The darkness of the sky, the turbulent wind blowing from the plains, wrapped in the cold air that has not completely receded into the city, under the dim light, Count Pompeii stood on the terrace of the family castle, the mood is more gloomy than the sky.

More and more rumors are circulating between cities and villages. The content of rumors is particularly disturbing. Some people say that a terrible plague broke out in the Great Wood Crossing. Some people say that Wang Guojun has suffered a fiasco, and important cities and strongholds have fallen into succession. All kinds of news have been chaotic, and even the nobles like Earl have not got accurate information from the North - and this is the most disturbing point.

The castle terrace has an open view overlooking the city and the vast plains outside the city. The earliest Pompeii, with its slight blessings, is covered in warm, thick coats and canes, looking out into the distance in the cold wind. His gaze first swept through the hills and woods in the northerly direction. Not long ago, a strange team from the meteorite fortress passed by the edge of his own territory and headed north to the north. The team was led by an elf ranger. In a strange magical vehicle, carrying quirky equipment, they did not specify their mission and destination, but with the documents that Govin, the Duke of Cecil, signed.

Count Pompeii did not dare to stop.

But judging from the well-trained performance of the team and their direction of advancement, it is not difficult for Mr. Earl to guess that their actions may be related to changes in the situation in the North in recent times.

His gaze moved along the hills and plains, and the sparkling Dorgon River entered his sight, followed by the meteorite fortress between the distant mountains and the mountains. The fortress is still shrouded in a layer of magical shield, and the mountain and the wall lock together all the sights that look south.

Since the Cecil family regained control of the South, the land has closed its doors - of course, its physical "gateway" will be open every once in a while, and even a meteorite city will be open to visitors, but from In the symbolic sense, the "gateway" of the South has been closed to the present day since the end of the integration war.

The kingdom’s surveillance and control system, which was built in a hundred years, has been cut off. Now no one knows what the founding Duke of the resurrection is brewing in his country, and no one knows the land in the past. What changes have occurred in the past two years, people can only rely on the absurd and bizarre stories of businessmen and adventurers, and the glimpses of the glimpses seen in the Rock City, in addition to guessing the customs of the South. In addition, another focus of the good guys is the door to the Rock Fortress - when will the door open and under what circumstances will it open?

This is probably a mystery that is more difficult to understand than the situation in the north at the moment.

Perhaps when the door is opened, this "field count" will come to an end.

Adjacent to the Rock Fortress, the whole family is in the range of the fortress gun, lacking royal support, lost almost all the troops in the last Southland war, and now the economic lifeline of the territory is firmly controlled by the merchants from Cecil, Count Pompeii. I have been in this tormenting situation for a long time, but now I am very open.

He looked at the direction of the Rock Fortress with a little ecstasy. The vision of the extraordinary person allowed him to faintly see the fortress and the estuary of the Dorgon estuary without the aid of the eagle eye. In this ecstasy, he suddenly I saw a scene that made my mind shake. At first he thought he was wrong, but soon, he clearly confirmed what he saw through the eagle eye.

The main gate of the estuary in the western part of the Rock Fortress was opened - in the past, only one side gate was opened to enter and exit the merchant ship, but at the moment, the entire Dorgon estuary has been opened.

Three large ships with "double wings", no sails and no paddles, and wind and waves were sailing on the Dorgon River, heading north.

Earl Pompeii's eyes widened, and the magical brilliance of the eagle eye shined in front of his eye. He looked at it clearly and saw three large ships followed by a series of boats and saw the fortress. The top turret is rising from the shelter and sees countless soldiers running on the wall...

The main gate of the Rock Fortress remained closed at the moment, but Count Pompeii suddenly realized one thing -

In the south, I opened the door.

......

St. Sunil City, the inner and outer urban areas are still bustling, the arrival of the Resurrection Festival and a timely rain in the past few days have made people see the signs of a good harvest this year. The city officials opened the market ahead of time, and the wealthy Wangdu residents in various urban areas. Many celebrations were held, and even the poorer civilians in the outer city participated in the celebrations. The bustling scene seemed to completely obscure the haze over the kingdom, the civil war in the plains, and the waste barrier. The change, all these disturbing things are obscured by the surface celebrations.

However, in the depths of Wangcheng, in the Silver Fort, the principals of this country have already smelled the turbulent atmosphere in the air.

In the upper level of the castle, in a study room with dark blue velvet, Welsh? Moen is sitting at the back of the desk, Berdwin Franklin standing next to him, standing opposite the two with a black star The robe and the white master of the royal family, the old magician is reporting the situation with sorrow: "... still can't contact the mountain corps, the royal prince, the duke, and the magical communication of the giant wood crossing was interrupted, and Wilde female The Duke’s communication did not respond..."

The Welsh face sinks into the water, and the Duke of Franklin, who is standing next to him, asks: "The magical communication is broken, what about the bonfire?"

"All the bonfires are not lit, the Duke."

After a brief silence, Franklin nodded: "...good, hard work, Master Rotas."

The old Master left, and the Duke of the West looked down at Wales, sitting in a chair: "We should send another group of lions and messengers, and at the same time send a group of knights, from the 'Valley of the Valley' - perhaps in the spring. The surge of magic affects the effect of messaging spells."

There was no expression in Wales and nodded. "You arrange it at your discretion, Duke Franklin - I am a little tired."

"Then, this matter will be handled by me," said Berdwin Franklin, who owed a slight sigh, and raised his hand with his hand. The words and deeds said impeccably, "Please rest assured, Your Highness."

The Duke of the West left the room, Wales? Moen sat quietly behind the desk for a while, his eyes swept over a few copies of the documents that had just been sent, and they needed to pass the target. After a pause, they continued to move to the side, eventually falling. On a stack of materials on the desk.

The Crown Prince thought for a moment, and reached out to pick up the information and watch it in front of him.

Some key elements of the data slipped through his sight:

The situation of the mortal activities of all things... Dark rituals... Several small-scale epidemics in the area of ​​the Giant Wood Crossing...

The information was not timely. Many of them were even the information at the end of last year. Because the winter roads were difficult, the messengers were inconvenient and they were sent to the Silver Fort until today.

Wales knows that there must be one in the hands of the Duke of Franklin, but he must have not had time to look at it - after all, compared to the "nominal Crown Prince," the Duke of Regency, who really needs to handle the state affairs, is much more busy, involving the cultists and The "little things" of the dark sacrifices are not worthy of the front.

In a careful reading, Welsh? Moen's brow slowly wrinkled.

Outside the study, a figure wearing a holy white tunic with a faint light shining around it, Veronica’s hand was already on the door handle, but her movement suddenly stopped before turning the handle. .

The vaguely imaginary heartbeat was introduced into the ear of the "Vrind of the Virgin". She looked up and glanced at the southeast direction. The face with a light expression suddenly appeared a deep and awesome.

“Someone has taken the road of taboos,” Veronica said softly, as if talking to herself, “The situation has changed...”

She did not hesitate to cancel the visit to communicate the brothers and sisters' feelings and turned away from Wales. In front of Moen's study, accompanied by a flash of light, her figure directly turned into the purest light, disappearing into the castle from the air. In the hallway.

A moment later, this pure light flowed into the Cathedral of Light, next to the Silver Fort, and came to the throne of the Pope Saint Ivan III through the condensed and descending clouds of the Holy Light at the top of the cathedral.

There is no one in the Great Hall of Light. Only the Pope himself is sitting in the center of the Holy Light, devoutly meditating and silently praying. The arrival of Veronica interrupts the prayer of St. Ivan III. This is already extreme. The old man slowly opened his eyes, and the turbid eyes quickly filled with pure flames: "Veronica, the most devout child of the Lord - are you not going to the castle to visit the Royal Highness of Wales?"

"Your Majesty, I suddenly heard the revelation of the Light," Veronica said with a worried expression, whispering, "The shadows are gathering, and some are challenging God's authority to try to pollute the Lord's land."

The old face of St. Ivan III seems to have changed little, but the top of the cloud of light shrouded in the entire bright hall, suddenly surging, behind the pope's shrine, the image of the light that grows like a tree. Expanding in an instant, the "fruit" hanging from the end of countless branches opened the "eyes", as if a powerful existence hidden in the other side of the world suddenly gave a glimpse of the world - Veronica is here Before that, he had quietly shifted his sight, and did not look at the "tree of light" behind the pope. After a while, the "tree" returned to its original state.

Later, the expression of Saint Ivan III began to change. He opened his eyes slightly: "This is a serious embarrassing behavior. Where does it happen?"

"On the battlefield between Wang Guojun and Dong Jing, there are evil heretical sects that made it a ceremonial place. The large number of holy sects sent there by the church have been polluted by the power of darkness."

Speaking of this, Veronica paused a little, raised his eyelids and stared at St. Ivan III: "...Your Majesty, it is time to prepare to defend the glory of the Lord."

In the glory of the Great Light Hall, St. Ivan III’s gaze was slightly stunned, and then whispered as if a nightmare: “It is time to prepare to defend the Lord’s glory...”

......

Praying to the gods seems to be getting less and less effective.

On the wilderness of the southeastern plain of the Holy Spirit, Berk Loren was deeply involved in the mud and gravel.

His cloak has been ruined, leaving only a few rags left on the buckles on the shoulders. The light armor is mottled and cracked. It is covered with vicissitudes of scars after several battles. The injuries suffered a few days ago have not healed, and are The subtle and sharp stings reminded them of their existence, but Berk still did not stop and was still moving in the wilderness.

Because he didn't know where the deadly pollution had spread, I don't know how far those monsters can catch up.

After a creek, Berk stopped. He looked up at the sun, figured out the direction, and then found a small war **** spell from his arms and began to pray briefly for the **** of his faith. Pray for the spirit and the blessing and recovery of the body.

However, this prayer has almost no effect.

It seems that the fatigue and pain accumulated over the past few days have exceeded the limits of God's blessing.

Belk sighed and took the little talisman up and looked around.

There is no smoke in the vicinity. In fact, for so many days, he has not encountered any human traces.

He is really deliberately avoiding places where people live, because he is worried that some people have been polluted by the "cluster", but he has not encountered any traders and travelers on this road... this is pure The coincidence is either caused by more terrible reasons.

Berke shook his head and took out those too bad associations. He knew that he still had a long way to go. He couldn't scare himself before he arrived at his destination.

He is going to the south to go to the Principality of Cecil.

The road to the northern region has been occupied by the giant clusters, and the road to the east is similar. There are only two directions to the west and the south. These two directions may not be polluted yet. After some thinking, he finally decided to go to the South.

There is no reason. In this bad situation, intuition is the best reason. Intuition tells him that he should go to the south and pass the warning information to the south, so that the guardians there can know the situation of the giant wooden crossing as soon as possible.

Gao Wen? The Duke of Cecil has already warned the country more than once. Now, it is time to make a return.

Belk took a breath, calibrated the direction of the move, and walked toward the south.