A hierarch who commanded a large legion had died. This was the highest-ranking dark priest to die since the beginning of the war. The moment Marcellus's mind dissipated, his soul wail reverberated in the vast root network of the wasteland like a gust of wind. It was ear-piercing and sharp, mixed with intense hatred and anger, as well as unconcealable fear and unwillingness.
The scream entered the head of the hierarch, Borken, and made him look at the Western Plains in the dark night in bewilderment. He could not help but repeat softly, "Marcellus is dead …"
The lower-level nodes had also learned of the shocking news. The dark forest around the hillock suddenly produced a series of rustling noises as the dark and twisted 'trees' whispered on the plains. There were also some unavoidable ripples in the army of mutants under their command. But these ripples did not last long. The will of the patriarch silenced the entire church in a very short time.
Two figures walked up to the platform at the top of the hillock one after another. Borken looked at the twin sisters, his dark brown eyes rolling. "It seems that you have also received the news."
"We can hear the sound in the network of roots. Marcellus's wail was really loud when he died," Firna said, shaking her head. "Sigh, it's so tragic."
"He is our compatriot, and your compatriot." Borken immediately shook the withered branches and stared at the indifferent elven sisters. "You should at least show some respect."
"Of course, we deeply regret this, but regret cannot bring Patriarch Marcellus back to life," Rayna said with a sincere expression. "The key is what information did Patriarch Marcellus send back before he died? How did he die? Wasn't the Western Front the smoothest advance of all the armies? Marcellus even sent back news that he could take down Red Jade City in a week and destroy all resistance forces in Augoray in half a month and occupy the Ancestral Peak. How did he suddenly die? "
"Cecil's air force had entered the Western Front." Borken's eyes stayed on the twin sisters for a moment before he continued in a low voice. "Before that, the Western Front's advance was very smooth. Marcellus had even reached the gate of Red Jade City, but then he encountered Cecil's reinforcements …"
Borken was silent for two seconds as if he was carefully extracting the last thought signal from Marcellus. A moment later, he said, "He had described a very exaggerated scene. He said that Cecil's' floating cities in the sky, using flying fortresses and castles to fight '. He said that it was a kind of war machine similar to the Astral Temple, but purer than the Astral Temple. and we are no match for those flying fortresses."
The Firna sisters finally had a solemn expression on their faces. They asked in unison, "The Swollen Defiler didn't work?"
"We couldn't get close. Those flying fortresses had a large number of escorts, and their firepower was far more ferocious than the Swollen Defiler," Borken said solemnly. "I don't know if Marcellus was exaggerating or not. But according to what he said, our flying forces and anti-aircraft firepower had almost no effect on those flying fortresses of Cecil's."
"Even so …" Leona said thoughtfully, "Our command center is very far from the frontline, and Marcellus has always been a cautious person. He won't charge into the frontline himself. Even if the main force in the frontline is really suppressed by the flying fortresses of the Cecil army, he should have enough time to retreat. Even Betheim had a chance to escape unscathed when he encountered the Living Forest in the north. How could Marcellus be killed when he had already built up the advantage on the battlefield? "
"… This part of the information is very vague." Borken's tone became more serious. "The previous information was sent back when he still had time, and the content was clear. But before he died, there seemed to be an extremely chaotic situation. The only thing we can be sure of is that when it happened, Cecil's main force was still near Red Jade City, and soon we lost contact with the command center of the Western Front Army. Within a few minutes, Marcellus's last message before his death entered the root network."
"Some kind of ultra-long-range attack, fast and powerful, able to break through the layers of defense around the command center, and this process is very likely to be accompanied by very strong communication interference," Firna said immediately. "But we can't be sure if this interference is the effect of the attack or another technical means of Cecil's people. This is really bad."
"Yes, it is very bad." Rayna nodded and then looked at Borken. "How is the situation on the Western Front now? Who is controlling the army of mutants after Marcellus died? "
"Marcellus was not the only one who died. A dozen priests around him were also killed. It was a large-scale attack." Borken's mood was obviously worse. "After the command center disappeared, the Western Front Army fell into chaos. Although I transferred the command to Banor, who was the closest to the command center, the moment I received the news, there were still a large number of 'soldiers' who were far away from the command center permanently out of control. The uncontrollable and scattered mutants are no match for a large army, and I am afraid they will be wiped out soon. The Western Front Army has now retreated to the line of Wind Erosion Valley under Banor's control and has begun to move to the south."
"… It's really embarrassing." Firna sighed. "It seems that our grand plan is not going to be easy to realize, Grand Hierarch."
"Put away this meaningless sigh, unless you are just here to watch the show." Borken snorted. "Tell me what you think. The situation is a little beyond our initial plan. I'm afraid we have to make some adjustments in our follow-up actions."
"Don't worry too much, Your Excellency." Rayna smiled, her voice was very calm. "The army in the wasteland has not been fully deployed. We have not done our best. As for those Cecil's people … they are indeed a little unexpected, but they can't take care of all the borders. We don't need to completely flatten every inch of land outside the wasteland. We just need to complete the deployment of the runestones and let the mortals enjoy the false victory on the local battlefield. The Lolun Continent is so vast, they will choose to give up some land in the later stage to maintain the situation. When we have completed the 'domestication' of the entire planet, it will be the time to determine the real winner. "
Rayna's calm and powerful speech seemed to have made Borken feel a little better. The branches on the edge of the dark hierarch's canopy stretched a little, but his tone was still very serious. "But I have to admit that if Cecil's people continue to make trouble like this, our 'window' to deploy the runestones will become more and more limited. Now, the mortal defenders on the eastern and southern battlefields have united and are fighting against us with the power of the whole country, especially the elves. The fall of the Stellar Temple not only did not destroy their morale, but it also made their thousand-year-old army come out in full force. Now, every time we deploy a runestone, we have to pay two or three times more than before. This is not a good trend."
"That's true. Things can't go on like this." Firna nodded. "We need to find the weakness in the mortal defense again, and the most important thing is intelligence, especially the intelligence of Cecil's people. From the beginning of the war until now, they have come up with too many things that have surprised us. This kind of 'accident' is not a good thing on the battlefield. Their living forest is still trying to spread into the wasteland, and their flying fortresses will certainly not stay near Red Jade City. We have to find out the ins and outs of these things. "
As soon as Firna's voice trailed off, Rayna quickly followed. "Speaking of Cecil's living forest, as far as I know, that 'Madam Bertilla' has been trying to penetrate our 'immunity barrier' in the north?"
"Yes … that woman!" When it came to 'Bertilla', his former 'compatriot', Borken was obviously more furious than when it came to Cecil's flying fortresses. "She inherited all of Franken's legacy, the knowledge and mysteries in the underground palace, and now she is using that knowledge against us.
"The living forest is attacking our immunity barrier in the north every day. For this reason, nearly one-third of our root network has to be used to resist her invasion. If not, our control over the various legions would be stronger than it is now, and we would not have lost control of a large number of peripheral nodes immediately after Marcellus's death! "
"The flying fortresses are not easy to deal with for the time being, but the wriggling forest tentacles under the ground are at least something we can reach. The threat she poses to us is obviously increasing day by day," Rayna said. "Grand Hierarch, we should first find a way to stop the forest from spreading, or at least figure out her … survival mechanism. A creature whose body is rooted in the Divine Plains has spread her limbs to the southern foot of the Gloom Mountain Range. This is not a simple matter. "
Borken was lost in thought. The dry and twisted branches and leaves were silent under the night sky. Then he suddenly shook his branches, and a spiritual signal was transmitted to the root network.
The dark forest around the hillock shook. In the next second, a hunched and withered figure pulled out roots from the soil and walked out of the forest. The figure climbed up the hillock, and the naturally activated magic glow in the turbid clouds above the wasteland illuminated the figure. It was Bertram, the Dark Hierarch who had fled back to the wasteland from the northern battlefield not long ago. In his first battle, he had lost half of his main forces in one fell swoop.
"Grand Hierarch, are you looking for me?" Betheim lowered his branches. He was no longer as high-spirited as he was when he led the army to destroy the sentry towers in the north and almost broke through the defense line of Cecil and Typhon.
Even though the failure of the northern defensive line wasn't entirely his fault, and the fact that the Cecil army had hidden themselves in the Living Forest at the southern foot of the mountain range was a complete accident, it was also a fact that he had blindly advanced at the start of the battle and lost control of the situation. In the end, half of his main forces had been buried in the belly of the Living Forest.
After he fled back to the wasteland in a hurry, Betheim was stripped of his command of the northern legion and was severely punished. Now, he was rooted in the corner of the Twisted Forest like a disgrace and became the laughingstock of the legion. Even the low-level dark Druil secretly mocked him for running hundreds of kilometers from the Gloom Mountain Range and leaving all his men behind to escape back to the base camp.
He had never thought that he would have the opportunity to be summoned by the Grand Hierarch again.
"I will give you a chance to wash away the shame and make up for your mistakes," Borken said in a low voice as he looked at the hunched Ent in front of him. "Betheim, you must accept this opportunity."
"Of course, I'm always waiting for your orders!" Betheim said immediately, the vine wriggling under his feet like a snake. "I will complete your mission!"
"It's good to be confident, but don't boast so early," Borken said faintly. "Do you still have the courage to face the battlefield in the north?"
Betheim was stunned for a moment before he shook the withered branches hard. "Of course, these days I've been roasted by the burning hatred. That battlefield … I'm always eager to return to the front line …"
"Very well, then you will return to the northern front to support our 'immunity barrier'. Our root network is facing the invasion of the living forest, and you, who have been in direct contact with Bertilla's spiritual body," Borken said as he stared at Betheim. "Go and find the power that had pierced into your soul, find the trace of the power under the ground, find the truth that Bertilla could extend her body so far, and find the source of her power …"
The cold night wind blew across the plains. The Gondor wasteland in winter was shrouded in silence.
Betheim's body was hunched even more. He lowered his branches respectfully, the withered leaves trembling in the wind. "As you command, Grand Hierarch."
Betheim left, and the hill returned to silence. Borken seemed to be thinking about something, while the elven twins just stood not far away. No one knew what they were thinking, and even Borken was not sure.
He certainly could not hear the whispers on the spiritual level between Firna and Rayna.
"Things are getting interesting, aren't they?" In the spiritual link that only the elven twins could hear, the voice of 'one of them' suddenly rang.
"Yes, the floating fortress, the living forest … those 'Cecil people' have created a lot of interesting things. With the foundation of this civilization, their development trajectory and current direction is infinitely close to that 'ideal model'."
"The starting point of all of this is that 'visitor'."
"The changes that the visitor brings … whether it will ultimately change the mortals of this civilization, whether an extraterrestrial soul that fell into the mortal world could really become a variable on this planet … it is really worth looking forward to."
"But there is a greater possibility that this civilization will still vanish like the countless civilizations that appeared promising before it. An ambitious' Fallen 'could only be reduced to dust in the face of the great power of fate. Civilization is meaningless, and the activities that' wisdom 'brings are just meaningless notes among the stars. Be it the Voyagers, mortals, or gods, they are all just illusions that would vanish in the blink of an eye for this universe."
"None of this matters. We don't have to care about the process. Whether or not that extraterrestrial visitor will change everything, it will be … interesting enough."
Quieting down in the spiritual link, 'Firna' and 'Rayna' continued to stand quietly on the hill, looking down at the dark and boundless wasteland with cold eyes.
Just as the sentinels had done for the past 1.8 million years.
(End of Chapter)
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