I Like This Dream!

(fifty one)

Lydia is laughing? An Xu thought in horror, after all, he didn't ask aloud, in order not to discourage the enthusiasm of the little ascetic girl. It took her a long time to let Lydia realize that the language and expression are not frivolous, and she will not be blamed by God, so even if the first smile seemed as ferocious and stiff as a Terminator baring its teeth, Anxu would not Keeping his expression on, he applauded encouragingly.

So Lydia thought that the favored man understood what she was talking about, so she stopped explaining.

They packed up as usual, Lydia skillfully climbed onto the back of the favored man, fixed herself with the belt of the marching backpack of the frontier army uniform, Anxu opened the window, and "walked" out through the window.

She didn't fall, but just swayed in the air as if she was stepping on a soft rope. Anxi was held up by tiny electric charges—she didn't know if this statement was correct, and now she couldn't explain her ability with science, but she used it gradually like her arms and fingers, as if a fish was born to swim. She opened her arms, the ground was getting further and further away, and her body easily floated above the sea of ​​trees. At this altitude, nothing could obscure her view except the endless sky.

An Xu was stung again by the strange feeling in the morning.

"Lydia, do you feel..." She paused at this point, and couldn't think of how to express it, so she had to change her words, "Do you think the sky is weird?"

"It's going to snow," Lydia said, frowning. "It wasn't there yesterday."

They looked in the same direction, and in the distance, lead-colored clouds rolled continuously. Like a huge slug, it crawled towards Tibes slowly and without stopping.

==========================

The border army of Tibes assembled in the morning light, and they marched to the last village under the leadership of the general.

It was the largest village near the border, and it was formed by merging two villages during the beast tide the year before last. This decision successfully saved Omura from the tragedy of being breached, which is a wise move. But also because of this, the villagers refused to accept help for temporary relocation several times, thinking that they could survive the disaster by sticking to the village.

In fact, there are not many such villages. The small village in the mountain nest is short-sighted and stubborn, and is oppressed by the nobles and the Holy See to the point of paranoia of persecution. Urging them to relocate will force the village to hide in the mountains. This year is going so smoothly, thanks to a "Blood Anna" making troubles everywhere, scaring people into panic, and throwing themselves into the arms of the border army in gratitude. This village is also the same. "Blood Anna" passed by that village a mile away a few days ago, leaving traces that can be seen by the whole village: a towering tree fell down, and it stood out in the woods like a bald spot on a person's head. spot. The next day, the village chief quickly submitted an application, begging the border army to take them to shelter for the winter.

Jane led the team to the village and gathered the villagers who had already packed up. There were hundreds of villagers, old and young, dragging packages, unable to count or distinguish left and right. It took half a day to gather in groups, barely allowing the border army to surround and protect them during the migration. The general had already handed over the task of closing the team to the adjutant, and hid himself aside, hiding with his arms folded so that no strangers could enter.

"They are simply stupider than the pigs herded by the swineherd." Jane walked in the front and complained to the adjutant, "I'd rather be besieged by a group of strange beasts!"

"Please wait until we go back before saying such unlucky words." David smiled wryly.

"It's as if we didn't encounter anything on the way here." The general snorted disapprovingly, "There are so many **** beasts today, I thought they were all scared out of their wits."

"The animal tide season is about to start after all, this is the last escort." David comforted, "In a week at least, the first snow will fall."

"Better hurry up, I..."

The noise interrupted their conversation. It was just an exclamation at first, and soon spread to the whole crowd. An atmosphere of unease began to spread, and the team slowed down.

"What's going on?" the general asked loudly.

"My lord! Look up!" Someone shouted.

Jane raised her head, and through the dense branches, she could see that the sky not far away had been covered by overcast clouds. It was not a bright cloud entwined with lightning when a certain thunder and lightning user summoned thunder, but a dark rain cloud, heavy and strong like a big lump of cotton that was full of dirty water. Numerous small black dots pierced in and out of the clouds. They were ice birds that came with the ice and snow. Their wingspan was as long as two arms, but they were as small as mosquitoes and flies on the clouds.

The animal swarm season is not a clear natural season, but a period of animal swarms that is closely related to the weather and is equivalent to the length of a season. In Thebes, beast tide season begins with the first snow, around mid-December.

It's ahead of schedule.

"What are you making so much noise about?" the general shouted, "You **** have made me run around, and I can be caught in a storm at the end of autumn!"

She scanned the crowd angrily, "Shut up! Everyone follow the command and leave quickly! Whoever slows us down makes us drenched in the rain, and hand over everything on our body to the army!"

The noise fell silent, and people who didn't know what was going on began to rush forward. Most people were skeptical, and comforted each other with "it's a storm" and "it's not time". In their hearts, they would rather believe that it is the end of autumn rather than the beginning of winter, that the rain clouds are not wrapped in snow, and the black spots passing through are just birds that have lost their way.

"But my lord!" An old man shouted in horror, "This is... ah!"

A burst of flames exploded around him, igniting the goats carrying the pack beside him. His family scrambled to put out the fire, and finally had to throw the burning package on the ground to rescue the still-shocked goat.

"Think I'm farting?" The general snapped unkindly, "What are you looking at? Let's go!"

Now no one dared to speak anymore, the imminent threat made them have no time to think about other things, and they ran in a hurry.

The maroon horse rubbed against its master's hand and snorted restlessly. Jane walked ahead sullenly, patted her horse reassuringly. This horse is also a domesticated beast, and it has already felt the disturbance in its blood.

People who have never been on the frontier cannot understand what a beast tide is like. The tide is a very apt metaphor. The continuous flow of strange beasts is like waves one after another. At the same time, the speed at which they gather and surge is as visible to the naked eye as the tide.

A dapple poked its ugly head out of the woods, bobbing its nose. Like the moon driving the tide, driven by an unknown force, this kind of ghoul who dared not attack large groups of living people in the past greedily and hesitantly looked at the long line. The general didn't wait for it to make a decision, and with a wave of his hand, the archer's arrow pierced the beast's head. There was a clamor in the forest, and the body of the spotted dog shrank back and sank into the bushes with the arrow inserted, and then there were horrific scrambling and chewing sounds.

The general wasn't throwing fireballs there, her lips were drawn into a line, her hands clenched until the knuckles turned white. The memory of the last big beast tide emerged in her mind. Ten years later, she still remembered the blood-soaked ground. At this time, every power must be used cautiously. It is impossible to fight against the tide with a human body. All we can do is to last as long as possible until it retreats.

Clouds are getting closer.

From the sky, it seems that the clouds are slowly crawling, but you can only appreciate its hugeness and swiftness when you are really below it. The cloud just looks clumsy, and the speed it travels doesn't match its size at all.

They had already started running, and a group of villagers were driven away by soldiers with sharp weapons. At first glance, it looked like soldiers bullying others, but the soldiers' faces were even more nervous. Unlike the villagers who walked on their way with a numb face, they knew what would happen if they stayed outside the fort when the snow fell.

Jane was already on her horse, and she was at the forefront of the whole team, rushing forward like the tip of an icebreaker. More and more strange beasts were tempted, and the bold ones had already gathered around and rushed towards the crowd fiercely. The general's flames scorched those daring outposts, and the natural fear of the flames made most of the beasts retreat. The trees thinned out, and after a while there was a path leading to the fort.

But it was too late.

Everyone felt a sudden chill. The dark clouds are frighteningly close, and with the howling wind, the dark clouds are like a blanket being spread out, and they are about to sweep over the top of the head. From afar, they could see heavy snow falling, as if the world was split into light and dark sides, and the bright world they lived in was about to fall. The terrified villagers had lost the courage to run around, and some fell to the ground.

"David!" Jane said solemnly, "Did we just pass by the village with the big cellar?"

"Just passing Hegu Village, you can see the house after a short walk east of that tree stump." The adjutant replied, "You mean?"

"Except for us, all other people with supernatural powers go back to the defense line and leave behind the things that can cover up the smell." Jane said quickly, "It's too late, take a gamble!"

David moved his lips, wanting to say that this is too risky, but other methods are doomed to sacrifice a large number of civilians and soldiers, and the general cannot agree. He nodded heavily and gave the order to go on.

The cavalry without abilities gave up their horses, and the soldiers with abilities and the villagers with abilities got on their horses and left. There was another commotion at their departure, and the general galloped around the crowd and silenced them with flames.

"There's no way we'll get back to the fort before the snow falls!" she said aloud on horseback, provoking a terrified murmur, "There's a cellar in Riverdale, and many of you here know that! Pack up and hide in there with me if you want to survive ! Someone will pick us up after the snow stops!"

"Why are they gone!" Someone shouted, and immediately many people responded.

"Being exposed to the beast tide with so many supernatural beings, don't you think you died fast enough!" Jane roared back.

Just like the crystal nucleus is needed by the supernatural beings as a "battery", the supernatural beings also attract strange beasts in reverse. The alien beasts in the beast tide devoured the corpses of the same kind, and regardless of the greater threat posed by the aliens, they attacked the aliens first like crazy. People with supernatural powers who lack self-protection ability and lack of cover are like jewels dropped on the street. They are not even as safe as ordinary people against the beast tide.

"But, but all the supernatural beings are gone, what should we do?" Someone screamed again.

"Yeah, who will protect us?"

"They want to run away by themselves and remove the useful supernatural beings!"

"Bring us out and let us die..."

"It's better to stay in the village..."

There was a sound of agreement, and one after another looked at Jane with resentment. The fiery general didn't get angry, ten years of garrison on the border was enough for her to see all kinds of people. She glanced back coldly, and this momentum silenced the complaints.

"You have only two choices now!" She said loudly, "Either continue to complain here and wait to die, or hide with me in the cellar. I will stay, guard the outermost, and die before you!"

The villagers looked at each other in blank dismay, and soon, one by one started to move again.