Sword of Dawn

Page 266

Edmund knew that this weird woman was extremely dangerous and powerful. While quietly applying the blessing of the knight domain to himself, he suppressed his anger and said, "You really can't be trusted."

"Didn't you know this from the beginning, Your Highness who is full of confidence? You just habitually underestimate others and overestimate yourself."

While talking, Bertila pulled a chair from the side and sat down calmly in front of Edmund—her legs formed by vines and roots spread and grew, accompanied by the rustling sound, and the seat merged with the ground.

"What do you want to do? What do you want to do?!"

"Us?" Bertila laughed, with a very sincere smile—in fact, it was almost the only time she smiled from the heart in 700 years. , the way of survival that continues in the malice of the world.

"And I... I'm just here to welcome you, to welcome the new you."

"Madman." Edmund felt that he could not understand the thoughts of this cultist at all. He had already accumulated his strength and didn't want to have any more changes. So he raised his long sword, and countless fine black cracks quickly spread from the tip of the sword. Come out, like a spider web blocking the entire space.

The long table turned into dust in the cracks, and the seats were torn apart one by one. However, before the fatal black cracks spread to Bertila, bursts of whispers and whispers that made headaches crack and sanity collapsed suddenly poured into Ai. In Demon's mind, he suddenly lost control of the long sword in his hand, and he even wobbled and couldn't stand up.

Bertila quietly watched Edmund propping up his body with the sword, gradually approaching collapse, and said lightly, "Have you often felt thirsty lately?"

"Water..." Crystal clusters were gradually growing on both sides of Edmund's cheeks, and a flash of enlightenment suddenly flashed in his eyes, "Are you poisoning?"

"It's not poison, it's just a blessing—a blessing bestowed by the 'God'."

"You... will destroy... Ansu..."

"It was you who destroyed it, or should I say, you," Bertila looked at the prince in front of him with almost pity, "Do you still remember that this vortex was opened by you."

Edmund felt that his sanity was rapidly dissipating, and the whispering voice was rapidly depriving him of his ability to think. He opened his mouth with difficulty, and said almost instinctively, "I just... want to bring it back...prosperity..."

Bertila stood up from the chair. She quietly watched Prince Ansu who was about to lose her will, her eyes were deep and her tone was low: "Do you guys really understand what real prosperity is?"

Edmund's field of vision was covered with a hazy light curtain, and his eyeballs were rapidly being reshaped by crystallization. In that alienated field of vision, he could only see Bertila's eyes clearly, those eyes were deep, resolute, It seems to have some terrible paranoia, but it also has an unbelievable purity and reason.

He didn't understand why a crazy cultist would suddenly show such a look.

This look made him think of a person, a person who returned to this world from the grave.

Before losing his will, he heard the last words of the other party:

"You never really look down, take a look at those lowly people."

……

The attackers of the "Cluster Formation" were all down, including the... person whose eyes looked familiar.

She had turned into a two-meter-tall monster, swollen and twisted flesh mixed with charged crystals, but Belk still recognized her.

She fell on the misty street, her body curled up, trembling slightly, which reminded Belk of not long ago, when he saw her in an alley, she was curled up on the ground, curled up in the mud.

Belk walked forward slowly, and there were sharp stabbing pains from some small wounds on his body. He supported his body with a long sword, squatted down in front of the "laundry girl", and was even with the opponent's head.

"Who turned you into this? Is it also those monsters in black robes?"

The crystal-clustered woman made a hoarse voice, and in a difficult gasp, Belk heard an answer he couldn't understand at all: "We are... voluntary, my lord."

The young Marquis exclaimed, "Why?!"

The "monster" who could no longer see the appearance of a human raised his head and said softly:

"It has become like this...you can live by eating stones, my lord..."

Chapter 0609 Breakthrough and Siege

Belk Lauren walked step by step on the path leading to the castle area of ​​the inner city. The sharp pain from several small wounds on his body constantly stimulated his exhausted spirit and kept him awake.

The fog has thinned, but the smell of blood still lingers in the air. Suspicious shadows still flash by. There are footsteps coming from the depths of the nearby streets. Every shadow and footsteps may be hidden Monsters—they might have completed their transformation, or they might be in the process of transformation, and either way, Belk couldn't risk it.

The voice still lingers in his head:

"It has become like this...you can live by eating stones...my lord."

It is for this reason that man can willingly become a monster.

At this moment, the young Marquis suddenly remembered a sentence he saw in a report:

...The above-mentioned areas have been requisitioned six times, and the houses are empty, the leaves are all eaten, and the number of hungry people...

It used to be just a description, a few numbers, he also felt shocking, but only felt shocking.

Now, he finally saw with his own eyes what that "world" looked like.

It is unbelievable that there is only a city wall and a castle between that "world" and his "world".

He finally knew why His Royal Highness's decrees were mostly difficult to carry out, and finally knew why those noble lords could never be relied on.

People who live in a castle cannot imagine what the outside world looks like.

Belk raised his head and saw Thorinburg's main gate was in front of him, the drawbridge... hadn't risen, and he didn't see the guarding soldiers.

An indescribable uneasiness suddenly surged into his heart, and Belk immediately quickened his pace.

Holding the long sword tightly, he crossed the suspension bridge, walked through the empty courtyard and barracks area, pushed open the gate of the main castle with a gap, and entered the long hall on the first floor that was also empty and deserted.

There were no moving figures in sight, but the disturbing smell of blood was everywhere, and there were traces of battles everywhere in the long hall, including human blood and shattered and fallen crystal clusters.

It was not an external invasion, but a battle that broke out from the inside out. The guards fought briefly, but within a short period of time, they took the initiative to stop the battle...

Belk quickly made these terrible judgments based on the traces of the scene. At the same time, he kept walking, and quickly ran to the second floor according to his memory, and ran to the hall on the second floor of the castle.

The door of the hall was open, and there were also no guards in sight, and in the middle of the hall, Belk saw what he least wanted to see.

A tall figure in black armor stood there——Edmund Moen heard the movement from the door, he turned his head, and a face that had been spread and symbiotic by the crystal cluster was reflected in Belk Lauren s eyes.

Belk felt his heart skip a beat, and immediately drew his sword to prepare for the fight, but he soon discovered that Edmund Moen's vision of him was not completely chaotic and crazy, and that pair of eyes that had already In the eyeballs that were about to become crystals, the light of human reason still remained.

He cautiously moved forward: "Your Highness—can you hear me?"

Edmund Moen stared at Belk, his body was trembling slightly, as if two wills were fighting for the dominance of this body, and during the struggle, he made a hoarse voice: "Kill me, do it immediately."

This terrible order caused Belk's brain to go blank for a moment, but he woke up two seconds later and made the most calm judgment.

He raised his long sword and strode forward: "Yes, Your Highness."

An illusory and scorching flame ignited on the long sword. Knowing the strength of the prince in front of him, Belk gathered all the magic power in his body in this blow. The heart of Des Moen.

However, when the tip of the sword was only a few centimeters away from his heart, Edmund's left hand suddenly lifted up, and the palm covered with crystal clusters directly held the hot fine gold long sword, and a series of dazzling flashes burst out between the palm and the blade. After the flames and the piercing creak, Belk's sword could hardly move forward.

Two pairs of eyes fixed on this scene, then Edmund raised his head and uttered a word: "Run."

Belk let go of the hilt of his sword in an instant. Without stopping for a moment, he rushed to the side of the hall and jumped, smashing through the window and jumping out of the castle.

In the shadows at the corner of the hall, a cluster of winding vines slowly squirmed, and with the rustling sound, they all shrank into the dark depths at last.

……

On the west side of the Great Timber Crossing, in the area of ​​Boulder City and White Pine, in the lands controlled by the Crown, the fog has completely dissipated.

Fog leaves cities and villages, and where it has infested man becomes a monster.

The twisted giants formed by the fusion of countless flesh and blood clusters are gathering to form a disaster that spreads like fire. As long as there are people inhabited, there will be a terrifying army of cluster clusters. The giant-like individuals in black robes are The commanders of these legions, under the leadership of these commanders, the cluster giants occupied all the villages and towns in just a few hours, and then began to spread towards the direction where the Royal Army was stationed.

One of the important strongholds of the Royal Army, Boulder City is under attack. This city known for its thick walls is facing the biggest test in history.

"Hold the line of defense! Hold the line of defense!! Shieldman - hold on!"

"More kerosene is needed here! More stone bombs are needed!"

"The battle mages have run out of mana - on top of the trebuchet! The Guardian Mages are coming!"

Oil bags burning with raging flames and stones etched with runes whizzed into the air, flying from the city wall to the distance, and the huge crossbow bolts pierced the air with the bang of the machine strings, hitting the distant " In the middle of "The Tide of Crystal Clusters", the knights and the noble officers who supervised the battle ran around the city wall, commanding the battle hoarsely, using various spells to strengthen the city wall and boost the morale of the soldiers, which was already crumbling. However, under the city wall, those monsters were still gathering more and more. more.

This is the crystal cluster army transformed by all the population in the entire region. In the face of the quantity that can cause qualitative changes, the mere stone bombs and kerosene, and even the fireballs and lightning of the mages are weak. These attacks fall on the heads of those monsters. It's like throwing a stone into the sea, it's hard to make too much waves.

A noble officer wearing a dark blue armor and a sash on his shoulders stood on the city wall, watching more and more crystal cluster monsters coming from afar. Those monsters were not only relying on their powerful bodies to fight, they were even more terrifying powerful spell-casting ability—continuously powerful arcane lightning erupts from the place where the monsters are densest. After each bolt of lightning, there will be a terrible crack on the wall of the Boulder City, or there will be a lot of fallen soldiers. With such a development, the fall of the city will only be a matter of time.

"How much fire oil and stone bombs do we have?" The noble officer turned his head and stared at a knight adjutant nearby.

"I can last for two days, my lord, but I'm afraid it's still not enough—there are too many monsters, and there are countless more to come!!"

Fire oil is the most effective way to fight those monsters, but the oil packets thrown by the trebuchet can't stop the flood-like attack at all, and the mages who can continuously release large-scale fire spells...they are too few in number, and they have all their mana exhausted!

The noble officer's face was gloomy. He heard a loud noise from the west wall, followed by screams and noises one after another.

A large number of soldiers on the verge of collapse fell into chaos. Starting from the area under attack, the defenders began to waver and retreat obviously.

The supervising knight stepped forward at the first time, using morale-boosting combat skills to forcibly maintain the defense line. The soldiers affected by the extraordinary power returned to the city wall under the action of hormones and nervous excitement. However, their eyes were bloodshot and their behavior was out of balance. , the inner consciousness is rapidly approaching collapse, and it is completely unknown how many times they can operate the catapult.

What's even more frightening is that even the knights who supervised the battle behind those soldiers... have shaken expressions on their faces.

These are already the kingdom's elite troops. They can fight head-to-head with the powerful Eastern Knights on the battlefield for a whole day, but that is only a war against "people". Now, they are facing monsters.

This is beyond the limits of human willpower.

Another knight adjutant ran up the city wall with a terrified face and a shaken voice: "My lord, it has been confirmed that there are many monsters wearing the clothes and armor of soldiers from the third, fifth, and sixth knights and the Royal Army." Fragments, they...they were transformed by our soldiers!!"

The noble officer stared: "How many people know the news?!"

"All the guarding troops have seen it..."

It’s over.

The knights and levies stationed on the north-south longitudinal line of the giant wooden crossing are all gone, and the city should be finished soon.

But before the noble officer had time to sigh, a nightmarish shout suddenly came from a distance:

"Earl Thorin is dead!!"

After a short moment of astonishment, the noble officer immediately widened his eyes, trying to find out which extremely stupid orderly shouted such a thing in front of the formation, but soon he realized that the voice came from under the city wall, from among those monsters.

A mutilated body was thrown into the sky by the monsters, and Earl Thorin's deathly head just entered the sight of the soldiers defending the city.

In the end, the earl failed to regain his land and castle.

The defense line on the city wall began to collapse at a speed visible to the naked eye, began to retreat, and large gaps and gaps began to appear. The city defense troops fell into an irreversible retreat, and the war-supervising knights were no longer able to reorganize the defense line.

Because even the morale of the knights has collapsed.

Dozens of huge arcane arcs hit the city wall at the same time, and accompanied by continuous explosions, the majestic high stone wall shook violently, as if it would collapse in the next second.

It is impossible to hold the city.

The moment they realized this fact, the noble officer and his adjutants heard bursts of sharp whistling sounds coming from high above, and with the whistling sounds, the entire sky was quickly covered by large swaths of shadows——

Countless ice cones and howling winds swept across the entire battlefield, as if the just-ended winter had returned to this world again. In this sudden ice storm, a new frozen barrier quickly blocked the front of the city wall, hundreds of thousands The monsters were nailed to the frozen cliffs with icicles.

However, in the next second, the line of defense formed by the solid ice was continuously attacked, and about half of the monsters nailed to the ice began to struggle: the damage that was fatal to ordinary people could not be completely destroyed. kill them.

Accompanied by the sound of crackling, the entire ice wall quickly cracked.

A majestic female voice came from high above and resounded throughout the battlefield: "The Mountain Corps will follow me, and the Royal Knights and Guards will bring the civilians and break out to the northwest!"

This is the voice of Duchess Victoria Wilde.

The knight adjutant reminded: "My lord, it is an order to retreat."

The noble officer glanced at the almost completely collapsed defense line and took a deep breath.

"retreat!!"

On the 738th day of the month of recovery in Ansu 12, the largest fortress of the Royal Army on the Holy Spirit Plain, Boulder City fell.

A huge army formed by cluster giants began to spread towards the direction of San Sunil City.

……

A few days later, Solderin and his Iron Rangers, who had just crossed the Pompeii area and were heading north along the east bank of the Dorgon River, encountered completely unfamiliar enemies.

An extraordinarily tall human being who seems to have been infected by some crystal parasite.

The ground burned by individual burners was filled with a strong smell of scorching. A large number of completely carbonized corpses and scattered crystal clusters piled up in the range of the range. The heavily armed combatants were guarding the periphery. Ranger fighters inspected the weird corpses on the battlefield.

The high-ranking ranger frowned.

What happened to the north?

Chapter 0610 The Situation Is Precarious

Solderin, who went to the north to investigate the situation, sent back information - with the help of the hidden relay devices set up along the river bank along the way, the advance team of the Iron Rangers has always maintained communication with the magic net in the south. With the support of convenient remote communication , Gao Wen immediately knew the situation of those "crystal cluster monsters" encountered by the high-level ranger.

To be honest, he hoped that this report would never be delivered to him.

"...We encountered those monsters in the Dolan Hills area northeast of Pompeii... They looked like humans made of flesh and crystal, but they were stronger and taller than humans. They seemed to have strong physical fitness and Some ability to cast spells, but the exact combat power is not yet known - only the burner is known to be very effective against them.

"According to the remaining clues, those monsters should have wandered from further north... We found a village that was attacked, but the villagers showed no signs of infection, and the source of pollution should not be nearby...

"...The local lord and his army responded to the royal family's call and went to the front line. It is said that there has been no news for a long time..."