In the early hours of the morning, there was still a long time before the sun rose. Even the hazy rays of the sky had yet to appear above the hills in the east. The starry sky was slightly dimmer than usual as it covered the land at the border. The curtain of night hung low, and the dark blue sky stretched from the towering walls of Winterwolf Fortress all the way to Cecil's Longwind Stronghold.
The knights in black helmets and black armor gathered neatly under the night sky. Their swords were sheathed, and their flags were tucked away. The warhorses, which had been trained and controlled with magic potions and calming spells, stood quietly as if they were one with the knights. They did not make a single sound. As the cold wind blew across the land, it was as if thousands of steel sculptures had gathered on the plain, silent and solemn.
A tall figure riding on a warhorse circled half a circle from the back of the formation and returned to the front of the Knight's formation. His black armor looked even thicker under the starlight, and a low and dignified voice came from the helmet that covered his entire face.
Unfortunately, it was not a human language.
It was a vague and strange voice, as if countless people were mumbling at the same time. It sounded creepy, but it also had a solemn rhythm that sounded like a prayer.
The commander in black armor raised his arm in front of the Knight's formation. His vague and terrifying voice seemed to inspire the entire formation. The Knight's raised their arms as well, but no one shouted. They used this method to express their will to fight to the commander, and the commander was satisfied with it.
He nodded, turned his horse around, and waved his sword toward the dark plains in the distance. The knights then began to march forward in rows. The whole troop was like a sudden surge of wheat waves, layer upon layer began to accelerate into the distance. During the march, the flag-bearers at the front, middle, and back of the troop suddenly raised the flags in their hands —
The flag of the Ironriver Knight's formation fluttered high on the plains under the night sky.
… …
Andesha had a dream.
In the dream, she seemed to have fallen into a bottomless whirlpool. Countless shadows, like smoke and fog, surrounded her. They were boundless, blocking her vision and senses. She was constantly falling in this huge whirlpool. She wanted to wake up, and under normal circumstances, this feeling of falling should have woken her up immediately. However, a powerful force pulled her from the depths of the whirlpool, separating her from the real world. She could almost feel the touch of the blanket and hear the wind outside the window, but her mind was trapped in a dream, unable to return to the real world.
Andesha struggled to open her eyes in the whirlpool. She wanted to see what was in the shadows of the fog. Suddenly, the fog condensed into things. She saw many familiar and unfamiliar faces. She saw her grandfather, she saw familiar soldiers, she saw familiar faces in the Imperial Capital …
Finally, she saw her father's face. Bard Wendell's face appeared from the depths of the whirlpool. He reached out and pushed her.
Andesha woke up with a start. She gasped for breath in the darkness. Her heart was pounding, and she felt like she was drowning. Cold sweat had already soaked her body.
"General, general! Please wake up, general! "
Rapid knocks on the door and the shouts of her subordinates reached her ears. Did they just appear? Or had they been calling for her for a while?
Andesha quickly got up and pulled a set of clothes over her body. "Come in!" She replied.
The door was pushed open, and a trusted subordinate appeared at the door. The young adjutant took a step forward and saluted. There was an anxious expression on his face. "General, there's a situation. There's a riot in the residential area of the War God Priests. A group of War God Priests clashed with the soldiers on duty. There are already … many casualties."
"What did you say? Riot? " Andesha was shocked. She immediately went to retrieve her sword and outer robes. Even though she had heard a piece of unbelievable news, she knew that her trusted subordinate's ability and judgment. She knew that this news was not made up out of thin air. "What's the situation now? Who's at the scene? Is the situation under control? "
As she spoke, she temporarily handed her sword to the adjutant, and at the same time put on her clothes and quickly walked out.
"Knight Brewer has the situation under control. Because it was a sudden loss of control, the soldiers did not react in time. Seven people died, and thirty to forty were injured. At least fifteen of them were seriously injured. After that, the patrolling Knight and Battlemages quickly arrived and separated the War God Priests who seemed a little delirious. "The young adjutant quickly reported." The patrols and surveillance in the other areas have been strengthened. There are no signs of chaos for now. "
[Delirious?]
Andesha's heart sank, and she quickened her pace.
Just as she approached the barracks where the War God Priests were housed, the pungent smell of blood assaulted her nostrils.
The Knight had the entire scene under control, and a large number of fully armed soldiers were guarding all the entrances and exits. The Battlemages were constantly using detection spells to scan the barracks for any signs of magic, ready to deal with any Extraordinary who lost control or resisted. A few nervous patrolling Knight noticed Andesha's arrival and immediately stopped to salute her.
Andesha waved her hand and passed through the human wall, entering the barracks.
The wounded had been moved away, but the corpses were still lying on the ground. The blood that spurted out had cooled down in the cold winter night, and the residual energy from the Divine Arts and Magic Spells were still accumulating in the surroundings. Andesha's Magic Vision was in a misty state. She frowned as she looked at the corpses of the soldiers who were wearing the Empire's standard armor. They were killed by scorching magic blades or Divine Arts, and there was not much blood flowing out. The stench of blood came from the War God Priests who were killed by swords and blades.
The corpses of the War God Priests were lying around, together with the corpses of the soldiers they killed.
Andesha suppressed the intense emotions in her heart and walked to the corpse of a War God Priest. She did not care about the blood around her as she crouched down and flipped the corpse over.
The War God Priest's corpse was flipped over, and his empty eyes stared at Andesha, or perhaps at the dark sky. There seemed to be some kind of chaos and fanaticism in his eyes that made Andesha feel uncomfortable.
But Andesha's attention quickly left those eyes and looked at the War God Priest's wound.
It was a fatal wound that went from the neck to the chest. The enchanted sword had cut through the weak defense of the War God Priest's cloth and cotton robes, revealing the torn flesh below. Blood was no longer flowing, and strange things could be seen on both sides of the wound.
Those were granules that grew out of the flesh, and they looked strange and unsettling. Andesha was sure that such things would not grow out of a human's wound, and as for their purpose … They seemed to be trying to heal the wound, but the War God Priest's life force had been completely cut off, and the granules had shriveled up and stuck to the flesh. It was extremely nauseating.
A Knight whose armor was stained with blood approached Andesha.
"Brewer," Andesha did not raise her head, but she had already sensed the familiar aura. "Have you noticed these wounds?"
"Yes, General," Knight replied in a deep voice, "I have checked them once before, and they are not healing spells or potions. They are also not normal War God Divine Spells. But one thing is for sure, these … abnormal things gave the priests here more vitality, and many of our soldiers suffered a great loss because of this. No one would have thought that the enemy, who had already been cut down, would counterattack as if nothing had happened. Many soldiers were caught off guard and were seriously injured or even lost their lives. "
Andesha nodded slightly. The knight's explanation confirmed her suspicions, and also explained why there were so many casualties in the chaos.
The Priestesses of the God of War who were stationed here were all disarmed. Without the enhancement of magic tools and weapons, the Priestesses of the God of War who were unarmed — even if they were Priestesses of the God of War, they shouldn't have caused so much damage to a fully armed and collective army, even if it was a sneak attack.
After all, the Empire's soldiers had rich combat experience. Not to mention the large number of Knight and mages in the army, even ordinary soldiers were equipped with enchanted equipment and had undergone specialized training.
But … if they were facing a War God Priest who had turned from a human into a monster, then it was hard to say.
Andesha's face was gloomy. Even though she did not want to, she had to categorize the War God Priests who had lost control as' War God Priests'.
"Where are the other War God Priests?" She stood up and asked in a low voice.
"They are under control and placed in two camps nearby. We have tripled the number of guards," Knight Brewer replied immediately, "Most of them are nervous, and a few are agitated. But at least they did not … mutate."
Andesha's heart was filled with irritation, "… We can only lock them up like this."
"Yes, we can only lock them up like this," Knight Brewer's face was also gloomy, "This chaos is obviously caused by some kind of 'madness'. We can't do anything to a War God Priest who is awake, but I'm afraid the soldiers might not think so."
Andesha furrowed her brows. She was about to order something, but she quickly noticed something else from the corpse.
She bent down and touched a thin chain around the War God Priest's neck. She pulled it out, and along the chain, she pulled out a triangular iron amulet that was stained with blood.
"War Sigil …" Knight Brewer exclaimed, "I didn't notice it just now!"
Andesha did not say anything. Instead, she tore open the War God Priest's sleeve with a serious expression. Under the bright light of the nearby magic crystals, she immediately saw the same triangular emblem drawn with red paint on the inside of the War God Priest's arm.
"Iron War Sigil, the emblem of the War God on the inside of the arm …" Knight Brewer Brewer muttered, "It means that the War God is wielding a weapon in the name of the War God. It's a sign that the War God has entered a state of war!"
"These War God Priests are not crazy, at least not all of them. They did these things according to the teachings of the War God. This is not a riot …" Andesha said in a low voice, "This is a sacrifice to the War God, to show that the War God Priest that they are loyal to has entered a state of war."
"State of war!?" Her adjutant came from the side with a shocked expression, "Where did this war come from!? Are these people trying to start a rebellion against the Empire? "
"The War God Priest is not allowed to wear the War Sigil, this is not a rebellion …"
Andesha only finished half of her sentence.
She quickly recalled the various news that had recently been sent back from the country. She quickly organized the abnormal situation of the Church of the God of War and the recent balance of the situation at the border. She actually knew very little information, but a certain kind of wolf instinct had already begun to sound alarm bells in her mind.
She suddenly had a terrible, terrible conjecture.
There was a problem with the War God Church. There was a problem with the War God Church, and the War God Priests were in a state of anxiousness and fanaticism. What these believers wanted to do the most at this time … was to please their God.
But how could these disarmed priests, who had been placed under house arrest in the camp on the pretext of a protective observation, please their god?
It was difficult for them to do it … but they were not the only believers of the War God!
Andesha suddenly looked up, but at the same time, she saw a mage flying through the night sky towards her from the corner of her eyes.
It was as if the mage was here to confirm her terrible guess.
Andesha had a feeling in her heart. It was a feeling that she had grasped the crux of the matter, but she could not turn the situation around. She still remembered the last time she had such a feeling. It was a rainy night in the Palamel Highlands.
The mage who sent the message landed in front of her.
"General!" The mage panted, his face filled with fear, "The Ironriver Knight Regiment moved out without orders. Their camp is empty. The last witness saw them gathering in the plains far away from the fortress and heading towards the Longwind Defense Line!"
Falling.
Andesha felt like she was falling into a whirlpool.
… …
The Longwind Fortress was a complex defensive line with the Longwind Fortress as the center and a series of bunkers, outposts, railway nodes, and military outposts as the framework.
Since the day it was built, it had not been tested by the flames of war.
It was the eve of dawn, and the stars in the sky were dim and blurry. A hazy radiance appeared in the distant hills in the east, indicating that the cold night was coming to an end.
The Knight Regiment had already reached the end of the 'Kamanda Junction'. This was the edge of the Cecil Regiment's defensive perimeter.
Under the black mask, a pair of dark red eyes were looking at the dark horizon in the distance, towards the direction of the Longwind Defense Line.
Behind the commander, the huge Knight Regiment had already formed into a legion formation, and a surge of mana filled the entire resonance field.
A few minutes later, the resonance reached its peak.
The commander raised the longsword in his hand high up. The moment the longsword was swung down, the entire group of knights began to accelerate gradually, like a huge wave that was heavy and slow at first, but then ferocious at the end, rushing towards the distant horizon.
God needed everything to return to the right track.
The war of blood and fire was the right track.
The servants of the Lord did not care who would win, did not care if they would be completely wiped out, and did not even care about the meaning of this war.
At this moment, the war itself had meaning.
The highly compressed plasma containing a terrifying energy reaction, the 'Thermal Energy Cone' began to form above the Knight Regiment.
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