To be honest, Hao Ren was actually waiting for the old general's words. In the past ten days, he had traveled through mountains and rivers in the wastelands and forests of the world of Koro, but he had never had a peaceful meal, even if he and Veroni
There is no shortage of food and drink in the stuck alien space, and sitting in the deserted mountains and forests is definitely not a good environment for eating. So as soon as Margus said dinner was ready, Hao Ren immediately felt that this old man was more pleasing to the eye...
The old general admitted that the environment of the Western Fortress was limited, and Princess Veronica was not a demanding person, so this simple reception banquet was held directly in this simple reception room, and Hao Ren soon knew that such a simple reception room was in front of him.
The reception room is actually the highest-standard place in the Western Fortress: this fortress looks magnificent from the outside, but it is a pure battle fortress from the inside out. Everything here is designed to resist the power of chaos.
There are no unnecessary decorations and no unnecessary luxuries. Even the room that Magus lives in is only slightly larger than that of an ordinary soldier. He uses all his strength to resist Chaos and squeezes out all the resources for personal enjoyment.
This is the normal life of border people.
Although the reception feast is not sumptuous, it is delicious and nutritious. The soldiers on the front line fight bloody battles every day. As long as the upper echelons of the kingdom have no problem with their brains, they will definitely not wrong the soldiers here in terms of supplies. Fresh vegetables and a soft and sweet
The flour cakes whetted Hao Ren's appetite, and the thick soup made from fungi quickly relieved him of the fatigue he had accumulated over the past few days.
He was not distracted when eating, but Princess Veronica's attention obviously did not pay much attention to the food in front of her. Her Royal Highness the Princess was very worried about the abnormal changes in the border of Chaos: "What exactly did the monster attack the city from?"
When did it start?”
"On the day your Royal Highness the Princess disappeared," Magus sat across the table, his huge size made him look like a giant beast lying next to the table, "To be precise, it was the fourth one after the entire Shadow Jungle defense line collapsed.
When the power of chaos reached its peak during the day, those things suddenly appeared from the air. There was no warning for this attack, and even the wizards in the magic tower did not detect any signs. If it were not for the eternal sign on the outer wall of the Western Fortress
With the continuous runes of order, I’m afraid we won’t be able to withstand the first round of attacks.”
Veronica nodded: "Will the subsequent attacks continue?"
"It lasts from one to three days each time, and the interval in between is variable. Chaos is lingering outside the city. No matter how many times the power of the Fire Tower disperses them, those things don't seem to show any signs of weakening. To be honest,
I find this very disturbing: this year is already the seventh year of the Tide of Chaos. After passing its peak, they should gradually decline, but the current situation... it seems that it is strengthening."
"Within the kingdom..."
"Under the protection of the goddess, the roads are still open and communication has not been interrupted. Although a small force of chaos has penetrated into the Western Mountain Corridor, it is not enough of a threat. If even the assistance from the kingdom had been interrupted, this situation would have been different.
"
Veronica breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, my father and General Groen should already be discussing countermeasures."
"Countermeasures? I'm afraid it's hard to have any effective countermeasures," the old general shook his head, "Your Highness, I have been fighting Chaos for seven years, and in the Year of Order, I have been fighting for your father against all the large and small forces in the kingdom.
A small tearing point of chaos. I know very well what kind of enemy we are facing. It is unknowable and uncontrollable. Although it is sad, human beings can only passively accept the tide of the Sea of Karnos.
, passive resistance, every time we survive from the tide of chaos, it is not because mortals defeated it, but just because the tide ended before we became extinct. If this big tide really continues like this,
All the old man can do is fight to death here. Delaying it for enough time is the only countermeasure."
Hao Ren raised his head and looked at Marcus in surprise.
He didn't expect to hear such pessimistic and desperate words from this seemingly iron-blooded old general. However, once such words came out of the other party's mouth, he knew that this was a reality that the people of Kolo had long accepted.
Under such circumstances, the old man can still speak calmly about dying in battle, which is the most admirable thing.
Veronica obviously knew that what the old general said was the truth. She could only bite her lip: "...I know. There is one more thing, about the Hearthfire Outpost in the Shadow Jungle..."
"After 'that day', we lost contact with all outposts," Magus spread his hands. "Chaos attacks were quite frequent, and all crossings between the fortress and the jungle defense line were completely blocked. Our best
The scouts could not pass through those shadows. Only recently, a team of suicide squads successfully crossed the Chaos blockade and found the outpost closest to the fortress. Only two scouts came back alive, and the news they brought back was very bad."
"I know..." Veronica lowered her eyes, "The fortress defenders are all dead, it seems they died of madness."
Magus put his hands on the table and looked at Her Royal Highness the Princess with bright eyes: "You and your knights miraculously traveled through the entire forest. Do you know what exactly happened there?"
Veronica shook her head: "I am also confused, General, there are no traces of attacks on those outposts. All the buildings are intact, the weapons depot has not even been opened, but all the defenders inside are dead.
.However, we still found some clues. Some of the outpost commanders seemed to have persisted around the fire device longer than others. They stayed..."
Veronica recounted what she had discovered in those outposts. During the entire narration, Marcus did not interrupt. The old general just listened attentively, and the mighty eyebrows on his face gradually became tangled together.
"We know nothing about these things," Magus said with a gloomy and terrifying expression, "I have failed your father."
"General, manpower has its limits," Veronica comforted. "Your ability to hold on to this fortress in the West is already the greatest contribution to the kingdom. What happens in the Shadow Jungle is full of weirdness, not just the encounter at Hearthfire Outpost.
Even my defeat that day was a bit strange. Although the Order has always been arrogant, they have never made such mistakes in the past many centuries. All these things are worth studying deeply. In the royal capital,
The scholars are probably the only hope."
Magus frowned: "The scholars... we can only count on them. What happened on the Western Front must be reported to the royal capital immediately, and I will arrange a messenger right away."
"Messenger?" Veronica raised her eyebrows, "Transmission device..."
"It stopped working ten days ago," Magus shook his head. "The interference is getting stronger day by day. The wizards said that there is a shadow vortex above Anzu that is gradually taking shape. The space structure on the continent has become very unstable. Now
Except for the hinterland of the kingdom, space teleportation in other areas has been disabled."
Veronica thought for a while and said decisively: "...Then I also want to go back to the royal capital."
"Well, you survived safely. His Majesty must really want to see you right away."
"Not only for this reason," Veronica put down the tableware in her hand and looked at Hao Ren aside, "We have experienced many incredible things during this trip to Chaos. Some things are safer to tell my father in person, and my sister
...She has more knowledge and may be more interested in the Lord Guardian. My audience comes from another dimension. At the same time, I am also worried about the domestic situation. If I don't show up, some people may not be able to sit still."
"Ha, the circle of nobles..." Magus laughed, with no trace of disdain and boredom in his tone.
Hao Ren looked at the people around him and felt that he didn't seem to need to participate in the current topic, so he continued to eat seriously with his head down.
After the feast, Hao Ren and the other knights went back to their rooms to rest, but Veronica and Morian stayed behind.
The two of them climbed up to the tall spire of the fortress together with General Magus. They went up the spiral staircase and finally reached the highest platform of the Western Fortress. The Tower of Fire stood tall on the pedestal behind them.
, emitting tens of thousands of rays of light, shrouding the entire fortress in shelter.
Looking around, the Shadow Jungle is like a turbid black cloud entrenched gloomily on the western land. The farther distance is completely shrouded in darkness. The mountains on both sides of the fortress also extend upward in the light, and are finally covered by the light.
Covered by dark clouds high in the sky, only on the east side of the fortress can one see the vast and unpolluted mountains, rivers and hills. A gleaming road stretches among the mountains and forests, leading all the way to the kingdom.
When you are here, if you only look to the west, you will inevitably feel like you are surrounded by a sea of darkness and trapped on an isolated island.
This is the bridgehead of the world of order, the place on the edge of light.
"About that 'ancient guardian'..." Magus looked at the big forest in the distance and spoke as if casually, "Your Highness, do you trust him?"
"He saved everyone's life, including mine." Veronica said lightly.
Margus heard something between the words: "It seems that you are not so sure about his origins either."
Veronica said nothing.
It was indeed the princess who initially identified Hao Ren as the ancient guardian, but this did not mean that she had no subsequent thoughts. After so many days of thinking and observation, she especially noticed that Hao Ren had many concerns about this world.
After common sense misunderstanding or even ignorance, the doubts in her heart began to gradually increase.
Confused memory is often not a universal excuse.
Magus waited for a few seconds, then continued after finding no response: "You should also have thought that there may be hermits who survived the last century in the wilderness, but it is unlikely that there will be things from the previous generation that have been in chaos for a hundred years.
Shuffle the cards once, and apart from a few specific tearing points, there are almost no ancient ruins in the world that have not been discovered for a thousand years."
Veronica glanced at the old general: "The Holy Mountain of Cassuan is in a tearing point. No matter it was a hundred years ago, three hundred years ago, or a thousand years ago, it was always shrouded in chaos. I
I know it's incredible, but there really is a temple there."
Magus's eyes widened.
"His origins are indeed a mystery," Sir Morian finally said at this moment, "but he is definitely not a servant of Chaos, nor a cultist. He carries many extremely powerful holy weapons with him, and the power of those holy weapons is far from
Everything from this era is probably really an ancient relic."
"Anyway, the most important thing is that he is on our side," Veronica sighed, "I know you may think my ideas are naive, but I have carefully considered them, I trust him, and I believe
He is the guardian of the Holy Land, regardless of whether he really comes from ancient times." (To be continued.)