Sword of Dawn

Page 268

Amidst the surge of holy light in the Great Hall of Light, St. Ivan III's vision was slightly dazed, and then he whispered as if dreaming: "It's time to get ready to defend the glory of the Lord..."

……

Praying to the gods seems to be getting less and less effective.

In the wilderness in the southeast of the Holy Spirit Plain, Belk Lauren trudged through the dirt and gravel.

His cloak was already torn, and only a few rags remained on the shoulder buckle. The light armor was mottled and cracked, and it was covered with the vicissitudes of life after several fierce battles. It reminded them of their existence with subtle and sharp stings, but Belk still did not stop, still advancing in the wilderness.

Because he didn't know where the deadly pollution had spread, and he didn't know how far those monsters could chase.

After wading across a small stream, Belk stopped. He raised his head to look at the sun, determined the direction, then took out a small God of War charm from his arms, and began to pray briefly to the god he believed in. To pray for spiritual and physical blessing and recovery.

Yet this prayer had little effect.

It seems that the exhaustion and pain accumulated in the past few days have exceeded the limit of the blessing of the gods.

Belk sighed, put away the small talisman, and then looked around.

There was no human habitation in the vicinity. In fact, he hadn't encountered any human traces for so many days.

He is indeed deliberately avoiding inhabited places, because he is worried that the places where people have been polluted by the "curse of crystal clusters", but he has not encountered any merchants and travelers along the way... Either it is pure coincidence, or something more dire.

Belk shook his head, throwing those too bad associations out of his mind, he knew that he still had a long way to go, and he couldn't scare himself before reaching his destination.

He was going to the south, to the Principality of Cecil.

The road leading to the northern region has been occupied by those crystal cluster giants, and the road leading to the eastern region is similar. The only options left are the western region and the southern region. These two directions may not have been polluted, but in After some thought, he finally decided to head south.

There was no reason. In such a bad situation, intuition was the best reason. Intuition told him that he should go to the southern border and send the warning message to the southern border, so that the guardians there would know the situation of the giant log crossing as soon as possible.

Duke Gawain Cecil has warned this country more than once, and now, it is time to pay back.

Belk took a breath, calibrated his direction, and walked towards the southern border.

Chapter 0612

On the edge of the giant log crossing area, Soldering and his Iron Ranger soldiers are approaching a small town.

The multipurpose tanks that the advance team took stopped outside the town. These sturdy vehicles made of steel temporarily acted as shield generators and energy stations, and built a temporary stronghold on a stone high ground outside the town. A ranger warrior climbed onto the top of the chariot, facing the direction of the town, and pressed a mechanism on the side of the closed helmet with his hand.

The crystal eyepiece inlaid on the helmet visor was activated by magic power, first it turned red, and the soldier glanced at the town with the vision of detecting magic power, and then the goggle switched to blue—the newly added eagle eye spell enhancement in the second-generation eyepiece With the vision of the user, many details in the town are immediately presented to the eyes of the observer.

After a brief observation, a slightly muffled voice came from inside the Ranger's helmet: "Sir, there are wandering crystal cluster infected people in the town, and there are obvious magical reactions everywhere."

"The whole town has been infected..." Soldering said with a gloomy face, "It seems that we have entered the infected area and cannot move forward."

"I haven't found any traces of the Eastern Border Legion or the Kingdom Army along the way..." the Ranger soldier said, "Could they have all been wiped out?"

"...There is no way to be sure. Although the noble army's combat power is low, at least there are a large number of extraordinary people sitting in the town, and it is not so easy to wipe out the whole army," Soldering said in a deep voice, "Maybe they gave up all the wilderness areas, They are relying on the big cities to stick to their defenses, and they may still be fighting with the crystal cluster infected people in the farther north..."

He talked about his own analysis, but he didn't have much confidence in his heart.

As a high-level ranger, and a high-level ranger who has experienced the great development 700 years ago, he still feels extremely difficult when facing the situation in front of him.

The weird "sinister pollution" and the huge number of crystal cluster infected people hindered the intelligence collection work. Even with the elite and powerful Iron Rangers, he couldn't determine the situation in the deeper part of the contaminated area.

This is not the same as 700 years ago. 700 years ago, human beings fought on the wasteland. Generally speaking, there is no need to consider whether there are reinforcements or safe areas in the wasteland ahead, because in the end, it will basically develop into a wave of recklessness— ——If you pass the recklessness, you will live, but if you are reckless, the whole army will be wiped out. There is no other route ahead, and the demon tide that is approaching behind you will not give people room to think, but here... the situation is much more complicated.

Solderin was analyzing the intelligence collected in the past few days, while at the same time, several other ranger fighters were still observing the situation in the town: this was the first time they had witnessed a large number of crystals in a non-encounter situation. The sight of clusters of infected people gathering together is a good opportunity to observe their activity patterns.

Soon, the fighters discovered something interesting.

"Sir, these 'monsters' . . . appear to be organized."

Solderin was stunned for a moment, then immediately activated Falcon Vision (the eagle eye spell of the elf system) and looked in the direction of the town.

As the warriors see it, the druse infectors are... organized.

They are not wandering aimlessly, but are moving in an organized manner, and some extraordinarily tall individuals are directing them. Soldering saw the scene of those "monsters" working together in groups of three or four to carry things. It was the scene of them patrolling and guarding all over the town, and such a scene... was never observed in the wild encounters before.

Soldering frowned, and slowly recalled more details: Although the previous encounters in the field were all melees, the organization of the crystal cluster infected people seemed to be traceable.

They do have cooperation and a certain degree of command when they attack.

They... seem to retain a certain ability to think?

If that's the case, the situation is even worse - they can think, but the way of cognition has been completely alienated, which means that they are not just monsters that have been infected and lost their minds.

These druse infectors... are an army.

While thinking about it, the situation in the distant town suddenly changed.

Solderin saw that the cluster infected people gathered on the west side of the town became inexplicably agitated, and then several extraordinarily tall cluster giants appeared in his field of vision, and those cluster giants quickly gathered a large-scale army. The team left the town and rushed towards the northwest.

Driven by curiosity, Soldering looked towards the direction of the crystal cluster infected people. At the end of his vision, he saw a cloud of rising smoke and a flash of magic power erupting.

Fighting broke out there.

"There may be survivors—get in the car!"

……

When dusk fell, the majestic southern portal finally appeared in sight.

Belk stopped on the wilderness. In the warm spring wind, he looked at the rolling mountains in the south and the majestic fortress standing proudly among the mountains.

A mottled horse restlessly stopped beside him, pawing the ground under its feet and snorting.

This horse was "picked up" by him on the road. The owner of the horse may have fled, leaving this poor animal wandering in the wilderness. Either way, it was a great help in the second half of the trek, shortening the journey considerably.

Perhaps because he finally saw the end of the journey, Belk suddenly felt a lot more relaxed. He patted the motley horse's neck with a smile, and said lightly, "You have made a lot of contributions—almost worthy of a knighthood."

The variegated horse snorted and shook its neck slightly.

Belk nodded in a good mood, then got on his horse and controlled the temporary traveling companion who couldn't speak to move on to the fortress in the distance.

He knew that he was passing the edge of the territory of the Earl of Pompeii, but he didn't plan to meet the plain nobleman, and he didn't even plan to stop in any of the nearby villages and towns—on the one hand, it was to save time and minimize twists and turns , on the other hand because he really doesn't feel tired.

Even though he had trekked in the wilderness for more than ten days, even though he hardly rested, he really didn't feel tired.

He just vaguely remembered that he had been exhausted—but that seemed to be a long time ago.

The variegated horse began to trot in the relatively flat wilderness, and the comfortable wind was blowing head-on, which lifted Belk's spirit, and a strange sense of anticipation and joy came to his mind, making him feel more relaxed.Seeing the majestic walls of the Rock Fortress getting closer, the young Marquis began to plan the follow-up in his mind——

First of all, he will pass through the Rock Fortress and enter Rock City. He will tell Sir Walder what happened at the Great Timber Crossing, and ask him to help warn the ruler of the southern border. The Great Timber Crossing, Thorin Castle, Thorin Castle...

A hint of confusion suddenly flashed in Belk's eyes.

What happened to the giant log crossing?What happened to Solienberg again?

He was in a trance for a while, but this brief trance was quickly ignored, he suddenly didn't care what he was going to warn, he just remembered that his task was to go to the southern border, to warn, to deliver important news, and with his Given his identity and the importance of the message he conveyed, he will undoubtedly be personally received by Duke Gawain Cecil...

These strong thoughts kept coming up, and wave after wave impacted Belk's thoughts, but suddenly, a scene appeared in his increasingly trance-conscious consciousness.

A pair of eyes, a pair of bright eyes flashed through his mind.

Those eyes... a little familiar.

In this brief moment, Belk suddenly woke up.

He felt his heart was pounding, his breathing was short of breath, and sweat was falling down his neck. A large number of messy and broken memories were being quickly reorganized in his mind, but it was difficult to form an accurate impression, which even gave him a splitting headache. In this terrible state, he suddenly felt waves of heat in his chest.

Belk put his hand into his arms subconsciously, and touched something that was constantly heating up—it was a small amulet, the amulet of the God of War.

This powerful talisman, which has received the highest level of blessings, possesses various solidification spells, and can enlighten the wearer's spirituality, is releasing more and more heat, and along with the heat, there are waves of waves Power, Belk held the amulet in a daze, only feeling that his brain was constantly being washed and reshaped by it, and his messy and broken memory pictures were finally reassembled one by one.

He recalled the dense fog in Thorinburg, the change at the giant log crossing, and the owner of those eyes.

At the end of all the memories, he heard the last words spoken to him by the prince he swore allegiance to:

"run."

There was a loud bang in his mind, and Belk woke up completely, and realized his strangeness for so many days——

He was here driven by some kind of obsession - but the obsession didn't come from him.

He actively or passively stayed away from everyone along the way-as if he was trying to avoid being disturbed or blocked by anyone.

He made it out of the most polluted areas - with little pursuit.

He is being controlled.

Belk jerked the rein, bringing the roan to a halt.

He looked up at the rock fortress in the distance, and suddenly felt that illusory expectations and impulses appeared in his mind again, but this time, he forcefully suppressed those thoughts that did not belong to him.

He turned over and got off the horse, holding the God of War amulet tightly in his hand, the sharp edge of the amulet pierced his palm—while the blood flowed out, he saw the little flashes of light emerging from the blood.

It was the glint of some crystalline particles in the sunlight.

At this moment, Belk finally realized that he had become a source of infection, the most dangerous source of infection that used the body of a high-level powerhouse as a container and completely disguised as a human being.

The heat of the God of War Talisman began to decrease, and the power stored in the Talisman was gradually exhausted. He felt that his clear consciousness was shaken again, and those forcibly suppressed and heterogeneous thoughts were trying to regain the dominance of this body.

He raised his head and looked at the rock fortress in the distance. In the difficult thinking, there was only one thought that was extremely clear: we must... warn.

Time to be awake is running out.

Belk looked around, and then pulled out his family long sword.

He came to a nearby boulder, raised his long sword, and the tip of the sword slashed across the stone, and the debris flew——

"The giant wooden crossing is covered by the plague, His Royal Highness Edmund has been controlled by a curse, and the Eastern Legion may be completely wiped out...

"Major pollution areas are concentrated in...

"Beware of plague carriers masquerading as humans - they are characterized by crystals in their blood."

The long sword hung down, and Belk looked at the handwriting he left behind, feeling a little proud in his heart.

Although he passed through the giant log crossing in a dazed state, he still remembered the areas where the crystal cluster giants were mainly entrenched. This information...maybe useful.

After finishing all this, he turned around, glanced at the towering high wall of Rock Fortress, then looked away, and smiled slightly at the mottled horse that accompanied him on the last journey——

"run."

In front of the sudden coercion, the variegated horse neighed loudly, turned and ran away.

Belk exhaled, put the long sword on the ground, supported his body, stood upright, and looked towards the direction of the east.

"It's so far..."

Two seconds later, a huge column of magical flames that could be clearly seen from as far as the Rock Fortress rose into the sky, illuminating half of the sky.

Chapter 0613 Start

That magical radiance is so bright, it looks like a huge pillar connecting the sky and the earth in the dimming sky at dusk, as long as it is a creature with vision, it is impossible to see it. Those on the wall of the Rock Fortress have been vigilant for the movement in the north. Soldiers are certainly less likely to ignore it.

An elite troop quickly left the fortress and followed the direction of the magic radiance into the wilderness on the edge of Pompeii. Before the radiance dissipated, they found the source of the unusual burst of magic power.

A "stone statue" made of rock and crystal stood upright in the wilderness, holding a long sword, facing east, and near the stone statue, the soldiers found a huge stone full of words.

The news was quickly sent to the Stone Fortress, and Sir Walder Perici, the commander of the fortress, arrived at the scene before the sky was completely dark. He had seen that young face in some materials.

"This stone statue... the Marquis of Belk Lauren?" Wald murmured incredulously, "This..."

At first, he subconsciously thought that it was indeed a stone statue, but he soon doubted it and had some terrible associations—he found that the stone statue was so lifelike that even every strand of hair and every fold of clothing was detailed Now, a series of crystal clear, still shimmering crystals are inlaid on the surface of the stone statue, as if growing out of the "skin" of the "stone statue", which looks frightening.

This reminded the old knight of some recent intelligence from the north.

And the handwriting on the boulder near the statue seemed to confirm his judgment.

After carefully looking at the engravings on the boulder, the reliable old knight immediately turned to his adjutant: "Knight Margarita, contact Grand Duke Gawain immediately!"

The emergency communication from Rock Fortress interrupted a regular communication between Gawain and Daniel. After listening to Knight Margarita's words, Gawain who was sitting in the study slowly took a breath.

The news from the deepest part of the northern polluted area... was delivered to him in the most unexpected way.

Belk Lauren turned into a stone statue?What has he been through?How did he come to the Rock Fortress?Why did he have that transformation?All of this was confusing, but Gawain vaguely guessed some truths.

On the holographic projection next to the desk, a female knight with brown shawl hair is waiting for an order: "My lord, how should we deal with... the situation here?"

Gawain glanced at the holographic projection - behind Margarita, he saw the wilderness north of the Rock Fortress, a "stone statue" standing upright was quietly standing among the gravel and weeds, surrounded by magic spar Illuminated by the light of the lamp, Gao Wen vaguely remembered the scene when he saw the other party last time in the face that had been turned into stone and covered with crystals.

"Check the 'Stone Statue' for residual contamination, characterized by mixed arcane energy and unstable life responses—if not, bring him back," Gawain ordered, not forgetting to remind, "Do not Be careful not to damage anything."

Although he didn't know exactly what Belk had gone through, he could more or less guess something: a brave knight should not continue to be exposed to the wilderness.

After the communication ended, Gao Wen raised his head and looked at Amber who was standing beside him. The latter was still in a daze at this moment, and muttered softly, "The entire Eastern Realm Legion...is it really over like this?"

Gao Wen shook his head lightly: "I'm afraid it's not just the Eastern Border Legion that's gone."

Then he activated the magic network communication terminal again, and called the emergency line in the military area: "Philip, come to the Lord's Mansion."