Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 308 Chapter [-] The Unknown Warrior
Early morning on December 94, [-], Imperial Calendar.

The "Hammer of Purgatory" division of the Glorious Federation has just spent the second night after crossing the border in the land of cracked souls belonging to the human empire.

Two days before, the blizzard on the wasteland was getting bigger and bigger. Under the obstruction of the cold wind and snow, the "Hammer of Purgatory" division moved slower than expected-an army composed of ten thousand and a half orcs, He trekked for nearly ninety miles in the cold and desolate wilderness completely by stepping on the snow layer that almost reached his calf.

——Considering the heavy weapons carried by the "Hammer of Purgatory", the bad weather, and the unfamiliarity with the geography of the empire, this speed is really not too slow, but it still makes the "Hammer of Purgatory" Division Chief Gullit Gale The general was agitated.

General Gale, who has been in the army since he was a child, really knows how "speed", "distance" and "time" are the three key elements for a surprise battle!
Although the "Hammer of Purgatory" division has loyal and skilled soldiers and well-maintained weapons, their biggest advantage is actually the concealment and suddenness of this secret raid!
With a previously undiscovered secret road through the mountains, they were able to slash into the backs of the empire's human beings exposed in the south like a sharp blade, and gave these human beings who were struggling with the eastern border a lot of trouble. one strike!
In order to ensure the concealment of the operation, General Gale even deliberately delayed the attack for some time until after the winter had completely entered - according to human habits, there would never be merchants and troops walking around on the wilderness in the cold winter months. This is providing convenience for the concealed march of the orc army;

However, General Gale never expected that the severe weather in the Land of Soul Breaker would first affect the normal march of "Hammer of Purgatory"!

This can only be blamed, the orcs living in the warm country to the east of the Dusty Mountains never imagined that the human empire, which is located at the angle between the Cold Bone Mountains and the dark side of the Dusty Mountains, can be so cold in winter!
But General Gullit Gale understands that every time the "Hammer of Purgatory" division spends an extra day on the Land of Breaking Souls, the chance of this secret raid being exposed to the sight of the Human Empire will increase, leaving it to the Human Empire to organize defense One more moment of leeway!
——What's more, the "Hammer of Purgatory" division has already wasted too much time in the process of crossing the dust mountain range.

Therefore, in an impromptu meeting last night, when General Gullit Gale learned that more than a dozen soldiers had been frostbitten due to the severe cold, the orc general released all his anger from the past two days, The brigade leaders of the "Hammer of Purgatory" were pointed at their noses and scolded, and then they whipped the person in charge of poor security with their own hands;
In the huge "Hammer of Purgatory" division, the only orc who had the ability to appease General Gale's anger was the old shaman Master Saki, who was ugly and short in stature.

In a sense, General Gullit Gale is just the most traditional kind of orc warriors—although they are not highly educated, they are rough roughs who grew up in the army, but they still obey the orc clan's rules. Tradition and the teachings of the god of war retain the greatest respect for priests such as shamans.

It was also under the persuasion of Master Saki that General Gale gave up his plan to overload the troops in order to catch up with the schedule;

According to General Gale's thinking, the "Hammer of Purgatory" division will not be challenged in the entire Soul Breaker. Even if the soldiers will be a little tired, they can take a rest after the capture of Shuangfeng Ridge. Lionheart River prepares.

——This is actually the consistent style of the orc army: Relying on the strength and endurance of the half-orcs far beyond ordinary races, the army of the Glorious Federation can always make high-intensity rapid marches, large-scale transfers, and swift and violent attacks that surpass ordinary people. It is easy to break the critical point of enemy general deployment.

However, Master Saki's sentence "Patience is the most important virtue of a warrior" still made General Gale a lot more stable.

So last night, the "Hammer of Purgatory" division, which was suffering terribly in the cold wind, still found a valley to set up camp, and prepared to wait until the blizzard slowed down the next day before marching.

This valley is sandwiched between two hills running parallel to the north and south, which can just block the cold snow wind blowing from the dusty mountains in the northeast.

The orc chefs killed a few "Montreal cattle" brought by the army, and cooked broth in the center of the camp, which also brought a little warmth to the orc soldiers suffering from the cold—compared to human The demons usually carry dry food, and the orc army always prefers to drive animals to kill and eat during long-distance marches:

Of course, given that it was a raid operation, the "Hammer of Purgatory" did not carry much supplies, so killing cattle for meat now meant getting rid of burdens and speeding up the march;
However, General Gale believes that after conquering Frost Maple Ridge and the settlements on the south bank of the Lionheart River, they will be able to find more food.

Sergeant Marco Gale got up early this morning.

As the elite of the "Hammer of Purgatory" elite, a member of the first "Lion's Mane Brigade", Marco Gale, like other "Lion's Mane Brigade" fighters, was stationed at the outermost edge of the camp, in case no one was here. An unlikely enemy attack in the wasteland.

Despite being the son of a division commander, young Marko had no privileges in the army;

Even his rank of sergeant, he spent nearly three years in the rank of corporal before finally being promoted on a reconnaissance mission;

Orcs aren't human after all:

When the aristocratic heirs of the human empire can rely on their elders' shelter to roam freely in the Unicorn District of the imperial capital, most of the orc aristocratic children have to enlist in the army in accordance with the ancient federal tradition. Homecoming;
Blood and honor, this is what half-orcs think, the baptism that the younger generation must go through;
Even the previous great chiefs of the Orc Federation had to have military experience—it was not uncommon for the great chief's intended successor to be unfortunately killed in a war.

When Marco Gaefeng walked out of the tent, there were still dim stars hanging in the pale dark sky, but the snow had stopped, and the thick snow on the ground was dazzlingly blue like crystal under the light of the morning light.

In the current camp, most of the orc soldiers are still awake:
Trekking through the snow and being in a foreign land, even the brave orcs have lost their usual vitality, huddled in a warm tent and fell into a peaceful sleep. No one will get up until the horn blows;
Even the sentinels who are in charge of watching at night are not as vigorously patrolling back and forth as they were in the Eastern Federation;

The orc sentry in a fur coat in front of Sergeant Marco Gale’s tent, although he was still leaning on a long ax and seemed to be standing upright, his buttocks had already quietly leaned against the tent iron frame behind him—— In front of the sentinel, a small flaming crystal glowed dimly on the ground, melting the surrounding snow into a pool of black water.

"Flame Crystal" is a special magical mineral produced in the Vulcan Mine in the Eastern Federation. It can continue to release heat for a period of time just by knocking it: the heat is too low to be used for cooking, but it can be used to keep warm during the winter march. It was good, so every orc soldier received one before departure. .

——The equipment level of the "Hammer of Purgatory" of the elite orc division is top-notch even if you look at the whole continent.

Except for this barely standing sentry, the other orc sentries can only be described as staggering:
Sitting, squatting, and huddled together, even the warriors who are usually fierce and like to see people naked, are wrapping up their coats tightly in the cold wind of the wasteland at this moment, in the weak heat circle of the "flaming crystal". , Dozing off little by little.

In the usual way, this kind of "watching state" will undoubtedly ruin the good reputation of "Hammer of Purgatory";
But this morning, when the orc officers on duty saw the sentry's languid state, they just frowned and didn't reprimand them——

——For the Eastern orcs who are used to the warmth, marching in the cold winter is too easy to wear down the spirit of the soldiers.

What's more, on this cold wasteland and at the foot of the snow-capped mountains, even if this beastman division travels hundreds of miles away, it may not be able to bump into a single person;

The so-called "watching at night" actually has no practical effect at all, it just has a sense of ritual.

Sergeant Marko Gale checked carefully to make sure that his sword was hanging neatly on his waist.

The orcs in the Eastern Federation love long knives far more than long swords, and using this kind of weapon that stabs is better than slashing does not conform to the orcs' straight-forward and slashing fighting style-but most of the orc officers, it is true. They all adhere to the habit of saber, which is consistent with the traditions of officers of various races in the mainland.

Sergeant Marco Gale's distinctive saber may be the only thing in the "Hammer of Purgatory" army other than his surname that can explain his unique family background.

After confirming that his luggage was correct, he stood at the door of the tent, rubbed his cheek with his "flame crystal", and looked around the temporary camp.

Soon, he found the person he was looking for.

Sergeant Marco Gale ran forward in three steps and two steps, and grabbed the officer who was wrapped in a coat, cowering, and limping in the camp.

The orc officer pushed aside his big fur collar, uncovered the felt hat that had been stacked so many layers, and revealed a line of green skin and his unflattering yellow eyes to Marco Gale.

"What?" The orc officer said angrily, his voice was still the same as before, hoarse and ugly from smoking too many cigars, and in this cold weather, it seemed that there was a mouthful of thick phlegm stuck in his throat.

"Captain Kaedwin..." Marco Gale scratched his head and smiled honestly, "I just want to ask you, do you know which direction we are going today?"

"West." Captain Kaedwin rolled his eyes, pulled up his collar and wanted to leave.

"I know it's going west..." Marco hurriedly pulled Captain Kaedwin back, "But do you know the specific direction? ——for example, do we go around the mountain on the west side from the north or from the south? "

Captain Kaedwin's eyes narrowed in the shadow of his felt hat.

"I want to run to be a scout again, huh?" The orc captain sneered sarcastically, "Boy, you are a sergeant now, not an ordinary scout! Don't you think it's worthwhile to be a scout again?" , can make your father look at you high?"

"No..." Marco blushed, and the green skin of the orc made the color on his face look like shit, "I have experience in this field... If I help the division to scout the road ahead , it is also good for our overall march..."

Captain Kaedwin loosened his neckline again, exposing his thick lips.

Marco thought the captain had some great ideas;

In the end, he just spat hard on the ground.

"In this piece of shit where no human or bastards are welcome, there is only snow and sand, there is a hanging thing to scout!" Captain Kaedwin cursed angrily, and raised his collar again, "After we have breakfast today, we will Head north around this shitty hill to the west, then keep going northwest—if you're happy with the fucking snow, go there!"

"Yes!" Marco Gale happily beat his chest to the captain.

"That's right!" Captain Kaedwin suddenly remembered something, and greeted with staring eyes, "Marco, I asked you to send the cloak to the leader of the Gale Division yesterday—what did he say later?"

"Uh..." Marco Liefeng just wanted to repeat his father's words, but suddenly realized that some words were not easy to speak directly, so he could only hesitate, "Uh...my dad said, he...doesn't like this, Let me stick to my post and don't send it away in the future..."

Captain Kaedwin's face was wrapped in his overcoat, and there was no visible change in his expression.

But when Marco ran to the north excitedly, Captain Kaedwin saw that there was no one around, and spat hard:
"Stupid! The whole family is stupid!"

……

It should be said that it is indeed the top army of the Eastern Federation, and the camp site selected by the "Hammer of Purgatory" is indeed one in a thousand.

The two opposite hills block the cold wind that runs straight down from the Dust Mountains;
In addition, the blizzard stopped in the early morning, and as the sun climbed into the sky, the eastern part of the Land of Souls was clear again in a blink of an eye: when climbing the mountain on the west side, Marco Gale was not only not cold, but even felt a little cold. The warmth of harmony.

The temperature changes in the wasteland are so sensitive, it cools quickly and heats up quickly.

The hill on the west side of the "Hammer of Purgatory" camp is not very high in absolute height, but the slope is very steep, which is suitable for blocking the changeable cold wind on the wasteland and the eyes of humans: the "Hammer of Purgatory" who has been marching secretly "It was under the protection of this mountain that the division dared to order to bury the stove for cooking:

The powerful "Hammer of Purgatory" has never been afraid of any opponent's prying eyes, but if the human beings in the wilderness (assuming there are any) find the smoke and notify the territory on the north bank of the Lionheart River in advance, it will undoubtedly increase the number of people crossing the river in the future. The difficulty of combat.

For the cautious and cautious style of these military chiefs, Captain Kaedwin was very disdainful:
In the camp, Captain Kaedwin boasted to Marko more than once about the combat power of the "Hammer of Purgatory". According to Captain Kaedwin, he has served in the division for 33 years. All the opponents I met, whether it was the dwarves in the north, the demons in the south, or the sub-orcs who rebelled in the federation, none of them were crushed by the "Hammer of Purgatory"—and even if the empire was given a year to prepare, this group of Corrupt human beings can't stop the "Hammer of Purgatory" from crossing the river!

The only thing Marco couldn't figure out was how Captain Kaedwin, who had served in the "Hammer of Purgatory" for "33 years", was still just a captain.

It was in these insignificant thoughts that the young orc sergeant ascended to the summit of the nameless hill.

Then, he had to admit that Captain Kaedwin was right:
Looking west from this hill, all you can see is pure white:
Three or four consecutive days of heavy snow had already covered all the features on the surface of the eastern part of Cracking Soul: footprints, ruts, and roads—if there had been such a thing on this wasteland where birds don’t shit and there is no human habitation.

Only tall dead wood and large stones can be exposed in a thick layer of snow, revealing a trace of black;

In the entire field of vision, the only moving things are the goshawks and vultures soaring in the sky:

A heavy snow covered almost all the wild grass and dens in this area. These raptors are destined to spend a little effort to find something delicious.

Sergeant Marco Gale’s eyesight was not very good, but he squinted and looked west for a long time, and finally agreed with the captain’s judgment in frustration:

Running out in this kind of weather to "reconnaissance the road conditions" is undoubtedly something that the most stupid orcs on the mainland would do.

—But, he thought, at least I volunteered to do something for Hammer of Purgatory...

As long as we persist in this way, one day, Sergeant Marco Gale will catch up with the figure of the division commander who is both intimate and unfamiliar...

Marco Gale took off his felt hat, scratched his green head, sighed, stood up from the snow pit where he crawled, and prepared to return to the "Hammer of Purgatory" camp.

But at the same time as he turned his head, Sergeant Marco Gale suddenly caught a strange detail at the edge of his field of vision——

Marco stopped suddenly, then looked north along the ridgeline:
There, right in the middle of the ridge, amidst the pure white, stood a jet-black, withered bush.

Similar scenes are very common in the wilderness after snow:

Any plants that are lucky enough to survive in this land of death will only be brutally killed by heavy snow and severe cold. On the contrary, these long-dead dead trees can show their heads in a sheet of snow——

The wasteland favors only the dead.

The problem is, in the relatively flat wasteland of the Land of Souls, it is normal for a dead tree to stand on the ground;
But... on the mountain?
Marko Gale looked back to the south, then to the hill to the east.

As far as the eye can see, there are no plants on the mountain.

Even if there were, these early birds growing on the top of the mountain should not be able to withstand the howling wind on the wasteland.

Sergeant Marko Gale held his breath involuntarily.

He didn't dare to stand up straight, but crawled in the snow layer, and crawled towards the weird "shrub" bit by bit, as slowly and silently as possible.

During the crawling process, Marco only used one hand, and the other hand held the long sword at his waist.

Despite the glove, the pearl-inlaid walnut hilt emboldened the young and brave Orc warrior.

Seeing that he was approaching the bush, without any hesitation, Marco stood up from the ridge, rushed forward with countless flying snowflakes, and pushed aside the dark bush.

Then, two shining eyes appeared in the snow layer under the bushes.

Two human eyes covered with pale flesh-colored eyelids.

One second, Marco only spent one second when he drew his sword;
But for a second, it still seemed too slow in front of the pioneer scouts trained by Miss Alice Comstock, the captain of the Frost Maple Ridge Guards and the champion of the "St. Augustus Festival" tournament of the Empire.

As soon as Sergeant Marko Gale raised the long sword passed down by the Gale clan into the air, he felt a huge nausea.

The orc soldier felt as if his internal organs were in convulsions.

Then he looked down and saw a hand sticking out of the snow;

That hand held a strange pure black dagger;

The blade of the dagger sank straight into Marco's own lower abdomen.

——The iron-wood short sword collected in the Dragon Bone Peak Elf Treasure House, even after thousands of years of wind and snow, is still sharp enough to cut jade and snakes.

Perhaps it was because during the long journey, the body had already become numb under the pressure of the bone-chilling cold;
Sergeant Marko Gale didn't feel even a tinge of pain;
Young orcs once imagined dying under the arrows of a human marksman, dying in the explosion caused by the lion's roar seven-type ballista, or being drenched in the head by a bucket of hot oil while climbing the siege ladder, or even It is more honorable to become the sacrifice of a certain great magister and master-level magic;

But he never thought that this moment would come so softly and quietly.

It was like the wind in the wilderness, blowing a snowflake from the ground.

Marco Gale, who was still holding the officer's long sword in his hand, slumped down on this strange mountain ridge and land, his body rolled all the way down the east slope of the hill, pushing out a huge lump , Like the snow in the tomb, it can barely stop;
This snow grave was quickly dyed a red color of blood, melting and flowing.

Marco Gale, who was stiff all over, lay blankly in the pile of red snow, staring at the ridge where he slipped down.

He saw, as the snow trembled, a human in a snow-white robe crawled out from under the thick snow.

The human took out a wooden pole from under the burqa, stood on the ridge, raised the bright red flag high, and waved vigorously toward the west, shaking, shaking.

To the west of this mountain, what is there?Marco Gale thought so.

But he didn't know the answer to that question -- and he never would, because he died on the eastern foot of this hill.

He would be the one who went the farthest to the west alive among the ten thousand orc soldiers who belonged to the designation "Hammer of Purgatory".

(End of this chapter)