The four knights of the Inner Court were still persuading Count Guien.

Count Jean obviously didn't believe in the invasion of Jogan, just as Rogers and the others who persuaded him would not have believed that Jogandigan's underground army would suddenly appear on the surface if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, the world under the big beehive was too far away for them after all, and the cavemen and the minotaur in the labyrinth were all terrible creatures in the bedside story. Although he can't explain the reason why his allies disappeared, he can only assume that it is a private conspiracy of Brando, but he can't see through the other party's scheme.

But whether he wanted it or not, Brando's so-called 'persuasion' was more of a threat than a threat, and in the end he had to reluctantly relinquish command.

The sun sets, the sunset sinks little by little into the mountains to the west, the whole hilly area seems to fall into a strange silence, the lights of Varges can no longer be seen in the Yongyin Valley in the north, the sky is dark, after the hills are quiet, it is silent, and it is terrifying.

The four knights of the inner court walked silently on the edge of the red pine woodland, and after walking for a while, the female knight Nasha finally couldn't help but speak: "Maybe Count Kien is right, the situation is not so bad, maybe it is just a rogue from Qiaogendigang who appears on the outside, such things often happen, doesn't it?" ”

Rogers frowned tightly and didn't answer.

"And what about the strange pillars of light and shooting stars we saw last night, and the interference of Qui's teleportation magic, which was a premeditated attack," Trevor shook his head, "That old fellow of Earl Jean is just unwilling to bow to the Eruins, you and I both understand that these local nobles have always been stubborn and good-looking." ”

Nasha was silent for a moment, as if trying to find a reason to refute it. But I can't convince myself of the same. Finally, she asked with some concern, "How bad will it be for the Empire if Jogan really invades us?" ”

"It depends on the scale of the invasion." Rogers replied in a deep voice.

"How big do you think this invasion will be, and can they really threaten the Empire's defenses in the south?" Nasha asked incredulously.

No one seemed to be able to answer this question, and they thought Brando was more or less alarmist, but neither Rogers nor Trevor were familiar with the forgotten realm underground, and in fact there were very few people who knew the entire underground population. Rogers and Trevor suddenly thought of something. They set their eyes on the black-haired boy in the robe.

Kui replied calmly: "There is a slight difference between Qiao Gen Digang and us, they do not have a unified kingdom, there are only large and small lords in the dark underground, and the only exceptions are the dark elves. ”

"Kui, what kind of strength can the greatest lord have?" Nasha asked.

"It's about the equivalent of a medium-sized kingdom on the surface."

"Are there many such lords?"

Qui shook his head: "In addition to the three black dragons that are most well-known to the general public, they are the famous King of Minotaur Gerat, and after Medusa, Pertana, they are known as the kings of the underworld. ”

"If you want to threaten the southern defense line of the empire, is the strength of such a lord enough?" Nasha asked again.

"Give it your all. Perhaps, but warfare in the underworld is seldom done with all its might, because it is necessary to guard against enemies in the shadows. The two lords joining forces is a relatively reliable guess, but such lords are also second to none in Qiaogendigang, and they rarely come to the surface world that is also unknown to them, and if it weren't for these underground kings, it would probably take ten or even twenty ordinary lords to join forces to start a war of this scale. ”

"Kui, how likely do you think that?" Trevor asked, looking back.

"I can't say exactly. The underworld is a world that believes in the laws of darkness, and deception is the norm in the dark. They rarely trust each other, let alone form alliances. Kui replied.

Nasha looked at her companion with some admiration, "Is it possible for them to form an alliance under special circumstances?" ”

"Perhaps," Quiy replied, "but I can't say for sure, the Count of the Toniger may know more about these Underworldns." ”

"Why is he just alarmist?" The knightess was clearly not happy to hear him say that.

The black-haired boy replied, "He and the female knight beside him are quick and confident in judging the movements of the Jorgandegan army, which I can't do. ”

Trevor felt that his companion's claims were exaggerated. He shook his head, although Qui had a genius mind, he was slightly worse in the world, and he knew very well that the tricks were there, and those Eruin people could be completely pretended. He listened to Nasha's previous question. There was also some wavering in his heart, could Qiao Gendigang really pull out an army of more than a dozen lords to find trouble with the empire? The Empire is indestructible in the hearts of its people, and it may be unlucky for a while, but it is impossible to coincide with the worst-case scenario, and Trevor can't even imagine that Rokozy, the Broken Sword Mountain Fortress Group, would be threatened, not a fortress or two, but a well-equipped defense line nearly a hundred miles deep.

He vaguely agreed with the female knight's statement, maybe the enemy in front of him was just an army of rogues who came from the underground world to fight the autumn wind in the surface world, they may be composed of the army of one or two lords, who took the benefits of the Tokunin lion and came to the empire to cause trouble, distract the attention of the imperial army, and take the opportunity to plunder.

He was thinking like this, but Rogers on the side suddenly asked, "Kui, how strong will the power of the entire Qiaogendigang be when combined?" ”

The black-haired boy suddenly raised his head to look at his companion, who had been frowning all along, and for the first time there was an inexplicable look on his face.

"That's impossible." He replied.

……

While both Trevor and Nasha hoped that the invasion of the Empire by Jorgendegon would be nothing more than a private act by one or two lords, what was happening south of Ruseff, at the end of the Rokozi Heights, clearly backfired. Once a majestic fortress at the mouth of the mountain range, all that remains is rubble and rubble, and the entire fortress seems to have been struck from the front by a terrible force. The original intact city wall broke a huge gap, the gap was bathed in the moonlight, the whole section seemed to have been burned by flames, even the masonry showed a carbonized black color, and the rubble shimmered, which was crystallized sand. Fortresses are dotted with such scenes. In addition to the lifeless dead things, there were charred, twisted corpses, animals - cows, horses, donkeys, and even the huge almost burned skeleton of the earthly dragon, leaning empty against the side of the street, which was also burned to the frame, and it showed no signs of struggle, reminiscent of the time of death, when the extreme heat completely reduced the behemoth from body to soul in an instant.

But it's not just animals, human corpses are also everywhere. Some of them were dressed in armor - but now they had long since melted and re-solidified metal solution, some were just civilians, but old men and children, men and women, all turned into unrecognizable pieces of charcoal, corpses scattered all over the streets, their positions indicating what they were hiding from in their lifetimes, but time stood still at this last moment.

The whole fortress seems to have been plowed through the middle. The streets and buildings in these areas are in tatters, but the rest of the neighborhood is still intact. But the streets and the hillsides on both sides were filled with sharp wooden stakes, on which countless human corpses were inserted, and the corpses stared vacantly at the dark and dreary sky, which was full of dark clouds, and their eyes had long since lost their life.

The shattered fortress turned into a dead silent city with no Cruzians. There are no enemies left, as if death had passed through this place and quietly taken away all life.

Such a scene is not unique in the entire Rokozy Plateau, east of the Broken Sword Mountains. It's happening in many places at the same time. This is the Pasilian Fortress, the Empire's Rokozy - Broken Sword Mountain Fortress Group is composed of thousands of fortresses, checkpoints and fortresses, but only the three fortresses of Emerald Claw, Elnor Fort, and Pasilian Fortress are the real core of this defense line, and the other walled fortresses are just built around them for the purpose of protecting them, the Passilian Fortress is the last level of this defense line in the direction of the Empire, it has never been captured or even attacked in a thousand years of history, but today, An army that the Cruz had never dealt with rewrote this history.

When Fries woke up from under the rubble, he still couldn't forget the most memorable scene he had ever seen in his life, he remembered that the fortress was attacked by a group of harpies who didn't know where they came from, and the high commander of the fortress decided that it was a monster attack, and perhaps a new lair had been created somewhere near the fortress, something like this often happened in the border area, and the desolate Rokotzy Heights were already a place for monsters to roam, and the Imperial soldiers were not surprised to join the battle. Fries, an Imperial crossbowman, was naturally involved in the battle, but he was relatively safe in the shooting chamber with the rest of the men - although the noise above the walls was unbearable, and the creaking of the militiamen's heavy equipment pushed through the chutes behind the battlements was gut-ting, as he had done in training, he had wound the winch of his heavy crossbow as he had done in training, placed the bolts, and walked to the perforation to look out.

And then that moment-

He seemed to hear a terrible scream from above the city wall, which seemed to fall from the sky, and like the cry of a ghost at midnight, and a sharp howl made his hair stand on end, and then he saw through the perforation a huge, cold and emotionless eye like an inky black cast iron ball, and that eye, with just one glance, made him fall into the abyss, and the chill of his bones seemed to rise from under his feet, and froze him there, and although he opened his mouth to scream, he could not make a sound.

He faintly heard the frightened shouts of his colleagues coming from above the city walls, and the shouts buzzed together, as if describing a monster that terrified them.

But before Fries could hear what it was, the ground shook, and he saw the walls of the shooting chamber crumble down towards him, and the world was plunged into darkness as soon as his feet were emptied.

When Fries came to his senses again, he realized that it was the collapsed masonry that had saved his life.

He lay in the darkness for an unknown amount of time before he regained a little strength, and then, despite the pain in his body, gritted his teeth and pulled a passage through the rubble. As if miraculously, he found that he was not too badly injured, except for the faint pain of breathing that made it suspiciously that one or two ribs had been broken. His hands and feet were very nimble, only abrasions, and he crawled out of the rubble, and the next moment, the bleak and miserable scene of the fortress met his eyes, and Fries gritted his teeth for a moment. The qiē in front of him seemed to have appeared in his dream, and although he had expected it, he couldn't help but tremble.

He looked up at the direction of the mountain pass, which was the direction where the monster army had disappeared, from there was the mountain road leading to the Emerald Claw Fortress, and behind it was Rokozi, the heart of the Broken Sword Mountain Fortress Group, and his heart was cold, and he realized that this was not a monster attack at all, but a premeditated raid.

That eye......

Fries shuddered as she thought back to what she had seen. He seemed to be trying to convince himself that it was just an illusion, but the real fear that lurked in his heart reminded him of what it was.

That's a dragon.

A black dragon.

……

Cruz has a saying: every day in the empire is calm, and every day in the empire is treacherous. It may be a bit of a misuse to describe the entire Cruz Empire, but it couldn't be more apt to describe the imperial capital of Rusthta.

From three days earlier, the White Rose Garden had been enveloped in an oppressive atmosphere, and the Palazzo Saint-Contipi was lifeless, as if everyone who walked in was touched by bad luck. In the past. This usually represents a change in the mood of Her Majesty the Queen, usually speaking. There are many reasons for the director to be angry—for example, that a nobleman has caused her an upset, or that she has been disappointed, or that the Temple of Fire has offended the majesty of the Supreme One, and that the Temple of Fire and Her Majesty the Queen often offend each other, this is a well-known fact, but apart from the above two main reasons. There were also minor matters, such as the killing of the tax collectors of the empire by the mountain people, the Anzerutas, or some other barbarian, or the fact that several grand dukes who had married into the royal family sent to one of the queen's banquets, or so on—the Silver Queen had a very poor relationship with the relatives of these empires, as was recognized by the whole empire.

In fact, there have been some new names recently, such as a certain Count from Eruin. It is said to have become a thorn in the eye of Her Majesty the Queen; In addition, there is the rumor about the female mountain people, and it is said that every time His Majesty summons her, her mood will become very bad.

But this time, neither the nobles caused trouble, but the Temple of Fire was also peaceful, although the Seven Princes accidentally fell into the cliff on the way back to the imperial capital in Wallach last month and were seriously injured, but the mountain people also expressed extreme obedience to this, and they even sent an envoy to explain the matter, this envoy group was about to arrive in the imperial capital, this attitude was obviously to completely surrender to the supreme of the empire, and it seemed that there was no need for a certain queen to be angry about this matter.

On the other hand, neither Mosaic nor Ludwig seems to have received any news, and rumors of the Lord Count of the Toniger have been in the thick of the past few days, and according to the news from the maid beside His Majesty, His Majesty has not summoned a female count in recent times.

The only thing that can be considered news seems to be that a few days ago, a rare artifact reaction was reported in Banker, Violet Valley and other regions, but these artifact resonances were only produced independently in a very small number of regions, and no one observed them in the wider area, and the warlocks of the Tower of Stars and Moon have not yet come to a conclusion whether this is an illusion or a real reality.

But in fact, in the entire circle of the Empire's high-ranking nobility, only a few well-informed people understood that since that day, the Empire had lost news of the region south of Anzloa. The news here refers to the secret report of the knights of the inner court who belonged to the royal family, and the report, which was originally once a day, has been lost since three days ago, from Vargus to the Bear Lake area, to Ruself, and even the entire area south of the Rokotzi fortress group.

If it were on a normal day, the delay of one or two days would not be anything at all, but just before that, almost the eyes of the entire empire were still focused on this area, and the nobles of the empire were still waiting for the result of the final battle between Brando and the local nobles of Anzeruta, but suddenly, there was no news of this area. Whether it is a private person or a secret agent sent by the royal family, it is as if the world has evaporated, and it is gone forever.

Everyone immediately thought that it was the Count of the Tonigers.

But then the news came that plunged the entire empire into a dead silence.

Early morning of the third day.

Constance summoned two of her knights to the White Rose Garden.

At this moment, in front of this queen, Mr. Travis, the head of the Royal Knights, and Mr. Kevin, the head of the Dragoons of the Imperial Capital, were wiping the cold sweat on their foreheads with handkerchiefs, one of them was from the Parrut family, and the other was also from the family of the local nobles trusted by Her Majesty the Queen, and their identities were the leaders of the two forbidden armies under Constance on the surface, but as long as anyone who had lived in Rustata for a while would know, These two gentlemen had in fact been secretly in charge of the foreign affairs of the knights of the Inner Court.

…… (To be continued......)