The sky was gloomy. Turbulent winds blew from the plains, carrying the cold air that had not yet completely receded into the city. Under the dim light, Count Pompeii stood on the balcony of the family castle, his mood even gloomier than the sky.
More and more rumors were spreading between the city and the countryside, and the content of the rumors was particularly disturbing. Some said that a terrible plague had broken out in the Jumu Road area, some said that the royal army had suffered a crushing defeat, and important cities and strongholds had fallen one after another. All kinds of news were mixed up, and even a noble like the count could not get accurate information from the north. And that was the most disturbing thing.
The castle balcony had a wide view, overlooking the entire city and the vast plains outside the city. Count Pompeii, who was slightly plump, wore a warm thick coat and leaned on his cane as he looked into the distance in the cold wind. His gaze first swept across the hills and woods to the north. Not long ago, a strange team from the Rock Fortress passed by the edge of his territory and went all the way to the north. The team was led by an elven ranger, riding in a strange magic vehicle and carrying strange equipment. They did not state their mission and destination, but they brought Gwen with them? The passage document signed by Duke Cecil.
Count Pompeii did not dare to stop them.
But judging from the well-trained performance of the team and the direction they were heading, it was not difficult for the count to guess that their actions might be related to the recent changes in the north.
His gaze moved along the hills and plains, and the sparkling Dorgon River came into his sight, followed by the distant mountains and the hazy Rock Fortress between the mountains. The towering fortress was still shrouded in a dense magic shield, and the mountains and walls together blocked all sight to the south.
Since the Cecil family regained control of the south, the land had closed its door. Of course, its physical "door" would open every once in a while, and even the Rock City would be open to visitors. But symbolically, the "door" of the south had been closed since the end of the unification war until today.
The surveillance and control system that the kingdom had spent a hundred years to build had been completely severed. Today, no one knew what kind of things the dead Duke was brewing in his kingdom. No one knew what kind of changes had taken place in that land in the past two years. People could only rely on the absurd and bizarre stories spread by merchants and adventurers, as well as the fleeting glimpses they had seen in Monolith City to guess a thing or two. Apart from speculating about the local customs of the Southern Territory, the other thing that the busybodies were paying attention to was the gate of Monolith Fortress. When would that gate open? Under what circumstances would it open?
This was probably a more difficult mystery to solve than the situation in the north at the moment.
Perhaps when the door opened, it would be the end of Pompey's life as a "real count".
Pompey was close to the Rock Fortress, and his whole family was within the range of the Longsong Cannons. He lacked the support of the royal family, and he lost almost all of his troops in the last war in the south. Now, the economic lifeline of his territory was firmly controlled by the merchants from Cecil. Pompey had been in this torturous situation for a long time and was now quite open-minded.
He looked at the direction of the Rock Fortress in a trance. With his extraordinary vision, he could vaguely see the fortress and the Dorgon Estuary even without the help of Eagle Eye. While he was lost in thought, he suddenly saw a scene that shook his mind. At first, he thought that he was mistaken, but soon, he confirmed what he saw clearly with Eagle Eye.
The main gate of the estuary in the west of the Rock Fortress was opened. In the past, only a side gate would be opened, but at this moment, the entire Dorgon Estuary was open.
Three big ships with open 'wings' were sailing on the Dorgon River toward the north.
Pompey's eyes were wide open. The magic light of Eagle Eye shone in front of his eyes. He saw a series of small boats following behind the three big ships. He saw the turrets at the top of the fortress rising from their hiding places. He saw countless soldiers running on the walls …
The main gate of the Rock Fortress was still closed, but Pompey suddenly realized one thing.
The south was open.
…
In Saint Sunil City, the inner and outer city areas were still bustling. The arrival of the Recovery Festival and the timely rain a few days ago made people see the signs of a good harvest this year. The city administrator opened the market in advance, and the rich the Captical residents held many celebrations in various areas. Even the poorer civilians in the outer city areas participated in the celebrations. The lively and bustling scene seemed to have completely covered the haze that had been hanging over the kingdom for a long time. The civil war in the plains, the changes in the wasteland barrier, all these disturbing things were covered up by the celebrations on the surface.
However, deep in the capital, in the Silver Castle, the people in charge of this country had already smelled the turbulence in the air.
In the upper area of the castle, in a study covered in dark blue velvet, Wales Moen was sitting. Moen was sitting behind the desk. Bai Dewen? Opposite the two of them stood a royal mage with white hair and a black starry robe. The old mage was reporting the situation with a guilty face. "… We still can't contact the mountain corps. Your Highness, Duke, the magic communication with the Great Wood Passage has been cut off, and there is no response to Duchess Wade's message …"
Wales's face was dark. Duke Franklin, who was standing beside him, asked, "The magic communication has been cut off. What about the fire beacons?"
"None of the fire beacons have been lit, Duke."
After a short silence, Franklin nodded. "… Okay. Thank you for your hard work, Master Rotas."
The old mage left, and the Duke of the Western Region looked down at Wales who was sitting on the chair. "We should send another batch of griffin messengers and another batch of Knight to go through the 'Valley Corridor'. Maybe the magic surge in spring affected the effect of the communication spell."
Wales nodded expressionlessly. "You make the arrangements, Duke Franklin. I'm a little tired."
"Then, leave this matter to me," Bai Dewen said. Franklin bowed slightly, put his hand on his chest, and said with impeccable etiquette. "Please rest, Your Highness."
The Duke of the Western Region left the room. Wales? Moen sat quietly behind the desk for a while. His gaze swept across a few documents that had just been delivered and needed to be reviewed by him. After a slight pause, he continued to move to the side and finally landed on a stack of documents on the desk.
The crown prince thought for a short while, reached out and pulled out the documents, and carefully read them.
Some of the key content in the documents slid through his eyes.
Activities of the Apocalypse Cultists … Dark ritual … Several small-scale epidemics around the Great Wood Passage …
These documents were not timely. Many of them were even from the end of last year. Due to the difficult roads in winter, it was inconvenient for messengers to pass through. They were only sent to the Silver Castle today.
Wales knew that Duke Franklin must have a copy, but he probably did not have time to read it. After all, compared to the "crown prince in name", the Duke Regent who really had to deal with state affairs was much busier. These "small matters" involving the cultists and the dark ritual were not worth the priority.
After carefully reading through the documents, Wales? Moen's brows slowly furrowed.
Outside the study, a figure in a holy white robe with a faint holy light floating around her stood for a short while. Veronica's hand was already on the door handle, but before she turned the handle, she suddenly stopped.
The faint sound of an illusory heartbeat entered the ears of the "Saintess Princess". She raised her head and glanced towards the southeast. Her face, which had always been indifferent, suddenly showed a deep and solemn expression.
"Someone has taken the taboo path," Veronica said softly as if talking to herself. "The situation has changed …"
She did not hesitate to cancel this visit to communicate the feelings between siblings and turned to leave Wales. In front of the door of Moen's study, with a flash of light, her figure directly turned into the purest holy light and disappeared out of thin air in the corridor of the castle.
A moment later, this pure holy light flowed into the Church of Holy Light next to the Silver Castle, and through the holy light cloud at the top of the cathedral, came to the Pope. In front of the Holy See of Ivan III.
There was no one else in the Great Bright Hall. Only the pope himself was sitting in the center of the holy light, devoutly meditating and silently praying. The arrival of Veronica interrupted Pope Ivan III. The extremely old man slowly opened his eyes. The pair of turbid eyes quickly filled with pure flames. "Veronica, the most devout child of the Lord. Didn't you go to the castle to visit His Highness Wales?"
"Your Holiness, I suddenly heard the revelation of the holy light," Veronica said softly with a worried expression. "The shadows are gathering. Someone is challenging the authority of God and trying to pollute the land of the Lord."
Pope? The old face of Ivan III did not seem to change, but the holy light cloud that shrouded the entire Great Bright Hall suddenly surged. Behind the Pope's Holy See, the spreading, tree-like image of light expanded in an instant. The 'fruit' hanging at the end of countless branches opened its' eyes', as if a powerful existence hidden at the end of the world had suddenly cast a glance at this world. Before this, Veronica had quietly looked away and did not look at the 'Tree of Holy Light' behind the Pope. A moment later, the 'tree' returned to its original state.
Then, Pope Ivan III. His expression began to change. His eyes widened slightly. "This is a serious blasphemy. Where did it happen?"
"On the battlefield between the Royal Army and the Eastern Region. An evil cult has turned that place into a ceremonial ground. A large number of sacred troops sent by the Church there have been contaminated by the power of darkness."
At this point, Veronica paused slightly, raised her eyelids, and looked at Pope Ivan III. "… Your Holiness, it's time to prepare to defend the glory of the Lord."
In the surging holy light of the Great Bright Hall, Pope Ivan III. His eyes were slightly dazed for a moment, and then he whispered as if he was sleep-talking, "It's time to prepare to defend the glory of the Lord …"
…
Praying to God seemed to be getting less and less effective.
In the wilderness southeast of the Holy Spirit Plain, Belk Loren was looming over the wilderness. His legs were deep and shallow as he trudged through the mud and gravel.
His cloak was tattered, and only a few rags remained on the shoulder buckle. His light armor was mottled and cracked, covered with the vicissitudes of the vicissitudes of life after several fierce battles. The wounds from a few days ago had not healed, and they were reminding him of their existence with subtle but sharp stabs of pain. However, Belk did not stop. He was still moving forward in the wilderness.
He did not know where the deadly contamination had spread to, and he did not know how far the monsters could pursue him.
After crossing a small stream, Belk stopped. He looked up at the sun, identified the direction, and then took out a small charm of the God of War from his pocket. He began to pray briefly to the God he believed in, praying for the blessing and recovery of his spirit and body.
However, this prayer had almost no effect.
It seemed that the accumulated fatigue and pain over the past few days had exceeded the limit of the blessing of God.
Belk sighed and put away the small talisman. He then looked around.
There were no signs of human habitation nearby. In fact, for so many days, he had not encountered any traces of human beings.
He was indeed deliberately avoiding places where people lived because he was worried that the "curse of the Crystal Cluster" had contaminated the places with people. However, he did not encounter any merchants or travelers along the way. This was either a pure coincidence, or it was caused by something more terrible.
Belk shook his head and got rid of those terrible thoughts. He knew that he still had a long way to go, and before he arrived at his destination, he could not scare himself.
He wanted to go to the South, to the Principality of Cecil.
The road to the North had been occupied by the Crystal Cluster Giants, and the road to the East was also in a similar situation. There were only two choices left, the West and the South. These two directions might not be contaminated yet. After thinking for a while, he finally decided to go to the South.
There was no reason. In this terrible situation, intuition was the best reason. His intuition told him that he should go to the South and send a warning message to the South, so that the guardians there would know the situation at the Great Wood Road as soon as possible.
Gwen? Duke Cecil had warned this country more than once. Now, it was time to pay back.
Belk took a breath, adjusted his direction, and stepped toward the South.
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