"Lord Lin, you and the two vice city lords, Hamza and Hassan, plus Zayn—the four of you will deal with those four Orc Sword Saints.

Four level thirty-nines against four level thirty-nines; the numbers are equal and the strength is similar."

Lin Feng glanced at Hamza and Hassan; both of them nodded toward him.

He then looked at Zayn; Zayn remained expressionless but gave a slight nod.

Ali Khan continued, "Zala only has Power Awakening and lacks the ability of Flight, so he will rely on the city walls to hold back those four level thirty-five Orc Overseers along with the other second promotion Awakened.

Orc Overseers cannot fly either. By fighting on the city walls, we have the advantage of terrain."

Zala grinned and patted the scimitar at his waist. "No problem. Fighting on the city walls, I've never feared anyone."

Ali Khan looked toward Faizan, his tone carrying a sense of respect.

"Faizan will use Snow Mountain Blessing to support everyone. His blessing can add thirty defense points to a designated unit for fifty seconds.

There is also a Toughness Aura, which increases the maximum health limit by one hundred points within two hundred meters for thirty minutes."

Faizan nodded slightly.

"And then there is our wonder, the Snow Mountain Minaret." A hint of pride entered Ali Khan's tone.

"It has a special effect called 'Protection of Faith'—all allies within three li of the territory gain four hundred health, and automatically recover four hundred health every thirty seconds, healing up to ten targets simultaneously."

After listening, Lin Feng calculated quickly in his mind: the Snow Mountain Minaret adds 400 health and recovers 400 health every 30 seconds, Faizan's Toughness Aura adds another 100 max health, and the Snow Mountain Blessing adds 30 defense. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Adding [N O V E L I G H T] health, defense, and continuous recovery—this combination was indeed powerful.

Special units like the Delhi Sultanate Infantry also have a ten-thousand-man Army Formation effect, adding another six hundred health.

The ordinary soldiers on the city walls originally only had a bit over two hundred health. With these buffs, it would go straight toward seven hundred, and their survivability would more than double.

"Good," Lin Feng nodded, "I have no objections."

Liu Zhenshan also nodded. "I have no objections either."

Zala grinned from the side and slapped the table. "Then it's settled! The meeting is over. There's a welcome banquet tonight; you two must grace us with your presence!"

Ali Khan also smiled, stood up, and cupped his fists again. "Deputy City Lord Liu, Lord Lin, we have prepared a modest banquet tonight to welcome you. We will discuss the tactical details in depth tomorrow."

Liu Zhenshan and Lin Feng stood up and returned the gesture.

The atmosphere in the Council Hall lightened considerably.

Zayn and Zala had already begun discussing in low voices what dishes to serve tonight, while Hamza and Hassan were talking quietly.

Faizan put away his staff and nodded to Lin Feng with a faint smile on his lips.

Lin Feng leaned back in his chair, feeling much more at ease.

With health boosts, defense boosts, a wonder, and city walls, the battle in two days wouldn't be that hard to fight.

He turned to look out the window. The snow-capped mountains gleamed with a piercing white light under the sun, and the black line of the city wall on the mountainside was exceptionally clear.

In two days, that would be the battlefield.

...

Emerging from the Council Hall, Hamza led Lin Feng and Liu Zhenshan onto the west gate wall of the outer city.

The wall was eight meters wide with arched battlements, and it was crowded with soldiers.

Ordinary Delhi Sultanate Infantry, wearing leather armor and turban-helmets, held scimitars and bucklers.

They stood in rows on the wall, one every few steps.

Their equipment wasn't bad—white-quality scimitars, bucklers, and leather armor—but their morale was generally low.

As Lin Feng walked past them, he saw no fighting spirit in their eyes, only exhaustion and anxiety.

Some were talking in low voices, some were staring blankly, and some were dozing against the battlements.

A young soldier squatted at the base of the wall, clutching a piece of parchment.

On the paper were crooked characters, looking like he was writing a letter; his eyes were red, but he wasn't crying.

Hamza walked ahead, his voice kept very low: "There are currently four thousand ordinary Delhi Sultanate Infantry on the wall, plus five thousand level ten Awakened. There are nine thousand in total, but to be honest, their combat effectiveness is mediocre."

Lin Feng nodded without speaking.

They walked along the wall for a while, seeing a catapult or a heavy ballista every thirty meters.

The catapults were smaller than those in Fenghuo County but more sophisticated in structure, with bases reinforced with iron hoops and simple runes carved on the throwing arms.

Beside the catapults were baskets of ice-blue potion jars—Ice Burst Potions.

He picked up a jar to look, and an attribute panel appeared before his eyes.

【Ice Burst Potion (Green)】 Type: Consumable.

Effect: Explodes upon impact, dealing 120 frost damage to enemies within a three-meter radius and slowing them by 30% for 5 seconds.

Usage Requirement: None.

One hundred and twenty frost damage plus a slow effect was indeed useful in a siege defense.

But Lin Feng knew in his heart that this little damage was nothing to level fifteen Orc Infantry.

Not to mention those elites and leaders.

The health bars of Orc Infantry were at least over three hundred, and with the boost from the ten-thousand-man Army Formation, they could reach over nine hundred.

The role of the Ice Burst Potion wasn't to kill, but to delay—to slow the enemies down and buy time for the Archers and ballistas on the wall.

Hamza pointed outside the west gate, his tone flat but with a hint of helplessness: "The Orc Army is very likely to launch an attack from the west gate, so the villages and towns outside the west gate should all be evacuated into the Holy City over these two days."

Lin Feng leaned against the battlement and looked west.

Under the setting sun, the road outside the west gate was teeming with people—pushing carts, driving livestock, holding children, carrying bundles—swarming from the west toward the city gate like ants moving house.

In the crowd were the elderly, women, children, and many young men; they wore clothes of various colors, some with white turbans, others with plain-colored headscarves, and all their faces bore the same expression—fear.

Occasionally, someone would look back at the western horizon as if checking if the Orc Army was catching up, then quicken their pace toward the city gate.

The soldiers at the gate were maintaining order, shouting "Don't push" and "Elderly and children first," their voices hoarse and nearly broken from shouting.

Lin Feng looked away, his heart sinking slightly.

He saw an old man in the line, back hunched, clutching a wooden stick.

His other hand held a seven or eight-year-old boy.

The boy held a dirty rag doll in his arms, his eyes red, but he wasn't crying.

The old man walked very slowly, stopping to catch his breath every few steps; the crowd behind them bypassed them, and no one hurried them.

The homes of these people—those villages, fields, and orchards—would all become battlefields in two days.

The city walls blocked the Orc Army, but they couldn't stop their fields from being trampled or their houses from being burned.

Before the war even began, they had already lost everything.

...

After the three of them finished inspecting the west gate wall, they came to the military district in the northern city area.

The northern city area was right against the foot of the snow mountain; the wind blew from there, carrying the chill of ice and snow.

The training ground was huge, the size of several football fields, the ground covered in gravel and sand that crunched underfoot.

On the training ground, five thousand Delhi Sultanate Elite Infantry were drilling.