#797 - Air Combat (asking for monthly ticket recommendation)

"How is that possible?" Hermione's face stiffened. "Our cheapest aerial unit is the Gralling, which costs 200 merit points for four. How could they possibly afford them?"

"They have flying brooms!" Wood seemed to have found his target, pointing to a few black dots above the distant forest. "Look, those guys are patrolling the route from outpost one to outpost three, obviously searching for our reconnaissance units."

"What? Are their flying brooms very cheap? How could they redeem them so quickly?" Hermione seemed to realize something, a sudden shock in her heart. "If they redeem a large number of flying brooms, won't we be pinned to the ground?"

"No!" Wood shook his head. "The enemy has very cheap flying units, but we also have very cheap anti-air weapons. Have you forgotten the [Scatter Cannons] that can be redeemed for only 50 merit points?"

"I felt it was strange before, why there would be such cheap anti-air equipment. It turns out that the offensive side's flying equipment is also very cheap."

Wood cursed inwardly. Why hadn't he realized this sooner? Now they were on the defensive.

"Killing an enemy earns 2 merit points. If those flying brooms cost the same as the [Scatter Cannons], and counting the previous casualties and the output of outpost one, they could exchange for a group of flying brooms if they used everything." Hermione also reacted at this time.

As first-timers in the battlefield副本, their biggest obstacle was actually not knowing what the enemy could redeem from the quartermaster.

Anyway, their side's merit point redemption list was full of defensive items and hired beasts, such as sandbags for building trenches, and various cannons and traps.

Wood had guessed before that the enemy's redemption items would be offensive-oriented, but he hadn't expected such cheap aerial vehicles like flying brooms.

"So what should we do now?" Hermione suddenly thought, "The reconnaissance team has been killed. They will definitely send people to fight for the number three position. Should we take the opportunity to launch a counterattack on the number one position?"

"Counterattack?" Wood frowned in a conflicted manner. "But what if the enemy hasn't taken action yet? Wouldn't that be falling right into their trap? Besides, the mountain road has been beaten into such a state, without any cover. Our offensive difficulty is no lower than theirs."

The battlefield within the Hastings Battle 副本 was basically a jungle environment, making it difficult to see distant enemies with the naked eye.

For example, in Wood's telescope view, he couldn't see what was happening in the valley at all, only a few people on flying brooms hovering in the sky.

So in this area, the biggest impact on them was actually visibility, and the passage to outpost one had been completely stripped bare.

Now when Percy and the others attacked from outpost one, they had to crawl halfway on the ground to approach. Otherwise, they couldn't even get close to the outermost position, let alone launch a counterattack downwards. They didn't even have the chance to crawl forward.

"We can't just watch, can we?" Hermione knew that the risk of counterattacking now was great, but defending like this was too passive.

"How about sending one or two more squads to support the number three position from another direction?" Hermione suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "The enemy shouldn't react for a while. With some defensive equipment on the front, we should be able to hold on!"

"That is indeed a solution, but the biggest trouble now is that intelligence is restricted." Wood said with some difficulty, "Without regaining intelligence advantage, we will still be on the defensive."

Just as they were talking, Wood heard the news that the second reconnaissance team had also been wiped out.

"No, we can't let those guys do whatever they want in the sky." Wood looked at Hermione and decisively said, "We have saved up a lot of merit points now. I'll redeem a group of Grallings. You and Ron, Draco, and Cho Chang also rush out and try to take down a few of them to regain reconnaissance rights."

"No problem!" Hermione immediately took the order and turned to find the other three companions.

Soon, four gray steeds with ribbed wings appeared in the outpost.

Grallings, along with Runemares, Thestrals, and Illyrians, were among the four great winged horses. The Gralling's characteristic was its extremely fast sprinting speed. Perhaps it wasn't as flexible and obedient as the Runemare, but it was much gentler than the Illyrian.

These Grallings were covered in a thick layer of armor. After checking the attributes, everyone realized that each of them actually had 500 shield points. Only breaking through this shield would count as death and be teleported away.

"Good heavens, this is much stronger than ordinary flying brooms!" Ron excitedly climbed onto a Gralling, tried it out, and found that these winged horses were very obedient, obviously professionally trained.

"Don't delay, hurry up and grab air superiority. If you find any ground intelligence during this period, don't forget to report it in time!" Wood saw another wave of enemies rushing up from the front and shouted before rushing over to support.

"Don't worry, watch me beat them to a pulp!" Ron shouted confidently, then squeezed the horse's belly and shot out from the cliff.

Hermione, Draco, and Cho Chang next to him followed closely, leaping into the air together and flying towards the last location where Harry had appeared.

At first, the four thought they would have to search for a while to find the enemy, but unexpectedly, they ran into Harry's group head-on not long after taking off.

"Don't think about passing here. I advise you to surrender early!" Ginny shouted while darting out of the forest below, obviously having been ambushing here for a long time.

"You want to fight us with that broken stick under your butt? You're looking for death!" Draco was worried about not being able to find them. He didn't expect the enemy to show up on their own, so he naturally pressed the horse's head and went up to meet them head-on.

Thus, an aerial battle broke out as soon as the two groups met. Members of both sides charged towards their opponents at the same time, waving their wands and throwing out their best spells.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Spiral Impact!"

"Cold Blade Unleashed!"

"Lightning Strike!"

The colorful magic bullets, like arrows released from a bow, exploded with crackling sounds and sped towards their respective opponents.

Faced with the oncoming attacks, those with good flying skills rolled and dodged, while those confident in their combat skills raised their wands to parry.

For a time, not only were various spells flying around in the high air, but people were also moving around everywhere. Soon, the eight people were fighting up, down, left, and right, looking like a group of miniature fighter jets chasing and shooting at each other in the air.

Among them, Harry used his superb flying skills to draw a graceful arc in the air, skillfully circling behind Ron and firing a lightning strike spell at his good brother's butt.

But to his surprise, although his spell hit Ron solidly, it did not knock down or even injure him.

The reason was that when Harry's spell was about to hit him, the winged horse under Ron suddenly lit up with a shield, completely blocking his spell.

"Crap!" Harry cried inwardly, then shouted to the other teammates, "Their winged horses have shields. Don't fight them head-on!"

"Isn't it a bit too late to find out now!" Hermione sneered, then took a spell head-on and hit Neville's broom with a fire spell.

Neville, whose tail was on fire, didn't have time to control the constantly shaking broom, and was then hit into white light by several spells that added damage.

When the other three members of the offensive side saw this, they immediately realized that something was wrong. The other side's flying vehicles were obviously better than theirs. If they continued to fight head-on, they would only suffer losses.

So the three decisively pressed their brooms and descended into the forest below, trying to use the terrain to deal with Hermione and the others.

Even at this time, they still had no intention of retreating. Anyway, the mission had been completed. Now they would delay as long as they could.

"Want to run? Chase!"

Ron and the others had also experienced the power of the winged horse at this time. As expected, expensive things had their reasons.

Then the four chased after Harry and the others, starting a chase in the forest. From a distance, one could see bursts of smoke and magic light constantly bursting out.

Fortunately, Harry, Ginny, and Cedric were all people who used flying brooms all year round. Their flying skills were quite skilled, and they could barely hold on with the help of the trees, but they could only run away with their heads in their hands and could not fight back at all.

However, just as the chase was in full swing, a turning point appeared!

"Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!"

A series of five wizards on flying brooms suddenly appeared in front of Harry and the others. The leader was Neville, who had just been resurrected.

"I brought people to meet you! Counterattack!" Seemingly very upset by the previous aerial killing, Neville shouted excitedly to Harry and the others.

"How did you bring people here?" Harry was shocked when he saw this. He knew that Percy had sent three small teams to attack the number three outpost secretly after they had solved the first reconnaissance team.

The segmented attack used on the frontal battlefield was actually to confuse the defense with numbers, making the enemy think that they were dividing their personnel into three equal parts to continuously attack the position.

So after seeing Neville come over with a small team, Harry immediately realized that, excluding them and the three teams going to the number three position, there were only 30 people left on the front line? Was Percy not afraid of something going wrong?

"Don't worry!" Neville calmly smiled while calling his companions to block Hermione and the others. "We have already taken down the number three position! Many of those who died also returned to the number one position."

"And..." Neville suddenly rode his broom to Harry's side and whispered, "Percy has big plans on his side, and we have to rush to support after we finish off Hermione and the others."

"Understood!" Harry nodded in relief when he heard this, and called Cedric and Ginny before turning the broom head and launching a counter-charge against the enemy.

When Hermione and the others saw that reinforcements had arrived on the other side, their first reaction was not fear, but to continue charging towards the enemy, after all, they had already experienced the power of the Gralling, so they subconsciously didn't take these flying brooms seriously.

But they soon realized what quantity advantage meant. Eight flying brooms, like eight annoying sparrows, surrounded the four of them, occasionally shooting out a spell, making them dizzy.

"No! We can't fight them in a positional battle." Hermione saw the armor value of her winged horse dropping rapidly, knowing that she couldn't continue the stalemate.

These Grallings were powerful, but they were also very expensive!

If they exchanged their own winged horses for the other side's flying brooms, it would be a great loss.

"Let's lead them back to the base! Let Wood help!" Hermione shouted, then took the lead and rode the winged horse back.

Hearing Hermione's words, the other three immediately reacted and followed Hermione's actions.

Obviously, the offensive side's aerial units had more advantages than them, but the defensive side was not without ways to deal with it.

And such a retreat showed the speed advantage of the Gralling, immediately throwing the eight flying brooms behind them.

In fact, this was also the reason why Harry and the others did not choose to retreat just now, because with the basic flying brooms under them, they could not avoid the pursuit of the Gralling at all.

When Harry and the others saw this, they immediately chased after them. After discovering that the direction of the retreat was the number two position, they were even more delighted, after all, they had originally planned to go to support.

Chasing and chasing like this, this large string of people soon came to the sky above the number two position, and at this time everyone realized that the situation here was also a mess.

At the forefront of the battlefield, a large area of black mist that could not be dispelled by wind spells had appeared at some point. This black mist stretched from the foot of the mountain to the top, and it was impossible to know what was inside the smoke.

This was obviously specially prepared by Percy for the new round of offensive, and it was unknown how many no-light amulets he had redeemed for this.

The defenders in the number two position, facing the situation where they could not see the environment at all, could only blindly launch a few spells at first, but judging from the sound, the effect was obviously minimal.

Wood quickly stopped everyone from this wasteful behavior of magic power, but instead actively gave up the outermost trenches and contracted the line to the inner ring.

Then, the defenders quickly knew the enemy's purpose. Just as everyone was on full alert, two armored giants suddenly appeared in front of them!

"Roar!"

Two giants, one holding a spiked hammer and the other holding a rusty anchor, roared out of the smoke, accompanied by a large number of murderous offensive wizards.

Percy's general offensive had begun!

"Kill!"

Percy, who had been in charge of commanding, also appeared at the forefront of the position at this time. As soon as he rushed out, he shouted loudly, while continuously pointing his wand, and several fast and urgent spells were fired in succession, killing two wizards who had poked their heads out of the trenches on the spot.

And the two giants were even more fierce and unmatched, relying on their thick armor to crash into the sandbag wall in front of them, and smashing a big hole in the fortifications with a few swings of their weapons.

Those wizards who followed up directly used the two giants as their cover, lined up in two tight columns, and rushed out of the smoke one by one.

Obviously, they were using this method to avoid getting lost in the patch of smoke. Looking at their ferocious appearance at this time, it seemed that they had been holding back enough anger in their hearts and were preparing to take this opportunity to vent it properly!