Heart of the Castle

Chapter 652 Difficulties in the Northern Territory, Angel's Injury
It has been almost a month since Levi Ston, the chief minister of the Kingdom of Arthur, the guardian of the whole land, the head of the Dawn of the North and the Griffin Knights, led the kingdom's mission to the elf court of the Moonwhispering Forest, but during this period Over time, the wave of great development in Beijing County has never stopped.Moreover, since the group of royal nobles who were unwilling to be left behind by the star mentor Sat Enheer had been uprooted, without these guys' overt and secret instigation, the rest of the royal nobles were almost all integrated into the Li Weiston. In the Northern County power system dominated by one party, the momentum of development is even faster than a month ago.

Northern County has always been known for being barren and bitterly cold. The south of Dusk Forest is fine. Although the land is not fertile, manor farms can be seen everywhere.The north of the Dusk Forest, which is known as the kingdom's three major natural dangers, changed its appearance especially after crossing the Xilan River. Large tracts of uncultivated virgin forests formed a vast sea of ​​trees, and only a few outposts and refugee gathering places scattered forests. During this period, there are often no villages, towns or camps within hundreds of square kilometers.

It is conceivable that under such a harsh environment, the economic strength of North Border County ranks last among the counties in the Kingdom of Arthur. Even the original nobles and lords of North Border County mostly failed in the power struggle. The unlucky guy who was not executed by the whole family has always been called the "Northern bumpkin" by the nobles of other counties.

However, Northern County is also the most extensive county in the Kingdom of Arthur. Compared with the four southern counties plus Westwind County (of course, the two places of Moon Whisper Plain and Moon Whisper Forest need to be removed), King Fei After Ermeyer fell into the hands of the devil and 20 residents retreated to North Border County, one of the biggest bottlenecks that originally restricted the development of North Border County—the problem of shortage of manpower no longer existed.

Of course, it is not just the population problem that restricts the development of the Northern Territory, otherwise, during the hundreds of years since the founding of the Kingdom of Arthur, the Northern Territory has already developed into a huge treasure trove of resources.The real problem that makes Northern County a place of exile for failed nobles is that not only is the climate bitter and cold in winter, but the land is extremely barren.

In addition, due to the dense virgin forests, the part north of the Xilan River in Northern County has also become a gathering place for bandits and refugees. Barbarians, orcs, and goblin tribes who live in the extreme arctic ice sheet will cross the border of the Black River in large numbers every winter. Burning, killing and looting in Beijing County.Some powerful tribes would not retreat even after summer came, but were active in the vast forest, fighting with the private army of nobles who came to destroy them.

However, all these problems were solved in the spring of 592 in the dawn calendar.As the patron of the God of the Earth, Levi Stone performed amazing miracles on this barren land.According to the large-scale reclamation plan of the northern border jointly formulated by Li Weiston, Lord Cedric, Master Sugard and others, a large number of second-line troops and farmers participated in the reclamation work, and patches of virgin forests were quickly destroyed by tomahawks and saws. felled and then developed into new cropland.The priest of the Earth Temple in a khaki robe blessed the cultivated land, and then sprinkled seeds containing the power of the earth.

The footsteps of Lukia, the goddess of spring, have not yet completely walked through this land, and the newly sown oats and other crops have grown vigorously, forming green crops one after another.

If any traveler who has been to North Border County arrives again, he will be surprised to find that the entire North Border County has completely changed.The dilapidated, desolate and messy refugee gathering place in the past has become a neat and orderly village guarded by wooden walls and watchtowers.You can see well-growing crops and fertile farmland everywhere, and smiling farmers are busy in their own fields, no matter how hard it is, there is a smile from the heart on their faces.Herds of cows and sheep roam the edge of the forest, grazing the grass freely. There are often only a few young shepherds next to these livestock, and it is not well-trained hounds lying prone to help watch over them, but light and vigorous big bobcats or A giant worg with red eyes.

These wild beasts are famous and terrifying predators. At the beginning, many villagers were terrified when they saw them appearing, for fear that they would be filled by the wild beasts.However, both the wolf and the bobcat showed a docile and lazy look, and only showed their fangs and claws again when the village was attacked by other wild beasts. Soon the villagers began to adapt to the existence of these wild beasts. Some daring children have even ridden around on wargs and lynxes, playing knights at war, yelling.

Due to its close relationship with Levi Stone, the guardian of the entire kingdom, the Temple of the Earth has flourished in Northern County. Almost every village has built an altar to the God of the Earth, while larger towns have built A temple to the god of the earth built of black stone.Although the relationship between the Temple of Storms and Levi Stone is equally close, for the vast majority of farmers, the one in charge of the thunder above the sky is indeed mighty, but it is not as respectable as the god of Kagino who bears the earth. bye.Coupled with the extraordinary divine power revealed by the priests of the Earth Temple during the tide of land reclamation in the northern county, the reputation of the monarch of the distant mountains became more and more resounding, and the number of believers increased day by day.

Of course, some believers who have always believed in the god of the earth, Cargino, will feel a little strange when they pray every day, because since the temples and altars have been built in large numbers, those priests of the earth temple seldom directly call the god of the earth. Instead of the name of the god Caggino, he is called "the monarch of the distant mountains" or "the one who conceived all things", and at the end of the prayer, he often adds a sentence "praise the first thing conceived in the earth", It seems all different from the prayers of the past.

However, since every prayer can be answered by the divine power of the earth, the doubts in the hearts of these believers quickly dissipated. As the miracles of the earth appeared again and again, people who doubted the gods became believers. become more pious.After getting their own real estate and land, the farmers were all happy from ear to ear, and the most talked about was the name of the God of the Earth and the God-favored Master Levi Stone.

The small town of Baclu, like hundreds of other villages and towns that are emerging, originally belonged to a place where a small number of refugees gathered, and it couldn't be called a village at all, let alone a town.However, because it is located in the upper reaches of the Xilan River, the nearby land is relatively fertile, and its geographical location is also very important, so it was taken as a key construction object in the reclamation plan.A total of 40 Zhuanghu households moved here, and a [-]-man army was stationed in the wooden barracks of the town. Although these soldiers were militiamen, they were well-equipped, and almost all of them were veterans who had experienced the defense of Heihe. , the overall strength is not inferior to the regular army of the Kingdom of Arthur.

So when a flame accompanied by a loud noise appeared in the southwest direction of the small town of Baclu, the troops immediately moved into action. The shrill horns echoed over the small town, and the sentinels with crossbows rushed up to the watchtower.And the two gates leading to the outside of the wooden wall were also closed with the creaking of the winch, but because there were still villagers farming outside in time to return, one of them left a gap that only allowed one person to pass through.

The farmers who were farming in the nearby fields picked up their farm tools and ran quickly towards the direction of the town. Although the expressions on their faces seemed a little flustered, there was no sign of nervousness in their movements.These farmers who are sent to remote areas to cultivate are often the aborigines of the North Border County. The bitter cold and harsh natural environment has already honed their characters to be as tough as oak trees and as stubborn as stones, so each one is thick and strong. The arms of each of them are tightly grasping the agricultural tools that can be used as weapons, ready to fight bloody battles with any enemy in order to protect their homeland.

What everyone didn't expect was that more than ten minutes passed after the huge noise, but there was still no sign of any enemy. If it wasn't for the forest in the southwest of the town, a black The smoke column, and the wind blowing in the face also faintly carried the breath of sulfur, which made people wonder if the sound just now was an illusion.

The mayor of Baklu Town is a son of a nobleman from Fermeyer, the capital of the kingdom. He may have been drunk and dreamy when he was in the capital, but after more than a month of experience, there is not much flashy aura left on him.Not long after the alarm sounded, he and the captain of the guard boarded the watchtower, and used flags and shouts to direct the villagers to quickly retreat behind the wooden wall for refuge.

"This is really strange, Sir Nils Knight." The mayor looked in the direction of the black smoke for a while, with a suspicious expression on his face darkened by the wind and sun for more than a month, "the figure of the devil It never showed up, what happened there? Do you want to send some soldiers to check?"

"It's better not." The captain of the guard, Nils, shook his head and replied. This knight of Nils is a quasi-knight from a commoner background. He is the same as many veteran fighters who are talented or unlucky. Although he already has a sixth-level The strength of a fighter, but he has never realized the power of fighting energy seeds.However, his rich combat experience and battle-tested swordsmanship can completely make up for this shortcoming, allowing him to defeat most noble knights who have never been on the battlefield.

Seeing that the mayor's brows were still frowning, the captain of the guard, Nils, patiently explained, "Those demons might be waiting for us to make mistakes. Without the protection of high walls, we might not be able to resist even a small team." The attack of demons, not to mention that the loud noise just now was so terrifying, maybe there will be high-level demons appearing."

The mayor thought for a few seconds, then nodded in approval, "You are right, Sir Niels Knight, this is my negligence. But if there are traces of high-level demons, with our existing Can the strength be resisted?"

"No, that's why I have already notified the Lord Priest to ask for help from the Lords of Green Castle through the image transmission network of the Earth Temple. I hope that the actions of those demons will be delayed as soon as possible, and it is best to wait until the reinforcements from Green Castle arrive... When Captain Niles said this, he even smiled wryly, feeling unbelievable.

The small town of Baklu is more than 100 kilometers away from Greencastle, an important military town in Northern Border County, and there are only forest trails that are not suitable for cavalry raids to connect with each other.Even if the priest of the Earth Temple immediately transmitted the situation here to the Green Castle, it would take at least four or five hours for the Griffin Knights guarding the Green Castle to gather their troops and arrive.No matter how long those demons have been melancholy, they probably won't be able to wait until that time.

"I hope there are no high-level demons, or high-level demons won't attack the village from the very beginning..." The mayor also muttered a little wishful thinking, and then the two turned around together, looking at the sound of footsteps wooden ladder.

The Priest of the Earth Temple in a khaki robe then appeared at the entrance of the watchtower, with a very calm expression on his face, which made the mayor and the captain of the guard feel relaxed, but this is just an alchemy life and there is no such thing as fear The reason for this was nothing more than the pastor's subsequent words that made the faces of the two of them turn pale.

"The image transmission network of the Earth Altar is blocked, and the news cannot be transmitted to Green Castle, nor can it be transmitted to other nearby villages and towns."

"God of War Barud!" Captain Nils seemed a little unbelievable, "Mr. Priest, please try a few more times, as far as I can remember, the image transmission network of the Earth Temple has never been disturbed. "

"I've tried it a few times." The priest of the Earth Temple's tone was as calm as usual, as if it was the same as when he was preaching beside the altar, but what he said made people feel desperate. "Not only is the image transmission network blocked, but the divine power transmission network is also broken. Now the Earth Temple can only use the divine power accumulated during this period to protect the whole town, and cannot transfer divine power from the higher-level temple."

"Benevolent Father God, please show mercy!" The mayor couldn't help but let out a cry.

"Mr. Priest, please go back to the temple to preside over it, support us with divine magic, and test whether you can send a message for help every once in a while. The defense of the wooden wall is left to us..."

"Captain Niels, look, what is that?"

The exclamation of a sentry interrupted Captain Nils. The three of them looked at each other, and then ran to the person who yelled as fast as they could.

"What did you see?" Captain Nils asked in a calm and powerful voice.

"I, I don't know, it seems like a seriously injured person?" The sentry shook his head frantically.

Looking along the direction known by the sentinel's outstretched arm, he could see something wriggling in the dense forest to the southwest.Captain Nils narrowed his eyes and watched for a few seconds, and had to admit that the sentry was right. It really didn't look like a demon, but a wounded human, and it seemed to be a magician...

"It turned out to be a false alarm." Captain Nils muttered to himself, "This should be a magician who failed in experimenting with magic or alchemy, right? Because magic experiments are usually quite dangerous, that's why I came here." In a remote place... come a few people, and come with me to help that master magician!"
The body of the deceitful lord Shakros leaned against an ancient oak tree, struggling to inhale the air into his throat, which was still tightly gripped by steel clamps, and made a series of thin and scary inhalation sounds.Deep purple blood was gurgling from his blind right eye and more than a dozen wounds on his body, falling on the ground in bits and pieces, emitting an unpleasant stench and hissing corrosion.

In the thousands of years of Shackles' life, there has never been such a memory of embarrassment. With his cunning mind and excellent talent, Shackles rarely put himself in dangerous situations from the very beginning. He always Being able to find the opponent's weakness and take advantage of it, many times it is not even necessary to take action personally, and the seemingly powerful enemy will crash down.

"When was the last time you were injured?" Shacklecross whispered to himself, "500 years, or 1000 years ago? Life was so easy during this time, even my proud mind Have you become dull?"

For the deceitful lord, what happened ten minutes ago was like a dream. He has always refused to admit his feelings, but the pain from all parts of his body reminded him that no matter what Whether the plan failed, he was seriously injured or the army collapsed, it was an irrefutable fact that happened not long ago.

He—the prime minister of the abyss, the think tank of hell, the meticulous plan of the deceitful lord Shackles, has been manipulated from beginning to end, and there is no possibility of success at all.In other words, from the time he sent out the envoy requesting peace negotiations, he stepped into the dead end that he chose for himself.

"If there is no damn peace negotiation, then what? The number of the demon army is far higher than that of the defenders at the outpost of Moonlight Glade. Even if thousands of human cavalry troops are added, the disadvantage in numbers is still difficult to equalize. What's more, the demon army also has the fortifications of the earth embankment and the commander's wheel palace, and the final chance of winning must be at least [-]%..."

Shacross was thinking painfully, while slowly gathering strength.In order to forcibly get rid of the close-up attack of the shadow assassin Arlan Skett, he had to release a powerful force that exceeded his limit, so that he had already caused some damage to his own origin.Moreover, in order to prevent Bakeru Town from communicating with the outside world, he had to allocate part of his power to form an invisible force field that could block any energy transmission and cover the entire town.

Heavy injuries and the consumption of force field magic made Shakross' endurance almost reach the limit. In other words, the current treacherous lord Shakross has no way to use the kaleidoscope field, and his strength has been reduced to a level similar to that of a quasi-legendary.

The flames of hatred burned in Shackles' eyes. The town in front of him, which could have been destroyed with a wave of his hand, has now become a target that he has to take seriously, especially the protection that the Earth Temple radiates to the surroundings. The divine art made him feel a little tricky.

"I can't say but...wasting a bottle of capillary potion." The treacherous lord gritted his teeth and said to himself, while taking out a small narrow-necked crystal bottle from under his robe, which contained half a bottle of off-white liquid. It's not very eye-catching, but it makes people feel a weird feeling of boredom.

(End of this chapter)