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Ryan snatched the letter and looked at the three events coming from behind in disbelief.

Larissa granary burned down in fire, cause unknown.

All the conscripted laborers, the auxiliary soldiers who stayed behind, and even the more than a thousand recruits in the monastery were transferred away by Luther. The last time they appeared was on the mountain road leading to Thermopylae, and their whereabouts and purpose were unknown.

Moreover, Metatron, the mentor who taught him like a father, was murdered and his body was abandoned inside the monastery. The murderer is unknown.

"Have you been the only one to read this letter?"

Ryan looked at the messenger coldly. After the other party nodded blankly, Ryan chopped him to the ground with a sword. She also threw the letter into the fire and burned it, preventing the spread of this information to prevent the army from being in chaos.

She really couldn't figure out what Luther was doing. But now, there was no enough food and grass in the rear to support the more than 6,000 Janissaries and more than 60,000 auxiliary soldiers on the front line to continue the war. She had only two choices - either to capture Delphi within today and rob Aenarion of food, or to withdraw to Thessaly immediately. Otherwise, this huge army would starve to death in the mountains!

Just as she was hesitating, suddenly, there was a deafening explosion outside the camp! The violent explosion made the entire camp tremble. She stumbled out of the tent and found that a terrifyingly large flame had erupted from the artillery position of Terrorwing! Then, clouds of dark smoke rose up and rushed into the sky.

Someone has ignited Dreadwing's powder magazine!!!

How is this possible? The Terrorwing Gunpowder Depot is the most heavily guarded place in the entire camp, unless, unless there is a traitor within his own legion!

Before he could react, he saw several dark shadows, some with wings on their backs, some black-armored soldiers riding horses, rushing out of his camp and moving rapidly towards Delphi Castle. Ryan received a warning from a carrier pigeon in the rear. These original 169 fallen angels also received orders from Luther, and the leader was Zahariel.

Ryan was so angry that he was shaking all over, his hands and feet were cold in the warm weather in Greece. He had no food outside and no gunpowder inside. Even if he didn't want to retreat now, he had to retreat!

Chapter 197: The First Legion has no secrets

Ryan felt deeply humiliated, but she did not put her personal honor above the lives of an entire legion and tens of thousands of people. She immediately led all the Dark Angels to withdraw, preparing to return to the Thessaly Basin through the mountain roads to obtain enough supplies and food. The retreating team was extremely chaotic, and the Dark Angels and Ottoman flags even fell to the ground and were dragged away. The wheel tracks of the carriages were extremely chaotic, and the heavy cavalry and auxiliary soldiers were even crowded together.

Seeing this scene, some people were eager to try and wanted to take advantage of the other party's retreat to open the door and chase them, but they were stopped by Aenarion and Hepans.

The number and quality of the Dark Angels' cavalry were too terrifying. The nearly 7,000 elite Janissaries, except for the ten companies of artillery and mages of the Dreadwing, and a few Firewing personnel responsible for intelligence, were all well-trained cavalry. The cavalry on their side consisted of only 500 Mongolian orcs and 300 Hospitaller Knights. Without the defense of the city walls and the support of artillery, they could not win in a field battle.

What's more, the leader of the First Legion, the Ottoman Empire's warlord, is only at this level? Retreating and causing chaos in his own legion? Who would believe it if I told them? That guy was definitely pretending, trying to trick me out, and then defeat the pursuing troops, and even chased the remaining troops into Del.

Fiborg, complete the reversal.

This person was still thinking about plotting against himself even until the last moment. It's really scary.

Seeing that the enemy would not take the bait, Ryan felt more and more humiliated. His eyes, as green as the forest, stared at the red double-headed eagle flag flying over the Delphi Castle, and he retreated with his army in hatred.

While the main force of her Dark Angels could leave, it was hard to say what would happen to the two thousand Dark Angels that attacked Martinon. The defenders of Thermopylae were completely unaware of Luther's betrayal and thought they were a normal grain transport unit. They directly opened the gate and let Luther's men in. Not surprisingly, they were then defeated and conquered from within by the 1,300 young Janissaries.

At this moment, in front of the two thousand men was the Martinon Fortress, which still had two layers of walls and fortresses left, and behind them was the Thermopylae occupied by the fallen angels. The entire army was stuck between the mountains and had no food!

"Teacher, let's launch an attack. As long as we launch a surprise cavalry charge behind these Steel Wings and Hurricane Wings and let the defenders of Martinon Fortress rush out, these two thousand Dark Angels will be unable to take care of both ends and can be defeated in one fell swoop! What's more, there are more than thirty Fallen Angels hiding among them, and a quarter of them are your students. Now, they are like a precarious broken house. Just a kick will make them collapse."

A fallen angel said respectfully.

"No, half of this legion is composed of rebellious Eastern Roman armored cavalry. They surrendered to the Ottoman Empire for money and glory, and they can also rebel against the Ottoman Empire for money and glory. The other quarter are my students. I have a way to make the commander of this legion, Meril Astelan, and his two thousand Janissaries surrender willingly."

Luther said calmly that with just over 1,300 Janissary teenagers whose hair had not even grown fully, he did not have the capital to compete with his daughter's First Legion. Even if the entire Christian coalition was added, they could only defend themselves but had no power to fight back.

However, if we add these two thousand people, the situation becomes difficult to say.

"Ah? Although Meril Astelan is also a Slav, he is a Muslim, a pure-blooded Janissary, and a devout follower of the Sufi school. He is from the First Legion, no, one of the oldest Janissaries in the entire Ottoman Empire, and he was raised through the first blood tax! Although he is not as strong as the legion commander, his qualifications and experience are very formidable, and his loyalty to the empire is unshakable. How could a dark angel like him fall?"

The fallen angel asked in great confusion.

"Because he is one of the oldest Janissaries in the entire Ottoman Empire and the oldest dark angel, the possibility of his fall is greater."

Luther smiled mysteriously and waited for another two days at Thermopylae, confirming that the enemy's food supplies were exhausted before he started to take action.

At this moment, Merrill Astellan was really at the end of his rope. In desperation, they burst out with amazing fighting power and even broke through the second bastion wall of Martinon, forcing all the defenders back to the original European castle. However, everyone was really at the end of their strength and even began to kill horses to satisfy their hunger.

Although the enemy was not strong enough, their luxurious equipment and firm will were not inferior to ours. Nearly half of the 2,000 people were killed or wounded. An ordinary army should have been defeated long ago, but the remaining 1,000 people were still roaring about their nation and country, and were trapped in the innermost fortress and fortress, refusing to come out.

At this desperate moment, a large number of Janissary youths rode out on horseback. They skillfully drew bows and arrows on horseback and shot letters into Astelan's camp. The dark angels picked up the letters in confusion and found that there were only two very simple lines of words on them.

The former Eastern Roman armored paladins, now the Steel Wings, as long as you surrender to Aenarion, he is willing to offer the same military pay and land as the Janissaries.

Janissaries, your teacher Luther orders you to lay down your arms and surrender. As long as you submit, your original official positions and treatment will remain unchanged. High elves do not fight against high elves.

For a time, the Janissaries, who had been in a desperate situation and were ready to fight a desperate battle, saw hope of survival and were treated well. Although they did not say it on the surface, secretly the morale of the army began to become restless and scattered.

Astelan was furious and prepared to confiscate and burn all the letters to stabilize the morale of the army. Then, he received a letter written specifically by Luther.

"Respected Mr. Merrill Astelan, you are the oldest and most noble Dark Angel in the Legion. Your contribution to the First Legion is known to all. Your loyalty to the Ottoman Empire is unshakable. The Dark Angels regard you as the elder brother of everyone, and you have made great contributions to the Empire.

But how did the Ottoman Empire treat you?

First, Sultan Murad, without any regard for your prestige in the legion, appointed a little girl who had just joined the Janissary as the leader of the legion, forcing you to be subordinate to her. Then, Sultan Mehmed ordered the First Legion to carry out a suicidal mission to attack Constantinople.

Although he failed, the young boy became Sultan again and brutally killed his only brother!

Now, a lowly elf born of a sex slave has killed the noble ogre born of the queen and is sitting on the throne of the Turks! The First Legion, which we cherish, is likely to continue its suicidal mission of attacking the triple walls of Constantinople! Moreover, is the Ottoman Empire managed by a bastard born of an elf sex slave still the Ottoman Empire you were loyal to a hundred years ago?

Listen to my brother's advice.

Rebellion - We will rebuild a new First Legion in Athens, a First Legion that belongs only to you. At that time, you will be the leader of the First Legion, and I am willing to be the deputy legion commander and the chief of new recruits to assist you. "

Astelan remained relatively calm during the first few sentences.

But seeing that Luther was willing to admit that he was the Lord of the First Legion, his expression gradually lost control, and his ten fingers tightly grasped the edge of the letter.

With his understanding of all the dark angels, Luther accurately grasped the weakness of this most ancient angel. It was indeed his biggest regret that his position as the Lord of the First Legion was taken away by a little girl. He was one of the oldest Janissaries in the Empire and had accompanied the Empire in bloody battles during the era of Murad I.

However, he had served the empire for nearly a hundred years and experienced four generations of sultans, making him a living fossil. However, his title of Lord of the Legion was taken away by a little girl who was less than ten years old.

The Lord of the First Legion, the Lord of the First Legion, the Lord of the First Legion...

These few words were like a curse, troubled Astelan's heart, and made him waver between loyalty and depravity.

----------

Astlan was in danger, while Ryan, with his main force, retreated back to Thessaly and urgently borrowed the last bit of food from the farmers to revitalize his army. He then urgently transferred food from Macedonia, Thrace and other places to make up for the deficit, and he led a small number of elite troops to attack Thermopylae! He wanted to rescue all the 2,000 people trapped in the mountains, and sent twelve urgent letters in one day, telling them to hold on for a while, and reinforcements would arrive soon.

However, when she arrived at Thermopylae along the mountain road with her elite troops, she found that Thermopylae had been occupied by Luther. Not only that, a large number of former Steel Wings, now Roman Armored Paladins, and high elves equipped with Janissary equipment but flying the red double-headed eagle flag, deployed extremely powerful defenses at Thermopylae, blocking her way.

The two most conspicuous people on the city wall were Luther El'Jonson and Meryl Astelan, two fallen angels, with two thousand Janissaries, one thousand recruits, nearly one-third of the dark angels, who rebelled against their own legion commander, their own sultan, and declared betrayal.

The author says:

Author's note: The map is explained in detail. The red is Aenarion's territory, the purple is the Eastern Roman Empire, the green is the Ottomans, the dark grey is the mountains, the blue is the ocean and rivers, and the light grey is the mountain roads that can be crossed. Even in 2023, there are only two mountain roads that can be used to travel from Thessaly to Athens.

Chapter 198: Fallen Angels Never Exist

In addition to these two traitors, Aenarion, Hepans, Thunder Warriors, Cardinals... a large number of Christian reinforcements also came here. Even their combined efforts were a bit difficult to fight, and with Luther and Astelan...

"Luther, are you involved too?"

Ryan was struck by lightning and froze in place. His tall and elegant body trembled slightly, and his stunningly cold face revealed a weak and sad expression for the first time.

"You risked your life to save me from the lance of the White Knight Hunyadi and the rain of arrows from the Hungarians. I have always remembered your kindness. In order to keep you alive and away from dangerous battlefields, I promoted you to the position of the most powerful and safest recruit commander, to sit in the rear and enjoy your retirement. And this is how you repay me?!"

"I don't need your pity! I told you, what I want is to be your Deathwing! Your Lion Guard! To follow you into battle! To protect you from danger again and again until I die in battle. I don't need you to pity me! Little girl!!!"

Luther was irritated by his own daughter. The expression she showed now was exactly the same as the one she had shown when she transferred him to the position of Chief of New Recruits that day, which deeply hurt the old knight's heart.

"Surrender, Ryan. The Ottoman Empire is now ruled by that young boy Muhammad. You are the war commander of the empire, but one-third of the Janissaries of the First Legion have rebelled. If you go back now, he will not forgive you."

"surrender?"

Ryan's weak and sad expression gradually disappeared, and she turned cold-blooded again. Her long golden hair fluttered in the wind, and her terrifying murderous intent swept in all directions like a tide.

"You should surrender. I will only give you one last chance. Kill those Christians on the city wall and open the door to let me in. This is your last chance!"

"You only brought a few hundred elite soldiers with you, and you still want us to surrender more than 3,000 Janissaries?"

Luther showed no fear.

"You should surrender to us, little girl. Did your teacher Metatron tell you about your father?"

"You still have the nerve to mention Metatron?"

The murderous intent surrounding Ryan became more and more terrifying.

"I found out everything. He was stabbed in the chest by a sword during the banquet! You were the one who invited him to the banquet! I have been a member of the Janissaries for so many years. He was my teacher and also my father! He taught me how to fight and how to survive! And you killed him with your own hands! You killed my father with your own hands!"

"I am your father!!!"

listen

Hearing Ryan's words, Luther could no longer control the jealousy in his heart. His face was distorted and he roared almost hoarsely. In an instant, not to mention Ryan himself, even the Death Wing veterans behind her and the Fallen Angels beside Luther all showed surprised expressions. They looked at each other and then whispered to each other, wondering if this old guy was actually the biological father of their legion commander?

"Mettalon has lied to you your whole life! You were taken away from me by those ogres! Taken away!!! In order to find you, I sold the castle and land passed down by my ancestors, fought for the Turks who humiliated my country, and joined the First Legion where you are!

Do you think that in the world, besides your father, there is anyone who would give you his life-saving warhorse in the midst of a defeated army? Who would pull the reins on foot, wield a shield, and protect you as you cross the river and retreat in the cold early spring? Who else in the world, besides me, would be able to take thirty-three arrows, sixteen stab wounds from spears, and twenty-two lacerations from scimitars for you? ! "

Ryan was stunned, and the murderous intent in her body instantly dissipated. She looked at the extremely old man on the city wall in disbelief. Her brain went into a state of shutdown while she was thinking frantically. Some old memories slowly emerged in her mind, the dark and gloomy Serbian castle, the scene of her father wiping his sword and riding a horse with her, and the wooden lion carved for her...

"Warmaster? Legion Commander?"

Some members of the Death Wing came over cautiously and shouted several times, but Ryan did not respond at all. Instead, she slowly squatted on the ground, holding her forehead, and let out a horrifying scream of pain. She beat and scratched her head frantically, so that her forehead was broken and blood gushed out, soaking her long golden hair.

Several Deathwings looked at each other worriedly, then summoned griffins and quickly retreated with Ryan!

Seeing Ryan retreating again, a few people dared to launch a pursuit after possessing the Fallen Angels. However, these Death Wing veterans were very powerful, and the griffins were extremely ferocious and could fly. The Roman Armored Paladins were helpless. The Pegasus Knights led by Hepans chased for a while, but seeing that they were almost reaching the Thessaly Basin, the enemy's territory, they did not dare to continue the pursuit and could only retreat in disappointment.

At this point, Aenarion and Luther both breathed a sigh of relief. Although they failed to capture Lion, the predetermined goals were achieved. They finally defended Athens from the Ottoman army, and even occupied Thermopylae and the fertile land rich in minerals near the hot springs.

With the help of 4,000 ordinary soldiers, the natural barrier of the Pindus Mountains, the solidity of the bastion, and the Christian reinforcements, he was able to withstand the frenzied attack of the First Legion.

Now he had another 3,000 Fallen Army soldiers and a more solid and dangerous Thermopylae. Even if Lion came back, he didn't need to be afraid! The fact that he had defeated the Ottoman warlord twice was widely publicized by Aenarion. Not to mention Athens, the entire Christian world was filled with unprecedented confidence. After being suppressed by the Ottomans for decades, and even after killing two kings in one battle, the battle finally turned around.

With Skander helping to injure the old sultan, and Aenarion now defeating the new warmaster, our Christian cause is gaining momentum.

On the other side, when Ryan returned to Larissa, he finally returned to normal, but that cold and beautiful face became like eternal ice, which made people feel cold in their hearts just by looking at her. In the past, she gave people the impression of lacking emotions and being difficult to get along with, but now, she has made people feel terrified and afraid.

"Warmaster, how are we going to report this war to the Sultan?"

A Death Wing veteran asked cautiously.

"Let's say someone attacked Larissa's camp and burned the food supplies. The soldiers on the front line almost defeated Aenarion, but because they had no food, they had to return empty-handed. We will organize a new attack in the near future."

Ryan said coldly.

"Then, Meryl Astelan and your father's traitors... The Hurricane Wings are fine, but the Steel Wings have rebelled. We counted and found that the number of rebellious Janissaries accounts for one-third of the entire legion."

"Take some of the Janissaries away from the original wing, break them up, give them new armor, and form a new steel wing. Well, three hundred people will be enough. Three hundred people are said to be a thousand. If someone investigates, we can say that the other seven hundred are on missions or dead. They will be paid for a while until we recruit and train them to make up for the shortfall of these traitors. This way, no one will be able to find out. I am the Warmaster!"

Ryan subconsciously avoided Luther's question, thought for a while, and gave a solution.

"At the same time, you announced to the outside world that we fought a bloody battle with the evil Christians in the Pindus Mountains and rescued the Janissary brothers trapped in Martinon, which was a great victory."

"Good idea, Warmaster."

The Death Wing veteran suddenly realized and praised repeatedly.

"But what about those traitors? They call themselves Fallen Angels..."

"Fallen angel? What fallen angel?!"

Ryan looked at Deathwing ferociously, her endless murderous intent made her look like a terrifying beast that was ready to devour its prey, but her stunningly beautiful face made her look like a blonde cat with its fur standing on end.

"Fallen angels don't exist!!! Block the news! The only ones who know about this now are you, the Deathwing who followed me to Thermopylae, and the other veterans!

Not to mention other legions, even those unqualified Dark Angels cannot know the news about Luther and Astelan!!!

At the same time, select elite priests from the entire army, the kind that are good at using divine arts and close combat, especially the third-ring Speak with the Dead spell, and some divine arts that affect the mind. I want to form a special force that is responsible for hunting down and exterminating these fallen angels in secret, and extracting a lot of secrets from their mouths! Well, let's call them interrogation priests.

If someone from other legions, or the Sultan or the High Lords asks you about the Fallen Angels, you know what to say, right? "

"understand!"

The Death Wing veteran immediately saluted.

"The First Legion has no secrets! Fallen Angels do not exist!"

Chapter 199: Athens Warmaster

The First Legion began to reorganize. In order to cover up this shameful large-scale betrayal, the Dark Angels became suspicious and concealed the existence of the Fallen Angels like a possessed person - they did not need to deceive outsiders, they only needed to deceive other legions and their own Sultan and make them believe that every expedition was a victory.

And Aenarion's power surged! Luther brought not only nearly 3,000 Janissaries and the powerful Fallen Army, but also nearly 20,000 auxiliary soldiers and 20,000 conscripted civilians. The Ottomans had a broad definition of auxiliary soldiers, including cooks who cooked for the army, blacksmiths who forged iron, and grooms who fed war horses. They were all called auxiliary soldiers. If necessary, these people could be pulled into the battlefield as cannon fodder.

And now, all these people followed Luther and became fallen angels with confused faces.

And those civilians brought a lot of baggage from the Dark Angels Monastery, including but not limited to textbooks for nineteen courses. Aenarion flipped through them and found that the textbooks brought by the First Legion and Astarielle from the Thirteenth Legion were somewhat different. There were even a lot of documents from Eastern Rome, Western Europe, Arabia, Central Asia, India, and even the Far East Zhendan - many of which were sold by the Mongols. There were even some history books and street storytellers' stories. It was worthy of being the first Janissary Legion. It was really open-minded and learned everything.

In addition, there were a large number of scimitars, muskets, bows and arrows, as well as a lot of emergency food and fodder, and the population of Athens soared to 280,000.

A few years ago, Sultan Murad II forcibly abducted 100,000 people from the Athens area as slaves, and killed tens of thousands of people for fun. A large amount of land was left deserted as a result. In order to build castles and dig silver mines, they had to buy slaves from outside, and there was no manpower to open up the wasteland. Now that they have been supplemented with 40,000 to 50,000 people, it can be considered a barely replenished blood, and they can go out to open up the wasteland.

As for the treatment, Aenarion used the same salary as the Janissaries to stabilize these fallen angels. According to the old tradition, one silver coin was paid per day for each professional level. After suffering heavy casualties in the siege of Martinon, there were only 1700 old Janissaries left, and they needed silver coins per month.

One thousand three hundred new soldiers, the same price as the establishment of four regiments, 5,300 people, a total of 159,000 silver coins, the total military pay of this group of people is as high as 360,000! Almost the income of a Laurion silver mine.