Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 70 Successfully crossed the river and entered the South Gate Territory
The long, crystal-clear river, like a giant serpent shimmering with a deep blue light, meanders across the land, and it seems that anywhere can be a ferry crossing as long as one dares to go into the water.

As for why not use a boat?

As waterways served as boundaries between nations, the lords on both sides exercised an almost inhumanly strict control over their ships.

Furthermore, there is a special contract between the Kingdom of Green Pine and the Principality of Emerald—the Rainbow Stone Contract, which prohibits watercraft from entering the River of Crystal.

The Crystal River, with its turbulent waters, is not well-suited for navigation. Once any vessel is discovered, the contract grants both parties the power to launch indiscriminate attacks without warning.

As a result, apart from Rainbow Stone Fortress, not a single dugout can be found on either side of the river.

Even if you build one now, the canoe won't be able to cross the turbulent Crystal River.

Of course, if you have a Tier 4 Golden Scale Swordsman willing to go into the water, that's a different story.

The use of drones to continue reconnaissance upstream reveals that Green Pine Kingdom is not taking the river's safety precautions very seriously.

It's something everyone can see clearly: the enemy you can defeat simply can't cross this insurmountable barrier; and those who are capable of forcibly crossing the river are likely to be defeated by you. So why bother investigating so thoroughly?
It is only because it is currently a period of war that the Green Pine Kingdom arranges a cavalry patrol to run along the river every day. Chen Mo did a simple calculation and found that as long as the timing is right, the Cloud Mist Leading Team will have about a dozen hours of downtime to forcibly cross the river.

enough!
Deep in the mountains, the group felled six thick hardwood logs, split them open and dug out grooves, then carefully wrapped the gimbal, weapons and other key supplies with multiple layers of waterproof leather and tied them firmly inside the grooves.

The team infiltrated their final hiding place at the precise moment, and then Captain Peiwen issued a cruel order.

Kill all the warhorses.

This captain of the guard always made particularly ruthless choices at crucial moments, abandoning expensive supplies and carriages, forcibly dismissing wounded soldiers and the princess's maids without any mercy, let alone these few warhorses.

The captured warhorses were nothing to them, but some of them had traveled thousands of miles with the army, heading south and north. The warriors of Yunwu Territory were extremely reluctant to part with them, and some even had tears in their eyes.

Peiwen immediately chose to have them switch mounts and execute them back to back. With a resolute command, the men raised their swords and brought them down.

"set off!"

The six tree trunks were pushed into the icy river. All team members, including the young princess, Lady Linda, Master Locke, and Chen Mo, were firmly tied to the thick logs with ropes, surrounded and protected by other warriors, and plunged into the turbulent Crystal River.

The swordsman, Peiwen, charged ahead alone, all the ropes connecting the thick logs tightly wrapped around his broad waist.

In the night vision of the drone launched by Chen Mo, the Golden Scale Swordsman was like a violent killer whale, rising and falling in the water, rushing forward quickly. Every time he swung his hand backward, it was like a giant paddle hitting the water, creating waves as high as seven or eight meters!

The entire squad, along with the floating logs, was dragged along by this inhuman force, moving forward in a wild manner akin to "rowing a boat on land."

Due to the force of the current, all members of the squad, along with the floating debris, were tilting downstream. The ropes snapped into a straight diagonal line, but this did not affect the captain of the guard's momentum at all. He dragged the entire squad across the Crystal River, still draped in ropes.

Upon reaching the other side, the timer stopped, exactly one hour and thirty-eight minutes had passed.

The moment he stepped onto solid ground, Peiwen collapsed to the ground with a thud, as if all his bones had been removed, splashing mud everywhere. The soldiers rushed forward, untied the ropes binding the captain of the guard, and turned him over. Even in the darkness, it was clear that Captain Peiwen's chest was heaving rapidly.

Master Locke quickly cast a series of various healing and recovery spells, then leaned closer to observe: "It's alright, but the energy consumption was too high, and I'm exhausted. I just need to rest for a bit."

A few minutes later, Peiwen slowly sat up with the help of the soldiers.

Finally, a suppressed, low cheer erupted from the crowd. Led by Lady Linda and Master Locke, all the members knelt down and murmured prayers towards the direction of the territory's capital.

In any case, everyone has successfully set foot on the land of jade.

Among the kneeling crowd, only Chen Mo stood alone at the back, arms crossed, looking somewhat out of place and shivering from the cold. The people of Cloud Mist Territory were almost home.

And where is one's own home?

As Captain Peiwen gradually recovered, he mustered his strength and led his team to quickly leave the dangerous riverbank and find a new hiding place.

Over the next few days, Chen Mo continued patrolling with drones, while Captain Peiwen led several scouts to conduct reconnaissance and get a general idea of ​​the surrounding area.

Since the war broke out suddenly, the smoke of battle has filled most of the Emerald Duchy. On this vast land on the north bank of the Crystal River, the two sides are locked in fierce fighting, and every piece of land may change hands at any time.

The area where Chen Mo and his group are currently located belongs to the Southern Pass Territory of the Emerald Duchy, and is the territory of Marquis Varo, the powerful lord of the duchy.

With its ability to hold sway over the southern border of the Duchy, the Southern Pass Territory is undoubtedly one of the strongest powers in the Emerald Duchy.

In terms of status, Yunwu Territory is only a count's territory, while Nanguan Territory is a marquis's territory;

In terms of strength, Marquis Varo has been a sixth-level rank for many years, while the father of the small county official Liu Shuang is only a fifth-and-a-half-level rank.
In terms of population, Yunwu Territory has four cities and thirty-two villages under its jurisdiction, with a population of over 300,000, while Nanguan Territory has seven cities and over eighty towns, with a population of over one million.

Whenever Yunwu Ling meets Nanguan Ling, he must address him as "Big Brother".

But this very same leader now has more than two-thirds of his territory fallen. At least six invading legions from different territories of the Green Pine Kingdom, each flying their own flag, are like greedy hyenas, surrounding the South Pass territory from several directions and frantically attacking the remaining defenses.

The field forces of Nanguan Territory were basically scattered, and the remaining troops could only huddle in a few central towns, struggling to hold on while constantly sending out distress signals to the Duchy.

If it weren't for the fact that after gaining an absolute advantage, the enemy's troops in different territories started fighting independently, the Southern Pass territory probably wouldn't have lasted this long.

This is yet another blind spot in Chen Mo's knowledge.

The leaders of Cloud Mist Territory were speechless at Chen Mo's severe lack of basic aristocratic knowledge, but no one intended to delve into it. Instead, Peiwen stepped forward and gave Chen Mo an explanation.

The enfeoffment system of the Starry Continent was not at all what Chen Mo had originally imagined. The king would wave his hand and say: "My dear minister, you have made great contributions. This fertile land is hereby granted to you. From now on, it will be hereditary and will not be changed for generations."

How could a ruler with a sound mind possibly grant away the land he can control?

In the early days when the continent was still in a relatively primitive and ignorant state, the lords at that time were called pioneering lords. The king would indeed draw a circle and grant a large area of ​​land to his lords. However, those were "lawless lands" where monsters roamed and alien races occupied.

If you take it, you'll be a lord with a fief; if you don't, you'll be a knight without troops.

As the barren lands on the continent become increasingly scarce, the lords of today should be more accurately described as "war lords."

Only what can be seized from enemy countries, hostile territories, and of course, the hated forces within one's own country, can truly belong to oneself.

In this situation, when the Southern Pass was already at an absolute disadvantage, the basis for cooperation among the various invading forces collapsed, and each side surrounded the area it coveted, even becoming wary of each other.

This chaotic situation made the team's predicament even worse than when they were operating within the Green Pine Kingdom. The team dared not show their faces or approach the besieged cities.

They could only move from one hiding place to the next at an extremely slow pace, taking advantage of the darkness.

Until one day, Peiwen saw an old acquaintance through the drone's camera lens.

(End of this chapter)