The northern borders of the Dragon Empire - this is where this ancient empire first arose.
In that era known as the first spark, the emperor of the Dragon Soul led the brave northern cavalry and the Black Sword Knights out of this icy and snowy land, carrying the icy wind and snow from the Cold Wind Ridge all the way south, just like The storm swept across the land and conquered the kingdoms along the way one by one, and finally set up a great feat of ruling half of the planet. From that day on, the bravery of the northern warriors has become one of the most distinctive features of this country, just like the Black Sword Knights .
To this day, "fight like a northerner" is still the most common phrase people on this side of the planet use to praise fighters.
Although with the passage of time, for the actual needs of the empire's development, the political center of Dragon and the "holy arsenal" of the Knights of the Black Sword have all moved to the south, and the six northern provinces that are not suitable for farming and living have also become big cities. Some people in the empire are unwilling to live, but the northern border is still an important place where the country has poured a lot of manpower, material and financial resources. The Gorgon Abyss passage floating near the world rift is the most important reason—
This never-ending rift in space is like the blizzard in the north, the pressure of survival that the northerners must face, and like the blizzard in the north, it also sharpens the bravery of the local people. As the ruler of the western hemisphere of Laherien, the Dragon Empire is obliged to bear the responsibility of fighting against the Gorgon demons. Therefore, since the capital was moved three thousand years ago, the six northern provinces have been building towards military powerhouses. Today, facilities in the military industry and related fields have become the most important things in this land, and on the irregular border near the Gorgon Abyss, there are a series of huge fortresses standing like a great wall.
These fortresses are not only defensive facilities, but also large-scale settlements due to the presence of a large number of soldiers. In order to maintain the daily operation of the fortress, there are also a large number of non-combatant population and various livelihood facilities gathered within its shelter area. There are various supporting facilities Things are built under the shelter of the fortress, forming a unique landscape in the north: the fortress city.
These cities protected by city walls are not as prosperous as the cities in the south, and their scale is far behind the latter, but they are where most of the population in the north gathers. After all, there are Gorgon demons haunting this icy and snowy land The place, the unsheltered wilderness is really terrifying. If people want to survive, living around fortress cities or similar defense facilities is the only choice.
The Gorgon Abyss channel extends from the direction of the world rift, all the way to the south, and the fortress group below this space rift also extends all the way to the south. The largest fortress city in the north is the closest to the southern end. It is called "Frost Snow City", and it is also the political, economic, and military center of the six northern provinces.
This fortress city built with frost spar is located on a mountain. In fact, it is a city formed after the entire mountain was transformed and constructed. The entire fortress is roughly conical in shape, with layers of city walls and sentry towers spiraling along the original mountain trend and extending to the top of the mountain, forming a unique tower-like structure, and all the buildings that can be seen from the outside are actually The "shell" of this city, inside the shell covered by countless towers, walls, and magic circles, is the inner space formed after hollowing out half of the mountain, where the civilians of Frost Snow City live.
The lord of Frost Snow City naturally wanted to live on the top of the mountain. The magicians flattened the top of the mountain and built a magnificent castle on it. This castle, which also functions as a fortress, is the highest building in the north. Its spire points high to the sky. When standing on it, the passage to the Gorgon Abyss can even be said to be within reach—and the current Grand Duke of the North Heywood Owen's most legendary experience was that one day when he climbed to the top of the castle to breathe fresh air, suddenly a warrior-level Gorgon demon ran out from the space gap, and landed straight in front of the Grand Duke, and was killed The opponent tore it up on the spot.
Of course, the humble Grand Duke explained this: He was not without weapons at the time, but was carrying a bottle of fire tongue wine. The infinite fighting spirit that erupted when protecting this bottle of wine was his magic weapon for defeating the enemy—the seriously alcoholic Grand Duke was It was only the next morning that he realized that it was a gorgon demon that he had torn to pieces, not a severely obese Frostridge jackdaw.
After spending a lot of effort to pull back Lily, who was suffering from the snowfield ecstasy syndrome, Hao Ren and his party took out the three caravans that had been stored in the portable space before, and drove across the vast snowfield to the foot of Frost Snow City. Along the way, Kaim was popularizing the knowledge about the northern border to Hao Ren and his group of "members of the hermit organization who don't care about worldly affairs". From his tone, Hao Ren could tell that Kaim was not interested in the knight who was not the Broken Sword Knight. But the Grand Duke, who has monster-level combat power, admires it quite a lot.
"Respecting the strong is the creed of the northerners, and the Grand Duke is not only a powerful warrior, but also upright and loyal. He is a role model worthy of every knight's tribute," said Kai, who was sitting in the carriage. Mu said with a smile on his face, "I am not from the north. In fact, I was born in the desert tribe in the far south, but I have lived in the north for twenty years. Those childhood memories of the hot sand oasis have become wind and snow."
The carriages of the three caravans have been raised again and turned into a closed structure again. Under the dual functions of the carriages and the vehicle shields, the northern wind and snow are well blocked outside, and the interior of the carriages is as warm as spring.
Hao Ren looked through the window at the majestic city wall of Shuangxue City, and said casually, "I didn't expect you to be quite poetic."
"Literature is also a compulsory course for knights." Cam smiled slightly. "We have to learn twice as much as those black sword knights."
"As soon as Princess Constance raised the flag, the whole northern region heard the news and responded. The Grand Duke of the North, who is famous for his loyalty and bravery, turned out to be a hardcore supporter of Her Royal Highness. This is simply unbelievable to us," Charlemagne said of himself Confused all the time, "Could it be that this so-called rebellion..."
"People from Yisu, there are some things that a knight like me is inconvenient to talk about casually," Kem interrupted Charlemagne, "Of course, in your identities, you can ask Her Royal Highness in person after seeing her, but As for whether you can get an answer... it depends on the princess' wishes."
"I overstepped it," Charlemagne said bluntly, "Then let's look forward to the moment when we meet Her Royal Highness Constance."
Just as Charlemagne's voice fell, a rough voice came from outside: "Stop—unknown convoy, stop and check!"
Three caravans stopped in front of the gate of Frost Snow City.
In the north of the fortresses everywhere, every city will carry out security checks according to military-level standards, and now it is in a state of war, and it is even more so when passing through various checkpoints. The inspection of Frost Snow City is no less strict than that of Greenway.
But now that Hao Ren and his party are here in the open and aboveboard, and there is a Broken Sword Knight in the team as an introducer, the mentality of everyone is naturally different from that in Greenway. Everyone even walked out of the carriage and waited for Kaim to go. Negotiating with the gatekeepers, while admiring this legendary fortress city that is integrated with mountains and mountains with curiosity.
The cold air outside the carriage made Hao Ren Jiling wake up a lot. He looked up at the layers of walls in Frost Snow City, and his eyes moved all the way up until he reached the top of the mountain. There, the lord The spire of the castle pointed straight up into the sky, and an ugly, sinuous fissure floated in the background of the spire, and deep in that fissure, billowing clouds of fire and shadows of broken land loomed.
With a slight shake of his hand, a hidden probe quietly left the portable space and flew straight towards the Gorgon Abyss.
This is the third probe he released along the way. They entered the different space from different coordinates to collect the "mapping parameters" of the Gorgon Abyss as an independent space. Now the first probe has He started to send back data, and the deployment of the second probe was completed. After the calm down, he could explore the secrets in the Gorgon Abyss through the eyes of the probe.
On the other side, Cam, who was dressed as a Broken Sword Knight, had already arrived at the checkpoint.
Several soldiers of the Northern Legion inspected the passing vehicles and travelers here. The tall northerners and the winter wolf armor of the Northern Legion made these soldiers look full of courage. After Mu, these northern soldiers became agitated instantly.
Two of the soldiers exchanged a few words with their companions in a low voice, and ran to Kaim with the sound of armor rubbing: "You are... from the Knights of the Broken Sword..."
"Knight of the Broken Sword, Cam Graworth, is from the Southern Squad," Cam replied in a deep voice, "In response to the order of Her Royal Highness Princess Constance, I came from the South to join the battle, and I also brought important information. , and a special visitor from the ancient country of Yisu."
Finally, he added: "I need to meet Her Royal Highness and the Grand Duke of the North directly as soon as possible."
The two northern soldiers froze for a moment, then exchanged glances with strange expressions.
"Is there a problem?" Cam asked, frowning.
"You... don't you know the latest news?" One of the soldiers said, "There should be a connection between the Broken Sword Knights, right?"
"My comrades and I were attacked while crossing the Black Pine Forest," Kaim explained, temporarily hiding the news that the Black Pine Forest was connected to the Gorgon Abyss and the demons entered the Black Pine Forest. "My comrades are dead, Our communicator was also damaged, and I was seriously injured, although I have recovered, but the spiritual connection with the other Broken Sword Knights has not been restored for some reason."
"Then you really narrowly escaped death," another northern soldier looked at Kaim with admiration. In his opinion, a soldier like Kaim who escaped death across the entire empire to serve the lord is worthy of respect. "You came a step late. Her Royal Highness and the Grand Duke have already set off for the front line in the south. The battlefield is hundreds of kilometers away. But you came from the south, don't you know about it?"
There was some doubt in the tone of the guarding soldiers, and Kaim explained in amazement: "... I don't know about this, we didn't come here from the normal route, but from a secret route, avoiding the imperial army's attack." The eyes and ears came to the north."
The guarding soldiers did not doubt this statement, but sighed regretfully: "I see. All in all, you should advance to the city. The snowstorm is coming. In this case, it is not a good idea for you to go on the road in the wasteland." .”