Heart of the Castle

Chapter 714 Fierce battle at an altitude of one thousand meters
Cardinal St. Nemok staggered on the road leading to the top of the holy mountain. The steps under his feet were carved from a single piece of flawless white stone, like a white ribbon wrapped around the holy mountain.The number of these steps is simply innumerable, and there are ancient alchemy runes all over them, allowing anyone who does not have the original power to climb up step by step with their feet.

When he was young, Cardinal St. Nemok, like countless teenagers in the seminary, climbed the holy mountain with a pious heart. He climbed up at sunrise and went down at sunset. No matter the weather was fine or it was raining and snowing, he never stopped for a day. .However, as he grew older, he became more devout in his belief in the Lord of Glory, Flandara, but he complained about this long and rugged winding mountain road.

When he was halfway up the mountain, Cardinal St. Nemok stopped and sat on the side of the road to catch his breath, while resting his aching knees and feet.The winding steps of the holy mountain are a good training for young trainees in the seminary, and they can identify whose will is stronger and whose belief is purer.However, for the elderly and pampered cardinals and senior members of the Temple of Glory, this mountain road is nothing less than a cruel torment.

Cardinal St. Nemok couldn't help thinking to himself how many years it had been since he had climbed this mountain pass, and he was slightly surprised by the result.For five full years, the last time he climbed was shortly after the Battle of Tall Morden Wetlands. He had to go to see His Majesty the Pope, hand over his position as the Archbishop of the Hammer of Judgment Knights, and get a new appointment.

Since that time, he has never climbed the winding steps of the Holy Mountain in person, and the times when he saw His Majesty the Pope were always when important meetings were held.Since His Majesty the Pope is a well-known legendary powerhouse, the steps of the holy mountain that ordinary people can only climb step by step do not constitute any hindrance to him.For the sake of convenience, the meeting place is usually chosen at the Temple of Radiance at the foot of the mountain.

The other cardinals should be almost the same. Unless it is absolutely necessary, no one is willing to climb the holy mountain to see His Majesty the Pope. This equipment can also easily reach His Majesty the Pope.

But this time, Cardinal St. Nemok was unwilling to use this alchemy equipment, because using this equipment could not keep absolute secrecy, and there were countless ways to intercept and analyze video signals, no matter divine or magical. , as long as it reaches the strength of the diocesan bishop or the great magister, it can be done.

The sound of footsteps suddenly came from the direction above the head, and Cardinal St. Nemok hurriedly stood up with the support of the bishop's scepter, and looked up.To his surprise, the person who came was wearing a luxurious golden high-necked robe and a triple crown inlaid with gold and gemstones to form a colorful sunburst. It was Pope Nicholas St. Kaiyuan who held the supreme authority of the Shining Temple. His Majesty.

"Your Majesty, why is it you? Shouldn't you be in the golden temple on the top of the holy mountain? I happen to have something to report to you..."

Cardinal St. Nemok suddenly couldn't continue, because he saw the eyes of His Majesty the Pope, those eyes were as red as blood, and he was looking at himself with an unusually indifferent gaze, as if the fierce flames of the entire abyss hell All burning in it!

"You...you are not His Majesty the Pope, who are you?" St. The golden mask of the body, "My Lord Flandara, the golden face shines on the earth. At this most critical moment, please give me strength and courage to face the indescribable horror..."

The desperate prayers of Cardinal St. Nemok came to an end, and His Majesty the Pope, whose eyes were red like weeping blood, raised a hand, and an indescribable darkness gushed out from his palm, and the golden mask of divine protection The fragility seemed to be like an eggshell, and it would collapse at the touch, and then the gemstone cracked, and the cold darkness made Cardinal St. Nemok's body stiff, drowning everything in sight...

"Go away, darkness!" Cardinal St. Nemok suddenly yelled, sitting up from the bed in shock, only feeling pain in the forehead, heart beating wildly, as far as he could see, the narrow cabin was pitch black.

"Just now...was just a nightmare?" He collected himself, only to realize that it was not some dark magic that bound his hands and feet and made him unable to move, but just a quilt.

"Master Cardinal, are you awake?" Some familiar voices came from outside, Cardinal St. Nemok struggled to get up, stumbling forward in the darkness, when he finally opened the hatch At that time, the light immediately poured in, driving away the darkness in the room.

Triunicion, who was holding a candlestick, appeared at the door with a anxious face. The sword-wielding grand duke looked quite embarrassed. There was a sword mark on his forehead that hadn't healed, and there were a few purple-black bruises on his face. On the chest, and tightly wrapped in a blood-stained linen bandage.

"Brother Treuni... What time is it? Where are we now?" Cardinal St. Nemok asked, but his expression was still very dazed, obviously the influence of the nightmare just now had not completely disappeared.

Seeing that Cardinal St. Nemok was safe and sound, Triunician looked relieved, "My lord cardinal, please don't talk yet." Put it on the low table next to the bed, then turned around and told a crew member who was following, "It's fine to put the things here, you can go out."

The crew member placed the metal tray in his hand next to the candlestick, then bowed and exited the cabin.Triunician then carefully closed the hatch, pointed to the tray and said, "My lord cardinal, let's eat something first, it won't be too late to talk about other things later."

Cardinal St. Nemok shook his head subconsciously at first, but when he smelled the rich aroma of hot stewed beef, he swallowed unconsciously, showing a rather embarrassing expression on his face at the same time. "I'm really hungry, so let's eat something first."

The beef was stewed badly, and with oats, rosemary, saffron and diced potatoes, the broth was almost chewy.Cardinal St. Nemok finished most of the bowl of beef stew in one go, and even sucked up the soup with bread. He ate several pieces before stopping his mouth.

Feeling that the feeling of hunger had disappeared, Cardinal St. Nemok reluctantly put down the soup bowl, then pulled the linen napkin to wipe the sap from the corner of his mouth, "Brother Treuni, how long have I been asleep?"

"If you start counting from leaving Green Castle, it's the sunset time of the third day, and you've been asleep for 24 hours. My lord cardinal, how do you feel now?" Triunicion replied with a look in his eyes. Faint worry and uneasiness.

"Yesterday evening, the Rimang was attacked by demon forces, and was attacked on deck by the enemy. Fortunately, with the help of elves and giant dragons, the demons were driven away. After the battle, someone found that your head was injured. Passed out in the corridor. Although the archdruid of the elves has used natural magic to give you emergency treatment, he can't guarantee that there will be no sequelae."

"The Rimang is under attack? Demon troops? There are elves and giant dragons?" Cardinal St. Nemok blinked his eyes in confusion, and then the expression on his face gradually changed, and his eyes gradually became clearer, "Oh, Guang Yao Lord Flandara, I remembered! I remembered everything!"

In retrospect, everything that happened yesterday seems to have happened decades ago, covered with a thick layer of fog, but when Cardinal St. Nemok seriously recalled it, the layer of fog was gradually peeled off.He recalled that the airship Rimang was flying at a height of more than 1000 meters above the ground, and the flag on the mast fluttered proudly in the wind, showing the divine emblem of the lord of light, Flandara from time to time——the symbol on the Silver Half Dome. A golden sun.

The Rimang large alchemy flying ship is 150 meters long, and has eight double-mounted alchemy ballistas with a range of nearly 1000 meters as self-defense weapons. Stone walls can be easily penetrated.In terms of defense, the Rimang is also very good. When the two auxiliary magic furnaces are operating at full capacity, they can support a huge magic shield covering the entire ship, which is strong enough to resist the impact of the ninth ring of magic or magic. The attack of the legendary strongman also has a great weakening effect.

At the same time, the Rimang also has an escort of air knights. This air knights number forty, well-equipped and well-trained. In addition to the fact that the giant eagle suffered a great loss from being afraid of the breath of the wyvern, there has never been a record of defeat since the establishment of the flying ship air escort force in the Glory Temple.

Rimang is such a fortified city in the air that can be attacked and defended. Although Cardinal St. Nemok speculated that they might encounter obstacles from various forces on the way back, he asked Captain Jorn to raise his alert level, but in all fairness He didn't expect that the Rimang would really be threatened decently, at most it was just some harassing attacks.

After leaving the Northern County of the Kingdom of Arthur, Cardinal St. Nemok asked the Rimang to return to the Holy Mountain on a different route than when it came, hoping to avoid trouble to the greatest extent.Perhaps it was for this reason that during the first two days of the voyage, the sea of ​​clouds around the Rimang was always very calm, and even the flock of eagles that could occasionally be seen at an altitude of a thousand meters did not appear.

In the evening of the second day, the light in the cabin gradually dimmed. Cardinal St. Nemok put on his robe, stepped onto the deck, and watched the golden sun gradually sink into the sea of ​​clouds.His eyes closed slowly, and he murmured some psalms in praise of Flandara, the Lord of Radiance. Only at such times can Cardinal St. Temporarily leave those worrisome things, let your consciousness float in the peaceful and serene Kingdom of Light in Flandara.

"There are many shadows approaching, the number is very large, more than a hundred!" A hurried voice suddenly sounded from the brass horn, tearing the peaceful and quiet air of the evening.

"What shadow? Where is it?" Captain Jon's voice also sounded through the loudspeaker.

"The port side of the bow, at an angle of about [-] degrees! It is approaching rapidly!"

Cardinal St. Nemok opened his eyes, walked quickly to the edge of the bow deck, and looked out with his hand on the railing.His eyesight is not very good due to reading too many religious classics, but there are not many ways to solve this problem in the magic arts. A simple third-level magic spell morning light farsightedness is enough for him to see thousands of meters away. everything on it.

Looking from a distance, the sea of ​​clouds in the front left is churning and fluctuating, and the howling wind in the sky stirs up roars one after another.Cardinal St. Nemok looked into the distance until his eyes became sour, and he saw that there seemed to be many black spots appearing on the sea of ​​clouds, and they were gradually getting bigger.

"My lord cardinal, please go to the cabin to rest first, just leave it to me." Triunician's voice came from behind, and Cardinal St. Nemok looked back and found the sword of condemnation The head of Oita has already put on a full set of heavy armor, with a long sword hanging from his waist and a shield in his hand. Only his face is exposed from all over his body. "If the Ridge is under attack, it will be too unsafe on deck."

"Brother Treuni, don't worry about me." Cardinal St. Nemok shook his head with a smile, "Five years ago, I was the archbishop of the Judgment Hammer Knights, and every guardian Teach the knights to march and fight side by side, and know exactly what needs to be paid attention to. You can rest assured that the military commander of the mission is you, and I will not speak out to interfere with your command."

Triunicion nodded and walked towards the bow at the same time, "Lookout!" He raised his voice and said, "Now can you see clearly what is flying over?"

"It seems to be... a group of big birds!" The brass speaker replied, "But they are really big, some are even bigger than the giant eagles that escort the knights' mounts... Oh, no, it's not birds, it's birds. Demons, many demons are flying over!"

The terrified shouts of the lookouts blew the same emotion into everyone's hearts through the brass horns throughout the ship. There was an unbelievable look in his eyes.

"It's actually a demon? How could these guys find the Sunshine? Could it be that those people from the Kingdom of Arthur informed the demon?" Triunisian's tone was more doubtful than angry, and he clutched his waist tightly with his right hand. of the hilt.

"Don't be suspicious, Brother Triuni." Cardinal St. Nemok shook his head and denied, "We decided to change the return route of Rimang after we took off. Even if someone colluded with the devil, how could we predict it in advance? Where are we?"

Triunicion frowned, but before he could answer, another terrified cry came from the brass horn, "The target is confirmed, there are about a hundred Winged Demon Annihilators, and there are more than ten Abyssal Balrogs and Abyss refining demons... the benevolent Lord of Light, please lower your divine power and save us!"

Hearing the series of types and numbers of demons reported by the lookout on the Rimang, many crew members turned pale with nervousness, but Triunicion's expression seemed much more relaxed. "Is it just Abyssal Balrog and Abyssal Alchemy? Hey, these guys can only harass them with the ability to fly, and they have no ability to break through the magic shield of the Rimang. It doesn't matter even if they jointly cast meteor fire rain .”

Cardinal St. Nemok nodded, but quickly added, "The magic shield can only defend against long-range magic attacks. If the devil rushes up against the shots of the alchemy ballista, Brother Treuni, the Rimang Your safety will be handed over to you with the Sword of Condemnation."

"In the name of my lord Flandara, my blade has longed for the taste of the blood of the devil." Triunicion showed a murderous smile, and then raised his voice to give orders.

"Captain Lynn, you take two men to guard the stern. Captain Barkley, the port side is yours. Captain Haverche leads someone to guard the starboard side. Leave the safety of the bow to me, in the name of my lord Flandara. , act now!"

"In the name of my lord Flandara, swing your sword and slay the darkness!" More than a dozen knights belonging to the Knights of the Sword of Condemnation shouted at the same time. The morale of many crew members on the Rimang was also boosted.

The experienced Captain Yorn immediately seized this opportunity to shout loudly, and his roar sounded from the brass horn, "All the crew of the Rimang, do you hear that? The invincible Knights of the Sword of Condemnation are with us, but Don't forget, only we really know how to fight on the Rimang, are we going to lose to them? Answer me!"

A moment of silence enveloped the whole ship, and then hundreds of voices yelled at the same time, converging into an earth-shattering answer, "No, we are the crew of the Rimang, and we will not lose!"

"Auxiliary mana furnace maximum speed, open the safety mechanism of each ballista position, don't spare the ammunition! All hand-to-hand combat troops are equipped with continuous crossbows, and the knight troops in the escort air are ready to go into battle at any time!"

Following the issuance of Captain Jorn's orders one by one, the war machine of the Rimang also started, and the canvas sheaths covering the double-mounted alchemy ballista were lifted, revealing hundreds of years of time to the sky, The sharp fangs are still shining coldly; the access platforms of the air knights on the left and right sides are also open, and the air knights escorted by the Rimang are behind the armored door and ready to go. While waiting for the order to attack, they comfort the restless mounts.

Triunicion stared at the left front of the Rimang with piercing eyes. The distance between those black shadows and the flying ship was close enough that they could see each other clearly. Afterwards, the Winged Demon Annihilator rushed forward one after another, screaming strangely. The sound resounded through the sky, and even the shouts of the brass horns on the Sunburst were almost suppressed.

"Bow ballista, fire!"

(End of this chapter)