When Naluga and the others finally arrived outside Constantinople, located under a giant underground cave, after a long journey and four days' journey, she and the elves finally understood why the Bayezids fought so fiercely with the demons.
In the open space outside Constantinople, about one kilometer away from the city wall of Constantinople, there is a solid stone wall that completely isolates another space from top to bottom.
Lucas explained that the wall was the "outer wall" of the city when it was descending. The outer wall separated the demon's lair from Constantinople. In a sense, the two sides were actually separated by only a wall, and the straight-line distance was not even more than four kilometers.
"We dare not break the wall, and neither do the demons. If we break the wall first, we will be exhausted and annihilated by the demons. If the demons break the wall first, we will catch them off guard. In this way, the wall has been standing here. Not only are we reinforcing it, but the demons are also reinforcing it."
As he was talking, Lucas, who finally relaxed a little, pointed to the palace structure in the distance, which was supported by the top of the highest palace tower and the top of the space above, and introduced:
"That's the Purple Palace. The top floor of the Purple Palace has been converted into a support column. After all, we have to prevent things from falling from the ceiling.
It would be fine if it was just one or two small rocks, but if it was a whole big rock, then our destruction would be in an instant...
Be careful, don't be stupid and go straight into the open. The soldiers on the wall might mistake you for demons. Follow me."
Outside the walls of Constantinople there is a large area of land called the "suburbs". It is full of mushrooms emitting various lights, and traces of past battles can be seen everywhere.
Following Lucas's footsteps to a small recess and crossing a stone bridge, Naruja squatted down and touched the stones on the ground with her hands.
The stones underground are more peculiar than those on the surface. And I don’t know if it’s the influence of the demonic corruption mentioned by Lucas, but the stones underground clearly have a strange magic…
Or maybe, most of the stones here store magic power, but that magic power has been vaguely drawn away to somewhere in the black city in the distance... That should be the mushroom farm that Lucas mentioned, right
Naluga muttered, and after deciding that these stones could be used to make powerful golems, she raised her head and said:
"After learning from Caparia, I can now make a maximum of five golems... They are about 8 meters in size, and have a relatively simple structure. They have no palms but instead have sharp cones and blades. Are these golems valuable to you, Mr. Lucas?"
Lucas was silent for a while, then nodded thoughtfully:
"It should be a good force if used to fight ordinary demon larvae and larvae. But it is meaningless for high-level demons."
"Can the petrified demon petrify my golems, too?"
"Ms. Naruga, you have to understand that the demon's special ability is a... "conceptual" ability. It doesn't mean that your golem cannot be "petrified" just because it is "stone" -
I don't know how to explain it, but that ability is terrifying... But at least your golem should be able to buy us some time."
Now, let us enter the city first.
He straightened his clothes and equipment a bit, then he held the purple eagle flag of the Second Eagle Flag Corps high up and waved it towards the city wall in the distance.
The purple eagle flag could not flutter in the wind underground like it did on the surface. But under Lucas's power, the eagle flag showed the city its damaged but patched appearance again and again.
As the eagle flag fluttered, the sensitive elves noticed that a secret door seemed to have opened under the city wall in the distance.
They looked curiously in the direction where the sound came from, and found that it was a group of child soldiers coming towards them.
They were probably no more than 18 years old. Although everyone had a weathered face and bright eyes, they did not look like children, but the elves could still feel that they were still at an age where they needed to receive education and eat well.
These soldiers, who were so hungry that their faces were pale and their bodies were thin, but they were still wearing full armor from thousands of years ago and were slowly moving towards here. They looked well-trained, but one could still see their awkwardness and nervousness.
Lucas glanced at them, and finally fixed his eyes on the enemy's flag in the dim light:
"The new recruits of the 25th Eagle Flag Battalion - they should have experienced two battles. Although they still look inexperienced, they already understand the sacrifice and honor of their comrades and are already real men and soldiers."
"New recruits?" The elves hesitated, and then said, "They... New recruits? Are they going to the battlefield already?"
"There are too few veterans in Constantinople. We have to send new recruits to the battlefield after less than a week of training. We try to teach them a lot of battlefield skills and common sense, but the rest depends on them."
In the elves' society, even with the conscription system that Yang Hao has reformed, new recruits will not be sent directly to the most dangerous front lines to fight.
They will wait in the relatively safe rear to provide long-range fire support, while brutal hand-to-hand combat with the enemy will be the responsibility of the rangers, golems, and demon warriors.
This is the case with the new recruits from Caparia, but it is another story with the new recruits from the Bayerzas Empire.
In today's Bayerjans, even ten-year-old children and women have to go to the battlefield when necessary.
It is already a good thing to let some recruits receive military training for more than a week if there is enough time, and it is even better to let an entire legion of recruits inherit the equipment from their predecessors.
Lucas and the remaining veterans stood around the eagle flag. They looked at the children who should have been studying or living happily under the sun, watching them skillfully deploying formations and using their shields to protect their companions, and watching them move forward with too much confusion.
They said that the bastards had grown up. They said that they didn't know how many friends and brothers those bastards had lost.
They said that if these good guys could survive the upcoming decisive battle, then these kids would definitely become real men in the sun.
"But more children will never see the sun. Next, it will be our final battle to the death before restoring our country."
Lucas said, tightening his grip on the flagpole. He looked up and watched the new recruits of the 25th Eagle Flag Regiment approach cautiously, and then watched the Eagle Flag Regiment split into three, two rushed to their rear to set up a shield wall to guard, and the other stood in front of them to guard.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Lucas - but there have been demons that mimic half-humans appearing recently, so I need to confirm your identity before entering the city."
A young NCO holding a tag book stepped forward and bowed to the veterans. "Please let me cut your hands - wait? They are?"
"Children, after finishing the routine inspection, go and inform our citizens, our nobles and elders - Princess Purple is coming to save us. These guests are the elves from our brotherhood, Caparia, and Miss Naruga, the chief of the Listening Clan."
"I see, so I still need to... wait? What did you say?"
The young non-commissioned officer was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously used a knife to cut open the palm of Lucas's outstretched left hand. After confirming that the flowing blood was red and not purple or some strange substance, he suddenly realized what the flag-bearer had just said.
The label slipped from his hands, and the young sergeant and other soldiers turned their heads quietly to look at the flag-bearing officer, the veterans, and the guests with pointy ears or antlers behind the veterans.
The flag bearer carefully took out a transparent glass bottle from his arms. He held up the bottle with his bleeding palm so that everyone could see a strand of long white hair in the bottle that could only be born in the purple royal family of Bayerjans.
Perhaps there are many people with white hair in the world.
But the only ones who had long white hair and those grey eyes from birth to death were members of the purple royal family.
There was no way Lucas could ask the future Basilisa to give up her eyes, but just a strand of hair would be enough.
Because this is the most fanatical belief of the Bayerjans people who live deep underground. It is a fanatical belief that has supported them from thousands of years ago to the present, as well as their pride as citizens of the empire and the "loyalty" flowing in their blood.
Every Bayerjansi is a subject of the Purple Royal Family. Every Bayerjansi who sees the Purple Royal Family’s hair should regard it as the emperor himself being present.
And Lucas, grabbing a strand of hair given by the future Basilisa, raised the glass bottle high.
He shouted with an excited but suppressed ecstasy in his voice, a voice that could be heard even by the citizens in the distant city:
"Lift your heads, Bayezid. Not because of a victory over the devil, and certainly not because of the coming deliverance.
People of Bayerjans, let us be proud of ourselves and the Purple Royal Family!
Because our Basilisa is back! She will lead the allies of Caparia to fight alongside us, she will work with us to destroy the demon's lair, and she will lead us to revival!"
Except for Lucas and the six veterans, all the Bayerjans knelt on one knee facing the lock of long hair of the purple princess held high in his hand.
They were either in tears or ecstatic, and the only thing they had was a fanaticism and faith that even frightened the elves.
During these thousands of years underground, these Bayerjans have persisted to the present day relying on their fanatical beliefs.
In a sense, they are even more fanatical than the fanatics in the parish. They don't even know the name of the Princess in Purple, nor do they know her character or what she is doing now.
Just a strand of hair made almost all of them kneel down. The cohesion and morale of the entire corps of recruits directly reached the peak.
Is this the Empire of Bayezid, the royal family and his people of the Brotherhood of the Elves
The elves looked at each other, and after a long time, they had to admit one thing.
Perhaps, if the Purple Princess raised Constantinople back to the ground, even if she forced half of the people in the city to commit suicide for no reason, the people here would obey the imperial decree.
It was inevitable that Princess Ziyi would completely control Bayerjans. The only variable was whether His Majesty the Regent would choose Japariya or Bayerjans.
The elves pondered this question.
Lucas pulled up the non-commissioned officer who was kneeling and crying in front of him, patted him on the back and said, "Lead the way like you did thousands of years ago, Bayer Zans."
We are almost home.
…
The news that the flag bearer had returned to the underground with the purple princess's token spread throughout the city in less than ten minutes.
All Bayerjans knelt devoutly on one knee on the Golden Gate Avenue leading from the city gate to the Purple Palace. This road was the main road used by the Purple Royal Family for military parades and led directly to the square in front of the Purple Palace.
This road carries the honor of countless Bayerjans. Although the square has been transformed into a residential area and a forging area, the Bayerjans should hold the most grand celebration on this road!
Everyone had a fanatical look on their faces, and everyone had tears streaming down their faces, but what seemed out of place among them were Lucas, who was holding the eagle flag and had long hair, the six veterans following behind Lucas, and the elves and the chieftain of the Ling tribe behind the veterans.
They couldn't understand how important the Purple Princess was to the Bayerjans today.
They could not understand why the Bayerjans could still muster such vitality. They could not understand even more why, after thousands of years of despair in their fight against the devil, the Bayerjans could still maintain order among the patients who were originally destined to die, and even consciously keep at least a table's distance from the citizens who had not been corrupted amid their cheers and cries.
They couldn't understand it. What they couldn't understand even more was the attitude of the nobles.
When Lucas's team was halfway there, holding high the long hair and the eagle flag, a group of noble people who didn't even have time to wipe the purple blood off their bodies rushed over.
The leader seemed to want to come over and grab Lucas' shoulders, as if he wanted to loudly ask him whether everything was true.
A look of annoyance appeared on his face, because the hope brought by Lucas might very likely turn into despair that would completely destroy the city in the next moment.
But the moment the old noble saw the strand of hair, his charge slowly stopped.
He knelt on the road and wept bitterly. He covered his face and cried. Amidst his cries of joy, he uttered these sobs:
"I've seen it in those ancient books! That's the long hair of the Purple Princess! That's the Purple Princess!"
The old noble covered his face and cried, and then in the next moment, he drew his sword, tearfully scolded the nobles around him who were crying like crazy, and then ordered them to line up. Stand at attention...
Although Princess Purple herself did not visit her city in person, her hair represents Princess Purple.
No matter how embarrassed Bayerjans is now, when the royal family arrives, the nobles need to follow her, charge into battle with her, or become her shield.
They followed behind the team, just like when Constantine XII went out to fight the ruling demon himself, the nobles followed the royal family, and the next moment, they faced the First Eagle Flag Legion guarding the Purple Palace.
The First Eagle Banner Legion had guarded the Purple Palace for eight hundred years. They were the last elite among the elites who were still fully armed, and they should have obeyed the orders of the elders during their underground period.
But at this moment, all the members of the First Eagle Flag Legion knelt on one knee on both sides of the palace entrance gate, and standing in the middle of the gate was the old elder.
Archimedes, the elder of Bayezids, is an old man who forcibly used the power of the devil to extend the life of Constantine XII to the present.
His skin was wrapped around the last layer of dried flesh and blood. He was wearing a dark robe and standing with his cane, while the other elders stood solemnly with their heads bowed behind him.
Lucas held high the Eagle Flag and the Purple Princess's token and walked in front of the elder. He lowered his head, knelt on one knee, and showed the blood-stained token on the glass surface to the current founding father of Bayer Janssen.
The Archmage took the token in silence. He carefully scratched the bottle cap with his fingernails as if it were his own child.
Then he lowered his head and spoke confidently, using Bayer's unique fire magic to identify royal blood to ignite the hair in the glass bottle.
If this was the hair of an ordinary woman, then in the next moment, this long hair would disappear into thin air.
But this was the hair of the purple royal family. Under the scorching flames, the long white hair was baked into a shiny silver-white color, and some magic and light power came from the hair. Then in the next moment, the entire glass bottle turned into a small sun, a small sun emitting a strong silver-white light.
Looking at the sun in the bottle, the wizard was silent. His staff was pulled tightly, and the remaining blood of the wizard was flowing out from where his palm touched the staff.
"Theresa Justinian II—no, it should be Theresa Justinianina... the descendant of the royal family who went hunting outside, our last purple princess."
The wizard covered his face and cried, then threw the sun in the bottle high into the air.
As the sun rose from the ground, the Grand Master's cry spread throughout Constantinople:
"Wake up! People of Bayerzhan! Our purple princess is back! Let's make the final preparations and have a damn decisive battle with the devil!!"
Constantinople, a city that had been silent for thousands of years, was boiling at this moment.
…
The silvery-white sun did not last long in the cave.
But the fighting spirit and morale of the Bayerjans were already locked at the peak of the rising sun.
Every living Bayerjans is preparing for the final decisive battle, and everyone is arming themselves, whether they are women, old people, children, or soldiers.
They armed themselves with everything they could find, made shields out of rotten door panels, dug up the few remaining bricks and stones on the ground and polished them into stone bullets. They began to gather outside the city in groups. Fortunately, the great wizard persuaded the old, weak and young who had no fighting ability to stay in the city.
After all, the old men cannot fight, the women are the next half of the country's restoration, and the children are their hope -
They have already destroyed the hopes of those over ten years old in the upcoming decisive battle, and now they cannot destroy the hopes of the last ten years younger in the war.
These people must stay in the city. And for the Grand Master and others, the current high morale cannot guarantee Bayerjans' victory.
Bayerjans still needs to plan for the next decisive battle, and the efficiency of the Bayerjans people is also clearly demonstrated in front of Nalujia and others.
When they came over, the Bayerjans had already sent out a reconnaissance vanguard composed of veterans and young soldiers to explore the passage for the decisive battle and eliminate the demonic threats along the way in advance.
The demons had no idea that this time the elves would descend from the surface to fight alongside the Bayerjans, so this time, the Bayerjans could catch them off guard.
But the most critical part of this battle is that the Bayerjans need to occupy the area around the elevator platform that descends in the "Devil's Land".
They had to protect the elven troops that would descend at that time, lest these scarce elves, as recorded in the records, be surrounded on all sides and annihilated.
"At that time, all our Eagle Flag Battalions and Hunters will need to launch a fierce attack on the high-level demons, but the positions can only be defended by the young and middle-aged soldiers with their lives...
They must maintain their position and cannot retreat a single step, otherwise they will either be crushed to death by the elevator platform above, or their companions will be killed because of breaking away from the formation. "
"Half of the key to victory depends on how fast the elves can provide support, and the other half depends on how long we can hold out."
"The longer the better - but we must also objectively understand that faith and fanaticism cannot gain an advantage over the demons, because they will also be desperate and fight to the death with us... How many of our "war machines" are still usable?"
"Five. The last five, and they are all relatively low-level assembled sweeping devices."