Fairy Tale: Little Red Riding Hood's Wolf Mentor

Chapter 216 Gradual Finale
The Leper King's house was quite comfortable. Looking out from the high-rise windows, one could see the city beneath the stars, with silver light reflecting the nebulae hanging upside down in the sky.

The fantastic beauty is so great that one can't even feel that this place is at the forefront of the war!
"The Leper King's strategy and thinking sound far more reliable than that of the Son of the Stars."

"Yes, if they cooperate, perhaps their chances of winning will be much greater."

"But can power really make a person so proud?"

Lake thought about the Star Child sitting on the throne. "After he took the throne, he even refused to acknowledge his father and mother. I asked the palace guards, and they also said that the Star Child's parents were stars, not humans."

"Not everyone can maintain their original aspirations after gaining power, let alone..."

Poro thought for a moment, then continued, "Power, status, these things, fall on a newborn child."

"If the Leper King had kept his identity as he had suggested, hiding the Star Child's identity and sending him to an ordinary family for training, would he have gotten better?"

"I don't know if that's really the right thing to do when raising a child, but—"

The Poro thought for a moment, then continued, "For the Son of the Stars, that would indeed make him a compassionate, kind, and good king."

"why?"

"Because that's what the fairy tale says."

"So, the Star Child and this king also come from a fairy tale?"

"Yes, a fairy tale."

Poro nodded, "The name of this fairy tale is Star Child."

// Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales: The Star-Child

"So in the story, this Star-Child really became a good king?"

"Yes, but unlike reality, in this fairy tale, the Star Child did not display any extraordinary powers. He was just like an ordinary person. He even died soon after becoming king."

Poro shrugged as he spoke, "Perhaps this has something to do with the mutation of the world, which has given him such powerful power."

Pages representing the fairy tale "The Star-Child" emerged from the Poro's hand.

The painting shows a young man leaning on a wooden stick and wearing a tattered cloak with star patterns painted on it. He looks poor and destitute, but still hands a piece of gold in his hand to a leper on the roadside.

In this fairy tale, the Star Child was also an arrogant and self-proclaimed noble boy at the beginning.

But after being tested and tempered by his father, a king who was a leper, and his mother, a witch disguised as a beggar, he became a humble and kind king after a period of painful days.

[Circular Return: Star Child·Suffering Starry Sky]

【Fairy Tale Power: Unknown】

[Unsealing Ceremony: In the coming war, ensure the survival of more than 30% of the residents of Starfall City. Their suffering ends here, and tomorrow's stars will still shine brightly in the sky.]

[Description: Perhaps life is always full of suffering, but the dark clouds will not stay forever. The next day, when you look up, the starry sky is still as bright as before.]

"Well, a strange unsealing ceremony, but it's like a prophecy."

"Yes, it's like a prophecy that the Star-Child will fail in his duel against King Sri? Otherwise, we just need to do nothing and we will succeed."

"But perhaps the Star Child doesn't care about the death of ordinary people."

Poro thought for a moment and continued, "Even if he wins, perhaps all his people will be killed by King Sri. After all, killing people is just a matter of 'waving his hand' for him."

"As for us, the only good news is that the Sri Kingdom can no longer spare troops to attack the Goethe Kingdom."

"Then can we..."

"Attack the Sri Kingdom, that's what you're thinking, right?"

"Yes."

"Offense and defense are different. Our forces may not be enough to defeat the Sri Kingdom's defenders. Previously, no kingdom had ever taken advantage of the Sri Kingdom!"

"Have they never lost a war?"

"Yes, their strength is likely more than what they have now. Judging from the information compiled by the Leper King, since they began their invasion, they have not lost a single battle except against us and Starfall City."

"Like a tinderbox, isn't it?"

"Well, if it weren't us facing the Tinderbox, without the Shadi Kingdom, a group of ordinary people wouldn't have a chance of survival, no matter how strong they were."

As Poro spoke, he looked at the map he got from the Leper King. The territory occupied by the Sri Kingdom had already become radial and spread in all directions.

And those Sri Swiss soldiers did not fight for the Sri Kingdom out of free will.

They are under some influence.

This means that the army of the Sri Kingdom will appear in an endless stream!
"The letter to Goethe's army has been delivered. Our people will wait for a while. We just hope that we can win the final battle."

Having said that, Lake and Poro suddenly turned around and looked towards the door.

"Tuk-tuk-tuk-"

The next moment, there was a knock on the door. The door opened, and behind it was the Leper King. He was wearing armor and had a broadsword on his back. He waved to the two of them:
"The army of the Sri Kingdom has launched another attack. Do you want to go and see it together?"

"of course."

Lake and Poro nodded, and Oz, Marin and other warriors also put on the armor of Falling Star City and followed the Leper King into the city defense team.

Many officers of the Xingluo City garrison were puzzled when they saw the group of people.

But after seeing the iconic mask of the Leper King, the confusion on their faces turned into respect. No one stopped them or asked questions, but just silently made way.

"The Starry Barrier initially covered a vast area. Starting from Starfall City, it could still encompass tens of thousands of miles. However, after the attack from the Sri Kingdom's army and the arrival of King Sri... our barrier was reduced to its current size."

The Leper King and a few others went up to a watchtower on the top of the city wall, from where they could see the battlefield in the distance.

The defenders of Starfall City in silver-white armor and the Sri Kingdom's army in black armor stared at each other across the starry barrier.

"Our defenders can use starlight to reshape themselves in the city, but those Sri Lankans don't even consider our soldiers human."

As the Leper King spoke, his words were filled with a hint of anger.

The battle began. This was the first time that everyone witnessed the war between Xingluo City and the Sri Kingdom Legion. Under the influence of the Son of Stars and the magic of the Sri Kingdom, the brutality of this war still made everyone feel inexplicably horrified.

No one retreated out of fear.

The number of soldiers sent by the Sri Lankan Legion is so large that it is difficult to count. It reminds everyone of the war in the Goethe Kingdom, and even worse!

A sea of ​​black weapons and armor surged towards the glowing starry barrier.

In front of the starry barrier, they fought with the defenders of Starfall City who came out from inside.

The bows and crossbows of the defenders of Xingluo City rained down on the Sri Legion through the barrier, but the starry barrier was able to block the Sri Legion's crossbows and projectiles.

Before the battle even began, most of the Sri Lankan soldiers had been killed or wounded.

The corpses fell into a small hill on the ground, and the black and white armies had already entered the most intense struggle.

No matter which side, no one avoided the battle because of the threat of death. It was a naked fight, like a confrontation between the stars and hell!

"The state of those Sri people... is very similar to when we killed the commander Bluebeard in the Goethe Kingdom."

Lake whispered.

"But they're going to be even better."

Poro also noticed this. The expressions of the Sri Lankan soldiers were much crazier than before. Each of them had red eyes, but they were still able to use the spears and swords in their hands.

From this point of view, it can be seen that these Sri people are much more terrifying than those they have faced before!
Every Sri Lankan soldier still has a cross-shaped bottle of "holy water" hanging around his neck.

The liquids that seeped into their skin allowed their recovery abilities to reach a level beyond imagination!

Even if their arms were broken or they were cut in half, they would still struggle and crawl, trying to continue fighting.

"If our army had faced such a 'complete' Sri Lankan army, even if we won, there wouldn't be many soldiers left."

"Even with the Happy Prince's blessing, those who are not within the blessing will be defeated by 'fear'." Even so, the soldiers of Starfall City are even more powerful!
The surface of each of their silver-white armor was wrapped in starlight like a mist of light - this form looked very familiar to Poro, and he couldn't help but look at Lake.

Although the strength and skills of each of them are not too strong.

But with the blessing of this starlight, every soldier of Starfall City can kill a dozen or even dozens of Sri Lankan soldiers before dying!

And when they died, Poro noticed that a tiny, imperceptible light spot would appear on the surface of the body of each Starfall City soldier.

Like a star.

They rolled back into the starry barrier and merged into the pale silver surface of the barrier—

"Polo, look at the sky, those stars seem to be moving?"

Following Lake's words, Poro raised his head and looked at the sky. In the city, those illusory stars turned into meteors and fell from the sky.

They fell to the ground, condensing into shape—

In a short period of time, he became an unharmed soldier of Starfall City!
The soldier opened his eyes and immediately followed the instructions, reorganized into a team, and continued to rush out of the city.

Judging from their expressions, all this may have been going on for a long time.

"What is the meaning of their fighting like this?"

Lake looked at the meat-grinder-like front line. Corpses and blood covered almost every corner of the ground. The soldiers of Starfall City, with their backs to the city, would not truly die, while the soldiers of the Sri Kingdom were endless...

"The Sri Kingdom might be planning to pile up human lives under Starfall City. The real decisive battle might take place in front of the city walls."

The Leper King pointed to the peak of the battle, where the Sri Kingdom's royal flag was getting closer and closer as the army advanced.
"The only thing that can truly affect the Starry Barrier is King Sri's sword."

"We know this, and King Sri knows it too."

"Our army will attempt to reach the closest point to King Sri, forcing him to use the sword's power prematurely. King Sri will also use the lives of his soldiers as a stepping stone to use the sword as close as possible to the Starry Barrier."

As the Leper King spoke, his eyes were bloodshot.

While speaking, his hands were still busy, writing something in a notebook.

"King Sri's sword, while powerful, still has a certain killing radius. Although it manifests as all enemies within the radius being killed instantly—but against the Starry Barrier, its power has reached its limit."

The Leper King said this as he opened the notebook in his hand, revealing a picture marked with numbers.

On the map, there are circles of lines that look like contour lines.

Different widths are marked between each line.

"I recorded the distance he advanced into the Starry Barrier each time. The closer he got to the Starry Barrier, the stronger the power he unleashed. Based on this discovery, we developed the current defensive method of the Starfall City defenders."

The Leper King sighed and said, "At least until... the birthday of the Son of the Stars."

As he was speaking, Poro saw that the white-armored soldiers of Falling Star City had rushed to the front of King Sri like a sharp sword.

All the soldiers of Xingluo City swung their swords with all their might, chopping down the Sri Lankan soldiers one after another.

Finally, the long sword of the first Starfall City soldier began to approach King Sri's body.

And at this moment, King Sri drew his sword.

The next moment, an illusion of mountains of corpses and seas of blood appeared above the battlefield. The illusion disappeared, and all the soldiers of Starfall City fell to the ground.

The starry barrier became somewhat dim.

The blood and corpses on the ground formed a clear boundary - the Starry Barrier, which retreated another step towards Starfall City.

"This battle is over."

There was no sadness or joy in the Leper King's words, but only some inexplicable meaning.

Perhaps, such a war has been repeated many times, and every soldier in Xingluo City has even begun to get used to it - everyone knows where such a war will end.

Just waiting between killing and death.

Seeing that the defenders of Xingluo City no longer attacked, they stood behind the new starry barrier and shot at the Sri people with crossbows.

And the Swiss soldiers did not launch a useless counterattack.

Their army began to retreat, and these Sri Lankans stripped off the black armor of their own people, leaving only a hill of corpses.

"Why don't they pick up your Starfall City equipment?"

"Our equipment was created by starlight, so these people bewitched by the devil naturally cannot use it."

The Leper King spoke, but there was no joy in his eyes. "Every time, we killed so many enemies, but we were still the ones who failed - they achieved their goal."

And Poro noticed that after the Sri people withdrew, the corpses on the ground suddenly began to disappear rapidly, and the bodies of the Starfall City soldiers turned into silver light and were absorbed by the starry barrier.

The bodies of the Sri Lankans turned into a pool of blood—even their bones melted!
They blended into the ground, dyeing the soil red.

Lake, Poro and others finally understood why they didn't see any corpses on the battlefield when they arrived.

"Why did they melt the bodies? Was it just... to facilitate the next attack?"

Poro frowned as he looked at the melting corpses. Although too many corpses would cause a plague, he didn't think King Sri would care about that. "Will this have any other consequences?"

"Perhaps, but I can't find any precedent in magic, and so far, I haven't found any clues."

The Leper King shook his head. "King Sri has been in control of this war. All I can do is prepare. Do what I can."

"Although they have a large number of people, all of their soldiers came from within Sri Lanka. Therefore, we have a buffer of one or two days."

As he spoke, the Leper King stood there for a while and then walked down the city wall.

Lake looked at the shadow under her feet and asked softly:
"Ms. Marlene, your attempt..."

"Failed."

After passing a corner of the city, Princess Marlin walked out from the shadows. Her face looked a little bad. "Hiding in the shadows, I couldn't avoid King Sri's attack. One of my loyal soldiers died because of it."

"We are not without a chance of winning this war..."

Poro suddenly spoke up, "King Sri is not invincible. Just now, after he used that sword, I could feel that his threat had weakened."

"You mean..."

Lake was stunned for a moment, then showed a hint of joy.

"Although he still has some strength left, perhaps he still has room to strike a second time, but if one day we can completely deplete the power of his sword—even without the Son of the Stars, we can kill him!"

"Of course, if the Son of the Stars can truly triumph on the day of the final battle, that would be perfect."

……

Sri Kingdom, among the legion.

"Have you found the identities of those who crossed the blockade and reached Starfall City?"

King Sri asked in a deep voice as he sat on the throne.

"They're from the Goethe Kingdom. They might be planning to form an alliance with Starfall City. It seems the army led by Commander Giles was defeated earlier."

"Heh, it's not just about being smart or stupid. The foundation of their victory didn't exist in the first place."

King Sri sneered and leaned back in his chair. "Son of the Stars, a baby wielding a sword—when his soul is devoured by hell, the starry sky will be shrouded in dark clouds."

"Do we need to deploy more people? After all, they might have the tinderbox..."

"unnecessary."

King Sri placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Let them look forward to the little prince's birthday a little longer, and then die in pain on that day filled with hope."

(End of this chapter)