In the early morning, there is still a long time before the sun rises, and even the hazy skylight has not yet appeared over the eastern hills. The starry sky that is slightly dimmer than usual covers the land in the border area, and the night falls low. The dark blue sky spreads from the towering walls of Winter Wolf Castle to the Cecil people's Longwind Fortress.
The knights in black helmets and black armor gathered neatly under the night, their swords were sheathed, and their flags were restrained. The trained horses, which were dual-controlled with potions and calming spells, were as quiet as if they were integrated with the knights. The ground stood without making a sound - the cold wind blew across the ground, and the plain seemed to be filled with thousands of sculptures made of steel, silent and solemn.
A tall figure riding a war horse circled half a circle from the back of the team and returned to the front of the knights. His black steel armor looked darker and heavier under the starlight, and from that point on it covered the entire knights. A deep and majestic voice came from the visor of Zhang's face——
Unfortunately, it was not a human language.
It was some kind of vague, weird sound, as if countless people were overlapping and mumbling at the same time. It sounded creepy, but it also had a solemn rhythm like a blessing.
The commander in black armor raised his arms high in front of the knights. His vague and terrifying voice seemed to inspire the entire team. The knights also raised their arms, but no one shouted- —They expressed their fighting intentions to the commander in this way under strict odds, and the commander was obviously quite satisfied with it.
He nodded, turned his horse's head, and waved his sword towards the dark and deep plain in the distance. The knights began to march one by one, and the whole team was like a sudden surge of wheat waves. , one after another, began to accelerate towards the distance, and during the march, the flag bearers located in the front, middle and side of the team suddenly raised their flags——
Iron River Knights The flag is flying high on the plains under the night.
……
Andesa had a dream.
In her dream, she seemed to have fallen into a bottomless vortex, surrounded by countless shadowy, smoke-like black cyclones. They were boundless and blocked Andesa's sight. and perception, and she kept falling in this huge cyclone. She really wanted to wake up, and under normal circumstances, this falling feeling should wake her up immediately, but some powerful force was pulling her deep in the vortex, leaving an invisible layer between her and the real world. Barrier - She could almost feel the touch of the quilt and hear the wind outside the window, but her spirit seemed to be trapped in a dream, unable to return to the real world.
Andesa tried her best to keep her eyes open in the constantly rotating cyclone. She wanted to see clearly what was in the vague mist, and then suddenly, things condensed in the mist. Come - she saw faces, many familiar and unfamiliar faces. She saw her grandfather, the soldiers she was most familiar with, and acquaintances from far away in the imperial capital....
Finally, she suddenly saw her father. Bud Wendell's face emerged from the depths of the vortex, and then he stretched out his hand and pushed her hard.
Andesa woke up suddenly, panting violently in the darkness. She felt her heart pounding. Some kind of "sequelae" like drowning made her extremely uncomfortable, and cold sweat had already soaked her whole body. .
"General, General! Please wake up, General!"
The rapid knocking on the door and the shouts of her subordinates finally reached her ears - the sound was just Appeared? Or has it been calling you for a while?
Andesa stood up quickly, casually pulled a piece of regular clothes on her body, and said at the same time: "Come in!"
The door of the room was pushed open, and a A trusted subordinate appeared at the door of the room. The young adjutant took a step forward, gave a military salute, and said quickly with an anxious expression on his face: "General, there is a situation. A riot broke out in the residence of the God of War Priest. A group of fighting A conflict broke out between the priest and the soldiers on duty, and there were... many casualties. "What did you say? Riot?" Andesa was surprised, and then immediately went to get her sword and the clothes she wore when going out. Coat - Although she heard an unbelievable news, she knew very well the abilities and judgment of her close subordinates. This kind of news could not be made up out of thin air, "What is the situation now? Who is at the scene? The situation is under control "?"
As she said this, she temporarily handed the sword to the adjutant, and at the same time put on her clothes and walked out quickly.
“Knight Captain Brewer has taken control of the situation - because it was suddenly out of control, the soldiers did not react at first, resulting in seven deaths and 30 to 40 injuries, including at least 15 Seriously injured. Afterwards, the knights and battle mages patrolling nearby arrived quickly and pushed back and separated the priests who seemed to be a little delirious." The young adjutant said quickly as he followed, "Other areas are already here. Patrols and surveillance have been strengthened, and there is no sign of chaos for the time being."
Looking delirious...
Andersa's heart sank, and her pace suddenly quickened again.
As soon as they approached the camp where some priests were housed in Winter Wolf Castle, a pungent smell of blood hit them.
The knights have taken control of the entire scene, and a large number of fully armed soldiers are guarding all the entrances and exits of the area. The battle mages are constantly using detection spells to scan all magic fluctuations in the camp, ready to deal with extraordinary attacks at any time. Due to the attacker's loss of control and resistance, several nervous patrol knights noticed Andesa's arrival and immediately stopped to salute.
Andesa waved her hand and jumped directly over the human wall and entered the camp.
The wounded have been moved, but the corpses are still lying on the ground. The hot blood sprayed has cooled down on this cold winter night. The waste energy remaining after the intensive release of spells and divine spells is still accumulating nearby. Andersa's magical vision was foggy. She frowned and looked at those people wearing imperial uniformsThe remains of the soldiers in the armor - they were all killed by the scorching magic sword or divine spells, and not much blood flowed out. The bloody smell here came more from the priests who were killed by the sword.
The corpses of the priests fell around, together with the soldiers they killed.
Andesa suppressed the fierce emotions in her heart. She came to the body of one of the God of War priests. She squatted down and turned over the remains without paying attention to the blood around him.
The priest's body turned over, his empty eyes staring at Andesa, or staring at the dark sky. There seemed to be some kind of chaos and fanaticism left in those eyes, which looked particularly impressive. Discomfort.
But Andesa's attention soon left those eyes - she looked at the priest's wound.
A fatal wound was slashed from near the neck through the entire chest. The enchanted sword blade cut through the weak defense of cloth and cotton robes, and underneath was the torn flesh and blood - the blood no longer flowed. Many... strange things can be seen on both sides of the wound.
They are granulations that proliferate from flesh and blood. They look weird and disturbing. Andersa is certain that such things should never grow in human wounds. As for their function... These granulations seemed to be trying to heal the wound. However, the complete cutoff of the body's vitality made this attempt fail. Now all the granulations have shrunk and stuck together with the flesh, which is particularly disgusting.
A knight with blood on his armor approached Andesa.
"Bruer," Andesa didn't look up. She had already sensed something familiar in her breath, "Have you noticed these wounds?"
"Yes. , General," the knight officer replied solemnly, "I have checked once before. It is not an effect that can be caused by healing spells or alchemical potions, nor is it a normal God of War magic. But one thing is for sure, these... are abnormal. The thing gave the priests here stronger vitality, and many of our soldiers suffered great losses because of this - no one expected that the enemies who had been chopped down would fight back as if nothing was wrong, and many soldiers were caught off guard. Seriously injured or even lost."
Andesa nodded slightly. The knight officer's statement confirmed her guess and explained why this chaos caused so many casualties.
The God of War priests who are placed here are all disarmed. Without the amplification of magical weapons or weapons, the priests with bare hands - even the God of War priests - should not attack the fully equipped ones. The regular army, which is armed and acting collectively, can cause so much damage, even if it is a sneak attack.
After all, the soldiers of the empire have rich extraordinary combat experience. Even if we don’t mention the extremely high proportion of mass-produced knights and mass-produced mages in the army, even ordinary soldiers have enchantments. Equipped and trained accordingly.
But... if they are facing a fallen priest who has transformed from a human to a monster, then everything will be difficult to say..
Andersa's face was gloomy - even though she didn't want to do it, at this moment she had to classify those out-of-control Ares priests as "fallen priests".
"Where are the other God of War priests?" She stood up and asked in a deep voice.
“Everyone has been put under control and placed in two nearby camps, and three times more guards have been deployed.” Knight Commander Brewer immediately replied, “Most people are nervous, and a few people are emotional. , but at least they haven't... mutated."
Andersa felt irritated: "...We can only lock them up like this."
"Yes. We can only lock them up like this." The knight commander's face was also not very good. "This chaos is obviously caused by some kind of 'madness'. We can't take action against ordinary priests who are awake - but I'm worried that the soldiers may not I think so."
Andesa frowned. She was about to give some instructions, but soon noticed other details from the priest's body.
She bent down and touched a thin chain around the priest's neck with her fingers. She tugged on it and pulled out a triangular iron amulet that was stained with blood.
"War sigil..." the knight commander on the side exclaimed in a low voice, "I didn't notice this just now!"
Andersa did not speak, but looked seriously She tore off the priest's sleeve, and under the bright magic crystal light nearby, she immediately saw the same triangular emblem drawn with red paint on the inner side of the other's arm.
"Wearing an iron war sigil, and drawing the God of War emblem on the inside of the arm..." The knight commander subconsciously spoke in a low voice, "It represents holding a sword in the name of God - it is a sign of entering a state of war!"
"These priests are not crazy, at least not completely crazy. They did these things according to the teachings. This is not a riot..." Andesa said in a deep voice, "This is a sacrifice to the God of War. , to show that the camp he is loyal to has entered a state of war!?" Her adjutant came from the side, with a look of surprise on his face, "Where are these people? Are you going to start a rebellion against the empire?"
"You cannot wear a sigil if you swore war. This is not a rebellion..."
Andersa's words were only half of what she said.
She quickly recalled the various news that had come back from the country in the recent period, and quickly sorted out the abnormal situation of the God of War Church and the balance of the situation in the border areas recently - she actually knew very little information. , but some kind of wolfish intuition had begun to sound the alarm in her mind.
She suddenly came up with an extremely bad and extremely bad guess.
There is a problem with the Church of the God of War, and something is wrong with the gods of these priests. For this reason, the believers who have fallen into a state of anxiety and fanaticism want to do most at this time...should be to please their gods.
But how can these disarmed priests, who are actually under house arrest in the camp under the name of protective observation, please themselves?My own god?
It is difficult for them to do it...but they are not the only followers of the God of War!
Andesa raised her head suddenly, but almost at the same time, from the corner of her eye, she saw a mage flying rapidly towards this side in the night sky.
This seemed to be specifically to confirm her bad guess.
A feeling emerged in Andesa's heart, a feeling that she had clearly grasped the key but was unable to reverse the situation. She still remembered the last time she had this feeling - that It was a rainy night in the Paramel Highlands.
The mage who conveyed the message landed in front of her.
"General!" the mage gasped, with a look of horror on his face, "The Knights of the Iron River moved out without orders, and their camp was empty - the last witness saw them moving away from the fortress They gathered on the plain and headed towards the Changfeng Defense Line!"
Falling.
Andesa felt like she was falling into a whirlpool.
......
The Changfeng Fortress Group is a composite defense line with Changfeng Fortress as the center and a series of bunkers, outposts, railway nodes and military depots as the skeleton.
Since the day it was built, it has not experienced the test of war.
It was already before dawn, and the stars in the sky became dimmer and blurry. A hazy light was emerging over the distant eastern hills, indicating that this cold night was about to reach its end.
The knights who set off under night have arrived at the end of the "Camanda Crossing", which is the edge of the Cecil defense zone.
Under the dark visor, a pair of dark red eyes were looking at the dark horizon in the distance, looking in the direction of the Changfeng Defense Line.
Behind this commander, the huge knights had formed a legion formation, and the surging magic power filled the entire resonance field.
A few minutes later, the magic resonance reached its peak.
The commander raised the sword in his hand high. The moment the sword was swung down, the entire knights began to accelerate slowly in waves, like a huge wave that was heavy and slow at first, but then became swift and violent. Towards the distant horizon.
God needs everything to get back on track.
The war of blood and fire is the right path.
The servant of the Lord does not care who will win, whether his army will be wiped out, or even what the meaning of this war is.
At this moment, war itself is the meaning.
The "thermal energy cone", a highly compressed constrained plasma containing terrifying energy reactions, began to take shape over the Knights.