The Aurora Knight was the ace of the Northlands. Even before the Holy War, all of them were at least Gold-ranked top-level Knight Knights. They had once been known as the strongest human Knight Squadron. And now, although they weren't as powerful as the Dragon Knight Squadron, they were still a strong candidate to become the strongest human Knight Squadron.
As the ace of the Mist Alliance, the Donglan Principality, which was a major military power, naturally wouldn't mistreat these brave Knight Knights.
Even though they were capable of summoning ice weapons and didn't rely on equipment, the Frigid Maw Knights were equipped with soft alloy magical armor, which allowed them to wear armor even after transforming. Plus, with the Elemental Tide and the changes in the Realm of Ice and Snow, the entire Frigid Maw tribe's power level had greatly increased. This greatly increased the Aurora Knight Squadron's power level.
Although the Frigid Maw Knight Squadron had the same weakness as the Dragon Knight Squadron, which was that more than 90% of their combat strength came from their mounts. Rather than calling them Knight Knights, it would be more accurate to call them battle beasts that were paired with their trainers … Still, strength was strength.
According to the olden generation's standards, these Knight Squadrons were at least "Master" in power level, which meant that they were at least Legend in the olden generation. But now, one of them had fainted while the other was heavily injured just by patrolling some wild beasts. This was inconceivable.
"… Fire element burns? In the Northlands? "
It was good that the Knight Squadrons had returned. Soon, the one who was still conscious told me what he had experienced.
It was common practice for mounted scouts to spread out and expand their scouting radius. Aerial Knight Raven only went to save his comrade when he saw the distress flare. But when he arrived, his comrade was surrounded by a pack of Winter Wolves and Lion Tigers. He had already fallen to the ground, but his mount was still desperately trying to protect him.
When Raven went down to save his companion, he was ambushed by a red-clothed person. Not only was that red-clothed person capable of using fire magic, even those strange Winter Wolves were capable of spitting out black flames. Raven was at a great disadvantage. If it wasn't for Frigid Maw casting an ice barrier in time to protect Raven and Raven, they would have been in big trouble.
"Black flames?"
Nobody doubted how an ice attribute Winter Wolf could breathe fire. This thing was basically a signature of the lower planes. If it wasn't an evil cultist that worshipped an evil god, then it would be a demon or devil's lackey. It would seem that things were about to get interesting.
But hearing that, I smiled.
"Finally, I caught the tail …"
One of the reasons why we were in such a hurry to return to the Northlands was because there was a new development in the Demon Abyss.
The Devil's Abyss in the North was what the locals used to call it. The official name was Roadbed Valley. It was an area of caves and valleys where light could not be seen during the day.
Since the demons had invaded the main plane several times this time, the dimensional defense laws there were already broken and incomplete. It wasn't difficult to throw something up from the lower plane.
In the past, there used to be a Mist Kingdom fortress here. However, after the incident with Cavendish, the aura of the Chaos Abyss here had become much weaker. No new demons had been teleported here for several decades, so the newly reborn Mist Kingdom didn't have the energy to invest in the defense of this place.
However, the Mist Kingdom still had a permanent surveillance station here. Previously, there had been an incredibly high concentration of magic energy, which doubtlessly meant that something had arrived from the lower planes. However, the sentries hadn't seen anything.
The worst case scenario would be a demon army with a Demon Lord. That would mean that everyone would immediately prepare for war. The best result would probably be a group of troublemakers.
Since we still hadn't found any traces of a demon army, it was likely that only a few people had arrived. This was to be expected. Compared to the icy Northlands, which was a hard bone to chew, the other regions would be easier to deal with. There would also be more benefits. The Demon Lords weren't idiots either. Nobody would be foolish enough to attack a hard bone before all the fat meat was taken away.
Although there were only a few visitors from the Chaos Abyss, this wasn't a small matter, nor was it a major one. If we didn't deal with it properly, it would still cause major trouble. Evil God sacrifices and devil plagues would be quite troublesome as well.
Over the past few days, the Mist Kingdom had pretended that they hadn't done anything. But actually, they had sent out all their intelligence agents to investigate every unknown outsider.
However, we didn't find anything. It seemed that the visitors from the Chaos Abyss had no intention of mixing into the crowd.
And now, we seemed to have found their tails. It would seem that they intended to do something about the beast wave.
I had originally expected that the beast wave's strength would surpass the previous record. Plus, with the actions of the Apostles from the lower planes, it seemed like a headache-inducing development was right before me. However, I was filled with delight.
Powerful enemies weren't scary. What was scary was the unknown. Over the past few days, I had been trying to figure out just what scheme the Mist Kingdom was planning. Kidnapping a powerful figure, inciting a war between the allied countries, blowing up the Caso Dam to create a massive flood … I was scaring myself. The more I thought about it, the scarier I became. The more I thought about it, the worse I would think of others.
Schemes weren't scary. Schemes that had always been hidden behind the scenes were scary. Now that I had been exposed, I was naturally quite happy.
But right now, the most important thing was …
"We're going to personally capture those bastards!"
I spread out my angel wings and flew into the air when a cold wind blew at me. I was so cold that my entire body trembled, and my muscles felt numb as I landed. It would seem that I was now at the top of the food chain with my normal ice resistance. Even though it had been almost a month since I had cast my forbidden spell, I was still far from being completely healed.
I could only helplessly shake my head. I decided that I wouldn't be a burden to them. I would rather find a warm place to drink some hot cocoa while I watched those empty Knight Knights ascend to the heavens.
Meanwhile, the silly cat on my shoulder was abnormally calm. She seemed to be sleeping with her eyes open. Actually, she had been like this ever since I began to regain some ability to move.
She was the current Empress of the elves. She had a rather ridiculous level of authority, but now that the elves were preparing to move to the Northlands, she had many things to worry about.
Although her true body was by my side, her clone had been busy working with the elves and was about to die from exhaustion. As long as I didn't touch her, she really was just like a cat doll.
Since I had to wait for the results, should I try drawing something on her face?
I was rather hesitant, but the silly cat suddenly turned her head around. The black cat on my shoulder suddenly turned around 180 degrees, making me think of something out of a horror movie.
"… Roland, I've made a new discovery."
"I definitely didn't intend to write 'Meat Slave' or 'Meat Slave' on your head … New discovery? What new discovery? "
And then, I saw the silly cat forget what she had just said. She rubbed her head for quite a while and even conjured a mirror to look at herself.
"I was just joking. Haha, you fell for it. You actually took it for real? Am I such a boring and childish person?"
"You are."
The silly cat didn't trust me at all. She started inspecting her own body. She was even hugging her tail and inspecting it, as if she was worried that I had left some incredible words on it.
Before this farce ended, the Sky Knight Knights returned. They had someone to guide them to the Northlands. The Aurora Knight Knights were as fast as the wind. It would be quite difficult to escape their pursuit in the Northlands.
Several dozen Sky Knight Knights, including Renée, personally acted. The Winter Wolves didn't even have time to react before they were instantly annihilated. The red-clothed man was also instantly captured alive.
But when he was tossed in front of me, I saw traces of familiarity.
Although he was wearing a cloak, he was actually a demon wearing a mask. When I removed his mask, I saw that there was nothing on his face.
His face was like a whiteboard, and he had no eyes, ears, or mouth. His limbs were twisted like noodles, and his physical body was barely humanoid. He looked like a mollusk as he lay on the ground, as if he were a nightmare from a fairy tale.
"What is this?"
"… Evil."
I cast Detect Evil (Chaos) on him. His body was so red that it was almost black. His twisted body was covered in an obvious black light. For him to be so chaotic, he was probably a demon or a devil.
I nodded in satisfaction. I would leave the rest to the professional prison wardens. In front of cruel torture, the only difference between a devil and a mortal would be how long they could last.
The Knight Knights that returned didn't only bring back this letter. They also brought back the corpses of several Winter Wolves. When I inspected them, some had horns on their foreheads, and some had scales on their claws. It was obvious that they had been demonized.
Most of the Northlands' creatures were of the ice element or neutral element. They were also capable of spitting fire. Even if it was the demonic fire of the lower planes, this could only mean that they had transformed into a completely different species. This level of demonization was already far beyond common sense.
My mood became rather heavy. This situation was probably no coincidence. Once the beast wave began to demonize on a large scale, the threat level would skyrocket.
With this unexpected change, the previously jovial vanguard of the winter hunt suddenly fell silent. It was as if something invisible was shrouding us.
The Mist Alliance was facing a scheme from the Holy Church, and there was a scheme from the lower planes as well. It would seem that we were truly being taken seriously.
The other scouts soon received reports as well. They actually found traces of red-clad demons in other beast packs. It would seem that we weren't lucky at all. There were far too many of these demons, and they probably weren't afraid of losses.
"A storm is brewing …"
…
To tell the truth, the reason why I hated government work the most wasn't because I was too lazy to do things. It was because once you started taking things seriously, you would discover that the harder you worked, the more work there would be for you to do. The more serious and responsible you were, the more new responsibilities would fall onto your shoulders.
"… That sounds reasonable. But the Holy Church's trouble is directly related to the forbidden spell you cast on the elves, isn't it?"
"I admit to that, but …"
"The ones causing trouble in the beast packs are all devils. Speaking of devils, who do you think devils hate the most right now? Why did they come here? Are you certain that you don't need to take responsibility? "
"I admit to that as well, but …"
"That's all you have to say to help the elves. Besides, who was the one who organized this migration? Since you brought the elves here, it wouldn't be wrong to take responsibility. "
Having someone who knew about your past was always troublesome. If she was a sharp-tongued woman, that would be the most troublesome of all troublesome.
I was rendered speechless after just a few complaints. In that case, I became the root of all evil, and all the trouble was caused by me? Killing me would save everyone a lot of trouble.
"That's what you said yourself. Thinking about your current ranking on the Calamity Rankings, I think that's quite reasonable."
We were currently still in the Mist Kingdom's royal palace. It was just that the Superior Elf leaders were all here to discuss their future territories.
Although we were laughing and commenting, this was a major problem. If we didn't deal with it properly, it would likely lead to civil war and internal strife.
Although the Northlands was large, there wasn't a single piece of uninhabited land in the Northlands. On the map, even uninhabited territories would be part of a certain country's territory.
Perhaps others wouldn't be able to develop this territory even if they took it. But if you just took it away, they would fight you to the death. Many people would be completely unreasonable when it came to territory.
However, there was one piece of land that had always belonged to the elves. And now, that piece of land was the only uninhabited land in the Northlands.
Yes, some people might have already recalled that the Tassel Kingdom of the Elves in the Northlands had its Guardian God's death, which completely destroyed the natural barrier that controlled the climate. This overturned the natural laws of nature, which naturally resulted in the natural laws of nature taking revenge on the Tassel Elves. Endless natural disasters completely destroyed that piece of land.
At the time, the Tassel elves had already migrated to the Donglan Principality and became citizens of the Tassel Dukedom. Back then, the Tassel elves had spent a lot of effort in migrating and settling the refugees there.
Now, eight years had passed, and that piece of land had returned to peace. However, it had become a buffer zone between the Mist Alliance's Kingdom of the Elves and the human countries. Nobody had ever controlled it.
And now, it seemed that it was time to return it to the elves. However, only when we truly began to do so did we discover that a series of troubles had come knocking on our door.
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