediately blended into the environment.
This howl from Bubu Wang startled the garrison inside the fortress. Elf Elder Ruth rushed down from the city wall. He had recently developed a phobia of wolf howls.
"Wolf Cavalry has infiltrated the fortress!"
Elven warriors began searching the fortress, almost lifting every stone slab on the ground. Soon, they found the hole Bubu Wang had dug, confirming that an enemy had infiltrated the fortress.
Ruth stood in front of the hole, puzzled. Why would the enemy, after infiltrating, choose to expose themselves actively instead of burning their food supplies or causing internal destruction?
Just as Ruth was full of doubts, he felt the ground tremble beneath his feet. With a loud crash, the eastern wall suddenly unfolded, turning into a mass of tree roots. These roots flailed wildly, and the Elven warriors who had been standing on the wall all fell down, landing among the roots.
"Damn it!"
Ruth quickly ran toward a three-story wooden building. This change in the Ancient Tree Fortress likely meant its core had been attacked. The fortress's vague consciousness was housed within the core branch.
Not far from Ruth, Bubu Wang yawned. Finding something that made the enemy think something was wrong was enough; the enemy would then go to check, leading the way.
Following Ruth, Bubu Wang arrived at the base of the three-story wooden building. Entering, Bubu Wang saw Ruth looking around, searching for something.
After searching the wooden building and finding nothing suspicious, Bubu Wang activated the ability attached to [Sacred Traveler], intending to penetrate below the wooden floor to see if there was a basement or something.
Just as Bubu Wang was about to penetrate the wooden floor, he found he couldn't. This wooden floor had the characteristics of a living thing.
Seeing this, Bubu Wang took out a magnifying glass. After examining the floor and walls, he found they were all made of hair-thin tree roots. This wooden building was the core of the Ancient Tree Fortress. The core was cleverly hidden; no one would have thought that this unguarded place was the fortress's core.
Bubu Wang took a test tube from the team storage space. It contained a black liquid. He carefully pulled out the stopper. Inside was purified Ancient God blood, or more precisely, the divine blood of Blood God Gehepus.
Ancient God energy had terrifying corrosive power and assimilative power.