The four inner court knights are still persuading Earl Jinn.
Earl Jean obviously didn’t believe Qiaogendigang’s invasion, just as Rogers and others who persuaded him would definitely not believe that Qiaogendigang’s underground army would suddenly appear on the surface. Big Beehive The world below is too far away for them after all. The cavemen and the minotaur in the maze are all terrifying creatures in the bedside story. Although he couldn't explain the reason why his ally disappeared, he could only believe that it was Brando's private conspiracy, but he couldn't see through the other party's conspiracy.
But whether he wants it or not, Brando's so-called "persuade" is not so much a suggestion as a threat, and in the end he has to reluctantly hand over the command.
At sunset, the setting sun sinks into the mountains to the west, and the whole hilly area seems to be in a strange silence. The lights of Vargos can no longer be seen in Yongyin Valley to the north. The sky is dark and the hills are quiet. After coming down, there was no sound, and it was creepy.
The four inner court knights walked silently on the edge of the red pine woods. After walking for a while, the female knight Nasha finally couldn't help but said: "Perhaps Earl Jien is right. The situation is not that bad. Maybe it appears on the outside. It's just a rogue from Qiao Gendigang. Such things happen often, don't they?"
Rogers frowned tightly and did not answer.
"Then what is the explanation for the weird beams of light and the meteors that cross the sky last night, and Kui's messaging magic is interfered with. This is a premeditated attack," Trevor shook his head: "Ji The old man Earl Encounter is just unwilling to bow his head to the Eruin. You and I understand that the noble lords in these places have always been stubborn and good-looking."
Nasha was silent for a moment, as if she wanted to find a rebuttable reason, but couldn't convince herself. Finally she asked with some worry: "If Qiao Gendigang really invades us, how bad will it be for the empire?"
"It depends on the scale of Qiao Gendigang's invasion." Rogers replied in a deep voice.
"How large do you think this invasion will be? Do they really threaten the empire's southern defense line?" Nasha asked incredulously.
No one seemed to be able to answer this question. They felt that Brando was more or less alarmist in their hearts, but neither Rogers nor Trevor were familiar with the forgotten country underground. In fact, most people even recognize the entire underground community. People are rare. Rogers and Trevor suddenly thought of something, and they turned their eyes to the black-haired boy in the robe.
Kui replied calmly: "Qiao Gendigang is slightly different from us. They don't have a unified kingdom. Only big and small lords exist in the dark underground. The only exception is the dark elves."
"Kui, what kind of strength can the biggest lord have?" Nasha asked.
"It is roughly equivalent to a kingdom of medium strength on the surface."
"Are there many lords like this?"
Kui shook his head: "In addition to the three most well-known black dragons exiled by the dragon clan, they are the famous Minotaur King Geralt and Medusa's post-Petana. They are called the Kings of the Underworld. "
"If you want to threaten the southern line of defense of the empire, is such a lord strong enough?" Nasha asked again.
"It may be enough if you give your all, but the war in the underground world seldom does it all, because it is necessary to guard against enemies in the dark. The two lords joining together is a more reliable guess, but such lords are also second to none in Qiaogenjigang. , They rarely come to the surface world that is also unknown to them. If it weren't for these underground kings, it would take ten or even twenty ordinary lords to join forces to initiate a war of this scale."
"Kui, how likely do you think that is?" Trevor asked back.
"Maybe, the underground world is a world that believes in the laws of darkness. Intrigue is the norm in the dark. They rarely trust each other, let alone form an alliance." Kui replied.
Nasha looked at her companion with some admiration: "Then it is possible for them to form an alliance under special circumstances?"
"Perhaps," Kui replied, "but I'm not sure. The earl of the Tonigel may know more about these underground people."
"Why do you say that, maybe he is just alarmist?" The female knight obviously didn't like to hear him say that.
The black-haired boy replied: "He and the female knight next to him are quick and confident in judging the movement of Qiao Gen's army. I can't do that."
Trevor felt that his companion’s statement was a bit exaggerated. He shook his head. Although Kui had a genius mind, he was slightly worse in the world. He knew the trick here. Those Eruins were completely It can be pretended. He heard Nasha’s previous question, and his heart was a little shaken. Can Qiao Gendigang really pull out an army of dozens of lords to trouble the empire? The empire is indestructible in the hearts of its people. It may run into bad luck for a while, but it can never happen to happen to the worst. Trevor can't even imagine that the Rokozy-Broken Sword Mountain fortress group will be threatened. , That is not a two fortress, but a line of defense with a depth of nearly a hundred miles and complete facilities.
He faintly agrees with the female knight's statement. Perhaps the enemy in front of him is just an army of stray bandits coming from the underground world to fight the autumn wind. They may be composed of an army of one or two lords, taking the benefit of the Torquinian Lion. , Come to the empire to make trouble, distract the imperial army, and take the opportunity to rob.
He was thinking like this, but Rogers on the side suddenly asked: "Kui, how strong will the power of the entire Qiao roots unite together?"
The black-haired boy suddenly raised his head and looked at this companion who had been frowning all the time, with an inexplicable look on his face for the first time.
"That's impossible," he replied.
…
Although Trevor and Nasha both hope that Qiao Gendigang's invasion of the empire is nothing more than a private act of one or two lords, but south of Russef, at the end of Rokozy Heights, everything that is happening is clearly contrary to expectations. The mountain pass was once a majestic fortress, but now there are only rubble and rubble. The entire fortress seems to be hit from the front by a terrible force. The original intact city wall breaks through a huge gap, and the gap is bathed in moonlight. , The entire section seemed to have been burned by flames, and even the bricks showed the color of black and bright after carbonization, and the shimmering stones were the sand after crystallization. There are scenes like this everywhere in the fortress. In addition to the lifeless dead, there are charred and twisted corpses, animals—cows, horses, donkeys, and even huge, almost burnt-in skeletons. , Leaning in an empty place next to the house that was also burned into a frame structure by the street, it has no traces of struggle. It makes people think that when death comes, the extreme high temperature will completely transform this behemoth from body to soul in an instant. As ashes.
But not only animals, but also human corpses can be seen everywhere. Some of them wear armor-but now they have become molten and solidified again. Some are just civilians, but whether they are old people or children, men or women, They all turned into a piece of unrecognizable coke, and such corpses were scattered throughout the street. Their location indicated what they were hiding from before they were alive, but time stayed at the last moment.
The entire fortress seems to have been plowed through the middle. The streets and buildings in these areas have become shattered, but the other blocks are still well preserved, except that the streets and the slopes on both sides are filled with sharp wooden piles. Unidentified human corpses were inserted into these wooden stakes, and the corpses looked hollowly at the dark sky. The sky was densely covered with dark clouds, and their eyes had already lost their vitality.
The broken fortress became a silent city, without the Cruz people, and their enemies, just like the death god passing by, quietly taking away all life.
Such a scene is not the only case on the entire Rokozy Heights, east of the Broken Sword Mountain Range, but is staged in many places at the same time. This is the Pasilian Fortress. Although the imperial Rokozy-Broken Sword Mountains fortress group consists of thousands of fortresses, levels and fortresses, there are only three fortresses: Clarion Claw Fortress, Elnor Fort, and Pasilian Fortress. The fortress is the real core of this line of defense. Other walled fortresses are just built around them for the purpose of protecting them. The fortress of Parsilian is the last checkpoint of this line of defense in the direction of the empire. It has been in a thousand years of history. It has never been captured or even attacked, but today, an army that the Cruz people have never dealt with has rewritten this history.
When Fries woke up from under the ruins, he still couldn't forget the most memorable scene in his life he had seen before. He remembered that the fortress was attacked by a group of harpies who didn't know where it came from. The highest fortress was The commander determined that this was a monster attack, and perhaps a new lair was created somewhere near the fortress. Such things often happen in the border area. The desolate Rokozy Heights was originally a place for monsters to roam, the imperial soldiers Join the battle without surprise. Fries was an imperial crossbowman, and he naturally also participated in the battle, but he was relatively safe in the shooting chamber with others-although the noise on the wall was a bit unbearable, the militiamen pushed heavy equipment through the slide to the crenellation. The creaking sound from the back was also sour. At that time, as in training, he used the winch of a heavy crossbow to wind the string, put the crossbow bolt, and then walked to the perforation to look out.
Then in that moment—
He seemed to hear a sorrowful scream from the city wall. The sound seemed to fall from the horizon, and it was like the cry of a ghost at midnight. A scream made him feel chills standing upright, and then he saw it through the perforation. A huge, cold, emotionless eye like a jet black cast iron ball|colorful eye, that eye, with just one glance, made him fall into the abyss, and the bone-to-body chill seemed to rise from under his feet, freezing him in There, although I opened my mouth to scream, I couldn't make a sound.
He vaguely heard the horrified shouts of his colleagues from the wall, the shouts humming together, as if describing a monster that frightened them.
But Fries didn't have time to hear what it was, and then the ground shook the mountain. He saw the wall of the shooting chamber collapse against him, and after his feet were empty, the world fell into darkness.
After Fries was sober again, he realized that it was the collapsed bricks that saved his life.
He didn't know how long it took him to lie in the dark before regaining a trace of strength. As if miraculously, he found that he was not seriously injured. Except for a faint pain when breathing, which made one or two broken ribs suspected to be broken, his hands and feet were very flexible, only scratches. He used both hands and feet from the rubble. Climbing out, the next moment, the bleak scene of the fortress was reflected in his eyes, Fries gritted his teeth for an instant, and all of this seemed to have appeared in his dreams. Although he had expected it, he still couldn't help it. Shaking all over.
He raised his head and looked at the direction of the mountain pass. That was the direction where the monster army disappeared. From there was the mountain road leading to the Claw Claw Fortress. Behind it was the heart of the Rokozi-Broken Sword Mountain Fortress group. Realized that this was not a monster attack at all, but a premeditated raid.
That eye...
Fries shivered and recalled the scene he had seen. He seemed to want to convince himself that it was just an illusion, but the real fear hidden in his heart reminded him what it was.
That's a dragon—
A black dragon.
…
Cruz has a saying: Every day in the empire is calm, and every day in the empire is treacherous. This sentence may not be appropriate to describe the entire Cruz Empire, but it could not be more appropriate to describe the capital of Rusita.
Since three days ago, the White Rose Garden has been shrouded in a depressing atmosphere, and the palace of San Contepe is lifeless, as if everyone who walks in will be stained with bad luck. In the past, this usually means that her Majesty’s mood has changed again. Generally speaking, there are many factors that cause her to be angry-for example, a certain nobleman provokes her unhappiness, or disappoints her, for example, inflammation. The Temple of Flames offends the majesty of the Supreme Being. The Temple of Flames and Her Majesty often offend each other. This is a well-known fact, but in addition to the above two main reasons, there are some minor details. For example, mountain people, Anzerutans, or other barbarians killed the tax officials of the empire, or several grand princes who were married to the royal family sent people to a certain banquet of the Queen. Yes-the silver queen has a very poor relationship with the relatives of these empires, which is recognized by the entire empire.
In fact, there have been some new titles recently. For example, a certain Count from Eruin is said to have become a thorn in the eyes of the Queen; in addition, there are rumors about the female mountain count. It is said that every time After your Majesty summoned her, his mood would become very bad.
But this time, neither the nobles caused trouble, and the Temple of Flame was also in peace. Although the seventh prince accidentally fell into the cliff on the way back to the imperial capital last month and was seriously injured by the mountain people. They also showed great obedience. They even sent an envoy to explain the matter. This envoy was about to arrive in the imperial capital. This attitude was obviously to surrender to the supremacy of the empire. It seems that her majesty did not. Must be furious about this.
On the other hand, there seems to be no news from Huayeling and Ludwig. The rumors of the Tonigelian earl have also fallen into the sea in the past few days, according to the news from the maid next to His Majesty. , His Majesty has not summoned any female earl in recent time.
The only thing that counts as news, seems to be that a few days ago Banker, Violet Valley and other regions have reported a rare artifact reaction, but these artifact resonances are only generated independently in a few areas, but not in the wider area. People have observed that the warlocks of the Star and Moon Towers have yet to come to a conclusion whether this is a fantasy or a fact of reality.
But in fact, in the entire circle of the empire's high-ranking nobles, only a few well-informed people understand that since that day, the empire has lost news of the area south of Andzlova. The news here refers to the secret report of the inner court knights who belonged to the royal family. The report was originally reported once a day, starting three days ago, from Vargos to the Bear Lake area, to Russef, and even Rokozy as a whole. The area to the south of the fortress group seemed to have disappeared from the map, and no audio was heard.
If it were on weekdays, the two-day delay was nothing at all, but just before that, almost the entire empire’s eyes were still focused on this area, and the nobles of the empire were still waiting for Brando and Anze. The result of the last battle of the nobles in Ruta, but suddenly there was no news in this area. Whether it is a private agent or a spy sent by the royal family, it is as if the world has evaporated and is gone forever.
Everyone thought for the first time that this was the ghost of the earl of Tonigel.
But the news that came afterwards caused the entire empire to fall into a dead silence.
Early morning on the third day.
Constance summoned the two knight commanders under her into the White Rose Garden—
At this moment, in front of the queen, the commander of the Royal Knights, Mr. Travis and the commander of the Imperial Dragoons, Mr. Kevin, were wiping the sweat on their foreheads with their handkerchiefs. One of them came from Palou. The family, and the other also comes from the family of a local nobleman trusted by the Queen. Their apparent identity is the leader of the two forbidden forces at Constance's hand, but they only need to live in Rushta for a period of time. Everyone will know that these two gentlemen have in fact been secretly in charge of the foreign affairs of the inner court knights.
…