The green smoke in the air was as obvious as an exploding firework. Looking at the smoke gradually dissipating in the sky, Alkadiza clutched his aching ribs, approached the Skink Priest who was chanting a mantra, and asked
Tao.
"That rat monster left?"
The Skink Priest ignored him, holding the T-shaped slate and gold staff in his right paw, closing his eyes, and continued to recite the incantation that Alkadiza did not understand.
The bone-spurred joint of the blue left paw rested between the chest and abdomen of the injured person, and a green aura was faintly visible. After about a few more minutes, Kunti's breathing gradually became steady as he was lying on the ground.
At this time, the skink stopped chanting the curse, tilted its head and answered.
"Teleportation spells can be traced in the traces of the magical wind."
The skink's eyes turned 180 degrees before speaking again.
"He teleported underground."
Underground?
Alkadiza looked at the entrances of the caves. A large number of wooden barrels were still piled there. When he came closer, he stretched out his hand and took a sip. The contents were indeed fresh water.
After greeting several of Astri's soldiers, three or four Nehekhara people followed the Khemri King and slowly explored into the cave.
The rat footprints on the ground are very obvious, and there is also a smell of rat feces, which is the same as what you can smell from time to time in the granary. If you look closely, you can find that the smell comes from both sides.
channel.
Before complete darkness, the people of Nehekhara covered their noses, lit a torch, and headed deeper.
Alkadiza originally planned to stop at the fork in the road, but after just a few minutes, after passing a corner, a large amount of gravel had blocked the road.
The King of Khemri looked at one of his uncle's soldiers, who was once in charge of the mine.
"Zayad, what do you think?"
The soldier named Zaiyad leaned his ear against the rubble, struck the inside with the hilt of his sword more than a dozen times with varying degrees of strength, shook his head and said.
"The passage is completely blocked. If it is to be reopened, it will take about a day or two. These passages are so narrow that it is impossible to speed them up manually."
"If these rats and beasts block a few more places in the back, we will have to fight them here for many years."
Zayad pointed to the darkness in the distance, where the light of the torch could no longer illuminate.
"In this environment, I'm afraid Nehekhara's soldiers will not be able to fight effectively. Moreover, the fresh water is underground. If they insist on holding on to the fresh water, we may not be able to hold on for long."
Then we have no choice but to give up, after finding these damn mice with great difficulty.
Alkadiza kicked a pile of rubble with some reluctance, and used his extraordinary physical strength to once again confirm the solidity of the rubble blocking the road. Then, the King of Khemri lowered his head and sighed.
"Let's make a mark here first, and then come back to settle accounts with these rats after we defeat the usurper."
It was about an hour after Alkadiza returned to his tent on the beach and convened a meeting with many major military nobles.
Faced with the slightly timid looks of the nobles after seeing Kunti lying down entering the camp, Alkadiza said without hesitation.
"We have not defeated the rats, nor have we been defeated by the rats, but the problem now is that maybe the only water source is controlled by the rats, and we have no way to get it underground."
At this time, the Skink Priest spoke before the nobles began to discuss.
"After a while, seawater can turn into fresh water."
Not only did the Skink's words fail to quiet down the nobles, but after taking a closer look at this strange blue creature with scales and spikes sprouting from all over its body, more violent noises broke out among the nobles of Nehekhara. p>
"Is there such a technology?"
"Can this technology be used on a large scale? At what cost?"
The eyes of nobles from water-scarce areas such as Lahmia, Quata, and Lybaras were all shining, but an apprentice from a magic school said calmly.
"As long as you are willing to learn, the lizard's magic tablet is not difficult to make, but it will definitely require collecting a large amount of magic wind. Indiscriminate collection of magic wind will lead to corruption, and we are unlikely to use it on a large scale."
The skink tilted its head and said in confusion.
"Wind of magic? After repairing the giant spiritual network, there will be no corruption."
As soon as he finished speaking, the nobles almost gathered around. The skink looked at the Nehekhara people with bright eyes in confusion, and was at a loss.
Alkadiza followed the Skink's words.
"Then all countries will jointly invest in repairing the giant spiritual network throughout Nehekhara."
"Although repairing the giant spiritual network requires a large amount of gold, after completing these projects and desalinating seawater on a large scale, Lybaras and Lamia, which lack river water, will no longer need to import large amounts of food. Instead, we can turn the golden plains into
Become a granary."
The camp became completely silent for a moment, and all the nobles looked at each other, unable to speak complete words for a long time.
"This, I'm afraid..."
Wu Suoran's voice, who originally just stayed close to observe and had no intention of interrupting, came out from under the black mask.
"They have no money. The finances of all countries rely on the gold provided by Lamia every year. How can they spend money to build such long-term projects?"
"It would be better if we directly take money from Lahmia to repair it and reduce the amount of annual transfer payments to various countries."
These words were tantamount to dropping a bombshell among the nobles. A group of Nehekhara people immediately exploded. The nobles of Kuata stood up directly and almost got within three steps of Usoran.
.
"This is not possible, Lord Night. Without Lahmia's gold, Quata will not even be able to pay back its debt to Numas next year."
Seeing the ugliness of these people, Wu Suoran's face hidden under the black cloth smiled contemptuously and retreated behind Alkadiza.
Restraining his bloodthirsty emotions, the Midnight Lord said in a voice just enough for the audience to hear.
"It's just a proposal, you don't need to be so nervous. Laemia's assistance is decided by the noble saint Neferata, and no one can cancel it at will."
After saying that, Usuoran got rid of the noisy military nobles, stepped aside, and read through the documents that had not been read today at the location of the military staff.
Seeing the Midnight Lord retreating, the remaining nobles looked at Alkadiza, and it was still the noble from Kuata who took the lead.
"The king of Khemri cannot interfere in the internal affairs of Laemia, and of course he cannot interfere in other countries. If we want to repair the giant spiritual network, we will make our own decision."
Alkadiza looked puzzled at the sudden outpouring of anger from these people, and replied with a hint of temptation.
"This is your choice. However, our task today is to ensure the camp's fresh water and logistical supplies first."
The nobles looked at each other again, obviously not thinking that Alkadiza would change the subject, and soon an engineer from Lebaras spoke first.
"Of course, Your Majesty, we are about to report this."
The nobles frowned slightly, showing disgust. Seeing this, the engineer lowered his head and said.
"We were originally debating whether to build a cross-sea bridge, but the Night Lords helped us solve the matter. Currently, the lizardmen and our engineers are working together to build the dock."
Wu Suoran, who was originally flipping through documents, raised his head when he heard someone mentioning himself.
It took about a few seconds to review their questions, Wu Suoran said.
"We contacted Lahmia through the lizardmen and got a reply from the midnight nobles who stayed behind. Not many merchants in Lahmia want to enter the acid sea."
"So, in the end we decided to build the pier and the cross-sea bridge at the same time."
"The lizard man said that the spiritual veins here are almost connected, and the magic power of Slann can be transferred to the spiritual veins here. The Lizard Priest will cooperate with Slann on the other side of the sea to build a cross-sea bridge.
Although I don't know how to build it.
After seeing what the lizardmen were capable of, no one in the camp raised any questions about the lizardmen, except for Alkadiza's request.
"After the supply channel is secured, we will break camp and march, and we must head to the battlefield as soon as possible."
This time, it was the nobles of Ka-Sabai, the Bronze City, who raised objections.
"I'm afraid this won't work. After crossing more than 30 kilometers of seabed, the soldiers are already very tired. It's impossible for us not to be prepared for encounters that may occur at any time."
The nobleman, who only wore a short white linen skirt that just passed the crotch, tapped the bronze breastplate on his chest, which also had a duel medal riveted to it for winning a duel.
Then, he pointed to the big round shield behind him and said.
"We can't carry these things during the march. Once we encounter an encounter, our combat effectiveness will drop sharply."
"And if the soldiers are still overtired at this time, with all due respect, we are sending ourselves to death."
"This is what I want to say."
The one who suddenly spoke out was Alkadiza's father, King Astri, Aton Horu.
This king had just come in from the outside. Even if he was not wearing armor, the people of Nehekhara could see the fatigue on his body.
Seeing this situation, Alkadiza turned to ask.
"How is uncle Kunti's injury?"
"Probably you can recover after practicing for a while."
King Astri bowed his hands, signaled the followers behind him to retreat outside the tent, took a deep look at the Skink Priest who kept looking around, and said.
"The lizard man's healing spell is really amazing. Looking at the look of his breastplate, I thought he was dead. You have found a good ally."
King Astri, whose long beard hanging down to his chest was all white, had a hint of relief in his eyes, but it disappeared immediately.
"Let's continue the topic just now."
"This is an unknown land. From now on, we can no longer carry out forced marches, and we must retain enough troops to protect our supply lines."
At this time, a document was handed to Alkadiza by Wu Suoran.
The king of Khemri glanced at it and said.
"Tianzhou reported that there is a fertile land on the north side of the mountain. We may be able to find food there and establish a kingdom as a stronghold for our long-term counterattack, just like the first dynasty established a stronghold in Astri.
."
The Skink Priest, who had stayed here without speaking for a long time, suddenly insisted.
"Slan's order is that we must march to the northwest immediately, otherwise there will be no time to stop that dead hot-blooded species."
Aton Horu raised his voice.
"First ensure the supplies, and then we will discuss continuing the march."
Then, the king looked at the other nobles around him and said calmly.
"As for building a stronghold in a fertile land, it must be built, otherwise there is no way to guarantee the long term. I think the only way is to divide the troops."
King Astri's eyes focused on the people in the Bronze City, revealing a smile that made people confused.
"There should be nobles here who want to make contributions and become kings. If not, the Astri people don't mind having another king."
The nobles of the Bronze City stared at their medals for a long time, as if recalling the past. After a long time, they shook their heads and said.
"Ka-Sabai has no time to add another colony."
After other nobles also expressed the same meaning, Aten Horu asked the leader.
"Then it seems that an Astri must do such a thing."
"My Grand Vizier will mobilize 6,000 phalanx soldiers from the coalition forces, plus more than 1,000 of his own personal guards, to open up the northern lands and establish strongholds along the way."
"But the north is not dominated by those upright rats? Why don't we send fewer phalanx soldiers, maybe three thousand is more appropriate to test?"
Alkadiza said worriedly that he actually did not agree with dispersing the elite at this time.
But his father obviously didn't mean this.
"Astri's armored troops will not fear any threat."
King Astri spoke to his son word by word, and everyone could almost smell the unique fishy smell of the Astri people from the king's aging body.
However, just a moment later, the seriousness on King Astri's face was replaced by a kind smile.
"I think we'll just go and see when the supplies will be delivered, and then get ready to leave."
A group of nobles, led by Lahmia and Khemri, had no choice but to agree.
At the same time, they really want to see what else the lizard people who can divide the sea can do.
Outside the tent, the aroma of fish meat is already wafting out.
Further away, soldiers who had a break were surrounding the Skink Priests on several huge luminous stone slabs to watch the fun.
Soon, nobles also joined their ranks.
As the sound of chanting the mantra becomes more and more regular, it becomes more and more like a tide, strengthening the power of each mantra.
Soon, as three different colors of yellow, blue, and green magical auras began to flicker in the realm that mortals could see, the waves in the sea became more and more unnatural, as if the sea was trembling.
Not long after, the entire beach began to shake, and the gravel almost turned into liquid with this force. Unprepared, some soldiers' legs sank in, and others did not even have the time to rescue him.
The waves on the sea became more and more concentrated in a straight line. Tens of seconds later, with the loud noise breaking through the water surface, square stone pillars three companies wide suddenly rose from the bottom of the sea.