Heart of the Castle

Chapter 560 Strange Movement of Demon Army
For the demon army, occupying Fermeyer, the king's capital of the Kingdom of Arthur, is both a brilliant victory and a huge trouble.Firmeyer is not only the capital of the Kingdom of Arthur, but also a strategic hub connecting Westwind County, Eastern Two Counties, and North Border County. This city fell into the hands of the demon army. The blow of the attack cut the human forces who were still fighting into three places where they couldn't rescue each other.

At least in the eyes of the demons, the last resistance of the Kingdom of Arthur is about to be destroyed.Aside from Xifeng County, which can only survive by relying on the combined orcs, the two eastern counties are plains suitable for large troops to fight. Except for some castles, there is no danger to defend. Under the offensive of a large number of demons, the final defeat is complete. predictable.Although Beijing County has two natural dangers, the Dusk Forest and the Great Wall of Ice, and it happens that one south and one north protect the territory, but the climate here is bitter and cold, and the land is barren and desolate. A decent army.

It seems that the devil's victory has been decided, but this is not the case. The devil did not realize all the strategic ideas. The king's capital, Fermeyer, was indeed captured as planned, but the losses were astonishing. Tens of thousands of elite troops died in the battle. Under the crazy resistance of the sacred domain enchantment and human troops.

To make matters worse, since the last bloodline of Arthur's royal family has not been cut off, although the sacred field enchantment over the king's capital has been weakened repeatedly by dark magic, it has never been completely eliminated.

The demons have been unable to find a way to stop this magic since divine intervention began.No matter how they use dark magic to suppress the enchantment of the sacred domain, whenever Flandala's golden face appears from the east, the demon army outside the bloody sea of ​​fire has to shrink back to prevent being caught by the scattered golden light falling from the sky. Spots corrode the body.

Those golden light spots condense quite strong sacred power, which is very deadly to ordinary low-level demons.Cannon fodder troops like the little devils only need to get a single light spot on their bodies, and most of their bodies will be turned into sizzling, rancid flesh by the holy power. Also be seriously injured.

Only demon nobles of the level of Abyssal Alchemy or Abyssal Balrog can completely ignore the suppression of the enchantment of the sacred domain, but for them, it is also very difficult to operate in an environment full of sacred power , unless the three grand dukes who commanded the demon army personally ordered, otherwise these demon nobles also huddled under the shelter of the obsidian castle, sullenly passing the time.

For the demon army, such a day is even more difficult than in the abyss hell.At least the environment there is equally harsh, the volcano erupts all the year round, the air is full of scorching sulfur gas, and pieces of deadly lava rain often fall on the top of the head, but at least they don't have to shrink in the narrow castle, and they can kill each other to release Anger in my heart.

Another reason for the embarrassment of the demon army is that the key figure in command of this army is the supreme lord of the barren land on the 333rd floor of the abyss hell. Na suddenly disappeared without warning, leaving her two assistants looking at each other, at a loss.

The abyssal demon lord Gandolf and the abyssal evil god Yerudir are both brutal generals with a reputation among the demon army, but they are as obedient as two castrated hell dogs in front of Serafalna.Even though the Grand Duchess had been missing for a full week, they didn't dare to make any decisions, they just sent people over and over again to search around the capital, and at the same time tried their best to cover up the news.

This is of course a completely futile move.

Most high-level demons have the innate ability of teleportation, and the scale, distance and accuracy of the teleportation are proportional to the level of the demon.If it is the level of a plane lord, it can even be accurately teleported to a specific location thousands of kilometers away.As long as the morning star of hell is willing, even if the two demon generals send hundreds of search teams, they still don't want to find any trace of Grand Duke Serafalna.

Ordinary low-level demons lack intelligence and rarely think about things other than eating, sleeping, mating, and killing.Although they were restless because they couldn't leave the capital, they were in awe of the power of the high-level demons, and they didn't have any suspicion from the beginning to the end.However, the Shadow Assassins who belonged directly to General Gandalf, the abyssal demon lord, found the situation a bit strange, especially one of their companions had disappeared inexplicably.

Shadow assassins have always been known as the sharpest daggers in the hands of demon lords, but no one calls them the confidants of demon lords.The Lord of Khorne who created these powerful assassins once called them swords without handles, vividly depicting the terrifying but difficult to grasp characteristics of shadow assassins.

Every shadow assassin is given a very powerful dark command technique, once they have the idea of ​​betrayal, this dark magic will immediately destroy the soul of that shadow assassin.However, what made the demon alchemists who participated in the creation of the Shadow Assassin always uneasy was that there was no way to confirm whether the dark command technique was still effective.

Generally speaking, warlocks can lightly touch the dark spell, and then observe whether the magic is still effective from the painful reaction of the subject. However, the series of rituals to create the shadow assassin are too cruel, even if they are physically strong. It is very difficult for all demons to pass through, because the excruciating pain destroys not only the body, but also the soul.Those who passed by by chance were completely destroyed the remaining humanity in their hearts, and were twisted into bloodless, tearless, painless and painless killing machines.

Even the pain of breaking limbs, crushing bones, and tearing muscles is something that shadow assassins don't even need to blink. There's no way to get them to react.

Of course, the effect of the Dark Gesture has always been very good, even the most suspicious demon alchemist has not found any abnormalities.In addition, although the Shadow Assassin's dagger is extremely sharp, it is also extremely fragile. In the words of Lord Khorne, it is "thin-skinned, less bloody, strong and weak", and the loss rate has always been high, so no one cares about the Shadow The question of whether the Assassins would defect was raised.

The same is true this time, although the missing person is a shadow assassin elite, but the demon lord Gandolf who heard the report waved his claws indifferently, "Don't worry about that guy, it's not like this has never happened before. What happened, an unlucky shadow assassin died in the state of shadow stealth, and the body stayed in that state as a result, if another assassin stepped on him while stealth, maybe it would last for a year and a half Load it!"

"No, it's different this time!" The demon warlock who came to report was an elderly purgatory flame demon. His thin and haggard body was covered with a robe full of black and red runes, and several blood-red spikes on his head The horns have turned white. "Your Excellency, I can swear that the shadow assassin elite who disappeared this time is definitely not dead. His companions reported that the assassin once had the opportunity to communicate with the griffin lord Li Weiston."

Hearing that Demon Warlock was still chattering, a malicious smile appeared on Lord Gandalf's ugly half-ape, half-dog face. The strong sulfur breath was accompanied by a hoarse voice. Teeth squirt out of the mouth.

"Surprisingly, is the assassin you mentioned so important? More important than finding Her Excellency Serafalna?" A crimson poisonous sulfur fire suddenly erupted from the body of the demon lord, causing A suffocating fiery wave swept across the entire hall. If most high-level demons had not had a fairly good fire resistance ability, this one would have killed at least half of the demon leaders in the hall.

The physique of a demon warlock is much weaker than that of high-level demons of the same class, and he is the closest one to Lord Gandalf. When the flames erupted, this unlucky guy just screamed and was sucked in.When the magic light that resisted the flames lit up, the robes on the warlock had been scorched everywhere.

"This is me, the answer of the demon lord Gandalf, get out of here now, immediately!" Lord Gandalf roared, then raised his head and let out a burst of laughter. Laughing, and throwing mocking demonic words at the hapless demon warlock, it didn't stop until he slipped out with his head down.

Of course, the demon warlock who had a bad nose didn't dare to make fun of it, so Alan Skett arrived at the hall of the Green Castle safely, and then told Levi Ston everything he knew.

"Such an accident happened to the army of demons occupying the capital, and their supreme commander disappeared?" After listening to the information from Alan Skett, Li Wei was thinking seriously, while tapping his fingers on the discussion table in front of him.He didn't consider the authenticity of the information from the beginning to the end, because Alan Skett's allegiance is absolutely beyond doubt. If it is not sincere, the Heart of the Castle will definitely make a corresponding reminder.

"Sounds like a good time to counterattack, Sir Rodriguez, what do you think?"

"I don't think it makes sense, Master Levi." Sir Rodriguez thought for less than two seconds before replying in a dull voice, "I don't have experience in commanding large armies, but I know it's time for Northern County It’s a great opportunity for rapid development. And if we rectify the army and attack immediately, let alone whether we can destroy the demon army occupying the capital, if the forces in our hands are evenly distributed, I am afraid that it will be much more difficult to defend the territory.”

Li Wei stood up frowning and paced back and forth in the middle of the hall. "You are right, Sir Rodriguez." He finally stopped and nodded and said, "Although it is a pity to let go of this opportunity, with the strength of a single county in the northern border, it is indeed a bit reluctant, even if you can If you are lucky enough to take back the capital, there is no way to hold it there."

"This is a wise choice." Sir Rodriguez commented.

"I'm sorry, Alan Skett, although your information is very important, Northern Border County doesn't have the strength to use it now." Levi then turned to the Shadow Assassin and said in an apologetic tone.

"Lord Li Wei, you don't need to feel sorry at all. It's my business to spy on the information, and it's your business to use this information." Alan Skett said with his head tilted to one side.

"This information is not useless. At least we know one thing now, that is, the capital is safe for the time being. I think the evacuation of residents near Dirk City and Sicily City can also be postponed, and more people will be sent to the border. Ranger patrols and big crow scouts are enough as an early warning." A bluish-white light lit up in the middle of the hall, and at the same time Mr. Dish's slightly aged voice came out.

"Master Li Wei, the situation in the Heart of the Castle is recovering faster than I expected. If everything goes well, all the facilities including the newly built buildings will be able to function by the morning of the day after tomorrow."

"This is really good news, Mr. Dish." Li Wei showed a slight smile on his face, "It seems that we can now proceed to the next step of the plan, and conduct a comprehensive investigation on the various forces in Northern Border County. Great compilation."

North Frontier County received nearly 20 refugees from the royal capital Fermeyer and surrounding villages and towns. In addition, there were thousands of noble children from the royal capital. Their retinue knights, family servants, and other related personnel were even more numerous.Coupled with the barren and bitter cold in the northern border county, the lords were not very harmonious at first, and small-scale battles for resources occurred from time to time; there are also the Balance Chamber of Commerce, the Temple of Storms and the Temple of the Earth across the city of Deke and Sicily. The two major religious groups, as well as various small folk forces, have formed a very complicated force group, which cannot form a joint force with each other, and there are countless places that hinder each other.

As long as a person is still sober, he must be able to think that these forces must be integrated in order to form a fist hard enough to protect Beijing County from the invasion of the demon army.

But how easy is it to do so?

Even the Ansair family, the kings of the northern border who had ruled the northern territories for hundreds of years, failed to knead these complicated forces together.Some of these forces are deeply rooted and can be traced back to before the establishment of the Kingdom of Arthur, and some forces are left over from the time when Green Castle was still in the hands of the vagrants and rebels. They are inherently extremely repulsive to the Kingdom of Arthur.

Although Li Weiston is known as the guardian of the entire kingdom and the head of the important ministers, there are many problems in this position. What's more, due to the fall of the king's capital, the prestige of Arthur's royal family has reached the lowest point in history.More than one person had privately suggested to Li Wei that since the Kingdom of Arthur had come to an end, it would be better to become a king on its own. The Kingdom of Griffin sounds no worse than the Kingdom of Arthur.

Such people include some royal nobles with a strong speculative mentality, as well as some northern lords, and even Cedric, Lord of the White Wolf, told Li Wei that if the Griffon Lord is going to become king on his own, the Northern Territory The pacification of the lords can be done by him.

In this chaotic situation, all status, promises and wealth are not secure, and only force is the most important thing.The lords of the northern border have always expressed their support for Levi because of the Earl of Ansair and Lord Cedric, but if they want to integrate their respective military powers, they will probably complain, let alone It's those royal nobles who are full of loss and bewilderment.

Li Wei can fully imagine how strong the backlash will be aroused after his order to reorganize the northern army is issued. Even if this is the need to fight against the evil disaster, there are still only a few nobles and lords who can put the overall situation first.

It is necessary to come up with a way to make those nobles and lords feel irresistible, so as to minimize the turmoil caused by the reorganization of troops.Although relying on the well-equipped Griffon Knights and the Ice Wall defenders, Li Wei is confident that any rebound will be suppressed, but now every ounce of strength is so precious to Beijing County that he can't bear to fight internally Waste even a little bit of it.

Looking at the swaying flames in the fireplace, Li Wei fell into hard thinking.

Luoka Village is located more than 40 kilometers north of the Dusk Forest, about two days away from the Great Wall of Ice. It was originally a small village with about [-] households living here.However, as early as the beginning of the disaster, Luoka Village, which had no self-defense power, was ransacked by demon forces. Almost all the villagers were martyred, and the houses made of logs and mortar were burned to ruins.

Due to its remote location, even after the rise of the Griffon Lord, Roka Village was not listed on the reconstruction list. The disaster caused severe damage to the already scarce manpower in Northern County, and most of the residents concentrated in the relatively safe permanent village. Near Frozen Castle, Green Castle, and other larger towns, or on the more fertile land south of the Zeeland River.

It was not until after the fall of the capital that the village was reused. More than 100 villager wooden houses were rebuilt on the cleaned up ruins, and the entire village was protected with log walls.

The new village still continues the name of Roka Village, but the residents have nothing to do with the original Roka Village. Among the more than 100 households, about 70 households are from the north who moved from Fort Frozen. More than [-] households are from Duncan Village near Wangdu.

Compared with other refugees, the villagers of Duncan Village have a better impression of this young anti-magic hero because they have seen the Griffon Lord who led the Northern Alliance Army.The old blacksmith who used to be the leader of the villagers in Duncan Village often used his conversations with Levi Stone as a source of conversation, and he even got support from Roka Village, so he continued to serve as the village head.

But this time, his village head was confirmed by the Griffon Lord, and he could barely be regarded as a low-level official in Northern County.Rubbing the bronze griffin badge on his belt, the old blacksmith always had a proud smile on his face, and even the hammer seemed to be much lighter.

The newly built Roca Village also has two small altars, which belong to Tomica, the god of the sky, and Kagino, the god of the earth.The altar is also placed in a dedicated room, but it does not have a priest who presides over daily affairs like a temple, but only a trainee dean is responsible for management and cleaning.

Except for the prayer time of the believers in the morning and evening, the two trainee acolytes rarely left their respective altars, but spent a lot of time reading classics and praying to the gods.This is also the most common thing for priests who have not yet possessed divine grace.However, that morning, the acolyte of the Earth Temple in a khaki robe hurriedly knocked on the door of the old blacksmith's room.

"Village chief, my lord Caggino issued an oracle... all the villagers are required to gather in one hour and listen to the orders issued by His Excellency Leviston!"

(End of this chapter)