The earth was covered in ice and snow, and all living things were lifeless. The darkness seemed to be desolate, and only the occasional flash of lightning in the distant horizon could bring a trace of light to this pitch-black world. At the moment when the lightning lit up the world, a skeleton could be seen.
The skeletons moved forward in this gray snowy land, approaching from far to near, covering the entire snowfield. The electric light was quickly extinguished, leaving only the light of the Soul Fire in the darkness, as if it was an illusion left in the field of vision.
In the carriage, Jana was watching this scene silently. The undead army was crossing paths with them. This was the fifth wave of undead she had seen in such a short time, but this wave was much larger than any of the previous ones. There seemed to be an endless number of them on the snowy plains.
There were tens of thousands of them. There was also a strange sound in the sky. This sound could be hidden from others, but not from her. It was the sound of skeletal vultures flapping their wings. There were so many of them that she could even imagine the scene of them covering the sky and covering the sun as they flew overhead.
The undead army was like a torrent, enough to swallow all living things in their path. But this small undead army they were in did not attract any attention in this torrent. The necromancers in the undead army did not even look at them.
In the moment when the lightning lit up the earth, Jutta had seen a necromancer. The necromancer looked no different from the low-level necromancers they had seen in the War of the Black Rose, but the bone staff in his hand was particularly different. These bone staffs looked like they were made of demon bones, and each of them looked exactly the same.
They were also exactly the same as the one in the hands of the rotten Knight Crotte beside Brando.
Jutta silently assessed and found that the number of necromancers among the undead army was far less than expected. How did these necromancers control this army? She had already keenly linked it to these strange bone staffs.
Of course, Jutta did not know that she had almost guessed the truth.
At the same time, Brando was also looking at the bone staff in Crotte's hand. It should be a replica of the Treasure of Darkness. If he guessed correctly, the original in Duke Ambunar's hand should be exactly the same as this one. According to Haku, the Treasure of Darkness was actually created using the power of the Orb of Darkness.
He could faintly feel that the bone staff in Crotte's hand was emitting a gloomy and cold energy. This kind of energy was incompatible with the aura of the living. When he held the bone staff in his hand earlier, he had a very strong feeling, but he didn't expect that he could still feel that kind of energy even after the bone staff was far away from him.
The power was resonating with him.
Brando slightly knitted his brows. Of course, he wasn't an undead, but he knew that a very high concentration of Dark God's blood flowed in his body. Now, he already knew that this Dark God's blood was the power of the so-called Dark Pearl, and the power of the Dark Treasure was also born from this. Could it be that in the hands of these liches?
The replica was actually not as simple as a replica, but a fragment of the Treasure of Darkness. Was that why it could resonate with the Dark God's blood in his body?
He was very suspicious of this in his heart, but he didn't have the chance to confirm this suspicion for the time being. At this moment, the bone staff was in the hands of the rotten Knight. Crotte used the special power of the bone staff to conceal the aura of all the living around it. If it wasn't for this, the surrounding undead army would have already discovered their existence.
Brando himself had touched the Elemental Realm, so he could conceal his aura at any time. However, Jutta and her young subordinates were completely exposed.
"They're heading towards Fathom Harbor, my Lord," Jutta said weakly after observing the undead army for a while.
Brando nodded, indicating that he understood.
"Don't we have to do anything?"
"We can't do anything even if we want to. There are at least thirty to forty thousand ribs here, and there should be more behind," Brando replied.
"That's true … The fleet at Fathom Harbor is enough to annihilate them. Where are we going, my Lord?"
Brando thought that she might not know that there were no more fleets at Fathom Harbor. Tónigel's fleet had already left the harbor before they entered the Evernight Continent. However, he didn't plan to tell them the truth, lest they think too much. Anyway, there was no point in telling them the truth, and it would only increase their psychological burden.
It was just a burden.
He only replied faintly, "You'll know in a while."
After a short conversation, the carriage returned to silence. This carriage was actually an undead, and the carriage was made of bones. The animals pulling the carriage were also four undead warhorses. This was originally the lich's carriage, so naturally, it was now theirs. The undead carriage moved forward slowly in the snow.
Time seemed to be meaningless in this dark world. Meyr held a silver-plated pocket watch in his hand, and the hands of the watch were sometimes fast and sometimes slow, and sometimes it would even turn backwards.
They saw a withered pine tree in the snow, and it experienced the whole process of growing from a sapling to a towering tree, and then withered to death. This scene repeated itself in this dark world, and after a while, they became used to it.
At this time, Jutta and the others finally understood what Brando meant when he said that time was meaningless in this world.
Half an hour later, they encountered the fourth wave of undead, and this wave was about the same size as the third wave.
Fifteen minutes later, they encountered the fifth wave of undead, and this wave was slightly smaller than the previous two waves, but there were still more than ten thousand of them. After that, they didn't encounter any more undead, but when they approached the coast of the Silver Valley, Crotte's undead army met a Cruz army head-on. Brando saw it from afar.
He saw the flag on the opposite side — it was Cruz's White Legion, and it seemed that they were the vanguard of the White Legion. This Cruz army had about three to four thousand people, which was not as large as any of the previous undead armies, but it was much stronger.
In front of Cruz's army was the Earth Dragon Knight, and behind them was the heavily armed Garrison Infantry. The spears in the hands of the Infantry were three to four meters long, and the black steel spearheads shone under the light of the torches. They were fully armored, and even their faces were covered. The Garrison Infantry was the main force of the White Legion's infantry.
Their average strength was between the lower and middle Silver-level. Once they formed a spear formation, even a Gold-level Knight regiment would find it difficult to defeat them head-on.
Behind them were the projectile troops, and most of them were crossbowmen and longbowmen recruited from the East Metz region. Although they didn't have any special abilities, their average strength was at least lower Silver-level.
[This is the strength of the Kirrlutz Empire's frontline legions. Even though Valhalla seems to be flourishing, I don't think I can defeat any of the frontline legions with my current strength. Even the irregular legions would find it difficult to win against them. Perhaps.]
Jutta and the others didn't have any idea, but Brando, who had experienced the strength of the Empire in his previous life, knew all too well.
He could kill a team of Earth Dragon Knight effortlessly, and Greysword Saint-mephistopheles could do the same, or even better. But what was the result? In fact, his famous teacher in history was also hunted down by the Empire and had nowhere to hide.
After reaching the pinnacle of the Law, or even stepping into the Extreme Plains, an individual's strength could reach a terrifying level. They could even change the course of a war and become a strategic force of a country. But that didn't mean that after reaching that level, an individual could rival a country, let alone the Cruz Empire.
After all, although there weren't many people who had stepped into the Extreme Realm, there were still a few in the Empire.
Silently watching the Cruz Empire's army approach, Jutta and the others in the carriage also fell silent. The gap between the White Lion Guards and this terrifying army was obvious. For the current White Lion Guards, the average strength of the NCOs and Elites could barely reach Silver-level, but most of the soldiers were still in the Iron Rank.
Compared to the White Legion, whose average strength was in the middle to lower Silver-level, and whose NCOs and Knights were above Gold-level, there was a difference of a whole level.
And this was only the White Lion Guards. If the White Lion Legion in the North and the other legions of the Kingdom were compared to the White Legion, there was no comparison. If the current White Lion Guards and the White Legion were like the difference between the reserves and the regular army, then the other legions were like the inferior bandits and bandits.
They were not even soldiers or guards.
Facing such an army, even with the addition of the Buga fleet, the chances of winning were at most 50%. After all, the ones controlling the fleet were the Erouine people, whose average strength was weaker, and the high-level wizards in the fleet were far from enough. According to Jutta and the others' knowledge, each of the four major legions of the Empire.
Each of them had their own exclusive air force.
Brando glanced at the silent female mercenary leader and her young men and guessed what they were thinking, but he did not intend to comfort them. Sometimes it was good to let them recognize the gap between them. The Demonic Wave was affecting the world, and from this moment on, everyone would have the same opportunity.
Only by recognizing the gap between them would they have the motivation to catch up.
The vanguard of the White Legion quickly approached. The Drake Knight in front of them was the first to discover the undead army. They immediately left the group and rushed in this direction.
It was not until they were a short distance away that the Drake Knight stopped and questioned Crotte loudly.
"Don't reply," Brendel whispered, "and don't expose our existence." Brendel stopped him immediately. "Don't answer," Brendel whispered, "and don't expose our presence."
"No, no problem?" Crotte was a little scared. Although she was an undead, she was not brainless. Of course, she could see the difference between the quality of the two armies. Although she had thousands of skeletons under her command, if they really fought, the small team of Drake Knight would probably be able to effortlessly …
Slaughter them all.
The power of the Roman Black Rose was not based on the millions of skeletal warriors. In the war of the undead, the real masters were the powerful undead, such as the Black Knight, the Humerus Wyrm, and the Lich.
Brando nodded slowly.
He had already observed that the previous undead army should be directly controlled by the Treasure of Darkness. If Crotte showed too much autonomy, it might arouse the suspicion of the other party. Now, the best thing for them to do was to move forward. These Cruz Knight must be rushing to the front line.
They were now just doing routine questioning. As long as Crotte did not do anything threatening, the other party would not have too much of a reaction.
After all, who would have thought that there was an undead army that was not under Ambunal's control going in the opposite direction to Ovechin at this time? In this plan, the Erouine people in Fadan Port should not even know about the existence of the undead.
Jutta, Meyr, and the others retreated into the carriage. The undead carriage was shrouded in a thick death aura. Moreover, it was quite far away, so they did not have to worry about being discovered by the other party. There was another world in the carriage. Crotte listened to Brando's instructions without saying a word. She controlled the undead army to pass by the vanguard of the White Legion.
After that, the Drake Knight followed behind the undead army from afar, maintaining a distance that was neither too far nor too close. As expected, they did not ask any more questions. They only turned back when the two armies passed by each other.
It was only then that everyone in the carriage breathed a sigh of relief.
Jutta could not help but look at Brando with some admiration. She did not know the secret of the bone staff. She only thought that Brando was very calm in the face of danger, just like his grandfather.
Not long after that, they encountered the main forces of the White Legion one after another. However, the two situations were not too different. After all, no one would have thought that there would be a 'rebel' army in the undead army. Most of the people in Cruz thought that this undead army was one of the many undead armies that were wandering around Ovechin.
However, humans were not used to dealing with the undead. In fact, most of the officers of the White Legion did not know the details of the deal between Her Majesty and Madara. Therefore, they did not know what role these undead played in the whole plan.
Especially for most of the higher-ups of the White Legion, they still subconsciously thought that the deal with Madara was something that should not be exposed to the public. Therefore, the plan itself was very secretive. In the end, most of the officers of the White Legion did not know where the undead were deployed.
They only knew that the undead would cooperate with them to attack Fatan Harbor.
This greatly facilitated Brando and the others. In less than two hours, Crotte and her undead subordinates had passed through several lines of defense and arrived near Ovechin.
At this moment, the whole world was dark, but Ovechin City was still brightly lit. Looking from afar at the coast of the Silver Valley, the harbor was like a bright star embedded in the dark horizon.
…
(PS: In yesterday's chapter, there were a few places where Haruz was written as Cruz … I didn't notice. OTL.
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