Heart of the Castle

Chapter 549 Evacuation of the Divergent Village
The process of evacuating the human defenders from the capital was very smooth. Perhaps the demon lords who commanded the demon army were surprised by the power of divine intervention, or maybe they didn't care about a human remnant army. When the knights left quickly from the north gate, the demon army did not make any obstructions or temptations, and remained huddled in the bloody flames of Obsidian Castle.

For this exhausted human army, this is barely good news.Another piece of good news came less than half an hour after leaving the capital—after Donna led the Griffin Knights to join the battle against the Death Knights, the unknown assailant force finally couldn't hold on and left several The corpses of ten men and horses retreated along the Oath River in a panic.

This battle caused heavy damage to the Reaper Knights who had evacuated the capital earlier. The total number of deaths and serious injuries exceeded [-]. Fortunately, the middle-level personnel who really held the title of knights suffered little loss, and it was only a matter of time before they recovered.Perhaps it was for this reason that Tomade Jansen, acting head of the Death Knights, only lightly expressed his gratitude to the Griffin Lord for his support, and then rejected Donna's persuasion, and led the Knights to set off towards the east of the capital.

When leaving, the lord with the eyes also ordered the seriously injured people and horses to stay. This practice obviously damaged Tomad Jansen's prestige, but it was also a decision he had to make.There are no clergymen and doctors who can save lives and heal the wounded in the establishment of the Death Knights, and these wounded are obviously unable to persist in traveling long distances with the army.

Tang Na had no choice but to accept such a great gift with a wry smile. There were fifty excellent cavalrymen who had experienced many battles, and more than a dozen death knights with regular knight titles.If used properly, this is an elite division capable of rivaling thousands of ordinary infantry, but now they can only lie helplessly on the ground, moaning in pain, letting their blood carry their lives bit by bit. Flow out from the body.

Half of the Griffin Knights who came to the rescue with Donna were alchemy swordsmen from the heart of the castle. This should be regarded as the luck of these abandoned wounded soldiers. Of course, alchemy swordsmen cannot perform healing magic, but they In his soul, he has the most perfect way to deal with trauma.If it wasn't for the alchemy swordsmen who bandaged and debrided these wounded soldiers in time, by the time Li Wei led a large group of troops to arrive, there would definitely not be more than [-] people who would have survived.

The next thing is very simple, and there is no need for Li Wei to do it himself.Among the northern coalition forces, there are thousands of members belonging to the Temple of the Earth and the Temple of the Storm, and nearly a hundred priests of the Guangyao Great Temple also withdrew from the royal capital. People, it only takes a few minutes to heal the wounds of these wounded soldiers.

Then Sir Howard, nicknamed the Robe of Death, explained to them the choice of "limited allegiance" to the Griffon Lord. Another option was to let them leave and continue to follow Thomas Johnson, who was heading east.Due to the ruthless approach of Lord Gale Eyes to abandon the wounded soldiers, it was not a difficult choice. The members of the Knights of Death who had recovered from their injuries soon all agreed to abide by Sir Howard's oath and fight side by side under the banner of the Griffon.

The eastern sky turned rosy, indicating that the long night was finally coming to an end.Li Wei supported the strong neck of the Black Nightmare in the Northern Territory, and stood on a high ground looking back in the direction of the capital. He saw that the whole city was shrouded in red light, and even the sky was reflected in blood red, as if the entire city The southern skies were soaked in blood.

The sky is getting brighter, and the golden face of Flandara appears on the eastern horizon. The shadows of the night on the fields, forests and hills are gradually receding, and the sunlight is occupying the land inch by inch.Li Wei stared into the distance, and the world under his feet turned from thick black to colorful.According to the teachings of the Temple of Radiance, this means that the Eternal Sleeper Ku Ximu feared the golden long sword of the Lord of Radiance, Flandara, and loosened the dark fingers that seized the world.The light defeated the darkness again, which should have been an exciting scene, but Li Wei turned his head away with a heavy heart.

He watched the troops heading north along the Guangyao Avenue, like a slowly wriggling motley snake, with a hint of worry in their solemn eyes.As they moved away from the royal capital, the excitement of defeating the demon army was gradually fading, and the confusion about the future made many people's expressions numb, the morale of the troops dropped greatly, and their discipline became very bad.

This is impossible.

The last human army to evacuate from the royal capital was about 5000 people, and its composition was very complicated. Among them, the northern coalition forces accounted for about half, and there were thousands of members of the Earth Temple and the Storm Temple.Among the remaining 6000 people, about 500 were from the Royal Guards, [-] were from the Death Knights and the Jailers of the Fort Dread, who had sworn allegiance to Levi, and the rest were nobles from the Royal Capital and their guard knights.

This last group is also the most unstable factor.

The nobles living in the city of glory, Fermeyer, have always been extremely conceited. With a long family history and glorious titles, they consider themselves the darlings of the gods and the masters of the city of glory. Their arrogance and arrogance have been infiltrated like an invisible poisonous gas. in the depths of their character.People outside the capital, even nobles who also have titles and territories, are contemptuously called country bumpkins by them; Among them, he is still a young boy who climbed to a high position by luck or other things.

However, the fall of the king's capital, Fermeyer, gave these nobles a blow. The source of their pride lies in the glorious city that has stood firm for hundreds of years. Now this great city has fallen to the demons. Suddenly, the nobles of the royal capital found that after losing the high walls of Firmes, their pride, their pride, and their everything had disappeared, leaving only unspeakable emptiness and fear.

Some nobles in the royal capital became restless because of this, and the seemingly brilliant victory not long ago made them feel that the demon army was nothing special at all.As for why the humans evacuated the capital in the end instead of expelling the demons, in the minds of these nobles who were full of conspiracy and deceitful arguments, it was simply the griffin lord Li Weiston's deliberate attempt to seize the power of the kingdom. choose.

This kind of speculation was quickly recognized among the nobles of the kingdom who had similar thoughts. They were unwilling to admit defeat from the bottom of their hearts. They could only attribute all this to someone's conspiracy, which could make them suffer from pride. The soul is comforted to some extent.According to them, Li Weiston has changed from a hero against evil disasters to a conspirator who deceives the world. If it hadn’t been recorded in the history books of the kingdom, even the devils would have been planned by the Griffin Lord. part of the conspiracy.

The other part of the nobles in the royal capital are more sober in comparison, or they think they are sober.The views of these people are exactly the opposite of the former. The demon's embarrassing defeat was not at all the result of the human army's battle, but the final blessing bestowed by the gods on the City of Glory—that is, the power of the golden rain.There is a lot of evidence to support their claim, including the disastrous defeats of the various royal armies in the four southern counties, the arduous defense of the Holy White Stone Fort, and the wars recorded in history.If these evidences are not fresh enough, then the breach of the first and second lines of defense in the capital is enough to explain everything.

The same troops faced the same attack, and no one could deny the tenacious fighting will of those defenders. They fought bloody battles, and made the devil pay the price of blood for every step forward.However, they were still unable to withstand the fierce attack of the demon army in the end, especially after the battle on the second line of defense became fierce, the sudden magic attack launched by the demon army was simply chilling.

The magic strike actually only lasted a dozen seconds, but for those who witnessed it, it was longer than more than ten hours.Scorching fireballs, dazzling blood-red lightning, and overwhelming flaming arrows tore through the twilight. The sound of the explosion was earth-shattering. The violent magic energy threw a large number of stones, wood chips, soil, and corpse fragments into the sky. The originally impenetrable defense line was suddenly destroyed. Torn to pieces.

When the soaring smoke and dust caused by the magic attack finally dissipated, the corpses of demons and human defenders were everywhere inside and outside the defense line, and they were rarely intact. It seemed that the former was more than the latter, but maybe it was just seeing this The extravagant hope in the hearts of the people in the scene.

This terrible scene completely destroyed the confidence and courage of the nobles in those kingdoms. They declared that the gods had abandoned human beings, the legendary doomsday judgment was coming, and the demons would become the new masters of the world.Therefore, those who survived must give up the delusion of revival of Arthur's Kingdom, relying on the natural danger of the Dusk Forest to establish a new human kingdom.

These two kinds of people are actually equally dangerous, and the latter is even more dangerous than the former.After all, it is taken for granted that the devil is vulnerable, and there is only a market for the nobles who are blinded by pride and arrogance; but admit defeat, no longer try to revive the Kingdom of Arthur, but establish a new human kingdom in Northern County However, many lords of the Northern Territory recognized his statement, and even among the Griffin Knights who belonged directly to Li Weiston, there were many voices of approval.

The idea of ​​establishing a new kingdom is clearly more attractive than reviving a dying kingdom.And now the power of Arthur's royal family has declined to the extreme: the Ash Knights are almost wiped out, two of the seven iron guard knights are confirmed dead, and the whereabouts of four are unknown; The attitudes of the two important ministers of the kingdom were ambiguous, and Li Wei doubted whether there were these two people behind the nobles of the royal capital who were colluding everywhere.

Now, except for the Marquis Osiris, the sky knight who is always unconscious, no one is on the side of the royal family of Arthur, and the owner of the last bloodline has been hiding in the carriage, even when resting on the side of the road, he never leaves Pass.

"It's a strange feeling. Is it to avoid someone?" Li Wei couldn't help frowning when he thought of this. Human defenders, this fortress located in the Blade Rift Valley firmly guards the strategic route from the four southern counties to Fermeyer. The terrain is dangerous and easy to defend but difficult to attack. It has always been an important military fortress.

However, now that the king's capital has fallen into the hands of the demon army, the Holy White Stone Fort has lost its strategic significance. Since it is mainly to deal with threats from the south, the wall on the north side of the Holy White Stone Fort is not high enough. The protection of the sacred realm also exists, and the fall of this fortress is only a matter of time.

In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Levi only told Mr. Dish his worries, but the old magician seemed more optimistic about this issue. "Don't worry, Master Li Wei." He twirled his white beard and said with a smile, "There won't be any problems at the Holy White Stone Castle. The Death Knights were originally stationed there. They should have known about the changes in the capital long ago."

Mr. Dish's explanation didn't make Levi completely relieved, but there were not many things he could do. He could only send a big crow to deliver the letter, and he also specially told the bird that the letter must be delivered. In Miss Frasier's hands.

"Master Li Wei!" A voice sounded from not far away, interrupting Li Wei's thoughts. He raised his head and saw a young knight in black armor, Glen Worm, riding his horse from the bottom of the hill. A gryphon feather representing an orderly waved on his helm.

"Master Li Wei, just passing by a village where some villagers have not evacuated, and some residents who left the capital also stayed there. Sir Wilpus asked you if it is possible to stay there for a while, so that soldiers and The war horses should take a good rest, have a bite of hot food, and also organize the team by the way?"

Levi pondered for a moment, he understood that Wilps' proposal was very reasonable.After evacuating from the capital, the troops had been marching overnight for five hours, and before that they had fought a fierce battle with the demon army for nearly four hours. Although the knights with fighting spirit could still support them, ordinary soldiers and war horses could not Already exhausted.If the forced march continues, some people may fall down due to exhaustion.

However, this village is still very close to the royal capital. If the infantry marches at full speed during the day, it only takes about three hours, and the marching speed of the demon army has to be doubled. Therefore, for safety reasons, the time the troops can stay here is not enough. long.

"Knight Glenn Worm, please reply to Lord Wilps, I completely agree with his proposal." Li Wei replied slowly and carefully, trying to make his order appear more perfect, "But this place is still not far enough from the capital. , ask him to arrange a security force and send ten Rangers in each direction. We will rest here for three hours before continuing north."

"Of order, Lord Li Wei." Grunwalm agreed with a serious expression, then turned his horse's head and galloped towards the front of the team.Looking at his back, Li Wei couldn't help showing a smile. He could see that the young knight was trying his best to appear like a veteran soldier, but his cheerful tone still revealed his true thoughts.

Just like the Griffon Lord himself.

This village, which was not recorded on the map of the Kingdom of Arthur, was originally considered wealthy, and belonged to a small nobleman named Lord Duncan nearby.However, Lord Duncan responded to the Dragon King's call because of a fever in his head, and led a dozen servants to join the kingdom's army to recover the four southern counties, and successfully left his life there. Lord Duncan did not An heir is left, so the village temporarily loses its owner.

If it is placed in a peaceful time, a fief that has lost its owner will of course make many neighbors salivate, and they will try their best to get it.However, when the news of the catastrophe came, most of the nobles in the kingdom felt uneasy. In addition, the business routes from Xifeng County and the four southern counties were interrupted. It does not produce food, so it is difficult to be self-sufficient in food on its own territory, let alone consider seizing other territories.

As a result, this village lingered on without its owner. It is conceivable that this kind of life is very difficult.When Li Wei arrived at the center of the village along a muddy path, he found that there were nearly a hundred villagers gathered there, including men and women, old and young. The common feature was that they were ragged and skinny, as if they hadn’t eaten for a long time. look.

The leader of the village was an elderly man with a dirty black beard, wearing patched trousers and a jacket, and a leather apron that belonged to a blacksmith to protect against the cold wind.This person was obviously also a blacksmith by profession, but the originally strong muscles had become loose and haggard under the torture of hunger, and it seemed that even standing steadily was a problem.

The arrival of Li Wei caused the knights present to kowtow to him, and the leader of the villagers seized the opportunity. He screamed and threw himself at Li Wei's feet. His movements were so fast that the young griffin lord was startled. Jump. "For God's sake, young nobleman, please do me a favor, please take us away together."

"Stand up." Li Wei said to him in a gentle but firm tone, "I am not the master of this territory, you don't need to kneel to me. Stand up and tell me, who are you? Why do the villagers here want to want to leave?"

"I'm a blacksmith. Although I can't make weapons and armor, at least I have no problems in grinding and repairing." The village leader climbed up, but still bowed his body respectfully and said, "Almost all the villagers here have special skills. , Some are good at hunting, some are good at planting crops, as long as you can take us away, we are willing to work for you for free, as long as there is a stutter, a place to live is enough."

"I can agree to your request and take you to the north." Li Wei nodded and said, "But the land in Northern Border County is barren and barren, and the climate is bitter and cold. Living there is not easy. You have already decided to leave your homeland Yet?"

"My lord, what you are saying is that no one wants to leave their hometown, but we have no better choice." The elderly blacksmith sighed and said, "Since yesterday afternoon, there have been people fleeing from Fermeyer." People pass by here, some of them are nobles, some of them are common people. We have heard what happened in the capital from their mouths..." His voice became bitter, "The child king is dead, the devil has occupied the capital , is that true? It’s not safe here anymore, right?”

(End of this chapter)