Almost as soon as everyone arrived in Regina, everyone spread out. In order to persuade more free mages, they embarked on the journey again at night.
As for Benjamin, he flew to the border alone.
The church might send troops tonight, and he didn't know if he could make it in time, but in terms of speed, he was already the fastest among everyone. If he can reach the border before the war breaks out, he may be able to preserve as much of his own military capital as possible.
—He already wears the badge of executive prime minister, so he also has certain military command authority.
At this moment, it was about one o'clock in the middle of the night, the sky was extremely dark, and there were very few traces of human activity in the wilderness below. The news did not spread in Ikol, so all parts of the country remained quiet.
Benjamin flew in the night for an unknown length of time. Suddenly, he saw a piece of fire on the horizon ahead.
He instantly brightened up.
"That is… "
The fire was moving too, soon getting closer and closer in his sight. In the dark plain, countless people were seen holding torches and moving quickly towards this direction.
Is it the army
Benjamin was a little surprised. After all, this place is obviously far away from the border, and you can encounter the army if you shouldn't be here.
As the distance got closer, the entire army gradually appeared in his eyes. The number of people is extremely large. At first glance, there are tens of thousands of people, and it can be called a spectacular sight at a glance. However, the entire queue did not look very orderly, even a little chaotic. Many soldiers were carrying stretchers, and the faint smell of blood could be heard on the wind.
Suddenly, Benjamin's mood sank to the bottom.
"It's the garrison of Icol." The system said, "The church moved very quickly and broke through the border line in one fell swoop. But don't be too sad. At least, this was not a disastrous defeat, and a lot of vitality was still preserved. of."
Benjamin took a deep breath, said nothing, and flew towards the army.
"… who!"
When he flew closer, the people in the army immediately noticed it. Several mages flew out and looked at him warily. Benjamin took out the badge given to him by the Executive Prime Minister and showed it to the people in front of him.
"I am the dean of the Magic Academy. I was entrusted by the Executive Prime Minister to contact the border defenders in Ikol. Are you the one hundred thousand defenders from before? What happened?"
The mages and the surrounding soldiers were all stunned when they heard this. They looked at each other in silence for a while, and there was a heavy and depressing atmosphere in the air.
After a while, a middle-aged man who looked like a general walked out of the army.
"Dean Benjamin, I have long admired your name." The man nodded and replied, "My name is Kent, and I have been ordered to command the border defense forces together with several other generals."
"General Kent, what happened? Where are the other generals?"
"...Three hours ago, the Horli Kingdom suddenly launched a surprise attack. Although we had previously received a warning from the execution of the Prime Minister, the enemy's momentum was extremely large and our army could not resist it, so we could only retreat temporarily." At this point, the general said After a pause, he continued, "Several other generals have unfortunately died during the retreat."
When Benjamin heard this, even though he didn't know those people at all, he couldn't help but sigh.
The church came so quickly...
First, they provoked a coup, and then took advantage of the confusion of command and information blockage within Icol to send troops at an almost impossible speed and directly defeat the border defenders who had been deployed for a long time - those people had definitely done it long ago. This plan.
It's a pity that neither the academy's ANBU nor the spies from other countries could find out anything about it before. This intelligence work was really a failure.
"How many people are there in the church's army?" Benjamin could only ask.
"At least three hundred thousand." General Kent's voice became heavier and heavier. "At the beginning of the raid, there was an astonishing sound of artillery fire. The Holy Light cannon, mixed with catapults, hit our outpost directly, causing the sentry to not be able to respond in time. After the intelligence was sent back, some disagreements arose within our command. A few minutes later, soldiers all over the mountains and plains poured out from the side canyon. We had missed the best opportunity to counterattack, and after a brief exchange of fire, we had no choice but to retreat."
Benjamin nodded and asked again: "How serious is the loss?"
"In order to prevent pursuit, we sacrificed a large number of soldiers, and now there are only about 50,000 people left. Even the dozen or so Holy Light cannons were confiscated by the enemy before they had time to fire."
"this… "
At that moment, Benjamin felt a headache.
"It is our incompetence. If we could retreat decisively before the enemy opened fire, we would never have caused such a huge loss." General Kent also lowered his head, "I am willing to bear all the blame."
"Forget it..." Benjamin shook his head and said, "In the current war, if we talk about guilt, let's first repel the enemy and save Ikol."
Kent lowered his head and remained silent.
"What about the mage? How serious is the loss of the mage accompanying the army?" Benjamin saw this, thought for a while and asked again.
"Due to their flexible flying abilities, mages are our most well-preserved troops at present. There are still about two thousand mages in the current team who retain their combat capabilities."
When Benjamin heard this, his expression softened slightly and he nodded.
That's some good news.
"Where are you going to retreat now?" he continued to ask.
"To Rock City." General Kent replied, "This is one of the cities that is relatively close to us. The terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is also located on the only road to Regina. We are going to enter there. , regroup and try to hold off the enemy’s attack from there.”
"Rock City..."
In Benjamin's mind, the system quickly retrieved all relevant information for him to query. The city is very large and has complete fortifications, but the distance there is really not that close to here.
At the marching speed of 50,000 people, it would take at least two days for them to get there.
The church won’t catch up, right
"How far away are the pursuers of Horli Kingdom from us? Can they catch up?" Benjamin asked quickly.
"We can't confirm." General Kent shook his head and said, "But so far, I haven't seen any trace of pursuers. They should still be cleaning up the battlefield, maybe... General Rand, who left behind, is still fighting with Those enemies fight.”
Hearing this, Benjamin nodded, thoughtfully.
In a sense, this remnant army of 50,000 people can be regarded as the "vanguard force." Although in the end, this vanguard may be the only one left.
In order for the large army to successfully retreat, they paid a very heavy price.
"You continue to retreat, I will go over and take a look." After asking about the situation, Benjamin took a deep breath, left these words, and continued flying towards the west.