To be honest, Hao Ren was actually waiting for the old general's words - he has been trekking in the wilderness and forests of Keluo World for more than ten days, but he has never eaten a meal of Ansheng, even if he and Vero There is no shortage of food and drink in Nika's different space, and sitting in the wild mountains and wild forests is definitely not a good environment for eating, so when Magus said to eat, Hao Ren immediately felt that the old man was much more pleasing to the eye...
The old general said frankly that the environment in the western fortress is limited, and Princess Veronica is not a demanding person, so this simple welcome banquet was held directly in this simple reception room, and Hao Ren soon knew that the simple and simple things in front of him The reception room is actually the place with the highest specification in the western fortress: this fortress looks magnificent from the outside, but it is a pure battle fortress from the inside to the outside, and everything here is designed to resist the forces of chaos. There are no extra decorations and no extra luxuries, and even the room where Magus lives is only a circle larger than that of ordinary soldiers. Do everything in your power to resist chaos, squeeze out all the resources used for personal pleasure and turn them into force—this is the normal life of frontier people.
But although the welcome banquet is not rich, it is also delicious and nutritious. Frontline soldiers fight bloody battles every day. Hao Ren's appetite was whetted by the noodle cakes, and some kind of thick soup made from fungi quickly relieved him from the fatigue he had accumulated over the past few days.
When he was eating here, he had no distractions, but Princess Veronica obviously didn't pay much attention to the food in front of her. Her Royal Highness is very worried about the abnormal changes in the border of chaos: "When did the monsters attack the city?"
"On the day you disappeared, Your Royal Highness," Magus sat across the table. His huge size made him look like a giant beast lying on the table. Hours—when the power of chaos reached its peak in the day, those things suddenly appeared from the air. This attack was completely unexpected, and even the wizards in the magic tower didn't notice any signs. The eternal order rune, I am afraid we will not be able to resist the first round of attacks."
Veronica nodded: "Has the subsequent attack continued?"
"Every time it lasts for one to three days, the interval in between is not fixed. Chaos is lingering outside the city. No matter how many times the power of the Torch Tower breaks them up, those things don't seem to be weakened at all. To be honest, I find this disconcerting: this is the seventh year of Chaos Tides, and after their peak they should be fading, but now it's... it looks like it's intensifying."
"Within the Kingdom..."
"Protected by the Goddess, the road is still open, and the communication has not been interrupted. Although a small force of chaos has infiltrated the mountain corridor in the west, it is still not a threat. If the assistance in the kingdom is interrupted, this situation will not be here long ago. "
Veronica breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, the father and General Groen should have been discussing countermeasures."
"Countermeasures? I'm afraid it's hard to find any effective countermeasures," the old general shook his head. "Your Highness, I have been fighting against Chaos for seven years, and I have been fighting for your father and king in the kingdom during the year of order." The small chaotic tear point, I know exactly what kind of enemy we are facing, it is unknowable and uncontrollable, although it is sad to say, but in the face of the tide of the Sea of Karnos, human beings have always had to accept it passively , passive resistance, every time we survive from the tide of chaos, it is not because mortals have defeated it, but because the tide is over before we are extinct. If this tide really continues like this, what the old man can do To die here. To delay long enough—that is the only answer."
Hao Ren raised his head and looked at Magus in surprise.
He didn't expect to hear such pessimistic and desperate words from this seemingly iron-blooded old general, but once such words came out of the other party's mouth, he knew that this was a reality that the people of Keluo had long accepted.
Under such circumstances, the old man can still speak frankly about his death in battle, which is the most admirable thing.
Veronica obviously knew that what the old general said was true, she could only bite her lips: "... I see. There is another thing, about the furnace fire outpost in the Shadow Forest..."
"After 'that day', we lost contact with all the outposts," Magus spread his hand, "Chaos attacks are quite frequent, and all the crossings between the fortress and the jungle defense line have been completely blocked. Our best The scouts were also unable to pass through those shadows, until recently, only a team of death squads successfully crossed the chaotic blockade and found the nearest outpost to the fortress, only two scouts came back alive, and the news they brought back was very bad."
"I know..." Veronica lowered her eyes, "The defenders of the fortress are all dead, it seems that they died of madness."
Magus put his hands on the table and looked at Her Highness with piercing eyes: "You and your knights miraculously passed through the entire forest. Do you know what happened there?"
Veronica shook her head: "I'm also at a loss, General, those outposts have no trace of being attacked, all the buildings are well preserved, and the arsenal has not even been opened, it's just that the defenders inside are all dead. .But we still found some clues, some outpost commanders seem to hold on to the furnace longer than others, and they stay... "
Veronica narrated what she found in those outposts, and Magus didn't interrupt during the whole narration process. The old general just listened attentively, and the pair of mighty eyebrows on his face gradually became entangled.
"We don't know anything about these things," Magus said with a gloomy and terrifying expression, "I have failed your royal father."
"General, manpower is limited," Veronica reassured, "Your ability to defend this fortress in the Western Territory is already the greatest contribution to the Kingdom. What happens in the Shadow Forest is full of weirdness—not just the furnace outpost." The changes I encountered, and even my defeat that day were a bit strange. Although the Church Kingdom has always been proud, they have never overturned this kind of mistake in the past many centuries. All these things are worthy of our deep investigation, Wangdu The scholars here are probably the only hope."
Magus frowned: "Scholars... can only count on them. What happened on the Western Front must be reported to the capital immediately, and I will arrange messengers."
"Messenger?" Veronica raised her eyebrows, "The teleportation device..."
"It became unusable ten days ago," Magus shook his head. "The interference is getting stronger every day. The wizards say that a shadow vortex is gradually forming above Anzu, and the spatial structure on the mainland has become very unstable. Now Except for the hinterland of the kingdom, space teleportation in other areas has been disabled."
Veronica thought for a while, and said decisively: "...then I will go back to the capital too."
"Well, you are alive and well, His Majesty must really want to see you right away."
"It's not just for this reason." Veronica put down the tableware in her hand and looked at Hao Ren, "We have experienced a lot of incredible things during this trip to chaos. Some things are more reassuring to tell the king personally, and my sister …She has seen more, and maybe she is more interested in Lord Guardian. At the same time, I am also worried about the domestic situation. If I don't show up again, some people may not be able to sit still."
"Ha, the circle of nobles..." Magus laughed, his disdain and annoyance undisguised.
Hao Ren looked at the people around him, and felt that he didn't seem to need to participate in the current topic, so he continued to eat seriously with his head down.
After the welcome banquet, Hao Ren and the other knights went back to their rooms to rest, but Veronica and Morian stayed behind.
Together with General Magus, the two climbed up to the tall steeple of the fortress. They walked up the spiral staircase and finally reached the highest platform of the Western Fortress. The Fire Tower stood tall on the pedestal behind them. , emitting a ray of light that shrouded the entire fortress in shelter.
Looking around, the Shadow Forest is like a turbid black cloud looming over the land in the west, and further away is completely shrouded in darkness. The mountains on both sides of the fortress also extend upwards in the light, and are finally covered The high-altitude shadow clouds cover the vast and unpolluted mountains and hills only on the east side of the fortress. A shimmering road extends among the mountains and forests, leading all the way to the kingdom.
Standing here, if you only look to the west, it will inevitably give people a feeling of being surrounded by a sea of darkness and trapped in an isolated island.
This is the bridgehead of the world of order, the edge of light.
"About that 'ancient guardian'..." Magus looked at the big forest in the distance, as if he spoke casually, "Your Highness, do you trust him?"
"He saved everyone's life, including mine." Veronica said lightly.
Magus heard the implication: "It seems that you are not so sure about his origin."
Veronica said nothing.
It was indeed Her Royal Highness who identified Hao Ren as the ancient guardian at the beginning, but this does not mean that she did not have follow-up thinking. After so many days of thinking and observation, she especially noticed that Hao Ren had a lot of knowledge about this world. After the misunderstanding of common sense or even ignorance, the doubts in her heart began to gradually increase.
Memory confusion is not always an excuse.
Magus waited for a few seconds, found no response, and then continued: "You should have thought of it, there may be hermits who survived the last century in the wilderness, but it is unlikely that there are things from the last generation—chaotic one hundred The cards are shuffled once a year, except for a few specific tear points, there are almost no ancient ruins in the world that have not been discovered for a thousand years."
Veronica glanced at the old general: "The holy mountain of Kasuan is in a tear point, whether it was a hundred years ago, three hundred years ago, or a thousand years ago, it has always been shrouded in chaos. Know it's incredible, but there really is a temple there."
Magus' eyes widened.
"His origin is indeed a mystery," Sir Morian finally said at this moment, "but he is certainly not a servant of Chaos, nor a cultist. He carries many extremely powerful sacred artifacts with him, and the power of those sacred artifacts is far from Everything in this era is probably really an ancient relic."
"The most important thing is that he's on our side anyway," Veronica sighed. "I know you might think I'm naive, but I've thought it through, and I trust him and believe in He is the guardian of the Holy Land, whether he is really from ancient times or not." (To be continued~^~)