Von Zhukov Castle was razed to the ground during Motekin's invasion in Year 2515 of the Empire's calendar, and everyone was slaughtered.
After Motekin committed suicide, the people of Auster slowly but surely rebuilt the castle. They united under the command of Wamir von Zhukov, the Kurfürst, and Wassily von Zhukov, the first heir of the Kurfürst, allowing the von Zhukov Castle to reappear in the territory of Auster.
Thanks to the gold mine in Wolfenburg, the endless supply of gold kept the finances of Auster from ever facing a financial crisis. The stubbornness and pride of the people here made the people of Auster still want to rebuild the castle even though they knew that it was a waste of money and manpower, and there were not many practical benefits. Even though the ashes in the tombs of the ancestors of the Kurfürst had been scattered by Motekin, and even though the castle was no longer as prosperous and populated as before, the people of Auster still wanted to rebuild the castle.
Grand Alchemist Bayershazer Gelt, an expert at the peak of the Sanctum, the Chief Grand Wizard of the Royal Family of the Empire, and the Supreme Grand Master (Dean) of the Royal Wizard Academy, was observing the Emperor's expression. Of course, the Grand Alchemist would not let the Emperor see it. He pretended to be observing the magnificent decorations in Von Zhukov Castle.
Emperor Karl-franz strode around the room. His brows were tightly knitted, and he seemed to be thinking about a very difficult question. Gelt was not in a hurry. The Grand Alchemist took back the initiative of the conversation from the Emperor's hands in this way.
"I know what you mean, Gelt." After a long time, the Emperor's voice sounded, "You mean, your promise is not very effective because the Great Wall of Faith is your temporary solution? You are confident in your magic, but you are not sure how long it can last? "
"That's exactly what I meant, Your Majesty. If only …" Galt's voice sounded a little relieved, as if he was happy that the Emperor understood his words. However, the great alchemist did not notice that his tone hurt Karl-franz's heart. The Emperor's expression became a little unhappy. He immediately signaled Galt to shut up!
The great alchemist could feel the change in the emperor's mood. Yes, this was a dark age. Even the greatest statesman of the Empire, the eldest prince of the Rick territory, Frey, who had monopolized the throne of the Empire for three generations, and the leader of the Drich family, Karl-franz, had lost his cool.
"I know you want to talk about Archbishop Wickmar." The Emperor said impatiently, "He did attack in a hurry, but my dear minister, I have to remind you that Vikmar is dead. He has paid the price for his recklessness. There are some things I don't want to talk about. It makes me very unhappy. Do you understand?"
Galt was silent. Perhaps other wizards would not understand the Emperor's actions, but the great alchemist was not one of them.
Why couldn't he talk about Wickmar's recklessness?
The reason was very simple. Without Vickmar, there would be no Emperor Karl Franz today. If it were not for the archbishop's help at the critical moment, Boris Todbringer would be the one standing here now.
If someone wanted to punish Wickmar for his wrongdoings, they would definitely blame the Emperor.
As long as he was dead, he could escape all responsibilities and avoid any punishment, but the living had to be blamed and interrogated for every mistake.
The great alchemist felt very painful. He believed in the Great Wall and the Golden Fortress. He had given everything he had for the Empire.
The Emperor seemed to have realized that this was unfair to Galt. He did not ask Galt about the Great Wall. Instead, he focused on the letters. In addition to Laing's seal, there were also letters from the dwarves. The Supreme King and the Butcher King were in great trouble. The Kurgans and the Chaos Dwarves from the other side of the Roof of the World were attacking the dwarves' fortresses. They could not provide any help.
"This is the new logistics form, my dear minister. The bureaucrats in the rear are complaining." The Emperor said to Gelt, "The food and water of more than a hundred thousand people will be transferred from the various provinces of the Empire. At first, we can deal with it, but we can't go on like this forever. Perhaps some cities and provinces, such as Brunswick, Birnour, my Rik territory, and Marius' Avey territory can hold on, but what about Steer territory? What about Ostmark? Besides, the transportation loss is getting higher and higher. From 15% to 23%, now the transportation loss is approaching 36%. "
"There is no reason for this." The great alchemist of course knew that there was something fishy going on. "Your Majesty, your bureaucrats must know where these 'disappeared' resources and supplies have gone."
"But this is the lubrication of the entire system, my dear minister." The Emperor smiled bitterly. "Are you going to abandon the hundreds of thousands of Chaos soldiers opposite the Golden Fortress and attack the bureaucrats?"
Galt did not say anything. How could the great alchemist not know the internal crisis?
After witnessing Gelt's construction of the Golden Fortress and his miracles, the Grand Wizards of the Imperial Royal Sorcerer Academy were in awe of Gelt's magical attainments, but at the same time, they were also jealous of him. For example, Gregg Matak, the supreme dean of Amber Academy, had doubted the origin of Gelt's miracles more than once. The other Grand Wizard of the Holy Region, Thernus Gehrman, had left the Golden Fortress and disappeared.
The crisis was so heavy that Galt could barely breathe. More importantly, as he told Emperor Karl-franz, the Golden Fortress was not perfect. It was unstable. From Örengrád to Jakova Fortress in the Ridge of the World, dozens of ritual circles needed a large number of wizards and priests to perform rituals and cast spells continuously. It was a very difficult and torturous job. People collapsed every day. Even so, the ritual was not flawless. Due to the chaos caused by the Wind of Chaos and the inevitable mistakes during the casting of spells, the Golden Fortress often had gaps.
How could the Chaos let go of such a good opportunity? Eichaen's adjutant, the Conqueror, had thousands of scouts constantly observing the situation along the Golden Fortress. As soon as a gap appeared, they would immediately launch an all-out attack.
At that time, the Empire's army would have to block the gap until the wizards and priests could rebuild the walls of the Golden Fortress.
Every time such a battle happened, the Empire would lose one or two hundred people, and the Chaos would lose even more.
The only consolation was that in the face of such a difficult situation, the Empire was united. Everyone knew the severity of the crisis.
The eastern part of the Golden Fortress was handed over to Obermark's Elector, Wolfram Hertwig. This Elector's command of the war was very proper, and he was very picky about the details. At the same time, he didn't lack courage. As the Elector of Obermark, it was his duty to guard the borders of Obermark.
The middle part was handed over to the Elector of Hocke, Eidebrand Rudenhoff. Even though he only had a little more than ten thousand people in Hocke, and most of the soldiers came from other provinces of the Empire, Eidebrand had won a famous victory not long ago, and he also heavily injured Wilic the Spellcaster and defeated the army of the Spellcasters. No one had any objections to his position as the commander.
The western part was handed over to the Elector of Auster, Wamir von Zhukov, and Duke Vladimir of Örengrád. They were old rivals of the Chaos.
Emperor Karl-Franz led the Empire's main forces, the Franz Imperial Guards, and the Royal Guards to guard Von Zhukov's castle, ready to support the frontlines at any time.
It seemed that the situation had stabilized, but it was only because the Empire had suffered a lot of casualties and paid a huge price.
"Galt, you are the chief wizard of the Royal Family that I have personally appointed, right?" Karl-Franz asked.
"Of course I am." Galt was very hesitant. He had several opportunities to confess his uniqueness, but he missed them all. He even had a chance to say it just now, but he also missed it.
"Mr. Galt, I am asking you this question with pain in my heart. I hope you can answer me honestly as a glorious citizen of the Empire. Can we defend the Golden Fortress? "
"I am sure we can, Your Majesty," Galt said without thinking, "The Golden Fortress has proven its strength."
"Then here comes the question. First of all, how long can we hold on at this rate?" The Emperor then asked, "Second, even if we can hold on for a long time, how are we going to win?"
Galt was shocked. It wasn't that he didn't think about this problem before, but the maintenance of the Golden Fortress had consumed most of his mana and energy, so he subconsciously didn't want to think about such a long-term problem.
But … did he just not think about it? Or … did he not have an answer at all?
Galt was silent for a long time. The great alchemist was thinking about his answer. If he told the truth, that he also knew that the Empire could not hold on forever and could not find a way to turn the situation around, then he would be incompetent. The Emperor would not need such an incompetent chief wizard of the Royal Family. Perhaps he would lose the position that he had always dreamed of.
However, it did not seem to be a reasonable choice. It also meant lying. It was obviously impossible to lie to a great politician like Karl-Franz.
Fortunately, when Galt was hesitating, an urgent military report came in from outside.
Oldefen's Golden Fortress has been breached!
Our allies are under attack. The Elector Wolfram Hertwich is leading an army and rushing over. They need support.
The Emperor was forced to stop his question. Karl-Franz subconsciously wanted to hold the Hammer of the Empire, but Galt Maraz was not in his hands. So he could only say, "Mr. Galt, I can only count on you now. Lead your army to the breach and repair the Golden Fortress!"
"Understood!" Galt felt relieved. The great alchemist quickly walked out and disappeared from the hall of Von Zhukov's castle.
When the chief wizard of the Royal Family arrived at the frontline on his beloved pegasus, Quicksilver, the situation had deteriorated to an unbelievable degree. The Empire's army was collapsing. A large gap had appeared in the Golden Fortress. Within a few kilometers, the chaotic barbarians in the north could see a wide open road. Hundreds of soldiers of the Empire had fallen in pools of blood, and tens of thousands of chaotic tribes were quickly crossing the gap and attacking the Empire's territory.
Like carps crossing the river, the Northmen were crossing the gap at a crazy speed. Black smoke filled the sky. The terrible plague was spreading into the Empire's territory as the Northmen went south. The Empire's doctors and priests could do nothing about it. The Goddess of Mercy, Shalia, seemed to have disappeared. Without the help of the Goddess of Mercy, Shalia's nuns and doctors could not fight the spreading plague by themselves. More and more soldiers of the Empire were infected and died in torture or were forced to have their limbs amputated. Galt roughly read a few reports, and the content frightened him. About one-tenth to two-tenths of the soldiers were infected with the Nurgle plague to varying degrees.
However, this was not what scared Galt the most. What scared him the most was that as a flying unit and a great wizard at the pinnacle of the Sanctuary-realm, Galt saw an army of tens of thousands of Sylvania on his way here. There were both living and dead, and the commander was a demigod vampire with elegant manners. Around him were hundreds of Blood Knights, hundreds of Black Knights, and thousands of graveyard guards.
Large groups of mortal auxiliaries followed the army of the undead. They were trembling, but they still held their guns and crossbows. It seemed that they were all willing to do so.
The demigod vampire noticed Galt. He even used ancient etiquette to greet Galt, who was in the air, in a perfect aristocratic manner.
Galt suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. The great alchemist realized that he had lied — Sylvania was not in the cage. The terrifying undead had already escaped. If this truth was revealed to everyone in the Empire, then he, Galt, would lose everything, including his respected position, the worship of the people of the Empire, and his reputation.
God Emperor above, what should I do? Galt could not help but reach out and press the cover of the [Emperor's Holy Speech 3.0] on his waist. It had the blessing personally bestowed by the God Emperor. In this incomparably dark era, this book was the only thing that supported Galt and did not collapse.
The battle at the gap of Oldefen was extremely fierce. Kurfürst Hetwig personally led the army to fight against the army of Chaos. The leader of the army of Chaos was Festak Krone. This Nurgle champion was one of the first war lords to lead his followers south to Kislov. His massacre on the prairie would only raise his status in the eyes of Nurgle. When the Golden Barrier collapsed in front of him, Krone was convinced that his time had finally come. Without hesitation, he led his war gang over the fallen stones and rushed to glory.
Krone's subordinates were made up of more than a hundred war gangs. What was worse was that Galt found a lot of Chaos Demons among them. At least three teams of Nurgle Demons were advancing together with the Rotten Tribe.
Things were always getting worse. When Galt first came to the northern frontline, he only saw sporadic Chaos Demons among the barbarians. However, as time passed, the number of Chaos Demons increased from one or two to three to five, six to seven. Now, he could see Chaos Demons moving in the form of small teams and war gangs. The time they could exist in the mortal world was also getting longer. If someone told Galt that an entire army of Chaos Demons would soon appear on the battlefield, Galt would not be surprised at all.
Ignoring the fierce battle between the Empire's defenders and the Chaotic Tribe, Galt came to the site of the ceremony. He found that the wizards and priests in charge of maintaining the ceremony were all lying in a pool of blood. They were killed by a mysterious force. The great alchemist was determined to repair the Golden Fortress at all costs. He began to cast a spell.
The great alchemist poured all of his magic into the ceremony. At the same time, he diverted some of his attention to the battle. When he saw Kurfürst Hetwig personally leading the Knights of Eternal Light and the Oldefen Cavalry into the Rotten Tribe's army, Galt scolded Hetwig for being an idiot. He should have stalled for time so that he could repair the wall instead of charging fearlessly. This would have cost him his life!
Sure enough, after Kurfürst Hetwig's heroic charge, he fell into a difficult situation. A group of heavily-armored Nurgle Warriors blocked the charge of the knights. Kurfürst Hetwig was entangled in a battle and finally met the champion of Nurgle, Krone. Both sides had a championship battle. The brave Kurfürst Hetwig died gloriously in battle. Krone wanted to show off his victory, but the champion of Nurgle soon understood why Ostermark's Runic Tooth was called Troll Scavenger. The wound caused by this sword could not be healed, and the champion of Nurgle fell.
"No! Don't die! "Galt could only watch everything in front of him in pain.
Just when the Empire's front line was about to collapse, Volten led Charlemagne's army and appeared. The arrival of this unparalleled warrior, the champion of Charlemagne's Chosen greatly boosted the morale of the Empire's army and reorganized the army.
But victory did not come so easily. As the violent wind of chaos and the stench of the garden connected with the mortal world, the entire Nurgle Demon Army was thrown into the mortal world by Grandpa Fatty. The unparalleled Volten met his opponent — the Great Demon of Nurgle, Gurug-Ath, the current Sixth Great Demon under Nurgle.
Volten tried to quickly defeat the powerful enemy in front of him, but the Great Demon of Nurgle was not so easy to defeat. Even though Gail Maraz's power overpowered the Great Demon's rusty longsword and plague chains, and the Great Demon of Nurgle's body was scorched black by the divine power of the twin-tailed comet, Gurug-Ath pulled himself together and shouted the name of the loving father as he battled Volten.
Volten could fight against the Great Demon of Nurgle, but the Empire's army behind him could not. The brave Empire's soldiers fought bitterly against the Nurgle Demons. Their bodies were corroded by the plague, and they vomited yellow bile. Their hands were corroded to the bone, and their eyeballs were liquefied and fell out of their eye sockets in the thick yellow-green fog.
Unable to hold on any longer, the Imperial army was collapsing. Gelt closed his eyes in pain.
Lost, lost completely. The Golden Fortress was finished.
"No, the Empire is not finished." A bone-chilling voice with absolute pride rose from the other side of the horizon. The dark sky shrouded the entire sky, and the ancient horn sounded, as well as the ancient drums of the Rick Region.
Von Kastein's flag with a black bat on a red background was slowly raised. The demigod, Lord of Death, and Lord of Sylvania, Vlad Von Kastein could not help but nod his head in approval when he saw the Empire's soldiers fighting bravely.
"The living can no longer hold on. Now, it's my turn, Sylvania's turn."
"Blood Knights, chase the enemy out of our country!"
"For Isabella, for Sylvania, for Von Castein!"
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