usatvline Chapter 132 The Breath That Cannot Be Avoided
Chapter 132 The Breath That Cannot Be Avoided
Why must we attack the city instead of going around it?
The question is actually quite simple.
All battles revolve around key points that can influence the outcome of the battle.
What is needed for frontal combat is population, resources and supplies; what is needed for non-frontal battlefield is people's hearts, intelligence and maneuvers.
There has never been a war that stated an axiom that all cities must be captured before further advancement.
But the troops that set out were not like a bullet, but like a kite.
If your target is an isolated city that won't have much impact even if you take it down, you can just bypass it.
But if the target is a city with normal military power, going around it will only result in a nail being tightly entangled in the middle end of the kite line.
If the situation goes wrong, this nail may cut the kite string, causing the people in front to be attacked from both sides, and the people behind to be blocked from advancing or retreating.
Simply put, it is not necessary to attack the city, but it is necessary to seize the key that is enough to have an impact for the larger battlefield.
The city and the key complement each other.
On the one hand, there are primitive natural resources and long-term historical factors in the past, which lead to the gathering of cities near resources;
On the other hand, the continuous construction of cities will also attract population and supplies.
It’s not that the key points are all inside the city, but because of the city, these geographical coordinates become key points.
Therefore, siege is an extremely important part of war.
Now, the lizardmen are facing Sweet Leaf Town and the circles of villages surrounding Sweet Leaf Town. Although they are not cities, they also have a similar effect.
It’s not that they have to fight the village to the death, but their goal of going north does not allow them to bypass it.
Before setting off, Great Elder Paospa told them that if they wanted to go around, there were only three possibilities.
Or, surround without attacking, leaving part of the troops to hold down these nail-like key points, while ensuring that the front battlefield behind is not disturbed, so as not to disturb each other;
But the population size of the Lizardmen does not allow such luxurious usage.
Or, change the marching route and supply route;
But by the same token, the Lizardmen cannot make such large-scale changes in the small kingdom of Wommza, which is populated entirely by scaleless people.
If we don't take the opportunity to head north, do we have to rush directly westward despite the difficult-to-cross mountains?
The last possibility is a situation where there is no supply at all.
If Abes were here, he would probably cite the example of the Mongolian cavalry who ate wherever they fought, as well as the situation of other nomadic and hunting and fishing peoples.
Originally, the Lizardmen were also considered a kind of barbarian tribe, and their past acts of extortion had proved that they could use the last method.
But unfortunately, General Zaza's camp, a supply point that was most deeply embedded in the area, had already been looted by Abes and his men.
Moreover, Great Elder Paospa had previously suspended the advancement of the war and had already started farming in the occupied areas.
Therefore, a large amount of supplies have been used to build new land.
This led to a very embarrassing situation where they didn't even have the "start-up capital".
Even if Genghis Khan were to be reborn, he would have to find abundant grass and water to feed his horses and soldiers before taking down the first city.
Moreover, in order to find out the hidden dangers of opposition to him within the tribe, Great Elder Paospa himself deliberately made a surprise move.
It would have taken him five to ten days to gather the troops, but he brought them out in less than half a day, and they had arrived near Tianye Town in less than a day.
You must know that food and supplies must be sent before troops move forward.
This is a common saying in the real world that even children know.
Because fighters also need to eat and sleep, so food and tents must be prepared.
In ancient my country, the propaganda of armies of hundreds of thousands was actually because before going to the expedition, it was necessary to mobilize and requisition a large number of civilian workers, oxen, horses, and vehicles, and set up special grain transport teams.
These people were also counted as part of the "large army", and reasonable exaggeration was made to intimidate the enemy.
That’s why there were those astonishing answers like 200,000 troops, 400,000 troops, and 1 million troops.
Great Elder Paospa is not a fool who has no talent for command.
Of course he knew that war was not about comparing sizes, and that having 800,000 against 600,000 did not necessarily mean I had the advantage.
However, he had learned in advance from some information that when they went north, they would only face small towns like Sweet Leaf Town.
Going straight up the road, the most troublesome thing is a military castle called Raven Castle.
Further on, there is a slightly larger city, the Mud City.
Therefore, Great Elder Paospa believed that even with the lizardman army he had urgently recruited, there was no need to worry about opening the business.
Even without supplies, you can still win in the first step with your courage.
As long as the first step of "business" is opened, the follow-up will be much easier.
With the start-up capital, the Lizardmen only need to continue to advance according to the steps of extortion in previous years.
But he never expected that he would encounter such a big trouble just when he was about to take the first step in opening the business.
It’s fine that they can’t defeat the scaleless people, but how could a real dragon appear in the sky?
----------
The soldiers did not relax when they saw the villagers repel the first wave of tentative attacks from lizardmen with their help.
The villagers were very happy. They expressed their gratitude to the soldiers for arriving in time last night and for their guidance and help in building fortifications.
Now that they are really facing a battle, they have also shown their bravery.
However, although the soldiers smiled and nodded to the villagers who expressed their gratitude to them, they were still vigilant in their hearts.
Because from the numbers, they knew that this was only the first wave of exploratory attacks, and more Lizardmen might appear at any time.
But no one could have imagined that the next moment, a huge shadow would descend from the sky.
dragon!
And it’s a real dragon!
Since humans have inherited the stories of the brave team, they also have a deeper study on dragons.
They knew clearly that the two-winged flying dragon was not the dragon of the Dragon Breaking Disaster that the heroes had fought against before.
The gap between flying dragons and true dragons is probably even greater than the gap between true dragons and dragonborn, and dragon vein sorcerers.
Therefore, they may be more panicked than the Lizardmen.
This is the curse of knowledge. The more you know, the more insignificant and powerless you feel.
That is a true dragon. After the dragon disaster, this powerful creature should have retreated to the edge of the world and into some dark and deep dungeons.
Although some of them would pop up again from time to time, providing the creatures in various places with an opportunity to continue the follow-up crusade after the Dragon-Smashing Disaster.
But overall, they have lost the wisdom that used to rule the entire continent and the power structure that used the Cult of the Dragon, blood magic, and black magic to maintain their rule.
In short, the villagers were frightened by the dragon and immediately stopped celebrating and giving thanks. They looked at the dragon descending from the sky in horror, their hearts filled with fear and anxiety.
The soldiers immediately became alert. They knew that if they were facing a dragon, the biggest threat they would face would be completely different.
The giant dragon spread its wings, and the deafening roar echoed throughout the village, making everyone present feel like their eardrums were about to explode.
But soon, this feeling of oppression and pain flowed away like water.
This dragon... has no ill will towards them?
The next moment, the giant dragon in the sky also opened its huge mouth.
In an instant, a raging fire burst out of its mouth, but its target was the lizardmen outside the village.
Flames spurted out, instantly turning everything on the ground into ashes.
The trees, the land, and the makeshift shelters they had built, everything was turned into black scorched earth by the flames.
The soldiers retreated in horror, unable to believe what was happening before their eyes.
The appearance of true dragon species has been recorded several times in the North in the past.
They could say that they were prepared for the possibility that this dragon was not friendly but was here to destroy them.
Even in my heart, I have already started preparing my last words.
However, they never expected that this giant dragon not only deflected its terrifying majesty for them, but also took the initiative to attack their enemies.
----------
Seeing that the vegetation camouflage on his body was ineffective, Great Elder Paospa did not care about anything else and directly stimulated the energy of his whole body, turning it into a bright green barrier.
The rest of the lizardmen began to flee in panic.
But the flames spread quickly and soon trapped them in the sea of fire.
Screams and cries of terror were heard everywhere, and the place where the Lizardmen were outside the village instantly turned into a hellish scene.
Some lizardmen who did not believe in evil rose up in resistance, attacking the dragon with crude javelins and bows and arrows.
However, these things looked like paper toys in front of the dragon's flames. Not to mention that they couldn't reach such a high place, even if they did, they probably wouldn't cause any damage to it.
And more Lizardmen, those in the rear who didn't know what was happening and were still expecting to join the battle right away, began to retreat due to the sudden collapse.
Before the flames spread and turned everything into ashes and death, they were the first to be trampled.
The eye-catching bright green barrier on Great Elder Paospa's body exploded the moment it came into contact with the dragon's breath.
However, as the barrier exploded, Paospa showed joy.
Be fooled!
You didn't expect this to be my escape route!
Paospa, who had used up most of his energy on recoil in advance, flew backwards as he wished.
However, after rolling on the ground for several times and successfully stopping, he stood up again and looked at everything in front of him from afar, his heart filled with helplessness and sadness.
How could this be?
The appearance of a true dragon species in the world is something that has such a small probability of happening, but he still encounters it.
Now, due to the combination of various factors, his losses may be irreparable.
He sighed deeply and closed his eyes, thinking back to his past problems.
If it weren't for Rectore, the captain who had just received his magic item and disappeared, he wouldn't have begun to suspect that someone within the tribe was against him.
He would not personally lead the army or conduct emergency conscription in order to find faults with the opposition.
If the battle reports from the front had not revealed something strange and if he had not lost the guidance from the gods, he would not have suspended the war and used the precious supply resources to carry out construction.
And if they had not recruited the troops that would have taken five days in one day and had not invested resources in construction, they would not have had to fight to the death for the village.
If he didn't insist on attacking the village, he should have started to attack the dragon directly instead of being caught by the dragon in a village in the wild.
The team had already been pulled out in an emergency without any supplies, and now they were severely damaged by the dragon.
If Abes had seen this, he would probably have commented that “the supply bar is empty and the organization level has dropped to the bottom.”
And the result of these two values being empty is...
Great Elder Paospa sighed. It was already obvious what would happen next.
Collapse! It is an endless collapse!
Even a highly respected elder like him was probably powerless and could only watch his own team being defeated.
The flames burned fiercely and the smell of death filled the air.
All this was caused by just a light breath from a true dragon.
----------
The so-called breath is a kind of destructive energy exhaled through action.
True dragon bloodline determines the range, shape, and damage type of the breath.
This is clearly reflected in the Dragonborn and the Dragon Vein Warlocks.
The shapes of breath can be roughly divided into two categories, cone and line.
There are many types of breath attributes.
Apart from the five most basic types of strong acid, lightning, fire, freezing and poison, almost every type of damage can be found in the breath.
As long as the bloodline is special enough, the damage type will also be special enough.
As the chief elder of the Dragon Slayer Tribe, Paospa had once seen the breath of a frost dragon. It was a 15-foot-long cone-shaped ice storm that emerged with the dragon's breathing.
If your physical condition cannot withstand it, you will suffer from freezing damage.
However, the frost dragon is not a true dragon after all, but a strange beast among the flying dragon species that has some of the white dragon bloodline among the five-colored dragons.
When Paospa heard this knowledge, he just found it funny.
Only now did he realize that the breath of the frost dragon was nothing compared to the breath of a real dragon.
That flame was probably already ninety feet long.
Moreover, the terrifying majesty of the True Dragon species is even more irresistible.
Most importantly, the Frost Dragon's terrifying majesty is passive and cannot be controlled.
And the true dragon species seems to be able to be controlled?
Otherwise, how can we explain that while the lizardmen were suffering, the scaleless people in the village no more than a hundred feet away from them were fine?
After a moment's silence, he noticed that the gaze in the sky was suddenly fixed on him. Paospa no longer stayed where he was and lamented the vulnerability of the lizardmen, but ran away.
Are you still interested in lamenting that "all the palaces have turned to dust"?
If you don't run away, this soil will become your grave.
How did I offend a true dragon?
Why do you want to avoid the village?
No matter how hard I try, if I don't avoid the breath now, all that will be left is a handful of ashes!