Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2025 1997. Destroying the Volcano
Mongot stood beneath the entrance archway of the highest platform, silently watching the Faded Ones descend the stairs and leave.

The fallen leaves of the golden tree, the tattered cloak of the son of malice standing on the holy white stone steps, and he himself appeared even more filthy and lowly.

The golden eyes hidden beneath those long horns, watching Lan En's departing figure, no longer held the fervor and intimacy of before.

On the contrary, they were extremely calm.

Montgomery's fingers traced the texture of his burlwood cane, mirroring the turmoil in his mind.

Just as Lan En had guessed, it was the two fingers of the Round Table who single-handedly rescued this demigod who had been abandoned in the sewers of the royal city since childhood and elected him as the King of Rodel.

However, Montgomery cannot fully trust the two fingers of the round table.

Previously, the Two Fingers of the Round Table recommended people who had once served under Him, and Montgomery accepted them all, simply because he had no one else to use at the time.

Montgomery knew that the purpose of the two fingers of the round table was always to maintain the Golden Law's dominance in the legal system. No matter who came to power, as long as His requirement was met, He would have no further objections.

At this moment, their cooperation is only because Mongot is the most suitable candidate to align with the direction of the Round Table's two fingers, and their identity, bloodline, and strength are all suitable.

But what if a more suitable candidate comes along?

Or perhaps something happened to Montgomery himself that made him unsuitable?
Montgomery knew perfectly well that their partnership would collapse at that moment.

Therefore, he definitely needs to take precautions first.

Lan En is a good starting point.

After all, the Two Fingers of the Round Table will eventually 'deal with' him... for the sake of the two laws governing him.

Their falling out is certain.

After carefully recalling his conversation and the goodwill he had shown with Lan En, Mengget felt that he had not made any mistakes, so he also went down the stone steps.

Lan En was merely a hidden move he had prepared in advance to counter the Two Fingers of the Round Table, and he didn't need to invest much effort in him yet.

Rodel's most important task right now is to march on the Volcano Mansion immediately!

Before Rataen's army arrives, we should try to defeat all the remaining troops who fled back to Mount Gmir with Lakad within a few days!

So that after Gelid's Red Lions Legion arrives, they can still rely on the Gemir Volcano to obtain strategic support on the local Yatan Plateau.

Mongot had been making intensive preparations for the destruction of the Volcano Mansion since the very night the Battle of Rodel ended.

Today, we are about to officially issue orders to the troops and generals who are about to embark on the expedition.

As Lan En stepped out from the sealed light barrier of his two fingers, the people still inside the Golden Tree Cathedral greeted him with friendly smiles. Some had shifty eyes and wanted to subtly inquire about the appearance and demeanor of the Blessed King from the words of the Faded One.

Lan En simply nodded seriously in response, remaining silent otherwise.

Seeing that nothing had been leaked, those people just smiled sheepishly and didn't press the matter further.

Shortly after the Witcher emerged, Mongot's towering figure reappeared behind the sealing barrier.

"The troops tasked with attacking the Volcano Mansion must depart as soon as possible, today. The Faded Ones must assist them; after all, although Lakad was injured before, he has now returned to his lair, and we cannot be careless."

"Sir Hundred Wisdom, I want you to coordinate at least half of the Faded Ones into the army for the campaign. We must take down the Volcano Mansion in one fell swoop! We must wipe them out before Rataen arrives."

“Yes, sir,” Gideon Ophniel agreed, but he remained silent for a long time before speaking again regarding the personnel allocation, “Then, the Round Table will send [Beast Gathering] Bernal, [Rogue Mage] Viherer, and…”

The names of the faded heroes came out of his mouth one by one until the Blessed King's request was fulfilled.

Personnel allocation is not easy, after all, each of the faded individuals has a lot of things to do now.

Baizhi was also well aware of Lakad's situation.

If it weren't for the fact that the Grand Justice was too arrogant and looked down on Gevya's resentful attack during the final escape, and didn't even try to dodge, he would have been burned by the dragon flame containing the power of the First King.

He was basically just driven away by the Faded Ones, who took advantage of their unsuitable fighting style. He didn't suffer any serious injuries.

Upon returning to the Volcano Mansion, it is conceivable that the Grand Justice's body will receive the best possible treatment and replenishment.

How serious his injuries are, how well he has recovered back at the Volcano Mansion, and how much fighting strength he has left are all questions.

Therefore, the troops and strongmen sent to fight the annihilation war cannot be too weak, otherwise they will be directly defeated by Laqad.

So personnel allocation is actually quite troublesome, but Sir Bai Zhi's brain is known for its high efficiency in the border region, and he already had a plan in the blink of an eye.

The Blessed King didn't waste any words; every day that the Volcano Palace was pacified was a great thing for Rodel.

He immediately ordered the troops that had already received the order to set out immediately and head to Mount Gemir to suppress the rebels.

A golden army of Rodel emerged from the city gates, which ripped open with a thunderous crash, and marched westward toward Mount Gemir. Beneath their feet, the obsidian, solidified from lava, creaked and groaned underfoot.

Among these solidified obsidian stones, there should still be warriors buried inside that night, who were never dug out.

They were first scorched by the lava, then trapped inside it, surrounded by rocks.

Locals say that every night, they can hear screams and wails seeping from the stones.

Even though they didn't know where their souls would end, they still began to call upon the bird of death, hoping that the guide of death would burn them with spiritual fire, at least freeing their bodies.

Even from within the walls of the independent fortress of the Round Table Hall, Lan En could hear the resounding clang of the boots of the Rodel Knights as they marched off into battle on the Rodel Avenue outside.

The Witcher took two steps toward the gate of the stronghold and tilted his head to look out from inside.

Even in the sparsely populated Rodelly, there were still some people who filled flower baskets with the glowing fallen leaves of the golden tree and scattered them towards the Rodelly knights who were setting off for war.

The golden knights and the golden fallen leaves created an atmosphere that was both beautiful, sacred, and majestic.

Faint sounds of hymns drifted over, as if everything had returned to the time when the Golden Dynasty, though not yet established, was already on the path to conquering the entire border region, thanks to that night's victory.

People recalled those glorious and great days, like gold.

They believe that the most difficult time is over, and the future should always be an upward trend.

But Montgomery and Lann, or anyone who has seen the current state of the Golden Tree, should know... that's impossible now.

Lan En believed that the Blessed King's strategy was sound: eliminate the weakened enemy forces as much as possible before reinforcements arrived.

The world has changed so drastically that even in a prestigious place like the Round Table Hall, Knight Rodel is no longer on duty.

After all, although this place holds a high status, the people inside are all famous heroes. In the past, when the Knight of Rodel was on duty here, he was only doing some miscellaneous tasks.

The situation is urgent now, so we certainly won't waste manpower here just to save face.

Outside the fortress, the Rodel Knights marched out of the city, their resounding footsteps advancing towards Mount Gemir still a long way off.

Meanwhile, Lan En had already entered the round table hall.

"Is that so, Xiu Gu Miao?"

As soon as I went upstairs, I heard the sound of a velvet ball coming from the spot at the bottom of the stairs, where the mixed-race blacksmith had set up his forging table.

"What do you mean by 'Xiugu Miao'?" The hybrid blacksmith said coldly because of the Palico's verbal tic, but then expressed his approval, "Hmm, not bad. Now you can remove the war ash from your sword and then try to put it back on."

"Loading and unloading combat ash is just a process. As long as you are careful, even the most unskilled soldier can do it on his own."

As Lan En walked up the stairs, his head emerged, and he saw Rongbuqiu meticulously scraping the surface of his Silver Cat Sword with a whetstone knife under Lan En's guidance, right next to Xiu Gu's blacksmith's workbench.

The sword tip rested against a small, open box, and the illusory white powder that had been scraped out of thin air all fell inside.

The Qilin stood to one side, craning its neck several times, curiously trying to peek into the box.

However, the fluffy ball disliked the powerful blasts from its pair of moist nostrils and turned around to blow away its own battle ash, rendering the battle ash useless.

So, with a constant wad of plush toy in its hands, it meowed several times and used its hind legs to kick away the head that the Qilin was stretching out.

When no more illusory white ash could be scraped off the Silver Cat Sword, the velvet ball sealed the box, and this was considered a piece of battle ash separate from the weapon.

After checking the lid's seal, the velvet ball waved to Lan En and said, "Boss! Did you see what the Blessed King looks like? I wanted to go in with you, but I was blocked by the seal. How embarrassing!"

Despite saying it was embarrassing, Pompom isn't the kind of Palico that's particularly shy.

It looks like a fluffy and soft Palico, but it actually has a very open and strong heart. For it, such an embarrassing situation in public is just something it can talk about with its friends.

Now it looks quite indifferent.

The Qilin beside it let out two mocking hisses.

So Lan En didn't really try to comfort it; he just shook his head slightly.

Having spent so much time with him, the velvet ball immediately realized that the matter was indeed difficult to ascertain.

Although the kitten didn't know why the appearance of the Blessed King needed to be kept secret, it saw how cautious Lan En was, so it simply covered its mouth and didn't ask.

Xiugu remained expressionless behind the anvil, his thick, hard skin concealing his true feelings, as if he hadn't heard a word of the conversation between the Witcher and the Palico.

(End of this chapter)