Second World
chapter-1438

In Palgrost, the Liguritudum army marched deeper into Palgrost territory.

Due to his brother's rebellion, Thelgrun couldn't muster a sufficient army to clash directly with the invaders. Furthermore, Boron's force was positioned at the region opposite where Liguritudum was attacking. If Thelgrun went for either Liguritudum or Boron, he would leave his back open.

If he went for Liguritudum, Boron would seize the capital. If he went for Boron, the capital would be defenseless when Liguritudum arrived. If he divided his army to go for both, he was not confident his army size was enough. Hence, Thelgrun was in a dilemma until he received Jack's offer for help.

He was very happy when he heard of the assist. At the same time, he felt regretful for not taking Jack's warning seriously. He vowed that if Palgrost survived this invasion, he would ally with Jack to take down Liguritudum.

Thelgrun gathered his force at the capital, ready for a defensive battle until the reinforcement from Themisphere arrived. Then, they would go for a counter-offensive.

He had to let go of several settlements because of this.

Unlike the war in Hydrurond, Liguritudum didn't rush toward the capital. Their zombie army was already public knowledge. Its shock value was no more. The enemy would be prepared. Thus, Linda chose a safer strategy this time. They took their time to take down the settlements as they advanced. Aside from procuring additional supplies, these settlements also acted as temporary bases for the supply line coming from Liguritudum. All this should be able to support their army in a protracted war.

John had expected this. Now that he knew his mother was on the enemy's side, he could roughly predict her moves. Hence, he instructed Jeanny to organize guerilla warfare against the advancing Liguritudum's army.

The forces that carried out this guerilla warfare were the guild players. This warfare was fitting for players because of the zone portals. The world system only banned the teleportation function between countries. If the destination was in the same country, players were still free to use the zone portals.

Players on the defensive side could utilize the teleport function between settlements that were not yet conquered by Liguritudum, while the players on the Liguritudum's side could only use the zone portals in the settlements they had conquered. Unless Master was willing to spend his time conquering every settlement in Palgrost, the players on the defensive side had the advantage in this field.

John had also predicted the route the Liguritudum army would take after he studied the terrains and the position where the Liguritudum force first entered Palgrost. He instructed Jeanny to place caltrops, the war tools that could slow the enemy's movement, along some strategic points.

The Caltrops John and the others used during the Verremor invasion war were war tools produced by Glutonous Despot. The ones they used here were not. They were owned by Corporate United, who acquired the same recipe. They had been producing and stocking these war tools in case of an emergency. This was one such time.

Aside from the caltrops, two other war tools were used to slow down the Liguritudum army's advance. Cheval de Frise and Scorpio.

The Cheval de Frise was a super rare war tool owned by Saint Edge. It was a spiked wall that was ten meters long. It was considered a defensive structure with high defense. It had an HP of 500,000. Any attackers that struck it at melee range would get 20% of the damage reflected at them.

It also blocked teleport and had anti-flight enchantment. Any enemy that attempted to fly past this war tool would find himself getting dragged down to the ground. If the Cheval de Frise was lined up. Enemies would have no chance but to destroy them unless they wanted to take a long detour.

In terms of mobility, Cheval de Frise was similar to War Fire. It couldn't enter a player's inventory. It had to be manually carried. Its initial form was knocked down. It became a spiked wall once it was installed at a target space. It couldn't be disassembled anymore once it was activated. It had no duration. It would permanently stay at the place it was assembled until it was destroyed.

Saint Edge was able to bring these war tools due to the train system that connected Palgrost and Sangrod. When William of Wellington attended the meeting in Thereath Palace, their guild members had been transporting these war tools into Palgrost.

John's initial plan only included the caltrops and Cheval de Frise. The third war tool was not in the plan because they only found out about it later when Jeanny came to meet Thelgrun in Palgrost. This third war tool, Scorpio, was owned by a guild that was ranked second in Palgrost. The guild was called The Licth Squad.

The first rank guild in Palgrost, the State of Galhana, supported Boron's rebellion. The second rank supported President Thelgrun.

The Scorpio was a war tool that was similar to the guild's siege weapons. It could be placed inside the player's storage bag. But once it was deployed, it would stay in place until it was destroyed or its duration ran out.

The Scorpio resembled a small ballista. It had a range of 400 meters. Every three seconds, it shot a large bolt in either a straight or parabolic path. The bolt dealt 15,000 physical damage. The Scorpio itself had an HP of 100,000 and had a duration of three hours. Its defense was not so high, though. If an enemy managed to get to it, it could be easily destroyed. And since it had a duration, members of the Licth Squad had to be on standby on site and only applied this Scorpio once they laid eyes on the enemies.

These three war tools were arranged with the caltrops positioned at the front. Behind these caltrops were the Cheval de Frise that were lined up in front of the Scorpios. If the enemies wanted to get to the Scorpios, they had to get through the two other war tools first. And since the Scorpios had such a long range, longer than the reach of any ranged classes, the enemies were most likely getting bombarded first before they could retaliate.

John picked strategic positions to apply these war tools. Where the enemies were forced to go through natural choke points due to the terrain. These war tools won't provide much damage to the opponent. With careful planning, it was easy to block the Scorpio's bolt and nullify the caltrops. They just served to delay the enemies, causing them to take more time than needed in their advance.

Additionally, while the enemies were delayed by the war tools, Jeanny and the other guilds carried out their hit-and-run tactics at the enemy's rear.