Why did the lord rebel

The so-called "bloody front" that people in the Haiwen mainland love to talk about is not a strict geographical boundary.

The origin of this death zone can be traced back to the so-called "golden decade" when the human empire was at its peak.At that time, the empire had completely recovered from the aftermath of the "Doomsday War" with the demons, and the establishment of the "Emperor Capital - Thorn City" teleportation channel brought explosive trade prosperity and productivity growth to the entire human civilization.

Immersed in joy and prosperity, the imperial people didn't even realize that in the Far East beyond the Dusty Mountains, the formerly fragmented orc tribes had long been united under the banner of "King of Glory" Modreno Burning Heart, and became one. The "Glorious Federation" belonging to the orc race has not only been proclaimed, but is also growing wildly at an alarming rate.

The human beings in the empire at that time were too powerful and proud, so that their understanding of the Glorious Federation was limited to a few words from merchants in the distance. inside.

Therefore, the "First War between Humans and Orcs" that took place in 590 of the Imperial Calendar and lasted only 40 days was nothing more than a sap that the prosperous empire encountered inexplicably: it was early winter, and the orcs of the Glorious Federation suddenly conscripted The army, with almost all the strength of the country, launched a surprise attack on the empire's army stationed in the area east of the Dust Mountain Range.

Since the founding of the human empire, its ruling center has been located in the so-called "Central Plains" west of the Dust Mountain Range, and has never intentionally managed the barbaric land east of the Dust Mountain Range.Therefore, the imperial army stationed on the east side of the mountain range were all old, weak, sick and disabled with low combat power and loose organization.

As a result, the Federation Orcs defeated the Imperial Army almost effortlessly, and drove the human forces from the east of the Dust Mountains overnight.The eastern garrison of the empire, fleeing in a hurry, hid all the way into Thorn City, which was still under the control of humans at that time, so as not to be thwarted by orc wolf riders.

It was also from this battle that the imperial people in history finally began to take a serious look at these green-skinned barbarians living in the east.

However, the ambitions of the federal orcs obviously did not stop at repelling a few imperial garrisons. Soon, their eyes, hungrier than the frost wolves, turned to the giant city built by the empire in the Dusty Mountains - Thorn City.

The Dusty Mountains run through the Haven Continent from north to south, dividing the continent into east and west like a long knife.If the densely populated western part of the empire is regarded as a teapot, then Thorn City undoubtedly played the role of the spout of the teapot: this giant city is located at the foothills on the east side of the Dust Mountains, like a dedicated guard guarding the people passing through the Dust Mountains, The "thorny pass" is the main road connecting the east and west of the mainland.

As early as the period of the Great Elf Empire, Thorn City had already become the leading metropolis on the mainland by virtue of its extremely dangerous location, and after the establishment of the Human Empire, it became the Pearl of the Orient as famous as the imperial capital.Every day, countless wealth and people from the east poured into Thorn Pass through Thorn City, went straight to Eternal Sun City, and finally transported to the heartland of the empire.

Therefore, as long as Thorn City is taken down, the Federation of Glory will close the only gateway to the east from the human empire, and this land will become the private land of the orcs from now on: the human empire dominating the west will no longer be able to seize the eastern region I take.

This is the future that the imperial people absolutely do not want to see, but it is also the freedom that the orcs absolutely need to fight for.

As a result, the mighty "Second Human-Orc War" kicked off around the struggle for control of Thorn City.Different from the "First War" which was resolved as quickly as lightning, this "Second War" lasted an extremely long time, and was even crowned by historians as "Hundred Years' War" and "Epic Battle". Extravagant name.

In the third year after the start of the "Second Human-Orc War", that is, in [-] of the Imperial Calendar, Thorn City was out of human control for the first time since the collapse of the Great Elf Empire: the roaring orc army easily defeated The imperial defenders, while praising the great name of the God of War, invaded this capital of wealth, and closed the once-popular "Emperor Capital-Thorn City Teleportation Channel".

The "Golden Ten Years" of the empire came to an end, and the "Age of Blood" full of killings, disasters and destruction came to the world.

Since then, both the Empire and the Federation have launched intermittent offensive and defensive battles around Thorn City that lasted for decades. The city also changed hands several times as the war progressed, but the orcs often had the upper hand.In the end, after nearly 100 years of fighting and stopping between the two sides, the empire, which was busy building the arcane spire defense line in the south, finally admitted defeat and officially ceded Thorn City to the federal orcs.

However, the empire obviously does not intend to just swallow the bitter fruit and hand over Thorn City to others.

Since the Second War, the Human Empire and the Orc Federation have been in a tense military confrontation, and the key area of ​​the game between the two sides is naturally Thorn City.

The predecessor of the Eastern Army under the command of Grand Duke Grimm Rosario was actually declared to be established during this period, and the highest program at the beginning of its founding was to defeat the federal orcs and regain Thorn City for the empire.

For hundreds of years, humans and orcs have been fighting continuously in the hilly area near Thorn Pass - Thorn City.This narrow and long hill was originally a rare flat land in the middle of the precipitous dust mountain range, but it became uneven due to the long-term bombardment of artillery fire and magic. Ominous black and red.

So now, those ancient elf place names are rarely mentioned. When people talk about the frontline area where the two countries confront each other, most of them use a more terrifying alias: the bloody front.

In the early days of the "Sixth Human-Orc War", Grand Duke Rosario led the Eastern Army to guard the bloody front, facing the Eastern Thorn City—unfortunately, suddenly, from the Thorn City The ice demon mammoth that rushed out of the city destroyed the imperial army's line in one fell swoop, and finally drove them to the Burning Crystal Canyon in the west.

——Since then, it has been nearly two years since the imperial people bid farewell to the bloody front that has been guarded for generations.

On July [-], [-] in the Imperial Calendar, the Eastern Army of the Empire finally saw the bloody front again: most of the large and small former imperial forts and fortifications scattered in the hilly area had been demolished by the federal orcs after the fall of the bloody front. The flagpole that originally hung the imperial flag was also inserted alone on the dark black ground.

But this is the bloody front after all: Standing here and looking to the east, you can see the huge silhouette of Thorn City in the sky, and the shaman war song of the Federation orcs seems to be heard in your ears.

"Eliot...we're back..." Grand Duke Rosario, who was standing beside Xiahouyan when the army had just arrived at the bloody front, couldn't help but sigh with emotion as he looked at the desolate ruins of the front.

However, Xia Houyan is not like the Grand Duke Rosario who has been stationed here for a long time, who has so many sad feelings of revisiting his hometown;
As a taboo mage who has a lot of research on necromancy, after following the imperial army to the bloody front, the first thing he noticed was the strong ghostly aura in the air: this smell of the underworld, only a thousand The unlucky land where countless deaths have occurred and tens of millions of lives have been buried in a hundred years is unique. The so-called "ghosts often cry, and the sky is cloudy" in the ancient text refers to the bleak atmosphere of this place.

It is conceivable that the empire and the Federation, which have been confronting each other for a long time, have lost so many soldiers here in the past few hundred years.

I don't know how many bones of ancient heroes worthy of "use" are buried under the bloody front?The thief's eyes of the senior official Xiahou started to roll around again.

Grand Duke Rosario didn't know about the Duke of Frost Maple Ridge's careful thinking, and he had already begun to arrange military affairs for his troops:
Since the liberation of Shanchagang, the imperial army has easily wiped out the remaining federal forces in the entire occupied area, and successfully pushed the front to the bloody front.At present, the top priority of the imperial army is to clean up the bloody front and repair the still usable fortifications, so as to re-establish the imperial army's garrison here as a bridgehead for follow-up operations.

——At that time, you can officially consider how to gnaw the hard bone of Thorn City.

The entire bloody battle line was actually sandwiched between the hills in the middle of the Dusty Mountains. It was located in a narrow strip about a hundred miles long from north to south to the east of Thorn Pass. The original ten fortresses of the empire were scattered here, staring at Thorn City in the east.

With such a huge area, Duke Rosario had to disperse his troops in order to take these ten forts back under the control of the empire one by one. The only good news is that the Federation seems to have made up its mind to defend the city of Thorns The battle was over, so not a single soldier was left on the bloody front, which was tantamount to returning this ancient imperial position to mankind.

While the regular imperial army was busy recovering the fortress, Xia Houyan was embarrassed to watch his allies work. He asked Grand Duke Rosario for a task and marched northward with his "Wagner" special forces to help the empire. The army occupied "Swan Castle", one of the ten fortresses.

However, what Grand Duke Rosario never expected was that after the "Wagner" special forces broke away from the main force, the gang of Shuangfengling scum did not rush to "Swan Castle", but stopped and stopped along the way.Let me tell you why-

——Official Xiahou has been experimenting with necromancy on the road.

……

The fluttering gray ghost magic power condensed into a ball in Xia Houyan's palm, and then exploded and dissipated, covering his black dress sleeves with a layer of frost.

"The ghost magic power in this ghost place is really rich..." Xia Houyan sighed while brushing off his sleeves.

Master Laurie and Spirit Master have been watching the boss's experiments with great interest.The master of spiritual songs is a little puzzled:
"Although I'm not a necromancer, I can't feel the ghostly magic power in the air... But judging by the performance of your magic, the aura of necromancy in this area is indeed a bit too strong. It's just the soldiers who died on the battlefield for thousands of years, Is it possible to form such a dense distribution of ghost elements?"

"It's a bit strange." Xia Houyan smacked his lips and said, "It stands to reason that there are also many people who died in the history of the Soul Breaking Land, but even there, the concentration of ghost magic power is not as strong as a hair on the bloody front. This ghost There must be something special about the place...”

"You'd better hold back..." Master Laurie said sourly from the side, "Although we have already separated from the main force of the imperial army, if your 'heroic appearance' of manipulating necromantic magic is seen by others, we will be embarrassed I can't walk around..."

"There are no 'others' here, they are not all my brothers!" Xia Houyan pointed to the members of the "Wagner" special forces who were marching north, with an indifferent expression, "Besides, so what if someone finds out Isn’t it the same as those little shrimps from the Inquisition? Come one and I’ll kill one, come two and I’ll kill a pair!”

Master Laurie silently gave a thumbs up to the lord.

As the power of the territory continues to grow, the lord of Shuangfengling is also becoming more and more arrogant with the naked eye: when the territory was established, she still hid her necromantic magic, but now she seems to be less and less willing to pretend.

——Probably as long as you can make the GDP number one in the world, then you can do dirty things as you like.

While speaking, a Type [-] "Apocalypse" chariot made the roar of its engine beside the three magicians, and drove north with the clink of its tracks.In view of the fact that there is no combat mission at present, these "Apocalypse" chariots have assumed the function of troop carriers, and each vehicle is full of soldiers from Shuangfengling who are too lazy to walk, which looks quite like Asan.

"How far are we from Swan Castle?" Xia Houyan complained.

"Maybe we can arrive tonight, we won't spend the night in the wild." Sean Mountbatten replied behind the lord.The chief of staff of Shuangfengling has actually been following behind the boss, but due to the rigorousness of the interlacing, he did not participate in the discussion of several magicians just now.

Xia Houyan let out a "huh" and looked east again.

The early morning mist has dissipated a lot, and the giant-like shadow of Thorn City clearly appears on the horizon.This giant city has the highest city wall in the entire continent, with an overall height of several hundred meters. It is hard to believe that this city was built by the ancient ancestors with only human power.

"This city of thorns looks much more magnificent than the imperial capital..." the lord sighed.

The spiritual song master shrugged, showing off the talents of the elves as always:

"This is natural. After all, Thorn City is the only legacy of the Age of Gods on the continent, which is tied with Demon Moon Shadow City!"

"'Age of the Gods'? What does that mean?" Xia Houyan narrowed his eyes.

"It means that these two cities are ancient products that already existed in the so-called 'Mythological Era' in the period of the Great Elf Empire before the 'Battle of the Gods', and other cities in that era have long been annihilated in the chaos of war, The disaster and the dust of history. The modern big cities in your eyes, such as the imperial capital, Sanshuiwan, and Redstone, were actually built by humans and other races after the collapse of the great elf empire." Spiritual song The master bit the word "elf" in his words very hard, "Have you seen the hundreds of meters high wall of Thorn City? According to legend, it was built by the elves with the help of the gods—otherwise, How could such a miracle project be possible with the mortal body of an ordinary humanoid creature?"

"God's help! So awesome?!" Xia Houyan praised on the surface, and said in his heart that Lao Tzu also has "God's help", who is afraid of anyone.

"After all, in the era of mythology, the 'War of the Gods' has not yet begun, and the continent is still full of activities of various gods!" The spiritual master shook his head and said, "By the way, do you know why the city of thorns is called the city of thorns?"

"why?"

"Because the supreme holy god of your humanity won the final victory of the 'Battle of the Gods' here, wearing a ring of thorn grass to repay the crimes of mankind." The master of spiritual songs stretched out his hand and pointed to the city of thorns in the distance, " Therefore, Thorn City is actually the only 'Holy City' recognized by your Supreme Church—the reason why the empire wants to take Thorn City back so much is somewhat religious."

"Fucking 'Holy City'! I don't care about these ridiculous rumors about gods and ghosts at all!" Xia Houyan curled his lips in disdain, "There has never been any savior, and there has never been a fairy emperor!"

The young men around the lord looked at each other in blank dismay: the absence of "immortals" can also be explained by the atheism of radical magicians who "recognize only the power of the elements, not the gods of the elements", but is it too much to say that there is no "emperor"? Are you a bit rebellious?
In the end, they unanimously decided to pretend they hadn't heard anything.