The thick fog is gradually dissipating, but it still covers the entire eastern plain.
The brilliance of the giant sun became pale and dim in the mist, and one town after another was cut off by the mist and strange whispers. In the city streets, in the rural wilderness, among the twisted and deformed human shapes. Things staggered between the mist, as if they were entering a nightmare in the world, spreading along the polluted land.
Tholinburg was finally shrouded in this boundless fog.
The irregular wind swept over the city wantonly, rolling all the flags and making a sound in the air. More and more bad news was coming from all directions - not just the city in front of me. In the city, in the vast land outside this city, all order is rapidly collapsing.
In the castle hall, a high-ranking knight wearing dark steel armor was reporting the latest situation: "...We have lost all contact with the Sost area. The road has been blocked by fog. The messenger After entering the fog, there was no news. The fortresses in the direction of Xielin Valley and Yarter Mountain briefly lit up beacon fires in the morning, but the beacons were extinguished immediately, the communication spells were cut off, and the knights sent to check the situation have not returned yet. , I'm afraid it's more likely to be bad..."
Another high-level knight stood up immediately: "The situation in the city is also very abnormal. Some soldiers found civilians wandering in the outer city area, and they seemed to be unconscious. Some people also witnessed an unusually tall black-robed giant moving in the fog..."
As he spoke, the high-ranking knight seemed to be slightly uncomfortable and moved his shoulders and arms slightly.
At the top of the long table, Edmund's face was as deep as water: "How many more people are we sure we can contact and mobilize now?"
The high-ranking knights in the hall There was an unspeakable awkward silence with the noble lords. After looking at each other for a short time, someone stood up and replied: "The ones who are sure to be in normal condition...are the only ones stationed in the two thousand guard regiments in the castle area and two barracks near the castle area. Two thousand soldiers."
"In other words, because of this strange fog, there are only four thousand soldiers left in the entire Eastern Legion?"
" ...Yes, Your Highness.”
“This is not an ordinary fog,” Duke Silas Loren said. “It has traces of magical manipulation, and it is most likely a large-scale forbidden spell. Spells, even the product of divine descending rituals."
Edmund frowned and looked at a noble lord: "...what information is available from the direction of the king?"
The lord immediately stood up: "The news in that direction is completely cut off, Your Highness, but according to the last transmission, heavy fog also appeared in the plain area controlled by Wang **."
Brief After a period of silence, Edmund slowly stood up, with his hands on the table and his eyes extremely serious: "Obviously, we are under an attack, and the attacker has mastered the power of the astronomical level. Now, our mage group A large-scale dispersion and purification spell is being prepared. Before they complete the ritual, everyoneBe sure to secure all mage towers in the inner city. Duke Laurent, I leave the guard of the castle area to you. In addition, please notify Belk immediately to return to the castle. "
"Yes, Your Highness. ”
The personnel who received the order quickly left the hall, and soon only Edmund Morn and a few guards were left in the huge main hall.
The sudden silence In the middle of the night, the atmosphere became increasingly depressing and gloomy. Wisps of mist seeped into the hall from the gaps in the windows, seeming to bring with it some kind of twisted and crazy malice entrenched throughout the city, which was unbearable here. In the quiet and depressing atmosphere, the fireplace on the side of the hall suddenly crackled.
Edmund instantly raised his head and looked at the suddenly bright fire...
...
On the streets of the outer city, the situation deteriorated faster than expected.
In the fog that was becoming slightly thinner, the sharp sound of metal clanging briefly broke the dead silence in the air. , accompanied by several sudden flashes of light and a few short hoarse groans, several unusually tall humanoid monsters made of flesh and crystal fell heavily to the ground.
Bell. K. Luolun shook his slightly numb arm, shook off some dirt on the sword, and looked at the "creatures" who fell on the ground with a frown.
They (maybe). They should already be called 'them') are ferocious, twisted and mutated, with proliferating crystal clusters everywhere on their bodies. After these monsters fell to death, dangerous arcane energy continued to jump between the crystal clusters, making crackling sounds. The sound was heard, and some remaining pieces of armor and clothing that had been fused with the flesh crystal could be seen on these mutated and expanded monsters.
In just a few minutes, these "monsters" appeared. They were still the knights and retinue who followed Belk to the outer city to check the situation, but suddenly a tall black-robed monster walked out of the mist. After these knights and soldiers met the monster's eyes, they all became like this
What happened?
While cautiously alerting the surroundings, Belk slowly moved towards the nearest military camp, thinking in his mind. Huge doubts arose.
He also had eye contact with the black-robed monster, but for some reason, he did not mutate like his subordinates.
His own. Was his subordinates unknowingly cursed? Was the sight of the black-robed monster the "key" to detonating the curse?
The young Marquis quietly imposed a series of protective blessings on himself. Wearing invisible armor, his sharp gaze kept scanning the streets and alleys shrouded in fog.
The black-robed monster took advantage of the chaos and left quickly after "inducing" the terrible mutation, and is probably still there now. Lurking in a dark corner nearby, Belk is a powerful extraordinary knight, but when facing this completely unknown and strange enemy, he must also show the highest vigilance.
For a while. cover upThe sound of chaotic footsteps suddenly came from nearby, and multiple magic fluctuations also appeared within the range of perception at the same time.
Belk quickly turned around. A layer of illusory hot flames was already burning on the long sword, and a group of tall mutated monsters covered with crystal clusters had already stepped out of the mist and gathered towards him - -These are obviously not the kind of black-robed giants. They are obviously shorter, but they are still more than two meters tall, and they are releasing arcane energy visible to the naked eye.
The characteristics are consistent with those of his mutated subordinates - these are also victims of "induced" mutations.
This idea flashed through Belk's mind quickly, and the monsters suddenly launched an attack.
A "Crystal Giant" stepped forward and rushed towards Belk at a shocking speed. The other giants either charged or raised their hands to create powerful arcane arcs - Young The Marquis turned around quickly, dodging the sharp claws grabbing at his shoulders and neck with just a hair's breadth. At the same time, he swung his sword diagonally, and the illusory flame shattered the arc coming from the sky. Then the sword continued unabated, and with a command The sharp metal collision sound cut off the arm of the second cluster giant.
After briefly defusing the attack, Belk immediately jumped back, handed the long sword to his left hand, and swung his right hand violently down in the air. A crystal clear energy blade fell from the sky, hitting the first crystal. The cluster of giants was nailed to the ground, and a gust of wind that chilled the scalp almost simultaneously passed over the back of Belk's neck - he instantly jumped forward and turned around to avoid this fatal sneak attack, and a few strands of severed hair were left behind. Spread out in the air.
The attacker launched another attack. Belk briefly adjusted his balance and then raised his sword to meet him.
They passed each other at close range, and in less than one hundredth of a second, a pair of eyes that had been partially transformed into crystals and surrounded by tiny crystal clusters flashed in front of Belk's eyes. .
He was a little stunned, and he vaguely felt that those eyes looked familiar...
...
A man was wearing a green priest's dress, with a beautiful and dignified upper body, but a slender lower body. The woman with ferocious plant roots slowly walked out of the flames and walked towards Edmund Morn step by step.
Wearing black armor and a wolfskin cloak, Edmund stood behind the table, staring intently at the woman who came out of the flames, and at the female leader of the Society of the Dead.
"Is this all your conspiracy?" He said in a deep voice. Before he finished speaking, a black sword appeared in his hand.
At the same time, he noticed that the attendants and guards standing not far away were unresponsive, as if they had fallen into a hypnotic state and did not notice the appearance of the intruder at all.
Bertila came to the opposite side of the long table unhurriedly, looked at Prince Ansu in front of him, with a faint smile on his face: "To others, this is a conspiracy, but to you , this is a conspiracy, isn't it? Our 'ally' Your Highness..."
Edmund knew that this strange woman was extremely dangerous and powerful, so he quietly performed it for himself.He added the blessing of the knight realm, while suppressing his anger and said: "You are really untrustworthy."
"Didn't you know this from the beginning, your confident prince? You are just used to it. It’s just that you underestimate others and overestimate yourself.”
As Bertila said this, she pulled a chair from the side and sat down calmly in front of Edmund. The legs formed by vines and roots spread and grow, and with the sound of rustling, they merged with the seat and the ground.
"What do you want to do? What do you want to do?!"
"Us?" Bertila laughed, and his smile was extremely sincere - in fact, it was almost It was her only smile from the heart in seven hundred years, "We want to find a way for mankind to survive, a way to survive on the table of the gods and survive the malice of the world.
" And I... I'm just here to welcome you, to welcome the new you. ”
“Madman. "Edmund felt that he could not understand the thoughts of this cultist at all. He had already accumulated strength and did not want any more changes, so he raised his long sword, and countless small black cracks quickly spread out from the tip of the sword, as if The entire space was blocked like a spider web.
The long table turned into dust in the cracks, and the seats were torn apart one by one. However, before the fatal black cracks spread to Bertila, there were waves of headaches. The whispers and murmurs of cracking and sanity-breaking suddenly flooded into Edmund's mind. He suddenly lost control of the sword in his hand, and even his whole body was shaking and unable to stand.
Berti. La watched quietly as Edmund supported his body with his sword and gradually collapsed, and said calmly: "Have you often felt thirsty recently? "
"Water..." Clear crystal clusters were gradually growing on both sides of Edmund's cheeks, and a glimmer of realization suddenly flashed across his eyes, "You poisoned me? ”
“It’s not poison, it’s just a blessing—a blessing given by ‘gods’. "
"You...will destroy...Ansu..."
"It is you who ruined it, or should be said, it is you," Bertila said almost He looked at the prince in front of him with pity, "Do you remember, you started this vortex. "
Edmund felt that his sanity was quickly dissipating, and the whispers were quickly depriving him of his ability to think. He spoke with difficulty and said almost instinctively: "I just...want to bring him back again. It... prospered..."
Bertila stood up from the chair. She quietly stared at Prince Ansu, who was about to lose his will. Her eyes were deep and her tone was low: "You guys, really Do you understand what true prosperity is? ”
Edmund’s field of vision was covered with a hazy light curtain, and his eyeballs were being rapidly reshaped by crystals. In that alienated field of vision, he could only clearly see Bertila’s eyes. , those eyes are deep and resolute, as if carrying some kind of terrible paranoia, but also carrying unbelievable purity and reason..
He didn't understand why a crazy cultist would suddenly look like this.
This look reminded him of a person, a person who returned to this world from the grave.
Before losing his will, he heard the other person's last words:
"You have never really looked down and glanced at those humble people."
...
All the "crystal-formed" attackers fell down, including the... person whose eyes looked familiar.
She had turned into a two-meter-tall monster, her swollen and twisted flesh mixed with charged crystals, but Belk still recognized her.
She fell on the mist-covered street, her body curled up and trembling slightly. This reminded Belk of the time when he saw her in an alley not long ago, when she was curled up like this. On the ground, huddled in the mud.
Belk slowly stepped forward, feeling sharp stings from some of the small wounds on his body. He supported his body with his long sword, squatted down in front of the "laundress", and touched the opponent's head. Flush.
"Who turned you into this? Are they also those monsters in black robes?"
The crystal clustered woman made a hoarse voice while breathing hard. , Belk heard an answer that he could not understand at all: "We are... voluntary, Your Excellency."
The young Marquis exclaimed: "Why?!"
The "monster" whose human appearance was no longer visible raised his head and said softly:
"If you become like this... you can live by eating rocks, my lord..."