When they saw the direction of the Duke's army, the city lords and lords along the way naturally knew the goal of the master. At this time, they sent a large amount of military food and grass to show their goodwill. Some city lords even took the initiative to petition, demanding to join his legion with their soldiers.

Li Ran refused all these arms and supplies. As for those who wanted to walk with him, Li Ran used this to go to danger. He didn't know what the result would be. He was unwilling to drag them down and politely declined. Only Earl Giodano, who had long become his followers. Seeing that he was determined, Li Ran had to bring him with his three thousand swamp soldiers and horses.

This man followed Li Ran in the battle of Elicimo two years ago. Li Ran was very sure of his ability. Seeing that his city was damaged by Duke Mednachi's army, he suffered heavy losses. After the victory, Li Ran also expressed his willingness to provide him with materials to rebuild the city, and specially selected many good troops from the captured troops.

However, the heroic count of the swamp clan was unwilling to rebuild the city on the spot. He led his tribe and subordinates to become Li Ran's followers, hoping that he could help him kill Mednachi.

After investigation, Li Ran realized that this person made this decision not only because his friend Earl Krich was killed, but also because his wife, who was pregnant at the time, escaped from the pursuit of Duke Maednachi, but after she and her tribe members escaped, she encountered an ambush on the way, and eventually died with the child in her belly. So he had no intention of rebuilding the city on the spot and simply ran to Li Ran.

Seeing this man so persistent, Li Ran finally had no choice but to agree to him and arranged him to a medium-sized city he had captured before to continue to be the city lord. Since then, this man has been an earl city lord of the empire, but in private, everyone knows that he is actually Duke Telres.

However, Li Ran did not treat him badly. Not only did he send people to help him take over this medium-sized city in the shortest time, but he also provided a lot of material support, making him stronger than before in just one or two years. The number of troops above the higher level alone reached more than 50,000, becoming a real Count of Power.

After more than ten days of travel, the army led by Li Ran finally arrived near the Dark Forest. After rejecting the invitation of several city lords, he led his troops directly into a medium-sized city.

This was once a city of viscount. The lord was a follower of Sales. After his rebellion, he followed Sales into the dark forest. Although there were still some local residents and warriors who were unwilling to leave, this place was actually a masterless city.

If the bandits came as before, some local residents and some soldiers here would definitely resist to protect their homes. However, when they found that they were tens of thousands of troops of the Duke of the Empire, the soldiers had to open the city gate immediately.

Looking at the abandoned scene in front of him, the residents looked nervously at their army through their windows. In addition to one or two wandering children fighting for food with wild dogs, Li Ran sighed slightly along the way.

After taking out some of the food sent by the city lords along the way and letting them distribute it, Li Ran moved directly into the city lord's mansion here. After a few days of rest, he left about 20,000 material support personnel and high-level soldiers below. Then the streamlined army entered the dark forest that morning.

Because of the preparations in advance, this time the team led the way was an experienced hired team, the captain was a barbarian warrior, and the more than 30 teammates of various tribes below were also very skilled. If they were to lead the way, Li Ran and the others would avoid detours.

Being able to serve a duke of the empire was perhaps the biggest business they had taken in decades. In order to complete this commission, they obviously prepared their homework early. As the army began to march, they also divided into several teams to lead the way forward.

Of course, as a commander, Li Ran would not have been so hasty that he handed over all the actions of the army to these mercenaries. Having already knew the general location of Sels, the scout leader Histan also left the large army with his subordinates, and there were many high elves appearing around the army's march.

The 45,000 army and nearly 20,000 logistics support troops were like a winding dragon in the dark forest, heading towards the target. Although they would encounter some attacks from time to time, most of them were the instincts of creatures here. In addition, Li Ran's strength in the conscription did not have much impact on the army. Only some naturally formed mud and poisonous fog were the key to the army's advance.

Fortunately, this experienced hiring team led the way, which saved them a lot of trouble. In addition, Li Ran also brought Ladyya and Kurtuo this time. One of them was a dark elf warlock with good tactical ideas, and the other was the leader of the Minotaur. They were both native creatures in the dark forest before and were very familiar with the environment here, so they did not encounter much threat in the first half of the journey.

However, as they penetrated into the dark forest, Li Ran and others realized the danger here. Those brutal and dangerous local creatures dared to launch attacks even when facing such a huge legion. From time to time, soldiers were killed or dragged away by them. Especially after camping at night, sometimes groups of dark creatures even attacked their camp, causing a lot of casualties. The highest day was even nearly 700 wounded.

At this time, these mercenaries had no good idea. After all, a legion of tens of thousands of people, just marching and camping, was a few kilometers long, so it was really difficult to prevent these dangerous creatures. These guys saw an opportunity, and the number and scale of their sneak attacks were also increasing. It can be said that if Li Ran had not brought all the top-level troops above the level this time, this kind of defense would have been greater.

But this is obviously not a long-term solution. If there are any casualties like this, they may not have any soldiers available before they reach the castle in Sails.

If Li Ran had been placed before, he might have no choice but to encounter such a situation, but his biggest advantage at this time was his high-level troops. Since the creatures here were so fierce and tricky, he would return them to their own body by his own way. When more than 100 sphinc giant wolfs above the legendary level, including the strange beasts, Liuyun Fubao and other creatures appeared in the camp, the local creatures in the dark forest were affected.

Looking at these terrible creatures, they dragged back several corpses from time to time, and the most powerful of them even reached the legendary level. These warriors were a little scared at first, but when they got along well, they would be filled with joy every time they saw them back, and they took out the food they were reluctant to eat and fed it to them, because they knew very well that every creature they killed might be the murderer who killed themselves or their companions.

Unexpectedly, this duke had such a terrifying biological legion. At this time, these mercenaries were amazed, but they found that their role was getting smaller and smaller. Through observations during this period, the other party was obviously very clear about his target location. The advanced Silver Moon patrol who was skilled above them were also inquiring ahead, including the army.

These high-level Silver Moon Patrols with the lowest strength are all in the legendary level, which cover dozens of kilometers of ranges around the army. When there is any movement, they will be issued an alarm, and the army will then enter a state of alert. The terrible monsters are killing the surrounding creatures day and night. If there is a biological group, this duke's army will immediately divide more or less elite corps to encircle and suppress them according to the situation. These exposed biological groups have lost the advantages of terrain and environment, and have no power to fight back in front of these steel troops.

While Li Ran was leading the army, in a dark castle more than 300 miles away, several people were standing in front of a magic sand table, silently watching the changes above.

Duke Sales doesn't like to be disturbed when considering problems. Before, an adjutant had to express his opinion when he was considering problems because he relied on Duke Sales' trust, and was finally killed by him. This is something everyone knows. So at this moment, except for the magician's soft singing, the entire conference hall is also very quiet.

After a long time, Duke Sels looked up at the people and said, "I believe you have seen all the demonstrations just now. This is still this afternoon. I believe that the Duke Telres' army is less than three hundred miles away from us. Do you have any opinions?"

Hearing Duke Sails ask, the few people present gasped loudly. One of them said disdainfully: "Their soldiers are only more than 40,000, and there are so many wounded people now. What are we afraid of him? When we come, we will tell him to stay here forever."

However, at this time, a man in a robe next to him shook his head and said, "I think it's better to be careful. Although I don't know if he has subdued the King of Demons, this person has dozens of epic creatures, especially those cloud giants, who are very powerful in the siege."

Hearing him say this, the man just said indifferently: "Isn't it just the Cloud Giant? Why are we so many Star Breaking Crossbows? Even King Demon Luga could settle them at the beginning. I was afraid that these Cloud Giant. Besides, there are more than 100,000 elite soldiers here, and I was afraid that he would come from a distance and only 40,000 people."

Hearing him say this, not only the middle-aged man in a robe just now did not speak, but even the others nodded slightly. Although the enemy this time was the famous Duke of Terres, they were quite confident in defending here.

...
Chapter completed!