Man on the ark, forced to become king

If it weren't for the appearance of the inner guards, they would have known nothing about this. Could it be that this was also part of the plan?

……

"How do you feel? Are you getting fired up?"

A kilometer away in the snow, Fiameta, clad in snow camouflage, held her heavy firearm, her gold leaf earring dangling to the side of her cheek, clearly transmitting her teasing to the other side.

"Although I slept for quite a long time, it seems that my skills haven't deteriorated yet."

Far away, Remian, completely hidden beneath the snow, closed one eye and slightly moved the long gun in her hand, revealing the shadow of a black coat in the scope.

Bang!

The trigger was pulled, and the bullet shot out like lightning across the sky, traveling at least two kilometers before precisely embedding itself in the head of the man in the black coat amidst the ruins.

After firing that shot, she jumped out of her hiding place, her figure fading rapidly and disappearing into the snow.

"The number of enemies is unknown; we've only spotted six so far. Tell them to be careful."

"learn."

Fiameta stopped joking, reloaded his gun, and threw a gold leaf as he raised it.

Unlike Remian, she didn't hide herself; instead, she stood openly in the snow, aiming in another direction.

In front of her, on the loose snow churned up by the wind and waves, shallow footprints suddenly appeared, which were quickly covered by the scattered snowflakes and disappeared without a trace.

Ding!

Bright fireworks suddenly burst in the air, and Loretta and the concealed guard appeared at the same time. The short blade in her hand clashed with the standard military knife, and she gained the upper hand, forcefully knocking the guard back more than ten meters.

Chapter Twenty-One: A Crazy Scheme

"Clumsy imitations, flawed techniques, the North is ashamed of your existence."

Loretta twirled the short blade lightly between her fingers, shaking her head slightly with disdain and mockery in her eyes.

She didn't press her advantage, because there was no need.

Currently, all the Imperial Guards under the Emperor's control within Ursus originated from the Northern Legion.

The frontier is bitterly cold and ravaged by evil spirits. To defend that line of defense, one needs superb strength, unwavering will, and a determination to die for the cause. Not just anyone can survive there. Only warriors who uphold the beliefs of their ancestors and can let go of all honor and disgrace and all past experiences are qualified to remain on the northern frontier to defend against the evil spirits.

The entire Northern Legion, while not a large number, was not small either. Of course, there were many 'defective products' among them, those who were unqualified and whose beliefs were not firm enough.

After undergoing rigorous tests, this group was eliminated and became a sharp weapon in the emperor's hands, capable of both completing the exchange of interests with the empire and eliminating unstable elements within the ranks.

Therefore, it can be said that every single one of these loyal henchmen of the emperor came from the North.

Loretta had served as the commander of the Northern Legion and had personally experienced a personnel selection process several years ago when the old emperor was still alive. She witnessed unqualified soldiers being selected through secret trials and handed over to the Imperial Guard.

At that time, those people were not considered particularly outstanding.

Now, several years have passed, and although she doesn't know which of those people the guard in front of her belongs to, she can tell that in the years since they left the Northern Border, their strength has not improved much, but has actually regressed in some aspects.

Come to think of it, what kind of place is the North? It is the most brutal battlefield, the defense line built with the blood and flesh of countless warriors!

The soldiers who were able to fight and survive there were all elites among elites.

How could these defective products, who couldn't let go of their desires and were sent back to Ursus to serve as the emperor's dogs, possibly be compared to them?

With such strength, she could defeat not only the most ordinary soldiers in the North, but also a commander who had led a legion.

To defeat an opponent of this caliber, she would need to relentlessly pursue and suppress them, engaging in a fierce battle to finally take them down.

Do not make jokes!

Although she no longer possesses the power of the demons, the golden power she now wields far surpasses what she once had. If she were to get serious, this inner guard, with his strength, would not last more than ten moves against her!

"The North? The North has no one like you."

The guard raised his saber, black mist swirled around him, and his figure flickered, disappearing without a trace like a ghost.

Bang!

Loretta stood still, without moving an inch, then suddenly turned around, her arm leaving afterimages as she slammed into a spot in the air with tremendous force.

A dull thud exploded, golden light flowed like ripples on water, directly engulfing the drifting black mist. The immense force even caused half of the fist covered by the gauntlet to sink into the well-defended black coat, turning the fist into a claw and gripping the dented armor.

The short blade sliced ​​through the weapon, leaving a trail of light that clung to it, turning it into a pure gold color. Like a hot knife cutting through oil, it precisely pierced the wrist of the guard holding the knife, severing one of his hands on the spot.

call!

He released the hand gripping the black-clad man and delivered a powerful, sweeping kick that even created a whistling sound as it slammed into the side of the guard. The irresistible force knocked the guard down, slamming him into the snow.

In the blink of an eye, from the moment the guard launched his attack to the moment his wrist was severed and he was smashed into the snow, the entire process was over. Loretta's movements were exceptionally swift, anticipating the guard's reactions with every step and completely suppressing him. The bright silver heavy armor seemed weightless on her, not affecting her agility at all.

hum! ! !

The black mist on the inner guard, who was half-buried in the snow, suddenly exploded, and heavy black light gathered from the void, but before it could explode, it stopped at the beginning of the spell's prelude.

A short blade, seemingly cast from pure gold, pierced his back, shattering the still-developing spell at its source, much like popping a soap bubble.

"I've heard that you've given this move a name over the years: 'The Nation.' Wherever the Inner Guards set foot, that's the territory of Ursus. Ha, what a clumsy imitation, utterly incongruous."

What does it mean to "show off one's limited skills before an expert"? This is it.

The methods the inner guards relied on were, in Loretta's eyes, nothing more than the usual methods used by the Northern Legion, and hardly anything particularly sophisticated.

She knows everything the Inner Guard has to offer, and is even more proficient in it. There are few people in the entire Northern Territory who understand these spells better than her.

Do you want to use the Kingdom in front of her?

That's absolutely ridiculous.

"Stop playing around and get rid of these people quickly. I have a feeling we're in big trouble."

A crimson phoenix swept across the sky, enveloping an inner guard in the far distance. Fiameta glanced at the battle situation and urged them on.

“I can kill him anytime, but before that, I’ll try to get some information out of him.”

The Imperial Guards were the emperor's sharpest weapon, a sword hanging over the heads of many nobles and ministers. Each of them had been brainwashed into being loyal to the emperor, making it virtually impossible for them to surrender or leak secrets.

You won't get anything out of this kind of person by asking them.

However, Loretta didn't think so. She knew these people's weaknesses all too well, and her understanding of the demon fragments made her feel that it was worth a try.

Under normal circumstances, it is indeed impossible for internal guards to leak secrets. But what if there are abnormal circumstances?

The power of the demon fragments is extremely dangerous. To date, no one has been able to master them perfectly. Even the elite warriors in the North have only managed to suppress them through sheer willpower and limit their influence through equipment.

In this situation, as long as one has the strength to capture an inner guard alive and then remove the restrictions of the demon fragments, it is easy to put an inner guard into a semi-out-of-control state of mental confusion.

As Lin Lu said, the power gained by implanting external objects is ultimately not one's own and is unstable. Methods targeting the soul are far more effective on them than on normal people.

Coincidentally, the Golden Tree does indeed contain spells related to the soul—death magic.

Furthermore, the inclusion of the Demon King's power into the Golden Tree system has given the Golden Tree more possibilities in the mysterious realm of the soul.

Driven by a longing for the resurrection spell used by Lin Lu, Loretta has devoted almost all of her free time to this field these days.

Due to time constraints, she was unable to comprehend any new spells, but her talent in this area was indeed remarkable; she expanded upon the old spells she had already mastered, finding new uses for them.

The unreleased kingdom was crushed, and the pure golden power attached to the short blade flowed along the wound, causing the already fragile balance within the inner guard to collapse directly. Loretta bent down, pressed the inner guard's head down, and blue-gray magical light spread from her palm. With a pull and tug, she pulled out a skull shrouded in mist.

Death Magic - Summon Wraith Modified - Soul Extraction!

Improved from the spell to summon vengeful spirits, it can directly extract the soul from the enemy's body. It has high requirements for the state of the target, preferably being in a near-death state. In addition, the extracted soul can only exist for a very short time before it falls into a state of chaos, disintegrates and disappears.

If Lin Lu were here, there would be no need for such trouble. The power of the Golden Law could easily seize the souls of the inner guards and manipulate them at will.

However, Loretta did not have that ability, so she could only use this imperfect spell, which, without caring about the consequences, could achieve a similar effect.

At least, it's enough to gather some intelligence.

So-called brainwashing is meaningless in the face of the Golden Tree, because they can make the dead talk without having to waste energy on the living.

boo~

The wailing, rolling, translucent skull thrashed violently in Loretta's hand, unable to break free, and finally collapsed and shattered after a dozen seconds, like a burst bubble.

A dozen seconds isn't a long time, not enough to glean much information, but it was enough for Loretta to obtain fragments of the guard's recent memories and piece together the details of this mission.

"You guessed right, we are indeed in big trouble. I don't know what the emperor paid for it, but the two earls around us have already dispatched troops to the border, and the number should be around 40,000."

"An army of forty thousand men?!"

Upon hearing this, Fiameta was shocked and even forgot to reload her ammunition. She said urgently, "Then what are we waiting for? Immediately send a message for them to evacuate and send the intelligence back to the Golden Tree. This is no longer a battlefield we can participate in!"

That's an army of 40,000 men, the size of an army group!

Don't be fooled by the fact that Saria and her team wiped out thousands of defenders on the ice plains; that was based on a surprise attack and the fact that the enemy had been out of combat for a long time and was unprepared.

If these few people were to face tens of thousands of troops head-on, there would be no other outcome than being blasted into pieces.

Let alone 40,000 people, even if 40,000 pigs charged over, they could be trampled to death!

It's true that a squad of elite warriors can fight against an ordinary army whose numbers far exceed those of the main force, but there are limits to that. It takes time to wear them down and defeat them one by one.

Would the Ursus army give them that opportunity and time?

impossible!

They came with the purpose of war from the very beginning, so how could they be easily breached?

With swords and spears in hand, they could crush their opponents head-on. Such an army size was beyond the limits of what a small team of just a few people could handle!