What are you panicking about? Even if the Black Wall is breached, we still have the Plant Labyrinth and the equally sturdy inner city!"
Seeing the Volantis soldiers, including his own guards, whispering among themselves, Hornos, who knew what was happening, immediately shouted a reprimand.
Just as he said, as an outpost and colony of Ancient Valyria, Volantis could be said to be a masterpiece meticulously crafted by those dragon kings.
In addition to the ridiculously thick Black Wall, the city of Volantis also had a ring of black plants planted within it.
These black plants looked like ordinary greenery in Volantis, but they were actually a Plant Labyrinth meticulously maintained by specialists.
In the past, those dragon kings of Valyria often landed here to enjoy tea breaks and admire this Plant Labyrinth.
But when it truly came to wartime, it had a very powerful defensive purpose.
If the Black Wall were truly lost, invaders unfamiliar with this Plant Labyrinth would easily get lost within it.
Or they would die by stepping on various traps while navigating the winding Plant Labyrinth.
With Hornos as their backbone, the Volantis soldiers in the West City Gate area gradually calmed down.
And Hornos also knew that now was the only time to retreat; if they wasted any more time, they would surely be surrounded by enemies entering the city from the direction of the south city gate.
This could be considered the only drawback of the Black Wall; if one city gate was breached, the enemy could quickly attack the other three gates through the wide Black Wall.
Of course, when the builders of Ancient Valyria designed Volantis, they never thought that Volantis would be captured from the front.
After orderly arranging the retreat, Hornos glanced at the flamethrowers on top of the West City Gate that were continuously spraying Wildfire,
He turned to the messenger beside him and ordered, "Find a few slaves with families, and tell them..."
As Hornos led the Volantis soldiers away, the defensive strength of the West City Gate Black Wall immediately plummeted.
Those slave soldiers who were forcibly left behind had no will to fight at all. Upon seeing the supervising team behind them also retreat, they immediately scrambled and fled into the city of Volantis.
"Hahaha, I was the first to climb the wall and plant the flag in this battle!"
A Frey Family soldier covered in blood stood at the gatehouse of the West City Gate, constantly waving the Twin Towers banner in his hand, laughing wildly with excitement.
Beside him, the faces of Westeros soldiers who arrived a step late showed regret and disappointment.
But some Agile soldiers' eyes darted around, thinking that since the great reward for being the first to ascend was taken by someone else.
Shouldn't they focus on taking some spoils of war?
However, this section of the wall had nothing other than military supplies, and the most valuable items were undoubtedly... flamethrowers!
More than a dozen clever soldiers who realized this immediately rushed towards the towers above the city gate, wanting to seize these extremely valuable spoils of war as early as possible.
But when they rushed to the two side towers equipped with flamethrowers, they saw several slave soldiers with despairing faces, holding torches.
And at the feet of the slave soldiers, barrels of wildfire, black oil, and other flammable and explosive items were piled up.
Humans have a survival instinct; no one wants to die.
If they didn't obey military orders, not only would they not survive, but all their relatives would also not survive!
The faces of their relatives flashed before the eyes of those few slave soldiers like a revolving lantern, and then they used the torches in their hands to ignite a barrel of Wildfire.
Boom!
Two small, green mushroom clouds rose from the wall of the West City Gate.
The Frey soldier who had been the first to ascend and all the Westeros soldiers near the towers were instantly engulfed by the green mushroom clouds.
Tap, tap, tap!
"Lord Hornos, turn left here!
But be careful to jump over that lighter-colored stone slab, that's a trap trigger!"
Within the Plant Labyrinth of Volantis, a soldier who was extremely familiar with the route and traps was leading the way.
Behind him, Hornos, along with the Volantis soldiers who had retreated from the West City Gate, followed closely behind him as they advanced.
Boom!
As soon as Hornos jumped over the light-colored stone slab mentioned by the guide and stood firm, his ears heard two loud explosions.
He immediately looked in the direction of the explosions.
He saw two plumes of rolling black smoke, like winding giant pythons, rising straight into the sky from the location of the distant West City Gate.
"Very good! Those two flamethrowers have exploded, but I don't know how many enemies they killed.
If these two flamethrowers were not destroyed and fell into enemy hands.
Then let alone the Plant Labyrinth, even our subsequent inner city defense might become extremely difficult!"
Looking at the distant flames, Hornos analyzed the situation at the West City Gate with a serious expression.
As if remembering that he couldn't delay too long now, he continued to speak,
"You continue to lead the way, we will reach the ambush point as soon as possible, and then we will give those foreign invaders a good show!"
"Yes!"
The guide soldier replied to Hornos and continued to move forward through the Plant Labyrinth, where they could only determine direction by the surrounding high Black Walls.
Although the towers of the West City Gate were still burning fiercely, it did not prevent Westeros soldiers from entering Volantis from other parts of the Black Wall.
Although there were still a very small number of slave soldiers fighting like cornered beasts on the inner side of the West City Gate, more and more Westeros soldiers were running down the wall stairs on both sides to encircle them.
Koma glanced at the burning towers, and directly led his soldiers down the city wall stairs, beginning to pursue Hornos and his group who had retreated into the Plant Labyrinth.
Before this battle broke out, the Westeros army had already thoroughly investigated the information about Volantis.
Koma naturally knew who the Commander of the West City Gate was.
The rewards for capturing an executive of Hornos's level and being the first to breach the inner city of Volantis would definitely be extraordinary.
Having been ambushed earlier due to carelessness, Koma volunteered to be the vanguard in order to make up for his mistake!
Moreover, his brother Dicken was unable to participate in this battle due to serious injuries, so he, as the older brother, had to gain greater military achievements.
Furthermore, he had obtained an incredible trump card when he had previously swept through Volantis.
Thinking of this, Koma subconsciously turned his head to look at a grey-robed man behind him who was wearing handcuffs and leg irons.
In fact, there was a wide road leading into Volantis from the West City Gate, which was used by merchant caravans from the west on a daily basis.
However, at this time, this wide road was blocked by wooden chevaux de frise embedded with spikes.
Whoosh, whoosh!
As soon as Koma took a few steps forward, a pungent smell entered his nostrils.
He naturally couldn't fail to recognize such a clear smell of Wildfire.
Koma stopped and looked at the black trees on both sides of the wide road, and immediately understood in his heart.
As long as the invaders dared to step into this trap soaked in Wildfire, arrows would surely shoot out from somewhere unknown.
Moreover, there was no sign of Hornos and his group or horse tracks on the wide road, which clearly indicated that they had not taken this path either.
Looking at the entrance to the Plant Labyrinth next to him, Koma did not hesitate at all and led his soldiers into it.
"Stop!"
Turning left and right along the Plant Labyrinth which had only one path, Koma, who had been walking for more than ten minutes, gradually frowned.
He suddenly shouted for his troops to stop, and then drew his long sword and slashed at the black trees in the Plant Labyrinth.
Clang!
A crisp collision sound rang out, and a sword mark the thickness of a little finger was cut into the black tree in front of Koma.
As the outer bark of this black tree was damaged, the black inner layer of the tree was revealed before Koma's eyes, and a small trickle of dark brown sap seeped out from it.
"Damn it, what kind of tree is this? It's so hard!"
Looking at the scene before him, Koma's eyes widened, showing a very shocked expression.
He naturally wouldn't know that this incredibly hard tree was actually called nightwood, a peculiar type of tree on the continent of Essos.
Its texture was extremely hard, and its overall color was as black as ink.
It was said that it belonged to the same tree species as the ebony of the Summer Isles, the nightwood of Westeros, or the black-barked trees of Qarth.
However, since the diameter of mature trees did not exceed twenty centimeters at their thickest, and they did not exceed seven feet in height (about 2.1 meters), and the cost of felling was huge, they could not become economic trees.
But for Volantis, this nightwood was very important, because the Plant Labyrinth was entirely composed of this nightwood.
"You ride on his neck and look at the road ahead!"
After Koma's idea of cutting a direct path to the inner city was shattered by this unusually hard strange tree, he pointed to two tall Frey Family soldiers and ordered.
Upon hearing this, the two soldiers immediately acted according to his command.
Indeed, the seven-foot-high nightwood could not obstruct the view of the soldier riding on the neck.
"Lord Koma, I can see that there seem to be two forks in the road ahead. I can't see from here whether they are dead ends.
But... this tree labyrinth is too big!"
The soldier who was trying to look into the distance observed for a while and then lowered his head to answer Koma.
In the vision of this Frey soldier, except for the relatively close north city wall behind him, all around was a sea of plants formed by countless black trees, with no end in sight.
This Plant Labyrinth was designed by the top builders of Ancient Valyria. If it were so easily found by invaders, wouldn't it be equivalent to slapping their faces?
"Hmm, from now on, you two will be captains. Now each of you go and choose a squad of ten to scout the route ahead."
After a slight pause, Koma pointed to the two Frey soldiers and gave his orders.
"Yes, sir!"
The two Frey soldiers who were promoted to captains by Koma showed surprised expressions upon hearing this. After respectfully saluting Koma, they immediately went to select their squads.
When the two new captains had chosen their squads, they set off first to scout the way for Koma's main force.
After walking around the corner of this Plant Labyrinth, there were indeed two forks in the next path.
The two new captains exchanged glances and then led their teams towards the fork closer to them.
Tap, tap, tap!
The eleven-man team on the left fork was silently moving forward. They walked in the passage formed by rows of nightwood, as if they were isolated from the outside world.
"Gulp, Connie... Captain, do you think there will be any traps or wild beasts in this tree labyrinth?"
A team member, who was probably familiar with the new captain, asked nervously.
"There's no damn trap, have you been listening to too many stories and legends?
I heard that this Plant Labyrinth in Volantis was once a place where dragon kings and Volantis lords and nobles played.
If there are traps here, what if they accidentally get hurt?
I tell you, this war to attack Volantis is our opportunity.
Just now I was the same as you, but now haven't I been promoted to captain?
If I wasn't trying to let you familiar bastards also get some benefit, why would I choose you to be in my squad?"
Hearing the words of this acquaintance, the new captain immediately pushed him roughly and then replied.
"Yes, yes! Thank you, Captain!"
The team member who was pushed forward several steps by the new captain replied with a fawning smile after hearing this.
"It's good that you know. Since you're so timid, then walk at the very front to train your courage!"
"Uh, yes!"
After silently greeting the new captain's family in his heart.
The team member nodded and bowed as he stepped forward.
Crack!
Huh?
As soon as the team member took a small step forward with his right foot onto a light-colored stone slab, he felt his body suddenly lose balance.
When he stood firm, he looked down at his right foot and saw that the light-colored stone slab had already sunk down to his ankle.
"Captain, I seem to have stepped on..."
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Just as the team member was turning his head to speak, hundreds of sharp crossbow bolts shot out from the nightwood bushes on both sides of the labyrinth passage.
Bang, bang, bang!
The ten-man squad, including the new captain, were instantly shot full of crossbow bolts like a beehive. They didn't even have time to scream before they fell to the ground and died.
...a trap!"
As soon as the team member finished speaking, he felt a chill in his body. He looked down and saw several crossbow bolts stuck in his chest and thigh.
Some team members who hadn't reacted yet and had somewhat bewildered eyes swayed back and forth before collapsing to the ground with a crash.
And the eleven on the right fork were a little better off, at least they could still scream!
Tap, tap, tap!
Hornos walked out from behind a nightwood.
He looked at the group of scouting Westeros soldiers lying on the ground and nodded with satisfaction.
"Give every enemy a few extra cuts, whether they are truly dead or not!"
As soon as Hornos's order was given, several Westeros soldiers who were screaming on the ground immediately begged for mercy loudly: "Ah! Have mercy, Lord, mercy, mercy!"
Rip!
Hornos's guards had no mercy at all. They looked at the Frey soldier lying on the ground begging for mercy, and slashed down fiercely with their long swords.
"Alright, go back to the previous hiding place and continue the ambush!"
Seeing that all the enemies had been finished off, Hornos immediately ordered the dozens of Volantis soldiers in the passage.
Then, Hornos led the group of guards to the corner of this 'T'-shaped passage, and together they lifted a movable nightwood bush nearby to block themselves.
The 'T'-shaped passage instantly became a '7' shape!