Cataclysm King

Chapter 541 Shadowfang Fortress
"Why are you pinching my face again?"

"Oh, sorry sorry. It just came handy."

"It's okay, but my mother once said that when I inherit the position of high priest, I can't laugh all the time. The high priest represents the majesty of the royal family. In front of outsiders, he must show enough stability and composure to convince others."

"Well, I also think what Aunt Nan said is right! From now on, we will talk about our own things. When there are outsiders around, you are the chief priest of Nan. In private, we will still be the same as before, okay?"

"Ah oh."

"."

The clown's occupational disease has come back again. He can't bear to see his audience unhappy.

What’s more, they are friends who have shared life with you.

Ji Xun didn't want to see Nan Jing trapped in the depressed mood caused by the death of a loved one.

Clowns can always make people happy with their funny performances and jokes.

The girl with the bun hair was also the most supportive audience member. She seemed to become cheerful all of a sudden and a smile appeared on her face again.

But in fact, Ji Xun knew that Nan Jing had changed.

From the moment she accepted the inheritance, she grew into a true Southern High Priestess.

Just like with friends in childhood, playing games together was the happiest thing in the world; but after growing up, the same games can no longer bring the same joy as in childhood.

This is even more true for the extraordinary ones.

As our understanding of the world improves, it becomes increasingly difficult for human emotions to affect our rationality.

Happiness is hard to come by, but sadness is all the more profound.

But Miss Marutou is still willing to play the same games with Ji Xun because they are good friends.

Also, both of them can find that familiar joy in it.

Without trains, Warcraft is still the best means of transportation for long-distance travel.

On this day, in the northeastern region of the Central Continent.

Several giant pterosaurs with a wingspan of 100 meters swooped down and landed, flapping their wings and stopping in a huge temporary camp.

When the flying dragon came to a steady stop, the mercenaries came down from the wooden tower on the dragon's back one after another. At the same time, the shirtless slaves on the ground used simple wooden tower cranes to carry down a large amount of supplies.

And along with those who mixed in with the mercenary team, there were also three inconspicuous newly registered mercenaries.

It was Ji Xun, Chu Jiu and Nan Jing in disguise.

They came from the Imperial Mausoleum in Rune Highlands because the Allied Forces here encountered some trouble.

I was just about to go to East Desert, so I came to take a look.

Now there are nobles from the Southern Continent reclaiming land everywhere in the Central Continent. The advantage is that transportation is much more convenient.

Many dangerous area roads have been opened up, and almost all territories can be reached by flying dragons.

Otherwise, even if it was a ninth-level cultivator, it wouldn't dare to fly around so blatantly in the unexplored ruins of Talen.

The three of them just pretended to be mercenaries and took advantage of the situation.

After several twists and turns, it took only ten days to complete a journey that would have previously taken several months.

We arrived at the place marked as "Shadow Fang Fortress" on the map during the Talen period.

There is a large area of ​​ancient war relics here.

Three thousand years ago, the places where the Talen Empire was able to build cities were basically places rich in resources and suitable for large-scale human settlement.

These ruins not only contain a large number of ready-made basic urban facilities, but also a large number of minerals, treasures and other-dimensional spaces nearby.

The nobles from the southern continent who wanted to establish new territories gave these ruined cities their first choice.

There is a high-quality iron ore vein near Shadowfang Fortress.

The lord currently occupying the fortress is the independent duke of the southern continent - Grand Duke Simon.

Coincidentally, when Ji Xun was in the Royal Academy, this Duke Simon was the mortal enemy of the Principality of Langdon, where his clone served.

Now that the southern continent has become one, these independent dukes have no constraints and have all fled to the central continent to open up new land.

The fortress has begun to take shape, the broken walls have been rebuilt, and stone houses have been built on the ruins.

The city was bustling and bustling with people.

However, there are almost no ordinary residents in the city. Most of them are noble legions and mercenaries responsible for expanding the territory, as well as slaves and craftsmen responsible for urban construction.

There was a lot of noise in Feilong Station.

"Newly arrived mercenaries of the Twin-Tailed Scorpion, hurry to the military camp to report and receive your wages. Praise Duke Simon for his generosity. Now you guys can receive your wages before you start working."

"Oh damn slaves, be careful when carrying them. They are materials for building the magic tower. Don't damage them!"

"Century Captain, arrange for someone to get the magic cannon onto the city wall!"

"."

Ji Xun and the other two mixed in the crowd and followed the temporarily recruited mercenary group to the military camp.

Duke Simon's family has mobilized almost the entire clan to open up wasteland and build a new city. It is said that there are eighth-level dragon masters in the city.

After some observation, I found that the defense force in the city is very strong.

The strength of an independent duke who has been able to stand on the southern continent for hundreds of years should not be underestimated.

Not to mention the endless supply of mercenaries, the number of noble knights wearing sophisticated armor in the barracks exceeded 100,000.

As Ji Xun walked, he introduced to Chujiu and Nan Jing beside him: "This flag points to Grand Duke Simon, a descendant of the green dragon, who is good at poison. It is currently known that the Duke's Mansion has at least three eighth-level masters and has hired two large mercenary groups. It is said that there is a ninth-level pure-blooded green dragon behind the Simon family, but it has not appeared for hundreds of years. It should still be sleeping in a cave in the southern continent."

The troops in this city alone are enough to easily destroy the Eastern Wilderness a few years ago.

It also poses a deadly threat to the current coalition forces.

What others don’t know is that the headquarters of the Allied Forces is located a hundred miles north of this fortress.

The three of them talked as they walked, and other people on the street were also whispering.

Most of these were mercenaries newly recruited from the Southern Continent, and they were full of expectations for this old continent "full of gold".

"Haha, the newly developed territory really has a lot of opportunities. I got 100 gold coins right away. By the way, Captain, what is our mission? Is it to open up the ruins?"

"I heard they were fighting against the natives of the Eastern Wasteland. There is a guerrilla force here. If the lord wants to establish a territory, he must wipe them out."

"The natives of the Eastern Wasteland? Is that the small country where the strongest is said to be only level six?"

"Don't underestimate those natives. This battle is not as easy as you think. I heard that those guys in the East Wasteland are now all mechanical legions, and all kinds of magical machines are very powerful. In particular, the 'Hunter God Armor' with combat power comparable to that of a seventh-level card master has also appeared, and it has destroyed several medium-sized mercenary groups before."

"What are you afraid of? I'm just afraid that those battle armors won't show up. If they really dare to show up, the top card masters in the Duke's Mansion will have been waiting for a long time."

"Yeah. Have you ever been to the prisoner camp? Those so-called 'mechanics' are just a bunch of first- and second-level guys. They are as soft as the women in the tavern. Without those mechanical armors, our dragon power alone would be enough to scare those guys to death."

"."

Ever since the Gold Mining Wharf was blown up, Donghuang has severed its ties with the Old Continent.

Later, the Iris Legion of the Red Dragon Royal Family blocked the area.

Therefore, most people in the southern continent are very behind in intelligence.

They don't even know that the strength of the Eastern Wilderness Orlan Royal Court is not weak.

They even have the strength to counterattack the Old Continent.

Ji Xun and the other two also followed the team and received the money.

They were in no hurry to leave.

Spend a little time to investigate the military intelligence here, so that the Alliance Army can make better arrangements in the future.

Most of the city is occupied by military camps, with all kinds of colorful mercenary flags fluttering in the wind.

There are not only Ji Xun and his group of "new recruits" in the city, but also a large number of veterans.

A few hours later, Ji Xun figured out the basic situation of the Shadow Fang Fortress.

In a shack, Ji Xun and two other people sat on the ground, eating dry food and chatting.

"It seems that even if the allied forces are confident, they dare not take down Duke Simon and his men."

"Yes, once it is eaten, it will definitely attract stronger enemies. It might even attract the ninth-order green dragon behind Duke Simon's mansion to cause trouble. The current hunting god armor can't even block the dragon breath of an eighth-order dragon, let alone a ninth-order one."

"It will be troublesome if we drag it on like this. There is a rich vein of Demon Green Copper and Demon Meteorite Black Iron over there, and the Alliance Army will not give up. If we really continue to open up wasteland to the north, sooner or later there will be a fierce clash between the two sides."

"Yeah. It's really troublesome."

"."

The three of them already had a general idea of ​​what was going on.

The Old Continent is big enough. There were not many nobles from the Southern Continent who came here before, and the speed of land reclamation was not fast. The Alliance Army could develop peacefully and quietly as long as they avoided them.

But things are different now. A large number of nobles have poured in to open up the wasteland, and the space for the alliance army to survive is getting smaller and smaller.

Some areas with scarce resources cannot be abandoned, and conflicts are inevitable.

For example, the rich mines in the north of the fortress produce Demonic Green Copper and Demonic Meteorite Black Iron, which are both essential for refining top-level mechanical armor.

If you want to have a chance in the future, you can't give up.

Hence the current dilemma.

Even if the Allied forces could really capture this fortress, it would be of no avail.

Apart from exposing one's strength and attracting covetousness, it will not solve any problems at all.

There was nothing wrong with Catalina's tactics. She just gave the enemy the illusion that "I can wipe out these natives" and kept dragging the situation out.

But the staff at Duke Simon's Palace also vaguely discovered the problem.

Since we encounter resistance, there must be factors worth resisting.

Therefore, in the task of recruiting mercenaries, the "major exploration" reward is specially marked.

It was probably the higher-ups in the Duke Simon’s Palace who guessed that there might be treasures nearby.

Ji Xun and the other two were also chatting and analyzing the situation. Not to mention the ninth-level, even if an eighth-level pure-blooded dragon came, it would be a big trouble.

Although the three of them are strong enough, if they fail to kill the snake, trouble will continue.

They couldn't think of a better solution.

As they were chatting, suddenly, the bearded temporary legion commander shouted, "The 19th Legion of the Twin-Tailed Scorpion, prepare to break camp and set off!"

Now the Duke's Mansion has clearly marked prices. The "Eastern Wilderness natives" are all walking military merits, and you can earn money by killing one.

Mercenaries are here to make money, so there is no point in taking one more day off.

The enemy isn't too strong anyway.

As soon as these guys heard the order, they excitedly picked up their weapons and prepared to set off.

Ji Xun and the other two originally wanted to leave after dinner, but since the team was about to set off, they simply followed them.

It has only been less than a month since Shadowfang Fortress was occupied by Duke Simon's men, and the development is in full swing.

Except for the southeast direction which has been explored almost completely, there are large areas of unknown areas in other directions.

Moreover, the underground world is not flat, but as complicated as an ant nest.

There are a large number of mountain mines near the fortress. Even if tens of thousands of people were thrown in, not even a single wave would be created, and the progress of land reclamation is slow.

This is also the most important reason why Duke Simon's Mansion recruits a large number of mercenaries.

A team of nearly a thousand mercenaries marched in the mountains and soon disappeared into the darkness.

The mercenaries were all card masters of level two or above, and they marched very quickly, covering more than ten kilometers in an hour.

We encountered a few monsters on the way and killed them easily.

Not long after.

There was a fork in the road in a valley.

The team began to regroup.

The "Twin-Tailed Scorpion" is a second-rate mercenary group that was put together in a hurry. It has lax military discipline and no military quality to speak of.

From the bottom of their hearts, they looked down upon the "natives of the Eastern Wilderness".

So even the sentries were not deployed very far away.

Everyone was just sitting there lazily.

The direction they were assigned to explore this time was the east, while the headquarters of the Allied Forces was in the north.

Ji Xun originally thought that he would not encounter any members of the Allied Forces, so he wanted to quietly leave this fork in the road.

But they didn't expect that the three of them were attacked before they left the team.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom"

Without warning.

Dozens of rockets landed in the camp, magical energy fragments flew everywhere, and exploded into brilliant flames.

The mercenaries instantly fell into chaos.

"Attack the camp! Attack the camp!"

"Damn it! Sentinel, are you a dead man? You only discovered it after the enemy attacked?"

"Stop complaining, brothers, follow me! Killing a native costs you 1,000 gold coins, and killing an officer costs you 100,000 gold coins."

"."

The mercenaries had not yet realized the seriousness of the situation, and they rushed in groups of three or five without any order towards the darkness where the artillery fire was coming from.

Only Ji Xun and the other two did not move.

They found a position where they would be less likely to be injured accidentally and waited for the results.

Although Ji Xun didn't see it, he could hear the "clang" and "clang" sounds of the machinery, and he knew that it was the movement of the Hunter God Armor.

The Hunter God Armor is currently the top equipment of the Alliance Army.

One machine can defeat a sixth-level monster, and three machines can kill a seventh-level monster.

In other words, the people coming were the main force of the Allied Forces, not some lightly armed harassing force.

The two sides immediately opened fire.

The battle was also very fierce.

"Bang", "bang", "bang".
The sounds of bombs exploding intensively rang out, and various colors of demon-destroying flames flickered, illuminating the entire valley.

The artillery fire was followed by close combat.

In the darkness, tall mechanical armors holding various magical equipment were fighting with the group of dragon mercenaries.

A group of beastly dragons faced off against a torrent of steel, and the battle was extremely fierce.

Most of the mercenaries had never seen mechanical armor before and were not afraid of it at all.

Once you rush forward, there’s no turning back.

“What a big change!”

Ji Xun looked on in amazement.

The southern continent was a completely primitive magical world. Now, as he watched this familiar steam machine appear, he inexplicably felt a sense of familiarity in his heart.

Moreover, it was the first time that he saw a mechanical legion organized by the City Legion.

At least three hundred heavily-armored mechanical armors appeared in the field of vision.

There are more than ten hunting god armors among them.

The number is still one.

The equipment equipped on these mechanical armors also made Ji Xun's eyes light up.

[Flame Demon Type III Mechanical Light Sword], [Steam Battering Hammer], [Bakley Magic Light Blade Military Version 2.0], [Thor Impact Cannon], [Pterosaur Steam Powered Glider], [Invisible Force Field Device], [Weather Bomb], [Ares Mechanical Shield].
The reason why Ji Xun was able to recognize it was because he had seen the drawings of these mechanical equipment.

It was also the three of them who had obtained a large number of mechanical drawings in "Thousands of Troops Besieging the City" before, and later gave them to Song Can's "New World Mechanical City", among which were these top mechanical equipment from the Taron period.

Now it seems that it has been mass-produced.

Each piece of mechanical equipment has different functions, coordinated tactics, and well-trained mechanics.
The mercenaries were defeated in an instant.

The biggest advantage of mechanical armor is that steel has an absolute advantage over the flesh.

If we can't break the mecha's defense, the battle will be one-sided.

The current configuration of the mechanical army is already capable of surrounding and killing a seventh-order dragon army, so dealing with a second-rate mercenary group is certainly no problem.

Ji Xun and the other two had no intention of going out to help, so they just watched.

In a blink of an eye, the mercenary group was dispersed, most of them died, and a few escaped.

Sporadic fighting continued, but the outcome was decided.

There is only stance on the battlefield, no right or wrong.

Ji Xun didn't even look at the corpses on the ground, his expression remained calm.

He looked at the mechanical warriors that had stopped in the middle of the battlefield and seemed to be searching for something, and called Nan Jing and Chu Jiu, saying, "Let's go, we'll go out too."

The three of them walked out.

The mechanics captured the three people in an instant, and hundreds of artillery pieces were pointed at them.

But at the first moment, a woman in white military uniform and with blonde hair came out.

She looked at Ji Xun and the other two and said with a smile, "Long time no see."

The person who came was none other than the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces, Catalina.

Ji Xun looked at the blonde girl in front of him and smiled, "Long time no see."

Katarina walked out from the several hunting god armors that were guarding her and directly ignored Ji Xun, a guy she was already very familiar with.

Then she greeted Chujiu and Nanjing, "Your Majesty Chujiu, Priest Nan. Welcome."

The terminology is very official.

Chujiu and Nanjing looked at each other and nodded, and politely responded, "Ms. Carter."

Although they were not very familiar with each other, they actually knew each other.

Ji Xun didn't like this kind of courtesy, so he asked curiously, "Miss Carter, how did you know we were here?"

Although I contacted him before coming, he didn't say he would arrive today.

What's more, we met in the wild.

Catalina tossed the ancient gold coin in her hand and said with a half-smile, "The divination told me that a distinguished guest will arrive today. It just so happens that the allied forces have a plan to lure the enemy, so I came along."

Ji Xun recognized this [Gold Coin of Destiny], which was given by Old Man Xu.

But is it so mysterious?
He didn't believe it and asked again: "Really?"

Katerina chuckled: "Half true, half false."

Then, she explained directly: "The Allies have spies in the fortress, and they know about the exploration plan there today. I felt that you were about to arrive, so I came to check it out. I didn't expect to run into you."

Ji Xun suddenly realized when he heard this.

This place is not far from the Shadowfang Fortress and a battle has just taken place here, so it is not a place to stay for long.

Catalina didn't say much, and said, "Let's go to another place to talk."

(End of this chapter)